Tribal Police ram barricade set up on Route 447 by climate activists – the only paved way into Gerlach and from there, Burning Man, backing up traffic for miles.
Curious your thoughts, Davisites. Reference article and video may be found here:
Other references welcome.
While there has been a discussion on that 'other' blog, the reason I hang here is that many comments get deleted there without explanation, especially on this issue and especially comments even modestly politically right. However, this is a sensitive issue, and I am not going to allow outright insults directed at trans people/supporters/protestors nor at persons associated with Mom's for Liberty.
For example, for some reason that other blog allows MFL persons to be called Nazis, and that sort of useless comment isn't going to be allowed here. On the other hand, in the Yahoo comments on the Bee article, about 153 out of 155 comments were against the library actions, despite the article leaning towards supporting the protestors. AND . . . many if not most of those commenting there were denying the existence of trans people, insulting trans people, and/or calling trans people various derogatory terms implying mental illness just for being trans. I'm not putting up with any of that shit here either. I won't outright delete a comment unless it's completely empty of anything but outright hate towards either side, and I'll always explain why a comment or part of a comment was deleted.
My views on the library matter are simple: I'm a Jew who believes the Skokie decision was the greatest triumph for the core of what makes America great: Free speech, baby!
What are your views? I'd like this to focus on free speech vs. hate speech; the actions/authority of the library/library-manager, the actions of those putting on the meeting and those protesting the meeting, and various takes in the media.
(Note: I have a life, so your comments may not be posted for many hours. Deal with it.)
I'm curious what the people of Davisitesville think of this mega-hit's message.
My reaction, from the lyrics, is this could be a punk song sung by 'Oliver' as a raw country ballad. Rage! Stickin' it to the monarchy, the man, the machine. Anger at what the government is doing to us, against the men in power. Yet this song is being labeled a 'conservative ballad'. True, it is catching fire in conservative circles, but I don't see that in the lyrics. I can easily hear a Johnny Rotten or a Henry Rollins versions of this song.
There's a reference to 'minors on an island'. That happened. Davis liberals don't defend pedophiles (do they?).
Yesterday could go down as the most important day in Davis history: the day the housing back-and-forth between David Greenwald and Ron Ortel ended.
On Greenwald simply declared, after more than a decade of housing-essays and long comments between the two:
"Uncle"
This will mark the start of a new era with a Davis Vanguard free of housing articles, signed under the Treaty of White, named after our long-departed Innovation Officer, for no reason in particular. Or the color white, I'm not sure.
The Vanguard will now focus on its true passion: cooking with fish. Lots of articles on cooking with fish.
Now if only Ron O. would just get over the notion that Measure J or Rent Control were good ideas.
Oh, well. Baby steps. 😉
That should elicit an essay for the Davisite. On Housing 😐
What have I done?
Got a thought on Davis politics, or a even a single politic? Got a thought on the request to give a donation to the Davis Vanguard so they can fund the replacement of their crappy old website? I have a thought — give instead to the Davis-Ite to replace the D-ite's even older, crappier website ! Underfunded old crappy blog structures: It's the Davis Way !
A huge explosion and fireball enveloped the Al's Corner tanker truck late Tuesday evening. The explosion was heard as far away as Esparto, Knights Landing, Allendale, Zamora, Broderick, Saxon, Batavia, and the Milk Farm.
Preliminary investigation by the combined UCD and City fire departments indicate that a flea had flown into the side of the tank, causing the explosion.
When asked how a flea could have caused such an explosion, fire chief Woody Burns said simply:
"It was a very annoying flea".
Contacted at his new residence on the east side of Pole Line Road just north of 8th Street, Al was asked about Al's Corner's iconic run in the Davis shitty-blog scene. Al responded simply:
"It's been real, and it's been fun. But it hasn't been real fun."
There's a part B. We hit 100 comments: such an ashwevement 😐
I urge residents to attend the City Council meeting this evening to speak against the Davis City Council supporting the widening of I-80, and instead supporting investment in the parallel intercity rail corridor. [The item comes up at 8:15 pm]
An Open Letter to the Davis City Council
2023-06-06
Dear City Council Members:
I am writing to you today as a citizen of Davis.
You are being asked to approve three letters of intent with the State of California, regarding supposed 'mitigation' for the increased air pollution resulting from the widening of I-80. I urge you not to sign these letters and instead send a strong message to the State of California opposing the widening of I-80, and instead to actively support a massive investment in intercity rail transit.
Davis lies on the Capitol Corridor rail line between Roseville and San Jose. Plans are being developed for a new rail crossing between the East Bay and San Francisco that would allow Capitol Corridor trains to access the Peninsula directly. Plans are in the works for a new tunnel between Martinez and Richmond to allow the removal the curvy section of the rail line along the Bay to protect the corridor from sea-level rise and speed up that section by ten minutes. Plans are in the works for hourly and half-hourly rail service within an 18-hour service window. Plans are in the works for 110 m.p.h. trains using hydrogen, overhead electric, or battery-hybrid electric equipment.
What these plans lack is funding and state commitment. The State of California's stated policy is to fund alternative transportation and reduce VMT & GHG. Yet actual State policy speaks through its funding allocations in expanding highways under the guise of adding 'managed lanes' which the State admits will add to air pollution in the case of the I-80 widening project. Under what reasoning can Davis support this?
The so-called mitigation to fund infrastructure for Davis developments is called 'support' in the documents. That any given development will actually contribute to a reduction in pollutants is a theoretical exercise based on models that are not specific to Davis. The true effect can only be known once such developments are occupied and the transportation choices of residents known.
The so-called transit mitigation is to fill a need that may or may not exist. The need for a micro-transit program in our small town, or the need for a vague 'increase' in public transit has not been studied, nor has the overall effect on pollutants. Davis is being asked to support questionable, theoretical and insufficient mitigation for a project that the State admits will increase pollution. This goes against Davis' values.
Transportation is the #1 cause of air pollutants. This is largely because of automobile dominance. It can be difficult as City Councilmembers to turn down 'free' State money, but in this case you indeed must turn that money down. To give support to the I-80 widening would be to support the continued mass funding of road widening and automobile supremacy.
Instead, I urge the City Council to make a strong statement to the State of California against growing the auto-centric transportation status quo. I urge rejecting the mitigation and 'partnership' in highway-widening and instead writing a letter to the State in support of massive investment in intercity rail transit.
Tell the State to leave I-80 over the Causeway as it is, retaining two shoulders on each side in each direction for safety. Then ask the State of California to divert the billions of dollars in current and future highway funds intended for Interstate 80 expansion to instead fund the expansion and improvement of the parallel Capitol Corridor passenger rail service from Roseville to San Jose.
I thank you for hearing me,
Alan C. Miller
There MAY not have been a May version of Al's Corner. People got by. They posted May stuff in April. We all lived.
June's Al's Corner will feature ketchup and mustard on top. Peace. Over & Out.
In what could be the most important hero-story in Davis' history, Walter Shwe saved the Davisite from Alan Miller's hypocrisy as found on Al's Corner. Readers should congratulate Mr. Shwe for his Davis-saving efforts in the comment section below. In his own words, combining two WS comments, one of which was written at 4:45 a.m. on July 5th, Mr. Shwe says:
" I exposed the hypocracy of Mr. Miller. He regularly slammed the Davis Vanguard for censorship, yet he did the same thing with me everytime I tried to truthfully call someone out by name. Without the the names, my comments had little value. Worse still, he swore frequently, then attempted to laugh it off. Good riddance to Al's Corner. Al's Corner turned out not to be a free speech platform. Glad I don't have to read any more of Mr. Miller's whinny comments about the Davis Vanguard! 🤣 "
Mr. Shwe TRUTHFULLY called people out by name, but was prevented doing so by Alan Miller. He also called out Mr. Miller's "swearing". Most important, he pointed out that Al's Corner did not publish all his comments in whole, PROVING that Al's Corner was not a free speech platform. He also proved that Mr. Miller was a horse.