MCT: Thursday, June 6, 2019

• Cooler Temps
• Hendy Info
• High Rollers
• Budget Crunch
• Littletree Hired
• Multiple Gunshots
• Ed Notes
• Release Date
• Girlfriend Dissed
• Tee-Ball Interest
• Youth Football
• Garden Tours
• Bridge Party
• Methodological Barns
• Yesterday's Catch
• Hasty Decisions
• Duck Lockdown
• Royal Magic
• Marshawn Film
• Female Solidarity
• Shit Burner
• Maynard Dixon
• SF Homeless
• Opioids
• Smoking Zones
• Resistance Art
• Library Events
• Drama Queen
• Transformational Work
• Plastic Planet
• Fly Watching
• Magic Band
• Dirty Tricks
• Espionage Act
• Oligarch 3

COOLER TEMPERATURES are expected throughout the region Thursday and Friday, but another warming trend is expected over the weekend through next week. By Sunday, well above normal temperatures are expected in most interior areas, and this will continue through at least mid week. Very little precipitation is expected. (National Weather Service)

HENDY WOODS COMMUNITY NEWS

Visitor Center

The Visitor Center is located in the Wildcat Camp Loop. From May-September it is open most Saturdays and Sundays and other days of the week as volunteers are available. The Visitor Center has natural history displays including skulls and bones of the animals associated with the park.

Some very basic necessities are available along with t-shirts, sweatshirts, mugs, postcards, a variety of other items and ice cream! All proceeds return to the park. The Hendy Woods Community volunteers who staff the Visitor Center will be happy to help you find your way around the park and can suggest activities suitable to your interests both at the park and in Anderson Valley.

Guided Forest Ecology Walks

Join us at 10:30 am every Saturday (June through September) for a free Docent-lead Forest Ecology walk at Hendy Woods State Park. Botanist, Jade Paget Seekins leads the walk on the first Saturday of the month. Meet at the Day Use Area. Learn about redwood forest ecology, plants, animals and much more on this easy walk. Day Use Fee ($8) is waived for those considering volunteering

Camper Information

Starting Jan 1st, 2019 there will be sites in the Azalea loop on reservations year round. Reservations can be made through reservecalifornia.com or by calling 1-800-444-7275. For further information please contact the Sonoma Mendocino District Office at (707) 937-5804 Monday - Friday 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Max. Trailer Lengths

Trailer: 35 Feet

Camper/Motorhome: 35 Feet

DAY TWO of the Board of Supervisors discussion of next year’s County budget included the following ominous remark from County CEO Carmel Angelo as she was explaining why the County needed to implement a hiring freeze for all “non-mission-critical” general fund positions: “I’m concerned that 18 months from now we’re going to tank.” After extensive but unnecessary discussion (the freeze was a fait accompli), with Supervisor John McCowen arguing that they didn’t need a hiring freeze because they were already having trouble filling positions as it is and it would be hard to distinguish “mission critical” from the rest, the Board agreed to the hiring freeze which means nobody gets hired without CEO Angelo’s express written approval.

NOT ONE COUNTY OFFICIAL, Supervisor, CEO or Department Head, however, asked about workload or backlog or what effect the hiring freeze would have on services. Supervisors Ted Williams and Dan Gjerde noted that Mendo has more employees per capita than other rural counties — without wondering why (the board never geets any staffing level reports by department) — although Supervisor Williams seems to think that if the County upgrades its computers it would somehow save lots of work and positions. (Studies have shown that the opposite is true.) Williams said that County staff is stressed because of not enough automation and too many people and too much paperwork. But Williams did note that upgrading the computers to the tune of upwards of $4 million is also necessary to replace obsolete equipment and help respond to emergencies.

THE ONLY MENTION of workload problems came from the SEIU Local 1021 rep Patrick Hickey who talked about work backlog and delays while saying that the staff shortages that were causing the backlogs were the result of low pay. (To Hickey all County problems are based on Mendo’s comparably low pay.)

ON WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON the budget crunch that had been so cheerfully avoided on Tuesday became more apparent as the Board dealt with a list of things they couldn’t afford. Solution: try the hiring freeze, and postpone most of those unaffordable items for three more months when, perhaps, more revenue data will be available.

TO CLOSE THE BUDGET GAP, the Board also decided to cut everybody’s services and supplies budget by 5% and increase the assumed amount they may to get from the Cannabis minimum tax. (They say they’re going to get at least $2.5 million.) This plus the hiring freeze and — presto! — balanced budget! The employees — especially the general fund employees (about half of which are law enforcement) — will just have to accept the “placeholder” amount of $5 million more however that gets spread out after labor negotiations.

IN WHAT TURNED OUT to be the most controversial, if minor, aspect of the budget discussion, Supervisor Dan Gjerde proposed funding Supervisor John McCowen’s pet Climate Action Committee at $7500, not the $110k that Supervisor McCowen so desperately wants. McCowen, who seemed particularly aggrieved at Gjerde’s $7500 proposal, rambled on and on about how important the committee was, claiming that $7500 would be just “throwing money at it” and not provide “adequate” funding and would “hamstring” the committee from their important work in slowing down global climate change. Williams sensibly said the $110k item should be pulled entirely and voted on later when the budget picture was clearer. McCowen immediately insisted that that would delay the important work of the committee. McCowen even bemoaned the Board’s lack of “consensus” — i.e., agreement with him.

IN A DRAMATIC MOMENT toward the end of the day on Wednesday in which there was some expectation that Board Chair Carre Brown would be the swing vote on giving the $110k to McCowen’s committee — McCowen apparently assumed that Supervisor Williams was on board — the final budget vote was 3-2 for the $7500 CAAC version of the budget with Gjerde, Haschak and Williams voting for the $7500 version over the objections of McCowen and Brown.

BUT that’s hardly the end of the story. The eight bargaining units are going to want more than the $5 million placeholder — especially since county officials have already given themselves much bigger raises than the employees are asking for — and the computer upgrade was left seriously underfunded and a bunch of other issues were kicked down the road for three months in hopes that the revenue picture will improve and that the hiring freeze and/or the pot program will produce some freed-up money for the unfunded items. Those three months will also give Supervisor McCowen time to work on Williams to try to bring him back on board Alicia Bales’ $110k Climate Action Express.

(Mark Scaramella)

KZYX HIRES NEW PROGRAM DIRECTOR

Radio station KZYX is proud to announce that Ukiah resident Alicia Bales has been hired as the station’s new Program Director, replacing Alice Woelfle, who left the station last month to begin a news internship at KALW in San Francisco.

Bales, who KZYX listeners may remember as Alicia Littletree, produced the bi-weekly program ‘Truth to Power’ on the station from 1997 through 2004. As a KZYX veteran, Bales is knowledgeable about the station’s diverse audience and well versed in the station’s programming philosophy and mission. She officially stepped into her new job on June 3.

Beginning in October 2017, as the board president of the Mendocino Environmental Center in Ukiah, Bales helped oversee KMEC-LP, the organization’s low power community radio station. She produced a weekly two-hour talk show on KMEC called Edgewise Radio. Bales’ experience there with both with fundraising and with coordinating volunteer programmers will help her substantially in her new role at KZYX. “I see the Program Director position at KZYX as a great opportunity,” Bales says, “to combine my background in teaching, voice coaching, community outreach and radio production to recruit and train new programmers throughout Mendocino County, and, of course, to work with our great cast of current hosts to become the best programmers they can be.”

Bales earned an AA degree in Theatre Arts at Mendocino College and a BA in Theatre from UC Berkeley. She went on to earn an MA in Voice Studies from the University of London. For several years, Bales owned the Alicia Bales Voice and Speech Coaching Studio in San Francisco. She has taught Voice for Actors in the Theatre Department at Mendocino College since 2014. “Above all,” she says, “I want to help KZYX excel in its role as a vital resource for diverse, high quality music and public affairs programming, and as a reliable news source every day, and especially in the crunch of disasters like the catastrophic fires we have experienced these past two years. Emergency information broadcasting is one of the most important services we offer.”

KZYX, the region’s primary NPR affiliate, broadcasts as 90.7 in Anderson Valley and points south, as 91.5 in Ukiah, and as 88.1 in Fort Bragg. The station streams live via its website at www.kzyx.org, and offers a free KZYX app for iPhones. For more information, please contact KZYX General Manager Marty Durlin, at (707) 895-2324.

Jerry Karp, Boonville

HAPPY HOUR

On June 4, 2019 at about 1:53am MCSO Dispatch received multiple calls of gunshots being heard in the 76000 block of Highway 162, Covelo. Deputies arrived on scene and noticed five male adult subjects standing outside of a residence on the front porch. While speaking to the subjects, deputies discovered approximately 50 used bullet casings on the ground. The bullet casings appeared to be associated with two different types of handguns and a rifle. Three of the subjects on the front porch were identified as Juan Montalvo-Lopez, 44, of Covelo, Tadeo Munoz-Aparicio, 32, of Covelo, and Eduardo Gonzalez, 38 of Covelo. Two other subjects were released from the scene. Deputies entered the residence where they located Miguel Moreno, 37, of Covelo.

While inside the residence deputies located a .223 military style pistol grip assault rifle and two handguns. Munoz-Aparicio is on active probation out of Mendocino County, with a term of not to posses a firearm or ammunition. He was arrested for violating his probation terms. He was transported to the Mendocino County Jail where he is being held without bail. Eduardo Gonzalez had an active Felony Mendocino County warrant. He was placed under arrest and transported to the Mendocino County jail where his bail has been set at $50,000. Miguel Moreno and Juan Montalvo-Lopez were arrested for being in possession of an assault rifle. Both subjects were transported to the Mendocino County Jail where bail has been set at $25,000 for each.

ED NOTES

COUPLA INTERESTING REMARKS from Public Defender Jeffrey Aaron, at the County Budget Hearing, Tuesday, June 4, 2019: “In the interest of creating more diversity, we have hired an Hispanic attorney, an Hispanic investigator, a lawyer with Middle Eastern ancestry, a gay lawyer, and three women altogether.”

I THINK that should be re-phrased to read, "In the interest of competence, historically in short supply at the PD's Office, we have hired seven (?) people."

IN ANOTHER more serious remark, Aaron said, “SB 1437 was a mandate effective January 1, 2019. It required resentencing of persons convicted of murder and other offenses based on the actual and probable consequences for aiders and abbeters. In practical terms to us that means that we have 68 people who are potentially eligible. I have written personally to every single one of those persons. When they respond with a petition, I review it, and we file it, and we take the appointments. We currently have eight appointments and the Alternate Defender's Office has three. It is not a simple filing. These cases involve a subsequent hearing and perhaps a hearing in which evidence can be presented. So it's kind of like a mini-murder trial in each of those cases. Those cases are complex. The law is complex. And the record is long. In one of the cases that I am on, the record is 5,000 pages. If I were to read that whole record at 50 pages an hour, which is pretty fast for reading a record, it would take 100 hours, or more than two weeks for that case.”

IF AARON is referring to the Abreu case, the first one to be heard this month, the DA's office is the complicating factor. DA Eyster says the "facts" of the Abreu matter prove premeditated murder, which they don't, but that's Eyster's story and I'm sure he's sticking to it. And the DA claims, if the Abreu facts don't keep the guy in jail forever although his record inside is blameless, and he went inside at age 19, the DA says the just, reasonable resentencing law is un-constitutional. In other words, if the "facts" aren't sufficient grounds for re-sentencing, here comes a cockamamie law school constitutional exercise cooked up by a gang of Orange County Trumpians! Keeping people in prison for murders they neither committed nor participated in is not in the interest of justice.

BTW, I've followed the Abreu case for years. I've got a transcript of his confession plus a box full of related material, probably more stuff than Aaron and Eyster combined. I think Aaron is exaggerating how much time it takes to read the relevant docs, and Eyster is scavenging the docs to re-lynch the guy.

ONE MORE THING: The previous Public Defender was totally unqualified to assume the position, a fact noted at the time of her appointment by her legal colleagues. Her virtue, from the otherwise profligate Supervisors, was her promise and ability to keep costs down, meaning she came in annually under-budget but at the expense of justice for some of her clients, especially Abreu, whose one-day trial was probably the cheapest murder trial since Tombstone Jack was hanged after a half-hour hearing in 19th century Arizona.

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LAWRENCE REICHARD paid the price for writing in opposition to a proposed fish farm in his hometown of Belfast, Maine. The proposed fish farm is a product of Norway, and almost identical to the fish farm the Norwegians hope to install in Humboldt County, which Reichard also wrote a Beware Of article for the AVA called "Humboldt Fish Farm — Raw Deal?" HumCo publications rejected it although it's carefully composed and directly relevant to Humboldt County.

FOR HIS OPPOSITION to the Belfast fish project, Reichard lost his column in the local paper and is also now vilified on the City of Belfast's Facebook page. In other words, for doing what journalists are supposed to do — presenting a fact-based argument against a proposed business that may bring more harm than good to the locals, not to mention what's left of the natural environment, the entire elected apparatus of the State of Maine, from the City of Belfast to the state's Governor to its congressmen and senators, comes down on his head. And now Reichard, who survives by substitute teaching, doesn't get called for that work either!

IS MSP THE ONLY ONE TO NOTICE SOMETHING ‘FISHY’ ABOUT THE COUNTY MEASLES PRESS RELEASE?

Let’s face it - the Mendocino County Health & Human Services Department completely “blew it” when it came to letting the public know about the recent “visitor” to the coast who was infected with measles. Coast social media had been talking about the possibility of someone with measles on the coast Sunday & Monday — but it wasn’t until Tuesday, June 4th that the County weighed in with a public press release.

But look at the date on the press release. It was for IMMEDIATE RELEASE - dated Monday, May 20 - four days BEFORE the person visited the coast on Friday, May 24th!

Huh? Are they psychic?

And if it was written May 20th for ”immediate release,” why did it take 16 days to reach the public here? It would have been known, in two days max, if they delivered it to the coast by horseback from Ukiah.

Did “office politics” over in the Health & Human Services have something to do with the late acknowledgement of a “Typhoid Mary” on the coast?

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JUST IN...

Subject: Reaching Out
From: "Ashley Toxqui" <toxquia@mendocinocounty.org>
Date: Thu, June 6, 2019 8:23 am
To: "editor@www.theava.com" <editor@www.theava.com>

Mr. Anderson,

My name is Ashley Toxqui, I'm the Communications Coordinator for Mendocino County Health & Human Services Agency.

I saw today's MCT, commenting on our Press Release sent out on Tuesday. I appreciate you bringing the date problem to my attention. The issue has been corrected.

Please let me know if I may be of any assistance in connecting you with county employee sources for any of your future pieces. HHSA houses Public Health, Social Services and Behavioral Health and Recovery Services.

Also, please feel free to give my contact information to any and all AVA writers.

Thank you!

OH, KYLE, YOU REALLY DO LOVE ME!

On June 3, 2019, at approx. 12:30 PM, Ukiah Police officers and medical personnel were dispatched to the 200 block of Brush St. regarding an adult male bleeding badly from his neck. Upon arrival, officers contacted the victim. The victim was reported to be in critical condition and was already being tended to by medical personnel. The victim sustained an approximately five-inch long laceration on the right side of his neck, another approximately two-inch laceration to the right side of his head, as well as multiple contusions and abrasions on the victim’s arms and legs.

The victim stated that he had been intentionally struck by a silver Subaru while walking in a driveway of a commercial building at the location. The victim had reportedly attempted to get out of the way of the vehicle but the driver (Kyle Yarnell, 26, of Leggett) intentionally swerved and struck the victim.

When struck by the vehicle, the victim hit the windshield (causing it to cave in) and then his body flipped over the Subaru. Yarnell never stopped or exited the Subaru, instead fled the scene.

While UPD officers were investigating this incident, MCSO received a report of damage to a vehicle in the 300 block of Ford Road. MCSO deputies contacted Yarnell, along with his female companion. UPD officers also responded to Ford Road and it was determined the calls were related.

Officers contacted the involved parties, where it was reported that an initial incident occurred at a laundromat on Ford Road involving Yarnell’s female companion and the victim. It was reported the victim had reportedly made an unwanted sexually suggestive comment to Yarnell’s female companion. The female companion reported the victim’s behavior to Yarnell. Yarnell and his female companion drove around in an attempt to locate the victim. Yarnell located the victim in the 200 block of Brush Street where evidence and statements suggest Yarnell intentionally struck the victim with his vehicle at a high rate of speed.

Yarnell was arrested for assault with a deadly weapon not a gun, and subsequently lodged at the county jail. Yarnell’s bail was set at $30,000. The victim was transported to a hospital, where he’s currently receiving medical care for his injuries. Anyone with additional information regarding this investigation is urged to contact UPD at 463-6262.

Ukiah Police Department Press Release

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ON LINE COMMENT

Wow- only $30,000 bail for attempted murder and hit and run?! That’s disturbingly low! Hey- if you just punched the guy we’d understand, there’d be no assault charge and we’d all congratulate you. But this? Kyle is a coward. A murderous coward. We don’t need him around. I’d rather have a guy who says offensive things than a cowardly murderer in my town.

ANDERSON VALLEY TEE-BALL, ANYONE? For those parents interested in a local introduction for their littles to baseball, how do we feel about the following:

AGES 3 to 4 years

Introduction to the game of baseball for both parent and child. Players will learn the basic skills like throwing, catching, hitting and running. (Parent participation required.)

SEASON: 8-weeks, 1x per week

AGES 4 to 5 years

Non-competitive league focusing on skill-building and developing fundamental knowledge of the game including team play.

SEASON: 12-weeks, 1x per week

If you are interested in participating in an Anderson Valley TBall program or have equipment or skills you'd like to offer, please feel free to comment below, PM or email me (elizabeth.martha.jensen@gmail.com) or call/text (415-713-3833) with the following…

1) your child's age

2) what dates/season and weekly day/time is best for you if we did a 8-12 week program

3) what equipment/resources you may be able to contribute

AV YOUTH FOOTBALL SIGN-UPS: This Friday, June 7, during the Junior High Lunch and after school at High School Practice Field.

VISIT THREE PRIVATE GARDENS in Anderson Valley on June 15 to Benefit the Garden Conservancy Open Days Program

On Saturday, June 15, the public is invited to three private gardens in Boonville and Yorkville, through the Garden Conservancy Open Days program, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Open Day is rain or shine, and no reservations are required. Admission is $10 per garden; children 12 and under are free. Call 1-888-842-2442, or visit www.gardenconservancy.org/open-days for more information.

Visitors may begin the tour at any of the following locations:

Meadow Watch, 13020 Ornbaun Road, Boonville - Fir, pine, and redwood provide an evergreen backdrop to a garden focused on xeriscaping. Densely planted areas include a small vegetable garden with raised beds; a section that attracts butterflies and bees; mixed beds of flowering shrubs, perennials, and bulbs; a small orchard of mixed persimmon, peach, pear, plum, and very old apple trees; a rust collection of assorted wheels; and naturalized Gaura and bearded iris. The back garden parallels the barn, with its newly built bedroom and bath and outdoor shower. The property also contains a number of sculptures by local artist Rebecca Johnson.

Woodshop Grounds, 13750 Highway 128, Boonville - Garden owner Tom McFadden of Mcfadden Furniture Showroom has created garden furniture from reclaimed redwood as well as concrete planters and border walls. Blooms in this organic garden in June include Phlox, Crocosmia, Campanula, Lychnis, Heuchera, and more.

Fish Rock Ranch, 20141 Fish Rock Road, Yorkville - On a Mendocino County hilltop with splendid views, among redwood and Douglas fir forests, the owners developed a blend of shade and sunny gardens. Seven hundred and fifty tons of rock frame hillside walkways through perennial gardens bordered with roses. There are raised beds for vegetables and cutting flowers. Several seating and dining areas take it all in.

All Open Days gardens are featured in the 2019 Open Days Directory; a soft-cover book that includes detailed driving directions and vivid garden descriptions written by their owners, plus a complementary ticket for admission to one private garden. The directory includes garden listings in fourteen states and costs $25.00 including shipping. Visit www.gardenconservancy.org/open-days or call the Garden Conservancy toll-free at 1-888-842-2442 to order with a Visa, MasterCard or American Express, or send a check or money order to: the Garden Conservancy, P.O. Box 608, Garrison, NY 10524. Discount admission tickets are available as well through advanced mail order.

The Garden Conservancy is a national nonprofit dedicated to saving and sharing outstanding American gardens. Since 1995, the Garden Conservancy's award-winning Open Days has welcomed more than one million visitors into thousands of inspired private landscapes - from urban rooftops to organic farms, historic estates to innovative suburban lots - in forty-one states. Digging Deeper - site-specific Open Days special programs - invite participants to take a closer look at the garden world. Hundreds of volunteers help this robust annual program showcase regional horticultural and stylistic expressions in a national context, celebrating the rich diversity of American gardens.

https://www.gardenconservancy.org/open-days/open-days-schedule/mendocino-county-ca-open-day-6-15-19

INVITATION TO ALBION RIVER BRIDGE'S 75TH BIRTHDAY PARTY

Albion River Inn This Sunday

This month marks the 75th anniversary of the Albion River Bridge, safely connecting the world to the Mendocino coast.

This iconic bridge -- listed on both the National Register of Historic Places and the California Register of Historical Resources -- is almost 1,000 feet long, making it possibly the longest timber trestle highway bridge still in use across the country. Although it was completed during World War II, leading engineers specializing in these unique bridges have concluded that the Albion River Bridge is safe, and can remain so for another 75 years with proper repairs and maintenance.

A group of community residents, businesses, and neighbors has organized to preserve this national treasure. The Albion Bridge Stewards’ focus is to encourage Caltrans to carry out regularly scheduled repair and maintenance to keep the Albion River Bridge in safe operating order. Additionally, they are challenging efforts by Caltrans to replace it with a generic concrete structure at great financial cost to California taxpayers, and with major irreversible impacts to the human and natural environments.

For months the Stewards have been urging Caltrans to put back the Albion River Bridge signage at both the north and south entrances to the bridge that they knocked down last year during soil testing for new bridge construction, with no acknowledgment or results. Just recently, however, Caltrans responded to the Stewards’ urging by installing the replacement signs in time for the bridge’s upcoming anniversary. “We’re pleased that Caltrans, an often intractable state agency, responded in time for us to celebrate our beautiful bridge!,” said Bill Heil, the group’s co-chair.

On Sunday, June 9, the Albion Bridge Stewards are hosting a 75th anniversary celebration at the Albion River Inn from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. The public is invited to attend this afternoon for a little history, some music, and lots of celebrating in recognition of the Albion River Bridge’s service -- past and future -- to Mendocino coast residents and visitors.

Contact: Ali Van Zee, yourali747@gmail.com

Albion Bridge Stewards

THE NEW ONE-TON BIG ROCK BARN

Hello friends, seekers of beauty, connoisseurs of fine art, and Valley locals,

My May Open Studio was great success. Gratitude to those who visited, some of you came with the sun others persevered the spring rains and still others may have missed the fun altogether. Rain or shine I encourage and invite you to come another time.

For many years my creative focus has been on barns. Every year there is a new crop and approach, this year are the Methodological barns, using pencil and less color making them spare and Zen. In the sculpture garden the barns are of carved basalt. One Ton Big Rock Barn is my latest meditation and joy.

Again thanks for supporting my art either by newly collecting, adding yet another Rebecca to your home or by mutually sharing creativity and vision.

In June I am on holiday but will reopen in July. If you are in the area come visit. I am open by appointment call: 707 937 3602 or email Rebecca@rebeccajohnsonart.com or if you are on a rural whim visit when the gate is open.

Rebecca Johnson, Navarro

www.rebeccajohnsonart.com

CATCH OF THE DAY, JUNE 5, 2019

ASHLEY AZEVEDO, Ukiah. Obtaining vehicle by theft or extortion, purchase or receipt of same, taking vehicle without owner’s consent.

ANTONE DOWNEY JR., Covelo. Domestic abuse, probation revocation.

SHON FOOTE, Fort Bragg. Failure to appear.

BRADLEY EARLES, Ukiah. “Misc.”

JESUS GARCIA-RUIZ, Redwood Valley. Domestic battery.

MIGUEL MORENO, Covelo. Assault weapon.

TADEO MUNOZ-APARICIO, Covelo. Felon/addict with firearm, probation revocation.

DESIREA RODARTE, Mendocino. Probation revocation.

MONICA SAVIDAN, Ukiah. Controlled substance for sale, probation revocation.

SARAH STASI, Ukiah. Domesti abuse.

CLAUD WALKER, Willits. Parole violation.

KYLE YARNELL, Leggett. Assault with deadly weapon not a gun.

THIS LAND IS MINE

by Marilyn Davin

The California Democratic Party Convention has come and gone, so we can all relax and breathe a sigh of relief that it’s over. Held in San Francisco, in the very beating heart of the world’s tech industry, live-streaming of the speakers crashed, never to return, when the party’s website couldn’t handle the load. So-called “centrist” presidential hopefuls predictably drew a straight-line comparison between the stated policies of true progressives Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren and actual communists like, say, Nikita Kruschev. And party delegates wrapped things up by agreeing to take a united stand on 14 issues out of 200 submitted. Reading through them is a mind-numbing experience, as each is stuffed with caveats, high-level legalese, superficial thought, and redundancy. Most, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, were affirmed without a floor vote and some got the old heave-ho by the Resolutions Committee, including “a half-dozen resolutions that were critical of the Israeli government’s actions in the Palestinian conflict.” This bears note.

If you started school in this country in the 1950’s like I did, you know the drill by heart. Jews had been persecuted since the dawn of time, culminating in the Holocaust of the Second World War. When I was in the choir Exodus was at the top of the songbook list, everyone read the book of the same title by Leon Uris, and we all saw the movie, complete with stirring crescendos behind toiling early kibbutzniks wresting their first crops from the rocky and unforgiving soil. It was how the subject was taught, even at the presumably progressive Bay Area public schools I attended. I never even heard the word “Palestinian” back then; there were Jews and Arabs. We certainly never learned anything about the Arabs’ side of the “exodus” story.

This one-sided mainstream view of history was reinforced when I lived on Kibbutz Yassur east of Haifa in 1970, just three years after the Six-Day War when Israel invaded and occupied East Jerusalem, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and the Golan Heights. It was soon enough after the war that many of the kibbutzniks I worked side-by-side with in the lemon groves, the dining room, and the children’s house bore the blue-black numbers on their inner forearms that the Nazis burned into their skin when they arrived at the camps. It was a very emotional experience at a very emotional time.

Israel itself was born out of that emotion; the earlier, more reasoned international policy promises to balance the interests of both Jews and Arabs were swept away in its tide when President Harry Truman formally recognized the State of Israel the same day that David Ben-Gurion proclaimed its establishment on May 14, 1948.

A this point it must be said that many if not most political decisions made in haste during times of high emotion are fatally flawed – not just the creation and U.S. recognition of the State of Israel but other laws including The Patriot Act (where we threw away our civil liberties with both hands) and the hastily enacted Executive Order 9066, which between 1942 and 1946 paved the way for the shameful interment of Americans of Japanese descent. These decisions were rooted in emotion, not reason, and in the case of the last two, fear. Cool, reasoned policy agreements have longer shelf lives and would have served us better in those hot, emotional times.

I understand why Arabs were kicked to the curb back in 1948 and how it happened the way it did. My dad was a Marines fighter pilot on Okinawa during the war but he had friends in the Army infantry who were some of the first to arrive at Nazi concentration camps in Europe. Their descriptions of the unimaginable suffering of the mostly Jewish prisoners were horrific and nightmare-inducing, not least to themselves. It just seemed to follow in some twist of logic that Jews deserved a land of their own after all they had endured.

Problem was that the land that was carved out of Palestine to create the State of Israel was already occupied by other people, many of whom had lived there for centuries. It wasn’t just empty space waiting to be filled up with Jews – both those displaced by the war and any other Jew who wanted to live in a country of his or her own. This set the stage for all that has followed between then and now, some 70 years later.

It’s how the rest of the world looks at it that has changed as now-powerful Israel looks more and more like the Nazis as it cracks the whip and steals more and more land from under Palestinians. The fact that the Israeli government, heavily subsidized by the American taxpayer, could have created a pitiless system of apartheid for Palestinians after all they themselves had suffered in Europe and elsewhere in the world flies in the face of all reason. Doesn’t suffering forge wisdom, and aren’t those who suffered motivated to protect their fellow humans from a similar fate when they themselves assume power? There’s a reason some sayings endure for centuries. Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

"ANIMAL RIGHTS ACTIVISTS from Direct Action Everywhere - DxE stormed a factory farm and slaughterhouse, locking their necks to the slaughter line to halt the killing of the animals in Petaluma, California on June 3rd, 2019. Upon locking themselves to the kill line, an employee reportedly turned the line back on, strangling activist Thomas Chiang who was then hospitalized and is now at home recovering. 32 ducklings were rescued and brought to a sanctuary. 75 activists were arrested in a defiant act of non-violent civil disobedience, in protest of the confinement and slaughter of animals. Right after this video ends 600 activists arrived outside the slaughterhouse to stand in solidarity. It was honor to be there. Join us!" (Chase Avior)

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

The Queen should not have been shown walking within the penumbra of the American goliaths. Not just in terms of the optics but also from a national security concern. What if Trump had tripped and fallen on her?!

Heck she shouldn’t be shown walking at all! She should be conveyed from one location to the next via mysterious and royal means. One moment she’s in the garden; the next moment she’s seated at the grand dining table. Poof!

MARSHAWN LYNCH, RADICAL ICONOCLAST!

This week Edge Of Sports speaks to filmmaker David Shields about his new film Lynch: A History about the great running back Marshawn Lynch. The film looks at Lynch’s life and how he’s been able to use silence as a form of resistance.

We also have ‘Choice Words’ about the Toronto Raptors and why they are the team to root for. We got a ‘Just Stand Up’ Award for Warriors forward Andre Iguodala and a ‘Just Sit Down’ award for a group of fans. All this and more on this week’s show!

Dave Zirin

“I OWE MARILYN MONROE a real debt … she personally called the owner of the Mocambo, and told him she wanted me booked immediately, and if he would do it, she would take a front table every night. She told him—and it was true, due to Marilyn's superstar status—that the press would go wild. The owner said yes, and Marilyn was there, front table, every night. The press went overboard. After that, I never had to play a small jazz club again." -Ella Fitzgerald

So many women believe that they can only have success at the expense of another woman. But they couldn't be more wrong. The power we women hold within us is a light, a light that loses nothing by being shared. It is our job as women to inspire, pave the way and give hope to other women. Happy Birthday, Marilyn

A PLEURAL EFFUSION, fluid trapped between the linings of the lung, had been identified on the CT scan of a 65-year-old man recently diagnosed with lung cancer. “Either it’s nothing,” I told him, “an inflammatory response to the biopsy itself, or it’s from the cancer. If the fluid has cancer cells in it, that would change the prognosis.” Cancer cells in the fluid, a “malignant effusion,” would mean the cancer couldn’t be cured. Expected survival time: less than a year. He didn’t speak for a long minute. While I waited, I looked at the patches on his leather bomber jacket. “Agent Orange,” one read. Another: “Dioxin Kills.” Another: “Combat Veteran.”

“Where did you get those patches?’ I asked.

He stood up, turning around so I could see even more of them. A large round patch covering nearly the entire back of his jacket said “Vietnam Veteran” in gold letters, framing a silhouette of an undivided Vietnam. “My son got them on the internet,” he said. He pointed to one covering his left bicep. ”What do you think of this one?”

I wasn’t sure it said what I thought it said. “What is that?” I asked.

“Shit burners,” he replied.

The patch was three inches by three inches, and showed a stick figure, with a stick figure shovel, poking what appeared to be a broom into a barrel.

“Out in the jungle you need somebody to burn the shit. Just pour lighter fluid on it and fire it up.”

“I hadn’t thought about that,” I said. “When was this?”

“1969, 1970,” he said. “I was the one who did it.”

“Nobody else wanted to do it?”

“People didn’t like it.”

“But you weren’t afraid of it.”

“Of course not,” he said. “Go out in the jungle with a barrel and a case of beer, smoke weed all day.”

“And get it done.”

“It was no problem,” he said.

(Patrick Tripp)

MAYNARD DIXON (American, 1875-1946) - No place to go (1935)

DOES IT MATTER IF HOMELESS ARE ‘FROM’ THE CITY?

“As San Franciscans wait for the complete results of January’s homeless count, Tipping Point has new data from its own survey of homeless people. While the city’s homeless count looks at demographics and the reasons behind homelessness, Tipping Point wanted to do a deeper dive. Last summer, it hired researchers to survey 300 homeless people, asking questions about the challenges they face on the streets and what it would take to get them inside. Half said they’d lived in the city for at least 10 years, and 21% said they’d lived in the city their whole life. While less than 6% of the city’s population is black, 36% of the homeless people surveyed are black. More than half of respondents said the city should make housing more affordable, build more housing for homeless people, and provide more mental health and substance abuse services.” (SF Chronicle)

---

Rob's comment:

Okay, I understand that the bobbleheads in City Hall and Tipping Point don't read my blog, but they should consider my analysis of a similar poll back in 2015: District 5, Sit-Lie, and the homeless.

As I pointed out, why should we trust the homeless themselves about where they are from? Surely they saw the people doing the survey for Tipping Point as representing City Hall, even though it's not a city agency.

The Tipping Point survey, by the way, isn't even as good as the 2015 survey, which polled 1,027 of the 7,539 homeless people counted that year. Tipping Point only polled 300 of more than 8,000 homeless counted this year! Not exactly a "deeper dive."

Of course many of the homeless are going to claim they're from San Francisco, since they would assume that falsehood — which of course Tipping Point has no way of verifying — might legitimize their claim for public assistance from the city. No reputable poll taker would assume that public policy should be based on that kind of response from the homeless themselves.

Besides, it doesn't really matter where or when those people became homeless; the city still has to deal with them one way or another, since they are now homeless on our streets.

The homeless will have to be honest when contacted by the city's Homeward Bound staff, since locating a friend, relative, or a contact is required before they get a bus ticket from the city back to wherever they actually came from.

What those bogus survey results do is support the myth that the homeless are simply long-time city residents that have fallen on hard times, mainly because of the lack of affordable housing in San Francisco.

Maybe City Hall thinks supporting that myth is a political necessity, that city residents will only support spending all that money dealing with homelessness if they think they're helping out city residents who have simply fallen on hard times. Surely that would be a false assumption about public opinion, since the annual Chamber of Commerce poll says otherwise.

The reality is that homelessness is a national problem that requires a national response, which is unlikely to come from the Trump administration and the contemptible Republican Party.

Daniel Lurie is talking to the Chronicle as if this is a San Francisco problem that can be dealt with on the local level, which is simply untrue.

Lurie also suggests support for the dubious notion that the solution to homelessness requires San Francisco to dramatically increase the number of "affordable" housing units—that should always be in quotes—by dramatically increasing housing construction in the city with buildings like this.

(Rob Anderson, District5Diary)

A PLACE FOR US

Having determined to sit outside, both to gain that perspective as well as to immerse myself in this beautiful day, I inadvertently learned of The Smoker's Table. I can't quite see it from my recliner, but if my chair were moved five feet to the left, it would be.

This collection of ten or twelve tables, benches, and chairs is provided by the management (really!) as the only place on the grounds, inside or out, where it is permitted to smoke marijuana (or cigarettes) legally. Five or six geezers were lounging about as Carol strolled (shuffled) back to my room. Nobody offered to share anything, but everyone except for one geezer in a U.S.S. Enterprise baseball hat who was so lost in his own world that he couldn't respond at all.

There is in this a strong element of what the scriptwriters for Cuckoo's Nest were up to when they began to sketch out a scene where the inmates on an outing devised and brought off by ad libbing Jack Nicholson to fruition. The scene was shot at the entrance to the harbor in Depot Bay, maybe a hundred miles from my new home.

This also feels like a place where the inmates, if allowed for a moment to manifest their own power might be capable of creating enough of a stew to touch off a revolution, at least of consciousness. As for the remainder of it all, well, it's up to us, eh?

---

THE SIRENS OF WEST EUGENE

An approaching summer rainstorm of underwhelming proportions motivated me to sit outside for a bit, as the forecast, as luck would have it, calls for rain. So after lunch, I damned near lost my shorts as I stood up to go. I need to buy (or find) a belt.

Many places furnished to encourage sitting are scattered around the grounds. One of these gathering places is outside my window. Well, about a hundred feet away. As luck (and the Great Spirit) would have it, this is the sole place where it is perfectly legal to smoke the Evil Weed. Or a Marlboro.

It's a changing cast of characters. About twenty per cent (not eighty) of the residents wander out here at all hours. For myself, when so moved in the middle of the night, I simply switch to a sublingual tincture. Or dad a couple of gummy bears. Then I'm good to go.

One has to be certain, though, not to forget that this is not normal. Nor is it Nebraska, in spite of what they continue to claim. It is not normal that this wizened old lady in the wheel chair America is out there, mixing with the young. However dimmed, they are happy to have the energy, gathering what's left of its wits. Sharpen the knives, me hardies!

(Bruce Brady)

SUMMER READING KICK-OFF PARTY AT ALEX THOMAS PLAZA

Saturday, June 8, 2019

1:00-3:30 PM

Join us for a party to kick-off Summer Reading! There will be a free, live performance by Flynn Creek Circus, several activity stations, free pizza for kids and teens courtesy of Slam Dunk Pizza, and Summer Reading sign-ups. Free and open to all ages.

First Friday Art Walk and Book Sale

July 5th, 2019

5:00-7:00 PM

Featuring local artist Jaye Alison Moscariello’s vibrant paintings.

Create natural DIY Bug Spray, and enjoy live music and refreshments while you browse the monthly book sale. Sponsored by the Ukiah Valley Friends of the Library.

Facts vs. Nonsense Meet Up for Teens

June 11, 2019

2:00-4:00 PM

Here is a chance to bring out your detective side and solve cases by using creative research and reliable sources of information. Open to all teens.

Every second Tuesday of the month in summer.

One Seed, One Community

When you participate in this statewide program, you will receive 1 packet containing twenty Cherokee Trail of Tears bean seeds to plant in your home garden. You will also receive support emails that will help you with the process of growing, harvesting, saving, sharing, and returning your bean seeds to the Yokayo Seed Project at the Ukiah Library. If you have the space in your garden to grow more than one 8 foot row of beans, we would be happy to give you more packets of seeds. To participate in One Seed, One Community and to get your beans, please visit the Ukiah Library and ask for Jen Lyon or email Jen at lyonj@mendocinocounty.org for more information.

CALLING ALL NARCISSISTS!

Deep Transformational Work

Saturday June 8 + Sunday, June 9

Spirit House, Mendocino, California

Live Your Essence and Celebrate Life - Deep Transformational Work with Siegmar and Cornelia Gerken

Embrace the Unity of Life

Honor Your Essential Qualities

Harmonize Your Body, Feelings and Mind

Live with Self-Empowerment and Mindful Presence

Join us and rejuvenate in a personal retreat while deepening your learning in an inspiring environment.

Core Evolution addresses the wholeness of a person - their qualities and unique potential.

Among the personal other topics that participants bring, we address subjects such as:

The Pulsation of Life - Somatic Awareness and the Practice of Mindfulness

The Body as the Temple of the Soul - Psychosomatics Revisited

Moving Energy and Consciousness

Wild-Heart-Meditation

CoreDance

Love is the Resonance with the Flow of Life

Cornelia's and Siegmar’s integrative style meets the beginner on the conscious path as well as the professional practitioner.

Price: $ 195.-

Times: Saturday, June 8: 10 am - 7 pm and Sunday, June 9: 10 am - 4:30 pm (bring a lunch)

Info Registration: Spirit House: Tel. 707. 961-0776 or Core Evolution:

https://www.coreevolution.de/en/calendar-of-events.html

WAITING, JUST WAITING

Awaiting Divine Intervention…Relaxed in California…Hello

Everybody:

It's a pleasantly cool summer evening in Redwood Valley, California. Am just sitting here with nothing to do particularly, having purchased lottery tickets for tonight and tomorrow's drawings. Am nourished from a dinner of a bowl of miso lentil soup with a cheese sandwich. Right this moment I am watching a fly walking across the psychedelically patterned mouse pad; a Grateful Dead creation.

I have stopped sending out "networking messages" asking others what they would do in this world if they knew that they could not fail. I've also stopped networking for more frontline direct action oriented situations, because I do not receive any rational responses (such as offering me housing, for example). It appears that postmodern America is so seriously confused and basically lost, that nothing anybody might do will be sufficient. Therefore, I sit here at The Magic Ranch in Mendocino county, participating insofar as upkeep etc. as required, take long walks on the country roads, which is followed by a cold pint or two of beer at Vick's bar at the intersection which serves as downtown Redwood Valley, and then hitchhike to the Coyote Valley Casino to enjoy the Mexican food, and free coffee, before usually winning money at the slot machines.

Whereas I have nothing to do now, I am not even bothering to perform spiritual practices, because there's no reason to be doing them. Knowing what I am, just witnessing every day on planet earth dispassionately, this is so completely detached that there is no motivation to do anything to change my circumstances. Indeed, what would I do?

As we pleasantly await the needed Divine Intervention on the earth plane, to intervene in this hopelessly conflicted civilization, and now with ecological collapse increasing as well, feel free to remain in touch with me. Perhaps a miracle will happen and we will collectively do something amazing. Why not? It couldn't possibly be worse than dwelling in Nirvana!

Email me at: craiglouisstehr@gmail.com

Craig Stehr

Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band (1966)

'The Legendary A&M Sessions'

"HEROES AND PATRIOTS" returns to KMUD on Thursday, June 6, at 9 am, Pacific Time. The subject of tomorrow's show is false flag attacks, hacks, and other dirty tricks perpetrated by national intelligence agencies and the contractors who work for them.

Our guests are Dr. Theodore Postol and Richard Silverstein.

Postol is Professor of Science, Technology and National Security Policy in the Program in Science, Technology, and Society at MIT. Silverstein is a blogger at Tikun Olam.

Out of our broadcast area in Humboldt County, California, we stream live from the web at www.kmud.org. Or you can just hit the "Listen Live" icon on KMUD's webpage.

Please call in with questions for our two guests tomorrow and be live on-air with us. Studio (707) 923-3911. Wait until we ask for listeners to call in.

(John Sakowicz at Heroes and Patriots at KMUD)

AFTER ASSANGE’S ESPIONAGE ACT INDICTMENT, Police Move Against More Journalists for Publishing Classified Material

consortiumnews.com/2019/06/05/after-assanges-espionage-act-indictment-police-move-against-more-journalists-for-publishing-classified-material/

KNOW YOUR OLIGARCHS (#3)