Bike Groups Demand Bike Wheel on Encinitas Sign

BIKE WHEEL! BIKE WHEEL! BIKE WHEEL!

The chants rose from the area of the Encinitas sign over Highway 101 at D Street downtown. Hundreds if not thousands of bike group members gathered with their wheeled steeds, filling the streets and blocking traffic as they chanted.

“The wings are OK but not the wheel between them,” said Isaac Sergakov. “That’s a chariot wheel or a wagon wheel or a mag wheel from a redneck pickup. We demand a bike wheel. We want more spokes.”

Asked if the bike riders also wanted an air pump and some goat’s head thorns added to the Encinitas sign, Sergakov said, no, just a bike wheel will do.

The number of bike riders at the protests has been rising daily, as has the agitation level. Sheriff’s deputies have been seen monitoring the protests, and their level of self-protective gear has been growing.

The deputies presence and rising gear level but lack of action has had some bystanders wondering if a National Guard or Homeland Security deployment is imminent.

“We can’t have this perpetual disruption,” said local resident Hooey Buoy. “With state and federal property nearby and peace under attack, I think we can expect a response from a higher law-enforcement authority.”

“Non-violent protest and redress of grievances are American rights,” said Sergakov. “They are guaranteed and protected by the Constitution. We are within our rights to demand a bike wheel on a public sign. We will continue to protest until we get the result we seek.”

Seven Questions for Encinitas Mayoral Candidate Julie Thunder

At Large: Are you a Republican in disguise?

Cardiff: Tasha’s gerrymandered districts put Mark Muir in your Cardiff district. You and he co-publish the Encinitas Current online. What is your comment on the allegations that Muir paid for robocalls that attacked Phil Graham, Muir’s wife Maureen’s opponent in the 2018 76th Assembly District race?

Leucadia: Do you support Leucadia 101 Streetscape and tunneling the railroad tracks through Leucadia?

New Encinitas: As more retail along El Camino Real becomes vacant, do you support converting it to affordable housing?

Old Encinitas: Do you support the concentration of bars and other alcohol-serving businesses along Highway 101 in downtown Encinitas?

Olivenhain: Do you support the proposed Encinitas Boulevard Apartments complex near the boulevard’s intersection with Rancho Santa Fe Road?

Bonus: If you are elected mayor, what will you do to contain and defeat COVID-19 in Encinitas?

Encinitas Mayor and Acolyte Choose Which Laws to Obey

FPPC — pffft! Who cares? Certainly not Kellie and me. If the FPPC drops a fine on us, our rich friends will pay it, and we will have accomplished our purpose anyway. That’s to get elected so we can continue to ruin Encinitas. We can’t win on our merits or records, so we cheat.

I’m in it for me, my family and my friends. They said, hey, you’re the perfect politician. You look OK, you come across well in public, you grin and sound real even when you’re lying through your teeth. People will believe you, not realizing that you’re totally disingenuous. 

Guess what. The people who told me I’m a perfect politician were right! They nailed it long before I did myself. They said, OK, get your feet wet on one of the commissions, then start up the ladder. You’ll be mayor in no time, and if you can keep the phony front up, you’ll be reelected as many times as you want. Just think of what you can gain for yourself, your family and your friends. What a legacy!

Prop A — it might as well be renamed Prop ZZZZZ. Sure, I know it was a ballot proposition that passed in a special election. Sure, I know it was incorporated within the municipal code, but I don’t like it. It goes against my interests. I chose to ignore it, undermine it and will eventually kill it altogether.

Lots of locals are angry that my cronies and I got the city to sue them over Prop A. Too bad, losers. I’m playing hardball even though Encinitas is in the bush leagues as cities go.

And, hey, if I can get free Surfing Madonna entries for me, my family and my buddy Scott, why not? If Encinitas merchants — grocers, bars, restaurants, whatever — want to comp me, my family and my friends, I’ll go for that, too. Why the hell not? I’m the mayor!

Surfing Madonna crossed me, so they’re gone. Let that be a lesson to anybody who doesn’t follow my dictates.

Measures T and U — total straw-man measures. I knew the voters would kill them, but the measures were a means to an end. The judge put Prop A aside, the state lit the green light, and we got the HEU that allows humongous developments that my family, my cronies, the BIA and I want.

You do realize that “Preserve Paradise” was just a manipulative slogan, don’t you?

I trot out the “my hands are tied” line when it’s expedient. I choose which laws to follow and which to ignore. That’s my privilege!

Vladimir Putin Is Gunning for Americans

Sure, we Russians are paying Taliban fighters to kill Americans in Afghanistan, but that’s small potatoes. We’re doing the bigger stuff on two fronts.

First and most immediate is we’re taking advantage of the coronavirus pandemic. We’re exaggerating what nature is already doing with COVID-19. We’re convincing Americans that not wearing masks and ignoring social distancing are patriotic acts.

Of course, we have the useful idiot Trump in our pockets. We have such deep dirt on him that he’ll do whatever we tell him. He can’t risk defying us because we can destroy him.

With Trump’s help, we have Americans thinking that masks and distancing deny their cherished liberties. As a projection of their future, many American say, OK, I’m dead but I died free. Actually, we’re astonished at how gullible Americans are and how easy it is to manipulate them. It’s as if they’ve lost the ability to think for themselves.

Second and in the longer term past and future, we have corrupted and will continue to corrupt presidential elections. Basically, we do it in two ways.

To start, we use social media and other means to get into Americans’ heads. We twist their thinking to divide them into opposing factions. It’s the opposite of unification. It’s divide and conquer. We get them fighting each other. It’s an insidious way to destroy a society. And again, it’s amazing how easily Americans fall for it.

Next, we attack the electoral system itself. That’s a bit harder because the systems vary from state to state, and in each state the elections are managed at the county level. That would seem to make corrupting the overall system hard because there are so many sub-systems. But since so many, if not all, depend on electronics for gathering and tabulating, the systems are highly vulnerable. We can literally change the numbers.

Much of the American electorate and the mechanics of presidential elections are in our hands. We in Russia will determine the outcome in 2020 as we did in 2016. We didn’t want Hillary, we wanted Trump, and everybody knows what happened. Since our 2016 achievement, we’ve gotten much better at it.

Trump seems to be sabotaging himself. There’s strong and growing resistance to him. But don’t underestimate the power of us Russkies. If it’s to our advantage for Trump to win a second term, he will.

Racist Brands Bite the Dust

Americans are rejecting popular brands that use racist, ethnic and gender stereotypes to sell products.

Count Aunt Jemima, Uncle Ben, Mrs. Butterworth, Cream of Wheat, Eskimo Pie, Colonel Sanders, Don Pepino, Rosarita, Chef Boyardee, Chiquita, Land o’ Lakes, Sun-Maid, Jolly Green Giant and Betty Crocker among them.

Americans have lost tolerance for anything that ignores or contradicts the ideals of the Constitution. The demand is to live up to the Constitution’s promises. No more pretending or allowing exceptions. No more turning a blind eye.

The nationwide protests began when white men in uniforms targeted black or brown people one too many times. A straw broke the camel’s back. Outrages that had prompted short-lived reactions earlier, now produced protests that couldn’t be contained.

The street protests expanded to taking down undeserved monuments — statues of oppressors and destroyers who don’t warrant admiration and respect.

The objections simultaneously spread to brands, and producers were quick to react, more out of economics than morality.

So it’s sayonara, ciao, cheerio and adios to Aunt Jemima and the like.

BLAKESPEAR MATTERS Painted on Cardiff Street

BLAKESPEAR MATTERS has been painted in giant yellow capital letters on Rubenstein Drive in Cardiff.

Because the COVID-19 pandemic grounded the Guerrilla’s drone, helicopter and fixed-wing aircraft fleets, we were unable to get a photo by post time. The shot above demonstrates the technique that was probably used.

Rubenstein Drive residents, sheriff’s deputies and city public works department members stood looking at the yellow declaration and wondered how it was done without anybody knowing and sounding an alarm. Speculation was the painters must have planned well and worked quickly in the wee hours.

A debate ensued: Has Rubenstein Drive been defaced? Should the declaration remain? Should it be painted over with black paint? Does Blakespear matter?

One neighbor wondered aloud, “Who or what is Blakespear?”

News of the painted declaration spread quickly via social media. Comments piled up. Some examples: Your street is next. § It’s a tragedy of unprecedented proportions. § She has my vote. § I don’t like the color yellow. § Is it water-based or oil-based paint? § THUNDER MATTERS § Put a mask on it!

Scratching a declaration into beach sand with a stick is one thing. Painting a partisan statement on a public street is quite another. As the situation develops, no resolution is in sight.