MCT: Tuesday, September 24, 2019

• Ed Notes
• Geese
• Supe Candidates
• Mariposa School
• The Goldfinch
• Inside Us
• Jackass Provocateur
• Cannabis Alliance
• Wind Up
• Reforestation
• Willits Police
• Lawlessness
• Mill Site
• Yesterday's Catch
• Ruse Circus
• Political Correctness
• Santana Shops
• Comments
• International Logging
• Comptche Art
• Reconsider Credibility
• Great Moment
• Poopy River
• Poetry Reading
• Deeply Divided
• Il Gatopardo
• Greta's Speech

ED NOTES

WITH FORECASTS predicting hot, dry and windy weather this week, PG&E advised Friday there is an increased possibility it may shut off power in parts of the North Bay to reduce wildfire risk. PG&E raised the risk of a shutdown to “elevated” for three regions in Northern California — which includes Sonoma, Mendocino, Lake and Napa counties. Although the risk map excludes Anderson Valley, that doesn’t mean we don’t have large areas of tinder.

A PG&E LINEMAN told us there are three trunk lines feeding the electrical juice into Mendocino County. He said it’s unlikely that the Anderson Valley would get cut off, but fire in our hills or hills not far beyond our hills…..

FIFTH DISTRICT SUPERVISOR Ted Williams posted this reassurance Monday morning: “There is a Red Flag Warning in effect for Mendocino, Northern Lake, and Southern Trinity Counties beginning tonight at 9 pm until Wednesday at 11 am. I have spoken to my contacts with PG&E and they have confirmed Mendocino is not in the scope of a PSPS at this time."

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MEANWHILE, on Ray’s Road, Philo, some seriously bad feeling involves an eviction, wild accusations of Bulgarian dope ops, an alleged indoor grow that’s really the re-model of the Philo Pottery Inn, threats, and who knows what all.

THE NEARBY Anderson Valley Inn, nearby the old Prather place, is for sale, after years of meticulous restoration by the Janculas, and here’s hoping the Janculas won’t leave us when the property, seemingly under-priced at under $900k, is sold. Which it soon will be because it’s a heckuva deal.

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ON THE SUBJECT of school architecture, David Jackness stopped by with this photograph of his high school alma mater, Bayside High School, Queens, New York, from where not only Mr. J but Dr. Mark Apfel graduated.

What are the odds of two grads of one school on the other side of the country land in Boonville? And at least two more Bayside grads on the Mendocino Coast? Beautiful old structure probably designed by the same man, C.B.J. Snyder, who designed most of the city’s schools in the 1920’s and 30’s in a style called “Collegiate Gothic,” erected in the days school architects, and the general public, demanded schools in which “learning is best done in a favorable environment.” Anti-learning environments of the Ukiah High School type became common in the 1950’s.

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TRAFFIC SPEED through Boonville is outta hand. CSD oughta begin agitating with CalTrans for slowing devices. Someone’s going to get killed on the neo-speedway between the Fairgrounds and 128’s intersection with Mountain View. We could also use more of a CHP presence over here, which we had back in the day when traffic moved much slower with our own resident patrolman, Burl Evans.

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A YOUNG BOONVILLE GUY posted a facebook plea saying he needed to sell $130 tickets to a Berkeley concert featuring bands called Social Distortion and Flogging Molly. As a guy who tuned permanently out at Sinatra, and a certified geezer besides, occasionally I hear snatches of contemporary music recognizable as music, but my overall impression is that there’s only one song anymore, and it’s called “Baby Baby Baby,” sung by half-naked young women called “Baby Baby Baby” with lyrics set to sexual rhythms consisting entirely of “Baby Baby Baby.”

FORT BRAGG GEESE

(photos by Susie de Castro)

A COUPLE OF NEW NAMES (to us, anyway) appear on the current list of people who have filed candidacy papers for Mendo County Supervisor. We knew that First District Supervisor Carre Brown was retiring so it’s not surprising that three people have filed to replace her: John Sakowicz, James Green and Jon Kennedy, all three of whom list their residence as Ukiah.

In the Second District seat that John McCowen currently holds we find Ukiah City Councilwoman Maureen Mulheren (realtor) and fellow realtor Joel Soinila, but not — so far — incumbent John McCowen. (The filing deadline is December 6, but it’s interesting that McCowen hasn’t already filed.)

And in the Fourth District we have incumbent Dan Gjerde opposed by Fort Bragg City Councilman Lindy Peters and MendocinoTV’s Terrance Vaughn.

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Mr. Soinila’s real estate profile says that he was:

“Raised in Redwood Valley, Joel has been a resident of Mendocino County for the past 30 years, his family’s roots date back over a century. Joel attended high school in Ukiah, and then graduated Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and received a BS in Agricultural Business. His interest in real estate was ignited when he was 21 years old and started managing properties for commercial, residential, and bare land. After spending eight years as a financial analyst, productivity engineer and property manager, he now is an Owner of an Independent Real Estate Brokerage. He is very involved in the Community he lives in volunteering with The City of Ukiah Employees Credit Union as the Supervisory Committee Chairperson, CASA of Mendocino & Lake Counties, as well as Junior Achievement which educates the youth of our future in financial literacy. Joel is a proud member of Leadership Mendocino class of XXV. He is honored to serve the Mendocino County community in a capacity as an independent real estate broker-agent with Veikko Properties, LLC.

On his candidacy page Mr. Soinila says:

“WHY I'M RUNNING — To assist Mendocino County's 2nd district in achieving forward thinking with result-based accountability. Main areas of interest: Community, Financial Transparency/Integrity, Mental Health, Unsheltered Population Awareness, and Environmental Advocacy.”

And:

“I’m honored to have the opportunity to be elected Second District Supervisor of Mendocino County. Raised in Redwood Valley, I have been a resident of Mendocino County for the past 30 years. My family’s roots in the county date back over a century. My grandfather Veikko Soinila opened a business in Redwood Valley that has been family owned and operated for 70 years. I attended Ukiah High School and graduated from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo receiving a BS in Agricultural Business. After spending a decade as a financial analyst, productivity engineer, program manager (Ukiah Valley Street Medicine) and property manager, I am now the owner of an Independent Real Estate Brokerage and partner in a real estate investment group. Through my volunteerism, I've gained extensive insight into the needs and desires of the community. I volunteer with CASA [Court Appointed Special Advocates] of Lake and Mendocino Counties, Mendocino County Historical Society, Ukiah High School Alumni Association (Vice President), Plowshares Peace and Justice Center (Garden Volunteer), Junior Achievement (Youth Financial Literacy Education), Leadership Mendocino class of XXV, and NCO Caring Kitchen Project (food donor).

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Mr. Kennedy has set up a facebook page for his candidacy at: facebook.com/pages/category/Political-Candidate/Elect-Jon-Kennedy-County-Supervisor-901353613539664/

“Many of you may already know, I'm running for County Supervisor. Self promotion is one of my least favorite things to do, but a necessary evil when it comes to winning an election. It's time to begin asking for endorsements. If you're in to this kind of thing, please click on the link below. You can simply leave your name, or write something interesting. I review each endorsement before publishing, so feel free to add some snark if needed. Thank you in advance. Oh yeah, if you have a few extra bucks you can spare to help with the campaign, there's a "Contribute" button available…for your convenience.”

Mr. Kennedy’s profile on politicalcandidatedirectory.com says:

“Jon Kennedy is a local business owner, father, husband and community advocate. Jon is the founder of Rebuilding Now, Inc (non-profit corporation) and is a Disaster Case Manager, working with families that lost their homes in the recent wildfires. Jon is a previous County Supervisor, with a strong background in local government, mediation, business consulting, real estate and construction.”

Mr. Kennedy is also described on-line as “North Coast Opportunities Case Manager.”

His campaign page at jonkennedyforsupervisor.com:

“This race is exciting for me because I didn't anticipate another opportunity, so soon, to do one of the most challenging, rewarding and meaningful jobs I've ever experienced. I am experienced because I was fortunate enough to be elected County Supervisor in Plumas County in 2010. Instead of seeking another term, my family and I moved back home to Mendocino County. The decision to move back was easy, the decision to not seek another term in Plumas County wasn't. It was one of the most difficult decisions I've ever made in respect to my professional career. I agonized every week on issues and policy decisions, because those decisions had an effect on so many people— nothing was to be taken lightly. With me as a candidate, what you see is what you get. I won't make promises to simply gain your support and ultimately your vote. If I'm fortunate enough to get elected, then my job will be your County Supervisor, and you can bet I'll be a fierce advocate for the people of Mendocino County—all of them. A few promises I can make. I can promise that those of you who support me now, will disagree with me at me at least once, and those of you who don't support me, will agree with me at least once. One thing you learn after being elected, you're not as bad as your opponents think, but your probably not as good as your supporters claim. I'm looking forward to another opportunity to do the most important job I've ever done in my life. Thank you for your support and interest.

Mr. Kennedy’s “on the issues” page lists:

Health and Human Services / Law Enforcement (“There's a reason I've married these two issues.”), Mental HealthFire Recovery, Local Fire Protection, County Budget, Potter Valley Project, Native American Communities, Housing, and Cannabis, which are certainly relevant. But his position on those issues so far is: “Coming soon.”

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Mr. Green has set up a candidate website at: JamesGreenSupervisor.com

Mr. Green’s first “priority” is “Protecting Water Resources” — “For generations, farmers and ranchers along the Russian River have depended on the Potter Valley Water Project for their livelihood. Lake Mendocino also depends on this water supply for drinking water and recreation. Over the course of the last century, more than 600,000 people have grown dependent on this water source, from Potter Valley down to north Marin. Currently, this water supply is under threat: the dam that provides this water may be removed as the Potter Valley Water Project is scrutinized and sold off by PG&E. As your elected Supervisor, I will work hard to keep the water flowing in the right direction and to make sure Potter Valley and all of our communities along the Russian River have a sustainable source of water. To find out more about where your water comes from and the threat against it, visit http://pottervalleywater.org.”

So he’s clearly signaling to Carre Brown’s Farm Bureau voting bloc that he aims to ensure that Potter Valley grape growers continue to get their giant water subsidy into the foreseeable future.

Mr. Green also says that he “has used his Business Administration degree from Cal State Long Beach and his knowledge of Apple computers to build a successful computer consulting career.” He’s also for such cutting edge stuff as fire protection, jobs and housing.

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Of all the non-incumbents running we have only seen Mr. Green at any of the Board meetings so far, and those two times he made ordinary non-committal comments about the lameness of PG&E’s presentation and the desirability of public input.

IN THE TIME HONORED tradition of Mendocino County Supervisors candidates, we again have candidates, both incumbents and wannabes, who go out of their way to tell us how great they are and what they support in general, but go out of their way to avoid saying that they’d actually DO (or try to do) as supervisor. (Statements like “removing roadblocks” don’t count unless you specify the roadblock(s).)

THE LAST candidate/incumbent to declare what they wanted to do if elected was John Pinches who said he wanted to straighten out the Transportation/Road budget, balance the county budget (which was seriously outtawhack at the time), and improve Mendo’s water delivery and storage capacity. And of those three, he achieved about one and a half, having opened up Budge Campbell’s secret transpo budget where he was squirreling away money that should have been spent on County roads; was instrumental (with other Supes) in fixing Mendo’s budget more than once, and tried hard to deal with water, but wasn’t able to gain much support from his colleagues on the Board. Even in the last Third District Supervisors election, Pinches carried his own heavily marked up and dog-eared copy of the County budget around to his campaign events and made a point of noting how the County’s transpo budget priority charts were seriously skewed in the wrong direction.

IT WOULD BE NICE, for example, if Mr. Soinila would show us how his “extensive insight into the needs and desires of the community” translates into a list of achievable local or county objectives.

(Mark Scaramella)

MARIPOSA WAS A FOOL

Editor,

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Mariposa was a place

the teachers called a school,

but all the people who went there

were different kinds of fools.

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The parents were because they paid

to get their children learned,

but later they and kids found out

that really they got burned.

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Some students got to play the fool

when they were made to say

the favorite PC storyline

the teachers preached that day.

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Other students got to have

a different kind of fate

when fooling teachers led them off

to lose the game of rape.

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The people living in the town

are taught the place was cool,

but once they read this poem,

they will know that they’ve been fooled.

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But the biggest prize of all

for being stupid fools

goes to Mariposa teachers

who think they ran a real school!

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Mary Innes

Toulomne

MOVIE REVIEW: The Goldfinch

by Bruce McEwen

Having thoroughly enjoyed ‘The Goldfinch’ Sunday evening at the Regal in Ukiah, I got up Monday morning and went through some reviews, expecting raves only to find the likes of the New Yorker’s Richard Brody, the Washington Post’s Ann Hornaday and the Wall Street Journal’s John Anderson all gagging and puking with revulsion. These people see movies on a nearly daily basis and I’ve gone to exactly three in the past ten years – two of ‘em this year, having gone to Quentin Tarentino’s “Once Upon A Time In Hollywood” most recently – for the same reason I quit reading my erstwhile favorite magazines, Harper’s, The Nation, The New Yorker, that is, that something fundamental had changed in the production values; the very something that critics like Brody, McNamara, Hornaday and Anderson have embraced.

’The Goldfinch’ is a movie made from Donna Tartt’s Pulitzer Prize winning novel, which I understand was decades in the writing, and it has a devoted following, although I haven’t read it myself. Directed by John Crowley – who must be in a state of career crisis by now, as the scorching reviews keep coming in – the movie starts out at the end, with the protagonist washing the blood off his hands and measuring out a suicidal dose of Vicodin in his Amsterdam hotel where he had just shot a man dead in a ploy to get a painting back, The Goldfinch, by one of the Dutch Masters (I forget which one). And so the flashbacks ensue; how else do you tell a decades-long story, which was written in the first-person linear mode, in a two-and-a-half hour movie?

The first flashback would have to be the beginning of the story, necessarily, as the protagonist, Theo Decker, 13 (Oakes Fogley) has been taken to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and while there he spots a girl his own age with her father and he’s smitten by her, Pippa (Amée Lawrence). They are all looking at this painting of a goldfinch when some terrorist throws a bomb. Theo looks for his mom but only finds Pippa’s dad, mortally injured, who tells Theo to take the painting and go, take it to an antique shop in New York, then he dies, and Theo stuffs the painting in his day pack, and goes out of the dust and rubble where the dead bodies are being loaded up, his mom among them.

Pippa survives. Theo will run into her again, later, but first he has to have someplace to live – his deadbeat dad nowhere to be found – and one of Theo’s Upper East Side school chums Andy (Ryan Foust) takes home and Andy’s mom (Nicole Kidman) takes him in, wants to adopt him, even. But just as this wonder is about to warm the hearts of all the women in the theater (there were only three elderly couples in attendance and I was part of one), here comes Theo’s deadbeat dad with plans to use Theo to get at this poor dead woman’s fortune.

The dad (Luke Wilson) takes Theo to Las Vegas where Dad lives in the suburban sprawl that has spread over the desert surrounding the casinos, and here Theo meets another youth, Boris (Finn Wolfhard) who, like Theo, has an abusive alcoholic father.

This is the pivotal mid-part of the movie. In the first part it was a “chick flick” with cute kids wearing ties and sweaters right out of J. Crew, full of antique furniture, loving, cultured families, personal tragedy and growth; but the second part – after Theo and the others grow up -- is more masculine with dope and booze and crime; and it is during this Tarentinoesque interlude on the outskirts of Vegas, with nothing but a wasteland beyond, that the change takes place: Boris’s dad beats him regularly and brutally enough during his teen years that we are not surprised when he turns out to be remarkably handy with his fists and guns later on when there’s a showdown with some international thugs and Boris wastes ‘em all.

And so when the Vegas interlude is over – some of the women went to the restroom during this part – we find Theo grown and living in an adult world and, thanks to the criminality and abuse Theo got from his own father, he’s not so sweet and cuddly anymore; he’s learned how to sell fakes to art and antique collectors; there’s a very nasty cast of characters afoot now, lots of drugs and booze, two-timing women, adroit fisticuffs and gunplay – in short, it’s gone from a chick flick to something fit for a showing in the man cave.

This, in reverse, is pretty much what happened to The New Yorker, Harper’s Magazine, and The Nation. They all went from venues where trenchant satirists like James Thurber, Lewis H. Lapham and Alexander Cockburn could cut and parry like verbal swashbucklers, to decorously tedious tea parlors where Progressive matrons of Political Correctness police the narrative and keep it safe and dull. So if any movie critic writing for the mainstream media should happen to say anything nice about this movie, he (a woman wouldn’t have to be told) would soon be out of a job.

INSIDE OF US ALL

We are pleased to share our music video for “Inside of Us All” with you. An incredible thank you to all of the musicians and others involved in the production of this video, with special thanks to Eugene Rodriguez of Los Cenzontles and Butch Robinson for helping us pull this off. Please enjoy and feel free to share with friends.

GO AHEAD, Take the Adventure of Once Upon a Time . . . in Hollywood

Quentin Tarantino is continuing his creative endeavor of engaging popular film forms and alternate-history structures to reimagine points of terrible disturbance in our collective past

jacobinmag.com/2019/08/once-upon-a-time-in-hollywood-quentin-tarantino-film-review

MENDOCINO CANNABIS ALLIANCE TOWN HALL MEETING - OCT 5

An exciting upcoming Town Hall meeting focused on important topics related to Cannabis Economic Development in Mendocino County, and the launch of the MCA membership program.

Mendocino Cannabis Alliance (MCA) and Mendocino County Board of Supervisors Economic Development Ad Hoc Committee present:

A Cannabis & Economic Development Town Hall Forum

October 5th, 4-7pm at the Ukiah Valley Conference Center

Free & open to the public

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CANNABIS & ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT TOWN HALL FORUM

Presented by MCA and Mendocino County Cannabis Economic Development Ad Hoc Committee

(Ukiah, CA - September 20, 2019) On October 5, 2019 from 4-7PM, MCA and the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors Cannabis Economic Development Ad Hoc Committee invite the local cannabis community to a free Town Hall to discuss how we can all work together to build a viable economic future for the county.

The event is designed to bring together local stakeholders from every area of the cannabis industry, along with members of the broader community, to offer input and raise issues through Q & A with panelists including Building and Planning Director Brent Schultz and County Supervisors Ted Williams and Dan Gjerde.

Robust stakeholder input is essential for the creation of local policy that accurately reflect the needs and desires of the community.

Coinciding with the Town Hall Forum, MCA will be launching its new membership program for cannabis businesses and community members in Mendocino County.

Doors will open at 3:30 with an opportunity to sign up for membership with the Mendocino Cannabis Alliance at the event.

This event will take place at the Ukiah Valley Conference Center, 200 S. School Street, Ukiah, and is free and open to the public.

The Mendocino Cannabis Alliance serves and promotes Mendocino County’s world-renowned cannabis cultivators and businesses through sustainable economic development, education and public policy initiatives.

If you would like more information about this topic, please contact Patrick Sellers at info@mendocannabis.com

Best,

Michael Katz

Co-Founder

EmeraldExchangeCA.com

INTRIGUING REFORESTING PROJECTS

Editor:

It is ironic that as we consider the Climate Change demonstrations, that we should fall upon an interesting article in Time regarding Yan’an city in Shaanxi province in China reforestation program. In 1999 the government started a program subsidizing farmers to stop farming and started an aggressive reforestation program. At first misinformed farmers allowed their animals to forage on new trees and yet in time the land came back so well that the precipitation increased in this deserted land, increased different agriculture but maintained its grain yields moving from production 10 yuan to 70,00 to 200,000 yuan producing apples instead of corn soybean and millet. (Look to TIME magazine or search for Yan’an city reforestation for the article and incredible photos.) Average rainfall was 350 mm has risen to 600 and the Yellow river silted up by the eroded from the wind laden silt has moved from 258 million tons to current burden of 31 million tons.

One of the pluses of the Wim Wenders movie “Salt of the Earth” on the life of Sebastiao Salgado, remarkable Brazilian photographer, who documented war torn European and African countries, was his work with his wife to bring back his home ranch that his father had deforested to pay to send his children to college. The land called the Instituto Terra was reforested in 1998 via their organization of the same name and documented in this film in 2015. It was an incredible way to end a series of difficult to observe photos of war torn decimated people in livid B&W.

Salgado is an incredible photographer and the movie worth the watch. But the work on his Instituto Terra is phenomenal. The land was hot, bare, and dry. Nothing like the living jungle of its settlement. When critics say we cannot change the earth or bring it back these two examples underscore the truth. The earth can return to its vibrancy and climatic support with adequate rain when clothed in plants and trees.

It was just 20 years! In Brazil, Salgados home is flowing with water where his father had brought it to a dry desert. In this sad moment when the Amazon, tortured for years is now burning, there is hope. But the Chinese government seemingly oppressive, has brought its land back to vibrancy, stabilized its second largest river and brought abundance to villagers who were eeking out a very meager living. Now that is governance! Constructive socialism. The same sort of socialism that runs police, and fire dept.s, supports libraries, funds ag commissioner offices etc. It is time to reexamine the truth. We can do this together.

Greg Krouse

Philo

PS. When I moved to Mendocino County 40 plus years ago, I read an article by NASA about the importance of aerial released bacteria in the upper branches of redwoods as the seed foci of rain droplets. A symbiotic process where trees gathered necessary rain to prosper. But it was the tall trees. Note that rainfall in this county has back down. Reforestation and careful sustainable forestry is crucial.

PPS. I thought about how to support the Climate Change process and decided per a friends comment that the most logical for me to do was simply to go to Hwy 128 at the end of my road and stand on the highway with a sign. If we all did this especially on Friday and Sundays as folks come and go from our county, maybe the message would get across. Imagine Hwy 128 with folks every so many miles on the road. Climate change has to be on all of our minds and support for real change toward solutions makes sustainable sense. Changing our focus will not only solve the problem, it will create more local jobs and commerce. Oil production may employ some but alternative energy can employ a myriad of local folks, servicing solar panels, building them, servicing wind gathering devices etc.

ON LINE TRIBUTE to Willits from Kym Kemp's comment line:

In Willits, what the police do, in actual fact, is cruise around in their patrol cars, and ignore everything.

The most consistent mission of the Willits Police appears to be to find a shady spot to park, and play with their phones for the rest of the shift.

Since Mendocino County, and Willits in particular, can’t really afford to deal with lawbreakers, incarcerate them, or manage anyone’s parole, they really don’t want the police department to do much at all.

Willits (South Garberville) barely has a police force anyway, so it doesn’t matter if they hire Eureka’s rejects, now does it…?

Dishonesty seems to be a required local trait, in Willits, anyway! If you want to hear some folks, in Willits, lying about stuff, just go over to Howard Hospital, where nearly everything they say is untrue.

Willits, don’t worry about it! If you don’t like Willits, it is easy to leave and never return. Since the bypass was completed, you really never have to encounter Willits, ever again! Unless you happen to want to go to Fort Bragg, which is another place in Mendo, where everything makes no sense…

FORT BRAGG CITY COUNCILMAN, WILL LEE WRITES:

Once again Rex Gressett proves himself a decent fictional writer with alternate facts and delusional opinions. First of all, the Saturday Joint Meeting of the Fort Bragg City Council and Planning Commission had well over 50 community members participating with very good suggestions and appropriate input. True, there were consultants and architects presenting for the property owners, but certainly not amounting to half those in attendance. Mr. Gressett came late and left early, so he really missed much of the meeting. Not unusual for him.

So, one week you describe the Mill Site as a toxic wasteland and the next week it’s the gem of the North Coast. Which is it this week? The people of Fort Bragg elected us to bring jobs and housing to this incredible City and that is just what we are doing. The Mill Site will provide 300 plus units of housing; hundreds of new jobs and will bring revenue to the City to grow and provide opportunities for our people. The Mill Site will also provide parks and lots of open space at the same time. And while the site gets developed, we will add infrastructure: water, sewer, streets, sidewalks, lighting and fiber optic cabling for high speed internet access for new high tech jobs and services. That’s how we roll in Fort Bragg.

And, Marie Jones no longer serves the City of Fort Bragg, so you might go ahead and let that go.

CATCH OF THE DAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2019

CARMEN ARENS, Potter Valley. Domestic battery.

MARCOS FERMIN-GARCIA, Ukiah. Burglary, attempted car theft, vandalism, controlled substance.

THOMAS GALINDO JR., Ukiah. Controlled substance, disorderly conduct-alcohol. (Frequent flyer.)

SKYLER GIST, Mendocino. False imprisonment, violation of domestic violence prevention court order, disorderly conduct-alcohol, probation revocation.

ARMANDO GRANADOS, Ukiah. Taking vehicle without owner’s consent, false ID, resisting.

WILLIAM GREEN, Calpella. Probation revocation.

JACOB MCGREW, Hopland. Grand theft, suspended license (for DUI), probation revocation.

JONNIE MIZE, Ukiah. Petty theft with priors.

JAMES NORTON, Willits. Shoplifting, paraphernalia, probation revocation.

JENNIFER OWENS, Petaluma/Ukiah. DUI, suspended license (for DUI), probation revocation.

TRAVIS PENDERGRAFT, Ukiah. Vandalism.

RANDY PIKE JR., Ukiah. Controlled substance, paraphernalia, alteration, concealment, tampering or destroying evidence in an officer discipline proceeding, parole violation.

PEDRO REYNAGA, Calpella. Disorderly conduct-alcohol, probation revocation.

DAVID WOOTEN, Fort Bragg. Failure to appear, probation revocation. (Frequent Flyer)

ROBERT YOUNG, Potter Valley. DUI.

THE ODOR OF DESPERATION

by James Kunstler

The swamp abides. The latest news media dumpster fire over President Trump’s phone conversation with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky is a three-way ruse. Ruse 1: deflect attention from the main issue, which is Joe Biden’s trolling for payoffs on his missions to foreign lands as vice-president, first Ukraine, where son Hunter was gifted a board of director’s chair and $50K-a-month salary with Ukrainian gas company Burisma, and then a $1.5 billion “private equity investment” to Hunter Biden’s wealth management fund from the state-owned Bank of China. Ruse 2: to deflect attention from the damage soon to be inflicted on the Deep State by the forthcoming DOJ Inspector General’s report on FISA court abuses. Ruse 3. To set in motion yet another obstruction of justice trap for Mr. Trump on the basis of false charges.

This comes at the instigation of Intelligence Community Inspector General Michael Atkinson, who was formerly senior legal counsel to John Carlin head of the National Security Division of the Department of Justice, deeply implicated in the FISA court matters of 2016 under investigation by federal prosecutor John Durham. Mr. Atkinson cited a complaint by an unnamed whistleblower who claims to have heard from a source that the President offered a quid pro quo to Ukrainian President Zelensky for reopening the Burisma case. The “whistleblower” may be Mr. Atkinson himself.

Of course, gaffe-prone Joe Biden spilled the beans on video earlier this year, when he bragged about shaking down Ukraine’s then-president Petro Poroshenko over a billion-dollar loan guarantee unless he fired the prosecutor investigating Burisma, which he did. Is there any ambiguity here?

The coordination between the news media and the Deep State is impressively blatant in this new gambit, with former acting FBI director Andrew McCabe (dismissed for cause in 2018), in his new position as a CNN “contributor” (while awaiting prosecution) teeing up a new “Trump collusion” narrative with The New York Times, WashPost, and NBC marching in step. In this new age of disinformation, narratives are the political weapon of choice in the campaign to harass and disable the winner of the 2016 election. The big play of RussiaGate failed, the play of “racism” is failing, so UkraineGate is next up.

It’s also obviously an effort to reenergize the impeachment operation in congress, badly botched so far by Jerold Nadler’s House Judiciary Committee. But it’s hard to imagine a better entertainment than an impeachment of Donald Trump in congress. Unless the Deep State wants to throw former President Obama under the bus, along with dozens of his associates (including Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Biden), they might be advised to call off that circus. A trial in the Senate, where the GOP runs the proceedings, would be an even better table-turner than the rousing climax of Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

I have a new theory about where the 2020 election is heading: if the Democratic Party candidate happens to lose, the party’s lawyers will unleash a blizzard of litigation in every voting district where the outcome was a couple of thousand ballots against them. It will be the 2000 “hanging chad” fracas on steroids and they will go so far as render the election inconclusive, therefore provoking the most parlous constitutional crisis since the start of the Civil War. In other words, they will dare to disable the republic.

Something or somebody will have to put a stop to these seditious turpitudes. The machinery of the law must be turned on the “resistance” and its operatives in the Deep State. Mr. Barr has the opportunity to do that. A globe of silence has enclosed his doings for many months. Impatient observers jump to the conclusion that the silence means he is doing nothing. I am not so sure of that. Given the purposeful hysteria ginned up so dishonestly in the press — and so injuriously to the actual public interest — don’t you suppose he would want to avoid tossing dynamite into that dumpster fire? By the same token, those actively stoking the dumpster fire are revealing their utter desperation. The unexpected consequence will be the suicide of the Democratic Party. But then people don’t necessarily get what they expect, they get what they deserve.

(Support Kunstler’s writing by visiting his Patreon Page.)

MEL BROOKS: POLITICAL CORRECTNESS is Stupid and Killing Comedy

There’s a lot of things that have changed since a little thing called “political correctness” pervaded our culture. What you can wear, what you can eat, what you can celebrate… even the history that we teach in school has been influenced by the culture of political correctness.

intellectualtakeout.org/article/mel-brooks-political-correctness-stupid-and-killing-comedy

CARLOS SANTANA at Tower Records SF Columbus and Bay

ON LINE COMMENTS OF THE WEEK

(1) Here’s a humorous little account of something that happened today. I was sitting with some friends this morning having coffee, and one of my friends had his electronic book reader with him. We were discussing something in the news, and we needed to refer to something, so I said to my friend jokingly, “Maybe we could ask Alexa about that?” Suddenly his e-reader said, “How can I help you,” or something like that. Turns out he had an Alexa program on his e-reader, and it had been listening in on us the whole time. Pretty funny huh?

Last week I was shopping in a Home Depot, and as soon as I walked in, it seemed like something was different, Walking down the aisles, I kept hearing beeps, and I looked around and there was a little screen clipped onto a shelf and I was on camera. I started looking, and there was a little camera about every twenty feet along the aisle, and as you approached it, it would emit a beep to draw your attention to it, and let you know that you were on camera.

The intent is to let you know that you are being watched and recorded at all times. I went and found the store manager and asked if this was part of their new store policy, and he said, “It’s no big deal, it’s just a security measure.” I told him that this was a bit different than having a camera up in the ceiling anonymously surveying the store. The aisle cameras are there, and they want you to know you are being watched. Shades of Big Brother! I told him it was the last time I would walk through their doors, since no doubt sometime in the future, there would be strip searches along with rectal exams for the more suspicious looking customers.

I honestly don’t think I’m overreacting, since I have been concerned for quite some time about businesses and the government keeping tabs on people using every technological gimmick they can come up with. Is it just me and my paranoia? Because I’ll tell you one thing, I don’t trust any of these assholes and what they’re doing. If you want to check it out, go to your nearest Home Depot AND see for yourself. It’s a big corporation, so they probably have them in every store by now. You don’t have to tell me online about it, because I’ll be watching you, and I’ll know. Don’t worry though, I won’t misuse the information, I promise.

(2) Was making my morning coffee reflecting on the beans’ packaging: various plastics for self-sealing and venting, and some combination of foil over plastic-coated paper, I assume. I was struck by the transitory “convenience” of all this material that will one way or the other re-enter the biosphere someday. It’s all from earth, so far as I can tell. There was a time (prior to The Graduate) when we packaged everyday stuff in paper. We might transfer our paper-bound pound of coffee beans into a ceramic jar with a rubber gasket to keep it fresh. Not as convenient as the Trader Joe’s (owned by Aldi so I am told) re-sealable vented soon-to-be-in-waste-stream bag — after all one has to take the time to pour the beans into the ceramic jar and then handle the relatively heavy thing each morning. OMG!

COMPTCHE ART EXTRAVAGANZA!

Comptche Celebrates the Arts!

Comptche holds its 15th annual Art/Wine Day Show & Sale, Saturday, September 28, from 2-6PM at the Community Hall on Comptche/Ukiah Rd 1/4 ml East of the store. Over 40 Artists’ works, vast Wine Tastings, refreshments & good times to be shared in this welcoming town. Come, join us & have lots of fun!

LynneZO lynnezi2@mcn.org

DON’T WORRY, BE HAPPY

Editor:

Keeping up with the news these days is dangerous for my heart and mind. Security is a thing of the past. Anything can happen at any time — shootings, fires, whatever. My body is geared up, ready to fight or flee, creating stress on all its systems. Can I believe claims of fake news, hoaxes or conspiracy theories? How do I distinguish the real story from the fake, the facts from a hoax or the actual conspiracy from the theory? The more corruption that is exposed, the greater the coverup. So lying is inevitable, and trust is an illusion. When there is doubt, there can be no trust.

We seek credibility in leaders in every field, but with conflicting opinions on every subject, who can be believed? Our president is throwing our standard social rules up in the air to see how they fall. And it does look like the sky is falling. Now that our standards are up for grabs, it may be time to reconsider long-held values and our allegiance to political organizations that profess to have our best interests at heart but truly don’t. All I can do is to stay open in heart and mind and trust my intuition. And I imagine the world as it could be.

Diane See

Santa Rosa

AWESOME MOMENTS IN HISTORY -- In 1967, Kathrine Switzer was the first woman to run the Boston marathon. After realizing that a woman was running, race organizer Jock Semple went after Switzer shouting, “Get the hell out of my race and give me those numbers.” However, Switzer’s boyfriend and other male runners provided a protective shield during the entire marathon. The photographs taken of the incident made world headlines, and Kathrine later won the NYC marathon with a time of 3:07:29. [Wiki] / ~ In appreciation of all you strong women and all your supportive partners out there!

MYSTERY OF E. COLI in The Russian River Solved

No one is certain who’s to blame, but authorities and residents agree public defecation near visitor sites along the Russian River has gotten worse lately

pressdemocrat.com/news/10055565-181/sonoma-county-grapples-with-ongoing

LOBA READING SERIES FEATURING OAKLAND POET SARA LARSEN!

(Open Mic follows)

Saturday, October 19th at 3 pm

Join us for a poetry reading with Sara Larsen, author of The Riot Grrl Thing. Open mic follows. Teens & adults are invited to share poems in any form or style.

Sara Larsen is a poet and writer living in Oakland, CA. Her newest book is a polyvocal exploration of punk and poetics, The Riot Grrrl Thing (Roof, 2019). Previous books include Merry Hell (Atelos, 2016), and All Revolutions Will Be Fabulous (Printing Press, 2014). She is also the author of several chapbooks including Our Ladies, Riot Cops En Route To Troy, The Hallucinated, among others.

Light refreshments will be served. For more information – please contact Melissa at the Ukiah Library: 234-2862 or carrm@mendocinocounty.org

A feminist epic by Diane di Prima, LOBA is a visionary epic quest for the reintegration of the feminine, hailed by many as the great female counterpart to Allen Ginsberg's Howl when the first half appeared in 1978. Loba, "she-wolf" in Spanish explores the wilderness at the heart of experience, through the archetype of the wolf goddess, elemental symbol of complete self-acceptance.

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

I can just as easily imagine the Trumpadumpas going on a violent rampage if Trump loses, which he could if the primaries give the nod to Warren or Sanders and the Dems are smart enough this time not to try stuffing the turkey sandwich (in this case, Biden) down the country’s throat. Both sides consistently underestimate how very divided and volatile the country is right now, cleaving to the fantasy that when “they” (presumably the swing voters) see how right about everything either Team Red or Team Blue really is, whichever side will enjoy a total landslide victory. The truth is, true swing voters are only about ten percent at most of regular voters (many of whom rarely vote in midterm elections), and that’s a generous estimate.

Divided we stand, so divided we fall.

THE LEOPARD

‘Il Gatopardo’ Beneath the Moon in Palermo

elpais.com/cultura/2019/08/23/actualidad/1566573775_716422.html

by Manuel Vicent (translated by Louis S. Bedrock)

In Rome, the painter Renato Guttuso, without doubt the number one artist in Italy, lived in what once were the gardens of Domus Aurea, the residence of Nero, which overlooked the Forum. He dwelled in the palace that belonged to the Count Grillo, a compassionate nobleman, who, after Sunday Mass, would throw stale bread to the poor from the balcony.

The painter was 75 years old when I met him. He was a communist senator and a member of the central committee; his face, still attractive, even then reflected the torment of a grand passion. His lover, Marta Marzotto, in the nude, contemplated us from within an oil painting while a barber shaved the artist in the library. When I told him that I was going to Palermo to follow the tracks left by the author of Il Gatopardo (1), he responded,

—I was born there, in Bagheria. Palermo is impenetrable. If you wish, my mechanic Isidoro Canfarotta will help you. But as to the author of Il Gatopardo, you will not find anything. The only thing he left behind was a golden smoke.

It was almost night when I arrived in Palermo and her crumbling castles were immersed in the tangible pasta of the full moon. In the doorway of the Grand Hotel Et Des Palmes, where Lucky Luciano and other American gangsters would stay when they returned to Sicily, Isidoro Canfarotta, who had known of my arrival, received me with two kisses, one on each cheek. He was going to be my guide; but when I asked him to lead me to the trail of the writer of Il Gatopardo, Canfarotta said he didn’t know who that gentleman was. On the other hand, if I wanted to eat good pasta and fight my way through the Vucciria Market and the mafia dominated Kalsa district without being attacked, he was at my command.

I had to fend for myself. I had read that the author of Il Gatopardo, at the age of 60, would travel each morning from his large and rundown house on the Via Butera to the Pasticceria del Massimo on the Via Ruggero Settimo, where he had breakfast and read the newspaper. The waiters knew that this shabby, unsociable, corpulent gentleman, was a prince. His name was Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa.

On my way through the center of Palermo I passed by the ancient palace of his family which was destroyed by a bomb in 1943 during the landing of allied troops in Sicily. From that time on, it was uninhabited. During the summer, sea gulls would fly in and out through the broken windows. In bygone days, its salons hosted grand balls and soirées.

During cocktail hour, Lampedusa headed to the Café Mazzara. There, one day in 1954, before his tertulia (2) companions arrived, he opened a notebook and began to write the history of Prince Salinas, which he would be refining secretly for two years. During dead hours, like a caterpillar spinning a golden cocoon, he began filling his notebook with palaces and gardens, love affairs and adultery, all adhering to the sensation of elusive time, as lichen adhere to the marble of the statues that decorated the stairways of his palace.

The manuscript of Il Gatopardo lay neglected upon the desks of editors in the publishing houses of Mondadori and Einaudi. While those in charge of these publishing houses refused to publish it, Lampedusa, was dying in Rome of lung cancer. Neither the writer Vittorini, who was born in Siracusa, nor Leonardo Sciascia, who was also Sicilian, both influenced by Marxism and both regarded as gatekeepers to the dominant culture in Italy at that time, understood what this story was about. They saw it as an aestheticized account of the aristocratic past of the author himself when it was actually a profound tale about the passage of time filtered through impenetrable veils and adhering to the human soul; and it was about decay and regeneration always being the same.

Only the writer Giorgio Bassani, author of The Garden of the Finzi-Contini, understood its meaning of the work and had the manuscript of Lampedusa published at his own expense by the Feltrinelli Publishing House in 1958.

So, it’s true that in Palermo, Il Gatopardo has left behind only a trace of melancholy beneath the moon. The villa of Prince Salina is a ruin overrun by weeds behind a red ochre garden wall in the neighborhood of Mondello. The Cafe Mazzura and The Caflisch—the Pasticceria (pastry shop) of Massimo, where Lampedusa used to write, have disappeared.

Lampedusa avoided the neurosis of success. There’s never been a more comfortable fame.

---

Notes: (1) The Leopard—made into a movie by Luchino Visconti.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057091/?ref_=nv_sr_1?ref_=nv_sr_1

(2) a regular informal social gathering where issues of common interest, often dealing with art or literature, are discussed.

GIVING VOICE TO A NEW GENERATION