Public Comment

Momanomics

In the afterglow of Mother's Day, a report from the Coalition on Human Needs (CHN) casts a somber shadow over the economic plight of America's moms. "Did you know," CHN Action begins, "74% of mothers are working moms?" According to the stats, 43% of White moms, 49% of Latina moms, 64% of Native moms, and a whopping 79% of Black moms are "the major breadwinners of their families."

This institutionalized "motherhood penalty" leaves millions of working moms earning an average "lifetime wage" that is $237,000 less than the average wage pocketed by men. And that means 20% less payback from Social Security retirement benefits.

CHN has a solution: "a national paid family leave program that would allow more moms to stay in the workforce while cutting down on career penalties for mothers." Currently, only 27% of private sector workers benefit from paid-family-leave programs. And only 6% of low-wage workers (mainly women of color—and mothers) have access to paid-leave support.

Colbert Clobbers; Kimmel Klobbers

When it comes to dumping on Trump, the Battle of the Late-Night Comedy Kings continues to surge. In the latest use of conjured taglines to brand their late-night episodes, the two hosts continue to deliver. But, while Colbert remains competitive, it's Kimmel who rules as Caption King. Here are last week's offerings:
Colbert: "Eye of the Stormy." "Gag, You're It." "Wormaggedon" (a ref to JFKJr's brainworm).
Kimmel: "Porn Star Witness," "Lepre-Con Man," "Count Flatula," "Founding Farter." 

Fashion Plates 

Personalized license plates spotted about town:
CRIKETS
SAMI GK
GMC FIT
MARI TAN
NNOV8 (Innovate)
JPASION (Japan Passion?)
PRK GRNT (Park Grant? Pork Grunt?) 

Bumper Snickers
Adults Onboard. We Want to Live Too
Nobody Cares About Your Stick-figure Family
Gardening Is a Deep-rooted Therapy and You Get Tomatoes
I'll Believe Corporations Are People When Texas Executes One 

Park Your Enthusiasm
One of the signs that summer is approaching is the appearance of the East Bay Regional Park District's Activity Guide, which is celebrating the 90^th anniversary of our local parks, hills, lakes and woodlands. In addition to lots of photos and short nature essays, the Guide also contains puzzles for kids that help impart factoids about the wonders of nature. One example is a half-drawn connect-the-dots image of a Steller's Jay which, one reads in a nearby sentence, has an "exceptional memory" and can imitate the calls of "other bird species and even some mammals!" ("Mom? Did that bird just bark at us?") 

On a facing page, there were short items about "naturalist programs" on offer in Tilden Park. "Insects play a very important part in our ecosystems," one entry began. "From decomposition to food, bugs help make the world go round. We'll read a story about animals that rely on insects for food then make old-fashioned ice cream—topped with bugs!" 

My eyes bounced right off that disclosure and sought some comfort in a nearby activities schedule where the following options were on display: Drag Story Hour and Pride Walk with Goats. 

Fruit Bats and Roadkill: It's Just Music
Another sign of summer is the return of outdoor music festivals—largely promoted by colorful posters stapled to wooden powerpoles. Last week there was the Mill Valley band-fest (May 11-12). Among those appearing on stage were: Fleet Foxes, Fruit Bats, St. Paul and the Broken Bones, Thee Sacred Souls, Greensky Bluegrass, Rebirth Brass Band, David Nance and Mowed Sound, Roadkill, Solace, and Mullet Daddy. 

And then there's the playbill the Bay Area's been waiting for: The Mosswood Meltdown (July 6-7 at Oakland's Mosswood Park) hosted by legendary filmmaker John "Pink Flamngos" Waters. 

The colorful collection of edgy performers includes: The B-52s, Redd Kross, Mummies, Pure Hell, Hunx & His Punx, Big Freedia, Egyptian Lover, Go Sailor, Pansy Division, Die Spitz, Wifey, and Bush Tetras Gibby Haynes and the Paul Green Rock Academy. Also on the bill: a "Peaches Christ Drag Contest." 

US Genocide Training 101
It has been appalling to watch video-after-video of US police decked out in riot gear attacking nonviolent students protesting Israel's Gaza genocide. On college campuses across the US, American police have been armed to disrupt and attack nonviolent student protest camps. Police have beaten students with clubs, enveloped them in clouds of tear gas, and opened fire with rifles loaded with rubber bullets. And this was happening on the anniversary of the Kent State massacre! (Four unarmed students murdered. Nine others wounded.) 

American students and professors are being attacked as they exercise their First Amendment right to "peacefully assemble for a redress of grievances." They are being attacked as if they were crowds of unarmed Palestinians under assault by the IDF or armed settlers. Protesting genocide is not an act of anti-Semitism. It is an act of humanism. 

Radio Free Palestine: KPFK May 14-15
On the 76th anniversary of the ongoing Palestinian Nakbah and resistance to Israeli apartheid and occupation, Radio Free Palestine will launch at Midnight Eastern time on dozens of stations across North America to air 24 hours of programming from radio stations and producers across five continents, hosted by Pacifica station WPFW in Washington DC. There will be separate streams in Arabic, English, French and Spanish.
Overnight and all-day presentation of this coast-to-coast broadcast on Pacifica stations and affiliates will include discussions, speeches, music, poetry, news updates, and the voices of students currently or previously participating in encampments. Radio Free Palestine begins live on KPFK 90.7 at 9:00 PM Tuesday May 14 (midnight Wednesday on the east coast). https://www.kpfk.org. 

The Free Speech Movement Revisited: KPFA Interview
NYU Professor of History and Social Studies Robert Cohen (author of "Freedom's Orator: Mario Savio and the Radical Legacy of the 1960s") was recently interviewed on KPFA during a week filled with media requests from the US and abroad. Cohen's take on the experience: "The past week was really a reminder that much of the nation, and especially most campus administrators and politicians, know little about student activism other than the fact that they do not like it." 

Welcome to ‘Bloody Blinken Land’
Bet you didn't see THIS encampment on the national broadcast news. 

On January 31, dozens of activists set up a protest camp in front of Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s Virginia home. Braving snow and freezing weather, the activists' gathered at the ‘Bloody Blinken Land’ tent camp to protest the US-supported Gaza genocide—deploying bottles of (washable) fake blood, messages taped on Blinken's front gate, and raucous morning "wake-up" calls. 

If We Had a Department of Peace….
This pitch for creating a Department of Peace shows up at the end of the short, award-winning, war-versus-forgiveness film, "Admissions": 

"In 1793, Benjamin Rush, a founding father of the United States, called for the creation of a Department of Peace that would be on equal footing with the Department of War. The department's purpose was to cultivate peace with all humankind, subdue passion for war and inspire veneration for human life. 

In 1935, the first bill was introduced in Congress calling for the creation of a United States Department of Peace. Since the, over 100 similar bills have been introduced in 31 other Congressional sessions. No bill has ever passed." 

PeaceNow.com—in partnership with the UN's Culture of Peace working groups and The Global Alliance for Ministries & Infrastructures for Peace—is in the proess of gathering ONE BILLION signatures to enact a groundbreaking UN Global Resolution that would create "Ministries, Departments and Infrastructures for Peace in governments worldwide." To sign on to this historic global peace movement, visit: PeaceNow.com. 

Bernie Sanders on the First Amendment