The tell in this tale is the longevity of the these bands (“Running Down a Dream,” July 10, 2019). If it did not pay, the players would not stay. The sad thing is that tribute bands and cover bands have been shouldering aside original music more and more for at least the past decade. While way back in the day, cover bands were the norm, the ‘60s and ‘70s set us on a more creative path. Too bad the good ride is over, and we are sliding down the slippery slope to nothing new.
Blonde Toledo
Via Bohemian.com
If It Quacks Like a Duck…
There are those today who believe liberal democracy is obsolete and are promoting the complete mobilization of society to prepare the nation to respond effectively to economic difficulties.
They espouse a form of radical authoritarianism and ultra-nationalism characterized by dictatorial power, forcible suppression of the opposition and strong regimentation of society and the economy. They support unprecedented authority to intervene in the lives of citizens and reject assertions that violence is automatically negative in nature and view political violence, war and imperialism as the means to achieve national rejuvenation. They advocate a mixed economy with the principal goal of achieving national economic self-sufficiency through protectionist and interventionist economic policies.
Since the end of World War II, this group never describes itself as fascist, but a neo-fascist ideology is clearly transparent and utterly contemptible.
Dennis Kostecki
Sausalito
Kudos to Lawmakers
Assembly Bill 392 just passed the California Assembly and Senate, and the 5,200-member-strong Sonoma County Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union would like to express its appreciation to legislators Mark McGuire, Jim Wood, Marc Levine and Bill Dodd for their “aye” votes.
The bill’s premise is simple: it updates California’s use of force laws to make sure that police officers avoid using deadly force at every possible opportunity, privileging de-escalation measures, and other steps. Police should never take a human life when they have alternatives. Right now, police officers in California can use deadly force and kill someone even when they have other options. In 2017 alone, police officers killed 172 Californians, 37 percent higher than the national average. This policy is in force elsewhere and has led to a decline in serious use of force without any negative impact on officer or public safety.
Together with the recently-introduced law on Transparency in Police Records, AB 392, signals a long-needed improvement in our state’s protection of civil rights and liberties.
The Sonoma County Chapter of the ACLU of Northern California salutes our local Sacramento lawmakers for their sensitivity to civil rights, the safety of our communities, and to the professionalism and welfare of our police officers.
Patty Morandi, co-chair
Dave Henderson, co-chair
ACLU of Sonoma County
Trump Will Trump
Donald Trump is unstoppable. There is no Democrat running for president in 2020 who can beat him. It doesn’t matter how many California liberals and activists rant against him. Don’t believe the current polls. This election will be decided in a half a dozen swing states. All of these states were won by Trump in 2016 and voters in these states will base their ballot on how well the economy is doing. They do not approve of the socialist agenda proposed by the Democratic candidates. He will win these states by a wider margin than he did in 2016.
David Berger
San Rafael
