Only six more days until 2024 sheds off its mortal coil and we bid so long to a weird year, full of much sound and fury. Next year promises to be better. Although that always prompts the question: Better than what?
SIGN OF THE TIMES: You may not like, may not care about, or may embrace the trend of substituting they/them for he/she. But, if this is any indication that such a construct is here to stay, consider this: I recently attended a high school play. In the program, 40 students are listed in the cast and crew. There is a blurb on each of them, prepared with their approval. Of the 40, a quarter use they or them.
LAW AND ORDER: My apologies, but we cannot conclude 2024 without one more note on the controversy in the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office. This will roll into 2025 with the March 4 ballot measure asking voters to amend the county charter and give the Board of Supervisors temporary authority to oust Sheriff Christina Corpus.
Most notably, check out the array of public/establishment officials who signed the ballot argument in support of the measure: U.S. Reps. Anna Eshoo and Kevin Mullin; Supervisor Noelia Corzo, who had been among the most active supporters of Corpus’ 2022 campaign for sheriff; Sean Harper, representing the Organization of Sheriff’s Sergeants; and Matthew Silano, representing the Deputy Sheriff’s Association. Signing the rebuttal to the argument against the measure are Assemblymember Diane Papan; Supervisor-elect Lisa Gauthier; Kalimah Salahuddin, who chairs the Independent Citizens Advisory Committee on the sheriff; South San Francisco Councilmember Eddie Flores; and former state Sen. Jerry Hill.
This is about as broad a coalition as can be put together in this county.
Lined up on the no side is a lone figure — Dan Stegink of Pacifica, who lists himself as a “rescue diver” on the ballot argument. Stegink can be generously described as a political maverick with a propensity to offer often unsolicited, complicated and legalistic, um, arguments against mainstream thinking.
QUOTE OF THE YEAR: I keep laughing every time I read this comment from a candidate this year for the Portola Valley Town Council: “Portola Valley used to be a community of middle-class people and working people. With the cost of building and the cost of land, it’s becoming a community of millionaires and even multi-millionaires.”
IF YOU SAY SO: I have lost track of the number of newly elected or reelected city councilmembers who have said they are humbled to be assuming office.
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It is a city council seat, not the College of Cardinals.
While we are on the subject of language, I would like to call for a moratorium on the word incredible, which frequently is used to mean amazing or wonderful or some other superlative. What it really means is lacking in credibility.
POLITICAL TIDBITS: The easy passage of Proposition 36 (including in San Mateo County), affirms what one astute observer told me: “Crime is the sleeping giant of California politics.” … Political power is always shifting and the next wave of prominent electeds have to come from somewhere. Here are some people who won elections in 2024 and, in my incredibly humble view, seem poised to emerge as having countywide influence: Burlingame Councilmember Donna Colson, county Board of Education member Chelsea Bonini, Belmont Mayor Julia Mates, Daly City Councilmember Juslyn Manalo, Foster City Councilmember Stacy Jimenez, San Mateo Councilmember Nicole Fernandez and South San Francisco Councilmember James Coleman. … As U.S. Rep. Eshoo retires, San Mateo County will have only one member of Congress who is homegrown. Former San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo will be representing a good chunk of the county, including most of the coastside. But this is the first time someone representing the county has been this remotely connected it. Will Liccardo be a factor in serving the county? … The arrival of 2025 means the beginning of the 2026 campaign season, and the rumors persist that Supervisor David Canepa, who will be president of the board next year, will run for county assessor/clerk/recorder, a job that includes running all local elections. Incumbent Mark Church has not said he plans on stepping aside, and he may be tougher to oust than insiders think.
THINGS I HEAR: And don’t believe. When you unsubscribe from an email list for which you did not sign up, and they send you a note saying “We’re sad to see you go.”
When you are on hold and for the 27th time, a voice says, “Your call is important to us.”
Your readership is important to me. See you next year.
Mark Simon is a veteran journalist, whose career included 15 years as an executive at SamTrans and Caltrain. He can be reached at marksimon@smdailyjournal.com.
Oh come on Mark, so a quarter of a group of theater kids in the Bay Area think they don't have a sex? (Or more likely, adopt the easiest way of claiming a "marginalized identity" ever, by tacking on nonsense pronouns in a bio?) If this isn't an indication that this craziness is a social contagion I don't know what is. We don't see 40 year olds en masse adopting these new identities. Insanity that denies basic biology is in no way "hear to stay", in fact it is currently on the way out.
Mitch, If you consider that about 30% of voters are liberal nuts and lack the ability to think beyond their ideology, then this makes sense. There are a few standouts on the San Mateo Journal and I think we know who they are. The good news, we still have 70% of voters to make the right decisions.
I think the point is that, like it or not, if young people are adopting this at a 25% rate, it could mean this construct is here to stay. It could also be a fad and nobody is preventing anyone from using he/she. The question is why object to someone exercising the same choice to use they/them?
Mark, because individuals are NOT them's and they's. These people have serious mental issues and liberal indoctrination education camps have created this mess. A boy cannot be a girl, no matter how he feels or what drugs he takes, it's a fact. A sour lemon can't be a sweet orange, no matter the human engineering. A chihuahua cannot be a pit bull no matter how much the chihuahua puffs up his chest and yaps. When the wanna be pit bull gets in the ring with a real pit bull then the proof would be in the results. If one of these emotional unknowing individuals decided to be a lion and then jumped into the lion's den at the zoo, the real lions would know factually that the wanna be lion was a human and not a lion and no matter how much the human pleaded, the lions would maul him / her to death. The rolls of parents, teachers and ministers is to tell the truth and NOT accommodate feelings or sin and they should all speak the hard truth. Dogs want to be treated like dogs and when stupid humans dress up their little Pomeranian and push it around it baby carts and bring them on airplanes disguised as "therapy dogs", the dogs are not happy because inherently dogs want to be dogs which makes them happy. Society has created an incredible mess, but it is intentional since Marx and Satan know that if children are destroyed, then a society will fall. The answer isn't to accept this new "construct" or to not object to one's freedom of choice, the answer is object and point these children in the right direction and to say NO, you are NOT a them or this or that.
Mark, "young people" are not adopting they/them at a 25% rate. These are Bay Area theater kids. Did you poll the football team? Its a social contagion among certain groups and they will move on to the next fad soon.
They can call themselves whatever they want, what they can't do is force someone else to use the nonsense language they are requesting. People have a sex, it is not changeable. Gender ideology- the idea that someone becomes the opposite sex (or has no sex) because of feelings- has done immense damage to women and children in particular. That's why I object.
Well said, MichKosk, perhaps the quarter of students doesn’t realize what they/them means. Perhaps these students figure they’re in a group? I think their bigger worry might be in how college admissions officers interpret they/them. I hope you had a Merry Christmas.
Mark- one of my grandsons was admitted to an exclusive High School in Orange County. During his first interview he was asked what pronoun he preferred to use. Without skipping a beat, he walked out and never even declined the acceptance.
Jorg - it continues to be tough for a group thinker like you to fathom that there are different opinions out there. Here is a kid from a hard working, highly educated family, who is not into that transitory, gender identification spectacle, and is now branded as "uppity"? He has other choices so he does not have to waste his time and deal with this concocted categorization.
Jorg, Dirk's grandson made a "CHOICE", something you hold dear to your heart being a God hating atheist and pro abortionist. He obviously was interested in an education and didn't want to be around a bunch of snowflakes who think and FEEL they are something other than what they are. And after seeing how these snowflakes react after something doesn't go their way, again, he probably wasn't interest witnessing first hand the emotional "cry outs", something the liberal snowflakes did after Trump handed cackling Kamala her walking papers.
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(12) comments
Oh come on Mark, so a quarter of a group of theater kids in the Bay Area think they don't have a sex? (Or more likely, adopt the easiest way of claiming a "marginalized identity" ever, by tacking on nonsense pronouns in a bio?) If this isn't an indication that this craziness is a social contagion I don't know what is. We don't see 40 year olds en masse adopting these new identities. Insanity that denies basic biology is in no way "hear to stay", in fact it is currently on the way out.
Mitch, If you consider that about 30% of voters are liberal nuts and lack the ability to think beyond their ideology, then this makes sense. There are a few standouts on the San Mateo Journal and I think we know who they are. The good news, we still have 70% of voters to make the right decisions.
I think the point is that, like it or not, if young people are adopting this at a 25% rate, it could mean this construct is here to stay. It could also be a fad and nobody is preventing anyone from using he/she. The question is why object to someone exercising the same choice to use they/them?
We went through this decades ago with Miss, Mrs. and Ms. What never made it to the agenda was the fact that men had only one choice - Mr.
Mark, because individuals are NOT them's and they's. These people have serious mental issues and liberal indoctrination education camps have created this mess. A boy cannot be a girl, no matter how he feels or what drugs he takes, it's a fact. A sour lemon can't be a sweet orange, no matter the human engineering. A chihuahua cannot be a pit bull no matter how much the chihuahua puffs up his chest and yaps. When the wanna be pit bull gets in the ring with a real pit bull then the proof would be in the results. If one of these emotional unknowing individuals decided to be a lion and then jumped into the lion's den at the zoo, the real lions would know factually that the wanna be lion was a human and not a lion and no matter how much the human pleaded, the lions would maul him / her to death. The rolls of parents, teachers and ministers is to tell the truth and NOT accommodate feelings or sin and they should all speak the hard truth. Dogs want to be treated like dogs and when stupid humans dress up their little Pomeranian and push it around it baby carts and bring them on airplanes disguised as "therapy dogs", the dogs are not happy because inherently dogs want to be dogs which makes them happy. Society has created an incredible mess, but it is intentional since Marx and Satan know that if children are destroyed, then a society will fall. The answer isn't to accept this new "construct" or to not object to one's freedom of choice, the answer is object and point these children in the right direction and to say NO, you are NOT a them or this or that.
Mark, "young people" are not adopting they/them at a 25% rate. These are Bay Area theater kids. Did you poll the football team? Its a social contagion among certain groups and they will move on to the next fad soon.
They can call themselves whatever they want, what they can't do is force someone else to use the nonsense language they are requesting. People have a sex, it is not changeable. Gender ideology- the idea that someone becomes the opposite sex (or has no sex) because of feelings- has done immense damage to women and children in particular. That's why I object.
Well said, MichKosk, perhaps the quarter of students doesn’t realize what they/them means. Perhaps these students figure they’re in a group? I think their bigger worry might be in how college admissions officers interpret they/them. I hope you had a Merry Christmas.
Mark- one of my grandsons was admitted to an exclusive High School in Orange County. During his first interview he was asked what pronoun he preferred to use. Without skipping a beat, he walked out and never even declined the acceptance.
What a mistake to admit an uppity kid "to an exclusive High School"!
Jorg - it continues to be tough for a group thinker like you to fathom that there are different opinions out there. Here is a kid from a hard working, highly educated family, who is not into that transitory, gender identification spectacle, and is now branded as "uppity"? He has other choices so he does not have to waste his time and deal with this concocted categorization.
Yeah, - but to just run away like that?
Jorg, Dirk's grandson made a "CHOICE", something you hold dear to your heart being a God hating atheist and pro abortionist. He obviously was interested in an education and didn't want to be around a bunch of snowflakes who think and FEEL they are something other than what they are. And after seeing how these snowflakes react after something doesn't go their way, again, he probably wasn't interest witnessing first hand the emotional "cry outs", something the liberal snowflakes did after Trump handed cackling Kamala her walking papers.
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