Public Comment

Reflections on da Vinci's Heavenly Ceiling 

Gazing at a photo of the Sistine Chapel recently, I found myself considering a few odd questions that had never before crossed my mind, beginning with: How old is God? 

To Leonardo da Vinci, the gray-bearded Lord of Creation appears to be in His seventies. The Sistine scenario prompted more curious questions: Who cuts God's hair? How come God doesn't have a halo? Was God ever a child? 

If Adam and Eve were created in God's image, does that mean that the Creator is trans? If Adam and Eve were "created in God's image," was God also unclothed until Satan tempted Adam to snack on an apple? (Not according to da Vinci, who shows his Sistine God wearing a clinging nightgown surrounded by a small, devoted crowd of naked boys.) 

But—waitaminute!—if God is in the process of creating Adam (the first human) where did all those kids come from? Chalk it up to the artist taking some libertine liberties with the Holy Writ. 

And that got me thinking about Mother Mary. If Mary was impregnated by the Holy Spirit, would that mean that Jesus is the "Nephew of God"? 

Mary is called both "The Mother of God" and the mother of Jesus. The savior's mom is worshipped as the Virgin Mary because she is said to have remained a virgin even after giving birth to the Holy Child. It is said that Mary remained a virgin her entire life. But according to The Book of Mark, Jesus had four brothers also apparently virgin-birthed by Mary. According to Mark 6:3 and Matthew 13:55, their names were James, Joses, Judas (aka Jude), and Simon. 

All this news has given me a holy headache. It's not easy being a believer. 

Peace in Gaza, Post Haste
Support for the Palestinian people has been evident in the proliferation of pro-statehood posters in yards and windows and the surging appearance of kufiya shawls and headscarfs. No surprise then to discover a US Postal Service mailbox that's been politicized. It takes a second to spot it but a USPS mailbox near the North Berkeley BART station now bears a USPS Priority Mail label glued to its side that bears the hand-written instruction:
Priority. Mail From the River 

To the Sea 

(A hand-drawn image of the Palestinian flag has been added between the two lines of mailing instructions.) 

100,000 Surround the White House and It's Not News
With war-hawkish world leaders barking the news of their latest "red lines" on the path to global destruction, 100,000 Americans gathered in Washington, DC on June 8 to create a "Peoples' Red Line" for peace in Ukraine and an end to the genocide in Palestine. The massive peace throng surged through the streets holding an historic red banner that was two miles long! Chanting and waving flags, the telegenic demonstrators converged on the nation's capitol and literally surrounded the White House in a rousing pitch for peace. 

So how was the news coverage?
• NBC Nightly News, 8 seconds!
• ABC World News Tonight. Nothing. (Viewers were, however, alerted to the news that Caitlin Clark not would not be going to the Paris Olympics). 

• CBS Evening News. Zilch. 

• NPR News Hour. Nada. 

For a sampling of the US peace movement's latest media-masked mass-protest, click the following links.
Watch the recap video of the mobilization
Watch the people’s verdict being delivered 

Kimmel's Verses Versus Colbert's 

Once again the Smithereens jury box has declared late-night host Jimmy Kimmel guilty of crafting the best "episode taglines" of the week—mostly directed at Donald Trump, the Ochre Ogre. Stephen Colbert's writers came in a close second, with the following titles:
Colbert: The Hunter Games, Vice to Meet You, Q and A-hole
Kimmel: Shark and Awe, Tannie Oakley, Bible Trumper 

My Trump tag-lines for the week: Tight-Fraud, Bottled Whine, For He's a Jolly Good Felon 

Fashion Plates
Personalized license plates spotted about town.
CAMILA
ALIXANN
GMC FIT
NV YOGA
G700R1
SARGE1
GUBBINA
INSAYTN
SHE [heart] ART
BUCHARU (Buckaroo) 

Bumpersnickers
Think While It's Still Legal
Keep Calm Stay Wired
Keep Calm Go Vegan
Keep Your Distance: You Never Know What Might Fall Off
A Good Bumper Sticker Makes You Think
My Mind Was Changed by a Bumper Sticker: Said No One Ever 

Signs of our Times
Trader Joe's is known for its clever signage—ranging from hand-drawn price-tags to seasonal produce announcements dangling overhead. The Berkeley franchise is also known for economically pressed solicitors stationed at entrance and exist points, brandishing their own hand-crafted messages in hopes of scoring enough hand-outs to buy food for hard-pressed families. I suppose it was only a matter of time but a new signboard recently showed up resting against a door near an entrance to the Berkeley TJ's. It read:
"Your Right to Distraction-Free Shopping.
Out of respect to our customers, Trader Joe's doesn't permit solicitation at or near the front of our stores regardless of the issue. Please feel free to ignore anyone who ignores our request for your right to shop w/o distraction." 

Got to admit, I found the sign a wee bit distracting. 

Putin Proposes Peace Talks 

A major weekend summit of world leaders planned for Switzerland claimed its aim was to end the Ukraine/Russia war before the bloody conflict gets further out of hand, expanding to include NATO nations and risking an all-out escalation to nuclear war. One problem: Russia was not invited to participate. 

On June 14, the day before the summit, Russian President Putin addressed Moscow's top Foreign Ministry officials and outlined measures to be taken "for the protection of Eurasia, the largest continent on Earth, from the socialist Western colonial powers." 

Putin called for a ceasefire and talks to end the conflict in Ukraine stating: “Moscow rejects Kiev’s claims of sovereignty over five formerly Ukrainian regions, four of which have joined Russia amid the ongoing hostilities.... People in the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics and Kherson and Zaporozhye Regions voted for the transition in late 2022... Our side will order a ceasefire and start negotiations the minute Kiev declares that it is prepared to take this decision and starts actual withdrawal of troops from those regions, and also formally informs us that it no longer plans to join NATO... We are counting on Kiev to take such a decision on withdrawal, neutral status, and dialogue with Russia…, guided by the true interests of the Ukrainian people and not at Western orders." 

Putin (who recently won his third election as Russia's leader) also took a swipe at Volodymyr Zelensky, noting that Zelensky's presidential term expired in April and Ukraine is currently in a state of martial law. 

F-16s and Acts of War 

Andrey Kartapolov, chair of the Russian State Duma Defense Committee, has warned that Moscow would consider any NATO/European bases used to accommodate "nuclear-capable" F-16 fighter jets on loan to Kiev would become "legitimate military targets." 

Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has warned that Moscow would view the shipment of F-16s to Ukraine as a nuclear threat, given that the jets have long been used as part of the US-led bloc’s joint nuclear missions. 

Another destabilizing development: US long-range maneuverable drones have been used to strike critical defense radar sites deep inside Russia—far from the battlefields in Ukraine. 

It is widely believed that these missions could not have been carried out without the support of US operators, US satellite surveillance data, and US intelligence. If so, these attacks on two or three of Russia's ten missile-detecting stations—including a particularly damaging strike in Armavir, in Russia's southeastern Krasnodar region—would appear to qualify as "acts of war." Even more chilling, given the radars' role in detecting incoming ballistic missiles, these attacks could be seen as preparations for "an act of nuclear war." 

A Rousing Anti-Trump Tribute from Randy Rainbow 

Not to end on a dismal note, here is an applause-winning, dance-worthy, Trump-thumping anthem from the notorious Randy Rainbow.