Wednesday, July 22, 2026
Tuesday, July 21, 2026
Sacramento City Council - July 21, 2026
Today was a frustrating day at the Sacramento City Council chambers, where Item #11 regarding Sacramento accepting federal money to support the Central California Intelligence Center (CCIC) was voted upon. Citizens vehemently oppose the proposal, because there is no way to prevent the Sacramento Police Department from outing the identities of undocumented immigrants to ICE through CCIC, but a majority of council members seem to trust SacPD representations that that won't happen.
So we slip farther down that slippery slope.
Comments on Item #11 start at 25:45 and end at 1:13:30.
Acquaintances speak (T. at 48:05 and S. at 1:00:20).
Police presentation - 1:15:20
Vang speaks 1:26:00. Talamantes speaks at 1:31:40.
Council chamber cleared at 1:32:15 after Talamantes announces support.
Maple speaks at 1:54:20. McCarty speaks at 1:55:50.
The vote is at 1:56:35 to a closed chamber.
Warm Sector
It's been a pleasant summer so far in Sacramento, but now we find ourselves in the warm sector of the former Tropical Storm Elida, with all that toasty El Niño air streaming north directly from the distant tropics, and - I want to be somewhere else.
Monday, July 20, 2026
The Golden Helmet of Mambrino
Lo, there was just one problem. I hurriedly called Gabe McAuliffe to confirm my worst fears. I got the week wrong. The Classics Book Club will assemble next Saturday for the big event. I was a week early.
I felt conspicuous wearing the golden plastic Roman helmet in the lobby of the theater. Fortunately, the theater patrons were all smiles and appreciated my spirit. I felt conspicuous mostly because my helmet was the wrong era. They didn’t have 10th Century B.C. Greek bronze helmets at Broadway Costumes. They didn’t even have Spartan helmets. No, all they had was a modified hard hat; a golden plastic Roman helmet. So, I fancied myself a critic from the Roman future, maybe a scholar from Nero’s entourage, ready with lame zingers to assail Matt Damon (too amiable to play General Groves in 2024’s “Oppenheimer”; maybe not amiable enough to play Odysseus).
Standing in the theater lobby, a song crossed my mind. Later, the same thought independently crossed Gabe’s mind too: “The Golden Helmet of Mambrino,” from “Man of La Mancha.” Just the relic to enchant madmen - a shaving basin, aka a golden plastic Roman helmet.
I was reminded of this scene from a favorite movie from 1970, "Start the Revolution Without Me":
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