This is as best I can determine as an outside observer, a clear and comprehensive description and characterization of Pacifica’s financial situation and a probable short term projection as to intent as to next moves, as presented by Grace Aaron of KPFK at the recent public meeting of June 17, 2018.
It is of course representative of her perspective and that of KPFK.
One point I’d like to note is that in the course of this presentation and Q&A Ms Aaron refers to the reason for the reduction of the FJC loan amount from ~$3.7m to ~$3.25m, which hadn’t been at all clear to me previously, and with respect to which I was sharply critical.
I stand corrected.
As for other points, a hasty swarm of notes:
As of Ms Aaron’s statements as of 17 June…
Pension audits are confirmed, as is IRS investigation.
A new pension plan administrator has been hired or is in the process of being hired.
The reason the FJC loan was for a lesser amount than previously thought and hoped had to do with unanticipated complications with respect to the intended use of KPFK’s antenna as partial collateral for the loan, due to the Forest Service, which controls the land on which the tower is situated, refusing necessary authorizations.
A further breakout of that situation and some ensuing relatively minor complications is provided.
The negative, however, is that the difference in what has in fact become available compared to what had been hoped for is that the financial situation is ‘very, very tight’.
The bulk of the pension arrears appear to flow from KPFA and KPFK, but the details are as yet unclear, pending completion of the pension fund audits, which is expected to be a messy and a lengthy process.
The terms of the FJC loan are being made available, but the actual loan document, which is subject to confidentiality restrictions, is and will not be available other than perhaps to the Pacifica National Board in Confidential Session.
‘I think we’re a mess financially’ is Ms Aaron’s overall assessment of the financial situation. The first priority is to put Pacifica’s finances in order, which is of the highest priority of Livingston and Aaron, hence the hiring of a CPA firm to put things in order. ‘The executive director is absolutely focused on this’. Everything has to be rebuilt. That’s the work that has to be done.
The CPA firm, once contracted, which is expected to happen soon, will take over all financial functions of the National Office.
Aaron continues to state that when Pacifica’s financial house is in proper order it should be possible to win back CPB funding.
Some doubt is expressed as to this, the doubt taking the form of an argument that audience declines are part of the reason for the loss of CPB funding.
Aaron’s position appears to disagree with these doubts, and to intend to re-secure CPB support, and then pivot to putting the FJC loan on a longer-term, lower interest, self-amortizing basis.
‘By the next meeting there will be more good news about that.’
As for the indigo pirate’s take: Aaron appears well grounded, determined, and capable. The actions and decisions taken by Livingston and Aaron appear to represent very real progress in an attempt to save a very bad situation reflective of many years of chronic failures, incompetence, infighting, etc.
The question remains as to whether they can pull it off, given the situation, in which with respect to audience and programming they are still far behind the power curve, the tendency of Pacificans to turn upon one another with little need or provocation, and whether or not it will matter to anyone other than present players, if they can.
This isn’t the 1950s or 1960s, which was the heyday of this organization and of these people, and despite the occasional reference toward that fact, I see no real sense that they meaningfully grasp that fact, or the tenor of the times.
I don’t see them seeing the future, I see them seeing a renewed past as their future.
Perhaps I’m wrong.
~ ‘indigopirate’
education at the crossroads talking about child birth . Only took about 12 minutes to
ReplyDeleteturn it into a black and white discussion .
They just cannot help themselves .
Thanks so much for your assessment, indigo, & for your Sunday post on the previous day's LSB upcoast in the Bay area.
ReplyDeleteMy view is somewhat different, & I am in the process of writing it up. I have considered the claims made by KPFA delegates (& to some extent those from KPFK) at last weekend's meetings, judging them against the publicly available record. Dismal reading? Others can draw their own rational conclusions.
Readers may be aware of the public posting of the fiscal 2016 auditor's report (dated 31 May 2018), appearing on Pacifica's website this sunny Californian morning, Thursday, solstice day. I find it remarkable what was left out by Doug Regalia, the auditor, in his two public presentations last week. By contrast, I am not surprised by how selective Pacifica directors were at the three PNB open sessions last week (Monday's Audit Cttee, Tuesday's Finance Cttee, & Thursday's full board) and at the two Californian LSB's on the weekend. Their choices in what to draw attention to in the report, & what to neglect, have served to misrepresent the thrust of the auditor's report & professional opinion, and for that they deserve condemnation.
Posted with the report, linked from the same webpage, is a set of associated completed Federal forms, principally the 990 (Federal tax return) for 2015, signed by Executive Director Tom Livingston (no 'interim' qualifier), with the date left blank. I'm sure some will be interested to learn that He-of-the-Augsburger, in fiscal 2016, received the second highest "reportable compensation from the organization" of $85k, & the highest "estimated amount of other compensation from the organization & related organizations" of $32 127.
http://pacifica.org/finance_reports_2016.php
@ Jara Handala
DeleteWith respect:
I suspect we’re in essential agreement as to their situation and their trustworthiness. Your information as to their situation appears to be significantly more comprehensive – ie, more detailed – than mine.
That said, I have far less confidence in my ability to attempt to assess a number of significant factors that you appear to feel you may accurately judge than I. For example, we’ve had assertions that FJC will not be inclined to rigidly enforce a number of provisions you cite. They have the right, it seems, but whether or not they’ll exercise it is a judgement call, and I have no information sufficient to make it possible to assess that probability.
Livingston and a few others are in a position to attempt to make that assessment. I’m not. Unfortunately, I’m also not in a position to meaningfully assess the judgements of Livingston and those others.
At least not in my judgement.
The first thing any analysis must address is its level of confidence in its information, and the second is a willingness to acknowledge a lack of sufficient information so as to assess or judge probable action or lack of action and its likely consequences.
That’s my perspective, and in this respect we may differ to some degree.
I agree, however, that the picture continues to be dire, which Regalia clearly and sharply reflects, so far as I’ve seen, and I also agree that folks are guilty of positive thinking of the sort that most often spells catastrophic outcomes.
A great deal may depend on who the forthcoming ED may be and their ability or lack thereof, in combination with the ridiculous dynamics of Pacifica itself. With this, I suspect, you might agree.
We have a fuck of a lot of critical variables here. So far as I can see, one can only guess. There isn’t enough actual information to assess the situation meaningfully in my judgement by my criteria.
Let me put it this way. I’d still give odds very much against their surviving in anything resembling the current form. I’d give odds on the other hand, for various forms of dismemberment, signal sales and/or swaps, WBAI in particular, and I’d still give odds for bankruptcy.
These are dysfunctional ideologues, partisan fools, with no real interest in the medium.
WBAI, for example, which is the unit with which I’m most familiar, lacks any appeal other than to the most pitiful partisan – partisans of even minimal competence have an abundance of better options readily available. With its longstanding betrayal of the original broad-based educational principles and mission, what remaining appeal has it, to anyone, really?
A clusterfuck of fools is of limited appeal, as a rule.
A proximate cause of death or something equivalent to death is very difficult to predict with any confidence.
Time, as in the cliché, will one day tell the tale, just as it’s long told the tale of a squalid decline to shameful and ignominious irrelevance.
I place no faith in chances of a miraculous resurrection.
Your take?
~ ‘indigopirate’
Part 1
ReplyDeleteAaron is definitely determined, well grounded or capable... not so much. She's a capable bullshitter but is also delusional and I'm being polite here.
The IRS/Dept. of Labor investigation is very bad. It means that, in addition to the many other things, the loan is definitely out of compliance with the terms of the FJC loan and cannot be compliant by September, as was predicted even before this happened. The loan is in default. The question is: will FJC raise the interest rate to 18% per their default provision?
The audit is up at Pacifica.org and the auditor's estimation is that it will take a year or so to get resolved. It estimates the pensions owed, I believe, is about $750k – with penalties, etc., unknown. This also makes it impossible to re-finance the FJC loan - but don't expect Grace to stop saying that a re-fi is doable.
They just missed the deadline of the end of this month for getting the FY2017 audit to the State of CA - and to qualify for CPB this year. It has not started yet and they will need to ask the CA AG for an extension. Maybe next year! But they will have to complete the FY2017 and FY2018 audits by then.
It’s true KPFK lost CPB funding in either 2012 or 2013 due to low listenership and low donations and it's not going to be eligible now. I don’t know whether WBAI will be eligible with its listenership and donations at about 50% of what it was when it was last eligible but with the smaller signal area due to its new tower location, who knows. The other stations are anyone’s guess. At best, any CPB money would come not before late 2019 or early 2020.
And *if* there’s an election, it’s anyone guess which team of board members will be doing the micromanaging then.
I have my doubts that the $15k per month they have said they will spend for whatever accounting staff they're going to get will be sufficient to accomplish what needs to be done. They also seem to think a CFO is unnecessary, notwithstanding it's required by the bylaws.
I have no confidence that anyone presently in governance or Livingston has any idea of how to manage the finances especially now that Bill Crosier has been sidelined because he refused to go along with the loan.
Part 2
ReplyDeleteLet's remember, the primary reason Grace made for pushing bankruptcy *protection* over the loans was supposedly because of the bk costs, which were estimated at $500k to $1m. The loan interest was about $800k but the Fed just raised its rate so FJC will do so accordingly because the loan rate is an adjustable rate. As said above, it's unclear whether they will jack it up to 18%, making the cost of just the loan probably well over $1m. That does not include all the legal fees, which I expect were pretty hefty, the loan broker’s fees, plus other costs, plus the fees, points and interest Jan Goodman's loan collected for her and her friends. The cost of the loan, by my estimation, is way over $1m – and with no protection as all of Pacifica's assets are in complete jeopardy. The loan is in default, they have no way to pay back any of it besides what’s in the reserve account, which FJC mandated they have, and they are at the complete mercy of FJC.
Plus they’ve added $50k to the NO operating expense since they’re now renting back the space they just sold to pay off ESRT and fund the reserve interest account. (And saying they don’t have to pay any interest for the first 18 months is ridiculous since it’s being held in this reserve account.)
I wonder what’s actually in the loan that is so terrible that it cannot be released to the public. The summary that was released has incorrect information in it. Here is correct information, in part, from the report out on pacifica.org:
June 15, 2018
On June 7, 2018 the Pacifica National Board met in executive session…
The PNB also approved amendments to the loan used to pay off the ESRT judgement that reduce the amount of the loan from $3,700,000 to $3,265,000 and reduce the amount of reserved interest needed for the first 18 months to $379,556…
Respectfully submitted,
Janet Kobren
PNB Secretary
If anyone wants the full summary, ask Chris for my email. It's too long to publish here.
Kim
1 of 6
ReplyDeleteThanks for this, indigipirate, & for both the end of the KPFA audio file & the earlier 'oh, boy' audio loop. I can already see the gif.
Some comments on Saturday's KPFA LSB (times given are from https://kpftx.org/archives/pnb/kpfa/180616/kpfa180616a.mp3; please note that some other timed citations are to the audio, also linked, of the next day's LSB going south, at KPFK).
1) Claims made by KPFA delegates that relate to publicly available documents:
a) FJC loan reduced – according to Pacifica itself, the "PNB also approved amendments to the loan [... to] reduce the amount of the loan from $3,700,000 to $3,265,000", so by $435k (7 June closed session 'report', a statement actually, dated 15 June – http://pacifica.org/documents/pnb_exec_180607.pdf). With Nakapon being sold, presumably collateralised against the FJC & Socal loans, those parts of the principals had to be paid immediately.
Unbelievably, this is the first time the Foundation has said how much it has borrowed from FJC. More than 10 weeks after the event, the information gatekeepers, for whatever reason, chose to use numbers in the PNB 'report'. Otherwise they would have happily continued treating the members, the staff, & the other listeners with the silent contempt they effortlessly exercise day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year.
Which raises the question, how could Pacifica have take out the largest loan by far in its history & yet tell no-one how much it is? Pacifica programmes continually decry corporate & state secrecy, 'the people' being kept in the dark, & yet, & yet the gatekeepers, the guardians, do the very same? There's one word for this: these 'right-on' people are unashamed hypocrites. And what wording was chosen for the public 'report' of the PNB meeting agreeing these c. $4.2m loans? The 'report' reads in full, "[o]n April 5, 2018, the PNB met in executive session to consider proprietary and contractual information requiring confidentiality" (dated 3 May – http://pacifica.org/documents/pnb_exec_180405.pdf). (This statement, 28 days after the event, would be a CPB violation if Pacifica got any money from them: CPB requires a maximum 10-day delay – CPB webpage linked from the Calendar homepage, https://kpftx.org/. The due diligence of a 10-year-old is missing from Pacifica's administration.)
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ReplyDeleteCrucially we should remember that the gatekeepers have yet to say how much the April 2018 ESRT settlement cost: the 6 April Pacifica press release speaks of the October 2017 judgment, "$1.8 million". Why did they do this? Standard PR practice, a typical Trump technique: use a figure, keep using it, & use it again. Divert attention away from the actual cost, almost certainly c. $4m. $1 700 000. $4 000 000. Big difference. Big $$$. $$$ Pacifica doesn't have. Hence the huge loans & the first calving (even carving) of the Pacifica estate, the much-maligned Nakapon (for c. $1.1m, with sale fees of $78k – director Grace Aaron, KPFK LSB, 17 June, 21:29 https://kpftx.org/archives/pnb/kpfk/180617/kpfk180617b.mp3). Although Pacifica has never stated the size of the loan from people described as listeners from Socal, nor indeed its interest rate, it is repeatedly said to be $0.5m. This means Pacifica had tried to borrow c. $4.2m from FJC; instead it got loans of $3.7m & $0.5m; only to end up with the vapourising of Nakapon, a debt of $3.265m, & in the coffers a paltry c. $80k ($1.1m − 500k − 435k − 78k − say $7-8k for the undisclosed Socal fees plus interest). Will the gatekeepers ever admit how much the ESRT settlement cost? Indeed, will the scrutinisers, the PNB directors, ever demand this?
But why did Nakapon have to be sold? Because, with NYC calling, Pacifica didn't have the cash for the c. $340k removal costs from the Empire State, cash because any rational contractor would require payment in advance (Grace's figure, her 20 May report to KPFK LSB, p.4 – http://wbai-nowthen.blogspot.com/2018/05/may-2018-directors-report-to-kpfk-lsb.html). That's how desperate Pacifica's cashflow is: less than $400k, not even $500k, stops it breathing. So they tried to wrap this cost into the FJC loan, to make it $4.2m, but the Forest Service wouldn't give the permissions needed on the KPFK Mount Wilson tower, so that couldn't provide c. $1m collateral (Grace, 19:56). So where to find both c. $340k cash for removals, & the best part of $500k in collateral for FJC? Use Nakapon. It was because Socal had to be paid quickly (the loan actually lasted perhaps 71 days) that Nakapon had to be sold; that also meant FJC also got their share of the proceeds.
It is important to note that no Foundation staff member or director has even intimated that Pacifica's chronic cashflow forced the sale of Nakapon. But that is the only rational conclusion one can draw from the evidence. Pacifica simply didn't have $350k to hand. As cashflow deteriorates, which building will go next? Trick question: presumably they're all collateralised to FJC, so there's minimal net proceeds. Question: how can Pacifica's next $350k demand for payment not end in the bankruptcy court? As a matter of urgency, the PNB directors, the LSB directors, the staff, all other listeners, & the creditors need to be told what has been placed in hock to FJC. But again, will the scrutinisers, the PNB directors, ever demand this?
And speaking of the Foundation, when did the iED, Tom Livingston, become a member of Pacifica? You mean he isn't? Well, is he a member of Pacifica or not? It is only fair that we are told, the members, the staff, the other listeners. Guess a small piece of basic info we will never know.
With the listeners funding everything in the face of the continuing contempt of the gatekeepers, an online dictionary gives an apposite illustrative sentence: "[a]fter calving, some cracks and sores appear in the udder; they get very troublesome."
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ReplyDelete1b) Outsourcing arm of NETA hired to replace the CFO & others (director Carole Travis, KPFA, 1:16:32) – again from that PNB closed session, it "authorized the iED to retain accounting help to address the issues of preparation for the 2017 Audit, pensions, and day to day finance and HR operations to fill in until currently vacant positions in the National Office are filled". When will NETA (National Educational Telecommunications Association) start work? And note, 'filling in': current Pacifica policy is not to permanently use an outsource company. Given this, what is the timeline to fill these vacancies, & what are the job titles? Has the search for candidates started, &, if not, why & when?
And if NETA decide, perish the thought, that PacificaWorld is damaging the mental health of their workers, under the contract how quickly, like Melania, can they flee? Have the Pacifica negotiators successfully made NETA give a minimum of six-months' notice?
Also as the Foundation will presumably be using a non-employee to function as the CFO, will they attend the PNB & its cttees.? Attending as a non-employee, will it mean they will never appear in open session? Is there a constitutional problem here, not least in using a hiring policy that may erect a barrier to transparency, making crucial financial matters even more opaque?
(Also no-one wondered what this Southern company's attitude is towards labour unions.) It's a month-to-month contract (so by both parties?!? left in the lurch at perhaps 7 or 10 days' notice?) Charge is $15k pm ($180k pa), a saving of $10k pm ($120k) for the "CFO & two senior accounting staff" (so their cost $25k pm, $300k pa). Bit of an exaggeration, me thinks: $90k + $70k + $70k = $230k, saving of $50k pa.)
2) Credible claims made by KPFA delegates & Quincy McCoy (General Manager), albeit undocumented:
a) the DOL come knocking: "the Department of Labor is investigating us because of our pension situation. An attorney has been hired to deal with that" (Carole, 1:16:15 & 1:18:25). This was the first public announcement by anyone at Pacifica, employee or official, of a DOL interest in the Foundation. Thank you, Carole. It follows swift on the heels of auditor Doug Regalia effectively telling the Audit Cttee of Monday last week, 11 June, that the IRS is about to investigate Pacifica's pension accounts (timed transcript excerpts, this blog, 13 June – http://wbai-nowthen.blogspot.com/2018/06/someone-get-door.html). That was the first time the Audit Cttee & the Pacifica public had heard of this – & from the lips of an outsider, to boot. But it didn't stop there. The next day's Finance Cttee declared that it too had been completely in the dark: "[n]o one on the NFC knew anything about this" (WBAI treasurer's report to their LSB, 13 June, p.3 – http://wbai-nowthen.blogspot.com/2018/06/june-2018-treasurers-report.html). In open session, inexplicably, no-one expressed outrage, disgust, even surprise. In fact it was passed over so effortlessly that no-one was moved enough to move a motion of protest to the PNB. C'est la vie à Pacifica.
The Pacifica info gatekeepers continue to win, perpetually engaging in info-wars, applying a full-court press, again & again & again, grinding down any voice of dissent. Indefatigable, one could say, to use the memorable word of former British Member of Parliament & WBAI host, George Galloway, when praising that 'laudable anti-imperialist', President Saddam Hussein.
4 of 6
ReplyDeleteUnbelievably, Pacifica has yet to issue a statement concerning the IRS & DOL: the iED, in practice, prefers that rumours circulate amongst staff, members, other listeners, & creditors. This is corrosive. A toxic atmosphere is becoming more poisonous through inaction, through a lack of leadership. It is perverse that a radio network that continually goes on about Gramsci & hegemony can't do it itself. Laugh or cry? I think, like Doug Regalia, best laugh.
To add, well, to subtract, if it turns out that Pacifica hasn't been paying the insurance for the pension scheme(s) then a third agency will come knocking, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation. National Office & the station offices will be getting even cosier.
https://www.dol.gov/agencies/ebsa/about-ebsa/about-us/history-of-ebsa-and-erisa & https://www.pbgc.gov/
2b) proven pension violation may cause FJC loan default (the LSB's adopted motion, 1:25:00).
c) FJC loan has non-disclosure clause (Carole, 1:19:52).
d) Socal loan does not have non-disclosure clause (directors Chris Cory & Carole, 1:28:53).
e) Nakapon sale completed on Friday 15 June (Carole, 1:16:12).
f) the Socal lenders have got their money back (plus interest according to Grace, KPFK audio, 21:46; notably, & remarkably, this is the first time in the public audio record that the Socal loan & interest have appeared in the same sentence).
g) renting now at Nakapon, $ 4 500 pm, $54k pa (Quincy, 21:31). But, as a delegate asked at the next day's KPFK LSB, if NETA are coming in why is office space needed for the National Office's bookkeeping/accounting function? (In that meeting Grace gave what she understands are some terms of the rent contract – 28:50).
h) NETA hired at $15k pm for accounting services (asserted to be a $10k pm saving) – Carole, 1:17:12.
i) FY2016 auditor's report timely filed with the CA Attorney General (Carole, 1:14:26) – but Tom Voorhees, director on the Finance Cttee, said it hadn't happened, & will be filed Tuesday 19 June, the final day (1:11:42).
j) the auditor had reported in closed session three times last week (Audit Cttee, Finance Cttee, & PNB – respectively, posted purpose of that Audit Cttee closed session http://pacifica.org/documents/audit_exec_180611.pdf; Tom Voorhees, 1:10:39; & posted purpose of that PNB closed session http://pacifica.org/documents/pnb_exec_180614.pdf).
k) a FY2017 auditor has yet to be hired, so will miss the August deadline [with the CA Attorney General, jeopardising Pacifica's tax-exempt status; it was originally due 15 February 2018, & has been extended twice to 15 August] (Carole, 1:40:58).
5 of 6
ReplyDeletel) negotiations (presumably re remuneration) had started that week with the Communications Workers of America. The last raise was three years ago (Quincy, 21:31).
m) "there is an auditor working on our pension plan, and has been working since March" (Carole, 1:18:16) – but is this an auditor or someone trying to prepare the records & draft financial statements for the auditor's examination, albeit a famed forensic accountant?
n) nevertheless, there's money available: "there has been some money set aside, and there is some money left over here & there, for various things" (Carole, 1:19:33) – sounds like the opening paragraph of the Foundation's annual report – if they ever provided one for the members, staff, & other listeners. (Why is that basic courtesy never done? Has Pacifica ever done an annual report? Why is it not required by a by-law?)
3) Implausible claims made by KPFA delegates:
a) FJC have never pursued the collateral of any defaulting borrower, so nothing to worry about – FJC are Pacifica's new best friend:
"FJC has not called in default on any loan that they have given, ever [...] At a station in Idaho, that for three years did not pay any, any of the payments on anything, and they did not call them into default. So there may be some technical things in, in the documents that allow for a default, but FJC did not give Pacifica a loan because it was goin' make a lot of money or because it's a fun group to deal with, but because they're in favour of public radio, and they think that Pacifica's a valuable place to have survived, and so it is John Crigler's assessment [...], he has said, that FJC has not once called a loan in on default. So, yes, that may be [indistinct], you know." (Carole, 1:32:46) . . .
It's hard to know where to begin . . . Probably FJC's website, http://fjc.org/. I have quite a few things to say about this prima facie delusion, nay, dangerous nonsense, but it'll have to wait. (We shall also leave to one side the phenomenon of 'the 6 000 lone soldiers' – the very antithesis of Winter Soldier.) However, for our new comfort blanket to be truly true, consider these three conditions: FJC's fiduciary duty towards the funds it manages on behalf of its clients, namely donors to charities; FJC, a broker for donors, not a bank, is in competition with other operators; & who will get what in return for doing Pacifica this neverending favour?
Simple question: who are these rich people who are supposedly going to do Pacifica this massive favour, & why? Why? Why didn't they come forward independently to help Pacifica out? Why make Pacifica go to all this expense, go through all this torment? And for what? It's all show? All fake? Not really a loan? Just kidding? . . . There's nothing to worry about, mommy? . . . you sure, mommy?
. . . there's nothing to worry about . . .
. . . there's nothing to worry about . . .
. . . there's nothing to worry about . . .
. . . omg, is that Alan Watts over there? . . . it is, isn't it? . . . Alan, hello! . . . can you help? . . . Alan? . . .
6 of 6
ReplyDeleteb) pension hole liability, c. $750k (estimate of Sam Agarwal, then Chief Financial Officer), with 'A' & 'K' deficient by $200k each, & the other four units by $50k each, so 200 + 200 + (4 x 50) . . . so $750k (Carole, 1:18:17). Sounds about right. Very PacificaWorld, nay, very PacificaMathematicalWonderland. 50k, 150k, what's the difference, it's all MickeyMouseMoney, the sort that built FJC, right?
Well, in the last week or so, auditors Regalia & Associates had to qualify the fiscal 2016 financial statements because they couldn't agree with Sam's computation of the pension liability figure, his estimate. Qualifying is rare, a lot must be delinquent for it to happen, it is a most serious matter. Here, the basis of Sam's figure was doubted. Regalia deemed it built on sand. Better fold that sheet of paper, make a hat Italian style, & sit in the Cali sun.
It should be mentioned that Kim's comment Wednesday last week, 13 June, with her open letter to "PNB, Tom, et al.", brought this blog to the attention of KPFA LSB delegates: chair Christina Huggins mentioned that Pacifica's draft loss of $0.8m was turned into an audited loss of $2m (1:29:36).
I must end with an observation of concern. In my naivety I found the atmosphere in the KPFA LSB quite shocking. It was nasty. Not menacing, but distinctly uncomfortable. I don't think anyone was prowling with a baseball bat, or anyone having their smartphone smashed while trying to film proceedings, but it seemed something could have happened at any moment. A responsibility lies with the chair, even to eject any attendees. Chair Huggins, did give a warning, but I feel she was not firm enough by far. The political battles have hardly begun. It's going to get a lot more intense, & soon.
“I must end with an observation of concern. In my naivety I found the atmosphere in the KPFA LSB quite shocking. It was nasty. Not menacing, but distinctly uncomfortable. I don't think anyone was prowling with a baseball bat, or anyone having their smartphone smashed while trying to film proceedings, but it seemed something could have happened at any moment.”
ReplyDeleteJara,
If you found the atmosphere at KPFA shocking, you should attend a meeting of WBAI’s LSB. You’ll find folks wielding baseball bats, engineers toting ax handles, priests packing guns, and large aggressive women thugs who kick other attendees as they go to their seats and then accuse their victims of kicking them.
WBAI—Where Brutes Are Incharge
TPM
I guess the first should have been the soundtrack to the second:
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJWJE0x7T4Q
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evkGjq5xvpQ
. . . Luke 6:31 . . .
Reply to Jara:
DeleteD’accord with the soundtrack.
At WBAI, the pertinent quotation from the Gospels is
Luke 19:27 (KJV)
“But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me.”
TPM
Waring ! Warning! Step away from your radio . If you tune into Wbai , it is at your own risk .
ReplyDeleteBetween 3pm up until at least midnight , you will be subject to racist hosts talking about race ,
with racist guests that will agree with every thing that the racist hosts says .
Plus of course, a hefty dose of white bashing .
You've been warned .
Chris, you have turned on everyone. I was the one who reminded you and the other 2 people on the board that there really something to archive and cherish and you were almost kind in response to me. Now a few weeks later you are trying to ridicule me for again showing how desperate you make the erstwhile listeners feel. And your scathing attacks on Bob Fass in his hour of grief and loss...were unconscionable. SHAME ON YOU. Who cares about Bessie Smith if it's coming from you? You have totally discredited yourself and I for one have had effing ENOUGH. OVER AND OUT!!!!
ReplyDeleteI have no idea who you are or what you are referring to. Obviously, you and I have different vaues when it comes to telling it like it was/is re Bob Fass.
DeleteAnd what does Bessie Smith have to do with this?
Care to elucidate?