#College of Alameda

[sonyachristian]

Impactful Initiatives: STEM, Mental Health, and Climate Resilience

[eopederson2]

RIP Pacific 12!

Upper photo Sather Tower, University of California, Berkeley taken in 1969; lower entrance to Red Square with statue of George Washington, University of Washington, Seattle, 2016.

While I am not a sports fan, having strong personal (Washington, Cal and UCLA) and familial (WSU where my great-grandmother was one of the first graduates, my sister and her husband both graduated, and my niece earned her Ph.D.) ties to four of the schools in the conference, I am saddened to learn that the Pacific 12 has effectively disbanded. It was "the conference of champions," and far western intraregional competition, especially between the PNW and California, was a source of local pride and affiliation. The Rose Bowl was the culmination with the best team from the Pac 12 (earlier Pac 8) playing the best of the Big 10 resulting in matches like Washington against Michigan. When the Pac 12 won it was the highlight of the sports year. Of course in those years Seattle and Portland had no pro teams, and the pay rates for college coaches were much lower.

With UCLA, USC, Washington and Oregon joining the Big 10, that conference will extend coast to coast and include a large fraction of the big money college athletic programs. It includes a mixed bag of programs ranging from ones virtually always in the top positions in revenue sports to others of somewhat dubious prospects (as examples Rutgers or Northwestern). Whatever the cash value, there is likely to be little regional enthusiasm, at either end, for match ups like Oregon vs Maryland.

Academically the enlarged league is a mixed bag with second-rate state universities like Maryland and Rutgers against some of the best in the country. Left behind in the rump of the PAC 12 are two of the best universities in the country, Cal and Leland Stanford Junior University.

Among Marx's projections was the devolution of all human activity into realms of money and finance under the logic of monopoly capitalism. Tradition, sentiment and regional affiliation give way to cash as the value of everything becomes something measured only in money. The demise of the Pac 12 and the expansion of the more financially dominant Big 10 illustrates that perfectly.

[a2zsportsnews]

Gary Payton Sr Named Head Coach At College Of Alameda

The College of Alameda named Gary Payton Sr. as the new head coach of the men’s basketball team. “During the interview process, he spoke about having our student-athletes in the community, giving back. The energy and passion that he brings along with his genuine love for the East Bay is unmatched,” said athletic director Ramaundo Vaughn. Payton was the head coach of NAIA Lincoln University in…

[sepdet]

Try to imagine Trump going to campaign HQ to reassure those working to get him elected with a speech like this after one of his unwelcome surprises.

Of course, that's impossible. This classy speech is all about "we" — the team, and the American people — although of course it's got a few "I's" in there to contrast herself with Trump and sketch out goals.

First five minutes: Squaring the circle of saluting Biden graciously, thanking and reassuring his election team, and moving forward

05:40 - rundown of major accomplishments of President Biden's administration

8:45 Harris lays out how she sees this election and I'm actually gonna transcribe it despite my arthritis because YES YES YES. (It's not very long.)

"It is my great honor to go out and EARN this nomination, and to win.

"So in the days and weeks ahead, I together with you will do everything in my power to unite the Democratic party, to unite our nation, and to win this election.

"You know, as many of you know, before I was elected as Vice President, before I was elected as United States Senator, I was the elected Attorney General of California, and before that I was a courtroom prosecutor. In those roles, I took on perpetrators of all kinds. [chuckles start around the room, she smiles.] Predators who abused women. Fraudsters who ripped off consumers. Cheaters who broke the rules for their own gain. So hear me when I say: I know Donald Trump's type.

"And in this campaign I will proudly — I will proudly put my record against his. As a young prosecutor, when I was in the Alameda County District Attorney's Office, I specialized in cases involving sexual abuse. Donald Trump was found liable by a jury for committing sexual abuse. As Attorney General of California I took on one of our country's largest for-profit colleges and put it out of business. Donald Trump ran a for-profit college, Trump University, that was forced to pay $25 million to the students it scammed. As District Attorney, to go after polluters, I created one of the first environmental justice units in our nation. Donald Trump stood in Mar-o-lago and told Big Oil lobbyists he would do their bidding for a $1 billion campaign contribution. During the foreclosure crisis, I took on the big Wall Street banks and won $20 billion for California families, holding those banks accountable for fraud. Donald Trump was just found guilty of 34 counts of fraud.

"But make no mistake — all that being said, this campaign is not just about us versus Donald Trump. There is more to this campaign than that. Our campaign has always been about two different versions of what we see as the future of our country, two different visions for the future of our country. One focused on the future, the other focused on the past.

"Donald Trump wants to take our country backward, to a time before many of our fellow Americans had full freedoms and rights.

"But we believe in a brighter future that makes room for all Americans. We believe in a future where every person has the opportunity not just to get by, but to get ahead. [Calls of "That's right!"] We believe in a future where no child has to grow up in poverty, where every person can buy a home, start a family and build wealth, and where every person has access to paid family leave and affordable child care. That's the future we see! [Applause.] Together we fight to build a nation where every person has affordable healthcare, where every worker is paid fairly, and where every senior can retire with dignity.

"All of this is to say that building up the middle class will be a defining goal of my presidency. Because we here know that when our middle class is strong, America is strong. And we know that's not the future Donald Trump is fighting for. He and his extreme Project 2025 will weaken the middle class and bring us backward — please do note that — back to the failed trickle-down policies that gave huge tax breaks to billionaires and big corporations and made working families pay the cost, back to policies that put Medicare and Social Security on the chopping block, back to policies that treat healthcare as only a privilege for the wealthy, instead of what we all know it should be, which is a right for every American.

"America has tried these economic policies before. They do not lead to prosperity. They lead to inequity and economic injustice. And we are NOT GOING BACK. We are not going back. (You're not taking us back.)

"Our fight for the future is also a fight for freedom. Generations of Americans before us have led the fight for freedom from our founders to our framers, to the abolitionists and the suffragettes, to the Freedom Riders and farm workers. And now I say, team, the baton is in our hands. We, who believe in the sacred freedom to vote. We, who are committed to pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and the Freedom to Vote Act. We, who believe in the freedom to live safe from gun violence, and that's why we will work to pass universal background checks, red flag laws, and an assault weapons ban. We, who will fight for reproductive freedom, knowing if Trump gets the chance, he will sign a national abortion ban to outlaw abortion in every. single. state—but we are not going to let that happen.

"It is this team here that is going to help in this November to elect a majority of members of the United States Congress who agreethe government should not be telling a woman what to do with her body. And when Congress passes a law to restore reproductive freedoms, as President of the United States I will sign it into law! [cheers, someone shouts "we the people!"] "Indeed, we the people.

"So ultimately, to all the friends here I say: in this election we know we each face a question. What kind of country do we want to live in? A country of freedom, compassion and rule of law, ["Yes!"] or a country of chaos, fear, and hate? [Boos] You all are here because you as leaders know we each — including our neighbors and our friends and our family — we each as Americans have the power to answer that question. That's the beauty of it, the power of the people. We each have the ability to answer that question.

"So in the next 106 days—" looks around the room smiling at various people, "We have work to do. We have doors to knock on, we have people to talk to, we have phone calls to make, and we have an election to win. …" [a few final crowd -whipping-up platitudes like "Do we believe in freedom"]

------

Note: Yes, I know, she spoke about rights for all Americans without getting into any specifics besides reproductive and voting rights, because those two are core values of the Democratic party and the ones most Americans agree with. Unifying a party and coalition building starts by finding common ground. The approach Harris is taking will pull away some old-school moderate Republicans who are reluctant to leave their party even as it changes beyond recognition, but who really don't like Trump. Many of them have been poisoned more or less by Fox News, so they need to see she's not a crazy crazy liberal.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

David Moye at HuffPost:

A conservative news website is getting thoroughly mocked on social media for attempting to gin up some controversy about Vice President Kamala Harris.

The Washington Free Beacon did a deep dive into Harris’ past work at McDonald’s that was breathlessly headlined, “‘I Did Fries’: Kamala Harris Claims She Worked at McDonald’s, but She Never Mentioned It Until She Ran for President. Did She Really Toil Beneath the Golden Arches?” The Democratic presidential nominee has previously mentioned that she worked at McDonald’s after her freshman year in college to earn extra money. She discussed the experience in an interview earlier this year with Drew Barrymore, saying, “I did fries, and then I did the [cash register].” Former President Bill Clinton mentioned Harris’ McDonald’s job during his speech at the Democratic National Convention, joking, “I will be so happy when she actually enters the White House as president, because she will break my record as the president who spent the most time at McDonald’s.” Harris formerly working at a fast food restaurant may make her relatable to Americans, so apparently, the Beacon wanted to ensure she was on the up-and-up. The article noted that Harris didn’t mention the Mickey D’s gig until a labor rally in June 2019, and it wasn’t mentioned in either of her memoirs.

However, what likely aroused suspicion for the Beacon reporters is that she left her job at Mickey D’s off her October 1987 job application for a law clerk position in the Alameda County district attorney’s office. The Beacon notes that Harris did list several jobs in a section that asked for every position she had held in the last 10 years, but not McDonald’s. Snopes was also unable to verify Harris’ employment at McDonald’s. HuffPost also reached out to McDonald’s, which didn’t immediately respond. A Harris campaign official said on background that the vice president worked at McDonald’s during the summer of 1983 in Alameda, California, where she handled register duties and manned the fry and ice cream machines. But after Free Beacon editor Peter J. Hasson promoted the story on social media, many people expressed that the publication was grasping at straws to make Harris look bad.

The right-wing faux outrage machine continues to try to make Kamala Harris look bad, as the conservative Washington Free Beacon publication put out a hit piece on Harris for excluding McDonald’s on her résumé while applying for a job in the Alameda County DA’s office. If anything, her experience at McDonald’s makes her more relatable to Americans. #HarrisWalz2024

[ngdrb]

Kamala Harris' Rise to Prominence and

Political Vision

Background and Achievements

Kamala Harris is the current Vice President of the United States, making history as the first woman, first Black American, and first South Asian American to hold the position. Her rise to prominence is marked by a series of notable achievements throughout her career in public service.

Harris was born in Oakland, California, to immigrant parents from India and Jamaica. After earning her law degree from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law, she began her career as a prosecutor in the Alameda County District Attorney's Office. She later served as the District Attorney of San Francisco from 2004 to 2011, and as the Attorney General of California from 2011 to 2017.

In 2016, Harris was elected to the United States Senate, becoming the second African American woman and the first South Asian American to serve in the Senate. During her tenure, she gained recognition for her work on issues such as healthcare reform, immigration reform, and criminal justice reform.

Political Vision and Proposed Policies

Kamala Harris' political vision revolves around promoting equality, justice, and opportunity for all Americans. Her proposed policies aim to address various critical issues facing the nation, including:

Women's Rights: Harris has been a vocal advocate for protecting and advancing women's rights, including reproductive rights and equal pay for equal work. She has pledged to fight against any efforts to roll back progress made in these areas.

Healthcare Reform: Harris has supported efforts to expand access to affordable healthcare, including protecting and strengthening the Affordable Care Act (ACA). She has also proposed measures to lower prescription drug costs and improve mental health services.

Climate Change: Harris recognizes the urgent need to address climate change and has proposed a comprehensive plan to transition the United States to a clean energy economy, including investing in renewable energy sources and promoting sustainable practices.

Immigration Reform: Harris supports comprehensive immigration reform that provides a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants and addresses the root causes of migration, such as violence, poverty, and corruption in countries of origin.

Criminal Justice Reform: As a former prosecutor, Harris has advocated for reforms to the criminal justice system, including addressing racial disparities, reducing mass incarceration, and promoting rehabilitation and re-entry programs for formerly incarcerated individuals.

Potential Impact and Challenges

Kamala Harris' political vision and proposed policies have the potential to shape a more equitable and inclusive future for the United States. However, she may face significant challenges in implementing her agenda, particularly in a divided political landscape.

One of the key challenges Harris may face is navigating the complex relationship between the executive and legislative branches of government. Enacting significant policy changes often requires cooperation and compromise across party lines, which can be difficult to achieve in a polarized political environment.

Additionally, Harris' progressive policies may face opposition from more conservative factions who prioritize traditional values or have different economic and social priorities. Overcoming ideological divisions and building consensus on contentious issues will be crucial for the success of her agenda.

Despite these challenges, Harris' experience, determination, and commitment to her principles position her as a formidable figure in shaping the future direction of the United States. Her ability to inspire and unite diverse constituencies, coupled with her pragmatic approach to policymaking, could prove invaluable in navigating the complexities of the American political landscape.

[the-trinket-witch]

New TWST OC Hub!

(NOTE: All art depicted is a combination of freehand art and sprite manipulation, So I cannot say this is wholly my own hand. As well, SD sprites are created via this picrew and edited further by me.)

Albert Eastwind (アルバート・イーストウィンド):

(TWST OF: Mary Poppins)

Age: 17

Pronouns: He/Him (わたくし)

Birthday: Aug 27

Height: 5'9" (175cm)

Class: 2-C (Student 64)

Homeland: Altus (Queendom of Roses)

Best Class: Practical Magic

U.M: 'Step in Time'- Can slow time around up to 15ft (4.5m), can only use up to an hour of time (passes as 5 minutes IRT). Buildup of blot makes use of <1hr dangerous.

Likes: Taking care of others

Dislikes: 'Piecrust Promises' (lying or sparing someone their feelings)

Personality: Cheerful, practical, self-flagellating, one to suffer in silence, truthful, wordy, uplifting, formal

Nicknames: Swordfish (Floyd), Monsieur Parapluie (Rook)

Eugenio 'Yuu' Hernandez (エウヘニオ・ヘルナンデス)

(TWST OF: N/A)

Age: 16

Pronouns: They/Them (僕)

Birthday: May 15

Height: 5'4" (162cm)

Class: 1-A (Student 13)

Homeland: Alameda, CA, USA

Best Class: P.E

U.M: 'Beast Tamer'-not magical, but the threat of La Chancla upside one's head tends to put rowdy schoolboys in line

Likes: Cooking, learning about Twisted Wonderland, days off

Dislikes: Overblotting, Some of the Dorm Leaders, having to do Crowley's go-for work, going hungry

Personality: Pragmatic, wry, inexperienced, mature, tired, fun-seeking

Nicknames: Shrimpy (Floyd), Monsieur Trickster (Rook)

Tidus Rhin (ティダス・ライン)

(TWST OF: Archimedes-The Little Mermaid (TV Series))

Age: 16

Pronouns: He/Him (自分)

Birthday: Nov 17

Height: 7ft (213cm)

Class: 1-C (student 50)

Homeland: Coral Sea

Best Class: History

U.M: 'Fathom's Below'- Can use infrasound frequencies to cause a variety of physical/psychological effects

Likes: Human Culture

Dislikes: Being used exclusively for his strength

Personality: Bubbly, curious, naive, scholarly, headstrong, tame, protective

Nicknames: Jinbei (Floyd), Monsieur Vaste (Rook)

Lázaro Muertinez (ラサロ・ムエルティネス)

Age: 18

Pronouns: He/Him (俺)

Birthday: Nov 2

Height: 6'0" (182cm)

Class: 3-D (Student 42)

Homeland: Land of Dawning

Best Class: Music

U.M: 'Recuérdame'-digs up lost memories of those who hear him playing music. Memories are random.

Likes: Playing any instrument he can get his hands on

Dislikes: Art theft

Personality: Cheery, familial, boisterous, spontaneous, savant, festive

Nicknames: Celebes (Floyd), Roi de la Guitare (Rook)

Aadesh Sona (アーデシュ・ソナ)

Age: 28

Pronouns: He/Him (俺-様)

Birthday: Oct 18

Height: 6'5" (195cm)

Subject: 'Counselor' (Inside Trader/Intel Gatherer)

Homeland: Sunset Savannah

Species: Beastman (Constrictor)

U.M: 'Silver Mist'-lowers brainwave activity, putting people to sleep. Cannot influence actions via UM itself, but has a degree in psychology so only needs to have one in a more suggestible state.

Likes: Having the upper hand, Praise from Mr Khan, power

Dislikes: Things not going his way, Knots in his tail, Kids too smart for their own good

Personality: Conceited, intelligent, scheming, two-faced, obsequious, manipulative, eloquent, self-serving

Nicknames: Scaly Bastard (various), Creepy Constrictor (various) Doctor (clients)

The Janitor (管理人-さん)

(TWST of: Myself! My Actual 'Self insert')

Age: 6 months

Pronouns: They/Them (自分)

Birthday: Sept. 15

Height: 5'4" (163cm)

Role: Janitor

Homeland: Nightraven College Science Lab

Species: Construct (animated anatomical model)

U.M: N/A (Has a charm that makes their sign language understood by those they communicate with)

Likes: Cleaning, free time, learning about 'Life'

Dislikes: Purposefully messy areas, People not understanding their signs, (eventually) being treated as a slave

Personality: detail-oriented, tidy, tired, sassy, overworked, nonchalant, wry

Nicknames: Handybones (various), Bones Malone (various), The Assistant (Sam), 'Oh Shit You Scared Me' (various), The Walking Halloween Decoration (various) Glassfish (Floyd), Souverain de Propreté (Rook)

Rajesh Khan (レージェシュ カン)

(TWST of: Shere Khan-Jungle Book)

Age: 53

Pronouns: He/Him (俺-様)

Birthday: Nov. 17

Height: 5'9" (175cm)

Career: CEO (Khan Corp.)

Homeland: Scalding Sands

Species: Beastman (Tiger)

U.M: 'King of the Jungle' Magically amplifies his infrasound roar, making it easier to intimidate.

Likes: Exotic food, smooth business dealings, news from Aadesh, opera, body building

Dislikes: Insubordination, lack of information, kicks to the knee

Personality: Austere, collected, explosive, cutthroat, confident

Nicknames: Sir, Mr Khan

Finally also: the Voice Claim Trailer

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: William Deresiewicz

Published: Nov 21, 2024

The politics of the academy have been defeated. Its ideas, its assumptions, its opinions and positions — as expressed in official statements, embodied in policies and practices, established in centers and offices, and espoused and taught by large and leading portions of the professoriate — have been rejected. This was already evident before November 5. It can now no longer be denied.

Some data points: A post-election survey from Blueprint, a Democratic polling firm, discovered that, among reasons not to vote for the Democratic presidential nominee, “Kamala Harris is focused more on cultural issues like transgender issues than helping the middle class” ranked third, after only inflation and illegal immigration. Among swing voters, it ranked first. California approved a ballot measure to stiffen penalties for theft and drug crimes by a margin of 69-31. Los Angeles elected a former Republican as district attorney over the progressive incumbent by 61-38. Alameda County, which covers most of the East Bay including Berkeley, recalled its progressive DA by 63-37. Portland, Ore., elected a former businessman as mayor over the leading progressive candidate by 18 points.

We’ve seen comparable results in recent years. In 2020, California rejected affirmative action by 57-43. In 2021, Seattle elected a Republican city attorney over a police abolitionist, New York City elected Mayor Eric Adams — despite his manifest deficiencies — on a law-and-order platform, and Buffalo, N.Y., reelected its mayor as a write-in candidate by 19 points over the socialist to whom he had lost in the Democratic primary. In 2022, San Francisco recalled three progressive members of its Board of Education by lopsided margins, then recalled its progressive DA.

Survey findings tell the same broad story. A Marist poll this year revealed that 57 percent of Latinos surveyed are in favor of deporting all illegal immigrants. A Pew poll showed that 75 percent of Black respondents and 85 percent of Latinos are in favor of voter ID laws. After the Supreme Court banned affirmative action in college admissions, Gallup found that 52 percent of Black and 68 percent of Latino adults supported the decision. Another Pew poll, consistent with earlier findings, showed that only 4 percent of Latinos use “Latinx,” and that of those who have heard of the term, the vast majority reject it. And then there are perhaps the most important data points of all. Donald Trump increased his support among Black, Latino, and Asian voters from 2016 to 2020, then increased it again from 2020 to 2024 (he also got a majority of the Native American vote). The light was blinking. Now it’s solid red.

Over the last 10 years or so, a cultural revolution has been imposed on this country from the top down. Its ideas originated in the academy, and it’s been carried out of the academy by elite-educated activists and journalists and academics. (As has been said, we’re all on campus now.) Its agenda includes decriminalization or nonprosecution of property and drug crimes and, ultimately, the abolition of police and prisons; open borders, effectively if not explicitly; the suppression of speech that is judged to be harmful to disadvantaged groups; “affirmative” care for gender-dysphoric youth (puberty blockers followed by cross-sex hormones followed, in some cases, by mastectomies) and the inclusion of natal males in girls’ and women’s sports; and the replacement of equality by equity — of equal opportunity for individuals by equal outcomes for designated demographic groups — as the goal of social policy.

It insists that the state is evil, that the nuclear family is evil, that something called “whiteness” is evil, that the sex binary, which is core to human biology, is a social construct. It is responsible for the DEI regimes, the training and minders and guidelines, that have blighted American workplaces, including academic ones. It has promulgated an ever-shifting array of rebarbative neologisms whose purpose often seems to be no more than its own enforcement: POC (now BIPOC), AAPI (now AANHPI), LGBTQ (now LGBTQIA2S+), “pregnant people,” “menstruators,” “front hole,” “chest feeding,” and, yes, “Latinx.” It is joyless, vengeful, and tyrannical. It is purist and totalistic. It demands affirmative, continuous, and enthusiastic consent.

People are fed up, and I don’t just mean people who voted for Trump. A few days after the election, I was listening to The Brian Lehrer Show on New York Public Radio, which was broadcasting one of those endless postmortems that the media has been conducting, when another listener called in. She identified herself as Black, a Berkeley grad, “super liberal,” and a resident of Brownsville, a largely Black neighborhood. Referring to the burden that the influx of asylum-seekers has placed on the city’s resources and therefore on people’s lives (“I’m talking about Black people here, at the lower end of the economic spectrum”), and how you weren’t supposed to talk about it, how if you did talk about it you were accused of being racist, how you weren’t even supposed to notice it, how people were being asked “to engage in a cognitive dissonance that is literally not possible,” she finally said, with beautiful succinctness, “When did liberalism mean no common sense?” It’s clear that many Democrats have been wondering the same thing.

How did things get to this pass? And how did the academy, the school and citadel and engine of this revolution, become so desperately out of touch with reality, including the reality of people’s lives outside the liberal elite, their needs and beliefs and experiences? One answer is that academics tend to live inside a bubble. They socialize with other academics; far more than used to be the case, they marry other academics; and, of course, they work with other academics. When groups whose members are broadly similar in outlook are isolated from external influences, two things happen: Their opinions become more homogeneous, and their opinions become more extreme. Which is exactly what’s been taking place in the academy in recent decades. The ratio of liberals to conservatives has soared, and more of those who identify as left identify as far left. And both of those trends are more pronounced in the fields and institutions that are leading the revolution: the humanities, the social sciences exclusive of economics, the “studies” programs and departments, the schools of education and social work, the elite universities, and the liberal-arts colleges.

The reason that these disciplines can drift so far from reality is that they are not answerable to reality.

Those fields have another thing in common: They are intellectually corrupt. You know what I’m talking about. Any fool idea passes muster, no matter how preposterous, as long as it conforms to prevailing theoretical trends and preferred ideological positions. Nobody wants to make waves: to speak up at a conference, to undermine a colleague or colleague’s student, to invite examination of their own research. Data is massaged; texts are squeezed or bound and gagged. Jargon helps to paper over cracks in logic; countervailing evidence is tucked under the cushions. Standards are ignored to the point where no one can even recall what they are anymore. It’s no wonder that the social sciences are suffering a replication crisis. In the humanities, there is no crisis, because there is no replication to begin with, no factual claims to reproduce, only “readings,” “interventions,” “Theory.”

The reason that these disciplines can drift so far from reality is that they are not answerable to reality. If an engineer miscalculates an equation, the building falls down. But what would accountability to reality even mean in the humanities, given that their findings are never applied? It’s not like there are going to be consequences for saying something stupid about Shakespeare. In the social sciences, and, less often, in the hybrid “studies” fields, findings are applied, but it isn’t clear that there’s much of a feedback loop there either. How many hypotheses in psychology have been abandoned because they led to bad educational policy? How many gender-studies scholars have rethought their suppositions in the face of the calamity of gender youth medicine? The more a field becomes beholden to theory, or Theory, the further it floats away from empirical observation and therefore correction. The enterprise becomes entirely self-referential, words built on words, a kind of intellectual Ponzi scheme.

So how are academics going to respond to their political repudiation? One alternative — the likeliest one — will be to stay the course. The people have spoken, but the people are wrong. They’ve been misinformed and disinformed. They are victims of false consciousness, too benighted to understand their own interests. They are racist, sexist, xenophobic, yearning for a strongman. The attitude reminds me of the few American Communists who were still around when I was young — scientifically certain of everything as they headed ineluctably toward political extinction.

But academics have another option. They can entertain the possibility that they’ve been wrong, about a lot of things and for a long time. They can consider that the notion that Harris lost because of racism and sexism is belied by the fact that we have already elected a Black president; that Harris received a larger share of the white vote than Joe Biden; that a female presidential candidate has already won the popular vote; that the nation, far from distrusting women with executive office, has elected 44 female governors in 31 states; that 16 of those governors have been Republicans, which means that most Republicans supported them; that those states include not only blue or purple ones but Alabama, Arkansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and South Dakota; that Kansas and Texas have actually elected Democratic women governors; and that while there are surely people in this country who wouldn’t vote for a woman or nonwhite presidential candidate, they also surely wouldn’t vote for any Democrat. That Harris lost for other reasons altogether.

Trump is appalling, evil, criminal. But the worse he is, the worse the liberal elite must be, if so many prefer him to them.

They might further consider that the majority of Black, Latino, and Asian Americans do not share their politics or ideology; that the people who speak for those communities in elite liberal spaces — not only colleges and universities but the media, the arts, the nonprofits — share the politics and points of view not of those communities but of other liberal elites and therefore do not, in the simplest and most important sense, represent them; that progressives have been promulgating policies in the names of those communities that they reject — for Blacks, police defunding and abolition; for Latinos, lax immigration and border enforcement — and that they reject them for good reasons. That identity is not a very useful way of understanding people’s motivations.

Finally, they might consider that to say that certain people “vote against their interests” is not only condescending but wrong. People know what their interests are. They know it much better than you do. Their interests are the same as everybody else’s: public safety, economic security and opportunity, and on top of that a little dignity, a little respect. And while Trump is hardly likely to advance those goals, the 80 percent of the country that lies below the upper middle class is perfectly justified in doubting whether the Democratic Party, and the elites that run and influence it, will do so either, because for decades they have not. Yes, Trump is appalling, evil, criminal. But the worse he is, the worse the liberal elite must be, if so many prefer him to them.

Ten years ago, I published a book, Excellent Sheep, that argued that the meritocratic elite, which includes the professoriate as well as the academy’s administrative class, had become self-serving, self-perpetuating, and, as leaders of our most important institutions, incompetent. It had lost its authority. It had lost its legitimacy. The time had come for it to step aside in favor of a new, more democratic dispensation. Nine months after the book came out, the rough beast glided down his gilded escalator. A few months after that, a wild-haired septuagenarian socialist almost single-handedly destroyed the Clinton-Obama establishment. One would think the message would’ve been received by now. The message is you failed. Sit down, be humble, and listen and learn.

[lboogie1906]

Congresswoman Barbara Jean Lee (born July 16, 1946) is a politician serving as the Representative for California’s 13th congressional district. Now in her 12th congressional term, she has served since 1998 and is a member of the Democratic Party. The district numbered 9th district is based in Oakland and covers most of the northern part of Alameda County.

Born and raised in Texas, she was educated at Mills College and the University of California, Berkeley. She started her career by working on the presidential campaign of Shirley Chisholm, and she was involved with the Black Panther Party. After working as chief of staff for Congressman Ron Dellums, she served in the California State Assembly (1990-96) and in the California State Senate (1996-98).

She was elected to the House of Representatives in a 1998 special election to succeed Dellums. She chaired the Congressional Progressive Caucus (2005-09) and the Congressional Black Caucus (2009-11). She is the vice chair and a founding member of the Congressional LGBTQ+ Equality Caucus, a co-chair of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus, and a co-chair of the House Democratic Steering Committee. She has played a major role in the antiwar movement, notably in her vocal criticism of the Iraq War and for being the only member of Congress to vote against the authorization of the use of force following the September 11 attacks.

She was a candidate for the Senate in the 2024 election to succeed the late Senator Dianne Feinstein, a race that she would lose. She would forgo re-election to the House of Representatives.

She is the oldest of three daughters of Mildred Adaire and Garvin Alexander Tutt. She was raised Catholic and attended Catholic schools. She was the only African-American Girl Scout in El Paso,

She married Carl Lee (1964-66). Both of the sons now work in the insurance industry. Tony Lee is the CEO of Dickerson Employee Benefits, an African American-owned insurance brokerage and consulting firm, and Craig Lee is a senior executive at State Farm.

She married Rev. Dr. Clyde Oden Jr. (2019) a retired pastor. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence #sigmagammarho

[imaginationstimulation]

"Either/Or" : Existentialism, Poetry, Elliott Smith and Søren Kierkegaard.

Either/Or is the third studio album by American singer-songwriter Elliott Smith, released on February 25, 1997.

The title of the album derives from the Søren Kierkegaard book of the same name (Either/Or), reflecting Smith’s interest in philosophy, which he studied at Hampshire College in Massachusetts. Smith has long been associated with the Danish philosopher, and was once introduced as him at a concert in 1996.

Smith propelled into the international spotlight after three of the songs from this album were incorporated into the Good Will Hunting soundtrack.

*

from the album's 2nd track, Alameda:

Walk down Alameda Brushing off the nightmares you wish could plague me when I'm awake So now you see your first mistake was thinking that you could relate

The lyrics imply that whoever he is addressing here wishes that he keep suffering, so that he can keep creating art. This sentiment is found in a Kierkegaard quote from Either/Or:

“What is a poet? An unhappy man who hides deep anguish in his heart, but whose lips are so formed that when the sigh and cry pass through them, it sounds like lovely music…. And people flock around the poet and say: ‘Sing again soon’ – that is, ‘May new sufferings torment your soul but your lips be fashioned as before, for the cry would only frighten us, but the music, that is blissful.”

Alameda's lyric goes on to address that problems arise when a person thinks of themselves as the same as everyone else. This emphasis on subjectivity is a common existentialist trope beginning with Kierkegaard’s Truth is Subjectivity.

*

Søren Kierkegaard was a Christian existentialist philosopher living in the 1800s in Denmark. What is existentialism? It’s the idea that individuals are ultimately free to make their own choices, and are therefore responsible for their own life in this strange world.

People who believe in the sovereignty of the individual are one step away from also being a poet. What individualists and poets have in common is their care for and focus on the subjective, personal experience of life.

[Recalling] Kierkegaard’s words on what it means to be a poet:

“What is a poet? An unhappy man who hides deep anguish in his heart, but whose lips are so formed that when the sigh and cry pass through them, it sounds like lovely music…. And people flock around the poet and say: ‘Sing again soon’ — that is, ‘May new sufferings torment your soul but your lips be fashioned as before, for the cry would only frighten us, but the music, that is blissful.”

Existentialism presents reality as the individual versus the universe — you and your free choices against the infinite strangeness of existing. Very often this comes across as a negative experience. The world is so big, and we individuals are so small. This leads us to anguish.

Most people stay stuck there, in anguish. But the poet... has the power to channel that pain into poetry, music. In other words, the poet takes the raw and painful experience of existing, and reshapes it into something beautiful for himself and to share with others.

What is a poet? Someone who bears the cross of their suffering, and then transmutes that suffering into blissful music. What a skill to learn.

[worldwidenews29]

Kamala Harris: From Prosecutor to Vice President of the United States

Kamala Harris's journey to become Vice President of the United States is a tale of ambition, perseverance, and groundbreaking achievements. From her early days as a student at Howard University to her role as a prominent figure in criminal justice reform, Harris has left an indelible mark on American politics. Her ascent to the second-highest office in the land has sparked enthusiasm and hope for many, particularly among women and people of color.

Harris's path to the vice presidency has been marked by several notable milestones. Her time as California's Attorney General and her tenure in the U.S. Senate paved the way for her historic nomination as the first woman of color on a major party's presidential ticket. As Vice President, she has taken on crucial responsibilities, including leading efforts on immigration policy and championing the Inflation Reduction Act. Harris's commitment to LGBTQ+ rights and her role as President of the Senate have further cemented her position as a key player in shaping the nation's future.

Kamala Harris's Formative Years

Family Background and Influences

Kamala Harris's mother, Shyamala Gopalan, was an Indian biologist and civil rights activist from Chennai, India. [1] Born on April 7, 1938, to P. V. Gopalan and Rajam, Shyamala belonged to the Brahmin caste and was a gifted singer of South Indian classical music. [1] After winning a national competition as a teenager, she pursued Home Science at Lady Irwin College in New Delhi before unexpectedly applying for a master's program at the University of California, Berkeley, in 1958. [1] Shyamala eventually earned a PhD in nutrition and endocrinology from UC Berkeley in 1964, the same year Kamala was born. [1]

Kamala's father, Donald J. Harris, is a Jamaican-American economist and professor emeritus at Stanford University. [1] Born on August 23, 1938, in Saint Ann's Bay, Jamaica, to Beryl Christie Harris and Oscar Joseph Harris, he has Afro-Jamaican and Irish-Jamaican heritage. [1] Donald received his Bachelor of Arts from the University College of the West Indies in 1960 and later earned a PhD from UC Berkeley in 1966, where he met Shyamala through the civil rights movement. [1]

Education and Early Career

Kamala Harris was born on October 20, 1964, in Oakland, California, to Shyamala and Donald. [2] [3] She and her younger sister, Maya, were raised primarily by their mother, who instilled in them a commitment to civil rights and social justice. [2] Harris attended Howard University, a historically Black college, where she was active in the civil rights movement and the Black Student Union. [2] After graduating from Howard, she earned a law degree from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law. [2] [3]

Shaping of Political Values

Harris's parents were active in the civil rights movement and brought her to civil rights marches in a stroller, teaching her about heroes like Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall and civil rights leader Constance Baker Motley. [4] This exposure to the fight for equality and justice at a young age shaped her political values and commitment to building strong coalitions that fight for the rights and freedoms of all people. [4]

Prosecutorial Career Highlights

Alameda County District Attorney's Office

After graduating from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law, Kamala Harris took a position in the Alameda County District Attorney's Office, where she specialized in prosecuting child sexual assault cases. [13] As a Deputy District Attorney, she also prosecuted cases involving homicide and robbery, working at that office from 1990 to 1998. [13]

San Francisco District Attorney

In 1998, Harris was named managing attorney of the Career Criminal Unit of the San Francisco District Attorney's Office, where she prosecuted three strikes cases and serial felony offenders. [13] She served as the first woman District Attorney in San Francisco's history from 2004 to 2010, becoming the first African American woman and South Asian American woman in California to hold the office. [13] [14]

As San Francisco's District Attorney, Harris was an advocate for LGBTQ+ rights, officiating the first same-sex wedding after California's Proposition 8 was overturned. [14] She also started programs focused on re-entry services and crime prevention, and was known for her tough stance on violent crime. [15]

California Attorney General

Kamala Harris served as California's Attorney General from 2011 to 2017 after winning her first race in November 2010 by a slim margin over Republican Steve Cooley. [14] As Attorney General, she secured a $20 billion settlement for Californians whose homes had been foreclosed on and a $1.1 billion settlement for students and veterans who were taken advantage of by a for-profit education company. [14]

Harris launched initiatives to curb recidivism, with subdivisions focused on program development, evaluations, and grants. [16] In 2015, the California Department of Justice became the first statewide agency to adopt a body camera program for all special agents, and Harris launched law enforcement training on implicit bias and procedural justice. [16] She also initiated a criminal justice open data initiative to increase transparency and a dashboard for public criminal justice data. [16]

Harris had a strong stance against truancy, releasing the annual "In School and On Track" report from 2013 through 2016, which detailed truancy and absenteeism rates in the state. [16] She called for harsher consequences for parents of truant children, a policy she had implemented as a prosecutor. [16] [17]

National Political Ascendancy

U.S. Senate Tenure

Harris served as the junior U.S. senator from California from 2017 to 2021; she defeated Loretta Sanchez in the 2016 Senate election to become the second African-American woman and the first South Asian American to serve in the U.S. Senate. [20] As a senator, Harris advocated for gun control laws, the DREAM Act, a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, federal legalization of cannabis, as well as healthcare and taxation reform. [20] She gained a national profile for her pointed questioning of Trump administration officials during Senate hearings, including Trump's second Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh. [20]

[sonyachristian]

Wrapping up women's history month 2024

[bllsbailey]

McDonald’s Explains Why They 'Don’t Have Any Record' Of Kamala Working There, After She Touted Past Employment

McDonald’s recently released an internal memo revealing that it does not have any records of Vice President Kamala Harris working at any of its fast food establishments during her time in college, as she has previously claimed a number of times.

A verified memo emailed to McDonald’s franchisees maintained that the company “did not keep records of every position” back in the early 1980s, when Harris allegedly worked there.

“Though we are not a political brand, we’ve been proud to hear former President Trump’s love for McDonald’s and Vice President Harris’s fond memories working under the Arches. While we and our franchisees don’t have records for all positions dating back to the early ‘80’s, what makes ‘1 in 8’ so powerful is the shared experience so many Americans have had,” the statement read.

Harris’s claim regarding her previous employment at McDonalds first surfaced during a 2019 rally, alongside fast food workers, where she claimed to previously work at the Central Avenue McDonald’s location in Alameda, California, during the summer of 1983.

Harris restated her claim during an interview on “The Drew Barrymore Show” back in April. Harris told Barrymore that she “did fries” while working at McDonald’s.

Meanwhile, former President Trump decided to poke fun at Harris on Sunday, working the fry cooker at a Pennsylvania McDonald’s location.

“I’ve now worked [at McDonald’s] for 15 minutes more than Kamala,” Trump stated from the drive-thru window, insinuating that she lied about her previous employment history in an attempt to connect with working, middle class voters.

Following Trump’s Sunday McDonald’s shift, Harris was asked again on Monday if she ever worked at McDonald’s, to which she responded, “Did I? I did.” Although Harris has repeatedly claimed that she previously worked at the popular fast-food chain, neither Harris nor her campaign have provided any evidence to corroborate the claim, simply brushing it off.

Additionally, a copy of Kamala’s old resume after college reveals that McDonald’s was never included, according to the Washington Free Beacon.

The employees working at the Alameda, California franchise, where Harris allegedly used to work, were also reportedly told to not speak about Harris to any reporters if they wished to keep their jobs, according to The Telegraph.

Despite Harris’s team doubling down on her claims, the campaign still has yet to provide any real evidence.

Stay informed! Receive breaking news blasts directly to your inbox for free. Subscribe here. https://www.oann.com/alerts

[seaslugsapphic]

I love you Bay Area! I love you lake Merritt! I love you warm springs Bart station! I love you College ave! I love you ugly ass Salesforce tower! I love you Alameda antiques fair! I love you Anh Phoong billboard! I love you Golden Gate Park! I love you taco truck in Fruitvale! I love you

[murder-and-maryjane]

Did You Know🤔

On April 2nd, 2012, a mass shooting occurred inside Oikos University, a Korean Christian college in Oakland, California, United States. Seven people were killed, and three others were injured. One L. Goh, a former student at the school, was taken into custody and identified as the suspect in the shooting. It is the deadliest mass killing in the city's history.

The Shooting occurred at approximately 10:30 a.m. (Pacific Daylight Time), when a gunman opened fire with a .45-caliber semi-automatic handgun with four fully loaded 10-round magazines on the university's campus, located at the Airport Business Park in East Oakland, near the Oakland International Airport. The gunman stood up in a nursing classroom while class was in session, ordered classmates to line up against the wall, and fired at them. The shooter was reported to have said "Get in line...I'm going to kill you all!" before opening fire, according to a witness. Six students and a receptionist were killed, and three others injured (six of the seven fatalities were women.) The attacker continued to fire shots as he fled the campus, driving away in a car belonging to one of the victims. Hours later, he surrendered to authorities at a Safeway supermarket in the nearby South Shore area of Alameda, about 5 miles (8 km) away from the scene of the shooting.

[elegantdefendorexpert]

In brief: Peralta district appoints new president for College of Alameda

A higher education leader with a record of promoting diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, Melanie Dixon will start the job July 15.In brief: Peralta district appoints new president for College of Alameda