The Alameda County Registrar of Voters has posted the unofficial results of the Ranked Choice Voting tallies in Berkeley and Oakland. -more-

Young Jews Disrupt Netanyahu at Jewish General Assembly from stefanie fox on Vimeo.

A group of young Jews with the Young Leadership Institute of Jewish Voice for Peace, including many from the Bay Area, traveled to the largest gathering of Jewish leaders in the US, the Jewish Federation General Assembly, to confront leaders on an approach to saving Israel’s reputation and building young Jewish identity they say actually turns young Jews away. -more-

The question of who will be Oakland's next mayor remained unsettled today with Alameda County Registrar of Voters Dave Macdonald saying it's taking longer than expected to count several thousand provisional ballots. -more-

After a slow motion buildup for several months, The Pacifica Foundation, the Berkeley-based nonprofit organization that holds the licenses for five educational radio stations across the country and provides content for 150 affiliated stations, has finally moved to stanch financial bleeding at the network's Berkeley unit KPFA by laying off 7-8 employees after posting a million dollar loss over the past two years. -more-

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The victim of a fatal shooting at an apartment complex in the 1500 block of Alcatraz Avenue in Berkeley on Oct. 30 has been identified as 14-year-old Berkeley High School freshman Larry Malik Grayson, authorities confirmed today. Grayson was shot in the head during the incident and pronounced dead last Thursday, authorities said. -more-

It wasn't the psychokinetic influence of the tree sitter in People's Park that put Kriss Worthington over the top. Or was it? -more-

The Berkeley Ecology Center’s November 6^th Green Gathering at Berkeley City College offered a full evening of presentations — both visionary and apocalyptic — as well as serving up great food and good company. Keynote speaker Bill McKibben (Harvard grad, author of The End of Nature and ringleader of the worldwide movement to cap global CO2 emissions at 350 parts-per-million) offered a sobering litany of the latest symptoms of the planet’s collapsing climate. McKibben also delivered a slim message of hope — i.e., that a mobilized citizenry can still avert planetary doom, a message that was reinforced by speakers from a dozen local groups engaged in different forms of world-saving activism. -more-

Berkeley bike commuters now have the luxury of free, valet parking at the downtown BART station. The underground bike parking was moved three months ago into a spacious storefront just a few doors down the street at 2208 Shattuck. Providing another incentive for people to leave their cars at home, the new bike station offers a secure, convenient place to leave their bikes as well as a host of other amenities. -more-

Solano Avenue should be a thriving, pedestrian friendly commercial center for North Berkeley residents, complete with more sidewalk seating, street trees and a wide variety of shops, restaurants and entertainment venues. Or so says a majority of over 1300 neighbors, business owners and patrons of the Avenue who envisioned Solano Avenue through a survey created by Berkeley District 5 City Councilmember Laurie Capitelli. -more-

His Views; Republican Claptrap; Pancreatic Cancer Awareness; Give New START floor time in the lame duck session -more-

What do Stewart Jones, Jesse Arreguin, and Kriss Worthington have in common? Their campaign signs were defaced by “NIMBY Robot”. Guess what else they have in common? They opposed Measure R! -more-

Pacifica was founded on the need for alternative news, public affairs and culture and is even more needed today given the consolidation of the corporate/pentagon media. -more-

I am absolutely outraged to learn that you have decided to discontinue the Morning Show with Aimee Allison and Brian Edwards-Tiekert, two of the most knowledgeable and articulate news journalists on radio today. The Morning Show is a breath of fresh air, the likes of which very few communities in the U.S. have the good fortune to enjoy. -more-

I was swept up and arrested Friday night, in Oakland, California, at the "end" of the Justice for Oscar Grant march, on November 5th, 2010. As usual, most of the Bay Area TV stations gave a factually awful -- of course, very pro-police -- spin to what happened. It amazes me how edited and re-chronologized video can make viewers think they are seeing something that they aren't. Events are portrayed out of order, and most TV reporters falsely describe the context of the video clips they show. As in George Orwell's book Nineteen Eighty-Four, about a total propaganda media-controlled society: the lie becomes the truth, and the truth becomes the lie. -more-

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

Dear Becky (publisher of the best [online] local paper in the United States [in my opinion],

Sometimes I think you can be a little wrong-headed. While I concur with your negative take on measure R, it is not R as in Robert Reich. -more-

'It's time for all of us to truly save KPFA' -more-

The Al-Iraq newspaper, in a blanket condemnation of America, declared: "America is on fire and behind this fire were a thousand, a million, or even a billion hands — for the savage, arrogant America, which is afflicted with megalomania, caused all peoples of the world to suffer from humiliation, starvation, and terrorism." -more-

The Berkeley Police Department has sent out its periodic email with the subject line "Who are These Crooks?" Technically, they're not necessarily crooks, they're suspects until proven guilty. The page is entitled "Who are These Suspects" when you click on it, at least. Also, is it really necessary to repeatedly refer to the pictured suspects as "black" when their complexion color is clearly visible in the photos? In this context it's not a description, it's a racial term. Dog-whistling..

Shattuck Street in downtown Berkeley was shut down for several hours on Monday as an AC Transit bus burned (Berkeleyside).

Fired KPFA employees took over the Morning Show on Tuesday. (S..J. Mercury). -more-

Imagine that a “company” faces hard times and the management “fires” one of their three top managers. You’d be surprised if the manager that was removed was the top performer of the three, the highest rated in terms of management criteria. You’d be shocked if that manager was the only woman; you’d suspect sex discrimination. But that’s exactly what happened on November 2nd, when voters “fired” Nancy Pelosi. -more-

Creationists keep coming up with the same old arguments. One favorite: “If humans evolved from apes, why are there still apes?” A fine example of what Judge Jones called “breathtaking inanity.” -more-

In March, while driving in the California mountains, my car skidded on ice and hit a semi head on. The crash foreshadowed the disaster suffered by Democrats on November 2nd, where the Obama bus was mangled by a Republican freight train. The difference being that the Democratic catastrophe could have been avoided. -more-

The off-again, on-again Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations have stalled again. During the lull between negotiations, Israel continues settlement construction in the Palestinian territories and east Jerusalem, lands the Palestinians claim for a future state. Clearly, Israel has no intention of engaging in meaningful peace negotiations that would result in an independent Palestinian state. Israel is slowly squeezing the Palestinians with the ultimate goal of taking over the entire country and to drive out the non-Jewish population. This leaves the Palestinians no choice but to unilaterally appeal to the international community for recognition of an independent state. -more-

How many women political cartoonists can you name? Past or present. -more-

• The revenge of a hunchbacked jester ... Rigoletto, one of Verdi's greatest works, will be performed by Verismo Opera onstage at the Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar at Arch, Sunday at 3, with Chris Wells as Rigoletto and Eliza O'Malley as Gilda, also featuring Marsha Sims, Darron Flagg, Kat Cornelius and John Milagro, accompanied by a piano-string quartet. $15 in advance, $18 at the door. ($12 for students/seniors) 800-838-3006 (or brownpapertickets.com); info: (707) 864-5508
• The only Bay Area appearance of Hindustani sarod master Rajeev Taranath, a four decade disciple of Ali Akhbar Khan, will be this Friday at 8, at Rudramandir, 830 Bancroft at 6th. rajeevtranathconcert@gmail.com; rajeevtaranath.com $20/$15

Zenshinza at Zellerbach; Palomino at the Aurora; SubShakes Reads -more-

Last night I sat next to this woman on an airplane. She was frenetic, sometimes frantic, and irrepressible, half in her own head, and talking incessantly. Bit of an overbite with a lower lip that seldom had any part in forming the words, resulting in a lisping sibilance that smacked of the girl that people avoided in high school and still do in the supermarket line. Apparel of the bag-lady quality. Sitting next to her began as torture, but in overhearing snatches of her story, and with a little heartbreaking mishap that brought all the passengers together, I grew quite fond of her during the hour and ten minute flight. She sort of made beauty out of loss. -more-

Now that the excitement over the Giants victory and the elections has mercifully subsided, normalcy has finally returned to the East Bay. If you feel the need to "lighten up" and lift your spirits, there's a lot going on in November; you just have to make choices. -more-