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Category: Blogs

  • Open Discussion: Bob Dunning Terminated by Davis Enterprise Owners (an Al’s Corner Exclusive)

    Adfc46d7-dadc-4553-a16a-0777ff3b922bIn a bozo move by the owners of the Davis Enterprise, Bob Dunning was terminated without so much as a thank you after 55 years of service to the paper (and Davis).

    Shelley Dunning pays a very sweet tribute in a 7-minute video on her Facebook page:

    facebook.com/shelleydunning

    She also outlines how cold the termination was.  I doubt that will sit well with the Davis community.

    Bob's column will continue at: 

    thewaryone.com

    Please share your thoughts here in comments regarding this poorly-handled move by the owners of the Davis Enterprise.

    Full disclosure:  Bob Dunning once wrote a column about how I should be on the City Council 😐

    Note:  Pardon the pictured haircut, Bob, this is what A.I. gave me when I described the incident!

  • Dark, Anti-Democratic Forces Sue the Davis Vanguard

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    These dark forces are believed to be funded by the Dark Underbelly of Davis. 

    In true Davis Vanguard journalistic style, no information on who the dark forces may be or why they are suing, but the Vanguard did ask for money to the tune of $100k.  Statement:

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  • Al’s Corner – January –> 2024 is Going to Suck – Probably a Nuke Will be Detonated – “Though we do go after the Vanguard on here”

    image from www.sparkysonestop.com

    I'm tired of being optimistic about the new year.  Since Covid-19, we've all hoped the next new year would bring better times, but each subsequent year since 2020 has sucked, culminating with the October 7th Invasion & War and Increased Hatred of Groups of People.  And our City Council ?  NOT HELPING.

    People suck.

    But, as R.O. says:  "we do go after the Vanguard on here".  And that is the most important thing — even more important than world peace.

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  • Mom’s for Liberty Sues Yolo County Library – Let’s Talk About It, Davis! (An Al’s Corner Exclusive) Boogity Boogity

    Yup.  It's happening!   Mom's for Liberty is suing the Davis Library for violating their first amendment rights.

    And what better place to discuss it than on the free Davis bloglet that hasn't banned a bunch of people from its comment section:  Al's Corner!!!

    Welp — Unlike David Greenwald I'm not going to copy most of the article source material and nest that within a few badly-written sentences of my own.  Nope, I'm just gonna give you the link, and you can read it yourself 😐

    Moms for Liberty-Yolo County v. Lopez

    https://adfmedia.org/case/moms-liberty-yolo-county-v-lopez

    Mostly I wanted to scoop the Davis Greenwald on a major breaking local story.   And I don't even get the paltry drippings of a salary to do so.

    But even More Mostly:  let's talk about it, Davis!   This is major shit.

  • Al’s Corner – December 2023 (was some blah blah blah about “Taking Tuesday”)

    SUBJECT:  "Support the Vanguard on #GivingTuesday"  [Monday's Van Guard]

    I have a rule for Taking Tuesday — if someone asks me for money, or even uses the cringe phrase "Giving Tuesday", I never give them any money ever, and furthermore attempt to take money from them.  On Monday, the Van's Guard mentioned giving Tuesday, with open comments.  Did someone not consider that closing comments would be a good idea, given past experience?  Oh, yeah, you got rid of that pesky Alan Miller guy.  Still . . .

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  • Al’s Whatever Thing (Formerly Al’s Corner) – October 2023

    image from www.sparkysonestop.com

    Not much going on in Davis these days . . . coming up short on starter topics . . . #sigh# . . . anyone?

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  • Anatomy of an Article: That Wake Up Call was a Wrong Number (Al’s Curiousity Corner #4)

    SUBJECT: "Commentary: A Wake Up Call"  (Wednesday's Blavis Blansplard)

    Only DG could get a robo-call about solar panels from a call center in India and think it was a a wake-up call.  I was rummaging through the trash behind Vanguard Headquarters on Thursday evening at 8:17 p.m. and found the recipe for the article.  As a public service I am posting it here:

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  • Al’s Corner – September 2023

    image from www.sparkysonestop.com

    This volume of Al's Corner is dedicated to the celebration of the Davis Vanguard's National Issues Open Discussion Page.  Of course, this page isn't open to me, or several other banned people.  Nor, in practice, is it a discussion.  Let's do some stats and declare a winner:

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  • Vanguard Bias and Censorship Leads Another Longtime Commenter to Quit the Site

    by Ron O
     
    Well, after several years of commenting on the Vanguard it has finally come to this – I quit.
     
    When I first started commenting, the Vanguard allowed a wide variety of comments (and viewpoints) without even requiring that commenters use their own names.  It was a lively environment with a wide variety of viewpoints, no arbitrarily-enforced comment limits, and the ability to post comments without pre-cenShorship – as others have labeled it (in reference to Don Shor).  Though it seems highly likely that David Greenwald also moderates comments, and is ultimately responsible as the operator of the site.
     
    Ironically, the changes that the Vanguard has implemented since those earlier days have not addressed the problems that they claimed to be addressing, whether it's continued personal attacks, doxing, or (perhaps most importantly) – refusing to post comments that the simply don't like.

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  • Al’s Curiosity Corner #2 – Open Forum on the Library Issue

    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.)