. . . 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)
PacificaWatch 
KPFK is stone cold broke. It cannot raise money. The current fund drive is doing about $5k a day, down from $15k a day when it still couldn’t raise enough money. The GM has worn out the pitiful few listeners with too many fund drive days, too many repeats of sketchy “health” products. KPFK cannot pay its bills and has absolutely no plan.
The PNB is arguing over what color curtains to buy – when they’re about to get evicted.
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Thx for yr comment, & what you say is a sign of the times.
Choosing the colour of the curtains? The Th4June PNB regular monthly meeting inexplicably had no proposed agenda, & from there it only got worse. A sole item was discussed: a motion on Pacifica’s response to the murder of George Floyd. It took a whole two hours to get the wording right. Then, before the voting was completed, Ralph Poynter came out with a “I don’t know what we’re voting on”, the meeting collapsing into a collective sigh, only to be immediately upstaged by Chair Steinberg walking out in a huff, finally snapping, having fully absorbed the significance of the prior rejection of his political wording, leaving Vice-Chair Lark as happy as a sandboy, if only being in charge for six minutes – something to tell his great-grandchildren. The PNB never fails to disappoint.
https://kpftx.org/archives/pnb/pnb200604/pnb200604b.mp3 (43:54)
And next Thursday’s PNB, 11June, may approve the FY2018 auditor’s report. Monday’s PNB Audit Cttee announced that praps on W3June or Th4June the cttee members may receive the draft auditor’s report & management letter from Rogers & Company, with their principal, Jorge Diaz, giving his presentation to them at the M8June meeting. They’ll no doubt rubber-stamp the auditor’s report, recommending its adoption by the PNB at its Th11June meeting, with Jorge starring again.
[CORRECTION, Su7June: as noted in the Su7June post, Chair Eileen specifically disclosed that the management letter is not being issued by the auditors. No-one asked for an explanation, & no-one asked if this was simply a delay or something grave. It was as if no-one appreciated the significance of what they had been told. Note, a management letter is always part of an audit contract. https://pacificaradiowatch.home.blog/2020/06/07/surprise-surprise-fy2018-draft-auditor-s-report-not-ready-so-m8june-pnb-audit-cttee-cancelled-so-f12june-otherwise-tu16june-or/ & https://kpftx.org/archives/pnb/audit/200601/audit200601a.mp3 (47:36)]
As indicated at a PNB Finance Cttee meeting earlier this year, it’s expected that the report will disown the financial statements & station-level info, using the obfuscatory phrase of the profession, a ‘disclaimer of opinion’. It’ll be interesting to know if any Audit Cttee member or Pacifica director has acquainted themselves with an authoritative document on the topic, such as https://www.aicpa.org/content/dam/aicpa/research/standards/auditattest/downloadabledocuments/au-c-00705.pdf (AU-C = Auditing Clarification).
Also interesting will be whether even one of Pacifica’s finest asks if the FY2018 current liabilities, at both year-commencing & year-ending, include the $137 506 that the Corporation for Public Broadcasting say they are owed. This is why CPB told ED Lydia Brazon on F22May that Pacifica would lose its right to air licensed music after Su31May.
As background is the 19July2019 blogpost on Rogers & Company’s rejection of the FY2017 financial statements: https://pacificaradiowatch.home.blog/2019/07/19/fy2017-auditor-refuses-to-declare-that-the-statements-are-materially-accurate/
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