June 2020 – PacificaWatch

One year ago the FJC loan documents were leaked – respect to those responsible

26 June, 20209 November, 2021PacificaWatchLeave a comment

the leak – now mirrored across the net (only some of the 19 files are shown)

Most people, most of the time, don’t give a monkey’s about what goes on at Pacifica. And that includes the members. In the referenda brought by the breakers earlier this year, a massive 77% didn’t vote. (33k didn’t, 10k did.)

Referenda station results: approx. absolute numbers

The anti-breakers shout about their ⅔rds support, but this misses the point. There’s aggregation – and there’s organisation. It’s the contrast between sharing attributes (typology) & being organised in & thru relatively enduring relations (structure). The contrast being statics & dynamics: one, a snapshot in the present; the other, a force projecting into the future. To be effective, atoms need to be organised – then mobilised. And things are so bad in PacificaWorld that even the anti-breaker higher-ups lack organisation: after three months they can’t get the PNB Strategic Planning Cttee to work. (Met twice, three cancelled, since it was ‘re-populated’ in April.)

RealWorld, in the latest form taken by its developed capitalist societies, has found a rhetoric to encourage both acceptance of an institution & participation within a ‘community’: be transparent, be open. Transparency of proceedings; transparency of facts. So, a threefold transparency: of process, of the world as it starts from, & of the world it creates. Well, the obdurate Pacifica secrecy culture is impervious to all this.

Three activities are essential to the species: working, reproducing, communicating. Pacifica’s pseudo-leaders may be able to work & reproduce, but they don’t know how to communicate, which is why transparency is an unwelcome complication. They’re always afraid they’ll be misunderstood – hence the sad performances of the hapless Mansoor ‘Uriah Heep’ Sabbagh & the hypocritical Chris ‘R Paul, my heart bleeds for WBAI’ Cory, continually fretting that the ignorant great unwashed won’t understand provisional financial data, data good enough for them, but not for others. Well, the hermeneutic failure is all theirs.

This contrasts with 26June2019: an exercise in transparency, communication, hermeneutic success.

On 2Apr2018, Executive Director Tom Livingston committed Pacifica to the biggest debt in its history, signing the $3.7m loan from the Foundation for the Jewish Community, known in the wider world as FJC.

Pacifica was proud of the new form it had pushed its debt into. It issued a press statement, still on the websites of KPFK & WBAI: https://www.kpfk.org/blogs/kpfk-and-pacifica-news/post/pacifica-announces-settlement-with-empire-state-building-and-empire-state-realty-trust/ & https://www.wbai.org/articles.php?article=3570.

So proud, the statement to the world included this from the then PNB Chair, Nancy Sorden (who’s still a director & WPFW listener-delegate):

I’d like to first thank the Pacifica National Board, for deciding on this approach and the enormous amount of work they put into it to get us to this point. Second, to FJC for providing this loan at a very difficult time for Pacifica, and third to the team of professionals that helped negotiate the settlement, secure the funding, identify and secure an agreement for our new transmitter location.

But the recognition of FJC didn’t stop there. A whole paragraph followed, detailing this ‘n’ that, as Mansoor would say, &, in referring to its Agency Loan Fund (ALF), Pacifica implied that this was the vehicle used to access money lodged at FJC. I carefully say ‘implied’ because no Pacifica employee or officer has ever disclosed the source of the loan: be it via ALF; one or more FJC donor-advised accounts; or some other FJC arrangement.

So given all these heart-felt thanks it was surprising that pretty soon, & with no explanation, the word ‘FJC’ became taboo, with the great & the good becoming boys in blue whenever someone mentioned the acronym. The policing became so extreme that Chair Nancy summarily ended the 20Dec2018 PNB meeting, cutting the stream, after ~~‘Jehovah’~~ ‘FJC’, that obscenity, had been uttered once too often by a blasphemer. PacificaWorld had collapsed into The Life of Brian.

http://wbai-nowthen.blogspot.com/2018/12/hush-money.html (smiles to Chris Albertson for the felicitous title) & https://kpftx.org/archives/pnb/pnb181220/pnb181220a.mp3 (22:45)

(Digression . . . this portion of the meeting is an excellent example of how that breaker Rottweiler, Carole Travis, operates. A masterful performance. Not least for trying to get on the stack before the agenda item had even been reached. Superb. Chomping at the bit before the meat was even on the table. Kinetic. Carole, sadly, is now retired from the PNB & the KPFA Local Station Board, but hangs around, lurking, in the KPFA Community Advisory Board & as a trustee of one of the pension funds – along with former ED Tom Livingston. Yes, the ties that bind. https://kpftx.org/pacalendar/cal_show1.php?eventdate=20200222 (click ‘Committee Members’))

As expected, the appeal to confidentiality – so beloved by Pacifica gatekeepers – was spurious, as fully explained July last year, by referring to the evidence, the leaked FJC contract documents we now have occasion to celebrate: https://pacificaradiowatch.home.blog/2019/07/21/pacifica-could-have-and-can-publish-the-fjc-loan-contract-the-confidentiality-clause-only-consists-in-fjcs-name-and-street-address/.

Giving credit where credit’s due, Chair Nancy, condemning mention of a press statement mentioning her very own words, richly earnt her PacificaWorld moniker, Chair ‘wooden as a chair’ Nancy. Nancy, we salute you, &, as they say interminably on Fox ~~News~~, thank you for your service.

The self-appointed protectors of PacificaWorld created an aura of secrecy, one with its own lexicon: ‘the big loan’, to distinguish it from ~~the Tom & Jerry loan~~, ~~the Ben & Jerry loan~~ – no, ‘the small loan’, the $0.5m loan collateralised by the Nakapon/National Office building (1921-1925 MLK Jr Way), the one ‘linked’ to director Jan Goodman, ~~the Jan & Jerry loan~~, ~~the Jan & fiends loan~~ – no, the Jan & friends loan. In the leaked docs, ‘the small loan’ is called ‘the friendly loan’ & ‘the Pacifica supporters loan’ (sic). Inventive, & psychically revealing.

And yet the information gatekeepers, in doing their work, just couldn’t help themselves, antagonising fellow directors, by refusing to give everyone a copy of the loan documents. Directors Adriana Casenave & DeWayne Lark (both KPFT listener-delegates), not surprisingly, proved to protesteth the mosteth.

The notices for the PNB closed sessions say, “[o]n March 22, 2018 the PNB met in executive session and approved in principle a number of agreements that will immediately address our financial difficulties.” So, “in principle”: not the draft documents. The contracts were signed from the very next day: those with FJC signed 23Mar & before 3Apr by ED Livingston; the advertising contract with F.Y. Eye, Inc., signed 23Mar by ED Livingston (the euphemistic ‘underwriting’); & ‘the small loan’, the $0.5m, signed by director Grace Aaron perhaps 28Mar, & was due to be signed by director Mansoor Sabbagh. These docs weren’t distributed to all directors, either then or since. https://pacifica.org/documents/pnb_exec_180322.pdf

It should be added that the PNB Finance Cttee repeatedly complained about only some of its members having the FJC loan docs, even asking for them from the PNB. Fat chance. It was sorrowful to witness the repeated requests in Cttee of the forlorn Nick Arena, WPFW treasurer, a man who only happens to administer bank loan contracts in his day job. What could he contribute to Pacifica? Just as well he’s kept out of the loop.

(Elaboration . . . the lender of ‘the small loan’ was Pacifica Supporters Loan, LLC, & signing the contracts were two denoted “managers”, King Reilly & Jerry Manpearl. (Mr Manpearl just so happens to be hubby of a Ms Goodman: Jan, the Pacifica director.) The PNB agreed that Pacifica donors pay Mr Reilly $10k “as a brokers’ fee for arranging this loan”, & pay the lender $28k as “legal fees and expenses” – page 2 of doc #1. In contrast, it takes a worker on $15 an hour all of 4 months to earn $10k. Progressive values in action, the Reilly/Manpearl way. From 1921-1925 MLK Jr Way to the Reilly/Manpearl way. The Pacifica journey. All funded by the members & listeners. #ThisIsWhatWinningLooksLike. https://mega.nz/folder/EdtSkCDZ#oJZi7rkbk2KcI6DtzIudXw

— Also, doc #5 (duplicated as doc #6), a ledger that isn’t Pacifica’s, identifies the nine ‘small loan’ lenders, of between $25k & $125k, at 7.5% a year – one is a KPFK listener-delegate (then, & now), another a current KPFT listener-delegate. (7.5% = prime + 3 percentage points during the period 14Dec2017 thru 21Mar2018; prime then rose to 4.75%. To note, the FJC loan is on the same basis. What’s good enough for a FJC investor is good enough for a Pacifican – Pacifican, & liberal (not socialist), values at work.) https://mega.nz/file/YIlUnQjY#04wtWOTKqlXBaUNaKYD7xvcdt7NOWydG1vQSaud3U5A & https://about.jpmorganchase.com/about/our-business/historical-prime-rate

— The ledger shows that ‘the small loan’, $0.5m, was the residue of a liquidated $2.075m loan, also at 7.5% a year, that had lasted one month. This loan had 13 lenders, of between $25k & $875k (Manpearl $400k, Reilly $875k). Curiously, a $50k lender ‘earnt’ no interest, so perhaps the sum either was only committed or was withdrawn the day it was deposited (if the interest were foregone as a donation to Pacifica then this would have been further recorded). The existence of this $2.075m (or $2.025m) loan has never been publicly acknowledged by Pacifica, neither by employees nor officers.)

The publication of the FJC loan docs on 26June2019 was a giant step forward in making Pacifica transparent. The fact that no director claimed responsibility speaks volumes. Instead, respect goes to those who work to inform the members & listeners. Respect.

There are 18 unique documents (one is a copy):

https://www.mediafire.com/folder/e1lo0t30pd4wc/ (the original drop)

https://mega.nz/folder/EdtSkCDZ#oJZi7rkbk2KcI6DtzIudXw (convenient one-click download of the folder; also ‘preview’ allows reading online)

The ‘root’ contract, called the “loan agreement”, dated 2Apr2018, signed (with no date) by Pacifica ED Tom Livingston & FJC President Lorin Silverman: https://mega.nz/file/AI0iUYga#QzMtaBd0iRTZJ_YNmh2KZ1xKu7Qh_hQ6IcPMVkGWX94

There’s also an advertising (underwriting) contract as part of the loan, dated 2Apr2018, signed 23Mar2018 by ED Livingston: https://mega.nz/file/ZZ8gFSJD#VnNgdE2R4ap3_e0hMI2ma4RVssZSGek7tLWMle10zRM

~~~

period . . days . . pledge goal ($k) . . daily goal . . pledged .. pledges (#) . . av. pledge . . av. daily pledged . . av. daily pledges (#) . . sustainers ($ total, # pledges, $ av. pledge) . . shortfall ($, %) . . av. daily shortfall . . gross proceeds . . fulfilment (%) . . cost of drive . . net proceeds . . drive-free days …… 11, 12, 13, 14

Sa1(?)Feb-Su8Mar2020

days . pledge goal ($) . daily goal ($)

. 37(?) . . . . . 650 000 . . . . . . . 17 568

pledged ($) . pledges (#) . av. pledge ($) . av. daily pledged ($) . av. daily pledges (#)

. 510 716 . . . . . . 3 038 . . . . . . . 168 . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 803 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82 . . . . . . . . .

sustainers: total ($), pledges (#), av. pledge ($)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . ? . . . . . . . . ? . . . . . . . . . . ? . . . . . . . . .

shortfall ($, %) . av. daily shortfall ($) . gross proceeds ($) . fulfilment (%) . cost of drive ($) . net proceeds ($)

139 284, 21.4% . . . . . . . 3 764 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ? . . . . . . . . . . . . ~84%(?) . . . . . . . . . . ? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ? . . . . . . . . .

. . . then 23(?) drive-free days . . .

Sa1(?)Feb-Su8Mar2020 . 37(?) . 650 . 17 568 . 510 716 . 3 038 . 168 . 13 803 . 82 . ?,?,? . 139 284, 21.4% . 3 764 . ? . ~84%(?) . ? . ? .

Two-stage emergency plan; & signal-swap to release cash. Response to remarks by Mr Burton

11 June, 202018 June, 2021PacificaWatch13 Comments

Clifford Burton was kind enough to make a comment yesterday, about the current travails at KPFKD (not the KPD). My response became a lil longer than two paras., so i’ve put it here as a post. I thank Mr Burton (or is it Mx these days?) for helping me coalesce my thoughts. https://pacificaradiowatch.home.blog/2020/06/05/within-the-hour-facebook-inexplicably-deleted-the-post-about-the-pnb-zombies-and-karen/

In a separate post i’ll comment more narrowly on the KPFKD crisis thru consideration of two Pacifica meetings & a commentary: the Tu9June PNB Finance Cttee, & the W10June KPFKD Finance Cttee, & the W10June report by R Paul Martin to that evening’s WBAI Local Station Board (https://glib.com/treasurers_report_2020-06-10.pdf – 5pp. plus 3pp. appendices).

~~~

Strictly speaking, & this is the practical reality, KPFKD’s fate is Pacifica’s, not the station’s. A station owns nothing, not even the paper-clip being flipped across the station manager’s desk while he stares at the spreadsheet. Yes, the listeners think of the station as their own, they’re attached (Bowlby), & the station activists have not just a cognitive but an emotional involvement in the station, but in the famed last analysis, each station (1) is a custodian of Pacifica assets, administering them, (2) owns no debt, & (3) is an accounting unit.

This means that a revenue collapse at a station is Pacifica’s problem.

And this can cause a problem in a signal area when the self-understanding of what it is to support ‘my’ station, to love ‘my’ station, to be involved in Pacifica, is based on a falsehood, when, in the strictest sense (& so not to be thought unkind), the self-understanding isn’t up to the task, it’s practically inadequate.

As i’ve said elsewhere, all station accounting data, either as an aid for management decision-making or to inform the members & listeners, should allow a fair comparison between station performances, so of like with like. This requires the stripping out of the effects of historical accidents, which started in the Garden of Eden, when Pacifica & KPFA constituted an identity, the one & the same. The most glaring effect is that some stations are privileged, enjoying Pacifica buildings, land, & transmitters on a rent-free basis, thus being subsidised by the other stations, which also have the extra burden of paying non-Pacificans simply to function. A double burden is a double shift (Arlie Hochschild).

And the political effect of this persisting deficiency in how some Pacificans self-conceptualise & live affectively? Station chauvinism; separatism; provincialism. Station chauvinism: breeding poison, fuelling resentment. Separatism: break up Pacifica, destroy the network. Provincialism: springing from an exclusory proprietary attitude, it’s simultaneously inward-looking & antagonistic to others, causing the living of an in-group/out-group perceived reality, friend versus foe (Carl Schmitt). All this, antithetical to the nature that is Pacifica.

In terms of getting out of Pacifica’s endemic crisis, this blog (& in prior comments at Chris Albertson’s http://wbai-nowthen.blogspot.com/) has consistently noted the obvious: the only plausible way to, in the current idiom, let Pacifica breathe, is to negotiate a signal-swap (two isn’t needed), thereby using cash both to settle debts & to pay for the implementation of a network development plan. Only this can give Pacifica a future.

The Gorgon Grace approach has always been intrinsically myopic. Preserving the $3.265m loan principal, thru either extending the loan term or finding a new lender, has never addressed Pacifica’s future. It has only condemned Pacifica to a perpetual present, a Sisyphean existence, perpetual firefighting mode, the living of a diminishing, & so debilitating, present. The Grace approach, accepted by the PNB by default, the typical Pacifica action of inaction, an act of omission, has choked Pacifica, presenting it with the living of a shrinking horizon.

Only by eliminating the constant firefighting is it possible, but not guaranteed, to (1) pay bills timely, (2) give management, staff, the PNB, & the local station boards the time to focus on the future, rather than the present, & (3) improve the appalling interpersonal interactions at four of the stations (WBAI is relatively pacific).

In terms of the politics (not morality) of practice, Pacificans need to grasp that money isn’t necessarily sinful, but instead can simply make life a lot easier & less stressful. (Ask the hundreds of millions of Chinese no longer in dire poverty.) Most so-called leftists fail to recognise the liberatory potential of money (& of marketing) in our current kind of society, one that’s necessarily mediated by money: there’s no way to avoid this, other than suffering the consequences even more. Regrettable, yes, but true. It means money is needed to allow Pacifica to regain health, & to not just grow (augment existing capacities) but to develop (acquire new qualities).

It’s time to flourish, not suffer.

But how to do that?

Money. And the only feasible source, other than Danny Glover, is a signal-swap. But that can be a two-year process, so in the meantime Pacifica needs to find a way to survive, & the depth of its cashflow crisis may require a two-stage response.

First, the only way to chop enough costs rapidly is to chop the staff at both KPFA & KPFKD, changing their character, making Pacifica as a whole volunteer-based. Second, its cashflow crisis may require the sale of a building, even two. (Note that as they’re collateralised to the Foundation for the Jewish Community, FJC, at a 3:1 asset-to-principal ratio, it means FJC gets a third of the valuation sum constitutive of the contract.)

Pacifica is in its current Laurel & Hardy mess because the PNB has been in denial since 1Apr2018. It had taken out the $3.7m loan from FJC but didn’t take responsibility for the future, grasping the monetary nettle by starting the process of doing a signal-swap.

In any case, a radio signal isn’t what it used to be. Digitisation has caused broadcasting to be transcended by providing. The broadcast schedule, transcended by the download list. The position on the dial, transcended by reputation, sustained by social media, enhanced by branding. The radio, transcended by mobile digital devices. Radio is 20th century, it’s passé. It’s one reason why the BBC since 2018 no longer speaks of radio but of “sounds”: not a device, but an output.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds

Yes, Pacifica’s listeners are, literally, a dying breed. If Pacifica is to avoid extinction it needs to grasp the future, it needs leadership, it needs a group to initiate a transformation. But do they exist? The breakers do. We know that. But can the Pacifica partisans rise to the occasion? As Primo said, thru his alter ego in the Belarusian forest, se non ora, quando?, if not now, when?

Surprise, surprise, FY2018 draft auditor’s report isn’t ready . . . M8June PNB Audit Cttee cancelled, to be held F12June, otherwise Tu16June, or . . .

7 June, 202011 June, 2020PacificaWatchLeave a comment

(the WPFW is there for completeness)

At Monday’s PNB Audit Cttee, 1June, Chair Eileen Rosin (WPFW listener-delegate) confidently said the draft auditor’s report was just about to be slipped into the envelopes, to be received by the ctteepeeps Wednesday or Thursday.

https://kpftx.org/archives/pnb/audit/200601/audit200601a.mp3 (29:17 & 47:36)

Obviously another glitch has occurred – maybe principal Jorge Diaz was the worse for having been gassed or ‘peppered’, benefiting from a chemical weapon that he helped pay for. (A different kind of perversion, the US state is legally bound not to use these against foreigners, but it has given itself carte blanche against Joe & Joanna Six-Pack. But the US was tardy: it took 50 years to ratify its 1925 commitment to the Geneva Protocol – after Vietnam, of course. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geneva_Protocol#Reservations has link to the relevant UN webpage)

As the double-screenshot shows, Audit will meet if not F12June then on Tu16June. The record shows that the changes were made by Chair Eileen, Friday tea-time, EDT.

https://kpftx.org/pacalendar/index.php (click on the # for details & the list of cttee members) & https://kpftx.org/index.php

~~~

Highlights of the M1June Audit meeting:

member intros (5:08);

Chair Eileen was the first officer or employee to publicly disclose (48:40) that the auditors aren’t issuing the management letter, the one telling the PNB, in confidence of course, how f’d up it is, & what it has to do to acquire a semblance of substantive rationality. Nothing new, in other words. Eileen didn’t explain (although she probably knows), but presumably it’s because ED Lydia Brazon (& the inner circle) haven’t agreed to some of its proposed content, not least being told in black & white that (a) bankruptcy protection may be unavoidable (although that triggers defaulting on the FJC contract), & (b) fundamental cost-cutting must be instigated within two months, if not weeks (although that greatly worsens immediate cashflow, given worker payouts). And the cost structure? The last audited figures (FY2016), so almost four years ago, gave personnel as 53% (plus, no doubt, some in the $257k consultants category), & 57% of those personnel costs was spent on the west coast stations, KPFA $2.0m, KPFK $1.7m. The other three stations totalled KPFK + $12k. Some stations, Lew, rely more on volunteers than others. https://pacifica.org/finance/audit_2016.pdf (pp. 5a & 26; pp. 8 & 30 of the PDF); &

a number of Pacifica favourites are crammed into the virtual room, in a self-sacrificing act of solidarity with Viro the Virus:

the return of Adriana
the elevation of our Bella
the serene breaker Lynden “what-a-bunch-of-fucking-bullshit” Foley
breaker Darlene of anti-BDSM fame – obviously only some breaking is righteous (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darlene_Pagano)
Marilyn ‘I translated lots of Trotsky’ Vogt-Downey
all ably overseen by, in the partisan corner, Grace-for-the-stack, &, in the breaker corner, authoritarian-Akio-the-anti-democrat (& yes, this moniker has also been diligently earnt by schemer Grace)
all that’s missing is the paragon of decorum, Cerene.

Chair Eileen better know where the mute button is.

Facebook has designated this blog as spam, banning any FB post linking to it – and there seems to be no appeal. Hail Sugar Mountain!

5 June, 20206 June, 2020PacificaWatch2 Comments

https://americansfortaxfairness.org/issue/tale-two-crises-billionaires-gain-workers-feel-pandemic-pain/

Yesterday I made the PNB-zombies-Karen post to two FB groups, Pacifica Radio Supporters & Pacifica Radiowaves. I noticed within an hour it had been deleted – praps even instantaneously, for all i know. A notification from FB said the post was spam.

It’s transpired that what FB deems spam is not the post as such but the site it linked to, namely this one, something i’ve often done since the middle of last year.

So the seriousness of the situation is much greater than i first thought. I’ve just noticed that all my posts linking to this blog have been deleted from the FB groups i’ve posted to.

I can’t find a way to appeal FB’s action: does anyone know different?

Anyway, g-d bless Mr Sugar Mountain, not least for the extra money he’s ‘earning’ during the COVID-19 global societal crisis. In the period depicted in the table above, from W18Mar to Tu19May, a day shy of nine weeks, it’s estimated from Forbes figures that his wealth increased by ~$25.3bn, from 54.7 to 80.0. That’s $408m every one of those 62 days; $17m every hour; $283 378 every second, so exceeding the annual wages of seven workers on $19.25 an hour (40 hours x 52) – makes Stalinism seem appealing.

And Pacifica’s revenue in a year? ~$10.9m (the FY2017 NETA figure rejected by the auditors). Zuckerberg ‘made’ that in 38.46 seconds – makes slavery seem fair.

On top of all this, 17 days have almost passed since the 19May calculation, adding perhaps another $6.9bn (17 x $408m). Overall, that’s +59% (32.2 ÷ 54.7) – makes the COVID-19 global societal crisis seem all worthwhile.

Within the hour, Facebook inexplicably deleted the post about the PNB, zombies, & Karen

5 June, 20206 June, 2020PacificaWatch2 Comments

FB notification, Th4June2020

Obviously, Karen stormed off immediately to FB on my behalf to find out what’s going on.

FB artificial intelligence being dumb?

The deleted FB post had gone to two groups, Pacifica Radio Supporters, & Pacifica Radiowaves. Here it is, as paragraphed:

Two months down, 10 to go: when will the PNB get round to identifying the practical options Pacifica has to pay the $3.265m to the Foundation for the Jewish Community, FJC, by 31Mar2021? When will the PNB instruct ED Lydia Brazon to identify these options & how to proceed?
Who will be Pacifica’s Karen?
Two months down, ten to go, yet the zombies keep shuffling on to the abyss – but where is Pacifica’s Karen? . . . will tonite’s PNB instruct ED Brazon to identify the options for paying $3.265m to FJC by 31Mar2021?

Two months down, ten to go, yet the zombies keep shuffling on to the abyss – but where is Pacifica’s Karen? . . . will tonite’s PNB instruct ED Brazon to identify the options for paying $3.265m to FJC by 31Mar2021?

4 June, 20207 June, 2020PacificaWatch2 Comments

. . . one reason why the PNB only has teleconferences – without cams . . .

At least the protesters in the streets today have some vitality. Back in PacificaWorld the directors just keep on keeping on, shuffling along as zombies, towards the abyss they refuse to see.

Besides the obvious – money & more appealing programmes – Pacifica needs one thing: Karen.

Yes, the directors vary in their abilities, but why the continuing collective failure? Just like the street, there has never been a more opportune moment to say, no more. Cometh the moment, cometh the Karen. Karen needs to step up to the counter.

#Karen.

The anti-breaker coalition hasn’t endured: Steinberg & Aaron have pushed Reyes aside, trying to close down discussion, stitching things up beforehand over Skype calls. The revived PNB Strategic Planning Cttee has been stymied. It’s as if when the moment suits them they’ll sort something out with Brazon, getting Marc Hand or whoever to try to find a new lender. What isn’t happening is transparency of proceedings, giving Pacifica members the opportunity to then hold directors & delegates accountable for their views/silence, for their action/inaction. All this has been made worse by the ugly tone that has descended upon the PNB, under the chairmanship of Alex Steinberg.

The differences between the street process & the PNB process can be pursued further.

The political problem facing the protesters, albeit unacknowledged, is the politics of the institutionalisation of enthusiasm, that is, how to meliorate oppression (glossed as achieving justice) through new or reformed institutional arrangements. So what institutional demands will the protest coalesce around? Or will it just peter out, like Occupy, without even an organisational legacy, just a fond memory?

So it’s the unknown that’s being lived in the street, & this makes the behaviour of the Pacifica directors even more inexcusable: they know what has to be done; they simply refuse to take responsibility, they simply refuse to carry out their duty. Instead, the last two months of proceedings have been largely devoted to tertiary & quaternary matters.

the Pacifica directors know what has to be done
they simply refuse to take responsibility
they simply refuse to carry out their duty

The reality is in plain sight: Pacifica is contracted to pay the Foundation for the Jewish Community, FJC, the $3.265m principal by 31Mar2021. What payment options have the directors contractually committed Pacifica to?

a swap or sale of one or more radio station licenses or a sale of other Pacifica owned assets of sufficient value to repay this Loan (as defined below), or such other sources that will become available
https://mega.nz/#!5NMhHAxI!QzMtaBd0iRTZJ_YNmh2KZ1xKu7Qh_hQ6IcPMVkGWX94 (the loan agreement; click on the Clouseau to read online, or download)

Just over two months ago, on 31Mar, when many were basking in the glow of the referenda results, I drew attention to the enduring problem, the elephant, the fact that Pacifica not only didn’t have a plan for what to do but hadn’t even identified the practical options it has. As I said,

So what’s it going to be: signal swap? buildings sales? extend the loan? find new lender? maybe the Jesse James approach, improving on the Symbionese Liberation Army?

With not an ounce of expectation, I asked the question whether at the Th2Apr PNB meeting a director would take the initiative & do the obvious.

Pacifica now has 365 days to pay FJC its $3.265m – unless FJC (or the current owner of the loan) decides otherwise

No doubt counter-intuitive, but what Pacifica needs at this moment is a Karen: a director, of any pronoun, who demands to speak to the manager. Tonite, will anyone move a motion to instruct ED Brazon to identify the practical options Pacifica has for paying $3.265m to FJC by 31Mar2021?

Not to be thought reductive, but no Karen equals no Pacifica: ~~Karen~~ = ~~Pacifica~~.

~💗~ code 666, Karen at the counter ~💗~

~~~

How many are in the streets?

½%.

It seems to be roughly ½% of those older than 14. ½%. Not even the fabled 1%.

Politically it’s always crucial to have a sense of scale, not to be fooled when seeing lots of people around you: it’s easy in the enthusiasm of the moment to be deluded, & misled in your judgment.

Do a ballpark exercise. The crowds are say 15k, & there are only 50 states, plus DC, & the other colonies. OK, even double the crowd: 30k x 50 = 1.5m.

US population is ~330m, & those aged 0-14 are 18.46%, which leaves ~268.9m. And ½% is ~1.345m.

How may the fallout of the protests affect electoral politics? Trump lost the 2016 popular vote by ~2.9m (65 853 514 − 62 984 828 = 2 868 686). This time he could lose it by 5m – and still win the electoral college. Remember, a US voter casts their ballot not for a presidential candidate but for a party’s state list of candidate Electors.

Meanwhile, the most excited of all by far, the most expectant, is Viro the Virus, the billions & billions & billions of SARS-CoV-2 virions.

https://www.census.gov/popclock/ (~329 743 000)

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/us.html (0-14: 18.46%; this source is used because the latest age structure at the Census Bureau website is 2015; note, the CIA uses a different total population figure; re the age stratum, it’s ♀ 30 034 371 + ♂ 31 374 555 = 61 408 926; incidently, the total is ~20m for each of the 5-year age groups from 0-4 thru to 60-64)

https://transition.fec.gov/pubrec/fe2016/federalelections2016.pdf (p. 5; p. 10 of the PDF)

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Month: June 2020