Columnists

Professor Michael Mann begins his important book, "The Climate War," with this quote: "Doubt is our product, since it is the best means of competing with the 'body of fact' that exists in the minds of the general public." Although the quotation originated with a sixties tobacco executive, it could be spoken today by the leaders of the Republican Party, as their primary product is disinformation.

In George Orwell's classic, "1984," the ruling Party controls the people by systematic propaganda; "brainwashing" that Orwell described as "doublethink:"

To know and not to know, to be conscious of complete truthfulness while telling carefully constructed lies, to hold simultaneously two opinions which cancelled out, knowing them to be contradictory and believing in both of them, to use logic against logic, to repudiate morality while laying claim to it, to believe that democracy was impossible and that the Party was the guardian of democracy, to forget whatever it was necessary to forget, then to draw it back into memory again at the moment when it was needed, and then promptly to forget it again, and above all, to apply the same process to the process itself—that was the ultimate subtlety: consciously to induce unconsciousness, and then, once again, to become unconscious of the act of hypnosis you had just performed.

1984's ruling Party, "big brother," uses the "thought police" to control the populous through disinformation. Professor Michael Mann observes that Republican oligarchs -- the Koch brothers, the Mercer family, Rupert Murdoch, and others -- control the GOP faithful through disinformation. Donald Trump is their willing servant.

Since the advent of Trump. political observers have noted that Republicans -- who once focused on "conservative" ideology -- have moved away from traditional Republican ideas and, instead, embraced the cult of personality: "Trumpism." Because Trump is a media personality and a pathological liar, enclasping him made it easier for the GOP to become the Party of disinformation. -more-

When I was eighteen, I was arrested because I had been behaving in a bizarre manner, I was a nuisance, and, technically speaking, I had broken the law. The arrest did not involve physical resistance against the cops. I was jailed and was in there far too long. I wasn't going to be let out. Then, my mother spoke to the judge. I credit her with not only bringing me into this world, but also with saving my life.

When incarcerated, apparently people assumed I was high on drugs. At some point, when I continued to become increasingly disoriented and disconnected, it was apparent that illicit drugs were not the problem. This is because plenty of time had elapsed in which I would have detoxed, had drugs been the problem. I was taken to Highland Hospital.

Over the last three and a half decades, as a mentally ill man, I've had my share of dealings with police. In 1996, when I was 5150'd, in my most recent psychotic break, I nonviolently resisted police. A parishioner, possibly the minister, was present when I was picked up by the cops at a church in Pleasant Hill.

Police in this case did not resort to pepper spray and did not use an inappropriate level of force. They tried some judo holds on me, such as trying to inflict pain to my hands, and that was all. They were about to up the ante when I began to cooperate. I am alive partly because even though I have a psychotic disorder, I seem to retain a compartment that does not get sick, and that allows me to act based on observable facts. -more-

The Senate Parliamentarian recently ruled that a raise in the minimum wage to $15-an-hour could not be part of President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus package as it was not proper under budget conciliation. Biden signaled that his administration would abide by the ruling. The only alternative is to offer it as a separate bill although it probably would not get the 60 votes necessary to pass unless the Senate filibuster rule is eliminated. -more-

Lawrence Ferlinghetti

What a loss but what a legacy.
Poems and paintings
and books galore.
The dog trots freely in the street
as my mind revisits Coney Island.
Ferlinghetti was a living landmark
and now, alas,
our City Lights briefly dim.
The Brits had Laurence of Arabia
but we had our
Laurence of Bay Area.
He was as beloved and present
as Frisco's famous fog.
So as Karl the Fog continues
to curl around the Seven Hills,
Imagine:
Ferlinghetti is not gone but,
like Karl's atmospheric caress,
still wraps the Cool Grey City
in an abiding cloak of recollections and love.
He will be mist.
Dishing MTG in DC -more-

I normally end my Activist’s Diary with what I am reading, but this week it is also the start. There is good reason why Robin Wall Kimmerer’s 2013 book Braiding Sweetgrass is on the best seller list. It is a lovely book about living with nature and the environment, consuming only what is needed and being a good steward. Kimmerer weaves in those who see resources as a commodity to be consumed until depleted, nature as an inconvenience to be conquered and the waste left behind to be disregarded. She leads us to contemplate that we are at a crossroads. Which road do we chose, the path of stewardship of the living world or the path of consumption and destruction?

It was a scattered week of too many meetings, impossible to do justice to more than a few.

At the 4 pm February 23 Special City Council meeting the single subject was the Report and Recommendations from the Mayor’s Fair and Impartial Policing Working Group. It started with a report of the findings, need for improvements and recommendations. The testimony from the public at the February 9 Council meeting on the Vote of No Confidence in the Police Chief, my own attendance as an observer at the last two Fair and Impartial Working Group meetings and Police Chief Greenwood’s response to the report and recommendations, define a police chief who is defensive and obstructive. In situations where leadership performance is at issue and care of the person still matters, the result would be a private conversation and a graceful retirement exit. This is not Berkeley, at least not yet. -more-