Their monthly enbubblement (updated!)

[Please see significant UPDATE below!]

     I just happened upon the above video, posted by Tim Jemal in late September, in which he identifies his promises made, and kept, as SOCCCD trustee. 

     —For what it's worth. (It seems unobjectionable to me.)

     Recently, a friend alerted me to the following events at Monday's board meeting. He tells me that the trustees are back to giving "invocations" at the start of their monthly enbubblement, or at least they gave one in October and now one in November. On Monday, during the pre-meeting public comments I guess, IVC Academic Senate Prez June McLaughlin criticized the board's October prayer-invocation, no doubt citing the importance of separating church and state, etc. (As I recall, Trustee Wright used to lay it on pretty thick with his invocations, years ago. "Dear Heavenly Father," he would piously intone.) Soon thereafter, Tim Jemal offered yet another pre-meeting invocation, though, according to my witness (via Zoom, I guess), it was more of an expression of gratitude than a prayer. 

     But get this: my friend reports that Jemal expressed gratitude that we live in a country "where people like Roy Bauer can express their views freely without fear of retribution."—Something like that.

     Golly. 

     My first thought was: retribution for WHAT? During the trustee campaign, I expressed my views about trustee candidates and about our board, a crew that I have been observing for years. I carped about trustee Wright's seemingly incorrigible, set-in-his-ways nature and his nasty habit of referring to Saddleback College (where he worked for decades) as though it were The District. I also noted that this board repeatedly renewed the contracts of very shitty administrators, despite vociferous complaints from faculty, et al. 

     A case in point: Glenn "MAGA" Roquemore, who was granted a 17-year reign of error, academic suppression, and anti-intellectual buffoonery. (The current board can't take all the blame, of course, just recent years of the man's "leadership.")

     (Did I ever tell you about the time Roquemore blackballed an instructor candidate because the guy hailed from Colorado? "Colorado," he reportedly said, "is where Bauer comes from!" —Imagine having such a thought process! Note: I've never even been to freakin' Colorado.)

     So I was expressing opinions about candidates. Retribution for THAT? For expressing my views during an election campaign? —It's not like I was going crazy with Photoshop, pasting Wright's head onto pterodactyls, or walking into board meetings, menacingly waving a bottle of Wright's All Natural Hickory BBQ sauce!

     Sheesh!

     I've tried to view Jemal's Monday-night invocation, but the district's videos only work up through October. Dang! Tell me if you get the dang player to work for November.

     I too am glad I live in a country where I can express my views—well-grounded views offered sans hostility—without fear of retribution (unless, of course, its 1997 and I'm working at the SOCCCD). 

     —No thanks to you, pal!

     But seriously, folks; I'm mostly amused. It's like the good old days, getting mentioned by government officials as if I were the freakin' Golden State Killer. 

     (Remember when trustee John Williams compared me to the Unabomber? —When Raghu Mathur got a security stipend to protect him from the likes of Kate Clark and me? —Good times.)

Just for fun: 

• Your taxpayer dollars at work (Red Emma) 2005
• Calling all heroes! (Red Emma) 2005
• In Security: Tonkovich's security update (Red Emma) 2000
• Red Emma's infamous "open letter" to Raghu 1999
• In “an FBI zone” (Bauer) 2018

UPDATE:

Trustee Tim Jemal has (evidently) sent me this email (using his district email account):

Here is the text of my invocation last night. Your friend misunderstood it:

"Thank goodness we live in a country where votes are counted. Imagine living in a country where at any moment you could be jailed, tortured or killed by simply engaging in free speech. Not hate speech, but free speech, like saying “I don’t like Joe Biden.” Dictators are toiling to stamp out the last vestiges of domestic dissent and spread their harmful influence to new corners of the world. According to Freedom House, there have been 14 consecutive years of decline in Global Freedom. More than half of world’s established democracies deteriorated over the past 15 years. Freedom of expression and belief, which includes academic freedom, and the rule of law, are the most common areas of decline. Imagine one day Roy Bauer suddenly disappears because someone from the state doesn’t like the content of his blog. This kind of action is a very real threat in many countries around the world.

Here in Orange County we had an amazing 87% percent voter turnout in this election. Think about that. 87%. Never before have I seen a turnout like this in my lifetime. We should all rejoice that the people’s voice was overwhelmingly heard and counted. Freedom flourishes when governments are held accountable by the people. Thank you."

—Well, that's great. It's clear that my friend did misunderstand Trustee Jemal's remarks, which included nothing about fear of retaliation for expressing my views. On the contrary, Jemal uses this blog as an example of something that should be allowed to exist—an example of free expression that is endangered increasingly in the world.

I can find nothing to object to here. Quite the contrary. And I too feel great about the 87% turnout. It is indeed a reason to rejoice.

So thank you, Trustee Jemal. And congratulations!