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Books I Read in 2020

Books I Read in 2020 is brought to you by Bird and Beckett Books in San Francisco.

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This year I started a book diary and kept track of all the books I read. I recommend all of these books however special shout-out to three books: There There by Tommy Orange, The Metaphysical Club: A Story of Ideas in America by Louis Menand and My Song: A Memoir by Harry Belafonte. Below is a list and a short description of each book.

The Metaphysical Club: A Story of Ideas in America
Louis Menand
Farrar, Straus and Giroux; First edition (April 10, 2002)

Louis Menand is a brilliant thinker and The Metaphysical Club: A Story of Ideas in America is a great read. It is like a play with four characters as leads.  It is strange to think that the Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes  fought in the Civil War then went on to be on the Supreme Court for around thirty years in the early 20th century. Not brought up in my rudimentary education of the 19th century is the debate between monogenists and polygenists and such characters as Louis Agassiz and how the entire science world was convinced that Africans were a different species. This was the accepted belief until Darwin’s On the Origin of Species. Just a warning to the world on how perception is so often not reality and science when overly influenced by money and politics is often wrong.

There There
Tommy Orange Knopf (2018)

I highly recommend this book as the story telling and writing are phenomenal and the characters memorable. Based in Oakland and written by and about Native Americans – something not often found in published literature. Amazing book!

The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz
Erik Larson
Random House (2020)

I read this at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic and it gave me an escape from the lack of leadership of the Trump administration. I was curious about Churchill’s speeches, but instead you get the day to day life of Churchill during the bombing of London. A key source for this book are the diaries of Churchill’s daughter Mary. When politicians seem spineless, unable to lead, corrupt beyond belief, this is a good one to restore your faith. Churchill told the people the truth and would end his speeches with optimism and encouragement. What a concept.

Time Will Tell: Conversations With Paul Bley
Paul Bley & Norman Meehan
Berkeley Hills Books

Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America
Ibram X. Kendi Bold Type Books (2017)

Lot’s of stuff you never got in high school history class.

I Walked With Giants: The Autobiography of Jimmy Heath
Jimmie Heath Temple University Press (2010)

Great read from Jimmie Heath who lived a long productive life.

Cash: The Autobiography Johnny Cash
HarperOne; Illustrated edition (October 7, 2003)

If you are a Johnny Cash fan this is a must read. Given to me a few Christmas’s back by my second child, I finally got around to reading this autobiography. It is sort of interesting how in the first few chapters he skims over his first family, but comes around in the end to explaining things.

Little Bee
Chris Cleave
Simon & Schuster (2008)

This is sort of like a Netflix series that you watch because you have run out of options. Still, well written and engaging.

Dialogues and Natural History of Religion
David Hume
Oxford Classics

I read this because I am a big fan of Hume’s Zen-like skepticism. Heavy read where I understood only about ten percent at times.


Culture Crash: The Killing of the Creative Class
Scott Timberg
Yale University Press (January 31, 2015)

I wrote a review of this book on this website.

The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test
Thomas Wolfe
Picador (2008)

I had never read this book and was curious. San Francisco in the late 1960s.

My Song: A Memoir
Harry Belafonte and Michael Shnayerson
Knopf; First Edition edition (October 11, 2011)

I wrote a review of this book on this website.

All God’s Children Need Traveling Shoes
Maya Angelou
Random House; Reprint edition (May 20, 1997)

Amazing writing.

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The Treason of Donald Trump and the Republican Party

It is now a week after the November 3, 2020 election. Because of Covid-19 and the large amount of mail-in ballots, it took until Saturday for Pennsylvania to be called for Joe Biden.  The United States of America is still counting votes but the outcome is clear. Joe Biden won the Electoral College vote as well as a popular vote margin that when everything is counted will be over 5 million votes. Donald Trump is soon to be evicted from federal housing.

However, Donald Trump is playing the sore loser and claiming election fraud with no evidence that anything fraudulent happened. This is a typical Trump maneuver and this behavior of “deny, deny, deny” is a skill he learned from the notorious scumbag Roy Cohn. The prediction that Trump would never concede was pointed out by Michael Cohen over a year ago.

Michael Cohen Warned Us In February 2019

That just about every Republican supports Trump in his chronic denialism and legal maneuvers is deplorable.; Mitch McConnell has always been deplorable. At this point the Republican party is a party of traitors and treason and the oaths that they took to The Constitution are absurd.

NOTE: The opinion above is only that of the author and does not represent the San Francisco Journal, investors or subsidiaries. Letters to the editors can be sent via the contact link below.

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How to Change the Water and Clean an Older Hot Springs Hot Tub – Spa

Tools Needed
Phillips head screwdriver
Needle nose pliers
1 ½ inch scraping tool
Rags
Dish soap
Garden hose

Optional: Wet-Dry shop vac

Your hot tub may be very different. This is the only hot tub I have every owned. It is a Hot Springs hot tub from 1987 that was given to me fifteen years ago by a good friend. It still works great.
I change the water probably twice a year depending on use and the condition of the water.

You can simply empty the water and refill, but I find that going the extra mile with the cleaning really helps the quality of the water.

Step 1
Unplug the hot tub.

Step 2
Connect a garden hose to the drain pipe Open the valve. Empty the water directly into a drain. The water is not meant to water your lawn or a garden. The bromide will kill you grass.

I often drain the tub at night as it does take a few hours to drain.

Step 3
Bail out the rest of the water. I often find that the wet-dry shop vacuum works well.

Step 4
Unscrew the plastic fittings holding in the screens. Use a 1 ½ inch tool. I use a scraper wrapped in a rag. Carefully clean hair and lint out of screens with a toothbrush and under a faucet.

Step 5
Replace screens and screw plastic fittings back in. Be careful. This is an old hot tub.

Step 6
Wipe down the hot tub with a rag and a bucket of water with dish soap. Wipe with clean water.

Step 7
Use shop vac to suck out all remaining water. Do a final wipe down

Step 8
Close drain valve and put cap back on

Step 9
Fill hot tub with the hose

Step 10
Plug hot tub back in and start jets. Let run for around 10 minutes.

You are done! It will take 24 hours to fully heat up.

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Crane Cove Park in San Francisco is Awesome!

Crane Cove Park will be a major new open space along the currently inaccessible former industrial shoreline. The park will be a part of the Blue Greenway, a necklace of waterfront public access connecting the City to the shore via pathways, parks and open spaces.
https://sfport.com/crane-cove-park

I found Crane Cove Park in San Francisco on the day it opened purely by accident. It was a clear day and I was doing one of my bike rides around the city. Great job SF Port and all the people who made this happen! You can now update your website. (e.g., will be is)

  • On that old bike Lane I’ll ride it once again, just no longer will I ride with you.
  • I saw you pretending indifferent, from the warmth of your automobile.
  • This road has broken some strong ones, but it’s never gonna take my will.
  • The path beneath us is wicked, and best traveled on two wheels
  • Bike Lane – Lucas French

Where is Crane Cove Park in SF?
It is in the Mission Bay, south and not far from the new Warriors stadium along the bay. It is a stones-throw south of The Ramp and Mission Rock. It has a wading beach and a large open space that once was a shipyard. No swimming but I did see some paddle-boarders out there. Just an interesting space along the water.

The entire Mission Bay has been transformed in recent years from a district of warehouses and open spaces to a place with hospitals, UCSF and a stadium. For better or worse, many of the open spaces are now glass office buildings. However, Crane Cove Park is a welcome addition to all this development. During the summer months, May to September, Crane Cove will usually be fog-free and five degrees warmer than the rest of the city – a great respite from the fog for people living in The Sunset or further west.

COOL ACTIVITIES AT CRANE COVE PARK:

  • Easy short-distance, safe biking.
  • Walking
  • Wading
  • Picnicking
  • Views of Oakland, the bay, the Bay Bridge, old cranes
  • Rollerskating

Just in time for a pandemic is San Francisco’s Crane Cove Park.

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The Quarterly Report – October 2020

This SF Journal Quarterly Report is brought to you by Gentilly and Taqueria Guadalajara, both excellent options for take out dining in the Excelsior District of San Francisco.

I am a little concerned about the concept of a Quarterly Report as the world is moving far to fast.  Since the last Quarterly Report, entire cities in California have been burned to the ground, we discovered Donald Trump paid just $750 in Federal Income Taxes for two years while pretending to be president and while getting exceptional health care on the people’s dime, and the baseball season came and went like a beer fart that thankfully did not even register on the air quality meter.  But a plan is a plan, and here is The Quarterly Report – October 2020.

Weather

Whether or not you “believe” in climate change or not, California during September 2020 was literally on fire, with massive fires up and down the state. There were fires in Boulder Creek close to Santa Cruz, in the Sierra and north in wine country.  After some freakish dry lightening strikes in September, there were so many fires going on at the same time that you simply  lost track. For many days San Francisco was dark with smoke and the air quality was at dangerous levels across the state.  One Tuesday morning we woke up to a day where the sun never rose. The sky was an eerie orange. We were told the sky was similar to what it would be like if you survived a nuclear explosion – a nuclear winter.

11 am in San Francisco - September 2020
11 AM  in San Francisco – September 2020

While the expression that people “believe” in climate change (like it was some sort of religious epiphany)  always has seemed odd, all I know is that this is “the new normal.”  The climate is changing in more ways than we can even measure. The survival of the human species is quite dire.

Early October was fortunately a bit cooler with a lot of marine-layer and fog along the coast, but starting around October 7th we have entered our “Indian Summer” period with warm days and light winds. Many people are heading to the beach to cool off, swim and surf. This is the best time of year in Northern California.

COVID-19 Pandemic Update

In San Francisco we are doing pretty well in terms of containing the virus. People wear masks and practice social distancing in creative ways. Restaurants have adapted and there are many new “parklets” outside of establishments where people can eat.  A few places are hiring bands to play as well. Even though all the public schools are doing online classes, people are getting out and the hum of freeway is about back to normal.

Presidential Politics

Most everyone in San Francisco seems to be holding their breath hoping that the Biden-Harris ticket wins come November. It is shocking that so many people in the United States of America support Donald Trump as he has always seemed a dangerous fraud from the start. Let us hope that this nightmare ends and in the least we can have some civility in the national discourse. Then there is all the actual work to be done – climate change, racial justice,  education equity, the state department. The list is long. Where to start?

Sporting News

The Oakland A’s made it to the playoffs in this shortened season but lost in the second round. Someone mentioned that there are professional football games being played but that is all I know on that front. It sounds like a really bad idea as football tends to be a sport where bodily fluids are exchanged on a regular basis.

 

For the citizens of San Francisco there are many street closures to facilitate places to be outside and exercise. People are out and about, running, biking and skating. I predict that there are more kids that have learned how to ride a bike in the last nine months than in the last five years as you see them out on the Great Highway enjoying the 4 mile stretch of flat, open road with stunning views of the Pacific Ocean.

 

That is The Quarterly Report – October 2020. Be well. Wear a mask. Drink plenty of water, get regular exercise and for the love of God stay away from “social media.” Read books.

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Donald Trump Gets Covid-19 – Why Are People So Concerned?

The latest news on the national level is that Donald Trump has contracted Covid-19 – the Corona Virus. It seems odd that this is a big deal. All along Donald Trump has explained that Covid-19 is little more than a mild flu. Please let us stop with the hyperbole. Donald. Go home and get some rest. It is just a mild illness. Maybe check back in a few weeks after you down a few Dixie Cups of Clorox or perhaps have your “come to Jesus moment” like what happened to Boris Johnson, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

“It’s going to disappear one day, it’s like a miracle, it will disappear.”
Donald Trump

“A lot of people think that goes away in April, with the heat, as the heat comes in, typically that will go away in April.”
Donald Trump

“Covid-19 affects ‘virtually nobody’”
Donald Trump

“I see the disinfectant, where it knocks it out in a minute, one minute, and is there a way we can do something like that by injection inside, or almost a cleaning? “Because you see it gets in the lungs and it does a tremendous number on the lungs, so it’d be interesting to check that.”
Donald Trump

“It’s a little like a regular flu that we have flu shots for, and we’ll essentially have a flu shot for this in a fairly quick manner.”
Donald Trump .

Quotes begin from statements made by Donald Trump starting in February 2020.

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Hardly Strictly Bluegrass 2020 Awards Will Take a Break

The Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival that takes place in Golden Gate Park every first-weekend in October is still happening this year, however it is going to be all online or what they now call “virtual.” Not my cup of tea folks. I like the real thing and will not be attending. That said, this year’s  SF Journal Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival Awards will take a break.

As it turns out, live music festivals, with thousands of people bumping into each other, spilling beer on you and sharing local herbs is probably the best way to boost your immune system.  As an added bonus there is the perilous activity of attempting to hygienically go to the bathroom in a port-a-potty.  Wash your hands? Yeah right. Let’s all share germs!

For the past eight years I have written up reviews of  HSBG festivals and given out awards. If you are curious or simply getting nostalgic, they are listed below. Until next year hopefully, when the light of health, peace and sanity returns.

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Is Amy Goodman the new Walter Cronkite?

Democracy Now! is a daily television and radio news broadcast probably not known to many in the United States of America. The show is hosted by journalist Amy Goodman, who also acts as the show’s executive producer. Besides having the best theme music for any news show ever, Democracy Now! attempts to deliver the news in a style that is actually similar to the way Walter Cronkite read the news in the 1960s. Unlike Fox News or many current news programs, the emphasis is not on the personalities of the host and there are are no leggy blondes perched up on bar stools complaining about the weather and personal skin care products.

If you compare the delivery of the news between Walter Cronkite and Amy Goodman it is striking how their intonation, style and rhythm are similar, albeit Amy Goodman’s is probably a fifth higher. Close your eyes. The similarities are almost shocking.

Just compare these two videos.

Walter Cronkite

Amy Goodman

I am no scholar of the history of television journalism, but this style and approach surely have something to do with Edward R. Murrow and his journalistic  philosophy,, approach and style – a thing of a bygone era.  They simply read the news deadpan with a consistent rhythm and no chatter.

So if you want to see or hear the headlines like it was Walter Cronkite staring at the camera reading the news, watch Amy Goodman and the DemocracyNow! headlines. It is like a strong cup of black coffee – hold the cream, no sugar.

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Artie Shaw Quote

Reading “I Walked with Giants” the autobiography of Jimmy Heath I ran into a very prescient quote about the United States of America from a speech delivered by Artie Shaw, the great big band clarinetist.

“This is a great country, but there are a lot of idiots in it. That’s why I went to Spain for a while.” – Artie Shaw in 1998 at Jewish Community Center – Washington, DC (“I Walked with Giants” p245)

.

This was in 1998. I fear that the idiots are simply multiplying!

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Michael Cohen Warned Us In February 2019

Of all of Donald Trump’s henchmen, Michael Cohen is the only one that seems to have had a personal reckoning and has admitted his mistake of ever dealing with Trump. His closing speech in February 2019, before they took him off to prison for a brief time, is an honest assessment of the situation.

“I fear that if he loses the election in 2020, that there will never be a peaceful transition of power. And this is why I agreed to appear before you today.”
– Michael Cohen, Closing speech to the Senate – February 2019

Which is all at once spooky, insightful and clairvoyant. As of late, Trump repeatedly states that if he loses the 2020 election that it is all “rigged.”  What a mess we are in!

I bore witness to the real man, in strip clubs, shady business meetings, and in unguarded moments when he revealed who he really was: a cheat, a liar, a fraud, a bully, a racist, a predator, a con man.
– Michael Cohen, – from his book Disloyal

UPDATE: June 13, 2023

Fascism seems to just keep gaining strength is the United States.

Earlier Tuesday in Florida, Trump was arrested in a historic arraignment in a Miami federal courthouse where he pleaded not guilty to 37 criminal charges.

Trump is the first former president to face federal charges and was arrested and booked alongside his aide and co-defendant, Walt Nauta.

This indictment comes just months after Trump was charged by a Manhattan grand jury in a separate hush-money case.

CNN, Trump pleads not guilty in historic federal indictment

It is time that a brave judge simply locks him up in a jail until the trials begin.

UPDATE: September 21, 2022

And here we are, more than two years later, and Michael Cohen’s prediction has proved to be correct.  Not only  was there never a peaceful transition of power, but the shenanigans continue at an even higher decibel.  We do not hear much from Michael Cohen these days, but he probably sleeps just fine at night. It is hard to find tranquility without truth and a clear conscience.

When he gave his testimony before Congress in February of 2019 it was an interesting view into some really basic psychology that every parent knows. Michael Cohen, no longer the glib, brazen New York lawyer who fixes legal woes for rich folk, appeared humbled, calm and sober. One could only surmise that he had conversations with his family and his wife, which may have made him change his tune.  In the final Senate hearing, Michael Cohen’s entire body language changed, and unlike many on the stand who twitched and blinked in odd ways, anyone in the room could see that Cohen was confessing the truth. His eerie prediction evidently fell on the deaf ears of the Republicans.  But then again, I sort of feel that the adults left the room somewhere around 2015.

Today, Michael Cohen is probably saying “I told you so” to the people who will listen.

UPDATE: August 27, 2023

“After surrendering on Thursday at an Atlanta jail to be booked on state felony charges alleging his involvement in a criminal conspiracy to void the 2020 presidential election, Donald Trump sat for a mug shot in which he scowls like a psychopath out of a Stanley Kubrick film.”
Politico

I was hoping they would just lock the guy up in jail in a group-cell with other dangerous criminals. Michael Cohen’s predictions and assessments were correct.

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The Quarterly Report – July 2020

The motto of this fine publication is “Slow News that Doesn’t Break.” While you may be able to learn the latest tidbits and disjointed morsels and turds from places like Twitter and Facebook, at the San Francisco Journal you get “Slow News that Doesn’t Break.” I ventured onto Twitter the other day to promote a piece of writing and was a bit disgusted with the whole ethos of the place.  Grown adults shouting at each other like carnival barkers, writing incoherent phases like some deranged, mentally ill  person outside your window in the middle of the night howling at the streetlight.

The San Francisco Journal Quarterly Report comes out four times a year, and  tries to give an overview of the state of things in San Francisco. No need to be a news junkie around here.

COVID-19 Pandemic Update

The shelter in place order started on March 16th. On July 1, we will have been sheltering in place for 107 days. People are starting to get out and about and as of June 15, we are in Phase 2b which means a few things are open. It is still pretty much shut down mode.

Black Lives Matter Demonstrations

Since the disturbing murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer, there have been many demonstrations all around the Bay Area. On June 3rd we went to a large demonstration against police brutality at Mission High. Great speakers. Great group of demonstrators. After the speeches we marched West on 17th Street up to the Castro, took a right on Castro Street then down 15th Street. We left the entourage when we got to Valencia Street. Not reported by the big news outlets is that when the demonstration ended at 650 Bryant, the City Jail and Court House a rather large papermache head of Donald Trump was set on fire in the middle of the street. The police simply stood and watched. What was interesting is that throughout most of the march and especially at Dolores Park there were no signs of police. No one was hurt. No violence erupted. Very calm and peaceful with everyone wearing masks.

With the Vietnam war in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s it took the six-o-clock news and reporters embedded with the troops taking shocking images of innocent villages been napalmed and bombed to rouse the public to protest. War atrocities surely still go on but they have been hidden from our view.  What is not hidden from our view, and what people document by video on their phones on a daily basis is police killing black people. This, at least for now, the government cannot censor.

June 3, 2020 Police Brutality Protest outside of Mission High

Photos of San Francisco During the Pandemic

For the past 100 days I have often ventured out on bicycle and ride 20 miles or so around the city. Sometimes I take “The Wiggle,” other times I explore other parts of the city. I have been taking photos along the way.

With restaurants closed they will often board board up their windows. Many places then go the extra mile and create art. Here are some of my favorites.

Some photos of biking and San Francisco during the last 100 days.

Sporting News

No NBA, MLB and other professional sports at this time. There are some rumblings that the MLB will start up in July but time will tell. People are getting out more it seems – hiking parks, cycling and surfing (even though it is not surf season) are very popular.

Weather

June is the beginning of the foggy season in San Francisco. The temperatures usually are from 50 to 60 degrees Fahrenheit. We get strong northwest winds with higher pressure over the ocean and lower pressure over land in the central valley. This brings about increasingly persistent west to northwest winds during the spring months that go until the Indian Summer of September. It is always reassuring when this weather pattern returns, even though after months of fog and winds it gets pretty relentless. Of course the quote often used to describe San Francisco in the summer is thought to be one by Mark Twain: “The coldest winter I ever saw was the summer I spent in San Francisco.” However, another that seems more in keeping with our times is:

“It’s easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled.”
– Mark Twain