Jeffrey Cohen, a butter-voiced, bearded man who has been the dean of the humanities at A.S.U. since 2018, told me. On taking the position, he hired a marketing firm, Fervor, to sell the humanities better. It ran a market survey of eight hundred and twenty-six students.
“It was eye-opening to see their responses,” Cohen said. “In general, they loved the humanities and rated them higher than their other courses. However, they were unclear on what the humanities were—two hundred and twenty-two thought that biology was a humanity.” From “The End of the English Major” By Nathan Heller (The New Yorker – February 27, 2023)
The “The End of the English Major” By Nathan Heller (The New Yorker – February 27, 2023) is an illuminating article about how young people today are no longer pursuing degrees in English, History, Philosophy and the other humanities. In many ways you cannot blame them. College is expensive and when you leave you are going to need a way to pay off all those loans. The help wanted listings do not have jobs outright for people who are experts in say Charles Dickens or Renaissance sculpture in Northern Italy. “Go west young man” has been replaced with “get a Computer Science degree you fool!” Be practical and make some loot with ones and zeros.
And the fact that twenty percent of kids today think that biology is in the humanities is understandable as recently the field of psychology has been confusing gender and sex and it is easy to think that they both may be “fluid” and a “spectrum” – not so much hard science, but more about expression, culture and personal preference.
I would say what is at stake with this exodus of people from the humanities is a whole generation of people who are less literate and easily coerced into believing just about anything. Its the death of critical thinking and by the way – biology is a science!
Remember, before you buy a book from Jeff Bezos consider supporting your local bookstore. There are so many great book stores in San Francisco. I also highly recommend Green Apple Books on Clement Street. They have just about everything and the staff is amazing. When you buy a book from a local bookstore you get that warm fuzzy feeling just thinking that you may have kept a local business alive and you may even make some real friends.
Below are the books I read in 2022. This year I realized how fun it is to keep this annual list and reflect back on these literary journeys. The list is organized in the order that I read them.
I always like to mix up contemporary works with classics. Some of the highlights of the year is reading Brave New World in January and then spending the entire year marveling at the clairvoyance of Aldous Huxley. It is a must-read for anyone in the 21st century. What a great book! I picked up Free People of Color of New Orleans : An Introduction. in New Orleans. It is a short book and illuminates how the issue of race is in the United States is complex, how various stories are rarely told – one being race and the City of New Orleans. I did read a few chapters of the 1619 Project but found that I already knew a lot of the material, so it became a bit of a slog. I was lucky to read No One Writes to the Colonel: And Other Stories while staying in Cali Colombia for a week. Way too fun! I read it twice.
This heat is enough to rust the screws in my head.
No One Writes to the Colonel: And Other Stories
Gabriel García Márquez
Books I Read 2022
Brave New World
Aldous Huxley
HarperCollins Read Review
Finding the Right Notes
Ron Carter
Petrack Production
After a couple of months on the road with the band, Herbie began to feel frustrated. He was copying all the other pianists but not allowing himself to come out from hiding. Finally that frustration came to a head. “I thought , I’ve just got to play, really play.” Herbie said. ” If that conflicts with Miles, I’ll just have to hear the consequences.” So at Sutherford Lounge in Chicago one night, I let it loose. I figured that Miles was going to fire me after the set, but he leaned over to me and said. “Why didn’t you play like that before?” That shocked me. Then it dawned on that that a copy is never as good as the original. Miles wanted to hear me. And so did Ron and Tony.
Finding the Right Notes
Ron Carter
Americanah
Ngozi Adiche
Anchor Books
Robots Men and Minds
Ludwig Von Bertalanffy
Brazziller
The Bomb
Howard Zinn
City Lights
Free People of Color of New Orleans : An Introduction
Mary Gehman
Margaret Media, Incorporated
The Great Gatsby
F. Scott Fitxgerald
Scribner
Ladies Who Lunch
Joseph Woodard
Household Ink
The Septembers of Shiraz
Dalia Sofer
Harper Perenial Read Review
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Mark Twain
The Mark Twain Library
Witches Midwives & Nurses
Barbara Ehrenreich & Deirdre English
The Feminist Press at CUNY; 2nd edition (July 1, 2010) Read Review
Thomas Merton, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, And The Protection Of All Beings
Bill Morgan
Beatdom Press Read Review
The Bomb
Howard Zinn
City Lights Books
No One Writes to the Colonel: And Other Stories
Gabriel García Márquez
Harper Perennial
The Manufacture of Madness
Thomas Szsasz
Harper and Row Read Review
Skyblue the Badass
Dallas Weibe
Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk
David Sedaris
Little, Brown and Company
Gender Queer
Maia Kobabe
One Forge Publishing Group
A Coney Island of the Mind: Poems
Lawrence Ferlinghetti
New Directions
The Quarterly Report: A brief synopsis of the news in San Francisco over the last three months. Note: this is actually a six month synopsis as the October 2022 Quarterly Report was missed due to labor issues.
Politics
The November 6, 2022 San Francisco election outcomes were all predictable as the incumbents won easily. Brooke Jenkins won the San Francisco D.A. job. In terms of crime, drug overdoses and homelessness, not much has changed since Jenkins became the D.A. save for the observation that Capp Street now seems to have more prostitution and a few more homeless camps. A good friend who works at 850 Bryant Street says that the jail is about as full as when Chesa Boudin was in charge. Boudin was recalled because he came to the job with long term ideas and radical solutions that did not promote incarceration for non-violent offenders. Politically that is a hard road as people want quick fixes for things were quick fixes do not exist. There are no short term solutions to homelessness.
Gavin Newsom and Nancy Pelosi had no significant challengers and so kept their jobs.
In San Francisco, one of the tragic and strange events of the past six months was the home invasion of the Pelosi residence. Paul Pelosi eventually got clobbered in the head with a hammer. Evidently we must all be wary (or have a security detail) as there are all kinds of deranged people out there eating up the conspiracies brewing on the internet. To a speedy recovery Mr. Pelosi.
There has to be some adult supervision on the Republican side, in order to say, ‘Enough. Enough,” Nancy Pelosi – November 2022
Proposition I – Vehicles on JFK Drive in Golden Gate Park and the Great Highway lost and Proposition J – Recreational Use of JFK Drive in Golden Gate Park passed. So confusing! This means that Golden Gate Park’s John F. Kennedy Drive will remain car-free. After all that confusion, what is sometimes lost is the actual schedule for the Great Highway.
Starting at noon on Friday and going until 6 a.m. on Monday, The Great Highway is closed to cars.
The Great Highway in SF
Vehicular Access Schedule
Vehicular access to the Upper Great Highway is open on:
Monday – starting at 6 a. m.
Tuesday – all day
Wednesday – all day
Thursday – all day
Friday – ending at 12 noon
This schedule started on August 16, 2021 and will be in place until the Board of Supervisors considers legislation on the future of the Great Highway beyond the pandemic emergency closure. Additional information can be found on the Mayor’s Press Release.
From https://sfrecpark.org/1651/Great-Highway-Hours-and-Schedule
National Politics Quote to Chew On
By the way, Liz and I are not courageous. There’s no strength in this. We’re just surrounded by cowards. And then [in] complete contrast to cowardism [sic], it looks like courage when it’s just your bare duty.” U.S. Congressman Adam Kinzinger – November 2022 from https://kinzinger.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=403011
Sporting News
Soccer
Argentina won the World Cup against France in double overtime and penalties. It was an amazing World Cup and a perfect activity for some battling the latest round of colds, flu or COVID 19.
Football
The San Francisco 49ers, with a great defense, a lot of stellar skill players on offence and a poised, talented, third string rookie quarterback named Brock Purdy are on an eight game winning streak and headed to the playoffs. This will be fun to watch as everyone loves the home team when they start winning.
Weather
Fortunately we have been getting some good storms this year. The first came in mid-November and dumped a few feet of snow on the Sierra. In December, there have been multiple weather systems come through bringing plenty of rain. Surf is definitely up at times.
End of Year Point Arena Buoy Report. 35 foot waves. Yikes!
COVID-19 Pandemic Update
While San Francisco for the last two years been a place were people wear masks out of respect the pandemic does seem to be waning. In public places like busses and libraries masks seem to be common but people are out and about and traffic is definitely back to pre-pandemic times.
Parklets, Haircuts and Where the Sun Does Shine
Some parklets seem to be staying and music events are everywhere. There are many really good bands in San Francisco. Remember to tip the band!
That is The Quarterly Report – December 2022.
Photo Gallery of SF
The Quarterly Report – December 2022
Ocean Beach San Francisco
Pumpkin pies
McLaren Park
In San Francisco, there are many electric bikes often used to commute kids to school.
A Stitch In Time is now playing at the Pelican Cafe.
It is a song about the 6th Mass extinction otherwise known as the Holocene extinction. Oceans did sing to the sunsets. And once a whale did swim by. That’s all you get. Just a stitch in time.
A Stitch In Time
There was a day
Not so long ago
The sun did rise
To the East
CHORUS
That’s all you get
Just a stitch in time
Dilly dally
And it does fly
And then the sun
Kissed the Mission
And found a friend
In the fog
CHORUS
That’s all you get
Just a stitch in time
Dilly dally
And it does fly
Oceans did sing
To the sunsets
And once the whales
Did swim by
CHORUS
That’s all you get
Just a stitch in time
Dilly dally
And it does fly
CODA
Don’t feel so bad
It’s happened before
Haven’t you heard
There’s bees.
On November 15th, 2022 California College of the Arts will hold a ground breaking ceremony for the San Francisco campus expansion over an Ohlone shellmound (named “Project Double Ground”) During legally required archaeological testing on the backlot of the SF campus, CCA discovered fragments of shells, bones and tools located 40 feet below the surface in the bore samples. The samples identify Ohlone activity before the Bay Area was violently colonized dating back more than 7,500 years. – Hold CCA accountable for building over an Ohlone shellmound (change.org)
A few days a week I work programming websites on Irwin Street across from the California College of the Arts. It is a jovial office of designers who produce very good work. Across from the office, on November 15, 2022, CCA held a ground breaking ceremony for a new campus extension, but this was all simply pomp and circumstance as they have been digging, flattening and scraping the ground for many months on land that last year was a parking lot. You see large equipment that looks like pile drivers (not looking forward to when that gets started) and the area has been flattened and groomed for construction. We all looked out from the second story windows for a few minutes to take in the special event. It was a bright crisp autumn day.
Map of San Francisco California 1853 – wikimedia.org. From this Map it appears that Irwin Street was under water.
What Really Went Down
Irwin Street, like Wisconsin Street nearby is often a place were the unhoused put up tents and hunker down surrounded always by a strange assortment of personal belongings. A week before the ground breaking ceremony, about a dozen police officers and social workers who do homelessness outreach started clearing out the tents and unhoused folks. It was a major operation complete with bobtail trucks to haul away the stuff. Word had it that they were taking them to a hotel – hot showers and some fresh clothes, a fresh start to life perhaps. I do hope that they find their legs, as it must be a drag to camp night after night on the sordid streets at the base of Potrero Hill..
The following week on November 15th, 2022, Irwin Street, outside the California College of the Arts, was once again closed off. This time there were white canopy style event tents and various tables, chairs organized in rows, a lectern and about a half dozen people milling around. It all began to make sense. You cannot have a ground breaking ceremony next to a homeless encampment – it is just not a good look. The largest canopy faced the new campus extension and there was a lectern. It looked like a set up for a wedding or maybe some sort of graduation ceremony. Caterers were nowhere to be found. Food would not be part of this celebration. The sidewalk where the homeless were was all clear and smelled of bleach.
In the middle of the day, about a hundred people gathered. From our second floor window, we heard speeches which we could not make out. On the periphery there were protesters holding professionally printed signs that said “SHELL MOUND.” They stood and listened and were entirely peaceful. A few round of applauses, more speeches and then a multi-racial and multi-gendered New Orleans style second-line style brass band came marching out of the main CCA building playing a joyous tune. They marched around the crowd and played for about five minutes then returned to the main California College of the Arts building from whence they came. It was all a bit surreal and felt a bit odd. Mercenary horn players are always easy hires for well-paid five minute gigs. The band was indeed very good.
Then you had applauses and the whole thing was over, people mingled for a bit and then the staff started taking down the canopy tents and packing away the chairs.
California College of the Arts Extension Construction
California College of the Arts Extension Construction
California College of the Arts Extension Construction
ORDER OF EVENTS
(For those wanting to do a ground-breaking ceremony on native grounds in San Francisco)
STEP 1: Clear out the homeless encampments the week before.
STEP 2: On the day of the ceremony set up tents and chairs.
STEP 3: Give speeches and thank people. (Not sure what they said about the history of the spot)
STEP 4: Hire a New Orleans style second-line style brass band to make everyone feel better about the whole shebang. Have the band march around to spread the joy.
Who are the Ohlone?
Ohlone is a collective of around 50 separate tribes with related languages that were collectively placed under the umbrella term: Ohlone. The Ohlone are Native American people located in the Northern California Coast, tribes inhabited areas from the coast of San Francisco through Monterey Bay to lower Salinas Valley. The Ohlone family of tribes have been living in the Bay Area for 10,000 years
CLOSING THOUGHTS
San Francisco map composite. 1853 -2022San Francisco map composite. 1853 -2022 – Close Up Mission Bay
San Francisco is Ohlone land and over the last 300 years has been completely transformed. It would be amazing to go back in time 300 years and stand at what now is Irwin and 7th Street and just look around. You probably would need a canoe. According to a map from 1853, Mission Creek flowed into the San Francisco Bay (see map above) and the area was probably wetlands and underwater. Humans have completely changed the geography of San Francisco, filling in the bay, making more space for development. This has been going on for hundreds of years. It is Western Civilization’s obsession with conquering, not living in harmony with nature. We see this same ethos today with notion that we must “fight climate change.” Sunrise on Mission Bay must have been a sight with certainly a lot of wildlife and from early accounts huge flocks of birds.
Where the California College of the Arts new extension building is being built is along 7th Street and towering above is Interstate 280. If the Ohlone time-traveled to today, and attended the ceremony they probably would not recognize anything and many would probably be perplexed and perhaps terrified of the brass band. However, that the area in question, the Shell Mound is now the place for an Art School is probably a good thing. It could have been turned into unsold luxury condos, an IKEA or perhaps a headquarters for some tech company with the latest get-rich scheme. Maybe one day the California College of the Arts will make a plaque to acknowledge the Ohlone and their history. Perhaps, a student looking for meaning to their art will stumble upon the Ohlone basket tradition and incorporate the designs and ideas into their work. But one thing is always true. When you are feeling down and out, and perhaps need to smooth over a tricky political situation, or simply want to feel good about something – anything, simply hire a second line brass band. They even do funerals.
EDITED 11/22/2022 – Added images and updated some text for clarity. Fixed typos. Map composite an approximation.
This link above is pretty much all you need to know about this music festival that goes back more than a decade, and is free and unusual. The now deceased, banjo-playing billionaire Warren Hellman’s fortune keeps it all going and hires the bands and now extensive security. Thanks Warren! The music is an odd mix of genres but comes down to some country and bluegrass bands, old geezer, baby boomer bands, alternative rock and pop bands and a few local bands. For a young band, your way to get the gig is to be in the industry and a hard working touring band that has paid some dues, traveled many miles in a van and probably slept in a lot of Motel 6’s.
Whether you experience Hardly Strictly Bluegrass at one stage with a group of friends, a blanket, chardonnay and lots of stinky cheese and olives or want to catch a lot of stages, travel light and fly solo or with a like-minded buddy or partner in crime is your choice. I tend to go with the fly solo thing as there are so many bands it seems a shame to be tied down to one spot.
Here is my list of people I hope to hear, but as always things change and I may find myself eating brie with some strangers at a stage listening to someone I never knew that then becomes my new favorite band.
PAUL’S HAPHAZARED PICKS FOR THE HSB 2022 FESTIVAL
AJ LEE AND BLUE SUMMIT
AJ Lee is a local band that most people in the Bay Area do not know, which is strange because they are really good. Santa Cruz bluegrass at its best.
ASLEEP AT THE WHEEL
Country swing from West Texas. Nothing like some Dizzy Gillespie thrown in with your Hank Williams
CEDRIC WATSON
Some Bayou sounds not to miss.
CYMANDE
This looks like a really interesting band far from bluegrass.
DASHAWN HICKMAN W/ CHARLIE HUNTER
ELVIS COSTELLO
FARE THEE WELL: CELEBRATING THE SONGS OF JOHN PRINE, NANCY BECHTLE, JUSTIN TOWNES EARLE & MORE
JESSE COLIN YOUNG
RHIANNON GIDDENS W/ FRANCESCO TURRISI
SATYA
It is always good to checkout the Bandwagon Stage were the local folk get up on stage. Not as crazy as the other big stages.
Remember to keep hydrated, pack a few extra snacks and maybe a few extra cans of quality beer for when you find yourself next to some other friendly festival goers . See y’all on Monday.
When you do something twice it could be considered a habit or maybe just an eccentric variance or probably, in my case, just plain craziness. Being the crazy person I am, last year in 2021, in order to visit relatives and avoid Interstate 94, I biked the awesome 300 mile, four-day bike trek from Minneapolis to Madison and had so much fun I decided to do it again in 2022. The ride along the Great River Road and Highway I35 has a wide shoulder and is full of beautiful views of the Mississippi River. Once you hit the town of Marshall be ready to catch the rail-to-trail bike trails. These run over a hundred miles all the way to Reedsburg. After that you weave your way past Baraboo to Sauk City and then to Middleton and Madison.
This year I saw a few more long distance bicycle trekkers. There were a lot more cars and trucks on I35 than in 2021 as the ending of the pandemic made it so people were out driving. The trucks on I35 were a bit precarious and belligerent so if you ride this route keep an eye out for the big rigs.
Trempealeau Hotel
A new discovery was the historic Trempealeau Hotel where I spent two nights, the second waiting out the thunderstorms. Excellent food and a friendly bar. I even caught a local jam session on Tuesday night. When I stayed the historic rooms were only $50 a night which came with a shared bath. There was only one other room with guests so I basically had the place to myself. Big thanks to Amy and the staff who greeted me with a few pints of cold ice water after a blistering 95 degree ride from Pepin. I will definitely be back!
Day 1
Minneapolis to Pepin
Day 2
Pepin to Trempealeau Hotel
Day 3
Day off to wait out the storms in Trempealeau.
“For a long time, my stand-up material has drawn from three sources. The first is the English language: words, phrases, sayings, and the ways we speak. The second source, as with most comedians, has been what I think of as the “little world,” those things we all experience every day: driving, food, pets, relationships and idle thoughts. The third area is what I call the “big world”: war politics, race, death, and social issues. Without having actually measured, I would say this book reflects that balance very closely.” – George Carlin
The comedy world today is almost entirely about the “big world.” If you see the shows of Trevor Noah or Steven Colbert, it is often the “headlines” and the latest fiascos with presidents, former presidents, senators, dictators. It is the entertainment version of the mainstream news and it is gobbled up as the world is such a crazy place. So the jokes come easy in the “big world” as the material is endless.
Not to be outdone, here are a few of my “big world” free jokes. Just random ideas really.
FREE JOKE #1
Donald Trump’s house was searched and they found boxes of classified material – “classified/TS/SCI” — shorthand for “top secret/sensitive compartmented information,”
The FBI, just to be thorough, and to make sure they had not missed something from past administrations decided to search Jimmy Carter’s house but they did not find anything but came away with ideas about how to build affordable housing all over the world and some pretty good poems. Then the FBI got a warrant to search George W. Bush’s ranch in Texas and all they got was a file folder of Texas B.B.Q. takeout menus and How to Paint Landscapes art instruction manuals. Then the FBI searched Obama’s house and all they found were a manuscript to a new book and all his tax returns, but those are all public knowledge.
FREE JOKE #2
Donald Trump, whenever being investigate by law enforcement always returns to the same phrase that it’s a “witch hunt!” Investigating Trump’s multiple trials as a sexual predator and rapist – it’s a “witch hunt.” Meddling in elections and coercing election officials – it is a “witch hunt.” Collusion with Vladimir Putin – it’s a “witch hunt.” Illegally storing top secret classified documents – it’s a “witch hunt.” But today authorities have finally discovered and found the witch. It turns out that it is an overweight Caucasian man in his late seventies from New Jersey who wears his ties too long and has a bad combover.
The Quarterly Report: A brief synopsis of the news in San Francisco over the last three months.
Politics
Chesa Boudin was recalled and Mayor Breed has appointed a new District Attorney, Brooke Jenkins who was a major figure in the recall. Of course she will be under the microscope as all San Francisco district attorneys are and we shall see how the hot seat feels after a few weeks. Let us see if homelessness and the opioid epidemic disappears. I will hold not my breath. These issues have always been much larger than the D.A.. Meanwhile, people with serious mental health issues scream into the streetlights and live on the street in cardboard boxes. At some point the city of San Francisco should simply address issues of public safety and health. Creating more public drinking fountains and bathrooms would be a great start.
Sometime the unhoused simply burn down what is left.
Sidewalk in San Francisco once occupied with an unhoused person.
Sporting News
Basketball
The Golden State Warriors won the 2022 NBA title. Steph Curry with his three point shooting was in the end unstoppable and the team had too much depth. Jordon Poole’s end of quarter three point buzzer beater shots must have been a bit much for the opposing teams.
Weather
Not much to report that is out of the ordinary. The typical cold summer weather pattern is upon us with foggy and windy conditions. So far there are some fires out to the west in the foothills of the Sierra but not as bad yet as years past. We have our fingers crossed.
Driving north into San Francisco by the airport. You see the fog often climb over Twin Peaks and into the city.
COVID-19 Pandemic Update
While San Francisco for the last two years been a place were people wear masks out of respect the pandemic does seem to be waning. People are out and about and traffic is almost back to pre-pandemic times.
Parklets, Haircuts and Where the Sun Does Shine
Some parklets seem to be staying and music events are picking up. There are many really good bands in San Francisco. Remember to tip the band!
That is The Quarterly Report – July 2022.
Photo Gallery of SF
The Quarterly Report – July 2022
July 4th is San Francisco is always a day of fireworks no matter the fog.
The Women’s March
The Women’s March
McLaren Park sign. MLK once spoke at the Cow Palace
San Francisco Carnaval 2022 happened and was back to the normal crazy times
In 2022 there are many terms that in certain contexts are taboo and apparently offensive. The words “master” and “slave” are now being eradicated from our language in certain contexts as they are words that are either repressive or make people feel uncomfortable. An example of this is in programming source control. On GitHub the “master” branch is now by default called “main.” You can read about this change on various websites.
What is interesting is that there seems to be a lack of critical thinking here. We are talking about the relationship between branches in a repository, not actual human relations. Furthermore, what is ironic is that in the early days of the web, the person who ran websites was called a “webmaster.” Surely this referred to the mastering of skills and at the time the creation of ridiculous nested HTML tables and “font” tags, but to the underling of said “webmaster,” could they have taken offence and felt trodden upon as the webmaster’s slave? It all seems rather peculiar and some agree.
jaredpatrick • 8 months ago
I am a black man trying to build a product that is now broken because you are worried I am offended by branch names?
Slavery ended over 150 years ago. We don’t need your virtue signaling.
Stop perpetuating this BLM nonsense. If people want recognition and support then they need to earn it. I worked my rear off to get where I am today without a movement behind me. I have been elevated by people of all types because I have skills and a good work ethic.
We are all serving a “master” whether it is a manager or customers. Nobody can make it without serving someone.
To further see the absurdity of this renaming, I recently picked up a copy in a Goodwill store for one dollar of “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” by non other than Mark Twain. On the road, I was keeping my eye out for the book having read it in college. The edition was The Newsouth Edition from 2011. I soon found out that I wanted nothing to do with it. The editor had replaced the word “nigger” with the word “slave” throughout so as to not offend people and make it more palatable to the tender high schoolers. Good grief! Evidently it is alright to use the “n” word in a contemporary pop song but it must be washed clean from a pivotal piece of American literature.
What is additionally strange is that Twain had to fight constantly with his editors not to change his punctuation and he got irate when they took out or added commas. I wonder what he would have thought about changing lots of words. I will give this copy away and search for the real thing.
In 2011 the term “nigger” was made less offensive by replacing it with “slave.” Ironically, in 2020 the apparently offensive term “master” is renamed to “main.” We live in a world were comfort supersedes truth and the shrill seem to dominate the conversation. While we bicker over offensive diction real problems are everywhere.
The June 7th, 2022 California Primaries are over and the results are in. As expected Gavin Newsom is in control of the Governor race. In San Francisco, Chesa Boudin the District Attorney has been recalled. The Republican’s millions of dollars, the paying for signatures, the war chest bloated by billionaires has ousted a qualified, hard-working, corruption-free district attorney who was simply doing the job he was elected to do with the approach that he campaigned on. In plain sight, our democracy is for sale to the highest bidder. Let us now see what happens when Mayor Breed appoints a new D.A. and supposedly the homelessness will disappear, the pharmaceutical company instigated opioid epidemic is solved, and all the burglaries and violent crime vanishes into thin air. I will not hold my breath.
Nationally, there is a trend and strategy for wealthy Republicans who want to suddenly dive into politics of changing political party not because of values, ideology or philosophy, but because it is politically convenient. After being registered as Republicans for their entire lives they register as Democrats. They do this as they know that as a Republicans they do not have a chance at the ballot box and so at the eleventh hour join the Democratic party . This is the opposite direction that Donald Trump took when he ran for president, but in his case he was always simply a New York style mob leader and fascist – his party affiliation has been simply a matter of convenience . Donald Trump is in every way the RINO in the room and has made it so the Republican party now looks nothing like the party of Eisenhower, Reagan or Bob Dole.
In Los Angeles the mayoral race between Rick Caruso and Karen Bass is just another example of this pay to play politics. Rick Caruso is a wealthy Republican real estate mogul who registered as a Democrat simply to run for mayor. A good friend came up with a name for such people – DINOS. Rick Caruso and such characters are indeed “Democrats in Name Only.”
Second Amendment
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed. – The U.S. Bill of Rights
The United States could partially solve the out of control gun issue in this country by playing the “originalist” card and beat the “conservatives” at their own game. Originalism is the the notion that it is best not to interpret The Constitution and that the words must mean what they meant when the document was written. Five years ago I pointed out that the Trump administration did not even post the actual Second Amendment but rewrote it a bit – took out the “well regulated Militia” part and simplified it to basically say “everyone gets guns.” It is odd that the originalists did not find issue with this rewriting and often they have interpretations like Trump’s on their websites.
From my ninth grade history class with William Putman I learned that the whole “well regulated Militia” part had to do with the situation at hand. The newly forming country knew that many of the citizens. especially in rural areas, were armed probably mostly so they could hunt and survive. They did not want the British to take away their weapons and needed these folks to be able to join their cause. Thus you have the antiquated phrase “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State.”
So let’s indeed have a well regulated Militia. Everyone who owns a gun is now a part of the Militia. I would have all these people with all their guns show up on July 4th to the town armory. Individuals would be assessed for their mental stability, physical fitness and understanding of the US Constitution. There would also be required safety trainings. They would be given an official “I’m a Member of the Militia” ID card, and then at the end people would turn in their guns as our “well regulated militia” now no longer needs these weapons. Indeed, the British are NOT coming. The Militia would now consist of a few thousand folk who use their guns to hunt small birds, rabbits and deer to help with deer wasting disease.
Of course, I write this opinion in jest, as it would never happen, but I write to point out the absurdity of “originalism” and how it is used only when convenient. It does cut both ways.
