Top 10 Reasons Why I Don’t Understand Republicans

June 24, 2017June 24, 2017 / draketalkoakland / 2 Comments

Political parties are like the people in them, contradictory and conflicted but for the current GOP, the dissonance has become deafening.

They say they’re for deregulation—then why do they want to regulate every aspect of women’s reproductive lives, who marries whom and where folks go to the toilet?
They say they’re for business, large and small–then why do they want to ban the marijuana business AND punish those for whom it provides medical benefits-is it re-regulation of deregulation?
They say they’re for individual liberty–but love to tell you where and how you may protest, if at all?
Many claim they’re Christian–so unless it’s the version popularized by the Inquisition, why are they for oppressing and suppressing everyone else and yeah, that little thing of do-unto-others-as-you-would-have-them-do-unto-you, didn’t have a codicil that says, unless there’s a tax break involved.
They say they’re for state rights–unless the state wants to provide-in a Judeo-Christian sort of way-sanctuary for its most vulnerable citizens.
They say they’re for government transparency—unless they are the ones doin the governin.
They say they’re for the 2nd amendment but why is that the only one they care about-don’t the 1st, 4th, 5th. 6th, 8th and 10th amendments count? And if not, why not?
They say they’re for jobs and a strong economy but in many states immigrants represent the majority of entrepreneurial activity and the marijuana industry offers jobs and tax funding to local economies which would make them less dependent on federal government spending yet they seem to want to prohibit both from flourishing.
They say they want us to be world leaders–then why do they weaken our influence by reneging on treaties.
They claim to want a strong nation—but—our country became powerful (besides through imperialist policies which both parties love) because the majority of our people were well fed and educated. When we cease funding these basic needs and allow our country’s health to deteriorate, that is, the health of our people and its institutions, its infrastructure, its support of scientific exploration (I would include- of the arts but we have never been a country which cares about art or artists,) its land and its air–decline is inevitable and perhaps, irreversible.

I just don’t get you guys.

Matier & Ross on the Oakland Police Commission, Breitbart Lite?

June 22, 2017June 22, 2017 / draketalkoakland / 3 Comments

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My old friend, Phil Matier of the San Francisco Chronicle duo Matier & Ross, well-known purveyors of political gossip, recently penned a Trumpian piece of xenophobic spin against the city of Oakland’s recruitment effort for the new Police Commission. They signaled their law-and-order point of view by using an ancient and ugly right-out-of-the-Jeff-Sessions-playbook term for the formerly incarcerated, calling those applicants “ex-cons.” Millennials in SF who still read the Chronicle (??) were probably running to their stock-vector-grumpy-old-man-vector-clip-art-illustration-with-simple-gradients-all-in-a-single-layer-132297044 “terms your cranky old Republican uncle would use dictionary” to define “ex-con” for them.

The reason to slander those once convicted, now rehabilitated, paid-their-debt-to-society folks, is that the city charter change which calls for setting up this new, independent model of police accountability will include these community representatives as impaneled members of the future Commission if they apply.

Here in California unlike many Jim Crow states, the formerly incarcerated, rehabilitated members of our community have another name that of–citizens and voters–as opposed to some pejorative term marking them as a permanent underclass. The M&R column, hewing as it does to that terminology, is right out of the Richard Nixon-Lee Atwater playbook. Yeah, you’re gonna have to google that one too or just ask your cranky old Republican uncle.

Oakland is one of the cities with a “ban the box” policy which “by removing the conviction history question on job applications and delaying background check inquiries until later in the hiring, ” according to the National Employment Law Project prevents the stigma of having been incarcerated from discouraging applicants who may still be qualified-so it is no surprise that Oakland would also seek a diverse panel to oversee our troubled police department.

Contrary to Matier’s report on KPIX, no “ex-cons” will be hired as this is a volunteer position requiring many hours of unpaid duties for the work of the commissioners. The solid reasoning for including these Oaklanders is that they are the people who live in the communities most impacted by how police do their jobs.

Eighty-three percent of Oakland voters decided that OPD needed a lot more oversight. These voters felt it was about time someone besides the police officers’ association, as in so many previous decades, would be doing the overseeing. Apparently Matier & Ross have a problem with that or they wouldn’t be working so hard to skew how the Commission is viewed before it is even seated.

There’s not the space here [nor the patience]to go into the structure of our criminal justice system and how biased it is from “stop and frisk” to plea bargaining the innocent out of a jury trial to unfair sentencing for poor, especially Black and Brown people. I should not have to tell this to anyone who writes for the West Coast paper of record but there you go, the alt-right seems to have seeped in with the fog.

As to the reason that former Oakland officers should not be on the panel–OPD like any paramilitary organization is, probably for good reason, very closely knit. It is rare that an officer will turn in another officer for doing a poor job or even becoming a danger to the community, but former officers from other forces who, presumably, have less personal relationships with current Oakland staff can apply to the Commission.

As to promoting the particular point of view of Barry Donelan, president of the local police association, well, Barry’s doing his job, whose job is Phil doing?

Listen to John Jones, a member of the Commission Selection Panel, the folks who will ultimately chose four of the seven Commissioners. He is an advocate for a just Oakland and a representative of what second chances can mean to the Oakland community- https://www.eastbayexpress.com/oakland/dynamo-for-justicejohn-jones-iii/Content?oid=4932842 , “I like to see myself as Oakland, the unglamorous side…….A drop out. Someone who was incarcerated. But no matter who you are, what mistakes you have made, we have the responsibility and duty to ourselves, our families, and community to be the change we seek.”

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Wellstone Club Demands Independence for New Police Commission

June 13, 2017June 13, 2017 / draketalkoakland / Leave a comment

Wellstone Club Press Advisory

Setting up the Police Commission Requires a Strong Implementation Ordinance

The Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club whose members worked hard to support the passing of Measure LL urge the Oakland City Council to pass an “enabling ordinance” researched and written by the Coalition for Police Accountability when it is discussed by the Public Safety Committee today and the full council in 2 weeks.

The measure for a charter change was passed by 83% of the voters and would be the strongest commission in the country provided the implementation ordinance is clear on the details on how to achieve the independence the voters expect.

There are many details in the Coalition’s version of the ordinance. Here are the 3 most significant differences between the Kalb/Gallo version and the Coalition’s:

Makeup of the Discipline Committee

This 3 person committee of the Commission will be empowered to actually mete out discipline to OPD officers up to and including firing.

In order to prevent even the appearance of mayoral/administrative pressure no more than one of the three mayoral appointees should be on this committee at any given time.

Police Commission Initiated Complaints

In order to react quickly to circumstances and/or high profile incidents, it may be necessary to immediately interview witnesses and examine evidence-waiting for the mayor or the council to weigh in could jeopardize the Commission and the Agency’s investigation. Why limit the Commission from self-initiating complaints as it sees fit?

Background Checks

A criminal background check as part of the appointment process tends to discourage those who pose no danger to the members but would have a chilling effect on community members who have had negative experience with the criminal justice system.

Oakland has many residents whose lives have been impacted by a biased system-sentences based on marijuana possession or small sales, a plea bargaining process that forces guilty pleas with little recourse for a fair defense, and also those who have paid their dues and rehabilitated themselves. Other cities only perform background checks designed to prove the applicant’s identity.

Postscript

Council Member Gallo has agreed to the Coalition’s version/amendments. We urge longtime Wellstone member CM Kalb to join us.

My Statement about the Recent Cal Dem Party Brouha–ha!

June 7, 2017June 16, 2017 / draketalkoakland / Leave a comment

Just to be clear, or full disclosure as reporters often say for no good reason, I used to be a Republican until about the age of 18 or 19 when I became a revolutionary, then a Peace and Freedom Party member, then a Green.

I finally landed on Democrat and I seem to hover there but my allegiance is to issues, not party.

So at the recent party election at the California Democratic Convention, I voted for Kimberly Ellis for party chair. When I got the word via tweet that she had won. I was very pleasantly surprised. It turned out to not be true so then I was disappointed.

I was surprised because she was clearly a come-from-behind candidate with no party experience and, I would guess, a lot less funding. Also SoCal where Eric Bauman hails from, has the population advantage.

Far be it from me to eschew comspiracy theories or take a position that the glass is half full rather than empty, BUT THAT’S WHAT I’M SAYING.

It’s a good sign that Kimberly came so close and a bad sign that party leaders, both Bauman and Ellis factions, are willing to tear each other apart over this new and unexpected development.

It’s not unusual for a party that has so spectacularly blown a national election and finally realized how many state houses have also been lost-to freak out. With the end of the powerful Burton regime, the tendency is toward schism, and we seemed to have fallen down that hole. Stop it-climb out and get to work Democrats! We’re all responsible for the state of the party.

There are reasons to be hopeful–we have energetic leadership in the legislature which is willing and able to take on the old guard. Leaders like Kevin de Leon, Holly Mitchell, Nancy Skinner and Ricardo Lara, not to mention our own Rob Bonta and Tony Thurmond represent the future.

Of course it’s still our job to push them as they challenge the Trump regime on immigration, education, single payer healthcare, crimimal justice reform, housing rights (y’all still need to overturn Copley and make police abuse accountable) but I’m proud of you all!

We have to urge them on with positive intentions but to be mired in the mess our party bureaucrats have CHOSEN to make of this recent election, well, it’s not my jam as we cool folk say.

So that’s it. I’m done, talk to me about issues, otherwise, shrugs, whatevah…

West Oakland Mosque Holds Solidarity Event Today

May 7, 2017 / draketalkoakland / 1 Comment

Press Advisory: California Sanctuary Campaign Event in Oakland

Oakland, Ca: The As Salaam Mosque has invited the East Bay community to show solidarity against harassment and discrimination, share cultural experiences, and celebrate diversity this Sunday from two to four thirty at 975 7th Street. There will be speakers, refreshments, and time to network with neighbors and local leaders.

Imam Muhammed and Pastor Jim Hopkins of the Lakeshore Baptist Church will lead the event in prayer. Speakers include Assembly Member Rob Bonta, leader in the State Sanctuary movement, Assembly Member Tony Thurmond, Council Members Lynette Gibson McElhany and Noel Gallo, Jose Hernandez of Congresswoman Barbara Lee’s office, School Board Trustee Jumoke Hodge, and former Mayor Jean Quan. Sundiata Rashid of the Lighthouse Mosque and Reverend Ken Chambers of the West Oakland Baptist Church will also address the gathering.

Jehan Hakim of Asian Americans Advancing Justice, organizer of the event along with Jean Quan, stated, “In these times of bigotry and harassment, it’s important for us as residents of the East Bay and beyond to spend the day with our Muslim neighbors learning what it means to create a real sanctuary in our community.”

For more info, see: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/solidarity-day-with-our-muslim-neighbors-tickets-33878708128?aff=esfb&utm-source=fb&utm-term=listing&utm-campaign=social&utm-medium=discovery&utm-content=attendeeshare or

Contact: Pamela Drake-pamelaadrake@gmail.com, 510-593-3721

The Mother of All Mistakes

April 14, 2017April 16, 2017 / draketalkoakland / 2 Comments

I started a blog last week and this was the headline and first paragraph-

Chronic Trump Fatigue Syndrome or what to do about Syria, Sessions, Gorsuch, Russia, the courts and more…

On another dark and stormy night in Northern California reminiscent of the night before the Trump inauguration, Trump launched his biggest success since his election and installation-which-you remember was the biggest in history-period. He sent 59 cruise missiles onto a Syrian airfield (which remains mostly undamaged) and a few more children died as collateral damage but he won the ratings war. I didn’t finish it before..

More crap happened–

Fast forward to Thursday- I went to lunch with an expert on immigration law and while my comrades and I were learning how to combat the inhumane way our long term undocumented fellow citizens-I’m using that word quite on purpose-are being treated, our White House commander-in-chief told HIS military to go ahead and play with the best toys they got, firing off the MOAB-mother-of-all-bombs.

After the first missiles were launched to such rave reviews-while doing nothing to stop Assad’s attacks-our Hollywood president, decided to go bigger; and this time in a place where even fewer people would be there to document the damage.

He did this on the day after we all watched a man being casually brutalized for wanting to use his ticket to fly. It’s even kind of amazing that we still have the ability to be shocked when authorities take total advantage of us with impunity.

Some facebook friends of mine were startled (running out of words for this phenomenon) that the Chicago police so offhandedly described how the passenger had injured himself. But we see those videos all the time, cops firing at innocent drivers into cars with children in Black neighborhoods. (Heaves sigh, maybe it’s good that we still are somewhat in touch with our humanity.)

And while all this is going on in full color with terrible soundtracks, the new #Hollywoodtroll administration is threatening to unravel Obamacare which you may find out while trying to make a doctor’s appointment. They have also set course to defund Planned Parenthood so that the remaining care for women may disappear, amid discussions of cutting the payroll tax as a way of killing social security. And, of course, they are delegitimizing science and data collection in hopes that everything they do can be excused as necessary.

There’s lots more, this is just a short list from the last couple of days and doesn’t even refer to the rants by the #GhostoftheConfederacy Jeff Sessions who’s running the Department of No Justice for You, you filth (by the way, he didn’t actually say it, but it was in his transcript.) http://www.marketwatch.com/story/jeff-sessions-changes-prepared-speech-to-not-call-criminal-illegal-immigrants-filth-2017-04-11

So, what about the possibility of starting a war with North Korea? I almost had in-laws, or my son did, in Seoul and I can’t help but think of a little girl there in the bosom of her family. While Kim Jong Un is a human rights criminal, he is not stupid. Any small country who wants to oppose ours, would do well to arm themselves to the hilt-except, of course, when the US is run by a criminal too, one with no concept of humanity, oh well.

Phew, it may have helped me to get all this down, but now it’s out of my head and into yours. What to do, what to do…?

I’m thinking that maybe we’re lucky that he has gotten, the #Trumptroll I mean, so crazy so fast. Americans of heart, Americans with brains, hell, Americans with any sense at all, have just gotten Woke and will hopefully, Stay Woke, https://www.bustle.com/articles/134893-what-does-woke-mean-theres-more-to-the-slang-term-than-you-think. They are rallying, marching, making signs and art, hashtags and laws to oppose this crazy shit. Watch this for some fun.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2017/04/12/you-lie-constituents-just-used-rep-joe-wilsons-own-line-against-him/?utm_term=.092ef17ca9f9

Attitudes and Info for our times-

*Stay skeptical but resist cynicism

*Recognize absurdity and laugh at authority, media and yourself.

Check this out- http://www.vox.com/2017/4/3/15163170/strikethrough-comedians-satire-trump-misinformation and this- http://www.danajerimaier.com/writing/resist

*Resist authority when you see it taking advantage of the vulnerable, in a plane, on a train, in town, in a gown (where is Dr. Seuss when we really need him) and everywhere your eyes and mind take you.

*Try saying “Stop that,” at casual abuse.

**When cruelty becomes fashionable, remain kind.

Oh this one is so hard. I wanna go to Berkeley tomorrow (April 15th, if you don’t know, I won’t clue you in) and punch a fascist but then I remember 1) I don’t know how to throw a punch and 2) it would probably just make me angrier and not change a thing. But, I didn’t say I don’t fantasize revenge….

*Self Care is important but planetary care is even more important

*Or How I learned to Embrace Anxiety Disorder and Love the Chaos...

We in the First World, whose homes are not being blown out from under us and whose air is still breathable-we who spend more hours worrying about obesity and eating right- than watching our children starve, well, we already know about long walks in nature and booting up our kindles to a good mystery.

Naivete is OK but Ignorance is not.

*My best antidote to being overwhelmed is information. For a couple years now I have been very disturbed by the conflagration in Syria and our ability to ignore it-it’s going into its 7th year!

I saw Progressives taking sides without really knowing how it all came about-it’s not all false flags, folks. Then I looked up Phyllis Bennis, wise, kind but full of hard knowledge. Read this- https://www.thenation.com/article/the-war-in-syria-cannot-be-won-but-it-can-be-ended/ I’m also reading journalist, attorney and Syrian-American, Alia Malek’s new book which I got out of the Oakland library, http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25898173-the-home-that-was-our-country The Home That Was Our Country.

*Watch https://news.vice.com/ . If you don’t get HBO, just check out Vice News online. They have brief and in depth stories from all over the world. It is really important to get news that’s not straight #MSM, main-stream-media.

*Social media is important-

Sequestering yourself may work for a time, but jumping into the political fray works better for me. Instead of yelling at the TV, I yell or joke or carp on twitter or instagram. Yeah, I work, I’m active in many organizations, read, go out to dinner, well, maybe I let the dishes sit a little longer-but there is still time for social media and it’s a necessary part of participating in politics.

Except for this-

Stop wasting time with the Hillary vs Bernie argument, progressive puhllease–

I’m glad Bernie is still in the Senate and taking an active role but he’s not my hero. I’m also glad that Hillary speaks out, given her knowledge and background, but she will never be my candidate again. That’s all over and we’ve discussed what went wrong ugh nauseum.

In all the bad news, I forgot to promote our progressive California legislature-doing things like making California a Sanctuary State, working to rid of us the unfair bail system, promoting single payer healthcarehttp://www.latimes.com/politics/essential/la-pol-ca-essential-politics-updates-spring-break-in-canada-california-1492029238-htmlstory.html . Rather than isolate us from other states, we should use this struggle as a model and, btw, New York just passed free college, well kind of https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/11/nyregion/new-yorks-free-tuition-program-will-help-traditional-but-not-typical-students.html?_r=0.

**Let’s breath deeply, let’s hug each other and take in a movie together, and then let’s fight like hell in the most creative, outlandish and life affirming ways we didn’t know we had in us**

Celebrate Women’s Day

March 9, 2017March 9, 2017 / draketalkoakland / Leave a comment

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So world wide women, as a group, we get a day. As social media types are fond of tweeting, let that sink in. There is so much to say about this global subject that I won’t get started if I try to speak too broadly. But as it’s said in the women’s movement, the personal is political so here goes-

Let me share a sliver of my life. I am a 70-year-old woman. I am officially old, but not elderly since we know that 70 is the new 50! When I look at pictures of my mom at 70, while she was still incredibly vibrant, she definitely appeared older than I do now. A lot of that is due to improved healthcare, more and fresher food choices unless we live in food desserts [I remember my mom’s salads, ice berg lettuce, tomatoes and mayonnaise] and regular exercise, plus we just dress younger.

When my mom came home from work, she had to take off her girdle and stockings before she could do anything else, which should explain why women did not exercise as much as we do now, it was uncomfortable even to walk to the car.

By the time you have lived to 70, you have experienced a few lifetimes, lifetimes that often seem to be separate worlds, different movies, if such they were. For many of us Baby Boomers, our stories wouldn’t work as a series but as wholly separate genres of film.The main character sometimes even changes her name.

There’s the early boring story of the dutiful daughter, the nerdy student who slowly morphs into the teacher-correcting-smart-ass-to-be, your friend, then the prankster, whose goals in life were wildly disparate and equally unattainable. This skinny, dark-eyed, buck-toothed (yes, I got all the Bugs Bunny jokes) girl who wanted to be either a ballerina or a Quaker preacher, Crusader Rabbit, was what my father called me.

And in every woman’s life, there’s the dark side, not only of expectations to be perfect, kind and obedient but also the butt of jokes, put downs, even abuse about our bodies and its shape. Most of us don’t talk or write much about that but no girl goes unscathed into adolescence. We learn, regardless of culture, that whatever happens to us, whatever nasty words or physical assaults we experience it is our shame and ours alone to bear.

Last fall the revelations about our current despicable president brought it all back to most of us, if truth be told. But it won’t be told –and now he is considered leader of the free world, but whose world, whose freedom? At such times the poet Muriel Rukeyser’s words come back to me unbidden,

” What would happen if one woman told the truth about her life? The world would split open.”

So let me drop a few choice anecdotes … my father along with the boys in my 7/8th grade classes made fun of me for being skinny and flat chested. My father made it clear that I wasn’t an acceptable copy (maybe that was lucky) of my voluptuous mom.

I spent my entire adolescence so convinced of my unattractiveness that as a result I broke numerous hearts in my years of galavanting about San Francisco State in micro mini skirts, wondering why men were following me down the street and why male “friends” reacted badly when I blithely ignored their pleadings.

Then later after my revolutionary period and as an activist member of first, the anti-war movement and then the women’s consciousness-raising movement, and finally as a single mom, I found myself myself at the ripe age of 37, hiding in the women’s bathroom because I didn’t know how to discourage an obnoxious suitor on the dance floor.

I told a friend about my epiphany – it occurred to me I was too old to still be hiding in the bathroom from unwanted attention. She made the astounding suggestion that I simply say, “no thank you,” when someone approached me who I didn’t wish to spend time with. Now, I know that doesn’t work in a dark alley much less on the job-how well I know that one [a story for another time!] But it was a revelation to me, me-a single mother of two-that I didn’t have to make myself available because someone demanded it of me, that I could say NO.

I wish I could say that things have changed so much from those days, but when my daughter was just at the beginning of her music exec career, she would call me from the grocery store or the street and ask me why men seemed to feel they could comment on her smile or lack of one as she passed them by.

I remember noticing that by early adolescence my daughter had developed a way of carrying herself, that was a bit haughty, almost princess-like. I commented to a friend once that she seemed to be aloof to the point of arrogance.

My friend, who had known her as a small child in our parent coop nursery school pointed out that as a tiny girl, more petite than most, quite pretty and also, one of the few Black girls in the school, other kids often attempted to take advantage of her but she had learned how to hold her ground. My friend thought, sensibly, that she had learned to carry herself in a way that said, “don’t even think about it.”

But another International Women’s Day and the stats are still appalling. More women are in poverty than we can even imagine and that means their children experience two things 1) continued generational poverty, 2) that the women who raise them and are their role models are are not valued as human beings no matter how hard they work.

Here in the “free world” our so-called leader, rather than electing the woman who asserted that women’s rights are human rights, we got the guy who said, “you can do anything, grab them by the pussy….and they let you get away with it.”

Now I know there were lots of other reasons that Hillary didn’t win,. but there really is no excuse for any of it. We all hold some of the blame.

One of my friends who marched in Washington in her pussy hat, asked me the other day if I was a little embarrassed by the whole pussy hat phenomenon. We were raised in a time when that word was not used by women. Since then it’s usage has exploded but it is used as a term of disparagement-of weakness, the lack of manly strength to stand up for what you believe in, an inability to fight back. So maybe it’s a good thing that we have taken it back as a symbol of strength, persistence and even resistance.

What real, principled strength is, a toughness that doesn’t lash out at the vulnerable, these are qualities that are difficult to put into logos. They are complex and thoughtful but I have seen them codified more often lately as in the principles of Bay Resistance:

Lead with Love, Power Across Difference, Transformative Justice and Collective Action….

As part of of our spirit of resistance in this transformative time, let me hold up some of the young women leaders among us. These women are able to bridge some of the many divides we women have found ourselves in– Alicia Garza, Zahra Billoo, Jennifer Tran and so many more.

By our one day of recognition next year, there will be more, some of them will be running for office, some organizing campaigns and still others leading a movement that will exist outside of electoral politics. I can’t wait, really, we can’t.

2016-11-13-20-02-28

Focus on Resistance

March 4, 2017March 4, 2017 / draketalkoakland / 1 Comment

Waking up to my twitter feed in the morning, it seems we’ve all gone Russian crazy. Now.. if you can rid us of 45 by finding connections to bad Russian dudes, by all means, do it. Then I’ll stop trying to scratch the inside of my brain wondering why the old Cold War has been revived and seems to have flipped the bad guys and confounded the good guys-it’s just too confusing. Besides I don’t trust the nice folks at the FBI, CIA, etc, to tell me who my president should be.

How about that Voter Suppression?

Anyway, I’m truly sorry that we are not focusing on the more obvious villain of this shocking electoral turn-around, no skullduggery necessary-voter suppression, aided and abetted by a right leaning Supreme Court which gutted the 1965 Voting Rights Act-and left us open to every kind of racist, nefarious Republican plot in which no Russian had a hand.

We’d already witnessed the first selection of George Bush after the Florida voter rolls were purged of hundreds of Black sounding names, which even then required the high court to hand him the presidency.

So, we should’ve been prepared to see a wholesale slashing of voters from the rolls, the reduction of voting hours, the removal of available polling booths, etc, to give the Republicans the edge that outright precinct gerrymandering had not been able to provide. It’s about to get much worse with Jefferson Beauregard Sessions running the DOJ like the Confederacy of old.

Instead we focus on the diabolic doings of Vladimir Putin, and I’m sure he’s worthy of the bulls eye on his pale naked back, but really, does that make it ok that many Republican governors see voting as something that the “wrong” people should be prevented from doing? Too many of us have spent hours begging people just to consider voting to believe it should be made more difficult.

Spend as much time as you can registering voters and talking to them about how they will vote.

So Much for the Environment…

While we are focused on the cheesy melodrama that elected Mr. Drumpf, the rest of the entire Republican controlled Congress is busy gutting the 21st century and lots of the 20th century’s advances. To (nit)wit- All kinds of protections for our waterways are being dirtied https://futurism.com/trump-aims-to-eliminate-clean-water-rule/, regulations on methane gas, 20 times more powerful than carbon dioxide to hold in heat, are being eliminated. https://www.forbes.com/sites/janetwburns/2017/03/03/epa-drops-request-for-data-on-methane-emissions-that-could-cost-us-trillions/#7673485d617d

Trumpcare, too Toxic for Congress…

The “replacement” for the ACA, much like the replacements in the iconic film, Invasion of the Bodysnatchers, mv5bnti4nzg5mtm4nf5bml5banbnxkftztcwotewmjg4mw-_v1_ is so dangerous to our continued health that it has to be quarantined lest even Republicans become exposed to its sickly aura. [Doesn’t it seem like many of them have already turned into robots and mannequins? Hmm, maybe we should find those pods.]

In California a single payer bill is back and it would cover all Californians including immigrants while being simpler and cheaper to administer that\an the ACA. It is SB 562.

http://www.latimes.com/business/lazarus/la-fi-lazarus-california-single-payer-healthcare-20170303-story.html

Homeland Security Police State Build Up…

And now, the ultimate in police state style governing-ICE vans parked outside courthouses, ICE police roaming the streets and hallways in unmarked jackets-why don’t they just go with long black leather coats, steel-tipped boots and hats covering their dead-Stephen-Miller eyes since they prefer the geheime staastspolizei style? Look it up. images-5 ap_091209048890-b499337a2d9e0b713a557a3936d469d80d5cb054-s700-c85

This creepy, constitution-shredding activity is spreading. Passengers on a domestic flight to New York were asked to show ID in order to get off, not on, but off the plane, and they complied-why folks-don’t do that!

Supporting Sanctuary State Legislation

We’re in California where the California Values Act, SB 54, is on its way to passage in an “urgency” vote. We hope that then we’ll be able to curb some incursions of the secret police by attempting to prevent our local police forces, including sheriffs and high way patrol, CHP, from helping ICE to terrorize our hard working immigrants.

But we need to do more, much more. In addition to finding ways to keep the feds polluted mitts off our tax dollars-we’re a donor state, giving more than we receive-we’ve got to find ways to make “sanctuary” mean something. Right now our resolutions and laws have too many loopholes. Rather than large sweeps we can organize against, they are stealthily picking off individuals and families wherever they can trick them into answering any questions about their status or of using the services for which they, immigrants, also pay.

What to do-a 5 Point Plan

1st– We need to make sure that our police departments are trained in how to recognize ICE, report on raids, no matter how small, and assist immigrants who may need to report crimes but are afraid of the consequences to their families.

2nd– We have to demand that sheriffs departments, notoriously filled with elected Republicans, are given clear instructions on when they can and when they cannot assist ICE in reporting who is in their jails.

Beyond that, we have to search for new candidates to run for these offices-candidates who care more about their constituents than their Trumpian ideology. This will become more obvious as the return of banking deregulation results in another crash and another massive wave of foreclosures and sheriffs are called on to assist the banks to throw people out of homes.

3rd-We have to sit down with our district attorneys and talk to them about the odious practice of plea bargaining which was almost always a bad deal for low level offenders, innocents among them, who were talked into declaring themselves guilty to avoid threatened longer sentences if they opted for a trial by their peers. The state has cut court costs so the increase in this type of “justice” is one result. But besides consigning many to jail terms with little proof of guilt, it may also consign defendants to deportation as criminals.

4th-We now have a bill which could repeal the Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act, one piece of legislation which prevents municipalities from passing renter protections on buildings erected after 1995 and other restrictions on tenant protections. Wikipedia says, “The Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act (“Costa-Hawkins”) is the California state law that prohibits municipal rent increase limitations on certain kinds of exempted dwelling units, allows rent increases on subtenants following departure by tenants of rent-controlled tenancies, and prohibits “vacancy control” — the regulation of rental rates on units that have been voluntarily vacated by the previous renters at an amount other (presumably lower) than what the open market would bear.” 920x1240

Simply put, we can’t call ourselves sanctuary cities if many of our residents are living in tents, subject to immediate removal and loss of their belongings at any time. Our Assembly Member Rob Bonta is one of the co-authors of this bill and we need to mobilize if we hope to defeat the well-heeled real estate industry which is already gunning for it.

Mr Bonta is also with us on SB54, Senate Pro Tem Kevin de Leon’s bill to protect immigrants and refugees from allowing our police to help detain them for ICE [except in the case of dangerous criminals.] Bonta also sponsored AB 3, the Stronger Public Defenders Act, and supports AB 291, the Immigrant Tenant Protection Act, SB 29, Dignity Not Detention, SB 30 requiring voter approval of the border wall, and of course, SB 54. Get behind these important sanctuary bills.

5th-It’s much harder to find support to make police agencies more transparent but we must insist on policies which clearly state that police are not above the law. Drumpf’s new AG Sessions has declared open season on police killings of Black and Brown people. I never knew the season had closed but it will be even more dangerous to walk, shop, or drive while Black during this regime.

IMG_20150612_212616 That means ending the practice of allowing sheriffs and police departments of buying military equipment and curbing the Police Officers’ Bill of Rights which so far trumps our own. Oh yeah, pun definitely intended. California under the Copley Decision is currently one of the least transparent states concerning police misconduct. http://www.theinvestigativefund.org/investigations/1293/copley_v._account-ability/

We have lots of work to do, the resistance must continue to build. But keep your eyes on the prize-a better state, a better world-don’t give in to the melodrama, as alluring as it is. I’ve outlined some actions we can take and reported on ones we are taking now-even more serious resistance is being considered in the halls of Sacramento. We are the 6th largest economy, remember? Ok then…

img_20170121_170039_103

My War with Things

February 2, 2017 / draketalkoakland / 6 Comments

Warning: this is NOT a political column so you can read or not accordingly. Although I will say that resistance is necessary on a daily basis, but this is about another war in my life-it’s not winnable but it is tolerable. Here goes:

I don’t know about you but I recently got old. I injured myself slightly at the start of a wonderful trip with my family and then hobbled around the entire time like an old lady! I am now just coming out of the resulting sciatica and for that, I’m grateful.

“I’ve given up trying to be on top of things.”

But other conditions like arthritis seem to have come between me and my things, my stuff some of which I love and most of which I actually purchased with my own money-actually with virtual money-they are waging war on me, a war I lose a little more every day.

No, I’m not one of those silly people who complains that I have too much stuff-why would I? I’m the one accumulating it! No one sneaks onto my phone and buys-with-one-click all those things, about $20 a pop from amazon. Who doesn’t love getting packages and having new kinds of stuff waiting in disproportionately-sized boxes for you when you get home?

Well, maybe some folks have loving family members warming the hearth and heating up the kitchen with good fresh smells when they arrive home. Alas, even my kitty has gone to the rainbow bridge (Don’t worry, when the kitty gods are ready, I will provide another forever home to a furry companion) but amazon is always waiting a-click-away.

So here’s the problem, some of this stuff conspires in the most clever, ingenious, should I say, nefarious ways against me. I’m wondering if you are likewise under attack in the private spaces of your house?

In the kitchen: Ah, jars. Every year they get tougher to open. Sometimes the tried and true hot water and knife banging technique doesn’t even work. So I use my finger-it’s-one-click-away and buy another jar opener which had great reviews and which I have to put somewhere so I can find it when confronted with another hermetically sealed pickle jar, sigh.

So now I have 3 problems 1) jars tightened by machines, manned by robots which no normal hand can open, 2) gadgets to help open jars but which miraculously slip out of your hands heading straight toward your quivering toes and your lovely kitchen tiles WITHOUT HAVING OPENED THE DAMN JAR 1st, 3) locating and retrieving said gadgets (what’s with that word anyway?) from its hiding place among the other things that don’t work as advertised?! Hope, it seems, springs eternal on the internet.

The bathroom sink, another center of confrontation (No, I’m not even talking about the mirror and its frights): At this point in my life, I require a couple pills at bedtime. So I stand at the medicine cabinet which, for some reason is above the very sink where your teeny, tiny pill will go to die while you watch. So then, I get another one, being very careful to remove it since the last two are now just blue smudges in the drain, so now the top won’t go back on the pill bottle…. 165646223

AND when I try to slide it back onto the shelf to take its same damn place, a bunch of those other over-the-counter salves, some left over from the Bush, years fall out in a cascading chain reaction. It’s reminiscent of those videos of waves of toppling dominoes but not in an orderly or predictable way….inevitably, one pops up and hits you in the finger, the most arthritic one, before heading for parts unknown.

More bathroom mishaps: I keep some of my favorite earrings on a high wooden bookcase-type-shelf in there. I pick one up so I can watch myself attempting to find my ear lobe, harder than it sounds when your head is turned in a different direction, why the whole exercise is nonsensical when you think about it.

But instead I watch in horror as it bounces off the sink, flies off of the nearest lower shelf (don’t ask, it’s another place for crap, makeup, etc) and then springs up in the air. Now, it has two equally horrid choices. It can fly up and fling itself under the tall shelf that it would take an act of Congress to move, but maybe Steve Bannon can make that happen for me (oops, no politics, but you know fascists can work miracles–in reverse.) I often wonder how many favorite earrings I’ve already forgotten that lurk under there now.

138719801 The other fascinating choice is for that errant earring to drop directly into the toilet bowl. That’s ok so long as it wasn’t in the process of flushing, sigh. But it’s more likely that my very last ambien will make that choice instead-at about 2 am. Oh well, I can always open my kindle if only my kindle were charged.

Other places where things attack or hide…The bathroom is not my only battleground nor the kitchen. You will find, ok maybe not you but me that the jeans I just took off last night or the sweater I just folded and put away. Kidding, you know I didn’t fold it but it should be on that chair with the other dozen black sweaters, pants, leggings, shirts I own. I just had it but now it has inexplicably vanished, verschwunden, disappeared, how on earth? in the word of James Fenimore Cooper, one day….I will find you.

I have lots more examples and see, I haven’t even reported on my phone which won’t let me input the number 1 for a conference call, for instance, closes its face and then goes dark on me. No, that would be sacrilege. Some of you who know me, know how in love with all this mini technology I am. But this is seen as unusual only because of my age.

Most of my friends of my age are still struggling to post photos of their grandkids much less their dining choices on their facebook pages while I harangue them about learning to use twitter and editing videos for instagram. Since anybody under 57 can do all of the above that should prove how old I really am.

Here’s my favorite enemy in the war that my stuff wages on me and the rational world. We were taught certain laws of nature exist that cannot be refuted. So you tell me, how is this possible? I love to wear delicate silver bracelets. I wear a number of them at a time. They are light and generally designed to be pretty but not cumbersome. And yet, I will often find my shirt or sweater fastened onto one of my bracelets. Now you know if I tried to hook that bracelet onto the tiniest thread in my sleeve of my, inevitably black sweater, I could absolutely not do it. images-4

I can prove that because I can’t get on OR remove any of these bracelets without at least a 2nd person to hold the bracelet clip in place with one of us hanging upside down from a trapeze before giving it a go. But, my bracelet will lace itself onto the tiny thread with its tiny ring and not let go.

I rest my case. They’re out to get me but I will resist (see how I got that in?!)

California Must Resist #notaxationwithoutrepresentation

January 24, 2017January 24, 2017 / draketalkoakland / 2 Comments

[Drawing above–Read more: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/how-charles-dickens-saw-london-13198155/#qjkp6Y867GhOyeU1.99%5D

As of this morning and my first check into Twitter, Trump had done so much damage on so many fronts, it took my breath away, so here pre-coffee, I sit down to write.

I have been thinking of a modest proposal to shut this whole thing down. I love that you’re calling your senators and representatives in Congress. My Rep Barbara Lee is hard at work and my new Senator is tweeting about fighting back. But their modest or, robust a la Barbara Lee, efforts are meager compared to how fast and furious the damage is coming.

Let’s recap briefly: the new FCC chair will probably roll back Net Neutrality which could mean, for instance, that I’d have to pay to post this blog on the internet so that it could continue to blast as far as you all can forward it.

GAG Rule on Family Planning-He already prevented any organization that even mentions (not provides) abortions from receiving federal funding, that includes those who test for HIV or combating the Zika virus and, of course, birth control. He did this worldwide so not only will women die all over the planet but many will be denied care here also. This a broader directive than any former reactionary administration of either party has ever attempted.

The first directive that Trump signed may end the mandate that keeps Obamacare afloat and cause a cascading collapse of it and all the other healthcare initiatives it supports which are too many to go into here. But you can find them on Facebook.

The new regime working with the Paul Ryan Congress may seriously try to transform Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid (if you don’t care about poor people, then do you want your grandma’s nursing home option removed?) into programs similar to those Dickens referred to in your favorite Christmas story, “Are there no poorhouses, are there no prisons.” BTW, private prisons are still big money makers and will be expanded.

Also on his first day, he declared war on protestors, particularly Black protestors, and anyone associated with Black Lives Matter or #BLM–and for krissakes learn how to tweet, blog and get on instagram, snapchat, whatever is out there, facebook is just us talking to ourselves. No laws need to be changed to declare open season on Black and Brown men and women in a police state where the police have always been granted and now, encouraged to assume judge and jury status.

They are already working on increasing voter suppression so unless we do something now, that wistful worry about four year term could easily become a very long and destructive eight.

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/trump-justice-department-moves-to-delay-texas-voting-rights-case-859610691557

Trump is proposing further destabilizing the Middle East by uprooting any peace talks in Israel/Palestine with a simple yet effective provocation-move the US embassy to Jerusalem http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-jerusalem-idUSKBN1532HW

He’s provoking war with China, and pledging to reduce all regulations–all regulations– by 75% whether that is regulating the banks which crashed the economy in 2008 or quietly ending the investigation into the Flint poisoned water crisis, still ongoing.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/house-gop-quietly-closes-flint-mich-water-investigation/

Oh yeah, he is writing directives to reinstate the Keystone Pipeline AND the Dakota Access Pipeline in which he has investments plus upping the production of coal, oh enough, you say, but it’s never enough for these plunderers….

Ok, but we live in California. We are currently considered the 6th largest economy in the world with Texas following us as the 10th largest economy-hmm, not a useful stat since it is run by folks who would reinstitute slavery the moment Jeff Sessions gave them the go-ahead. http://www.newsweek.com/economic-output-if-states-were-countries-california-would-be-france-467614,

But if you take the great Northeast, from Boston through Washington, you’d reside in an area that is the world’s 4th largest economy. See http://www.citylab.com/work/2014/03/dozen-regional-powerhouses-driving-us-economy/8575/

If any of the those corridor states joined us, say New York, our state leaders might get the chutzpah given the devastation to our economy and climate that we are facing, to deny or at least delay forwarding its residents’ tax payments to this corrupt puppet government. Can it be done, lets’ try it, the worst that could happen would be a federal suit that could delay implementation of the regime’s plans.

Yeah, I love that legal scholars are going after Trump’s many violations of the Constitution’s emoluments clause and others are investigating his ties to Russia, possibly involving treason but without Trump, there would still be the Ryan Congress. Yes, please challenge some of those members in the coming midterms so we could get a couple more votes, but NOW is the time for us to protect our folks and use the economic power of our state, a state which did not vote for Trump.

Anything that California does that restricts the flow of dollars and acquiescence to its new rules-they will probably go after our waivers which, put simply, allow us to pass stronger environmental regulations in our state like on auto emissions-has the potential to throw a monkey wrench into the regime’s ability to govern the other states with an orange fist.

So call your Assembly person, your State Senator (yeah, we have them, do you know who yours is? http://findyourrep.legislature.ca.gov/ ). Then Call Betty Yee’s office, our state Controller http://www.sco.ca.gov/eo_about_bio.html , she’s great by the way, very progressive. Then also call State Treasurer John Chiang’s office, http://www.treasurer.ca.gov/ and ask them how we can resist #taxationwithoutrepresentation. Given the rules of the Electoral College, our votes were virtually ignored.

And since you will no longer bump into Jerry Brown running the Lake or working out at the gym in City Center-he moved last year-you can contact his office, https://www.gov.ca.gov/home.php

He has been talking about leading the fight against Trump’s depredations, so let’s challenge him to do it. Part of the overall strategy is to declare our entire state a sanctuary (https://draketalkoakland.com/2016/11/23/join-the-call-on-november-29th-make-california-a-sanctuary-state/ ) but the implementation has to have some teeth, some financial back-up against the punishments to meted out by the Trumpster’s cabinet.

Yes, that’s it, the New Tea Party of the Left, and unapologetically so. No time to waste, every single day we wait we lose another day of health, another right, another economic protection, and another species on the planet. Is this a radical proposal? I sure as hell hope so! You got another one? Put it out there. If you don’t want to start your own blog, be a guest on mine, love to have you.

Thanks for all you do already, now let’s do some more,

Your friend in Oakland,

Pamela Drake

Drake Talk Oakland

Making a difference in Oakland.