To answer this question we need to look at the game field in G-Ball. Baseball has the diamond, basketball the court, but G-Ball has three distinctive planes, or dimensions. These three play planes interact and inform each other. These planes are, the State itself, also known as the government apparatus. The second aspect is the Economy or the Market. The third is, Civil Society, which is all free-associations outside of state coercion, and market transaction pressures.

Civil Society is where life lives, in families, friendships, voluntary organizations, and any community associations like worship communities. Civil Society is the point of playing the game: we want to pull the levers of power in such a way that civil society is working well for as many people as possible. To think the State itself is the purpose is to move toward totalitarianism. To think the Market is the purpose is to turn everything into a transaction, a commodity, from human dignity, to romantic relationships, i.e. the “dating market”, or healthcare.

Now, many things operate at the intersection of all three of the planes, for instance, a public school fundraiser involves all three planes of the G-Ball field. The school is funded and regulated by the state, the free association of students, parents, and community members, is civic society, and market influence might explain why they are selling candy bars instead of collecting donations. A coffee shop is a market space, but it can also host Civil Society. A book club meeting, two friends catching up, someone journaling quietly, these are not economic transactions, they’re free associations. When I sit here to write, I’m inhabiting civil society, even though the Market and State (building codes, health inspections) are also present. The heart and soul of the coffee shop and civilization itself is Civil Society.

So we play G-Ball to make sure that the organized power of the State protects Civil Society, from the Market, lawlessness, disasters, foreign States, and potentially itself. The State can also conceivably be used to improve civil society, the creation of public schools, libraries, or parks.

If baseball players score points on a diamond. We players of G-Ball live on a Mobius Strip and we “score points” by shaping the Mobius Strip for the maximum amount of benefit for the maximum number of people. beneficial. Sometimes individuals, institutions, companies, the State itself and other forces shape the Mobius Strip to produce advantage for themselves, detracting from the other inhabitants. Our job as citizens is to track these plays clearly, understand how they are affecting our Mobius Strip world, and decide if we like the new shape that is being molded.

Stay Sharp

Stay Sovereign

Let the People watch the Game

That is the question that’s plagued me since I had my epiphany about sports journalism having more fidelity than political journalism. In the previous issue I focused on the legislature, the legislative season calendar, All-Star players and the idea of a political scoreboard. But the legislature is only one way that power moves.

If we want to track G-Ball in all of its glory we need to know all the ways power moves. All of the levers of power.

Luckily, there’s only five.

Five legal, institutional, objective ways power can shape your life, your neighborhood, your pocketbook, and your children’s future. These are the 5 Power Plays of G-Ball. And if a news story doesn’t connect to one of them, then power is not being tracked.

Here are the 5 Power Plays — these are the five legal ways that power can actually move in our system:

1. Bills and Laws - the long drive

2. Executive Actions - breakaway plays

3. Ballot Measures - civic penalty kicks

4. Court Rulings - booth reviews

5. Agency Policies - strike zone shift

Each of these Power Plays are: traceable, verifiable, publicly recorded, objective, and capable of changing your life.

1. Bills and Laws are handled by the legislative branch, think Assembly Members, Senators, and Congressional Representatives. This is the main thrust of play in G-Ball. These are the long drives to the endzone that require full team effort and coordination to score “touchdowns,” meaning, to pass actual laws.

2. Executive Actions are handled by various executives: Mayors, Governors, the President. These are breakaway plays where an All-Star drives to the basket alone outpacing the rest of the field. It doesn’t require full team coordination, however, in G-Ball these points can be reversed or countered by a breakaway play by the other team, the other party or the next executive. For example, one President can’t get congress to move so they sign several executive actions but then the next President comes in and either cancels or overrides those actions, essentially voiding the previous administration.

3. Ballot measures — these are soccer penalty kicks, and an interruption to the main game, where everyone pauses and sets up the conditions for a dramatic score or miss. The twist here is to imagine if a random fan from each side was pulled to make the shot rather than one of the professional players.

Ballot measures are direct democracy where citizenry participates in and votes directly to pass or block laws. For example Proposition 209: in 1996, the public voted directly, passing the measure thus banning affirmative action in California.

4. Court Rulings — these are the booth reviews of G-Ball. Just like you can challenge a play in football that reverses a decision, Court Rulings determine the constitutionality of a law and if it needs to be struck down, upheld, or reinterpreted.

5. Lastly we have Agency Policies — this is probably the least understood way power moves in our country. One of the clearest sports examples comes from an obscure corner. In the running world there is an organization called World Athletics they govern everything from Track and Field to Ultra Marathons. The WA won’t change official rules — a 100 yard dash is a 100 yard dash — but they do issue technical mandates like reducing shoe sole thickness. These kinds of changes can have significant impacts on race outcomes.

The legislature introduces rule changes that alter the game, think pitch clock in baseball. Agency policy says, the maximum shoe sole thickness needs to be reduced by a quarter inch. And by the way when you Google search how many state agencies there are in California this is the AI answer you get: “There is no single, definitive number for California state agencies, but estimates range from over 200 to over 500.” Let that sink in. 100s of unaccountable agencies shifting regulations that the public neither elects nor has any practical mechanism of overseeing.

These are the plays.

If we don’t see them, we don’t see the game.
If we don’t know how power moves, we can’t respond when it does.
And if we don’t respond, we’re not citizens — we’re spectators.

That’s what the Sentinel is about.
Not just watching the game.
Learning to play.

Stay Sharp.

Stay Sovereign.

Let the People Watch the Game.

Dad was working in a lab during the day but when he found out mom was pregnant he got a second job driving a forklift in a local warehouse on the night shift.

He was half-asleep watching Claire and I play. I cradled my baby doll, Rachel. Claire arranged furniture in lawyer Barbie's Penthouse playhouse. I remember Claire looking at me fiercely. “Baby dolls are dumb. Baby dolls are for babies. Real grown-ups are like Barbie.” She would shake her head as she spoke with matter of fact authority.

Her words cut me to the bone. I immediately burst into tears. “Claire, be nice to your sister.” Dad grumbled from his Lay-Z-boy.

I ran to the kitchen, there was Mom, sundress, pearl earrings, and lipstick. “Mooooom!” I wailed, “Claire said I’m a baby! She said I’ll never be big like Barbie.” I was hyperventilating and snot was running down my face. Mom knelt beside me, wiped my years. “Oh honey, you’re momma’s big girl. Don’t worry one day you’ll be all grown up, just like Barbie, you and Claire both.”

………………………………………………………………………………………

“Wow Anna double majoring in Sociology & Political Science, like if you could be less of a nerd, I could have hired you. We are expanding our social media and marketing wing right now. Can you believe I have 15 employees now? I’m planning to increase revenue by 200% and expanding staff to 25 by quarter three of next year.”

“That’s great Claire.” I can still feel my eyes roll from that moment. Mom saw me and snorted as she smirked. “Claire” Mom would always start our corrections with an almost singing of our names. “Can you remember why we are here today?”

“To celebrate our brainiac Anna!’ Dad was so proud of me his whole body had turned into a smile. “And she’s already accepted into grad school. I’m such a lucky Dad, look at our kids Ma.” I don’t remember ever hearing Dad call Mom by her first name.

“Grad school?” *Pssh* “More like debt slavery. Why don’t you start making money like us real adults?” That’s all Michael ever talked about… Making money and spending money. “Check out how delicious this $250 bottle of Hibiki I picked up in Manhattan is Dad.” Michael worked on Wall Street in acquisitions. Dad almost choked when he drank Michael's whiskey. “Geeze-US Michael, this is a graduation party not an Irish wake! Ma will you pass me another miller? Good God, I need to settle my stomach.”

“Here you go honey.” Mom turned her attention to Michael. “You see Michael, Anna is trying to make a difference, she wants to make the world a better place…. Help people.” She almost had tears in her eyes. “Oh come here sweetie.” Her kiss left lipstick on my cheek. She wet her finger on her tongue and rubbed off the evidence with her salivated finger.

………………………………………………………………………………………

I still have the screen shots saved… Look:

Me: His name is Eric.

Me: He’s the most caring, kind man I’ve ever met!

Mom: That’s wonderful news dear! Does he go to school with you?

Me: Yes!

Me: But he’s getting his Masters in environmental policy.

Me: He cares about nature so much 😍.

Me: We went on a hike yesterday. The sunset was soooo romantic.

Me: *Attached Photo*

Mom: ♥️

I really did try to save what mattered.

………………………………………………………………………………………

“Johnathan stop waving at the guest. The photographer is trying to take pictures of us!” Claire said with a frozen smile. “We are going to use these in our promotion for our next product launch.” Claire always focused on her business. That’s why she’s being celebrated now…. She was like an relentless Alexander trying to conquer the world. The only difference is the world loved her for it. I loved her for it. She was my big sister. Her presence was fuel, not always the cleanest burning but it always worked. When my muscles were giving out in the gym, when I was about to pass out while writing my thesis, I could think of Claire and just the thought of her would give me a jolt of energy.

Mom and Dad were beaming. Mom was starting to seem tired though I remember her telling me “I’m going to stop dying my hair after this… I just can’t keep it up Anna Bannan, I’m 56 who do I still have to impress? You’re Father?!” She snorted, her classic Mom snort… “I almost came here grey but Claire just about had a conniption.”

“Of course she did, Mom, didn’t you hear we are promoting the next product launch!” I replied.
“Don’t flatter yourself, Poindexter! You think I’m going to use images of the woman who gave up, to empower young women. No offense Mom.”

“None taken. How could I? I’ve given up apparently.” She revealed her gummy smile as she threw her hands in the air.

“God I miss her smile. I don’t think I ever smiled as big as Mom did.”

“Ms. Anna, you are crying, do you need tissues or tea?”

“No thank you, just someone to listen.”

“I can do that.”

We had a great time at Claire and Johnathan’s wedding. Claire knew how to put on a show, there’s no doubt about it. Aunt Sally came up to Eric and I as Claire and Johnathan shared their first dance.

“I hope this is just the first wedding, can we be expecting yours next year?” I remember my chest tightening at the thought of next year when she asked. Eric was so good about sensing my anxiety…. He rubbed my back and answered for us.

“Aunt Sally, it’s so good to see you. Anna and I have been talking about it but as I’m finishing my dissertation right now and Anna is starting up with a new NGO serving women in crises, it’s really not the ideal time.”

“It’s true Auntie Sal. And besides, what’s the rush? We're only 28.”

“By the time your mother was 28 you had already been born sweet-heart.” There was sweetness and concern in her voice, I only heard judgement and condemnation though.

“The times they are a changin’” I said in my best Bob Dylan impression “and besides Mom never even got to use her degree!”

“That’s our little goofball, huh Aunt Sally. Don’t worry we’ll throw one of these shin-digs soon and you’ll be at the top of our guest list.” Eric had the most mesmerizing smile.

“Oh, he is charming, Anna.” Aunt Sally pushed me gently.

“Would all the couples please join our newlyweds on the dance floor?” The DJ announced as he transitioned the song.

“Let’s dance in style, let’s dance for a while,

Heaven can wait we’re only watching the skies

Hoping for the best but expecting the worst

Are you gonna drop the bomb or not.”

Claire was doing a retro 80’s line so the playlist was all 80’s music. It was an amazing night even though Michael got so drunk he threw up all over one of Claire’s photographers. Dad was livid. Eric did the best impression; he milked it for years. Whenever he did it I would always follow it with a “Geez-us Michael.”

………………………………………………………………………………………

Connor was our first sweetie. I remember the day we adopted him. We had been feeling the pull for a kid for a couple years. Now that we felt stable in our careers Eric popped the question and the wedding was around the corner. We spent so much time thinking, going to others for advice, discussing every detail. We really wanted to make sure we were going to do it right. That we wouldn’t screw up, or screw up Connor. We hashed out every detail, what he would eat, where he would sleep, how to break the news to Mom and Dad, we wanted everything to be perfect for our little being.

Eric felt really confident. That meant everything to me. He was always such a rock. We talked to a number of friends who suggested different boutique breeders. But my stomach always churned at the idea of accidentally supporting a puppy mill. We wanted to do the right thing. We didn’t want love to be easy, we knew family wasn't always going to be easy. So we went down to the local SPCA.

There were so many dogs there. A lot of older dogs, too many pitbulls, mutts of all kinds. I made eye contact with a husky who had ice blue eyes. She was gorgeous, but as soon as Eric got close she started to growl and bark, that’s when the SPCA volunteer told us about Roxy’s history with men.
The volunteer really tried to get us to take a pitbull home, “they really aren’t bad dogs it’s just people mishandle them, make them fight, and people are just filled with prejudice, like all pitbulls are killers or Cujo or something.” That’s when Eric reminded her and me that we live in a two bedroom apartment and this would be both of ours first dog. “We probably need something lap sized,” Eric recommended.

That’s when I heard him, he wasn’t barking, growling, or whining. He was wheezing. It was the cutest sound I had ever heard. I turned around and saw a chocolate, and white painted beagle chihuahua mix. He had a tiny little chihuahua head and big floppy ears. I dropped to my knees with tears in my eyes “Eric, he's perfect.” The volunteer didn’t even wait for Eric to respond, she just walked away saying “I’ll go get the paperwork.”

………………………………………………………………………………………

“What happened Michael? Sure you never grew out of college drinking but… I thought it was because you haven’t settled down.” Mom was shaking her head, not really talking to him. Dad just stood in the corner against the wall. His eyes closed and head tilted up to the sky.

“Don’t worry Mom, this is a great treatment center, my boss sent a relative here. They’ve been sober for two years.” Eric didn’t hesitate to call Mom Mom. His parents were gone, he didn’t have siblings so my family was his.

Michael sat there in his white robe, blank expression on his face staring at the ground about 20 feet from us. Claire was off in Dubai, or Rome, or something we couldn’t keep track of her. We were as clued into her as Instagram allowed us to be.

“Michael… why don’t you give up that job, move back to the neighborhood, and settle with a nice girl? I heard Jennifer Mossley got divorced, her mother says she’s ready to put herself back out there.” Michael actually made eye contact with Mom and she lit up. He gave her a look of confused teary eyed disgust and silently shook his head before looking at the ground again. Mom, in trying to fight back the grief, contorted her face in pain. “I have to go to the bathroom.” Her voice cracking as she walked away.

“This is a great treatment center,” Eric repeated quietly to himself.

I turned to look at my father. He was in the same position, the side of his jaw wet with tears.

………………………………………………………………………………………

Dad died of a heart attack but I knew it was a broken heart. Michael stayed sober for only about two months after treatment then he caught a DUI. Meanwhile, Claire had divorced Johnathan. Dad was so ashamed. I remember about a month before he died Eric and I visited and we took Conner with us. Dad really liked Conner, said he was a great pup despite the fact that the hairs around his nose were greying.

I knew something was up when Dad had pulled out one of Michael’s old footballs. “Oh my God Dad you still have that?” I asked him.

“I kept a lot of your toys, army men, baseballs, barbies, little Rachel.” My stomach sank.

“You still have Rachel?”

“Of course sweet heart, I wasn’t gonna get rid of your first baby. But I wanted to play with this here pup, since there’s no grandbabies yet.”

The yet was added on as an afterthought as if not to offend me, or give himself hope. I don’t know. But he threw the football to Conner even though it was bigger than his head. Dad smiled weakly.

“I don’t understand what’s happening in the world, Anna Banana. I know Clarie said things with Johnathan had become ‘toxic’ but why is divorce an achievement all of sudden. I mean Geeze-us here divorce party was even bigger than her wedding. Did you and Eric go?”

“Nah Poppa, we thought it might be bad juju.”

He tussled my hair as I smirked “Atta girl, I could always count on you to hold onto common sense.” He drew me in close, giving me the biggest hug in years. He rested his chin on my head, I felt like I was thirteen years old again. “I love you so much kiddo.”

“I love you too, Dad.” I replied. He already knew, I just thought he was being sentimental.

Mom woke up next to him dead a month later. She said the neighbors heard her scream, they were the ones who called the ambulance.

We had to move her out of the house. It was too much for her. Claire Michael and I cleaned out the house. That’s when I found Rachel, covered in dust, in the attic. I took her home with me.

………………………………………………………………………………………

Losing Dad changed everything. I couldn’t wait any longer. Eric and I started trying to have kids but we were already in our 40’s when we weren’t succeeding we went to the fertility clinic.

We were told the risks, probabilities, and process for IVF. “Whatever it takes, Doctor Maxwell! I’m just so excited to finally start our family.”

“What about Conner?” Eric accusatively teased.

“You know what I mean.” I responded with an eye roll.

Doctor Maxwell looked on with care in her eyes but also trying to get us back on track. “This will be difficult ma’am at your age miscarriage is typically a part of the process for women your age.”

“Yes I understand.” I thought because I read the words I knew what they meant. Like it was just another test in college, or writing out another piece of policy. I lost the first one early in the process, around week 6. There’s no way a pamphlet could prepare a person for that amount of grief. We had been so excited when we found I was pregnant and then to have the baby taken away so quickly, it felt like the Universe was playing a cruel trick.

“We could get a donor egg sweetheart.” Eric was trying to be supportive.

“Why, because I’m broken!” I accused him.

It was the last time he ever mentioned it.

………………………………………………………………………………………

Jonathan showed up to Michael’s funeral. It was the first time any of us had seen him since before the divorce. He gave Mom the biggest hug. “My condolences Mom.”

Eric shifted uncomfortably next to me. Claire hadn’t shown up. She said “it was too late anyway.” But she released a new product line where 10 percent of the proceeds went to addiction treatment and recovery. She was hailed online for being so compassionate and understanding.

Mom never looked so little. Her shoulder blades looked like angel wings sticking out of her back, you couldn’t see her head it hung so low. “My baby boy… my baby boy is gone.” It’s all she could say.

She wasn’t snorting, or smiling, she was stuck in a loop of grief she couldn’t process. Aunt Sally sat next to her; she must have been close to 90. A few of my cousins were there, a couple people from Michael’s working days, an old man who had tried to sponsor Michael. He gave the eulogy for who knows what reason.

He just got on his soapbox about how the disease of alcoholism is a killer, that Michael’s only shot was getting honest and turning to God. No one had the power or strength to tell the man this wasn’t his personal AA meeting. None of the counselors or therapists ever said Michael needed God. But then again none of them showed up to Michael’s funeral.

I don’t know why we had an open casket. Mom saw Michael lying there and completely lost it. “MY BABY BOOOOOOY!” She shook her head, like one of those Jewish men with the hats praying in New York City. Eric escorted me out as Mom collapsed on the floor. I could hear her wailing as my vision blurred from the tears. I saw her tearing at her chest and clothes. A couple of my cousins went to pick her up. Aunt Sally murmured to herself “Oh honey, please stop, oh dear.”

“Eric, stop! I need to help my mom.”

“No. You need to protect yourself and the baby.” It was the first time Eric ever stopped me from going to my mom.

“Michael is dead! And my mom is falling apart. I’m fine so the baby will be fine. Let me go!” I ripped his hand off of my arm. He shrugged his shoulders in disbelief. “Someone please close the casket,” I pleaded.

“NO NO NO!” My mom screamed, “Michael’s sleeping, don't trap my baby in there! He’s afraid of the dark. No, no, no.” I went to hug my mom when I locked eyes with the old man from AA. His stare was steel and he just shook his head.

He spoke so loud his voice reverberated through the funeral chapel “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change.” Mom froze, except for her sniffles and hyperventilated breathing. He shouted again. “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change. God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change. God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change.” He repeated it over and over again until we were all saying it.

Eric and my male cousins closed up the casket and carried it to the cremation furnace. My eyes closed, like she was avoiding looking at a monster, repeated “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change.” As the men walked out with Michael’s body.

I approached Mom and Aunt Sally with water bottles for them. Mom was starting to stabilize. “Look at my Anna Banana, she’s glowing, huh Sal?” I placed my hands on my baby bump and smiled weakly for the first time in a week. “That’s a good girl.” Was all Aunty Sally could say as she looked through me.

………………………………………………………………………………………

Three weeks after Michael died I was rushed to the hospital. I was bleeding. I was in my second trimester. I had to call the ambulance Eric was at work. He rushed over and arrived when the ambulance did.

“We have to get her into surgery and work quickly. She's losing a lot of blood, she’s getting clammy and going in and out of consciousness, do we have your consent to operate?” The surgeon asked Eric.

“What about the baby?”

“We will try our best. We have to act now sir.”

“Yes… okay. Do it! Hurry up!”

It was the worst pain I ever felt, my inside felt like they were on fire. My heart was racing, I thought I would explode. I could hear her crying, inside of my belly, inside of my mind. She was so upset, she was kicking, and screaming I swear… She wasn’t ready for this. “My baby, my baby was all I could say.”

“Anna we need you to count backwards from ten.” said an attendant as she put the aesthetic mask over my mouth.

“My baby, my baby” was the only way I knew how to count. Then everything went black.

………………………………………………………………………………………

I didn’t eat for days when I came home. Work encouraged me to stay home but I told them that would drive me crazier faster. But after I collapsed by lunch they forced me on medical week for a leave.

I couldn’t do anything… eat, sleep, watch TV. Mom came by with cookies and flowers. She tried to empathize, told me how much she understood, talked about Dad, Michael, Claire….

I hadn’t told Claire, I didn’t need her to know I failed in this way too. I finally whispered something to my mom “Please don’t tell Aunt Sally. I don’t want her to stress out, she’s so old.”

“I won’t sweetheart.” Mom zipped up her lips and locked it with a key. She really thought her little mime humor would perk me up. I just pulled the covers over me and flipped my body away.

Mom stayed for dinner, Eric had picked up Chinese food. I looked into the egg drop soup. All the floating particles of the egg infuriated me. I picked up the bowl and flung it across the room, it splattered all over the kitchen cabinets.

Mom screamed as Eric looked at my wide eyed. “You don’t fucking think do you Eric?? You don’t have enough sense to think maybe a woman who just lost her baby doesn’t want to see an egg shredded up in a bowl of boiling water! Seriously, are you retarded!?”

“Anna!” Mom came to Eric's defense. He just dropped his head.

“What Mom!? I can’t have a fight with my husband. Am I not a grown up yet?? God forbid Anna should get angry. God forbid you stupid perfect fucking daughter should loose her cool!” I stood up grabbing the rest of the soup. With all of my force I threw onto the ground. The styrofoam broke apart as the liquid burnt my feet.

“Fuck me!” I jumped up and grabbed a towel. “Thanks Eric! Thanks for taking care of me! I just burnt my feet and all you can do is sit there?!”

Mom stood up suddenly and moved to the couch, where she collapsed with her face down. Eric was still frozen.

I was struggling to stay coherent, as wails, and maniacal laughs broke through my speech. “We can wait! Maaa! I need to use my degree. HA! I need to slave away over a computer screen help people hahaha and I couldn’t even fucking help myself!” My arms were wailing and flaying as I slid on the hardwood floors like Bloody Mary.

The fluorescent lights buzzed. I caught sight of Rachel, she was sitting in the nursery we were preparing.

“I’m so dumb. I’m SO dumb! Why were we even making a nursery?? IVF??? I’m fucking 45! I should have had a kid when Aunt Sally told me too.” The rooba powered up and started sweeping. “No! I live in the future, I need to save the world! I can have kids whenever I want to!”

“Anna please stop!” Mom lifted her head from the couch. There was snot spread all over her, the pillow was a wet sticky mess.

Eric, still looking at the egg still on the ground, whispered, “maybe we can try again.”

“WE?!?!” I was incredulous. As I screamed inches from his ear. He didn’t even flinch. My face sticking out as I held hands in shaking fists by my hips. “Who the fuck is WE Eric?!?!” My face felt like it was on fire. “Did you have your privates prodded like an animal? Did you grow a human being in your body, did you feel her kick your bladder?? I heard her scream Eric! She fucking screamed inside of me when…. When…. When…. AHHHHHHHHH” I fell to my knees as I screamed and pulled my hair. “It wasn’t supposed to be like this! It wasn’t supposed to be like this!” I rocked my body back and forth as I continued to pull.

Mom got up and ran to me. “Anna stop! Honey please! Please stop! Anna! Anna Banana!” Everything was wet with tears, snot, and fucking egg drop soup. Her hands were slipping off of mine.

Eric stood up and walked into the nursery. He grabbed baby doll Rachel. He returned and knelt behind us. He didn’t try to pull us apart, he didn’t say anything, he just put his arms around us and squeezed us together. I loosened the grasp on my hair and we cried as one. All three of us were crying.

Crying, never realizing life could be like this.

Never realizing it could all slip away, like fall leaves falling one by one, with no hope of spring around the corner.

………………………………………………………………………………………

“Clarie, an industry titan, who inspired women around the world was found dead today in her Parisian Luxury hotel suite. She was 79 years old. She had come for the big Paris reveal of her most recent product line. Touching tributes and heart-felt memorials are flooding social media, let’s look at some now:

Claire revolutionized my life, she gave me the courage to go after my dreams!

The realest one to ever do it, the Queen joins the ancestors RIP Claire!

She inspired millions of girls around the world! Showing us we can be whatever we want to be! Truly inspirational Rest in Power Claire!”

There will be a tribute at the scheduled product launch.

Wow, what a powerful woman eh Wendy?

No doubt Thomas. We’ll see what happens to her company after her death. There’s already live social media exchanges of executives, and major shareholders battling over succession with rumours that the company will be carved up.

What goes up must come down eh Wendy?

No doubt Thomas.”

There was a mechanical whir in my room. I turned to my nurse. “You see that Nurse, that’s Claire, that’s my sister who died yesterday.”

“My condolences Ms. Anna.”

“Thank you. We last spoke about three months ago, she was on vacation in Bora Bora. That sounds a lot better than hanging out in this dusty old nursing home listening to an old woman blabber about her life story. Thank you for your time, nurse.”

“Of course Ms. Anna, is there any other way I can help?”

At that moment I saw a little girl walking while holding, I presume her mother’s hand, a balloon saying “Happy Birthday!” I heard her through the wall. “Happy Birthday Grandma!”

“Thank you sweetheart!”

“Poppa’s coming with the cake, look here he is!”

“Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear grandma, mom. Happy birthday to you!” The grandmas and moms overlapped each other.

Claire's face was still on the television screen. I thought about my Mom and her big gummy smile. I said audibly, commenting on their singing “They didn’t say her name.”

“Pardon me Ms. Anna, I did not hear what you said.”

“Oh I didn’t say anything.” I lied.

Everyone was gone, Mom, Dad, Michael, Eric, and now Claire. I turned to the corner of the room where she sat, dusty, paint chipping, a faint smile on her face.

“Rachel….”

“Yes Ms. Anna, would you like to address me as Rachel?” The wheels begin to whir, as her little engine tuned up. “Pardon me Ms. Anna, as this is not an emergency I must recharge my battery. Another nurse unit will be in shortly.

I perked up as the nursing robot rolled out of the room.

Claire’s tribute in Paris began playing on the TV, showing pictures of her and her life’s work as her theme song played on.

“Let us die young or let us live forever

We don't have the power but we never say never

Sitting in a sandpit, life is a short trip

The music's for the sad men

Forever young, I want to be forever young.

Do you really want to live forever?”

Driving around Sacramento, listening to A’s games on the radio, I realized something: no one is ever talking about a crisis in sports journalism?” But I’m constantly hearing about the crisis in our political news, the rise of misinformation, the so-called “post-truth” era, and all the other such nonsense talking points. Stories about who said what dominate headlines, but that’s like only reporting on what Michael Jordan said while trash talking Craig Ehlo… and then never mentioning that MJ scored 69 points and the Bulls won the game. That’s how our political news works: random play highlight reels, trash talking compilations, and maybe a big rivalry game winner once or twice a year. Even worse, they've convinced us that player drafts and trades — elections —- are actually the championship.

So I started asking myself: what are the objective measures for the political world? What are the points, the fouls, the wins, and losses. Baseball is rich in statistics. Just watch Moneyball. Stats determine how teams move and function. Viewers and fans have the same access to all of it. But what do citizens have when it comes to G-Ball stats? A multiple step search process that is long, tedious, and no centralized scoreboard for our own elected officials’ voting histories.

The Sacramento Sentinel is my attempt to learn, report, and talk about the G-Ball stats. My goal is to root all reporting in objective measures and actual “plays.” That led me first to bills and voting records. That’s when I discovered the legislative calendar, and the rhythm of the G-Ball season. In my first few issues I’ve focused on five bills, all introduced by the same representative: Buffy Wicks. She’s a legislative All-Star who also holds a key team position as Chair of the Appropriations Committee. She’s a superstar player and the game is structured so that nearly every major play has to pass through her hands on the way to the goal line. So far, each of the bills we tracked: AB 609, 712, 737, 853, and 1370 are advancing past committee and house floor votes and are making their way toward the Governor’s desk. She’s 5 for 5.

There’s one major difference between professional sports and G-Ball: when we watch baseball, we’re fans, spectators, enjoying others play a game we love. But in G-Ball we’re citizens. We’re actually players. The points and scores directly shape our lives, communities, pocketbooks, and futures. G-Ball isn’t a spectator sport. As bills pass through various subcommittees and floor votes we should be reaching out to our representatives, and making it clear what we want to have happen. But, we’re playing a game we don’t know the rules of. Heck, almost all of us have forgotten we’re actually playing.

This is my personal and public attempt to remember the rules and to report on the season, the all-stars, and the major plays. I’m only one person for now, so I can’t report on the whole game. But I’ll start where I can start. Just like any player, I’ll fumble the ball, miss plays, and just straight up make mistakes. I’m learning how to play a game I was dropped into. Our 2025 season is winding down here in California. In the off-season I’ll be publishing issues that cover the shape of the field, the teams, the players, and of course, the scoreboard.

Stay Sharp

Stay Sovereign

Let the people watch the game!

Godspeed isn’t lightspeed
It doesn't move all at once
It took 14 billion years 
to make you. But you can
bet your little bottom
Godspeed
knew you'd exist the moment
silence bloomed into a big bang.

Godspeed isn't fast
it's geological, glacial,
it's growth and process.
It's grandma sitting on
the porch, looking.
The world passing by.
Hour after hour,
day after day.
Godspeed 
notices the leaves change,
watches the grass grow. 

You were made for greatness.
To make the universe sing
To make the land bend.
You were made to carry others
to give hope to the hopeless,
And courage to the scared

You are made for greatness little one.
Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.
Don’t trade it for riches or fame. 
Your heart is an infinite flame
Burn it long and bright
so the blind may see.

You are blessed by greatness.
God made you who you are.
He sends failed tests & scraped knees.
Dead pets & loneliness.
But none can stop you from going far.

You carry greatness.
I see it in your smile & laughter
Your tears & chatter, wins & struggles,
in your anger, in your kindness.
you are made for greatness
I can see it... it’s who you are

This issue places the bills from our last two editions into a broader context: the replacement of true ownership with conditional access.

What’s at stake is more than housing policy, it's the slow erosion of individual sovereignty over the material world.

We are trading the formation of free citizens for the management of dependent users.

Let the people see the game.

I. The New Housing Regime

Over the course of the last two issues we covered three bills:

AB 736 a proposal to put a 10 billion dollar affordable housing building fund on the ballot for 2026

AB 609 which allows for the bypassing of certain CEQA (environmental) review and carved out the ability for builders to potentially circumvent either city building plans or zoning.

AB 712 which provides strong armed protection to builders and which levies punishments towards cities that reject project proposals that align with state law.

Together, these bills form a new architecture:

🏗️ The money (AB 736)
⚖️ The bypass (AB 609)
🪓 The enforcement (AB 712)

It’s a developer-aligned regime, funded by the public, shielded by state law, and enforced against cities that try to say no.

To understand what is at stake here we need to zero in on what kind of funding AB 736 is interested in securing:

$5 billion → Multifamily Housing Program (low-income rentals)

$1.7 billion → Supportive housing (permanent housing for formerly unhoused)

$1 billion → First-time homebuyer assistance + CalHome

$800 million → Portfolio Reinvestment (rehab of older subsidized housing)

$500 million → Acquisition of market-rate housing to convert to affordable

$400 million → Infill Infrastructure Grants

$350 million → Farmworker Housing

$250 million → Tribal Housing Program

$200 million → Low-Income Weatherization Programming in order to solve the housing crisis

Notice only about 10 percent of the funds, the 1 billion for first time homebuyer assistance + CalHome is dedicated to helping Californians actually purchase housing. The requirements for CalHome also exclude many of the average Californians struggling to purchase homes.

CalHome assistance eligibility is defined as being part of a low income or very low income household. Low income means a household income that is 80% of the area median income and very low income means a household income that is 50% of the area median income. This means that if the area median income is 100,000 a low income is 80,000 and very low income is 50,000 dollars.

The issue with this is that in California the average home cost is 8.4 times greater than the area median income, with some cities and regions with average home costs that are 20 times greater than the area median income. If the median income is $100,000, homes in your area might still cost $840,000 to $2 million.

AB 736 secures money to help some low income Californians to potentially buy homes but it does almost nothing to redress this growing gap between incomes and home prices. The bill does next to nothing for average middle class Californians' pathway to home ownership. CalHome grants are typically only for first time buyers and they usually provide grants from the 40-80,000 dollar range. So if you are making 80,000 a year, and CalHomes provides you 40,000 dollars in assistance but a starter home is still 600,000-850,000 dollars that is less than 10% of the home cost.

II. The Philosophy of Enclosure

This is the inch by inch transition from Citizen owners to dependent subjects, the rise of a new kind of feudalistic serfdom. In 2016 the World Economic Forum published the phrase “You’ll own nothing and you’ll be happy” in relation to the vision of a future “shared economy” model where individuals opt-out of exclusive ownership for greater short-term access to more expensive goods.

So now instead of owning your own home where you have sovereign control over your own property and material possessions instead you may opt into living an apartment complex built out by developers, maybe even “nonprofits,” funded by your own taxes, where you are subject to apartment rules, rent hikes, and inability to repair, modify, nor pour oneself into your home. Now, with the enforcement mechanism of AB 609 and AB 712 life in the future could look like:

You’ll rent from a nonprofit, funded by bonds you approved,

in a project your city couldn’t say no to,

interpreted under rules you didn’t write,

and you’ll be told this is justice.

You are not in control, you do not govern, you do not own, you are not a shaper of your own life, you have no autonomy or agency. You have goods provided to you on loan by your benevolent leader.

Ownership is the material form of sovereignty.

When ownership disappears, so does agency.

The American Revolution was facilitated by landowners who had a stake in their country's future. Banda Singh Bahadur liberated land from zamindars and gave it over to average people. Bahadur essentially enacted the exact opposite logic of communism. Take from the empire and give to individuals.

Ownership is the material form of sovereignty.

When ownership disappears, so does agency.

III. Parallel Sectors: Streaming, Cars, and the End of Ownership

We see this in relation to the entertainment sector notably because of streaming, and with the automotive industry.

Apple regularly deletes or removes films or TV shows from users' purchased libraries. A user may pay to own a film but as soon as Apple’s distributions rights for a certain piece of property expire, so does the piece of media's presence in one’s library. That is not ownership, that is something given on loan with the appearance of ownership. You bought, downloaded it, but it's removed with no warning, refund, and no physical copy to lean on. This is not ownership, it is dependency masked as access, and conditional access is not sovereignty.

Ownership is the material form of sovereignty.

When ownership disappears, so does agency.

The automotive industry likewise is stripping away sovereignty from owners, to the rise of mechanical-computer systems integration which makes it near impossible to work on one’s car at home. Manufacturers are also creating access panels that require special tools (usually only in the possession of dealerships) to open. BMW is also experimenting with subscription models. Their heated seats are only available to “owners” who pay a monthly subscription fee. None of this even acknowledges the reality that many computer heavy cars can be accessed, and controlled remotely by manufacturers. Just like Apple can take your movies away from you, in some vehicles, manufacturers retain the ability to disable features—or the entire car—remotely. That is not ownership, it is conditional access.

IV. Sovereignty, Revolution, and the Way Forward

Now this logic is being applied to home ownership.
Ownership is the material form of sovereignty.

When ownership disappears, so does agency.

Increasingly the State is sending a clear message, we are in charge, we make the rules, you will fall in line, you will comply, you will obey.

This is not the vision the Founding Fathers had for America.

This is not why Guru Gobind Singh taught sparrows to hunt hawks.

Let the people see the game.

Stay Sharp

Stay Sovereign

I met a man from Kalamazoo
who looked a lot like horse leg glue.
He had three nickels balanced on his nose 
he wore holey, dirty ole' clothes. 
He grumbled about the government
how they always spent and never invent. 
Then he turned and pointed at me
said "Boy! You better get outta these streets.
Hard times are a'comin',  blood will spill
the crooks and robbers will get their fill.
They'll play folks like a tuned up fiddle,
all the while laughing, launching their spiddle."

He was a'whoopin' and a'hollerin' and a'jumpin' around
I was hoping to escape into the gatherin' crowd.
But his eyes were locked, dead-on to mine
it's like he had a hold uh my mind.

"Don't run from your fate! Can't you see
you're exactly what this here nation needs.
A good young buck, who loves his home
who don't sell friends for lumps of gold. 
Who wants everybody to just be free
cause they're a lot like you 
and a lot like me." 

The crowd started gettin' stirred up mad 
"How dare you say these dirty things!
Everything here is fine and dandy
look at the young lads gorging on candy,
teenaged girls callin' old men daddy. 
We say, We say, —and We'll say it again. 
This body politic is nice and natty." 


The throng started teeming with strife
a husband began beatin' his wife,
a mother choked her new-born dead 
kids began bitin' like they never been fed. 
The Old man started to cry….

I got picked up by each one of my limbs
and folks kept pullin', members twist and bend. 
Bones rippin’ outta their sockets
That raggdy bastard hometown prophet
Lookin’ on like heart broken kin
“This is what’s birthed  by self-denyin' sin
You ain’t yourself,  live the serpent instead.
Hard times are a’comin my foolish son
Hard times are a’comin you can try an’ run.”

Two housing bills—AB 609 and AB 712—are quietly rewriting the rules of local control in California:

• AB 609 allows developers to bypass environmental review (CEQA) and override city planning rules by choosing whichever interpretation helps their project.

• AB 712 punishes cities that push back—with mandatory fines, attorney’s fees, and a ban on legal protections.

Together, they allow developers to override city rules and sue local governments for saying no—even when the project violates zoning. Meanwhile, AB 736 would hand developers $10 billion in public funds.

This is not just housing policy. It’s the rise of a new regime—fueled by public money, protected by state law, and enforced by the public’s own representatives.

⚖️ Two Bills, One Doctrine: Clear the Path or Pay the Price

In California’s accelerating housing war, the state is no longer just setting goals—it’s deploying weapons. Two bills this session—AB 609 and AB 712, both authored by Assemblymember Buffy Wicks—form a precise legal doctrine:

• AB 609 carves a surgical exemption through the state’s environmental law.

• AB 712 punishes local governments for defying housing mandates.

Together, they restructure the rules of engagement between the State Government, cities, and developers.

🪚 AB 609 — The CEQA Scalpel

Title: CEQA Exemption for Urban Infill Housing
Author: Asm. Buffy Wicks
Status: Amended in Assembly, May 5, 2025

🔍 What It Does:

AB 609 exempts certain housing projects from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), provided they meet specific infill criteria.

“This division does not apply to a housing development project... that meets the following conditions...”
(Section 21080.66(a))

✅ To Qualify, a Project Must:

• Be 20 acres or less

• Be located in an incorporated city or urban area

• Be surrounded on 75% of its perimeter by “urban uses”

• Be consistent with either zoning or the general plan (whichever is more permissive)

• Not demolish historic structures or affect tribal cultural resources
  

🧠 Strategic Clause Explained:

Ordinarily, cities can reject a project that violates either their zoning code or general plan. AB 609 overrides that.

“A project shall be deemed consistent with both [zoning and general plan] if the project is consistent with one.”
(21080.66(a)(4)(B))

This means that:

• If there’s a conflict between the two, the project only needs to match one.

• And even if the city believes it matches neither, it still counts as “consistent” if “any reasonable person” could see it that way.

The result: developers can reinterpret city plans to suit their needs—and courts will back them.

Cities write the rules.

AB 609 lets developers decide what they mean.

🧱 Why This Matters:

In theory, cities must align their zoning codes with their general plans. But in practice, that alignment is slow, and often incomplete. The law uses the phrase “within a reasonable time”—but it’s undefined. Most cities have dozens or even hundreds of parcels with mismatches.

AB 609 weaponizes that gap.
It doesn’t help cities fix it. It empowers developers to exploit it. Routine misalignment becomes a legal loophole—and cities get exposed.

🔧 Definitions:

• Infill Housing: Development on vacant or underused land within existing urban infrastructure.

• Urban Use: Existing or former residential, commercial, public, or transit uses.

🧪 Environmental Checks Still Required:

• A Phase I Environmental Assessment for hazardous substances

• If contamination is found: a Preliminary Endangerment Assessment and full mitigation before occupancy

🪓 AB 712 — The Enforcement Hammer

Title: Housing Law Enforcement Penalties
Author: Asm. Buffy Wicks
Status: Amended in Assembly, May 5, 2025

🔍 What It Does:

AB 712 creates mandatory penalties for local agencies that violate state housing laws. It empowers developers to sue and recover costs when cities obstruct.

"The applicant shall be entitled to reasonable attorney’s fees and costs."
(65914.2(b)(1))

💰 Key Penalties:

• $50,000 minimum fine if the city acted despite written warning from the AG or HCD

• 5x multiplier if the city already violated the same statute earlier in the planning period

"The court shall impose a fine... not less than $50,000 per violation."
(65914.2(b)(2)(A)(i))

🚫 No Indemnity Allowed:

Cities can no longer shield themselves by offloading legal risk to developers.

"A public agency shall not require an applicant... to indemnify, defend, or hold harmless the public agency..."
(65914.2(c)(1))

🧨 The Paradox of Penalty: When Cities Are Liable for What They Don’t Build

Under AB 712, cities aren’t punished for building the wrong thing—they’re punished for not approving what the developer proposes under state housing law. Cities don’t build housing. But they approve, deny, or delay it.

So when a city denies a compliant project, either by delay, disapproval, or imposing illegal conditions, the city becomes the legal violator.

🧱 Example:

A developer applies to build a 5-story apartment.

• The project qualifies.

• The city council rejects it based on height concerns.

Under AB 712:

• The city can be sued by the developer.

• If the developer prevails, the city must pay:

  • Mandatory fines ($50K+ per violation)

  • The developer's legal fees

  • And it can’t pass those costs onto the developer through indemnity

⚠️ Why This Matters:

This flips the structure of housing governance:

• Cities become legally subordinate to developers, not just regulators of them

• Public discretion becomes a liability, not a check

• Local sovereignty is hollowed out through financial risk

And because cities don’t build directly, they face a binary choice:

1. Approve the project as demanded

2. Fight it, lose, and pay.

⚔️ The Coordination Trap: AB 609 Sets the Bait, AB 712 Springs the Trap

When these two bills work together, the legal mechanism becomes dangerous:

• A developer proposes a housing project that doesn’t comply with zoning—but arguably fits the general plan.

• Under AB 609, that’s enough to be deemed consistent.

• If the city disagrees and denies the project, the developer sues under AB 712.

• The city loses: courts side with any “reasonable person” interpretation.

• The city pays fines, legal costs, and still has to approve the project.

AB 609 empowers reinterpretation.
AB 712 enforces submission.

The result? Cities are held liable for other people’s buildings based on their own plans—reinterpreted against them.

🧰 Developer Starter Kit (2025 Edition)

🧱 Step 1: Find a city with inconsistent zoning and general plan

🧱 Step 2: Draft your own interpretation of their rules

🧱 Step 3: Propose a project that benefits from CEQA exemption under AB 609

🧱 Step 4: If the city pushes back—sue under AB 712

🧱 Step 5: Win the lawsuit, get your attorney’s fees paid, and break ground with their money

This is the new model:

Interpret. Sue. Build. Repeat.

🧠 Strategic Reading

AB 609 and AB 712 aren’t isolated reforms. They are part of a legal infrastructure shift:

• CEQA is being selectively neutralized

• Local discretion is being legally disciplined

• Developers are gaining direct legal leverage over cities

These are not policies. They are tools of enforcement and exemption, designed to override resistance and accelerate state-aligned housing development. And with AB 736 likely headed to the ballot next year, builders and contractors will be rolling in the publicly funded dough.

Stay Sharp. Stay Sovereign.

Let the People see the game.

Chop off this head o mine
It never thought no good no-how.
Filled up with fear,
enmity, and lies.
Chop it off and kick it down the road
Like a tin can, like a dodgeball
Just like a low down rollin’ stone.

Chop off this head o mine.
Replace it with somethin’ fine
A lotus head…
full of fragrance
feedin’ bees,
blessed by water
detached and free.

Use me as your tetherball
Whack me ‘round that shine’in pole
Make your play 
My delight.
Hit me straight —   
Snap that string — 
Send me out 
Past Saturn’s rings.

Catch my head among the stars
Draw me down into Your lap.
Please won’t you brush my hair?

Hold onto this head o’ mine
Place it close,
cheek to cheek.
Baby spoon me in infinity’s sleep.

Chop off this head O mine
And teach me to play this Game of Love.

📡 Sacramento Sentinel — Issue 3

AB 736 — $10 Billion for Housing: Will It Reach the Middle?

California lawmakers are sending a big number to the ballot box.

AB 736—The Affordable Housing Bond Act of 2026—proposes a $10 billion general obligation bond, to be approved by voters in June 2026. It would fund a range of housing programs: rental subsidies, supportive housing, tribal and farmworker housing, and limited first-time homebuyer aid.

On the surface, this looks like a major investment in affordability.

But when you dig deeper, the question becomes:
Does this bill actually help the average Californian? Or just reinforce the two-tiered housing system already in place?

🏠 The Real Housing Crisis

The dominant narrative in Sacramento focuses on homelessness and “deep affordability”—important issues, no doubt. But there’s another crisis quietly hollowing out California’s future:

• Middle-class families are increasingly priced out of homeownership.

• Rents consume 40–60% of income, even for full-time workers.

• “Starter homes” are disappearing, replaced by luxury units or dense rental-only apartments.

• Working Californians: teachers, nurses, mechanics, small business owners are locked in permanent rental limbo with no path to ownership.

AB 736 does little to address this disappearing middle. That’s the real strategic oversight.

📊 Where the $10 Billion Goes

Breakdown of allocations in AB 736:

$5 billion → Multifamily Housing Program (low-income rentals)
$1.7 billion → Supportive housing (permanent housing for formerly unhoused)
$1 billion → First-time homebuyer assistance + CalHome
$800 million → Portfolio Reinvestment (rehab of older subsidized housing)
$500 million → Acquisition of market-rate housing to convert to affordable
$400 million → Infill Infrastructure Grants
$350 million → Farmworker Housing
$250 million → Tribal Housing Program
$200 million → Low-Income Weatherization Program

While these are legitimate needs, only 10% of the total ($1B) goes toward helping Californians buy homes.

And even that help is structured through programs like CalHome and shared equity models that don’t guarantee broad accessibility or long-term ownership.

📜 How This Gets to the Ballot
General obligation bonds like AB 736 must be approved by voters. Here's how it works:

1. The Legislature drafts and passes the bond bill with a two-thirds majority in both houses.

2. The bill specifies a future election date in this case, June 2, 2026.

3. If the Governor signs the bill, it becomes law pending voter approval.

4. The measure appears on the statewide ballot, where a simple majority of voters must say "yes" for the state to issue the bonds.

5. If passed, the state borrows the money (by selling bonds) and starts funding the programs listed in the bill.

So AB 736 isn’t law yet, it’s a proposed public borrowing plan, and you’ll vote on it directly in 2026.

🔍 The Middle is Still Missing

What’s not funded in AB 736:

• Construction of starter homes

• Development incentives for entry-level ownership units

• Regional strategies for middle class citizens

• Any serious attempt to lower ownership costs for the working class

Instead, AB 736 doubles down on rental-focused, developer-driven models—recycling a housing philosophy that may help some, but leaves most stranded.

It’s a bond to “build more housing” but not the kind that builds California’s future.

🕳️ The Oversight Gap: NDAs and Accountability

Issue 1 of the Sentinel covered AB 1370, the bill to ban NDAs in legislative negotiations. It included a major loophole: the ban doesn’t apply to lobbyists, staffers, or consultants. That matters here.

A $10 billion bond, possibly negotiated largely behind closed doors, now moves toward the ballot without full public clarity on how funds will be deployed, who will profit, or what deals were cut.

Until transparency is enforced across all players not just elected officials the public has no way to trace whether bond-funded developments serve real needs or private networks.

💭 Civic Takeaway

Californians are being asked to approve the largest housing bond in recent memory.

But before we vote “yes” on $10 billion, we must ask:

🧭 Will this bring back the starter home? Will it help working families build equity? Or will it reinforce a system that treats the middle like they don’t exist?

This isn’t about rejecting public investment.
It’s about demanding it actually serve the public.
The Sentinel will keep watching. Stay tuned. Stay sharp.

🛡️ Let the people see the game. 🛡️

No one understands a man like his car.
She's there with him when silence rides in the passenger seat.
She carried him safe, when he was lost,  
and unsure if he wanted to live.

Only that American Metal Steed
knows how he's cried,
when Skynyrd followed Cash
after his momma died.
Only she knows what driving with the winduh
down, win' blowin' through his beard
means on the inside.

Ain't no one knows a man like his car.
Cause she ain't never once judged him
nor made him feel less than for the bad roads he's run.
the risks he took, the laws he broke.
She never needed him to be anything more'n he is.

Tamin' her is what made him a man
And when her engine finally gives out, 
He don't say much. Just knows—
metal, computers, and motor oil have Soul
And you can't tell him any different.
Cause when the black smoke rises...
a tear is sure to fall.

This is Issue 2 of the Sacramento Sentinel—a civic intelligence system tracking California legislation. To receive future issues, subscribe below.

📡 Sacramento Sentinel – Issue 2
AB 853 – The AI Transparency Act: Who Gets to Prove They're Real?

California’s newest AI regulation isn’t just about labeling deepfakes. It’s about redefining what counts as “real” in the digital age—and who gets to say so.

AB 853, authored by Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, is framed as a public safety bill. But beneath the surface, it quietly builds a provenance-first compliance regime that could tilt the entire AI landscape toward the monopolies already in control.

This is the Sacramento Sentinel’s read.

🔍 What the Bill Claims to Do

AB 853—The California AI Transparency Act—requires multiple players in the AI pipeline to embed and preserve “provenance” data: metadata that reveals when, how, and by whom content was generated. It applies to:

• Large platforms (2M+ users): Must retain provenance metadata on all uploads.

• GenAI developers (1M+ users): Must embed system-level provenance signatures.

• Capture device manufacturers: Must offer firmware that embeds secure provenance by default.

• Hosting platforms: Cannot offer models or tools that remove provenance.

It also includes:

• $5,000/day civil penalties for non-compliance

• Enforcement by Attorney General, city attorneys, or county counsel

💬 The Good Faith Case

Supporters of AB 853 argue it’s a necessary step to combat AI-driven deception:

• Deepfakes are getting harder to detect

• Election misinformation is proliferating

• People deserve to know when content is synthetic

In this view, provenance equals trust. By requiring embedded metadata, the state hopes to create a verifiable “paper trail” for digital media. Much like food labels or drug warnings, the idea is that transparency will empower users to make informed decisions.

There’s even an argument that standardizing provenance early could prevent worse federal overreach later—or avoid a fragmented patchwork of laws.

📌 We acknowledge this rationale. The public interest in combating deception is real. But even good intentions can become dangerous when they harden into systems that centralize control.

So we asked: Who does this actually benefit? Who gets left behind?

⚠️ What the Bill Actually Does

The Sentinel’s analysis:

• No scale exemptions for small or open-source projects

• Hardware-secure provenance mandates that require chip-level firmware changes

• Civil penalties that apply even for minor or unintentional lapses

Big Tech already has this infrastructure. Indie developers do not. Open-source tools—often used in civic, journalistic, or educational contexts—would be structurally disqualified from compliance.

Under AB 853:

Metadata becomes a class marker. If your content can’t prove its pedigree, it becomes suspect by default.

That’s not “transparency.” That’s gatekeeping.

⚠️ Why Small Developers and Open Source Could Get Crushed

Burden Barrier

Hardware integration Requires secure firmware, not just code

Metadata security Cryptography, tamper resistance, watermarking

Legal exposure Ambiguous phrases like “extraordinarily difficult to remove” create liability traps

Interoperability Must detect, retain, and surface all existing provenance

🔍 Legal Evidence and Language Citations:

• Section 22757.1(d): Defines "covered provider" as GenAI developers with >1M users.

• Section 22757.3.1(c): Applies to all capture device manufacturers, regardless of user base.

• Section 22757.3.2(a): Prohibits GenAI system hosting unless permanent disclosures are embedded — no user threshold.
  

• Section 22757.3.2(b): Bans any software designed primarily to remove latent disclosures — applies broadly.
  

• Section 22757.4: Flat penalty structure — $5,000 per violation per day — with no exemption for scale.
  

• Section 22757.1(g): Ambiguously defines “publicly accessible within the geographic boundaries of the state,” potentially capturing small open-source demos.

🧠 Strategic Implications

AB 853 quietly inaugurates a new principle in California law:

🔒 Only content with state-approved provenance is fully legitimate.

This opens the door to:

• Platform throttling or takedowns of “unverified” content

• Future criminalization of anonymous or provenance-free tools

• Monopolistic lock-in of verification infrastructure

And the bill’s vague language—terms like “extraordinarily difficult to remove” or “publicly accessible within the state”—creates liability traps that only the largest legal departments can navigate.

📎 If AB 853 passes, California won’t just regulate AI. It will codify a compliance caste system in digital creation.

📜 The New Stamp Act

In 1765, the British Crown declared that no legal document, newspaper, or pamphlet was valid unless it bore a government-issued stamp.

❝ No stamp, no voice. No seal, no legitimacy. ❞

AB 853 echoes that architecture—only in digital form.

It doesn’t outlaw anonymous or unverified content. It simply makes it untrustworthy by default, ineligible for platform access or legal protection. Just like the Stamp Act, it licenses legitimacy—and those who can’t afford compliance are quietly excluded from public life.

Once again, the question isn’t just who can speak.
It’s who gets to be heard.

🏛️ The Wicks Factor

Buffy Wicks, the bill’s lead author, chairs the Assembly Appropriations Committee—one of the most powerful bodies in the legislature. Every bill with a fiscal impact must pass through her committee. In effect, she controls which ideas get funded and which never leave the gate.

In 2023, Wicks authored AB 886—a bold bill that would have forced tech platforms to pay journalism outlets for their content. Big Tech crushed it through intense lobbying.

Now in 2025, Wicks returns with AB 853. But this time, the bill doesn’t challenge tech—it entrenches their compliance advantage.

What changed?

That’s what we’ll investigate next.

📡 What’s Next

Part 2 of this Sentinel series will feature an interview with an insider at a small AI firm. We’ll ask them directly:

• Is this bill reasonable?

• Would it burden their company?

• Could they comply without major resource strain?

• Does this help democracy—or just filter out the little guy?

And in Part 3, we’ll return to the Wicks pivot. How did the populist fighter of 2023 become the compliance architect of 2025?

🧭 Sentinel Verdict

This is not just about AI. It’s about speech, legitimacy, and who gets to belong in the next era of creation.

AB 853 may claim to fight deception. But it builds a system where truth is only recognized if it wears the right uniform.

The Sentinel stands watch. Stay tuned. Stay sharp.

🛡️

California is governed by a supermajority so large, it can pass nearly anything without resistance. Thousands of bills move through the Capitol every year—quietly, often invisibly. Most never make headlines. Most never get read. Most never get challenged.

The public gets final outcomes.
But the real decisions?
They happen behind closed doors.

That’s why we’re launching The Sacramento Sentinel:
A civic intelligence system to track the power plays no one else is watching.
We don’t chase scandal. We follow the ball.
We see the game—and name it in public.

This isn’t a newsletter.
This is oversight.
And it starts with the bill that tells us just how hidden the system has become.

🧱 ESSENTIAL BILL #1: AB 1370

“Legislative Transparency and NDA Prohibition Act”
Author: Asm. Joe Patterson (R–Rocklin)
Status: Assembly – Appropriations Committee

AB 1370 makes it a crime for California lawmakers to sign or compel non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) related to their official duties—specifically:

• Drafting legislation

• Negotiating the use of public funds

• Participating in state-sponsored policy negotiations

Violations could be charged as misdemeanors or felonies, enforceable by local DAs.

This isn't theoretical. It’s a direct response to two high-profile scandals:

🏗️ Capitol Annex Project

A multi-billion-dollar rebuild of the State Capitol shrouded in NDAs. Legislators, consultants, and insiders were contractually forbidden from speaking publicly about its scope and terms.

California Legislature uses NDA for Capitol Annex Project

🍔 Fast Food Minimum Wage Deal

Wage-setting negotiations between industry and labor groups reportedly required NDAs, shielding the policy process from public view—until the law was signed.

These weren’t edge cases.
They were symptoms of a deeper condition:
The rise of legislative secrecy as standard operating procedure.

California Fast Food NDAs

⚠️ THE LOOPHOLE THAT EXPOSES THE GAME

At first glance, AB 1370 looks like a transparency win.

But there’s a catch—a precise and damning one:

🔒 The bill does NOT apply to staffers, lobbyists, consultants, or contractors.

These are the very people who write, shape, and negotiate legislation day-to-day.
By exempting them, the bill:

• Preserves the core machinery of backroom governance

• Protects lawmakers from scrutiny while scapegoating process leaks

• Creates the appearance of reform without opening the system

In short: It names the problem, then shields it.

But in naming the problem, it does something important:
It confirms the machine exists.
It admits what was long denied.

For example, 2,093 people signed NDAs in connection to the Capitol building renovation project, far more than Assembly Members and Senators.

🧠 WHAT THIS BILL REVEALS

AB 1370 is about more than secrecy.
It reveals the operating logic of California governance:

• Private deals determine public laws

• Voters are offered final bills, but not origin stories

• Legislative theater replaces actual consent

The people are being asked to watch a game where the scoreboard is off and the rules change mid-play.

We’re not here to complain about that.
We’re here to fix it.

📂 Want the full dossier with citations, loophole breakdowns, and legislative tracking?
→ Read the AB 1370 Dossier

🛡️ WHAT THE SENTINEL WILL DO

The Sacramento Sentinel exists to:

• Surface high-impact, low-coverage legislation

• Track long-term “Franchise Conflicts” (Housing, Tech, Labor, Transparency, etc.)

• Give you plain-language dossiers, play-by-play votes, and real-time alerts

• Build tools for a public that wants to see again

We’re not pretending to be neutral.
We’re not here to make you feel informed.
We’re here to restore sight to a blindfolded Republic.

This is your capital. These are your laws.

🔭 COMING NEXT:

• AB 736 – $10 Billion Housing Bond (The Fuel Behind Density Reform)

• AB 853 – AI Transparency or Tech Capture? You Decide.

• Franchise Conflict Maps: Housing 🏘️ | Tech 💻 | Transparency ⚖️
  

  🛡️ Subscribe, share, and stand guard with us. This is oversight. Not commentary. And we’re just getting started.

  
  

Stillness at the water’s edge.
Skipped stones ripple the surface.
Self-centeredness is thinking
you can stop them
with more stones.

Relax,
Accept,
Witness the ripples,
They will stop, the water will still.

In the silent mirror,
Recognize you are the same as the water.

Let this Mind of His also be in you,
O you little Christ, walk across, Son of Man.
Do not listen to your ego-minded-Peter-self-doubt.
You are not different from the water,
You do not need to sink below the depths.

Drowning in the dark, look up at the ripples.

Relax,
Accept,
Witness the ripples,
They will stop, the water will still.

Let yourself become Living Water.
Relinquish your chattering doubting little Peter.
O Mind, You are the Divine Light, Recognize your Root.

I was talking to a true Lion of Judah
"It's about honesty Raj, and I ain't talking
cash register honesty."
"What other kind of honesty is there Marpa San?"
"I'm talking about the honesty that goes deep 
down in your soul. The kid that forces you to
see you ain't nothing but an asshole. The
honesty that whispers 'you're full of shit'
ever time you open your mouth."
"Oh... well I ain't got too much of that."
"Well, then you're dead already....
Time to get to work on that resurrection of yours."

Welcome to the new Refined and Revolutionized substack: Iron & Ink.
This isn’t a poetry blog—it’s a forge. A torch in the age of Post-modern collapse.

The site has been stripped down and rebuilt to reflect what this work truly is:
🔥 Not expression—but refinement.
🔥 Not performance—but spiritual war.
🔥 Not aesthetics—but revivification.

This is the first piece.
Good Friday comes this week.
Let the death of illusion begin.