Berkeley City Council candidate Nanci Armstrong-Temple and at least two other people were arrested this morning when police raided a small homeless tent city that was set up to protest the way the city provides homeless services, a spokeswoman for Armstrong-Temple said. -more-

The tent city protest at Adeline and Fairview was dismantled by dozens of city police at 5:00 am on Friday, November 4 leaving dozens of sleeping people scrambling to collect their belongings. Four people were arrested and charged with obstruction and resisting arrest including Nanci Armstrong-Temple, a council candidate for District 2, who was injured in the process. -more-

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Best information I have:

Nanci Armstrong-Temple, D2 candidate for City Council, arrested, possibly for "lynching" and taken to Santa Rita.
Two other people arrested - one taken to the hospital (a young man) and one taken to Santa Rita (his mother).
Videos:
https://www.facebook.com/firsttheycameforthehomeless/

FTCftH et al marched at noon from Fairview and Adeline to City Hall. Doors were locked.
https://www.facebook.com/firsttheycameforthehomeless/posts/696416940525258

Berkeleyside has an article up on the rousting:
http://www.berkeleyside.com/2016/11/04/police-roust-berkeley-homeless-encampment-activists-vow-to-return/

My comment:


This is yet another horrendous example of criminalizing the homeless. But this time it comes with potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars or more of liability to the taxpayers of Berkeley. It is quite possible that excessive force and constitutional rights violations lawsuits will be filed, costing the city of Berkeley not only the cost of the settlements and legal fees, but City Attorney time and energy, not to mention the ridiculousness of employing a weaponized army at 5:00 AM to remove peacefully sleeping people.

Not only is this a possibility, but with the arrest of D2 candidate Nanci Armstrong-Temple and her incarceration in Santa Rita on possible "lynching" charges, Berkeley could once again become a center of Black Lives Matter protest as happened in late 2014, and become a national disgrace.

Berkeley's powers that be could have chosen to leave the encampment alone. The bullshit about feces is, well, simply "not bullshit" because it was either planted to give them an excuse to clear the camp or never existed. The City of Berkeley has once again chosen stupidity over sense.

One week ago the City of Berkeley, City Council members, the encampers and homeless advocates and supporters sat down and had a peaceful, intelligent conversation. Four days later the City and the Council dumped feces on those who participated in that conversation, ignoring their concerns and filling their report with lies and innuendo.

This is no way to run a City. -more-

As the 2000 presidential race demonstrated, US elections can be—at worst—a meaningless sham in which the candidate who wins the popular vote can still be denied the presidency.

Even stranger, under the arcane rules of the US Electoral College, the 2016 presidential race could, in theory, result in a new administration consisting of a President Gary Johnson and Vice President Mike Pence.

Here's how that could happen.

Both Trump and Clinton remain profoundly unpopular with many voters. It takes a bare majority—270 of the Electoral College's 538 votes—to win the presidency.

On November 1, NBC's Chuck Todd noted that, in the wake of the latest FBI announcement about a new email investigation, Clinton's Electoral College lead had fallen to from 288 to 256 while Trump's total had jumped from 158 to 259—still leaving both short of the necessary 270 majority. -more-

Close observers of all-things-Trump recently were transfixed by the sight of someone holding a prominent position behind Donald Trump's back during a campaign appearance in Florida. A woman was holding a sign reading: "Blacks For Trump." And, oh yes, the woman happened to be white.

So who was this lady?

This question apparently didn't matter to The Donald. Anyone who says anything complimentary about Trump receives the candidate's unquestioning praise and flattery. Trump proudly picked up one of the signs and strutted it across the stage. "Blacks for Trump!" the candidate crowed, "I like these signs"

Trump had no idea that he was being used to endorse the online empire of a jet-skiing Biblical prophet, entrepreneur, soul singer and radio show host who believes that Hillary Clinton is not just evil, but "the Mother of Harlots" whose goal is either to (1) "Globalize the World" and/or, (2) to "send us all the HELL Rev.21:8" in an Atomic Armageddon.

-more-

The occasional "Blacks for Trump" placards that have been appearing (strategically positioned) at the candidate's back during Trump rallies, are not just a quirk. There actually are a number of vocal African American critics who would favor a Trump Upset over a Clinton Continuum. -more-

A reader and friend has made a special request that we re-post our picks to take to the polls as cheat sheets, so here they are:

Berkeley Daily Planet Endorsements for the Berkeley City Races Becky O'Malley 10-08-2016 This one contains links to a PDF printable sheet with the Wellstone information.

Endorsements for state ballot measures Tim Redmond, San Francisco Bay Guardian 10-08-2016 Three sentence explanations of his ideas are very helpful.

Measures and Propositions: Progressive endorsers Margot Smith 10-07-2016 -- If you’re a chart person, or want to see a variety of points of view, take a look at this. You need to click on the chart to make it bigger. -more-

West Berkeley Artisans and Industrial Companies (WEBAIC) urges you not to support Laurie Capitelli for mayor, because of his central role in a destructive, multi-year, anti-equity effort to force out West Berkeley companies and their thousands of productive middle-wage jobs. Vote for Jesse Arreguin, who has been a consistently strong supporter of West Berkeley’s sustainable industrial maker and arts ecosystem and the thousands of good, family-wage jobs it provides. -more-

District 2 Candidate Nanci Armstrong-Temple Injured In Early Morning Encampment Raid

This morning before dawn, Berkeley Police raided and began the forced relocation of the homeless encampment at Adeline and Fairview. Nanci Armstrong-Temple, grassroots organizer and candidate for Berkeley City Council District 2 was injured while being arrested for offering assistance to disabled activist Barbara Brust, who provides support on that corner. First word from Santa Rita County Jail is that Armstrong-Temple may be charged with lynching. -more-

I've posted some useful and interesting links to news stories to keep in mind before voting on November 8. Also a few humorous links as well. While I'm probably preaching to the choir, you are welcome to redistribute the links to anyone whom you think may need a reminder.
The links are at my blog, www.athousandbubbles.weebly.com. Scroll down, past the Trumpkins. -more-

Bad news for “More Open” Government appears to be coming down the pipeline based on a recent Berkeley City Council vote which only long time Councilmember, and Mayoral candidate, Kriss Worthington fortunately opposed. It was approved by Mayoral Candidates Arreguin and Capitelli. -more-

Donald Trump is right. The historic 2016 election is turning out to be rigged, forcing the Democratic Party to file lawsuits in four battleground states—Ohio, Arizona, Nevada and Pennsylvania—alleging Donald Trump’s campaign and the Republican Party are "conspiring to threaten, intimidate, and thereby prevent minority voters in urban neighborhoods from voting." Citing the Voting Rights Act and the 1871 Ku Klux Klan Act in its filing, the Ohio Democratic Party alleges, "Trump has sought to advance his campaign’s goal of 'voter suppression' by using the loudest microphone in the nation to implore his supporters to engage in unlawful intimidation." The suit also names Trump adviser Roger Stone and his super PAC as ‘co-conspirators’. -more-

t's not just because he is being investigated by the FBI for nefarious ties to Russia that Trump should be rejected. It's not only his disrespectful, misogynistic words and actions toward women. It's not just because he bribed the Florida Attorney General, using money from his charitable foundation, to remove Florida from indicting him for Trump University. It's not his history of business bankruptcies and not paying construction tradespeople. It's not even because he called for more countries to get nuclear weapons, and for the U.S. to stop supporting NATO. -more-

"Politics makes strange bedfellows," they say. But not in this case. Two of the most evil industries in the annals of Capitalism recently hooked up to oppose the anti-tobacco measure on the Tuesday ballot. In the run-up to the November election, gas pumps at the Shell station on the 1200 block of University Avenue suddenly sprouted campaign hangers for the No on 56 campaign. Makes sense. Big Tobacco knew their cigs were killing people but lied about it for decades to protect their profits. Same with Big Petrol. The oil moguls knew for years that burning their product was poisoning the air, causing human illness, and trashing the planet's climate. And, for decades, they lied about it to protect their profits. This gas-pump collusion of Big Cig and Big Oil carries a clear message: It's proof that "bad fellows make strange politics." -more-

As a student who lives in a community that is walking distance to my high school, traffic has never been an issue for me when I go to and from school. However, my mom always has to plan her schedule around the traffic on both I-880 and I-680. For her and many others, traffic congestion is a major problem. -more-

Dayle was born in St. Louis, Missouri on August 4, 1946 to Albert Bartlett Sr.and Okalavia Helen Doeswell, both deceased. -more-

Okay, I'm not a weeper, but when these three showed up-grandmother, mom and granddaughter--my eyes felt pretty damp. Mom was wearing a Nasty Woman t-shirt under her white vest, despite Ohio's ban on electioneering garb in the polling place. All of them were wearing white, in tribute to the suffragists. This one's for Aunt Susan, grandma said. That would be Susan B. Anthony, I expect, but it's also for Sara Stratton Holmes, Ohio great great grandmother of my granddaughters, whose husband went to the Seneca Falls Suffrage convention to find the right kind of wife. -more-

Berkeley: City Council candidate arrested in raid on homeless tent cityEast Bay Times

Berkeley police dismantle homeless encampment, arrest City Council candidate - Daily Californian

-more-

Here's a funny one with the personal touch from the always amusing Berkeleyside.com comments. Laurie Capitelli, candidate for mayor, wrote a pathetic, even heart-rending op-ed entitled:"Berkeley values: Divisiveness isn’t one of them".

One of the comments on it, responding to another commenter who listed opponent Jesse Arreguin's many, many endorsers, was this one:

Diego Aguilar-Canaba l[to] Birch

East Bay Times endorsed Worthington, not Arreguin. They also endorsed Susan Wengraf, who is for some reason despises by [sic] the "Progressive" Alliance. Also the Berkeley Daily Planet is run by shameless tech millionaire NIMBYs who profit off the regional housing shortage. Hardly a reputable endorsement there.

Needless to say, Diego A-C. is a Capitelli endorser. -more-

“We declare the right of the people of Ireland to the ownership of Ireland, and to the unfettered control of Irish destinies, to be sovereign and indefeasible.”

Proclamation of Easter Week 1916

Controlling their own destiny has always been a bit of a preoccupation for the Irish, in large part because for 735 years someone else was in charge. From the Norman invasion in 1169 to the establishment of the Free State in 1922, Ireland’s political and economic life was not its own to determine. Its young men were shipped off to fight England’s colonial battles half a world away, at Isandlwana, Dum Dum, Omdurman and Kut. Almost 50,000 died in World War I, choking on gas at Ypres, clinging desperately to a beachhead at Gallipoli, or marching into German machine guns at the Somme.

When the Irish finally cast off their colonial yoke, they pledged never again to be cannon fodder in other nation’s wars, a pledge that has now been undermined by the U.S. Once again, a powerful nation—with the acquiescence of the Dublin government—has put the Irish in harm’s way. -more-

Whenever news comes out that is unfavorable to Donald Trump's public image, Trump habitually cries that it is a conspiracy theory. Does he truly believe this, or is he lying outright and playing upon his followers' mental vulnerabilities? And which one of these is worse? -more-

In the second of two concerts at Davies Hall by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, their Music Director Gustavo Dudamel led his orchestra in a gripping performance of Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No.9 in D Major. Mahler’s 9^th was his last completed symphony; and although upon finishing it he immediately began a never completed 10^th Symphony, his 9^th is often considered the composer’s farewell to the world. However, some, including Gustavo Dudamel, see Mahler’s 9^th Symphony as the composer’s reaffirmation of life even in the shadow of death. To be sure, shadows of death certainly hung over this symphony’s composition. Mahler began writing it in 1909, two years after the sudden death of his four and a half year-old daughter Maria, who succumbed to scarlet fever and diphtheria. A few days later Mahler himself was diagnosed with serious heart problems and was put on a regimen of restricted activity. Leonard Bernstein suggested that the opening measures of Mahler’s 9^th Symphony proceed with a halting rhythm that may reflect Mahler’s awareness of his own faltering heartbeat. Mahler never lived to hear his 9^th Symphony performed. His friend Bruno Walter conducted the premiere with the Vienna Philharmonic eleven months after Mahler’s death on May 18, 1911. -more-