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Mendocino County Today: Sunday, May 8, 2016

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RIVER MYSTERY

A Reader Writes: "No rainfall showing on any of Anderson Valley’s rain gauges today (at 1pm), yet the Navarro River has risen just under 10% in six hours."

Which seems like a good question for a hydrologist. But until we hear from one, we'll take a crack at it…

Since that little one-inch rainstorm a couple weeks ago, the level of the Navarro River has been in steady decline (from 3.58 down to 2.82 feet). Then, this morning, the level inexplicably rose (2.82 to 2.91, which seems more like a 3% increase, but still…). It doesn't seem like it has rained enough lately to account for this rise, so we're wondering if it might be due to the fact that the mouth of the river recently closed, which is now causing the meager flow of the river to accumulate and thus raise the level a tad.

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MARSHALL NEWMAN WRITES:

I appreciated the offered explanation on the river level, but I am not convinced, for a few reasons.

  1. The USGS flow/level gauge is at a location just west of where north fork and south fork of the Navarro River meet. The location is perhaps half a mile east of Dimmick campground, almost certainly beyond the reach of water backup from a sand-closed river mouth.

http://water.weather.gov/ahps2/hydrograph.php?gage=nvrc1&wfo=eka

  1. While the change in river level was perhaps 3%, the change in Navarro River flow rate by 1pm was nearly 10% (first graph on the web page).

http://waterdata.usgs.gov/usa/nwis/uv?site_no=11468000

  1. Despite only 0.03 inches of additional rain recorded in Boonville since 1pm, the Navarro River continued to rise and flow is now more than 10% higher than it was two days ago, and a few percent higher than when I sent the e-mail. To be fair, other rain gauges between Philo and Navarro recorded significantly more rainfall. I still think the Boonville gauge is often wrong — recording less rain than actually fell.

Now, back to real life!

* * *

And then the Navarro River water level and flow dropped like a rock.

http://waterdata.usgs.gov/usa/nwis/uv?site_no=11468000

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COAST HOSPITAL will delay a parcel tax increase ballot initiative until June of 2017 to avoid appearing on a ballot with a bunch of other tax proposals. Hospital management promises fiscal austerity until then.

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Q&A ON MEASURE U

by Judy Valadao

I received a message from a young Fort Bragg student asking for information about Transitional Housing and why the YES ON MEASURE U didn't want transitional housing. His class is debating this issue. His questions were:

“I am a student at Fort Bragg High School. My team and I are currently researching Measure U and were hoping you could answer a few questions for us. 1. Why are you against having the transitional housing building in our business district? 2. Have you heard local people complaining about the growing population of homeless in their town? 3. Where would you want the transitional housing to move if it was voted out?”

My answer to him:

Thank you for having the insight to ask questions. First of all Transitional Housing is not an issue with Measure U, except that many feel $1.2 million could have been better spent to house many more with more rooms than the five that will be available at the Old Coast Hotel. A motel could have been purchased for $1.2 million that would have housed many more who need a roof over their heads before they can even think of getting on the road to recovery. No one that I know of is trying to move Transitional Housing.

The problem was using $1.2 million for basically office space while people with mental illness and other problems are living on the streets. No one is against Transitional Housing.

Are people complaining about the growing homeless population here in Fort Bragg? Yes, they are. Keep in mind: no one is against helping those who need a "hand up" and are willing to help themselves. The problem is those who want a "hand out" with no intention of helping themselves.

Sadly, that is the majority of the homeless population. These for the most part are not locals but instead are coming from as far away as New York. If you have a scanner you would hear the real truth in listening to the Police dispatch. I was the coordinator for our local Neighborhood Watch groups (I have resigned that position) and was told at a meeting that at least 75% of all calls for service are directly related to the homeless and mentally ill who are living on the streets.

That means the few officers we have on the streets are being used as Social Workers instead of doing the job of fighting crime and keeping neighborhoods safe as they have dedicated their lives and education to do. There are times when our officers are sitting at the hospital for hours at a time after declaring someone 5150 (a danger to themselves or others). If an officer doesn't sit with the 5150 a Doctor or Nurse has to sit with them. It would have been very informational if you could have attended the Mental Health Board meeting and heard our Physician in charge of the Hospital Emergency Room speak.

A local man, Dennis Boardman was murdered in his own home. He had just returned home from the hospital in the Bay Area after having surgery for throat cancer and couldn't even cry out for help as he was being brutally beat and his throat slit. A homeless man from Santa Barbara has been arrested and charged with the murder. This was in the City limits.

A young woman who lives two miles north of town was in her upstairs bedroom when a person entered her home. When he went upstairs into her bedroom he was armed with a knife in each hand. She was stabbed multiple times while fighting him off and escaped to a neighbor’s house. A homeless man on the run from the law in Montana was arrested for the attack.

A young (under 18 years of age) mentally challenged girl was brutally raped by a homeless man who was arrested for the assault and served four months in jail. He is now back out on the streets. By the way four other rapes were reported during this time frame.

A 90 year old woman (who lives in the City limits) was confronted by a homeless woman and felt bad for her because the Hospitality House wouldn't let her spend the night. The 90 year old woman offered to let the homeless woman stay the night on her property. When the homeless woman was asked to leave the following day she refused to go and instead abused the 90 year old woman until neighbors became concerned and called law enforcement. The woman is in jail awaiting trial.

A young woman's body was found by the haul road behind Beachcomber Motel. Her death was ruled "suspicious." No arrest made to this date.

A homeless man from Eureka went into several businesses in Fort Bragg and threatened to kill clerks, other employees and customers. Many calls were made on this guy. He wasn't arrested until he stole a car. He was in jail two days then came right back to Fort Bragg. A few days later he was arrested again, making threats and refusing to leave a business. By the way my reason for resigning my position as Neighborhood Watch Coordinator is because this guy threatened me with a hammer as I was going into Purity Market. Law Enforcement was called and he was simply told to "move along."

When I speak to Neighborhood Watch groups the biggest most important thing I tell them is not to take matters into their own hands but call law enforcement. Always make that call. Well, I made that call because of being threatened and nothing was done. The Officers did say he was a "full blown nut" and told me I should have kicked his ass. How's that for help? The man returned to Purity the following day and threatened to kill one of clerks. Purity has given up and for the most part don't even call or make reports any longer.

A group of six homeless were harassing a woman trying to return a video at the video store across the street from the Post Office. When the Officers arrived and ran them through the system: one was from Pennsylvania, one from Massachusetts, one from Delaware and they didn't report the resident state of the others. They were told to move along. By the way, one had a warrant from another state but the other state wouldn't extradite. This kind of thing is a daily occurrence, it is not an isolated incident. So in answer to your question: Yes, people are complaining.

Where would you want the Transitional Housing to move if it was voted out? It isn't being voted on; Transitional Housing isn't the issue. It has to do with zoning change and the Central Business District which takes in four blocks of the Downtown. In fact the YES ON MEASURE U people wanted and still want housing for those willing to help themselves with a "hand up." NO Social Service organization in place before January 2015 would be affected. The No on Measure U people are using scare tactics on the very people we are trying to protect. Art Explorers and Parents and Friends seem to be their target. That is my opinion. Any of the Social Service organizations can move or expand any place in 95% of the town. It is only 4 blocks affected by the new zoning if passed.

I think the big question that you didn't ask is: why is this City divided over this issue? I would suggest that you go to the City's web page and read the minutes starting with January 2015. You will see that 1600 signatures were given to the City asking not to use the Old Coast Hotel for a homeless day shelter, mental health facility, but instead locate where there would be privacy for those most vulnerable. They would not listen.

What is sad about this is: It's not about the City or Hospitality Center helping anyone. It's about money in the form of grants of which the City gets 7.5%. Had the City and three council members who voted in favor of the deal listened to 1600 members of this community we wouldn't be where we are today and perhaps we wouldn't have homeless living on the street.

It's strange that you see the very same handful of people who are opposed to Measure U on the street picketing and yelling because the School Board and Superintendent didn't/won't listen to them, but they think it's fine that the City and Council didn't listen to 1600 people.

I hope this helps and I hope you take the time to check out the council minutes on this subject. I appreciate you taking the time to educate yourself and not let yourself be educated by either side of an issue such as this. The No on Measure U advocates say they are educating people. I certainly hope that isn't true. We are all capable of educating ourselves on issues that are important to us.

Have a bright future,

Judy Valadao, Fort Bragg

YES ON MEASURE U

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“ONE OF THE SADDEST LESSONS OF HISTORY is this: If we’ve been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We’re no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It’s simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves, that we’ve been taken. Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back.”

― Carl Sagan, ‘The Demon-Haunted World’

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FORT BRAGG POLICE say they've already fielded 84 reports of vandalism this year. The reports include graffiti, some of it the work of gangs, while on the upside of news from the jewel of the Mendocino Coast the town has announced they will begin work on the Chestnut Street Project, basically sidewalk widening, in July.

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RCS & CAMILLE SCHRADER: Two decades of helping children in Mendocino County.

http://www.ukiahdailyjournal.com/general-news/20160506/rcs-two-decades-of-helping-children-in-mendocino-county

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NANCY

Nancy

Nancy is your typical happy, playful puppy. She would love a home with a canine friend and would do great with children to play with. At 6 months old she will need a family who has a lot of time to spend with her on training and ongoing socializing. Nancy is a lot of fun, and she obviously loves her tennis ball. Nancy is about 7 months old and 40+ pound, spayed and ready to join your family.

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FORT BRAGG has a new Taco Bell and a couple of tacos away, the new quarters for the Advocate-Beacon…

AdvocateBeaconBell
(Photo by David Gurney)

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YOU MAY HAVE HEARD that someone jumped the White House fence a couple of weeks ago. But I have to give credit to the Secret Service: they found Michelle and brought her back.

— Barack Obama

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DECRIMINALIZATION of marijuana will be on the November ballot as the Adult Use of Marijuana Act. If the Act becomes law it will be legal for adults, arbitrarily defined as persons 21 or over, to possess, and/or sell and transport less than an ounce of pot.

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Fort Bragg Garden (photo by Susie de Castro)
Fort Bragg Garden (photo by Susie de Castro)

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WOOD KINDLING. Free to a good home. By the dumptruck load ONLY

Navarro Ridge Rd - And Albion Areas.

We will be having dump truck loads available starting Monday-Wednesday / Thursday. If you live in the Albion area and are interested in a full dump truck load of wood (shakes) please email our office at info@redwoodroofers.com, please provide your name, phone number, address and directions. Please be willing to mark the location and describe this location so that we may come and delver the shakes. We cannot provide any estimates as to delivery. Please email us with any questions. Thank you.

Best,

Dakota Murray, General Manager, Redwood Roofers

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VAXXED AND THE TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL: How Robert De Niro learned the hard way about Andrew Wakefield and the antivaccine movement...

https://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/vaxxed-and-the-tribeca-film-festival-how-robert-de-niro-learned-the-hard-way-about-andrew-wakefield-and-the-antivaccine-movement/#more-41368

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CALIFORNIA IS DOING quite well on water conservation, having cut water use even more so far this year, after a very good rainfall season; more than last year at this time.

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EEL RIVER RECOVERY PROJECT HELPS RELOCATE FROGS FOR BENBOW DAM REMOVAL

On Sunday, May 1, Eel River Recovery Project volunteers assisted Dr. Sara Kupferberg in relocating yellow-legged frog eggs along the South Fork Eel River near the Benbow Dam foundations. The dam abutments are scheduled for removal starting in June 2016 by the North Coast Redwoods District of the California State Parks Department. Sara’s work is to make sure that there are no yellow-legged frog tadpoles when deconstruction begins, due to permit requirements of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

The yellow-legged frog abounds in different parts of the Eel River basin, but is trending down or disappearing in many other parts of California. Dr. Kupferberg monitors yellow-legged frogs all over California and uses the number of egg masses in spring to gauge the health of populations. Depending on local river flow regimes, the frogs begin to spawn as soon as the risk of scouring flow drops. ERRP is interested in yellow-legged frogs as another indicator of aquatic conditions and has interest in expanding studies to a basin-wide scale.

A total of 35 yellow-legged frog egg masses were relocated, with each cluster having about 2000 eggs each; consequently, over 70,000 tadpoles were removed from harms way. Five ERRP volunteers assisted gathering egg masses from near planned activities and taking them downstream by floating them in large plastic tubes or upstream in kayaks. Sites chosen for egg relocation were beyond the range of travel of tadpoles and in areas where there were other yellow-legged frog eggs deposited. Dr. Kupferberg placed the egg masses that were still attached to the rock on which they were laid.

Yellow-legged frogs do not croak, but males make mating sounds to attract females while under water. The male has strong forearms and adhesive thumbs and rides on the back of the female downstream to an appropriate site for depositing eggs. Shallow edge waters with low current are chosen to reduce risk of predation by fish and to allow a high rate of fertilization.

ERRP will once again assist Sara Kupferberg in re-locating yellow-legged frog eggs at Benbow Dam on Sunday, May 15 at 10 AM. People wishing to volunteer or observe can contact Sara at 510-367-4546. Information and a link to a video of May 1 project is also available at www.eelriverrecovery.org and the ERRP Face Book page.

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CATCH OF THE DAY, May 7, 2016

Dawe, France, Granados
Dawe, France, Granados

TIMOTHY DAWE, Mendocino. Drunk in public, probation revocation.

CHRISTOPHER FRANCE, Willits. Probation revocation.

ANTHONY GRANADOS, Ukiah. Failure to appear, probation revocation.

Hembree, Honeck, Iversen
Hembree, Honeck, Iversen

ROQUE HEMBREE*, Oakview (Ventura County)/Ukiah. Pot cultivation, possession of dangerous fireworks without a permit.

MICHAEL HONECK, Jeannette, Pennsylvania/Ukiah. Fugitive from justice.

KURT IVERSEN, Point Arena. Protective order violation.

Lawson, Macias, Montalvo
Lawson, Macias, Montalvo

CHRISTOPHER LAWSON, Brisbane/Ukiah. Fake ID.

RAMIRO MACIAS, Ukiah. Probation violation.

DANIEL MONTALVO, Ukiah. Probation revocation.

Owejan, Pierce, Stolzoff
Owejan, Pierce, Stolzoff

JOSHUA OWEJAN, Arcata/Ukiah. Probation revocation.

LONNIE PIERCE, Fort Bragg. Failure to appear.

SCOTT STOLZOFF, Burglingame. DUI.

Stough, Veals, Whigham
Stough, Veals, Whigham

WALTER STOUGH, Albion. Domestic assault. (Frequent flyer.)

SHERRY VEALS, Clearlake/Ukiah. Misdemeanor hit&run, suspended license.

ZOE WHIGHAM, Albion. DUI.

*backpfeifengesicht

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JEREMIAD ON NEW JERSEY'S WEATHER: Part II

In one of his short stories, which would ultimately be incorporated into *One Hundred Years of Solitude*, Gabriel Garcia Marquez writes of an incessant rain which afflicts the mythical Colombian town of Macondo for several years.

The town is cut off from the rest off the world because the river inundates the rails; the cemetery is flooded and cadavers float down the street; one character finds a cow mired in her backyard. People lose track of time. Another character, upon waking up and observing that it’s still raining, declares: “It’s Tuesday again.”

The inhabitants of the Macondo become lethargic. The border between sleep and wakefulness blurs. People forget the names of common household objects, so they make signs that say, “This is a chair. It is used for sitting.” “This is a bed. It is used for sleeping.”

However, they ultimately forget the meanings of the words and of the letters that form them.

It’s been raining in Roselle for two weeks. Last Saturday we had a few hours of weather that was “partly cloudy”; although it was chilly, I bundled up and did a thirty-mile bike ride on the hybrid. It was the last time I jogged or rode outside.

I nod out on the couch or the rocking chair when I try to read. I don’t have the energy to write or translate. Normally, I’m up and moving around before six: now, I don’t feel like getting out of bed in the morning. My friends complain of the same inertia and apathy

It’s Tuesday again every day.

...

All the lakes and rivers where I once fished are now polluted and “developed”—surrounded by homes, the water poisoned by powerboats. New Jersey is one large toxic dump. What passes for a local newspaper reports that our largest city, Newark, is built upon a veritable underground river of PCBs.

Soon the entire country will be a huge toxic dump. Much of it already is: Newark, Paducah, Hanover, Three Mile Island, mining areas in Appalachia, entire lakes in Nevada. We’ve fucked up most of the rivers and lakes, large stretches of land, and the weather.

I hope California will remain habitable for the lifetime of the AVA community, but have my doubts. Everything is terrible and is only going to get worse.

It had stopped for a while, but now is raining again. I’m going to turn off the computer — maybe forever, disconnect the phones, and take a nap on the couch.

--Louis Bedrock

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THE MANY HAZARDS of walking in downtown rural, underpopulated Boonville: Loose growling dogs (or non-loose dog-terrorists barking at passersby at a fence); heedless bicyclists silently rushing up behind you when you’re trying to avoid stepping on rocks (then waving at you after narrowly missing you as if to thank you for not being run over by them); highly-avoidable person #1; gasoline and diesel exhaust spewers; dead roadkill animals and pets in your path; aimless cellphone addicted tourists; spot rain showers and wind gusts; yapping, snarling effete mutts stabbing their grotesque little heads out of expensive car windows as you walk by not knowing they’re in there; cluttered tourist furniture all over the sidewalk forcing you to walk into traffic; cars that stop for you to cross out of an excess of unwanted courtesy even when you don’t want to cross the street until after they’ve passed; highly avoidable person #2; grotesquely oversized pickup trucks taking up so much space they block the curb; adult men in shorts walking effete little dogs on expensive leashes; speeders; slippery mud where there doesn’t appear to be any mud; glaring high-beams in your face at night; low-hanging branches; sidewalk potholes; drivers who give you the finger for being on the side of the road…

MINOR BUT INSUFFICIENT COMPENSATIONS: luscious, succulent spring flowers along parts of the roadside, a teensy reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, exercise.

(— Mark Scaramella)

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AT MENDOCINO COUNTY NEEDLE EXCHANGE, TRUST IS FORMED

by Christi Warren

A brunette in a red sleeveless shirt and jeans enters the Mendocino County AIDS/Viral Hepatitis Network needle exchange office on a recent sunny afternoon. It’s cozy inside, with two big lace-curtained windows that let in the light. Yellow walls are hung with AIDS, HIV and hepatitis prevention signs. One promotes naloxone, the anti-opiate overdose drug. She reaches into her purse and pulls out two black boxes holding dirty needles. She counts them out, dumping them into a nearly full 8-gallon container next to her. One by one, she pulls more boxes from her purse until there are five in all, holding 107 needles.

They aren’t all her needles. The woman — needle exchanges are anonymous — is here as a secondary exchanger, meaning she’s exchanging needles for others, too. It’s a tool that many understaffed and underfunded needle exchanges rely on.

Cynthia Rattey, 34, a former exchange client who’s been clean for more than a year and now volunteers with the Ukiah exchange, watched the woman from the other side of the desk, ticking off boxes, writing down numbers. “One hundred seven? I’ll give you 110,” Rattey says to the woman. “Need anything else? Alcohol (swabs)?”

“Yes, please,” the woman replies. “A whole bunch.”

Next, she asks for rubber ties, used to make veins bulge. And cotton, used to filter out impurities in the drugs as they’re drawn into the syringe.

“Do you guys need naloxone?” Rattey asks.

“Uh, yeah,” the woman says.

The two joke a little bit during the exchange, and the woman leaves. She’s a regular.

“I know there were at least 30 (needles) for her,” Rattey said later. “And at least 70 would be for the other person. … And I did give her two overdose kits because they’re both homeless. So, that’s how we go through it.”

Rattey, 34, works for the Mendocino exchange now, but before that, she wasn’t much different from the woman.

Her drug of choice was meth. When she moved to California about five years ago, she asked other addicts where they got their needles. The Ukiah needle exchange, they told her.

When she started going to the exchange, she was living in a garage behind a house, both filled with homeless people who were drug-addicted, “a typical shooting gallery,” she said. “It’s where people that use needles can go safely and inject, well, not safely, but can go and inject without getting in trouble.”

While living there, she acted as a secondary exchanger, bringing in other people’s needles as well as her own. It took going to jail, and then prison, to sober up.

After being released, a friend met her when she got off the bus in Ukiah and handed her 2 grams of meth.

“They put it in my hand, and I gave it back to them. I knew at that point that I just didn’t want it in my life anymore,” she said.

That’s when she went back to the Ukiah needle exchange, and Libby Guthrie, its executive director, asked whether she wanted to help out.

“Over the years, one of the most wonderful things that happens is you’ve been seeing (clients) for a while … and then within a few months time, they’re talking to you,” Guthrie said. “And within a few months after that, they say, ‘If I decide to get clean, will you help me?’ So I see the exchange as a mechanism for so, so many important human contacts. I really do.”

(Courtesy, the Santa Rosa Press Democrat)

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THESE TWO COMMENTS represent the gamut of opinion on the subject:

(One) Supplying addicts with the tools to kill themselves is unspeakably horrid.

(Two) How enlightened. Let's see- the evidence is:
 1) Needle exchanges help prevent the spread of HIV, Hepatitis, and other blood borne diseases.
 2) Addicts with access to needle exchanges and/or supervised injection sites are far more likely to enter treatment- and get and stay clean.
 3) The main reason addicts OD is inconsistency of the drug. With prohibition- and the ban on providing lab testing, users have no way of knowing how pure the drug is, nor what it is adulterated with. (And as we have been seing recently - many deaths due to both heroin cut with, and fake opoid pills made with Fentanyl. 
4) We have the drugs- Narcan for one- to reverse OD's and save lives. This should be openly available in all 50 states, and be arried by ALL first responsders.
 5) While CA has one- ALL states need a good samaritan law that protects people from arrest for calling 911 in the event of an overdose.
 6) The Feds need to re-evaluate the schedule I status of Ibogaine- one of the most effective treatments for opoid addiction. Substitution therapy (ie: methadone) is NOT a good solution.

I grew up seeing the ravages of heroin addiction after the Vietnam War. And more recently have had to deal with it in vets of Iraq/Afghanistan. I have also watched too many people get addicted — from friends my age going through surgeries to friends’ kids who raid the prescribed pills and end up hooked.

No— what is "unspeakably horrid" is not doing everything in our power to reduce the harm to people who get in over their heads.

* * *

Duret12

Jay Duret is a San Francisco based writer and illustrator. More of his work can be seen at www.jayduret.com

* * *

THE ELEM COLONY of Pomo Indians (Lake County) have pruned 61 members from their tribal rolls, thus prompting a federal suit by some 30 of the expelled persons alleging arbitrary discrimination. These expulsions are now common among Northcoast tribes, and seem to be more about enlarging shares of casino revenues for the remaining members of the tribe than non-personing non-Indians.

* * *

DEEP ELEM BLUES

If you go down to deep elem put your money in your shoes
The women in deep elem, they give you the deep elem blues
Oh, sweet mama, your daddy's got them deep elem blues

Once I had a girlfriend, she meant the world to me
She went down to deep elem, now, she ain't what she used to be
Once I knew a preacher, preached the bible through and through
He went sown to deep elem, now, his preaching days are through

When you go down to deep elem to have a little fun
Have your ten dollars ready when the police man comes
When you go down to deep elem put your money in your pants
'Cause the women in deep elem, they don't give a man a chance
Oh, sweet mama, your daddy's got them deep elem blues

--Grateful Dead version

* * *

'DILBERT' CREATOR'S 6 REASONS Why Trump Will "Win In A Landslide" In November

by Tyler Durden

Scott Adams, creator of the infamous Dilbert cartoons, believes Donald Trump will win the presidency in a landslide. Trump's "meticulously plotted domination," as Adams explains to The Washington Post, stems from his running on our emotions and sly appeals to our own human irrationality.

As the following six points make clear, Adams views Trump as "a master persuader" who will rhetorically dismantle Clinton’s candidacy next.

Having nothing to lose essentially then increases his chance of winning, because it opens up his field of rhetorical play. “Psychology is the only necessary skill for running for president,” writes Adams, adding: “Trump knows psychology.”

Within that context, here is what Candidate Trump is doing to win campaign hearts and minds, according to Scott Adams:

dba
(“Dilbert.” by Scott Adams / Universal Uclick)
  1. Trump knows people are basically irrational.

“If you see voters as rational you’ll be a terrible politician,” Adams writes on his blog. “People are not wired to be rational. Our brains simply evolved to keep us alive. Brains did not evolve to give us truth. Brains merely give us movies in our minds that keep us sane and motivated. But none of it is rational or true, except maybe sometimes by coincidence.”

  1. Knowing that people are irrational, Trump aims to appeal on an emotional level.

“The evidence is that Trump completely ignores reality and rational thinking in favor of emotional appeal,” Adams writes. “Sure, much of what Trump says makes sense to his supporters, but I assure you that is coincidence. Trump says whatever gets him the result he wants. He understands humans as 90% irrational and acts accordingly.”

Adams adds: “People vote based on emotion. Period.”

dbb

3. By running on emotion, facts don’t matter.

“While his opponents are losing sleep trying to memorize the names of foreign leaders — in case someone asks — Trump knows that is a waste of time…,” Adams writes. “There are plenty of important facts Trump does not know. But the reason he doesn’t know those facts is — in part — because he knows facts don’t matter. They never have and they never will. So he ignores them.

“Right in front of you.”

And stating numbers that might not quite be facts nevertheless can anchor those numbers, and facts, in your mind.

  1. If facts don’t matter, you can’t really be “wrong.”

Trump “doesn’t apologize or correct himself. If you are not trained in persuasion, Trump looks stupid, evil, and maybe crazy,” Adams writes. “If you understand persuasion, Trump is pitch-perfect most of the time. He ignores unnecessary rational thought and objective data and incessantly hammers on what matters (emotions).”

“Did Trump’s involvement in the birther thing confuse you?” Adams goes on to ask. “Were you wondering how Trump could believe Obama was not a citizen? The answer is that Trump never believed anything about Obama’s place of birth. The facts were irrelevant, so he ignored them while finding a place in the hearts of conservatives. For later.

“This is later. He plans ahead.”

dbc

5. With fewer facts in play, it’s easier to bend reality.

Steve Jobs famously aimed to create “reality distortion fields” to meet his needs and achieve his ends. Trump employs similar techniques, and apparently can be similarly thin-skinned when his “reality” is challenged. “The Master Persuader will warp reality until he gets what he wants,” writes Adams, noting that Trump is “halfway done” already.

(Among the persuasive techniques that Trump uses to help bend reality, Adams says, are repetition of phrases; “thinking past the sale” so the initial part of his premise is stated as a given; and knowing the appeal of the simplest answer, which relates to the concept of Occam’s razor.)

dbd

6. To bend reality, Trump is a master of identity politics — and identity is the strongest persuader.

“Do you think it is a coincidence that Trump called Megyn Kelly a bimbo and then she got a non-bimbo haircut that is … well, Trumpian?” Adams writes. “It doesn’t look like a coincidence to this trained persuader.”

One way to achieve this is by deploying “linguistic kill shots” that land true, and alter perception through two ways.

“The best Trump linguistic kill shots,” Adams writes, “have the following qualities: 1. Fresh word that is not generally used in politics; 2. Relates to the physicality of the subject (so you are always reminded).”

Writes Adams: “Identity is always the strongest level of persuasion. The only way to beat it is with dirty tricks or a stronger identity play. … [And] Trump is well on his way to owning the identities of American, Alpha Males, and Women Who Like Alpha Males. Clinton is well on her way to owning the identities of angry women, beta males, immigrants, and disenfranchised minorities.

“If this were poker, which hand looks stronger to you for a national election?”

dbe

(Courtesy, zerohedge.com.)

* * *

Wood
Wood

ASSEMBLYMAN JIM WOOD, the middle of the road extremist from Healdsburg, seems to have been loaded himself when he came up with a silly measure that would enable landlords to exile pot smokers much as they do the Nicotine People. Wood says it would spare families from smelling reefer smoke. Wood's AB 2300 magnanimously excludes pot-infused edibles and oils.

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CLINTON FRAUD

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-05-06/wall-street-analyst-exposes-clinton-foundation-charity-fraud

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POE'S LAW.

"It is impossible to create a parody that thousands of idiots won’t mistake for the real thing."

The recording of last night's (2016-05-06) KNYO and KMEC Memo of the Air: Good Night Radio show is available to download for free via http://MemoOfTheAir.wordpress.com

Also at http://MemoOfTheAir.wordpress.com you'll find wide selection of links to not necessarily radio-useful but nonetheless interesting things to see and do and learn about, such as:

Thrilling rocketry.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDoh8zQDT38

Oh! Oh! Oh!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNKRxsNyOho

'This is not time to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism.'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JACq7Tg-J3M

Homeopathic hospital. "Time of death: 3:34-ish."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMGIbOGu8q0

And an owl in a sink. That is all.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXw4na64VTk

Marco McClean

memo@mcn.org

http://MemoOfTheAir.wordpress.com

34 Comments

  1. BB Grace May 8, 2016

    RE: Q&A ON MEAUSURE U

    Judy, if a FBHS “team” actually wrote this, I would have answered in at least two parts.

    First Part, FBHS “team” leader AKA teacher, or who ever suggested the FBHS “team” is leading, needed to be contacted and asked if the letter was real? If so, I would have asked if reading the ballot measures were part of the instruction, because Judy, I would take= the lesson to task because it’s OBVIOUS it’s not based on reality but using High School kids as political pawns.

    To answer the high school student, which apparently didn’t read the ballot measure, has NO flippin’ idea what is going on, and is repeating propeganda as “questions”.. Judy if this kid/ “team” (instructor) can’t be bothered to read the ballot measure, what makes you think that they’re going to read your book of an answer?

    I’d hold FBHS accountable and that letter as an exhibit of what they’re teaching and if I was a parent, I’d have my child in Mendocino College getting college credits instead of treated like pawns. I always wondered why teachers were paid so poorly, but I guess if a teacher is nothiung but a government mule for propeganda, then they’re being paid way more then they’re worth. No wonder we have drug epidemics if this is what education looks like. SHAMEFUL!

    Poor kids.

    Apparently FBHS is teamed up with Social Services Allience. Kids that wrote that letter apper to be future Hospitality House clients.

    Ummm.

    If I was to answer these questions:

    1. Why are you against having the transitional housing building in our business district?

    Measure U says nothing about transitional housing because transitional housing is not the issue. Please re read the Measure U argument to confirm this.

    2. Have you heard local people complaining about the growing population of homeless in their town?

    Yes. I hear they do drugs and so Hospitality House won’t help them. What do you hear?

    3. Where would you want the transitional housing to move if it was voted out?”

    Transitional housing is not the issue. Where did you get the idea that it is?

    Which would you rather work, Hospitality House or a restaurant where you can earn enough to live on?

    Geesh I hate to see folks used as suckers.

    • Judy Valadao May 8, 2016

      Another person answered their questions as well and sent a copy to the principal. Yes, they have involved the kids in it. When I worked for the District we were not allowed to support/not support any political issue. We had to keep our mouths shut no matter how we felt about the issue.

      • BB Grace May 8, 2016

        What is the lesson plan?

        I look at these questions and I’m VERY CONCERNED, if not outraged to think this is high school level(!?!), which I don’t mistake as a college prep school, but it’s obvious that these students are not being taught civic skills that will ever help them help themselves, their children or communities.

        I can also see how this could have been a great social lesson by inviting Leaque of Women’s voters to host a debate on the issue with students as panel, and then forming teams to debate each other and publish those results to enable High School students to have a respectable voice within the community that doesn’t take sides but learns to respect and appreciate both sides, and make a decision.

        Instead it’s as if Fort Bragg is preparing students to be Hospitality House clients.

  2. Paul McCarthy May 8, 2016

    In regards to the Navarro River – no mystery – the high tide is throwing water over the sandbar and it is accumulating causing the river to rise. Last December, if you remember, CA-128 was actually closed because of this effect (the sandbar was significantly larger in height).

    • Mike Kalantarian May 8, 2016

      “And then the Navarro River water level and flow dropped like a rock.”

      This big drop (3.02 to 2.85 feet) happened between 2 and 4 pm yesterday (Saturday). High tide was at 1pm. I wonder if the river breached then, thus causing the drop.

  3. james marmon May 8, 2016

    RE: Camille Schraeder.

    The woman has some deep seeded emotional issues and should not be praised for the damage she has caused hundreds if not thousands of children in Mendocino and neighboring Lake County. For the County to hand Adult Mental Health Services over to her is a big mistake and we will fight.

    “I’m ambivalent about kids being with their families at all costs,” Schraeder said. “In theory, that’s a beautiful thought…if we do really great, help the whole family, then that’s OK, but if we just say, ‘you are better with your family,’ are they better off?”

    The parents of Mendocino County should be extremely cautious about receiving any services from RQMC. She controls CPS through her old buddies from Trinity Group Home (i.e. Bryan Lowery, Jim Mockel, Deborah Levitt). She will now have even more access to families through the schools with the new operations officer Ann Nogaard who is also on the school board.

    This woman is sick, full of anger and hate against her biological parents and all other biological parents. She is dangerous, the most dangerous type of person you could think of. It has been her passion to destroy “the family.”

    The brainwashing her clinicians and fost/adopt families coupled with the psychotropic medications they are giving children in her care is destroying the future of these young ones.

    On mother’s day today one has to ask, have you ever been a mother Camille? Do you have any idea what a real family is?

    https://www.facebook.com/james.marmon.3

    • james marmon May 8, 2016

      She’s coming after your kids, WAKE THE FUCK UP !!!!!

      • james marmon May 8, 2016

        Any parent who accesses services from RQMC is opening the door wide open to have your kid removed and placed in one of her RCS facilities. Mendocino County Family and Children’s Services and the Dependency Court already discriminates against parents with mental health issues. I worked there for 5 years folks, I know what I am talking about.

        Children who act out at school will also be referred to her agency for an assessment which might lead to you being told you need to drug your child. If you do not CPS will get involved and take your kid, give him/her to Camille and charge you with medical and/or educational neglect. She has contracted her own shrink.

        People, what is about to come down has never happened anywhere else before. No one has thought this whole thing out, it is groupthink at its worse. The impact of her taking over both Adult and Children Mental Health Programs will have on Dependency Court will be devastating for all natural families. Camille Schraeder is a very damaged soul.

        • james marmon May 8, 2016

          Any parent who receives crisis services will be at risk of loosing their child. Parents who suffer PTSD, Depression, or Anxiety will be a target. Schraeder and Lowery believe that it is their duty to find better homes for children. Mendocino County Family and Children Services is no longer a child protection agency, they are a better home finder. Now they will have unrestricted access to all the children of Mendocino County. You goofy fucking people think you can govern yourselves, good luck. Camille will 5150 you, put you on meds and sell your children. Jesus fucking Christ.

          • james marmon May 8, 2016

            Please change sell to sale.

            • james marmon May 8, 2016

              oops sell was right. lol. I’m loosing it.

  4. Bruce McEwen May 8, 2016

    As a veteran of Hospitality House I can tell you it is a program that I am grateful for. But as a transient from another state, I think it’s useful to note that I was the only one at the shelter who had, much less even wanted, a job. And all the others, save one, were locals. One other out-of-state guy was there, and he ended up being hired by Hospitality House, and still works for them. They new better than to hire any of the locals, it seemed.

    Very few street people want a hand up. A hand up to what? Some shit job that pays so little you have to struggle, scrape, worry, and scrounge every waking minute of your life just to pay the exorbitant rent and utilities — with absolutely nothing left over? People are smarter than that. The attitude of everyone I knew at Hospitality House was fatalistic but pragmatic: “If I’m never going to get anywhere in this system of rackets and users, then screw it, let’s go sit under the Noyo bridge, crack open a stovepipe and light a joint!”

    There are no decent jobs in Fort Bragg or anywhere else. They all went to places like Utar Pradesh and Islamabad. And where is this restaurant where you can earn enough to live on, Ms. Grace? Geesh, you couldn’t rent the basement of an outhouse on what they pay a prep cook or dishwasher. And after you work your way up to line cook after three years (waiting for the guy ahead of you to die, because he can’t afford to retire), you’d have to steal food from the restaurant to eat because rent would take all your pay.

    It’s all over, the myth of the “productive member of society” has been blown up, and those who continue to struggle and strive are soon to hit the streets as well. Better to have a facility to handle them, and since they will be downtown anyway — where else can they go? — The cops roust them out of every other place — might as well be the old hotel.

    • BB Grace May 8, 2016

      McEwen: “And where is this restaurant where you can earn enough to live on, Ms. Grace?”

      Rule of thumb, Restaurants that have full bars will have staff that are paid living wages, and earn living wages through tips, and why it’s so important to have these kind of establishments, especially in competition at tourist destinations.

      Restaurants with wine and beer will sustain a few living wage employees as here we have breweries and wineries with restaurants paying wages that afford mortgages, very imporant for a tourist town to have jobs that pay mortgages.

      Restaurants without beer and wine may have living wage jobs, managers, and others during tourist season.

      Why the Old Coast Hotel is important to the Fort Bragg Central Busines District is that a tourist town is only as good as it’s best restaurant in town.

      What’s the name of a good restaurant with fine dining, full bar in Fort Bragg Central Business District? Old Coast stood empty, but stood for HOPE that Fort Bragg would become a destination for people with money to spend (and lend).

      For folks like me who don’t need social services and have volunteered for years at Our lady Good Counsel cooking and serving on Mondays, I’m happy to help the community, but the community needs to understand, that without a destination restaurant, those service organizations are going to fold anyways, especially Trump get elected, because you don’t have any place for people to make big deposits of money. You have folks coming for handouts and taxes for services the tax payer isn’t using, but sustaining a population, that as we are now seeing, resents those who are not part of the system, AKA government plantation, that is far more greedy, NIMBY and self serving than those they are attacking, the very people who pay taxes they depend on.

      “Where else can they go?”

      Well McEwen, how about that nice big building owned by AFFINITO across from 10 Mile Court, close to the Hospital, near the newest Fort Bragg restaurant Taco Bell, and neighbor to the newly relocated Fort Bragg Advocate? It’s a PERFECT location, we all know it, even EWE, Cowboy.

      • Bruce McEwen May 8, 2016

        The Happy Motoring tourist days are over and done w/ but I like your of putting the homeless next to the FBPD & courthouse, where they’ll all be spending most of their time anyway.

        • BB Grace May 8, 2016

          Don’t tell Tesla, or the solar power companies tourist days are over. Tourism beats forced migration.

          Glad you agree with location for social services.

      • Bruce McEwen May 8, 2016

        Waddaya mean, if Trump gets elected? Didn’t you see Ann Coulter on the Bill Maher show yesterday, saying she wasn’t such a bitch as –? Or did you get one of those Barbie in the White House dolls from last night’s SNL, instead?

        • BB Grace May 8, 2016

          Oh my bad Mc Ewen, I meant, “When Trump is selected”.

          I’ve never been tuned into white noise AKA MSM.

  5. Lazarus May 8, 2016

    Interesting…
    As always, Laz

    Willits Daily News
    Willits City Council Agenda May 11 2016
    **VERY IMPORTANT MEETING***
    Mayor Bruce Burton is trying to “swoop up” the former Remco site from the WERT Trust for a mere $250,000…. despite the Skunk Train already entering escrow talks?
    The City of Willits has been meeting in private closed door session for weeks, and is trying to give Mayor Bruce Burton and Developer Ed Mitchell the Contract to buy the Old Remco Building for Pennies on the Dollar, leaving the Skunk Train Owner Robert Pinoli out in the cold, this is AFTER Mayor Bruce Burton sat through all those Closed City Meetings regarding Remco, and gave the $4,000,000 Remco health monitoring money to Margie Handleys “Howard Foundation”, a “non profit” with questionable bookkeeping….. Mayor Burton has publicly stated he wanted to open a Brewery and Bar, of course the Bureau of Alcohol will not grant a license that close to a school, not to mention contaminated gound water and a City Water Shortage… This is corruption: other City Counsel members have been seen at Ed Mitchells Spring Valley Ranch (owner of Sherwood Valley, Bemcore Enterprises, Spring Valley Homes) Although the private gathering was a supposedly a “wedding engagement party” for Mayor Burtons son Ernie, we still have to ask the question: ” What are Willits City Counselors doing meeting in private with the Burton-Mitchell developers and how do these meetings effect past litigation between Bemcore and City of Wilits, as well as plans for the former Remco Building?? We also understand that this could have serious implications for any deal which was already on the table for the Museum and 101 Skunk Train Depot already planned by Robert Pinoli owner of the Skunk Train Mr Pinoli already had plans to purchase the contaminated former Remco Hydraulocs “superfund site”. How many times have the Mayor and other City Counselors met in private with potential developers?? Why was Mayor Burton allowed to sit through private meetings about the Remco site as Mayor giving Developer Ed Mitchell and himself an advantage over other potential buyers?? Nobody knows how many times they met in private out of counsel, but we know of at least one verified time. Decision makers like Willits Mayor Bruce Burton should not be allowed to sit through all the closed door meetings regarding Remco when they have a vested interest in buying the same property at below market price, this is fraud and corruption. PLEASE ATTEND THE MAY 11 WILLITS CITY COUNCIL MEETING AND EXPRESS YOUR OUTRAGE….

  6. Bruce McEwen May 8, 2016

    Re: Trumpslide

    “Feeling like political orphans, are we? It takes getting used to, but bundle up and you find it is not all that cold out here. It is our fate as of this election, in any case. It is important to understand this, and then grasp the responsibilities arising from it, which are far more complex than those associated with voting. Remaining silent in November is the doorway to activity, not passivity.

    “What about Téa Leone for president, on the other hand? Reagan cut the trail for entertainment stars and they named airports and parks after him when he was done. Téa has a lot of experience, given her show consults with State regularly. (Oh, yes. The long arm of official propaganda has many fingers.) And Téa, Madame Secretary, has far better hair than The Great Communicator’s. It deserves a casting credit all its own, in my view.”
    Patrick Smith is Salon’s foreign affairs columnist. A longtime correspondent abroad, chiefly for the International Herald Tribune and The New Yorker, he is also an essayist, critic and editor. His most recent books are “Time No Longer: Americans After the American Century” (Yale, 2013) and Somebody Else’s Century: East and West in a Post-Western World (Pantheon, 2010). Follow him @thefloutist. His web site is patricklawrence.us.

  7. james marmon May 8, 2016

    The Homeless shelters and programs are also very dangerous places for parents with children, now that Camille controls them too. CPS will definitely have to hire more untrained and under-educated social workers just to be able to keep up with the demand. CPS referrals will be flying in.

    • james marmon May 8, 2016

      Once she gets the substance abuse programs, Camille Schraeder will be in charge of all Mendocino County’s citizen behavior. CPS, the medical community, schools, and local law enforcement agencies will enforce her standards, good going Mental-cino. Behave yourselves.

      Are you fucking people dead???? TOO MUCH POWER TO ONE PERSON!!!!!!!!!!! All these programs being turned over to her is crazy. Her only experience is foster care and adoptions.

      She is not going to stop with the maybe 50 mentally ill clients on the streets, she will be coming to your homes. She will be coming after you and your children. The woman is nuts.

      • james marmon May 8, 2016

        She also controls the fucking courts.

        • Bruce McEwen May 8, 2016

          If that’s true, look out for another restraining order, man. Any more than three exclamation marks in a row – and I could be wrong, I’m no lawyer, thank God — can be considered assault with a wet noodle or something like that.

          • james marmon May 8, 2016

            Thanks for the heads up, lol.

            • james marmon May 8, 2016

              I went to CEO Angelo and the Board of Supervisors about 8 years ago with my concerns with this woman, they didn’t want to believe I was from the future I guess. lol.

              • Bruce McEwen May 8, 2016

                You did?

                Wasn’t that kinda of like Harry Potter going to Dolores Umbrage? Have your kids not turned you on, yet to the wisdom of pop art…? Dude, you need to read your MacBeth, Dickens and Poe. Then, I think you’ll be ready for J.K. Rowling — even w/out the D.H. Lawrence syllabus.

                Sure… I can feel your angst, even your rage, but you are crankin’ off rounds from a .22 pistol at an Apache gunship.

                You asked Dolores Umbrage to fire The Cursed Child, the new stage play based on the script by Jack Thorpe? What did you hope, if anything, to accomplish?

                • james marmon May 8, 2016

                  Just her statement I posted this morning is a pretty big gun shell Mr. McEwen. The defense attorney’s are going to have a field day with that one. Why would your future Adult Mental Health Provider make such a statement about being “ambivalent about kids being with their families at all costs.” It wouldn’t be so bad if she didn’t run a foster care and adoption agency, but she does. I would use her statement in every child welfare case RQMC or one of her sub-contractors are involved in.

                  Yeah, if I’m a parent I’m going to open up a let RQMC really know what’s going on with me. RQMC is not a safe place for parents or children. She stepped in her own shit on this.

                  • james marmon May 8, 2016

                    See, what’s happened here, is that no one discussed how all this was going to interface with Dependency Court. Not even you knows what goes on behind those secret doors Mr. McEwen. I sir do.

                  • Bruce McEwen May 8, 2016

                    Yes, yes, you are right. I, as a journalist, am forbidden from even hearing the particulars in family or juvenile court — which is good, because a man should never get between a bear and her/his cubs… But lemme ask ya this: Do you think this violent rant will help your case?

  8. Bruce McEwen May 8, 2016

    I appreciate the Jay Duret cartoons, and feel encouraged O’Neil has reinstated his cartoons in the paper, but to get a really good laugh from a political cartoon these days I have to go to either The Independent in Britain or all the way over to the right and look at the National Review. A pity that any kind of “humor” this side of the far right in America has been reduced to such insipid efforts — in the few places it is tolerated at all — by the humorless, dour old matrons of political correctness, buttoned right up to their collars and scowling down their haughty noses at anything resembling wit.

    • Bruce McEwen May 8, 2016

      Matt Groening is sick, dude. Certifiable. Thanks for reminding me of our top cartoonist. But like Gary Larson showed us w/ Far Side, it gets to be, in America, that there’s only one, the best …and everybody else can pack up their pens & pencils and go find honest work?

      No?

  9. Judy Valadao May 9, 2016

    Mr. McEwen,
    You are right the cops roust them out as seen in Eureka last week. I’ll get an invitation off to those who were rousted right away. They can come and sit in the Hotel.

    Thank you for bringing that to my attention.

  10. david ellison May 11, 2016

    Reg DeNiro and Vaxxed

    Just follow the Pharma big money. But don’t mention the 3.5 billion fund ( from a tax on each vaccine) set aside for vaccine injuries that is adjudicated in a ” vaccine court” not open to the public.
    Congress passed a vaccine non-liability law some time ago. WHY?
    Does anyone really believe that a multi-billion dollar industry will stop at anything to protect their scam?
    Editor: How is it that you hammer on the “helping professionals” that infuse children with mind altering drugs, Prozac, Ritilan and many others, but completely ignore the incredible amount of NON FUNDED vaccine investigations and give big pharma a pass on vaccines?
    FOLLOW THE MONEY Billions and billions
    Drink less of the cool-aid, or at least find a flavor that doesn’t go down so easily.
    By the way DeNiro is still behind the film and will show it at his other film festivals.
    The threats on his and his family’s lives notwithstanding.

  11. Nate Collins May 13, 2016

    I thought Matt Groening was smart until I saw a poster on the wall in an episode that said something like “NPR, balanced reporting, far left and extremely far left.” If that’s what that guy actually thinks well… no need for further comment or viewing.

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