This option is joy...

In the season of life there is a lot on all of our minds.

Today, we give it a rest. Instead we celebrate.

Here's the latest report from Lana's back hill garden.

     Color and vibrance of another sort as we visit the garden patios of Casa Munch, the home built by Paso Robles wine legend John Munch of Le Cuvier.

    John is a creative giant, he writes as magically as he makes wine and builds houses. 

    He's a great force in a writers group as well.    

One of his mentees, Clay Selkirk, is a budding legend of a winemaker as well.

Cheers!

See you down the trail. 

TWISTED & SINKING

 

        It's called the Twisted Grove, one of the many Redwood families in the Forest of Nisene Marks State Park in the Santa Cruz Mountains near Aptos, California. 

    I see it as a metaphor of now.

        The trees live on the San Andreas fault and changing land in their hundreds of years have caused them to twist to reach to for the light.

         Consider the great palaver about the leaked Supreme Court opinion; That a radical right wing clique appears to be on the verge of banning individual liberty has the majority of Americans dutifully concerned....that the Republican party who packed the court with zealots is more concerned about the leak than a regressive decision, unwanted by a majority of citizens. 

        The Supreme Court we were taught to vaunt and hallow is exposed as being more horse shit offal of our broken political system. Almost holy respect for the Supremes? The mystique is gone.  

       Please recall three of the supremes were nominated by Donald Trump, after one nomination was stolen from President Obama. Two were nominated by George W. Bush. What do Bush and Trump have in common? Both lost the popular vote. 

      The majority of Americans voted against their judgements and character, but they put 5 on the court. At least 3 of those five lied on camera about Roe V. Wade when questioned during their testimony. And on this high court is a man married to a person of questionable character who supported the January 6 insurrection. 

   

        Sinking is another matter.

        The SS Palo Alto began as a concrete ship, a tanker built for WW I in 1918. The end of war left the Palo Alto without a mission. In time it became an oil storage barge. Later it was purchased to be an amusement center and opened in 1930 at Sea Clift Beach in Santa Cruz County.

        It thrived, only briefly. After two years of dances, dinners and the social life, the depression changed the course of the Palo Alto.

      Over the years it languished, interrupted by periods of attempted revival and then more trouble. Storms cracked the hull, there was renewed effort, a hamburger stand, bait shops, more storms and broken masts, more storms and the original crack in the hull worsened, more rehabilitation and repairs, and it was used as a fishing platform. So it was until 2000 when the ship deck was closed permanently.

        The concrete tanker is now a home for sea birds and a flourishing sea life. It has become a kind of reef, as it continues  sinking, slowly into the sea.

        I think this too is a metaphor; 

    the once important Republican party, broken and infested now with extremists, non traditionalists, anti American authoritarians and fans of autocracy. Republicans I covered are repulsed. Generations passed would abhor the party.

    the American ship of state, divided and the constituency not particularly intelligent anymore.

    Tragic comedy-an irony;

    Right wingers have always worried about subversion and infiltration, by the Soviets and then the Russians. There's a great case to be made how that infiltration target was and is the republican party and their nation breaking, hate your neighbor culture wars, and grievances gaggle. Now they attempt to "game" the system, trying to rule as a minority party.

    

    Twisted and sinking.  We have been before. 

    Begrudgingly or with belief, we've course corrected, cleaned up the act, busted monopolies, jailed bosses, chased off demagogues, created government compassion, reformed courts, improved, established liberties and continue to evaluate and struggle.

    Struggle. That is our history. Forces of enlightenment and liberty pitched against ignorance, greed, self interest and control.  

    We've endured, almost as long as the youngest of these big trees, that live on a fault line.

        We were at dinner party and in the rambling conversation conviviality I heard myself say I'm ascribing more dignity and favor to trees than I am to a whole lot of humanity. Trees last. By comparison we are on a short timeline.  

        There are good people. Lots of them. Though we may be old and tired or weary, it's time to go another round for human dignity. There is work to do, truth to be told, challenges to make, courts and government to reform, laws to pass and elections to be won. We can model for and work along side like minded youth. For those of us active in the 60's and 70's, there are lessons to teach and to remember. 

        Trees reach for the light. It's what they do to live for hundreds and thousands of years.  Democratic republics could take note. 

        Find the light.  See you down the trail. 

    

              

Around here...and as always....

Cambria court wash

        April rain is rare on the California central coast, not being an"April showers brings May flowers" kind of place. 

    Blooms begin in February, during the fall and winter rain season. The .7 from this storm put our rain for the year at a little over 16 inches. That's a decent total during a drought year. 

    During our time on Pineridge we've swung from 42 inches to as little as 8. The coastal weather is vulnerable to ocean influence, mountains, and a high atmosphere intrigue called a Pacific Decadal Oscillation. 

          A spring moon on Pineridge may have helped turn on a cactus. Its bloom was dazzling. 

        An Oyster mushroom is back for a third harvest. A kit, given as a Christmas gift produced a batch of mushrooms and a surprising second batch. Even more suprisingly number three volunteered itself.

        Lana's magic in the saute' pan was a fitting, even if a less beautiful disposition of the artful fungus. Delicious! 

         

        As we've begun to return to the more robust style of pre pandemic life, a lot of folks have begun to say they feel aged, or unsettled by the last 2 years. A piece of life was held hostage, and now we attempt to come again to what was before, but we and life itself have been changed by it. 

        The simple rhythm of life has the assurance of normal, while absurdities of the human fall menace from our screens.

     World leaders must task themselves to find a better way to prevent barbarism and aggression and to punish those who perpetrate it.

        American voters certainly are wise to the soulless and ripping attack to the constitutional heart of the American system by the gang of cowards, liars, low-life, hustlers and haters who have stolen or who remain as condonation in the republican party.

        Savoring the quiet life has distracted from the brutality of  war crimes and the attack on our democratic republic.

    

        In volunteer work this week I was fortunate to see lights of human decency. Our capacity to care, to serve and to be about common good is hopeful.

        I'm coming to understand a constant. 

        As we probe more deeply into our majority years, we come upon truths of life in personal and cosmic ways. It is ever so. 

        We see now our good old days were myopic. As old girls and boys we tread in times of war, regressive ideas, uncertainty and threat. They were never far away in our middle years, nor have they ever been in the rise of humanity.

        We are where those before us have been, wondering what is to become of humanity. 

       Life is always on a razor's edge. 

                   

             Always spring comes and hope is alive.

            And there is always dinner....

        Peace

        See you down the trail.

        

         

 

The War Within

 

The Last assault-Fiscalini Ranch Preserve, Cambria

nature as metaphor

        We are at war with ourselves. Words are weapons, understanding is the target. It is a wasting disease. The very republic is at risk.

        There is much that most Americans do not know. Information-disinformation and intelligence follows below. 

nature as tonic

        Uplift first; a quick walk through spring on the Pacific bluffs of the Fiscalini Ranch. 

        Life blooms again.   

        Live and let live is in practice here. We could use a big dose of that.

        I listened to three women who have been paid to know more than most people. They worry about our future.

        Dr Stacey Dixon is the principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence. Teresa Smetzer was the CIA's Director of Digital Futures in the Directorate of Digital Innovation. She was a career CIA analyst. Ellen McCarthy was Assistant Secretary of State, bureau of Intelligence and Research.

        Social media is a perfect medium for disinformation. 

        -20 thousand web sites are published as disinformation agents. Think it's obvious what those sites are? Well, advertising companies spend $235 million, on those sites annually.

         -Pew Research reports 65% of adults get their news on social media. 

       - False tweets are 70% more likely to be retweeted Science magazine reports.

        The wise women know these stats. They sight evidence of this information warfare in the degradation of US public policy and debate. And in trust.

        A lack of public trust, a lack of information that is agreed upon is dangerous and can bring down government because it erodes the public's belief and trust. Governments exist only on public trust, or they are dictatorships and autocracies where trust does not matter.  

        Social media is bad enough for adults, who are expected to have some degree of critical thinking. It is poison, manipulative and  even more dangerous for children.  

        Jonathan Haidt, professor of Ethical Leadership at New York University Stern School of Business studies psychology of morality and emotions. Haidt writes we live in a polarized, factionalized and angry America that is like the "new Babel."

        In The Atlantic he writes "Social scientists have identified at least three major forces that collectively bind successful democracies; social capital (social networks with high levels of trust), strong institutions and shared stories. Social media has weakened all three."

        The late media analyst Eric Boehlert wrote "Why is the press rooting against Biden? He noted the "glaring disconnect between reality and how the press depicts White House accomplishments. The "press is determined to keep Biden pinned down."  

        By objective standards Biden's administration has been successful, but by the tone of reporting, the way questions are asked, and the incessant use of questionable opinion polls, America is being fed worst than "spin," rather it is outright manipulation.

        Partisans will tell you this is an affect of the Republican parties' culture war campaign. 

        Intelligence and security experts say it is more evidence of information warfare between democracy and authoritarianism, that is extraordinarily well funded and strategic.

        The media tone is also the blame of the gotcha game of snark and click bait that social media has forced on a once sober and more careful news media. Young reporters and producers who grew up with Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and very little history are forcing a more vacuous and controversy driven style of reporting. It is divisive, inept and dangerous. It is also mindless. 

        You may remember when "Fake News" became the mantra of a candidate and President we warned it was a tool of authoritarians. So, now we have millions of Americans who live in a fantasy world thinking their candidate had his re-election stolen from him. The alternate reality exists even when credible reality republicans and 63 court decisions including by many reality republican judges proves otherwise. This is a serious chasm in the foundation of our Republic.

          Social media and right wing networks are in an unholy league with well financed anti democracy forces including American financial interests, uberwealthy individuals, Russian oligarchs, the Putin government and other US enemies. It has become so dangerous that people like Tucker Carlson spew  anti democracy and anti American poison in public and the propagandized, poorly educated, grievance loaded follow him in a brain dead trance. 

        Briefly on partisan politics, Democrats should remember  most Americans "vote their pocketbook or wallet," as we used to say.

        Bread and butter issues, kitchen table budget matters are always the most important to voters. 

        The Democrats are weak in effective "messaging," which is more hurtful as they play uphill as the disinformation game is loaded against them.

        The US has a fifth column at work. The Republican party is only the visible face. The compromise of public debate by bogus issues and contrived culture war fanaticism is a product of a deliberate right wing strategy that is very adept at using the low information of US citizens, their lack of education and their unending devotion to social media, celebrity and their fear.  

        The wise women of intelligence say individual citizens need to work to combat the disinformation war. 

        -They urge we all challenge our emotions and our own implicit bias as we consume information.     

        -Check sources-look for previous articles and check the credential of the writer or broadcaster.

        -Read alternative views. Get out of your own opinion silo and read what others think or say. 

        -Think for yourself.

        -They note that a virtue of the US is we get to choose what to believe. That throws responsibility to us.

        The women conclude by saying it would be good to teach the "analytic trade craft" of the intelligence community to citizens. Critical analysis should be taught to children beginning in kindergarten.

        I suggest journalism clean up its own house. Pay more attention to how the spin masters are working. Overcome the penchant for "false equivalence" and provide training to new producers, writers and reporters, including history. Quit being used. Think more.

        As a nation we need to understand the seriousness of the battle between democracy and authoritarianism. 

        Social media needs to be reformed and regulated. They are manipulators of behavior, attitude and belief. Social media can be destructive, even deadly, especially among youth. 

        Haidt suggests "the biggest single change that would reduce toxicity of existing platforms would be user verification as a precondition for gaining the algorithmic amplification that social media offers."

        Democrats being democrats are still bruising each other while their minority faction of progressives get far more media attention than the majority of the party.

        The first amendment is an American strength, but we must find a way to minimize the damage being done and being conveyed by social media platforms that after all are data collecting and selling businesses. They are commercial schemes that benefit from controversy, but too they are tools, unwitting or otherwise, of those who wish to do America harm.

        They are part of a new addiction, they undermine truth, and they are, at the least, as much about disinformation as anything else.

        As we move forward to prosecute levels of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by Russians, as we strive to restore civility to our own shores, as we wrestle with race, equity, and as we try to reconnect to truth and reality, we must control the primary medium of lies, distortion, and disinformation. US problems can be solved only in an arena of honesty and mutual respect.

        Anti American fifth column Republicans can still blather their fear mongering disinformation, but we need not, nor shouldn't expose ourselves to thousands of channels of lies that brainwash and seek to bring down democracy. 

        Question, challenge, think, analyze. 

        See you down the trail.