And now this! What is your choice, America?

pacific sonata and soliloquy 

   A stiff onshore wind cleared the thought that was stuck on replay since a friend's text, deploring the latest offense of 2020, stuck it in my mind. RBG gone less than 24 hours and already the jackals were salivating, revealing a soulless betrayal of their own perversity, again!

     A bluff trail along a rugged stretch was the antidote of choice. Our national tragedy just got worse. Fresh air and surf gave me some distance to riddle it out.

     I know we're in new territory, a place that is dangerous to the continued existence of the republic as we have known it, but we've gone even deeper into the dark woods. We'll explore our national mood, a bit further down the trail.

ash on the gold

    What is top of the mind, the crisis of the day? Out here on the West coast we've been forced into thinking about long term implications. Giant fires, loss of life and billions in property, limited resources, fouled air with a deleterious global impact. 

    Climate change is changing the course of history. California, the magical land of golden sun, beaches, mountains and redwoods, where the future and fantasy are built, Disney, Hollywood, Apple,Tesla, Google, and the place that loomed alluringly in the lives of boomers with every note of the Beach Boys, Eagles or Grateful Dead, must now navigate a veil of uncertainty. There is smoke and ash on the gold.

been bad before

    The calculus for our daughters and grandchildren is a different data set than we used to engineer our aspirations. But there is always the X factor, human ingenuity, and now augmented by artificial intelligence and machine learning.  

     Sitting around the dinner table recently, hearing them voice concerns about the future of their work, their children's lives, education, the government, state of the civilization and all, the best fatherly sagacity I could muster was, it's been bad before, but somehow the spirit leads to evolution, improvement and survival.

   the new "moon shot"

    Our parents would not recognize some of our everyday routines. And so it will be for our kids, and for us. Change is accelerating and it must. Life is coming at us more quickly.

    Here are a couple ideas I've tried to seed. President Biden, and we hope that is so, should do a "moonshot" approach on wildfires. All of humanity would benefit. 

    With scientists, technologists, environmentalists, foresters, architects, builders and firefighters in concert, we can find a better way to mange forests and wild land, prevent fire perhaps, battle back at blazes and survive them.

    It's more than a sci-fi notion, why can't our brightest design robotic, mechanical, scalable, "Transformer" like massive firefighting equipment and technology that can do what and go where humans cannot? Designed to adapt to all terrain, loaded or rapidly refilled with water or firefighting chemicals, able to attack blazes and withstand what brave humans can't. A fanciful notion? Perhaps, but this planet's future will involve fire on a scale unknown to our history. It's time for new thought. When JFK committed the US to get to the moon in a decade, it all had to be invented and made possible. 

   new ways to build

   Homes need to be built and coded differently where fires burn. I'm not a designer, but I told the girls if we were building today, we'd design a home that includes a large section that is subterranean, built with concrete, cement, metal and other fire resistant materials. Interior and exterior sprinkler or retardant systems and more would be part of the plan.

    After hurricanes devastated coastal homes, insurance companies, state, and federal agencies mandated new building codes. The same should go for those of us who live in states where wild fires are a reality. It would mean a massive change in construction, materials, design, and planning. It would no doubt limit development in some areas, but not to change is foolish. 

    Simply put, we need to get busy inventing our future, with an intentionality, and in response to what science and experience  inform us. 

the rise of the beast

       An incompetent, criminal, minority President who is mentally ill and a liar without precedent, the deadly pandemic, and a terribly managed response, the bull goose looney Attorney General aroused by a growing authoritarianism, a cult like party largely brainwashed or belligerently ignorant and proud of it, the nation's diminished international standing, being seen as a stooge of Putin, and a trend to reverse civil rights apparently is not bad enough juju so now we have a Supreme Court vacancy to get exercised about. 

      Well, we have McConnell, and Graham and others in the Senate saying there should be no court nominee put forward so close to a Presidential election. But that was when a Black President, and a Democrat had an appointment to make. Now they have a White Racist Republican whose feet they lick. In the real world, there goes the notion of principle. 

      Do you remember when intelligent minds told us never to accept Trump and his gang as normal and never normalize the aberrant behavior? Did we ever have a chance, with one disaster or outrage leading to another?

     Are there any Republicans, old fashioned true Republicans left in the Senate? I guess we'll see. 

     I suspect I'll be back on trails, grabbing as much pacific breeze antidote as I can in these next few weeks. In the near term we should celebrate the life of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, an extraordinary human being who lifted the greatness of the US by her devotion to principle, liberty, intellect, law and a sense of human dignity. 

      Citizens deserve a process and timeline that allows us to think and reason. There has been precious little of that in the last 4 years. If this deplorable administration and its quisling minions in the Senate try to fill the court at this juncture, there may well be a seismic rumble. Two visions of the US are available to citizens this year. One leads to repair and problem solving. The other one is the super spreader of despair and problem making. 

      Stay safe. Take care of each other. Vote. Encourage others to vote.

      See you down the trail.

A Rare Coinhabitant ...and A Sense of

      the mystical saguaro exists in only 4 places-

the Sonoran Desert of Arizona, the Whipple Mountains of San Bernardino County of California, the Mexican state of Sonora and Imperial County California

     These images come from Arizona, where the Sonoran Desert is home to the largest population.

    The icon of the desert southwest often live to exceed 150 years. Those with arms, produce their first after 50-75 years. 

       They dwell from the valley floor to the top of buttes and share the space with other cacti, and a plethora of birds and creatures including lizards, sidewinder snakes, scorpions, rats, squirrels, tortoises and cotton tails. One walks with care in this desert. 

  the chola 

 the barrel cactus

sentries of the desert  

the sense of the voter

     I used to get paid to pay close attention to political campaigns,  now I do it out of habit. 

     Back when I thought it was the true national sport, we spent time on buses, flew on planes, and we took turns in small groups of having close up access to the candidate after which we would write what is called the pool report, that was then distributed to all media. 

     All of us also did reporting we called "the Sense of The Voter." David Broder of the Washington Post was probably the best. You go out and talk to everyday people, mostly listening. Today there is social media and attitude driven cable nets also crowding the traditional media and press corp in reach for the public.

     It's always changing, not only in personality but in the nature of the campaign. It is, if you will, the appeal to the soul of the US. What we see these days speaks volumes about how we have changed, and what we've left behind.

     I think we've devalued our national experience by not doing a good job of teaching civics, government, and critical reasoning.  We need wise "understanding media and persuasion classes."    

      Politics has become a profession, and a cash cow industry. Public service is not the prime motivator, no, now it is personal, financial or ideological. That is how it is.

     So this old boy offers a "sense of the electorate" to any candidate or organization.  The nexus of your strategy, the focus of your attention should be the women and men who are working, but struggling as they see the future shrink away and diminish just as the middle class is in decline. If I were to put a face before you, I would post a working woman. What are her needs and expectations and how can the federal government play a responsible role?

       Next to that would be a picture of a family, however it is constituted. How are they doing? Can they afford health care, or sending children to college, what kind of retirement future do they have? Do they have benefits? 

       The economic balance is out of kilter and there are bad consequences for all including the selfish class at the top. The divide in wealth, and the corrupt and broken tax code bears the omen of a struggle and demise that would be profound.

       There are other matters that cannot be ignored: Climate, personal freedom and dignity, a clam and steady hand in our role in the world community and a more civilized way achieving common good.  But the key is to hear and know the needs of what we used to call Middle Class America and to guarantee its existence and future. Everyone still deserves an American Dream, and a sense of security. 

     In 2016 there was a pandering or an ignoring. A winning candidate should act on their behalf, by offering ideas, with sound economic footing, showing a path and explaining how things can be paid for. Be specific. Most voters, especially hard working women and men know as much or more than the many politicians who have been bought and sold by the money that bets on government outcome="follow the money!" 

      Whatever color, race, sex, gender, age, origin, or whatever there are basic needs. Too many of us are not getting a fair shake. A public servant can work to change that. Start there.

        That I think would be a winning strategy by an insurgent Republican or Democratic candidate.

a hard working boat

the Ragamuffin of Los Osos

people work for their living here

      See you down the trail.

     

BURNING ISSUES and VISUAL JOY

    A photo journey to the Monterey Bay Aquarium is just ahead.

   And likewise, a few looks from the "sparkle shop."  But first...

burning issues

    While this has particular application to California and the US West, it is truly a global concern. Fires threaten more of the population and do so with an increasingly lethal ferocity. 

     Debate and discussion about causal factors are important but of equal "life and death" significance is dealing with on the onset.

      REVEAL, an NPR broadcast from the Center for Investigative Reporting, provided a compelling and eye opening examination of several aspects of the worst wildfire in California history, the Camp Fire, just extinguished, and the previous worst fire that ravaged Santa Rosa. 

       It was chilling but more importantly illuminating to hear the emergency communication as the inferno ramped up and to hear the actuality of the desperate attempt to evacuate and to battle the blaze. After study, planners will better understand patterns of on scene emergency communication, plans for evacuation and coordination. It is clear a better system of multi agency communication is needed. It is clear also phone service providers need to be on the same page with each other and with emergency agencies so alerts are sent to all and with timeliness. And it is clear that evacuation routes and methods need a lot of study.

bury the lines

      When I was a daily deadline journalist I wondered privately why in the then 20th Century, power lines ran from pole to pole in much the same fashion as those early telegraph lines in the 1830's. Surely there is a better technology. As power lines are the suspected trigger of these last two deadly fires, the matter is even more critical.

       All power lines should be buried. Power companies will fight it and protest cost and difficulty, but given the cause of the largest and most deadly fires, the complaints don't matter. There are many advantages to buried power lines and simply put the government can and should mandate their burial.

build? rebuild?

       Cities and towns need to find a way to enforce building codes that make sense. In the last century we've pushed deeper into undeveloped areas, into quake zones, fire zones, on mountain sides, near rivers, lakes and oceans. 
       I recall standing on a volcano with a USGS scientist who decried that humans have a desire to live in places that are fundamentally unsafe. It's difficult to put the Genie back into the bottle, but we need to better consider where and how we build. There maybe some places where we should not be.

      Santa Rosa is on the threshold of rebuilding. The council passed an application to build again in an area where fire has devastated at least twice before. Business interests and developers got their way. It is understandable and even laudable that a community wishes to rebuild. But it is laudable to not repeat past mistakes. There may be someplaces that should not be home sites again. A dissenting Santa Rosa councilwoman said it is just a matter of time before the historic burn zone, will burn again.

giving shelter

         Hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, fires, avalanches and mudslides happen. We know that even despite our best plans, disasters will visit us time and time again. 
        Helicoptering into and over the aftermath of a particularly wicked tornado and flood, looking at acres of destroyed buildings and infrastructure, I thought how good it would be for those who had lost everything to have access to something other than an extended shelter existence in a gymnasium, church basement or parking lot. Why don't federal and state agencies or volunteer relief groups create what amounts to a rapidly deployed and quickly built emergency modular community? Those infamous "FEMA trailers" are a well intended but clumsy response. 
       In a time of IKEA, 3D printing and modularization, pre-fabricated units, something between a tent and a trailer that can be assembled into an instant "relief city" with water supplies and generated power would be vital relief to people who experienced loss and the worst moments of their life. Devastated residents could have a modicum of privacy and basic shelter as they pick up the pieces and begin to repair their lives. The concept has been tested in battlefield medical units and command/logistic shelters.
       The modular units could be used again and again. Until folks connect with family, friends or find new or more permanent temporary housing they could have, at least, a safe place to sleep and decent facilities that do not otherwise
create a public hassle or health and sanitation crisis.
       Survivors are emotionally wounded. Just recently in Chico a kind of mutual support "evacuation village" cropped up on a Walmart parking lot. You understand how people  bond with others who have experienced such tragedy, but they need something more than camping tents or shambles on a parking lot as they try to recover.
       Evacuees, refugees, and victims of disaster are an ever present part of the human family. We can and should do better in the early aftermath to provide shelter and facilities during the early recover.

water life
delights of the Monterey Bay Aquarium

 The frame below contrasts how a moment can be experienced.

The frame below is a rare face to face with a kind of sea worm/eel comedian.

  Can you spot the fish in the frame below?

He or she is the character that appears to be a rock to the far right of the screen. In the frame below you can see the fins.

faces from the sparkle shop

      See you down the trail.

Sanctuary

     Sanctuary is a voluble topic in California, taken seriously and now it's a fighting word.

      The trump administration is suing California, Governor Jerry Brown and Attorney General Xavier Becerra because of three California laws. The Sanctuary laws restrict how state and local law enforcement  may interact with federal immigration agents. 
      The Feds say the California Values Act and the Immigrant Worker Protection act are a deliberate attempt to hamper enforcement of federal immigration law. Brown says the  state laws protect the progressive attitudes that California embodies.
      The US vs. California on immigration, and other issues too, is a demarcation line. Relative to your view of course, California stands on the side of progress and modernity while the trump minions like Jeff Sessions represent regressive views and attitudes.
      Jerry Brown calls the trump lawsuit "a political stunt." He adds, "It's not about the truth. It's not about protecting our state. It's about diving America."
       Divisive pandering is what won trump the republican nomination. 
       California lives with one foot in the future and for that reason has been a cultural force and attitude determinate since mid 20th Century. 
       Then there is Jerry Brown's straight speaking. In defending the laws passed by the California legislature he said,  "These Laws do not protect criminals.  We have millions of of people here who are here without papers and some of them have been working for 10, 15, 20 years. They've been servicing the economy. A lot of them have been doing the dirty work, whether it's washing dishes, or picking the fruit and now the attorney general is basically initiating a reign of terror."
        ACLU executives spoke about the Bill of Rights at a Dinner Fellowship meeting this week and the conversation turned to sanctuary and the attendant issues.
       Could a group, a church or organization of some structure, provide sanctuary as an extension of the right to free speech and the right to petition the government for a redress of grievances? The logic here is to list unfair ICE enforcement or the enabling laws as the grievance and the establishment of a sanctuary as the act of the petition or the exercise of the free speech?
        It gave the ACLU exec pause who said that kind of civil disobedience carried with it the risk of jail. 
        Jail for doing civil disobedience is a staple of American history and our path toward a fuller realization of liberty, freedom and the democracy component of our democratic republic. The suffragettes, the protests of veterans and most notably the lunch counter sit in and protest era of the civil rights movement.
         Out here in the California Republic millions believe ICE, under trump and Sessions, is behaving like a gestapo. Sanctuary spaces are a way of fighting back.
       I spoke with an activist pastor who said when a church decides to create a sanctuary they also assume responsibility for the person or persons; housing, food, and all forms of support because if someone seeking refuge were to leave they would be subject to arrest. Churches are doing it.
      America 2018 and we are possessed of vastly different ideas of how to live together. When I read cases of good people, beloved by their community, tax payers, fully employed, parents, Sunday school teachers, and the like who have been here for 15 to 25 years being shackled and deported, I cannot help but to reflect on how my ancestors were part of the underground railroad that helped slaves escape. I am a descendent of one of the earliest abolitionists.
They violated bad laws that needed changing. They were changed, after effort. 
      If it were all left to regressives like Sessions and trump and their sycophants we might still have slavery markets. 

     a flashback future

    This is from Kyle Communications blog/newsletter.  The Kyle is Kyle Niederpruem who founded a public relations, communications management and content company. I first met Kyle when she was a dogged, diligent and soon to be an award winning newspaper reporter. She was the best of old school journalism. Watching her career and the embrace of communications culture has been a kind of bellwether of how culture has changed. Kyle is still on point and leading the way. Here's link to her site.

on the march

       Dave Congalton is a California central coast radio icon and host of an issues centered interview program. He's also a screen writer and former college professor. I substitute hosted for him one day recently and featured Dawn Addis, a founder of the Women's March out here. The next horizon event for the Women's March movement is The March for Our Lives, an outgrowth of the most recent school slaughter.

      I first covered US protests back in the era of the civil rights movement and then the anti war movement. How could we not be impressed by the millions of Americans who marched after the election and then on the first anniversary.

     This is a wave in American politics that is a high surf. And now I am stunned by the articulate and emphatic intelligence of the school kids who are in our face, as they should be. Dawn, and women like her across the nation, are mentoring and this generation is impressive.  They are not really millennials who were born from the mid 90's to 2000. I interviewed Rutik, an 18 year old, who has grown up in the age of mass slaughter. That chilling reality gives them a unique perspective and we owe it to them to listen. More importantly we need to do a better job of protecting them. Rutik was quick to say they are different and will behave differently, and will not take the same old tired rhetoric from politicians. A high surf indeed.

    See you down the trail.

Legitimacy?

    The scope of the American divide was clarified in California when Governor Jerry Brown defied the "alternative fact" reality of the Trump regime. It also cast new light on the questionable legitimacy of the new presidency.

    Noting California is the sixth most powerful economy in the world he said this state "is not turning back now, not ever."   He called for courage and persistence as California continues to work on climate change, health care and assistance to emigres.

    "We have heard the blatant attacks on science. Familiar signposts of our democracy-truth, civility, working together-have been obscured or swept aside," the Governor said.
     He quoted the Woody Guthrie anthem, This Land is Your Land including an oft deleted verse,
       "Nobody living can ever stop me,
        As I go walking the freedom highway;
        Nobody living can ever make me turn back
        This land was made for you and me."

alternative legitimacy 

       A fact Kellyanne Conway or her boss can not deny is the minority status of the regime. Yes he was elected by the electoral college as is legal, but it is also true he was clobbered in the popular vote and it is true he was rejected by establishment Republicans. But the real factor as to his legitimacy or lack of it, is his disconnect between facts and the lies he spews. As he has done historically he denies reality. Many, if not all, of his followers believe him. They live in a fantasy land, constructed by deceit and ignorance.

        Most of his followers think unemployment rose under the Obama White House. It did not. There has been record job growth. He paints the bleak picture of America gripped by crime and carnage. Crime rates have dropped dramatically, despite the tragic mass shootings empowered by the NRA and its belligerent disregard of America. The economy is not in ruin, it has been on a record setting period of growth, following the near depression. There are more disconnects. In fact the lies are well reported but his supporters are disconnected from truth, they believe their liar in chief.

        Will those who supported him come back to reality? The man now refuses to release his tax returns though he promised to. He is moderating his hardline on deporting illegals. He railed at Goldman Sachs and used Hillary Clinton's connection to the firm as proof of her corruption. He has now designated 5 Goldman Sachs alumni as key members of his team.

        His team includes predatory lenders, crooks who made the life of his "ignored" supporters a hell.  There is the ever charming Conway who claims there are "alternative facts." Here's one, she was reportedly in a fist fight at one of the inaugural balls. How's that for class?  It appears his press spokesman Sean Spicer has saved his job, for the time being. After the weekend tantrum his first regular briefing was more civil and traditional though he too had trouble with facts. He refused too acknowledge that unemployment, as reported by his federal regime, is at a low of 4.7. Spicer said Trump doesn't look at statistics. 

      Perhaps the most festering problem is his bosses continued conflict of interest. What is at the core? There are credible sources who suggest that Trump is mentally ill, in the grips of a narcissism so powerful that he really doesn't know the truth or in his predatory mind doesn't think it applies to him. As he has said a few times he is next to God in ability. The ego maniac in chief may well be so far out of touch he is in fact a danger and at least illegitimate.  How many times can you lie at the rate he does and not be too sick to hold office?  

      The lies and disconnects are warning signs. Yet we live in the "post-truth" world where your opinion matters as much as the truth or facts. I used to think the dire pronouncements about what catastrophe he could bring were over started. Not now, now that so many devotees of the vulgarian refuse to believe the truth. He's perfect for the so called freedom caucus who want to destroy the government. He and they are a disease in the American body.

fresh and healthy

    

   

        Aside from the obvious success of California's economy and a Governor, respected by Republicans and beloved by Democrats the other good news is the ending of the 5 year drought.

     Growing up in Indiana I was used to hard rains, something I had not seen here on the California central coast until this year.

   In five days we had 6 inches of rain in our Phillippi gauge on the ridge. Our total for the year is almost 27 inches. In some places there is evidence of the saturation.

     As we move forward in these uncertain times I can't help but wish a man with the judgement, balance, vision, experience, governing skill, bi-partisan support and character of Jerry Brown was leading this nation. For those of you majority of Americans who worry about the miscreant freak who sits in the oval office, know this western Republic will have your back.

    See you down the trail. 

FREEDOM SEASON IN THE AGE OF A BUFFOON

     Living in the Midwest I envied those who lived where they could grow their own lemons and oranges. Looking upon our small lemon tree and seeing fruit brings an endless joy.

let freedom ring

   On this day in 1791 the people of Virginia ratified one of this nation's greatest tools. The Bill of Rights went into effect upon their vote. 

     Those rights and freedoms so enumerated have been the heart and soul of the Constitution, the very bones of our Democratic Republic.  For 225 years Presidents, Senators and Congressmen have come and gone, but the nation has been better served by the principles of our government encoded in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. 

  Maybe it is only more gas bag grandiosity of his inner carnival barker or his ignorance, but the President elect has loudly said things that would impinge on basic rights-his remarks about flag burners being just one instance. He says stupid things and he lies, frequently. 

   Thomas Friedman called him "reckless" as he surveyed cabinet nominees. A "prehistoric cabinet" he wrote, people whose attitudes about climate and environment pre date scientific data and facts. Indeed there are facts in this world, though, Donald Trump disagrees while also ignoring that the national defense establishment and intelligence community consider climate change a global threat.

   California Governor Jerry Brown has indicated the nation's most populous state and 5th largest economy in the world will fight a "reckless" administration that signals stupidity will be the clubhouse pass word. A clubhouse being stuffed with billionaires committed to fossil fuels, even those who presided over suppressing data about climate change, who would eliminate departments they will lead, who have been on the payroll of big oil and who are cozy with the very Russian government that launched a digital 9/11 on our way of choosing leaders.

     I hope those who voted for Trump, especially those who did so because they thought no one heard their pain about job loss and home foreclosures realize their president elect has nominated two men to run his economy who were the kings of foreclosure and did so fraudulently. Secretary of the Treasury Nominee Steve Mnuchin and Commerce designate Wilbur Ross have been accused by legal sources, media and Wall Street insiders as having committed fraud in running the "Great Foreclosure Machine." Predatory lending, buying and stripping companies-eliminating jobs and selling for profit are their history. Mnuchin spent years at Goldman Sachs, who Trump pilloried with Hillary Clinton. 

     Trump said he was a friend of coal miners but Ross ran a company that operated a mine where 12 miners were killed after many safety violations and complaints. Did Ross do anything for the workers? Yes, he cut their benefits and later fired them. How about draining the swamp eh? Feel good about your choice of candidate now?

    A friend with a wicked sense of humor gave me this cap as a gift. Notice where this America Great hat was made? China.

    Donald Trump is a narcissistic liar, a buffoon and an ignoramus. We know that. And so did the minority of Americans who voted for him. Trump can be explained; a spoiled rich boy, tabloid romeo, screw everybody deal maker looking out for himself. He was surprised that he won. What is a challenge to understand is how anyone, even those who hated Hillary, those who felt ignored, those who were angry with the republican dominated gridlock and/or the democrat President's aversion to old fashioned politics, how any of them could vote for such an inexperienced, lout despite warnings from former Presidents, national security experts, those whom he cheated and those whom he sexually assaulted. The evidence is public. I understand how Steve Bannon and his minions of racists, xenophobes, misogynists, and white supremacist nationalists would like Trump. 

    We knew and now we know even more profoundly how reckless and dangerous the choice was. We won't accept this as normal or as anything but a danger. Most American voters know this. I wonder though when those who voted for Trump, hoping that he would make it better, understand they not only wasted a vote, but put in play a plutocratic political scheme that will do the opposite of what he promised and could spiral us into a dangerous vortex.

     Rick Perry at Energy?! That would have been a great sketch on SNL. Instead, the joke's on us. 

    This is Trumpworld, a land of lies, cheating, assault and 5th grade buffoonery. No wonder Putin wanted the buffoon in the Whitehouse. 
      Maybe it is time to take CALEXIT seriously. How I wish this nation could be led by Jerry Brown. 
      And how grateful I am, the Bill of Rights give us the power to fight tyranny. 
      See you down the trail.