Public Comment

SMITHEREENS: Reflections on Bits & Pieces (1500)

Gar Smith

Sunday March 06, 2022 - 07:05:00 PM

Running a Marathon — by Chance

There are just too many things to worry about these days. Climate change is worse than we thought. The Bay Area's overdue earthquake is still overdue. Ukrainian cities and civilians are being bombarded. Russia and Washington are making references to the "nuclear option." The Golden State Warriors squandered a 14-point lead in the fourth quarter....

I needed a distraction, so I took a break by running in the Berkeley Half-Marathon.

Actually, I couldn't avoid it. Part of the Marathon's course overlaps with my much-shorter Sunday jog—from the Monterey Market up to the Berkeley Rose Garden and back.

If anyone were to ask, I could honestly boast that I "easily passed hundreds of other runners."

If anyone were to cast a doubtful look, I would have to confess: while the half-marathoners were all running west, I was heading east, uphill to the Marin Circle Fountain. Once there, I reversed direction and joined the flood of marathoners for the downhill trot back to Hopkins Street.

It was a kick, running past the residents gathered along the curb, banging bells, clapping hands, and shouting words of encouragement: "Looking good!" "Way to go!" "You're gonna make it!" "Suck it up, slowpoke!"

I figure I only ran a half-of-a-half-of-a-half-of-a-Half Marathon but my legs are still sore.

Is Calling for a Coup a Big Whoop-de-doo?

Last week's column noted the appearance of a new message being promoted by TrumpleThinSkin and his supporters. Alongside banners reading "SAVE AMERICA," there were other professionally printed placards that bore the chilling threat: "TRUMP 24: OR BEFORE."

Here's a question for legal scholars: Does this display constitute a crime under 18 US Code, Chapter 115, Article 2385, which reads:
"Whoever, with intent to cause the overthrow or destruction of any such government, prints, publishes, edits, issues, circulates, sells, distributes, or publicly displays any written or printed matter advocating, advising, or teaching the duty, necessity, desirability, or propriety of overthrowing or destroying any government in the United States by force or violence…. Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both."

I vote for "both."

Social Insecurity

The Progressive Turnout Project (PTP) recently emailed a petition calling on Congress to increase monthly Social Security payments. According to the PTP, the Cost of Living adjustment for 2022 increased SS payments by 5.9 percent. Unfortunately, the Consumer Price Index increased by 7.5 percent, which wiped out the SS "increase."

As the PTP noted, over the past 21 years, housing costs have soared 118 percent while healthcare costs have skyrocketed 145 percent. Over the same 21 years, Social Security checks have only increased 55 percent, which translates to a major loss of purchasing power.

Senator Elizabeth Warren is pushing a bill to increase SS payments to seniors by another $200 per month. Naturally, Mitch McConnell is working to block it.

Finally, The Tot Trap Gets Re-tagged

Several months ago, this column raised concerns about the removal of a warning sign that had been affixed to a new climbing structure at the King Park playground on Hopkins. The sign posted an age-limit for climbers (5-to-12 years), warned kids not to wear necklaces or scarves for fear of strangulation, cautioned that sunny days could leave the tower's tiers hot enough to cause burns, and stipulated that children should be under adult supervision.

The cautionary note was peeled off by parties unknown. Berkeley's Parks Department was alerted and promised to respond.

During a visit to the park a few weeks ago, the warning sign was still missing and a group of three four-year-olds and a boy of six were seen swinging and swaying in the middle of the tower. (These structures, manufactured by Berliner Seilfabrik, are officially called "DNA Towers" because of their signature double-helix shape.)

There were no adults to be seen as the kids scrambled into the third level of the Tot Tower where a protective net was wrapped around the outer supports to prevent children from toppling through the tower's bars and tumbling to the ground. The designers apparently didn't road-test the design sufficiently to assure maximum safety. I watched aghast as the oldest climber swung outside the protective net and began struggling to reach the top level—by clinging to the outside of the no-longer-protective green web.

Finally, some good news. Last week, a new sign appeared affixed to the tower. As before, it restricted climbers to children from 5-12 playing under "adult supervision."

Now, the bad news. The new sticker is less than half the size of the original warning and the font is much smaller, making it harder to read. In addition to being too small to draw much attention, the warning sign was placed five feet off the ground, so it cannot be seen—much less read—by children attracted by the bright green-and-yellow "climbing castle."

The new label warns that children falling from the tower face the possibility of injury or death but then warns climbers not to wear helmets for fear the chin-straps could get caught in the architecture and cause asphyxiation.

Finally, this update ends with more bad news: someone has already tried to peel back and remove the new warning.

Give a Bit, You Selfish Bums!

If you have email, you're familiar with political fund-raising pitches disguised as "urgent surveys." They typically begin by asking a half-dozen leading questions bursting with built-in partisan bias and they always end with an "ask" for a donation.

In what may be a case of "big-ask burn-out," a recent fundraising survey from action.chuckschumer.com ended with five response bars, each one asking for a larger cash donation. But the final bar reeked a bit of testy resignation: It offered a single, dismissive response: "No. Protecting the Senate Majority is no big deal."

Spam and Phish with a Continental Dessert

I got a piece of spam-mail addressed to "Dear Customer" that suggested: "please reset your account immediately." The "Service Team" behind the faux alert pretended to be from "Amazon. All rights reserved." There were a couple of tell-tale tip-offs that the urgent request was not legit. First, the sender was an entity with an awkward url, ctxj@nezzart.com. And then there was the improbable mailing address: 35 Rue Saint Sufran, 13006, Marseille 06, El Salvador.

The address was real (sort of). There is a five-star restaurant named Le Kikar at this location, but it's in France, not El Salvador.

The Comforting Lingo of War

In response to Russia's (long-awaited and strategically provoked) invasion of Ukraine, the Pentagon has offered to supply "Lethal Aid" to its NATO partners in Europe.

Lethal aid? That's a verbal discontinuity, a nonsensical non sequitur, a contradiction in terms. Just another sign that there's too much Toxic Masculinity being spilled about the planet these dire days. Maybe it's time to apply a bit of Therapeutic Femininity.

Up-Armored Language

The Climate activist group 350.org recently reposted an ominous news report that was titled: "An Extraordinary Iceberg Is Gone…." Followed by the comment: "Are you sick of headlines like these?"

Well, yup. Any reminder of a crumbling Antarctic Doomsday Glacier whose collapse could bury most coastal cities under several feet of saltwater is daunting news. But it was another headline that set my teeth on edge—the one that appeared in the subject line of 350.org's email. It referenced "Our best weapon in the fight against climate change."

I'm weary and wary of progressive activists—including antiwar stalwarts—who continue to employ militarized language. As long as we perpetuate the idea that problems can be solved with "fighting" and "weapons" we're going to keep "losing ground in the campaign to win the struggle to gain hard-won security."

Militarized Minds; Weaponized Words

Thanks to a network of corporate-controlled media, Americans are constantly awash in a flood of gushing grammar-bombs, a literal war of words that target and infiltrate our language en route to conquering our minds.

Even long-established environmental champions are not immune. The Natural Resources Defense Committee recently sent out a four-page fund-raising letter that underscores the problem.

The letter begins by referring to the NRDC as "A Force for Nature" that unleashes "legal firepower" in support of "campaigns that will drive … winning bold climate action" by "defending" wildlife "in our fight to avert climate catastrophe." The letter invites readers "to strike back against the fossil fuel lobby" as "we wage a fierce campaign to counter Big Oil" while "fighting on a number of other urgent fronts."

"We're battling to save bees," the NRDC explains, by providing "frontline communities" with "tools they need to fight environmental injustice" on each of "these major fronts." In a "do-or-die moment for the Earth's future," the NRDC vows to "wage an urgent fight for even bolder climate action" by "mobilizing a grassroots army."

Meanwhile, the NRDC "is on the frontlines of the battle to stop the onslaught of 'neonic' pesticides" that harm insects and "fighting alongside local residents" as they employ "hard-hitting legal action" in their "battle for equal access to safe, lead-free drinking water."

In response to the previous administration's "all-out assault on the Endangered Species Act," the "NRDC and out allies scored a big win" when Joe Biden rolled back Trump's anti-eco policies.

"But the fight goes on," the NRDC goes on. "We're also battling in court to reverse" laws that would target endangered grey wolves by "mobilizing… support" to protect the solves from "being targeted with vicious hunts."

The NRDC also cites its support for Indigenous communities "battling to save the natural treasures that sustain them" while "waging a fierce campaign" to keep a Texas oil company from "ripping apart" Florida's Big Cypress National Preserve.

The NRDC "fights both in and out of court" to "advance the fight for environmental justice." (Yes, they used "fights" and "fight" in the same sentence.) And "the only way we can wage—and win—so many urgent campaigns on so many fronts" and "move swiftly to defend our environment" is by raising a Natural Resources defense budget of donations to assure "we keep fighting on your behalf" in the relentless struggle "to wrest control of our future away from the fossil fuel giants." Bottom line: Cash-flow is "essential as we fight to heal our planet."

VETO NATO

We Say NATO's Got to Go! By Ben Grosscup

Zoom Call Alert: Russia's Ukraine War and the Imperative for Peace

Date: Sunday, March 6, 11am Pacific. Register Here.

The organizers write: "In addition to our deep concern for the victims of this unjust war, we think there is an important opening for greater cooperation between peace forces in Europe (East and West) and North America. What can we do to end this war and prevent the next one? Join us on the Global Day of Action for Peace in Ukraine. Speakers will include:
Sevim Dağdelen has been a member of the Bundestag in Germany since 2017. A member of the Die Linke (Left) Party, she is a member of the German Parliament's Committee on Foreign Affairs.
Daniel Ellsberg is a former US military analyst who caused a national uproar in 1971 when he provided the New York Times with the Pentagon Papers, a 7,000-page trove that exposed the government's deceptions during the Vietnam War. His latest book is “The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner.”
Bill Fletcher Jr. is former president of TransAfrica Forum and a Senior Scholar with the Institute for Policy Studies. He is the author of several books, a syndicated columnist, and a regular media commentator on television, radio and the Web.
Nadezhda Azhgihina is a Russian journalist, director of PEN Moscow, board member of Article 19, member of Russian Chamber for Media Complaints, co-founder of Association of Women Journalists (Russia). She lives in Moscow.
You can find the latest news and actions on the Ukraine crisis at NoWarInUkraine.org.
Nonviolent demonstrations are being organized all over the world on March 6th at PeaceInUkraine.org.
Watch an amazing and informative webinar from Monday night.