Life of Wry

Up at the North Davis pond, post dessert (and also, we had to clear our heads of trump talk… because gawd… our political world is just unfathomable):

I’ve not really been a Flag Day person… in all my years. In fact, I didn’t know it was Flag Day until I finished my second article about our flag.. then it became obvious. Two articles down, and numerous others in my cue, all pondering the question about what the American flag says to people (these days). I detect a theme… and a lot of uneasiness about the question.

The flag and what it means (these days) has been a source of real friction between my brother Matt and me. During the pandemic, he and Eric draped the world’s biggest flag across the entire front facade of their very prominent restaurant in Belmont Shores (Long Beach’s upscale beach community). It attracted local news outlets and, I presume, a lot of local attention. It was intended to celebrate a return to business … like, we made it, we survived, life is normalizing, we are open for in-person business…come on down!

I’m sure I congratulated him on that, for making it through a year (or two?) of trying to keep five restaurants afloat, plus staff. And I maybe sorta said I was a bit uncomfortable with the flag part… because… anymore, the flag has become a symbol of trumpism and all the horrors that represents. It’s a big, glaring, bull horn of a sign that you are a trumper.

Matt argued with me about that (he hates the former guy, now a twice-impeached, dozen-fold-indicted, newly convicted felon, and all around asshole of the highest order). He said that’s not what the flag means to him and he’s not going to let the magats co-opt it. Well, that’s nice Matty, but they already have, and everybody knows it, and putting a three-story, wall-to-wall flag on the front of your restaurant brands you. It will surely impact business (maybe for the better, considering Legends’ neighborhood). It certainly makes me feel [hugely] unwelcome in the restaurant. He did not like hearing that one bit.

And so our arguments have gone.. for years now. It’s truly a sore subject. Sore for me, too, because I want my flag back and resent 1) their stealing it for their movement and 2) the incredible irony of their faux patriotism — magats are not about democracy or the constitution or the freedoms any of that represents. They are an anti-democracy party, following their authoritarian leader into full-on fascism.

Hrrumph.

Well.

I’m just going to paste Dan Rather’s piece from today about Flag Day. He covers the territory pretty well, and offers some history I didn’t know (or maybe just forgot). Take it away, Dan.

IT’S THE AMERICAN FLAG

Of the days Americans commemorate, Flag Day has never had the esteem of, say, the 4th of July. It’s not even a federal holiday. But today we are reminded that everyone could and should be comfortable celebrating and displaying the American flag, not just those who have co-opted it for political purposes.

On a day chosen to honor our nation’s most revered emblem, the American flag has regretfully become a symbol of division rather than unity. In the upside-down political world in which we find ourselves, the flag has been seized by supporters of a political candidate who wants to dismantle democracy. As MAGA extremists fly the flag for someone who tried to subvert a free and fair election, do they recognize the irony? 

We have come to the point where Old Glory is being used to fracture the country. To fly the flag, especially on a car or pickup, is to (wink, wink) show your support for the convicted felon/presumptive Republican presidential nominee and his insurrectionist supporters. Many who don’t support him now feel uneasy about flying the flag for fear they will be labeled as right-wing extremists. The flag is not just for Republicans, or just for Democrats, or just for those in between. It is meant for all.

To see an American flag waving in all its grandeur has always been a point of pride and patriotism for me. It is a powerful symbol of freedom and all that our country represents. To see it relegated to a political prop doesn’t sadden me; it hardens my resolve. Every citizen should feel comfortable flying the flag.

So many have made the ultimate sacrifice so that we can live free. I remember World War II, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, and all the conflicts in between — so many flag-draped coffins of servicemen and women who died serving our country. So many military funerals where families are handed a flag, folded 13 times, representing the original 13 colonies, by a member of the honor guard, who utters these words: “On behalf of the president of the United States and a grateful nation, please accept this flag as a symbol of our appreciation for your loved one’s honorable and faithful service.” 

Today is Flag Day, established by President Woodrow Wilson in 1916 to honor the Stars and Stripes, a moniker credited to the Marquis de Lafayette during the Revolutionary War when the first iteration of the flag was created.  On June 14, 1777, the Second Continental Congress declared: “Resolved, That the flag of the thirteen United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation.”

A quote attributed to George Washington explains the choices of symbol and color. “We take the stars from heaven, the red from our mother country, separating it by white stripes, thus showing that we have separated from her, and the white stripes shall go down to posterity, representing our liberty.”

As states were added, so were stars. The flag we fly today, the 27th, became the flag after Hawaii was admitted to the Union in 1959. Flown for more than 63 years, it is the longest-used version of Old Glory.

Legends have told about the flag, of Betsy Ross sewing one of the first. Anthems have been written about it — see “The Star Spangled Banner.” The flag is so revered that it has a code established by Congress as to how it should be handled and displayed.  

On this Flag Day, remember what our flag is meant to represent — the ideals of America: democracy, freedom, and justice … for everyone. Fly it with pride.

If you value independent journalism that provides critical information to protect our democracy, please consider upgrading as a supporting member. It allows me to keep Steady sustainable and free for those who cannot afford it, especially in an election season when we need everyone to see it. Thank you.

No matter how you subscribe, I thank you for reading.

Stay Steady,
Dan

I’m in a bit of a pissy mood, what with the convicted felon’s return to Capitol Hill (first time since his failed effort to overthrow the duly elected government in 2021) to meet with all (and I mean pretty much ALL) of the spineless, amoral republican sycophants from both legislative chambers. He would (apparently) drone on with his usual grievance-filled, incoherent rants and the elected republican officials (who, by the way, are supposed to be public servants who swore an oath to the constitution) would applaud and laugh and carry on enthusiastically, lest he banish them from the party. Because: cult leader authoritarian dictator dude.

Yeah, that happened today… a ridiculous sham republican rally to sort of kick off and strategize the upcoming campaign. (No strategy, really, just parrot whatever their dear leader says, mostly on a whim, and certainly filled with dreck and lies)

Just ugh. They’re all in pretend mode, lining up behind their whacko sociopath, telling the media that they’re unified and rarin’ to win.

I seriously hate politics. And loathe to my core each and every one of these guys.

So.. memes today, to calm my nerves and a few other things to validate my anger..

A new hiking place today… quite fun! Never knew about Lake Chabot, which is partly within the city of Oakland and partly within an unincorporated section of Castro Valley. Wikipedia says: “The Lake Chabot dam was built in 1874-1875 as a primary source for water in the East Bay” … so it’s a man-made reservoir/lake thing with tons of trails, and tons of visitors, even on a Wednesday (can’t imagine what the weekends look like there).

Mostly what I saw were kids at summer day camps, bikes, and dogs (a $2 dog fee is charged at the gate). But as soon as we left the shore and headed up, we lost most all of the folks. We hiked a little over 9 miles, approx 1800′ of gain and spent 4 hours doing it. We didn’t stop for lunch and I didn’t drink enough water (say my cramping legs this evening), but it was a great hike and a great workout.

In my new boots!

I hiked with Dede — a friend of Jim’s from high school whom he’s developed more of a friendship with post HS, who is an avid (AVID) hiker. She hikes several times a week, never anything shorter than 6 miles (usually longer). Her groups take their hiking seriously… in addition to the minimum length, they keep a certain pace (one group 17-min miles, another 22-min miles) don’t break for food (can’t even talk about food for the first 90 mins, says their informal rule) and other such funny (odd?) things. She didn’t impose the rules on me, but seems like we observed most of them anyway.

I’d have to study a map to see where we went, but I remember a Cameron Hill, a Lookout Point and that’s about it. Some pics on a very hazy, 70-degree-ish day:

I’d have gotten more pics but my phone ran out of juice early (left nav on and also managed to record some long pocket videos!).

So.. we hiked for 4-ish hours and the commute was about 4-ish hours (2 coming and 2 going). Worth it.. but god, the traffic on 1-80 at rush hour just sucks… plus a going home rush hour crash to further mess with the flow…

All in all: excellent.

Today, I was scrolling through Facebook. I had half an ear on the news, and was just sort of mindlessly rolling through what seems lately like fewer friend posts and more random god-knows-what stuff. I started reading an inane post about something (the subject of which I’m too embarrassed to admit even on my low-profile, minimally-read blog) and when I clicked on the “more” link my screen filled with blinking windows, pretty much threatening the end of the world.

I’d never seen such a frightful array of security threats. I was quite panicked and didn’t immediately recognize this as fake. I couldn’t seem to close the windows, or get any of this off my screen, so I figured it must be real and called the number (skeptically and tentatively, but I did). It seemed both real and sketchy… the woman sounded like so many tech support people — heavily accented and rote in the way she asked me questions. I answered some of the questions (like, “what were you looking at when the messages appeared, porn? gambling?” No and no.). I then said that I was skeptical of all of this and she hung up. (“Hello? Hello?)

I remained pretty panicked and resumed my fiddling with the windows. I still couldn’t close them but regained control of my cursor and was able close down my computer. Then I blocked that “Apple Support” number. Using my phone, I did some research and found that it was, in fact, a scam. Most sites said that if I didn’t give up any info, or share my screen, I was okay. I gave it about 20 minutes and when I rebooted my laptop, it was still there. This time I was a bit more composed (though still in a state of mild panic, seeing the windows still there). All I had to do was close that tab and voila, scary windows gone.

And I think maybe that’s the end of it.

I’m chagrined and now super nervous about everything online. Feel all vulnerable and certain that someday the bad guys are going to get all my bank info and passwords and corrupt all my files and photos and leave me with nothing. (I am backed up to the hilt.. so maybe not my files and photos.) I’ll have no recourse because they’ll be utterly untraceable and I (and poor JIm) will join the ranks of the duped and taken.

Just ick.

I prefer the creek with flowing, sparkling water, ducks afloat… but sometimes, a university’s gotta do what a university’s gotta do. Two years of rebuilding, which will hopefully restore, improve and invigorate our beloved creek extra long lake. . Until then, lots of re-routing around our loop trail and views like this…

That is mostly mud, not water. There is a bit of water on the far side of this — the middle lake.

At the very end, at lake #3, on the west side of a makeshift dam, there is still a bit of water.. not sure why it’s so green, but there it is. It’s low, too, as you can see. Poor ducks and turtles.

I’m just loving the light. Loving the temps (high 86 today). Loving the way I spent today… a leisurely brunch, lotsa time in the backyard, time in the rocking chair on the deck, time on the patio in the sun (to warm up after a late afternoon freezing cold smoothie)… I mostly putzed, flitting from one thing to another: did random things on my laptop, went down a few rabbit holes, did all the NYT puzzles (of course), listened to music while swinging in the hammock playing Spider, checked in with a few people, spontaneously cleaned out my junk drawer in my desk, reorganized the TP supply, downsized the dining room table and found a new home for the leaves, did a bit of political work, made a garden list for Mary the gardener, read some stuff. I even watered our one (so far) tomato plant and weeded at about 9:00pm… still light enough (until I came in and looking out the window and saw that it was, in fact, dark)! Summer’s that way. Twelve more days before it starts getting darker again. Going to enjoy this.

I took this at 7:00 this evening…. sun still streaming in.

Quite a large number of people attended a fundraiser for Rudy Salas this evening at a lovely home on the banks of the Putah in old Willowbank. Maybe 100-125? Saw tons of folks I knew — lots of conversation, lots of money raised for Rudy… a dem from CA-22 (down near Bakersfield) who’s vying for a congressional seat currently held by a rep. A very flippable district, which means a lot of national attention is on this race.

My friendraising group has raised money for Rudy. I’ve phone banked and postcarded AND have done some voter registration at one of the community colleges in his district earlier this year. Plus, I’ve given not a trivial amount of money.

So it was nice to get a chance to meet him in person and hear him speak. He’s a great candidate and his winning would def contribute to the democratic effort to regain the House!

I’m going to append below the letter I drafted (and which everyone in our group sent to their list of friends in April).

Below is Antonio making some excellent comments in support of Rudy. Antonio recently ran for a seat on the Yolo Board of Supes, but lost. He’s got all kinds of political experience, having been a staffer for Texas Congressman Joaquin Castro, among other things. He grew up in Davis and went to Chavez (he’s is a few years older than Peter). I like him a lot and hope somebody’ll be introducing him at a fundraiser one day. He belongs in elected public service.

Hello friends,

Welcome to our April opportunity to make a difference. We’re pumped about this one! 

As you know, we often focus on flippable statehouse races in swing states because these low-profile races are, in fact, little bombshells of strategy magic where our dollars make an outsized impact. But this month we are doing something a little different, higher profile, because the stakes are unusually high.

As you also know, the US House of Representatives is NARROWLY controlled by Republicans. California has a swath of congressional districts in the very red Central Valley whose current representatives are vulnerable. These districts are attracting a lot of attention because — were they to flip — they might affect who controls the House next year. 

With that in mind, we have our eyes on CA District 22 (Bakersfield area). The Cook Political Report says that this district is Democrats’ best pickup opportunity in 2024. Democrat Rudy Salas is in a close race against David Valadao, an anti-choice (anti-everything good, as it turns out), incumbent MAGA zealot. 

Rudy grew up in the Central Valley, working in the grape fields with his family. He graduated from UCLA and became the first Latino elected to the Bakersfield City Council. He has served for (5) terms in the California State Assembly. He put Prop 1 on the ballot (abortion access, contraceptives); he’s worked to expand rural healthcare access; he secured funds for social and infrastructure projects, safe water initiatives, climate and wildfire management, and tons more. He would be an excellent representative in the House! 

CA-22 has one of the youngest and poorest electorates in the state. Low voter turnout resulted in a republican win last election. Rudy described the challenge, “The battle is getting the ballot from the kitchen table to the ballot box.” Our early dollars to Rudy’s campaign are vital. Funds now will help build out the campaign, hire staff and canvassers, buy important ad time… all of which will help to reach those low propensity voters. The fact is, Democrats hold an 18-point registration advantage over Republicans in this district. We just need to get them to vote! Everyone knows this will be a close race, but it’s also WINNABLE! 

Election watchers are predicting Rudy’s will be the most expensive House race in the country. As Gavin Newsom said this week, early financial support is important for so many reasons: it shows the press, Rudy’s allies and his opponents that his campaign has strength, depth and momentum. And dollars always beget dollars. 

Both our February and March appeals raised nearly $6000 each. I’m serious when I say our efforts are making a difference in these key races. We are on a roll! 

Whew! Thanks for reading. 

To contribute to Rudy’s campaign, click on this ActBlue link: 

With sincerely thanks,

Me with Maita and the twins. Nice to have breakfast with them (and Alan before he returned to SF).

We got to go to another UC Davis musical event, courtesy of our nephew Matthew. It combined the UC Davis Concert Choir, the Chamber Singers (with whom Matthew sings) and the UC Davis Concert Band. And, it was at the Mondavi.

Such a treat!

Maita flew up from LA, Dean flew down from Seattle and Alan drove over from SF. We had dinner at our house before the concert, and dessert after the concert. A lovely time was had by all.

Some pics:

( ^^ About the best my camera phone can do — with me as an operator — in a dark theater from a pretty good distance.)

This piece was interesting…. called “Weather,” it was composed by Rollo Dilworth based on a poem about racial justice (injustice, actually) written by Claudia Rankine (who may have been sitting down the row from us).

All the pieces performed were very… unique. They were lively and, in my limited experience, non-traditional, but all held my attention. Fun to see Matthew be part of something like this. A whole bunch of his lab cohort showed up to support him, which was nice. Glad we could go.