As we close out #BlackHistoryMonth, let’s remember that Black history is American history. From the medical industry to the arts, and everything in between, the contributions made my African Americans should be celebrated every month.
— Barbara Lee (@BLeeForCongress) March 1, 2020
Using Technology to Deepen Democracy, Using Democracy to Ensure Technology Benefits Us All
Saturday, February 29, 2020
Barbara Lee Speaks For Me Daily
Friday, February 28, 2020
Help Clean Up the Blighted Vacant Lot Next Door!
City of Oakland Building Department: Clean Up and Landscape the Vacant Lot at 51st and Broadway, Oakland https://t.co/04ScQEqBlI via @Change— Dale Carrico (@dalecarrico) February 28, 2020
We the undersigned request that the City of Oakland require the owners and developers of the property listed above to improve the property while development decisions are being made as to its disposition, such that it no longer violates City Code 8.24.020 -- Blighted Property.
The property is in violation of several Code Sections including A 2 (abandoned work), C 4 (creates a public risk by obsolete and/or abandoned equipment, supplies, etc.), D 1 (preponderance of debris, weeds and garbage), D 5 (insufficient landscaping), and D 7 (buildup of debris and garbage along fences).
Additionally, there has been arson on the lot, posing a health and safety risk to us all.
Our neighborhood has been gravely impacted by the developer’s lack of attention to the site. The large Kaiser-owned lot at Broadway/MacArthur, Oakland has been recently landscaped while Kaiser makes decisions about how to develop the lot. JRDV should be required to do the same!
We request that the City of Oakland force the developer to:
1. Clean up the property of all garbage, weeds, equipment, abandoned building supplies, etc., and commit to monthly clean up until such time that construction resumes.
2. Landscape to a park-like level with trees, bushes, ground covers, etc.
3. Erect an attractive fence (wood or non-chain link metal) around the entire perimeter.
4. Come into compliance with all codes and regulations.
Residents and shoppers should not have to be subjected to this blight any longer.
Tuesday, February 25, 2020
Feed Me To The Trees
A Los Angeles lawmaker wants California to allow for human composting, an eco-friendly alternative to traditional burial or cremation in which the dead are turned into soil. The state of Washington became the first state to allow human composting when Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee signed a law last year permitting the practice. “I would love to be a tree one day,” said Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia (D-Bell Gardens), who introduced Assembly Bill 2592 to allow for human composting, or “natural organic reduction” as the upstart industry calls the process. “I think this is about giving people another option.” Washington’s law goes into effect on May 1, with a Seattle business called Recompose preparing to open a funeral home that offers the service in early 2021. Recompose’s process involves placing a body into a vessel with wood chips, alfalfa and straw, allowing it to be decomposed by microbes and reduced to a nutrient-dense soil in about a month. The end result is about a cubic yard of soil per person, which is then returned to families or donated to conservation land for use. Supporters of the practice say it’s an end-of-life option that will have a positive impact on the environment. Alternatively, cremation is an energy-intense process that produces carbon dioxide emissions, while traditional burial uses chemicals to embalm bodies and a non-biodegradable coffin to store them... The newly introduced California bill has not yet been scheduled for a hearing in the state Capitol... The process recreates what happens to animals on the forest floor without chemicals or emissions while allowing the soil produced to be used to plant trees that help the environment. Recompose plans to charge $5,500, which is less than the average burial with a casket but more than the average cremation. “When I started this several years ago I was shocked at how many people find this not only palatable but comforting and meaningful,” said Katrina Spade, the chief executive of Recompose. “People who recognize that soil is the basis for all life on Earth and also are aware of the climate implications of sequestering carbon through the creation of soil find this attractive.” People in California have expressed an interest in the process and have been contacting the company. “I knew the moment I heard about this, it was what I wanted to do,” said Nikolaus Kraemer of Los Angeles. “I’m 55 and healthy, but I would put this in my will or advanced directive that when I’m dead I don’t want to be pushed into a crematory or buried six feet under. I think this is a peaceful way to go back to where we came from.”I couldn't agree more.
Monday, February 24, 2020
Barbara Lee Speaks For Me Daily
When our country only works for the top 1% and special interests are allowed to buy influence in our government — it’s time to change the system.
— Barbara Lee (@BLeeForCongress) February 24, 2020
Democrats are fighting to make everyday families a priority, while Washington Republicans only care about their bottom line.
Sunday Walk and Brunch
Saturday, February 22, 2020
Collecting Who
I've been hoping against hope that we will finally get a season of one of the first two Doctors this year as well, tho' reconstructions and animations of lost and fragmentary episodes makes this hope quixotic I know. (If I may be permitted a suggestion, splitting the seasons in half to bring the episode counts of the first seasons in line with later seasons would also happen to make timely releases of some intact episode runs available profitably enough to speed up the necessary reconstructions as well, seems to me, even if I don't exactly like to encourage the BBC to make me spend even more money on goddamn Doctor Who than I already idiotically do). I fear I'll need cheering up after this upcoming November, and a Hartnell season on blu-ray would really do the trick (say An Unearthly Child through Marco Polo or The Keys of Marinus through The Reign of Terror or Planet of Giants through The Web Planet or The Crusade through The Time Meddler; any of these Hartnell half-seasons would be AMAZING to have on blu-ray and seem comparatively doable, I'll leave the possible Troughton half-seasons for you to puzzle out yourselves, I'd settle personally for an anthology of the episodes in which Jaime and Troughton flirt as palpably as Adam West and Bert Ward did in classic Batman, base under siege indeed). If we really do get another Classic season before year's end, however, I'm guessing it's likely to be another Pertwee production, and that would also suit me just fine (Pertwee's a political low point in the show for me in many ways but is also among the most compulsively entertaining run of episodes, and is visually stunning from the opening title sequence -- my favorite in the whole history of the program -- to the hot pop and psychedelia and spy-fi nonsense forever fluttering in the background). Here's the trailer for the Tom Baker installment soon on the way...
* So, my favorite Doctors of the Classic era happen to be McCoy, Baker, and Hartnell, in that order, yep, and thanks for asking -- and, ah, hell, sure, why not, Eccleston, Capaldi, and Whitaker are my favorite New Whos, in that order, not sorry about it at all.
Barbara Lee Speaks For Me Daily
The fact that people are forced to live on the streets is an ultimate failure of our country. I’m proud to stand by Governor Gavin Newsom as he continues to make tackling the homelessness crisis a top priority. https://t.co/7HibzhFVYV
— Barbara Lee (@BLeeForCongress) February 22, 2020
Wednesday, February 19, 2020
Barbara Lee Speaks For Me Daily
Trump wants billions of dollars for an ineffective border wall in his new budget. Here are better uses of those taxpayer dollars:
— Barbara Lee (@BLeeForCongress) February 19, 2020
✅Revitalizing our nation’s infrastructure
✅Investing in quality education
✅Implementing Medicare for All
✅Addressing affordable housing
Tuesday, February 18, 2020
Prepping
Monday, February 17, 2020
DC Statehood
D.C. isn’t a state, which means its 700,000+ mostly Black and Brown residents don’t have senators or a representative in Congress.
— 51 for 51 (@51for51) February 17, 2020
We’re fighting for a real pathway to #DCStatehood with 51 votes in the Senate. Join us: https://t.co/QFuLbnzc20pic.twitter.com/uQykvsQ9jZ
Sunday Walk and Brunch
Barbara Lee Speaks For Me Daily
There are only 3️⃣ days left to register to vote! Make sure you and your friends get registered at: https://t.co/Dkxr35hvbc
— Barbara Lee (@BLeeForCongress) February 17, 2020
Eric and I submitted our ballots by mail yesterday -- looking up every prospective council person and judge and bond measure online together and hashing our way to agreement (not inevitable nor necessary, but usual). Was happy to send a quixotic household signal for sanity and voted for Warren in the primary, tho' we no longer hold out much hope for anything but a pale stale male mediocrity unequal to the moment. Voted for Barbara Lee and to soak the rich here and there, so all in all a decent hour's work for a weekend afternoon after a lovely brunch and a walk to the Rose Garden.
Saturday, February 15, 2020
The Real Anniversary...
Standing Apart
As the attention economy works to keep us trapped in a frightful present, it only becomes more important not just to recognize past versions of our predicament but to retain the capacity for an imagination somehow untainted by disappointment... [S]tanding apart represents the moment in which the desperate desire to leave (forever!) matures into a commitment to live in permanent refusal, where one already is, and to meet others in the common space of that refusal.
Thursday, February 13, 2020
Barbara Lee Speaks For Me Daily
We can’t afford a reckless, unauthorized, and illegal war with Iran. I’m glad the Senate stood up to Trump’s warmongering and passed the War Powers Resolution – but we need to go further and repeal the 2001 & 2002 AUMFs to #StopEndlessWar! https://t.co/OF3MJ0tJil
— Rep. Barbara Lee (@RepBarbaraLee) February 13, 2020
Wednesday, February 12, 2020
Teaching Days
Monday, February 10, 2020
Sunday Brunch and Walk
Barbara Lee Speaks For Me Daily
Trump's immoral budget is full of reckless and cruel cuts to health care, education, housing, basic food assistance and more. All while funneling billions to a xenophobic boarder wall. Congress must and will reject it. #TrumpBudget
— Rep. Barbara Lee (@RepBarbaraLee) February 10, 2020
Wednesday, February 05, 2020
Barbara Lee Speaks For Me Daily
Last night, we heard Trump try to paint a positive picture of his presidency. Sadly, nothing could be further from the truth. He is an impeached president who is a national security threat — pushing cruel, inhumane, & extreme policies that undermine the very fabric of our nation.
— Barbara Lee (@BLeeForCongress) February 5, 2020
Tuesday, February 04, 2020
Barbara Lee Speaks For Me Daily
A bus is so much more than a bus.
— Barbara Lee (@BLeeForCongress) February 4, 2020
It’s a lifeline for a single mom living in the only community she can afford while the only job she can find is 45 minutes away and the only grocery store is 30 minutes away.
We must invest more in public transit. #TransitEquityDay