I just read that the Planet was interested in first-hand stories of the Troop Train protest of 50 years ago. Gar Smith mentioned that I had been “on the tracks” and wondered what I had to report. Well, here it is. -more-

Fifty years ago this Thursday, August 6 (Hiroshima Day), a group of Berkeley students and Bay Area peace activists took a stroll down University Avenue and unveiled two large paper banners. One read: "STOP." The other read: "The War Machine."

What made this protest memorable was the place where it was staged. It was not on the University of California's Savio (née Sproul) Steps nor was it on the streets of Oakland.

Instead, a determined crowd of 150 demonstrators converged to stand on a line of railroad tracks near a rail station just off one of Berkeley's main thoroughfares. -more-

Dry thunderstorms moving through the Bay Area through Friday morning could increase the risk for wildfires, the National Weather Service said today. -more-

The construction of the first, true high-rise in the city of Berkeley (in this case the Harold Way Project), will forever change the nature of our very unusual, human-scale city. Under the unfortunately voter-approved Downtown Plan, once the high-rise limit is breached, the city will never turn back as it rushes forward to become part of what Bay Area planners sometimes admiringly refer to as “the vernacular of today”. And there is no way the skyscrapers will be forever restricted to just three—as envisaged in the Plan. Urban planning, and urban developer dynamics over the long term just don’t work that way. -more-

A major detriment of the 2011 Harold Way plan is the demolition of the very popular 10-screen Shattuck Cinemas (275,00 to 300,000 tickets sold per year). The Shattuck Cinemas bring both popular and little known films to Berkeley and draw loyal patrons from all over the East Bay each week whose patronage extends beyond seeing movies to benefit Shattuck Avenue merchants, cafes and restaurants, as well. These theaters, then, are a cultural and entertainment attraction that draw several hundred thousand people to downtown Berkeley each year and contribute significantly to the vitality of our downtown and to Berkeley's cultural richness. -more-

In an age when network ‘news’ is becoming increasingly irrelevant, more and more young people are seeking alternative news sources and comedy to escape the highly repetitious FOX, MSNBC, CNN . . Talking points. It hardly seems that 16 years have passed since Jon Stewart took over the "The Daily Show" anchor desk. His quick wit and biting satire made a complete mockery of network news exposing their journalists as shallow and witless. -more-

October 1 marks the 50th anniversary of the 1965 genocide in Indonesia that left between 1 to 3 million people dead. Human rights groups are circulating petitions calling for the U.S. and other governments, most notably the United Kingdom, Australia and Japan to acknowledge their role in the genocide and to release CIA, military and other governmental records related to the mass killings. Sukarno, the first Indonesian president who led Indonesia out from Dutch colonialism, was ousted because of his ‘grievous crime’ of wishing to stay independent from Western and Soviet Union alliances. -more-

Editor's Note: The latest issue of the Pepper Spray Times is now available.

You can view it absolutely free of charge by clicking here . You can print it out to give to your friends.

Grace Underpressure has been producing it for many years now, even before the Berkeley Daily Planet started distributing it, most of the time without being paid, and now we'd like you to show your appreciation by using the button below to send her money. -more-

Squeezed out: The shrinking availability of Berkeley’s affordable housing

Many political observers were surprised by the success of Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. This is an instance of the proverbial “chickens coming home to roost.” Republican politicians have grown fond of telling their constituents, “You can’t trust Washington.” This paved the way for Trump, the ultimate outsider. -more-

My wife and I were privileged to go on a number of African safaris in Botswana, South Africa, Namibia, Kenya, Tanzania, and even Zimbabwe. We watched animals; we did not shoot them except with a camera. We went on each safari in an open land rover. The animals in the game reserve are so used to land rovers, we could drive within a few feet of animals with little or no notice. -more-

Psychosis, in the mind of the person suffering from it, has its own defense mechanisms, much as there are cancers or communicable diseases that have built-in defenses. The psychotic disorder grabs hold of the ego of the individual, and causes the person to defend his or her delusional beliefs with the same defenses that would ordinarily work in our favor, defenses that ordinarily would give us fortitude and persistence. -more-

A White House Conference is a national meeting sponsored by the Executive Office of the President of the United States with the purpose of discussing a topic of importance to the American public. It is typically created by specific legislation. Some conferences last for a day, others for several. Typical attendees include experts in the particular field, community leaders, advocates and citizens with an interest in the issue. The President usually speaks to a conference general session. The conference concludes by issuing a report to the President summarizing and making recommendations for executive or legislative action. The First Lady has sometimes hosted White House conferences. -more-

In Don Pasquale, one of Gaetano Donizetti’s last operas, the title character is a man in his 70s who foolishly decides it’s time to get married. In Merola Opera’s production of Don Pasquale, which I saw Saturday, August 8 in Cowell Theatre at Fort Mason, the title character is portrayed as a wealthy, sickly nutcase who is paranoid about the possibility of germs infecting him. Don Pasquale’s home looks for all the world like an infirmary. His lounge chair looks like a chair one might find in a hospital examination room, and his servants are all dressed in hospital white and, like the don himself, wear white face-masks to keep away germs. As a staging concept, so far so good; but under Nic Muni’s direction this production of Don Pasquale veers off in several misguided directions which lead nowhere. -more-

On Friday evening, August 7, American Bach Soloists kicked off at San Francisco Conservatory of Music a festival dedicated to the music of the court at Versailles. This music, which ABS designates as The Parisian Baroque, was composed and performed at the court of French kings Louis XIII, Louis XIV, and Louis XV. In 1626 Louis XIII officially established an ensemble of the finest string players in the land called Les Vingt-quatre Violons du Roi. These violinists, violists, and cellists would on occasion be joined by the king’s wind and brass ensemble, La Grande Écurie, and together these ensembles would join the orchestra of the opera. A bit later, under the direction of the Italian-born composer Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632-1687), French musicians at Versailles created a unique sound combining detailed ensemble control, a lightness of sonority, and a graceful reliance on dance structures. Louis XIV, one might recall, was enormously fond of ballet, and he went on stage as a ballet dancer at age 13, subsequently favoring dance music throughout his long reign as king. -more-