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'Newsom brushes aside escalating federal probe into travel expenses as Trump retribution', by Alene Tchekmedyian @AleneTchek & Phil Willon @philwillon #FederalGovernment #PresidentTrump Subpoenas were issued in early September seeking records from the California State Protocol Foundation. The nonprofit pays for Newsom's travel expenses and is funded primarily by corporate #donations and run by a board Newsom appoints. The Democratic governor is considering a 2028 run for president. The protocol foundation was created as a tax-exempt #charity during Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s administration in 2004, and was intended to defray taxpayer costs for the governor's travel. When Schwarzenegger left office, his supporters turned the protocol foundation over to Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown’s backers, who in turn handed it over to Newsom's team. Among the donors to the foundation are healthcare giants Centene and CVS Pharmacy. Others include the clean-energy nonprofit U.S. Energy Foundation, which donated $150,000 for the California delegation to attend COP30 in Belém, Brazil. The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation donated $300,000 in a 2023 behested payment earmarked for the California delegation traveling to China for the meetings on climate change. UC Berkeley gave $220,000 for the governor’s office's trip to the Vatican in 2024.

"Salmon Are Thriving After Klamath River Dam Removals, Study Finds; The first fall runs of chinook salmon since the project in California and Oregon was completed have surpassed researchers' expectations," New York Times #CaliforniaNorte The Klamath River, cleared of big barriers for the first time in more than a century after the largest dam removal project in American history, is experiencing a significant rebound of native chinook salmon, according to a new study ['#Rewilding the upper Klamath River Basin: rapid recolonization of Chinook salmon following the world’s largest dam removal', @CalTrout]. Thousands of the salmon were recorded passing a former dam site in 2024 and 2025, researchers say, and have reoccupied nearly the full extent of their known historical range. The river, which flows about 260 miles through Oregon and California, was spanned by four major hydroelectric dams for decades. The last of those dams was removed in 2024.

"UC Berkeley students doxed, threatened with deportation following 'Kirkversary' celebration," The Daily Californian @dailycal On Sept 10, students who opposed Charlie #Kirk's politics turned out to celebrate the one-year anniversary of the conservative #political activist and Turning Point USA founder's [murder]. At 6 p.m., a bustling crowd of students gathered on the glade for the "Kirkversary." The event, advertised by an Instagram account, brought students together to sing, cheer and boo at Kirk's memory. The crowd kicked off the Kirkversary by singing a rendition of the viral AI-generated anthem, "We Are Charlie Kirk." Students, some of whom came dressed in Kirk-related costumes, also chanted slogans such as "Jerk for Kirk," while one student brought a "Kirk-ified" drawing of the "Mona Lisa," in which the painting's original face had been replaced with Kirk's own. "I think the whole event is just super funny because it’s celebrating the anniversary of a bad person’s death," said junior Sihan Cheng, who attended the Kirkversary. Cheng said the memeification of Kirk serves as a way to prevent him from becoming a "martyr" for the right-wing causes he supported. Many students, though outspoken about their disagreement with Kirk's politics, also described great concern with the idea that someone could be killed for exercising their right to free speech. Freshman Emily Salib said political violence "shouldn’t be normalized" and that it pushes the country onto a dangerous path in its current polarized state.

this year's best contemporary classical cuts, so far #ClassicalMusic open.spotify.com/playlist/6a…

'The Emerging Democratic Majority' (2002), by John B. Judis @JohnBJudis & Ruy Teixeira Judis & Teixeira were right about many things in this 2002 book. Post-industrial society makes the members of some groups more numerous and liberal and makes the members of some liberal groups more numerous. We're talking white-collar professionals, college graduates, unmarried women and ethnic minorities. #liberals At the same time, the share of "white working-class" voters – a Republican-leaning group – was correctly predicted decline. Christians wouldn't be a growth demographic for the GOP (correct: secularism increased). All this would benefit the Democrats. #workingmen The authors believed that if the Dems maintained their political orientation of Bill Clinton-style "progressive centrism" the party's (minority) share of white working-class voters could be maintained. This would lead to a Dem-dominated political realignment around 2010. Obama's success seemed to fulfill this prophecy but then things went wrong for Team Blue. The Dems have 'won' the popular vote in five of this century’s seven presidential elections, so they actually *have* been the majority party, but the its voters are disproportionately from large states, in a system designed to limit the power of large states. The political realignment this book predicted has not occurred. The Democrats lost a significant share of their white working-class voters, and then, to a lesser extent, Hispanic and #Asian. Currently (September 2026), the GOP runs all three branches of the federal government. If this book’s analysis is correct, what must have happened is that the Dems abandoned progressive centrism. But was that the problem? Candidates associated with progressive centrist Bill Clinton – Al Gore and Hillary Clinton – lost presidential and primary elections. And four of the past five presidential elections were won by candidates who positioned themselves as outside of the political establishment and promising change. Non-college educated voters have embraced the populist right in many Western countries, not just in the USA, so it seems that the Dem’s post-2012 failure may have been due to something international and structural.

'New California law restricts Alameda County discretionary funding', KTVU The Brief: - A new California state law imposes new restrictions on how Alameda County allocates its discretionary funding. - The measure requires county supervisors to approve discretionary funds—which often go toward non-profits or community organizations—by a majority vote. - Alameda County supervisors called the bill political retaliation, pointing out that the restrictions apply exclusively to Alameda County. The bill was authored by former State Senator and current Congresswoman Aisha Wahab @SenAishaWahab, who said the regulation was needed to improve transparency after heightened scrutiny over county spending.

new blundetto mini-playlist, celebrating the covers album open.spotify.com/playlist/2a… #albumsyoumusthear

'Summer Box Office Breaks All-Time Record With $4.67 Billion', Variety The summer box office has become the highest-grossing of all time. Domestic ticket sales from May 1 through Labor Day on Sept. 7 stand at $4.76 billion, according to Rentrak @Comscore. Revenues surpassed the long-held record set in 2013 with $4.755 billion. This comes with two major caveats: Ticket sales from more than a decade ago weren’t adjusted for inflation, and popcorn season was slightly longer (running at 130 days compared to 123 days in 2013) because of Labor Day’s placement on the calendar. This summer is also notable as the first in history where each of the four months generated above $1 billion. “Spider-Man: Brand New Home” was No. 1 for the sixth consecutive frame with $23.5 million during the four-day holiday frame. It will soon surpass 2015’s “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” ($936 million, not adjusted for inflation) as the highest-grossing movie of all time at the domestic box office. Meanwhile, it’s already the third-biggest release ever globally behind 2009’s “Avatar” ($2.9 billion) and “Avengers: Endgame” ($2.7 billion). “The Odyssey” secured second place with $17.3 million over the holiday after eight weekends on the big screen. Imax has contributed $486 million globally, representing a massive 30% of the film’s total box office tally. #MovieTalk

new classical is like jumbo shrimp - #MusicStreaming open.spotify.com/playlist/2z…

'The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters', by Priya Parker (2018, @riverheadbooks) I heard Priya Parker interviewed on the Conversations with Tyler @cowenconvos podcast & was interested enough to read ‘The Art of Gathering’. Socializing is an important part of life and culture, so therefore hosting events is important. This isn’t my usual type of book, but Parker has expertise & passion, so it was thought-provoking & worthwhile. But it’s advanced stuff. A follow-up how-to book for beginners would be useful. #bookworm

'Polls Show 5 Democratic Socialist Positions Have Traction With Republicans', Dan Gooding @DanGooding, Newsweek #socialists A February Pew Research Center @pewresearch survey found that 59% of Republicans support requiring employers to provide paid family leave. The findings are based on a survey conducted between September 2-8, 2025, among 8,750 U.S. adults. Morning Consult polling @MorningConsult found that 75% of Republicans support raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour. The poll surveyed 1,100 Americans between March 17-18, 2026. A June Heatmap poll found that 63% of Trump voters oppose construction of a data center near their homes, driven by concerns over electricity costs, water use, environmental impacts and quality-of-life issues. The poll of 4,118 American registered voters was conducted by Embold Research via text-to-web responses from May 15-28, 2026. #ConstructionJobs

'Rewilding brings beaver boom to former dairy farm', BBC #Somerset @bbcsomerset Three years ago, charity Heal Rewilding bought a 460-acre site between Frome and Bruton in Somerset, with the aim of returning the land to its natural state. Since then, a beaver colony has dammed the tributaries of the River Frome, creating its own personalised pond and welcoming five kits this year. The charity's first report [Heal Somerset State of Nature report] reveals 94 species of birds have been informally recorded since 2023, including 21 red-listed and 28 amber-listed species. The number of butterfly species also doubled from 11 to 24, along with a significant increase in mice and vole populations. Beavers were hunted to extinction in Britain 400 years ago, but have been making a comeback in the past two decades, with about 500 thought to be living in England. The dams they build slow the flow of rivers and #streams and create habitats where other creatures can thrive. They can also help reduce flooding further downstream. Healthy ecosystems can help store carbon, improve soil and water health and strengthen resilience to climate-related pressures like flooding, heat and drought.

'New York school pauses plan to deploy humanlike AI robot teacher after backlash', by PHILIP MARCELO @philmarcelo, AP #SchoolSafety #AIart️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️ #HumanBeforeAI A school district in a rural corner of upstate New York is hitting pause on plans to deploy an AI-powered, humanoid robot in the classroom after state education officials, teachers and local residents raised concerns, including the maker’s ties to a company that produces hyper realistic sex bots. #EducationNews #Teachersof𝕏 The Salamanca City Central School District’s board approved the nearly $60,000 purchase from Realbotix @RealbotixCorp with visions that “Sally,” as the stationary robot with long dark hair has already been nicknamed, would enhance the education of high school students studying robotics and technology fields. The company pushed back at suggestions that “Sally” was simply a repurposed sex doll, saying it was a “newly manufactured, purpose-built educational unit” with no modified hardware.

'China Is Banning AI Boyfriends and Girlfriends After Study Shows Growing Addiction and Alarming Birth Rate Decline', International Business Times UK China has one of the world's fastest-growing markets for AI companion apps, with millions of users turning to virtual partners for emotional support, conversation and companionship. #chinatech #VirtualAssistant #EmotionalIntelligence

'I teach calculus at Berkeley. Some of my students can’t do middle school math; Since the University of California abandoned the SAT and ACT, thousands of faculty say it’s admitting students who aren’t prepared for the coursework. Will UC listen?' Zvezdelina Stankova, The San Francisco Standard @sfstandard #CaliforniaLife Thousands of faculty members across all 10 UC campuses — including more than two-thirds of UC’s mathematics faculty — signed open letters (https://ucstudentsuccess. org/) urging the system to restore the SAT and ACT in admissions. In January 2020, a UC task force (https: //senate.universityofcalifornia.edu/_files/underreview/sttf-report.pdf) studied standardized testing and recommended keeping it. MIT, Stanford, Harvard, and Yale all suspended testing requirements during the pandemic. All have reinstated them. Among approximately 2,800 Calculus I students tested between 2021 and 2023, the share who were ready or nearly ready for calculus fell to 51%, dropping to 44% by 2023. By 2022-23, more than one-third had severe math deficits, and the single most common score on the exam was zero. Nor is Berkeley an isolated case. UC San Diego (https: //senate.ucsd.edu/media/740347/sawg-report-on-admissions-review-docs.pdf) has documented the same broad pattern.

2024 was an anomaly. @TheEconomist #TrumpAdministration

San Francisco is back. Car break-ins have fallen to 1/6 of the 'transformative justice' high. #Chart from @sfstandard

The Emerging Democratic Majority lives. 2024 was an anomaly.

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