Livin’ large on LA’s Skid Road (CNN)

(CNN) spent dawn to dusk on Los Angeles' Skid Road: What life is really like here

• Food Not Bombs is feeding the homeless and needy

Food Not Bombs

Compassion in action: FoodNotBombs.net

STOP WARS. SOLVE HUNGER: The US War against Iran is world-changing. The threat of a global conflict between nuclear armed countries has never been this close. The economy could crash. We worry for our volunteers in Palestine.

Wars are raging across the world while millions go hungry. The number of Americans becoming homeless increased by 32% during the Biden administration. Many more Americans will become homeless during the Trump years.

Maybe well-fed Katie "Karen" Porter can save us

Child poverty in the U.S. has more than doubled in the last 12 months. As many as a dozen seniors call the Food Not Bombs Hunger Hotline each day seeking home delivery of groceries often reporting that they have not eaten in days.

Volunteers are still organizing to provide relief to those suffering from the ravages of Hurricane Helene and the Burma (Myanmar) earthquake.

Democrats will solve all [of Israel's] problems.

War refugees are lining up for our meals in Europe and the Americas. As the economy grows more dire, the number of people seeking support from Food Not Bombs has never been so great.

Volunteers are busy providing food at labor strikes, Palestinian actions, and in defense of undocumented workers.

Food Not Bombs also celebrated its 45th anniversary on May 24, 2025.

As the Deep State-controlled Trump administration and its supporters in Congress threaten to cut SNAP and other social safety nets, people are finding community and hope by participating with Food Not Bombs. Please join us: foodnotbombs.net

• CNN, Oct. 15, 2025; Madison, Chata, Los Angeles, foodnotbombs.net

Trump's deportations: Last Week Tonight

Trump and Deportations: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

To backfire due to demographics? (BBC News)

(LastWeekTonight) May 4, 2025: John Oliver discusses the recent deportations [more extrajudicial "forced removals" because of the shocking absence of due process] by the Trump administration, the conditions in the facility people are being sent to abroad, and why even Jewish nice guy Henry "The Fonz" Winkler could be in danger of being expelled from the U.S.

Richie C., Shirley, Fonzie, Laverne (Happy Days)

Yeah, even national treasure Henry Winkler [who played a Guido and gavone nicknamed Arthur "Fonzie" Fonzarelli on Happy Days, a popular TV show that featured Opie Griffith (Ron Howard) from The Andy Griffith Show and prototypical American father-figure Tom "Harry Boyle" Bosley from the cartoon-sitcom Wait Till Your Father Gets Home]. 

• Trump deportation plan: US president-elect fit deport millions of immigrants true-true? (BBC News)

Subscribe to YouTube channel for more almost news as it almost happens or find on favorite social media platform we may or may not have discussed at length on the show: Instagram, TikTok, Threads, Bluesky, Facebook, or visit the official site for all that other stuff at once: hbo.com/lastweektonight #lastweektonight

J.J. Masters: Buddhist on Death Row (NPR)

Scott Simon, NPR's Weekend Edition Saturday, 8/8/20; CC Liu, Pfc. Sandoval, Wisdom Quarterly

David Sheff charts Jarvis Jay Masters' Buddhist journey in prison in a new book

TRANSCRIPT

The Buddhist on Death Row (David Sheff)

NPR Host Scott Simon speaks with inmate Jarvis Jay Masters and David Sheff about his new book, The Buddhist on Death Row.

HOST SCOTT SIMON: Jarvis Jay Masters is a [falsely] convicted murderer and an admired Buddhist practitioner and teacher of Buddhism who sits on Death Row.

David Sheff has written a book that's not just about the crime of which Masters was convicted and strong doubts raised about the case but what amounts to the remaking of a man in a forbidding place, The Buddhist on Death Row: How One Man Found Light in the Darkest Place.

David Sheff, the author of previous bestsellers that include Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey Through His Son's Addiction, joins NPR from Inverness, California. Thanks so much for being with us again.

AUTHOR DAVID SHEFF: Uh, Scott, thank you so much for having me.

SIMON: And we're also connected with Buddhist Jarvis Jay Masters from Death Row in San Quentin State Prison. We should expect periodic automatic interruptions on the line. Mr. Masters, thank you for being with us.

Finding Freedom: How Death Row...My Heart

PRISONER JARVIS JAY MASTERS: No problem, no problem.

SIMON: Well, I understand you've just been sick with COVID, right?

MASTERS: Oh, yeah, yeah. I've had it. And it's a terrible, terrible three weeks for me, what and, yeah, I got sick, very sick. And it just was like in every other cell.

SIMON: Uh, David Sheff, of course we want to talk about your book and Mr. Masters' story, The Buddhist On Death Row. What did you see in the Jarvis Jay Masters story?

SHEFF: Well, I'd heard about Jarvis from friends who were in the Buddhist community. And the two things that I kept hearing over and over was that this man, who was framed, shouldn't be on Death Row.

• Jarvis Jay Masters wrote Finding Freedom: How Death Row Broke and Opened My Heart with his investigator Melody Ermachild Chavis (with foreword by American Buddhist nun and bestselling Tibetan Buddhist author Pema Chodron)

.

When Things Fall Apart

And in spite of the fact that he was there and now it's been, you know, 30 years and 22 years in solitary confinement, he was one of the most extraordinary people that they'd met. His story was really about how a person changes and the remarkable transformation, because he was a person who could be as bitter, angry as anybody could be, and yet he was the opposite. He was this light in the lives of many, many people.

SIMON: Mr. Masters, we do want to talk about that spiritual journey, but I think you'll understand we don't want to lose, lose the fact that you are on death row, whether you agree with the conviction or sentence, or not, because you were convicted of assisting in the stabbing death of a prison guard named Dean Burchfield -- right? -- in 1985.

MASTERS: Yeah, absolutely. Later on that year, I was charged with two other guys, and we stood -- end up standing trial in 19 -- I think it was 1989, '90.

PRERECORDED VOICE: This call and your telephone number will be monitored and recorded.

MASTERS: And we were all three convicted, and I was the only one who was sentenced to death. And since then, this is where I've been.

SIMON: How did you find Buddhism?

That Bird Has My Wings (Jarvis Jay Masters)

MASTERS: I got in trouble. You know, I got in a lot more trouble than I ever been in. It started off with me waiting for a death sentence. Actually, I was in the courtroom, and the jury was trying to determine whether I should be -- they should put me to death or not. My investigator, Melody Ermachild [Chavis], who's done so much to help my spiritual growth, she gave me this little pamphlet, and the pamphlet was called "Life in Relationship to Death."

So I thought that was the best place I was right then -- you know, my life in relationship to death. And I start getting visits from this Buddhist community I got involved with, and I was so blessed because I did.

SIMON: David Sheff, what kind of difference did these people make in each other's lives?

SHEFF: Well, when I started to hear about Jarvis, I heard people talk about how he had impacted their lives. And, you know, first, as a journalist, I was skeptical. You know, first of all, everybody in prison basically says that they're innocent. And then the second one, people talked about him as if he was this -- I don't know -- this enlightened being in San Quentin, the Buddhist on Death Row.

And I began to do the research and talking to a lot of people, reading all the transcripts, reading boxes and boxes and boxes of material from the trials. And I became convinced that, you know, Jarvis is innocent. ...

SIMON: You know, a few minutes ago, I would've told you that I would never ask this question of someone on Death Row, but I feel -- are you happy?

MASTERS: (*Laughter*) Oh, wow, I never thought I'd get a question like that.

Mass incarceration means we're all going in.

PRERECORDED VOICE: You have 60 seconds remaining.

MASTERS: You know, yeah, I am happy. I'm happy for, you know, all the things that I can think of that makes my life, give my life some quality, give my life some joys, give my life, you know, some people to care for it.

You know, you have to compare yourself to someone to say that. So compared to my environment, you know, compared to what people on these various tiers have in their lives, I am extremely blessed, you know? And I really mean that. More

(*Ironically*) Now let's kill him. Death sentence, Baby!

Birthday: Trump one year closer to death

USA Today; Pfc. Sandoval, Ashley Wells, CC Liu; Crystal Quintero (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly

"Allies of Evil" as Trump turns former US allies into our enemies (jensorensen.com)

See, what you people don't realize is that Turnip is so patriotic he was born on the same day as the US Army, Flag Day, and a Zombie. That's dedication, though it was the same day not the same year, but close. DJ is "old" now but still full of vigor and just as much of an [blank] as always. Don Juan -- middle name "John," which is interesting because he consorts with prostitutes behind his wife's back -- is not so bad. There have been worse presidents: Bush, Bush II, Cheney (the real move and shaker behind the previous two), Nixon, LBJ, to name a few.

F--- all of you. I'm president here!

Like Bush W., he wasn't really elected. He was selected, backed by the billionaire Mercers, who pull his strings. Everyone thinks he's doing these things and they fail to see who is really writing up legislation and executive orders. He can't write.

He can only distract, and that's why he is where he is. Good job! Look how well he does it. When he ceases to be useful in this way to the Republicans and the powers that be (who back both parties, or both wings of the only party we have, which some call the Money Party, and will not allow a third unless they can run it), he will be removed.

Racist? Nobody is more less racist than me.

What are We the People going to do about it anyway? Turnip has been the greatest motivator of involvement in politics there has ever been in this country, except for those two times those guys got everyone excited about "revolution." First there was false hope Barry Obama, and more recently there was sell out Bernie O'Sanders. To think that party politics is going to change anything with the set they have going is the height of not paying attention to how things really work.

  

Is Don Joey Trump our president? - Whaddya mean "nope"? I'm everybody's president!

Don't show pictures of me bald!! This is 100% my real hair, 110%! I'm virile. Ask Stormy!

I'm prez. Not this guy. He's my servant, right Pence? I don't know what I'm doing, but I know better than this guy. The Mercers selected me, not him. Look at the way he looks at me.

What the hell do I know about Korea? I'll offer him whatever he wants, see if he bites.

Look, you stupid pieces of [blank]. Oh, that reminds me, I gotta go take a [blank].

Stupid Obama doesn't know how to make deals. Weak. I saved 30 million lives in Korea.

Winner! I play golf here at Mar-Lago, and nobody beats me...or I throw them out.

I'm a germophobe...except when I eat with my dirty bare hands. Tell them, Junior.

I'm the best president, best president. You're lucky to have me. We're gonna start winning. Now, it's important, listen up, this is important. It's important you not arrest me or try to impeach me. Then we'll start winning.

Sex: Teen girl safe, teacher arrested in NoCal

Associated Press (ap.org); CC Liu, Seth Auberon, Wisdom Quarterly (COMMENTARY)

Tennessee girl safe, teacher arrested near California cabin

NASHVILLE, Tennessee - A 15-year-old Tennessee [high school girl in love with her 50-year-old teacher who ran away with him from a miserable home life] was "rescued" [while trying to not be found with the man she called her new "husband" on social media] near a cabin in a remote part of Northern California today, more than a month after her married 50-year-old high school teacher "kidnapped" [ran off with] her [to molest/have sex with her while throwing away his life and losing his job and marriage] and set off a nationwide manhunt, authorities said. More

Double standard of justice based on race?
Wisdom Quarterly (COMMENTARY)

I like kids, too. Free Cummins and O'Reilly!

"We couldn't be happier to tell you she will soon be on her way back home to Tennessee," Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Director Mark Gwyn said.

[Child molester] Cummins faces state charges of aggravated kidnapping and sexual contact with a minor as well as a federal charge of taking a minor across state lines to have sex. If convicted of the federal charge, he faces at least 10 years in prison, acting U.S. Attorney Jack Smith said.

It was great working for with ya, Georgie. lol

[If he were black, we would ship him to Arkansas and execute him tonight. But he's a white male, so we have to respect all of his due process rights and get him back in the classroom teaching health as soon as he's ready to return. However, after the reign of Bush-Obama, racism and implicit bias are things of the past; we'
re a post racial society.]

Suicide ("Jump" the Cartoon)

A Buddhist Perspective on Suicide

Dharmachari (for Wisdom Quarterly)

The Buddhist teaching on suicide is very clear. It is killing. It is karma with heavy and unpleasant consequences. Even when life is unbearable, and it will be, there are options that are far better and available to everyone. The Petavatthu (Tales of Hungry Ghosts) has surprising tales of the consequences.

Suicide is not possible through killing oneself: All that is really happening is transitioning from a bad situation to a worse situation. One is still in a situation, still stuck in Samsara, still existing. What kind of "suicide" is that?

Craving is the root of suffering. There are, in this sense, three forms craving may take. First, there is the obvious and that is craving for sensual pleasure. Second, there is craving for continued existence (wanting to live on eternally). Third, and most relevant here, is the craving for annihilation.

Nirvana is the quenching of all thirst, craving, and desire. The world is not the problem; craving is. Life is not a problem but how one approaches it. The solution is enlightenment. The solution is redirecting the mind to what uplifts it, away from what is bringing on dejection.

Esther and Jerry Hicks in their books and workshops on the law of attraction explain an amazing thing. With a chart, they illustrate the need to move up an emotional ladder step by step, rung by rung. One cannot jump. It is not possible to go from depressed and hopeless to cheerful and optimistic in one step. Instead, one passes through intermediate stages. So very negative things like anger might be relatively good -- in that it is moving away from hopeless to angry, from angry to vengeful, from vengeful to relieved, and so on. One shifts. It doesn't become a physical action, and one doesn't remain angry. One goes to a better feeling state. One follows a bliss that actually leads to a better feeling state. One can reach "the end of all suffering" (nirvana).

Suicide "hotlines" and outreach call centers are all around (911). Assisted suicide falls into the karma of killing as well. It may not seem fair, but if a Buddhist monk or nun were to counsel or even suggest to someone to take his or her own life by saying something like, "What is this life for you? It wouldn't be much of a loss!" that is enough to permanently banish the monastic from the Sangha. They would be forfeiting their ordination. Like suggesting or recommending abortion, it is considered killing -- one of four grave offenses that cannot be corrected (parajika).

That being the case -- that the monastic did not do the killing, did not see the killing, but only thought it and said it as a suggestion -- how much more grave for the person who engages in the actual act? The person who commits suicide would bear that additional karmic burden, not only losing the great and rare opportunity of being human, as woeful as it is in this world, but inheriting a more painful, more desperate situation as a result. Shift. Happiness awaits right here in this world.

• Ghost-hunters enter haunted house (AOL)
• Law of Attraction Quote:

"You are the vibrational writers of the script of your life, and everyone else in the Universe is playing the part that you have assigned to them" -- Abraham (excerpted from a workshop in San Francisco, 3/2/97, see previous quote; subscribe to daily quotes).