MCT: Saturday, December 21, 2019

• Rain Expected
• Crowningshield Memorial
• Boonville Lodge
• Slumlord Grumbling
• 1907 Garberville
• FFA Assistance
• Glow Worm
• Billy Eaton
• Candy Sale
• AV Village
• Crab Boats
• Ed Notes
• Big Surf
• Mental Services
• Rapist Sentenced
• McCowen Delusion
• Meth Misdemeanor
• SMART Kills
• Be Cool
• Candidate Rodin
• Yesterday's Catch
• Trump Rally
• Afghan War
• Another Xmas
• Reindeer Games
• Revolutionary Love
• Government Collapse
• Warren Interview
• Beatnik Kit
• Farmers' Convergence
• Pete Shots
• Tulsi Statement
• Country Boy
• Minor Leagues
• Impeach System
• Christmas Diatribe
• Crucified
• Anomie
• Found Object

GUSTY WINDS will diminish late this morning. Moderate to heavy rain is expected between this afternoon and Sunday morning, followed by lighter showers Sunday afternoon and evening. High elevation snow is expected above 4000 feet, with significant accumulations expected at Scott Mountain Summit on Highway 3. Additional rain and mountain snow may impact travel on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. (NWS)

Margy Crowningshield's memorial will be held at the Caspar Community Center on Saturday, December 21, 2019, starting at 3 PM.

To all those who knew and loved her,

Please join us in celebrating the life of Margy Crowningshield.

Where & When?

December 21, 2019, Winter Solstice

Caspar Community Center, 3pm onwards

What can I bring?

Please bring food and memories to share

3:00pm to 3:30pm Arrive and welcome

3:30pm to 6:00pm Celebration of life ceremony (speeches)

6:00pm to 7:30pm Potluck, Margy’s Music, Slideshow

7:30pm onwards Music by various local artists

We hope to see you then.

DAYLA HEPTING WRITES:

I am sorry to hear that the Boonville Lodge burned. What a great American bar. A legend, not just in the Anderson Valley but far and wide. I remember back in the early 80s when my ex Rick Hepting and I had decided to leave Berkeley and move to Boonville, mostly because of Bruce Anderson and AVA. Rick Hepting was the master of repairing The IBM Composer which was a portable typesetter designed like the IBM selectric typewriter. That’s how we came to know Bruce. These machines were already ancient then and often needed repair, so Bruce had to make the trek to Berkeley to await the magic repairs of Rick Hepting. Harry something or other [Blythe] who published the Mendocino Commentary also had a ramshackle IBM Composer so he to had to see Rick in Berkeley frequently. When I told Harry about our move he was aghast. He said Boonville was just a pack of rednecks, hippies, and Mexicans fighting like cats and dogs. That’s when I first heard about the Boonville Lodge. He repeated much of what you have recounted in this story, especially dwelling on the Mexicans’ rebellion and siege on the rednecks at the Lodge. He suggested we move to the wilds of Sebastapol. We knew right then that if we had any reservations about the move to Boonville, they were gone now. Harry sold us over the top. We moved to Anderson Valley and it never did disappoint. Just one quick story. I will never forget when the young Bloyds tied some hapless guy to a chair and drove all up and down 128 in the back of their pickup in the late night hours. When they got bored with that they picked him up chair and all and left him in the lobby of the Boonville post office for the post mistress to find in the morning! What a great place Boonville was in those days and she wore the Lodge as a crowning jewel!

BURNED OUT BOONVILLE BUILDING’S SLUMLORD

Letter to Editor,

The burning of the multiplex in downtown Boonville has led many to discuss their own experiences dealing with the landlord who owned the buildings of: Pic N Pay, The Cantina/Bar, Lizbby’s and the homes and rentals which were too numerous to mention located behind those businesses. All have been put out of their homes, even those in trailers at the rear of the property that didn’t burn — for lack of utilities since the fire.

Renters, previous to the fire, and those renting at the time of the fire, repeat one common statement heard redundantly about the landlord’s favorite expression, “I’m not fixing it.”

One woman who used to live in a trailer rental behind Pic-N-Pay and was familiar with her old landlord, spoke with him after he appeared a day or two after the fire to review the scene. He flat out lied to her, saying that he was there the day of the fire, and even described to her how the fire was ablaze when he threw the door open to the apartment in flames. How curious and Trump-like of him. And, if he was there at the time of the fire, how peculiarly incriminating is THAT!? Everyone else who saw the landlord, says it took him a couple of days to arrive on the scene, since he is an absentee landlord living in Sonoma, who performs NO maintenance.

His first words when he saw the burned out rubble? You guessed it: “I’m not fixing it!”.

Currently his former renters are consulting lawyers. I hope everyone who’s ever rented from this negligent landlord sues him in class action, before he’s paid out by his insurance company, so that he has to pay his renters a huge award for his continually deliberate, egregious, life-threatening violations. Past renters can also be on such a class action law suit if they experienced also and can document, NO MAINTENANCE over the years while renters. As well, did this landlord ever offer renters free rent for sex? Yes, sleazy too.

Here’s to hoping you renters find a good lawyer outside the County of Mendocino – maybe S/Rosa or SF, who has a firm big enough to handle a large class action suit full of previous business folks who had rented the bar in all of its many incarnations, Pic N Pay, Lizby’s, etc., and those who lived there in particular.

I am told by the family who lived in the unit with the gas leak, that they’d been cooking food at Lizbby’s and bringing it home to their apt, as it was too dangerous to turn on the already leaking gas in their unit – it had been leaking for so long, without repairs by the landlord.

Another example is the cheapskate landlord’s refusal to repair the refrigeration for the last decade, at the local bar, known by many names over the years, from “The Bucket of Blood” to “The Cantina.” Until recently, beers were served out of a cooler full of ice. The landlord encouraging the business owners to buy ice at Pic N Pay to keep the beverages cool. All of these business owners and renters should be included in a class action against this awful unlawful life-threatening landlord.

NOW, after THREE fires last week, will this community want to enter into serious discussion regarding a water system that’ll at least put out a decent sized blaze? And take care of their sewer in the water table problem, as well? Boonville is at the point of not being able to ignore any more.

Name Withheld,

Boonville

IN 1907 GARBERVILLE CELEBRATED with a Christmas Eve program of song and recitation by the children of the town, a play, and additional singing. On Christmas night there was a masked ball, with contests for prizes (portraying minorities was not frowned upon in 1907).

kymkemp.com/2019/12/20/christmas-in-garberville-circa-1907-included-a-masked-costume-ball/

SO HAPPY TODAY THAT THE ANDERSON VALLEY FFA was able to give out twelve $100 gift cards and one $25 card to youth who have lost their homes in the recent rash of AV house fires. The youth range in age from 18 to 8 or 9 and 1 toddler. All of the youth were FFA members, are FFA members, or are siblings of FFA members. Younger recipients also were given a Teddy bear.

Thank you to everyone who donated to the cause. The recipients were so thankful for your help.

My Soils and Ag Chemistry class wrote notes to all those getting cards. They are heartfelt. They made me tear up. Take a moment to read them.

Thanks again!

Beth Swehla, Ag Teacher, AV High School

PETIT TETON MONTHLY FARM REPORT — NOVEMBER 2019

"In January 2019, Joshua Oliva, who recently completed his undergraduate studies at UC Riverside, discovered a brand-new species of firefly while exploring in the Santa Monica mountains." [phys.org/news/2015-06-undergraduate-firefly-species.html]

Last week, I was showering in our dimly lit outdoor shower room when I happened to look down and noticed in the shadows two greenish colored lights. For a moment I thought I might have had on sparkly earrings one of which was knocked off. Then I touched the object with my toe and it curled up! I picked it up and it uncurled and blinked in my palm, a lizard-like, flatish bug about an inch and a half long with glowing lights on either side of its rear end. WOW. I put it in a jar and brought it with me to the computer, where, after a bit of research, I learned it was a glow worm, a microphotus, the larvae of a firefly. As an east coaster I always wondered why there were no fireflies in California, assuming it was because it was too dry. Now I know better.

The larvae are carnivores, eating snails and slugs, but the firefly is mainly a herbivore, eating pollen. The shower in which I found the insect is in a small potting shed filled with plants which flower in some seasons, and a small smoker. It is the perfect environment for both the larvae and the adult (and my plants!). This summer I'll visit the shed more often at night in the hope of seeing a firefly flitting about.

I put the larvae back in the shed into a potted plant near the shower. It winked at me as I put it down. The picture is exactly what I found, but sadly it doesn't show the light sacks on its rear end. You'll just have to imagine them.

Take care, have wonderful holidays, and we look forward to seeing some of you next year.

Nikki Auschnitt and Steve Krieg

THE MAN FOUND DEAD UNDER A BRIDGE in Gibson Creek last week was identified by the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office as a 60-year-old transient named Billy Melvin Eaton.

MCSO Capt. Greg Van Patten said that “no next of kin was located and the case was referred to a public guardian.” He said the official cause of death was “still pending.”

Eaton’s body was reported around 1:10 p.m. Dec. 13 by someone walking by the bridge under Highway 101, located behind the parking lot near Big Lots on South Orchard Avenue. When the person found Eaton unresponsive, they called 911.

At the scene, UPD Officer Kevin Murray said “there are no signs of foul play” and that the death did not seem suspicious.

Another transient about the same age died last month in Ukiah. According to the Ukiah Police Department, a caller reported finding a man dead at the southern end of the Home Depot parking lot around 3:47 p.m. Nov. 3.

Van Patten said the man was identified as Charles Wayne Hensley, 55, and that the cause of his death was also still pending.

THERE’S STILL A LITTLE BIT OF SEE’S CANDY left at the Senior Center. Makes a great last minute holiday gift.

There is:

• 3 - cans of Toffee-ettes $21 each
• 3 - Peanut Brittles $20.89 each
• 3 - Lollipops $20 each
• 6 - 1# Assorted Chocolates $21 each
• 2 -Dark Chocolates $21 each
• 2 - Milk Chocolates $21 each

AV VILLAGE MONTHLY GATHERINGS:

This month’s gathering "Disaster Preparedness and Emergencies!" on Sunday January 12th 4 to 5:30 pm at Lauren's will look at the power outage, the impact and how we the Village/our community can better navigate it and look after each other. Refreshment provided. We are always looking for people to bring finger food, if you would like to bring food to this gathering let us know — thank you!

AV Village Volunteer Training:

We also have a volunteer training Sunday January 12th 3 to 4 pm (right before our monthly gathering) at Lauren’s — we ask each new volunteer to complete this short training; please RSVP with our coordinator (contact info below) if you can attend. Thank you!

New — Coffee with the AV Village Coordinator:

Our first one will be Thursday January 23rd 10:15 to 11 am at the Mosswood Market in Boonville. Come down for an informal chat with Anica (the AV Village coordinator) and other AV Village members, volunteers and supporters. Ask questions, share concerns, share ideas for improving our Village/community, visit with your neighbors, etc. I plan on holding these every 4th Thursday through May.

Book conversation:

Our next one will be Wednesday January 29th at 11:00am at Lauren’s. The current book is still “Enlightenment Now — The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress” by Steven Pinker. We are now covering chapters 10-12. Contact Lauren for questions laurenk@pacific.net

Cultural Outing with Mary O’Brien:

Join Mary for the Symphony of the Redwoods Winter Concert on Sunday February 2nd at 2 pm, Cotton Auditorium in Fort Bragg: Resounding Firsts, Allan Pollack, conductor — Guest Artist: James D'Leon, piano. Contact Mary about carpooling: mheobrien@gmail.com (mailto:mheobrien@gmail.com) or cell 707-367-9728. For tickets and info:

All the best,

Anica Williams

Anderson Valley Village Coordinator

Cell: 707-684-9829

Email: andersonvalleyvillage@gmail.com

Mailing address: Anderson Valley Village

P.O. Box 576 Boonville, CA 95415

THERE'LL BE CRABBING OFFSHORE DECEMBER 28TH!

ED NOTES

THE FIGURE seems classified, but how much have the generous people of the Anderson Valley raised to re-shelter our fire victims? I know a guy who scraped together $2700 he really can't afford for a rental for one vic. He oughta be reimbursed, and he probably will be. The entities collecting money are primarily two:

(1) The Community Foundation of Mendocino County
204 South Oak Street
Ukiah, CA 95482
Phone: (707) 468-9882
Fax: (707 ) 468-5529
info@communityfound.org

and,

(2) Sueno Latino via Donna Pierson-Pugh at 707-684-0325.

---

THE COUNTY JAIL add-on will mostly house mental patients. Prisons and police are doing much of the mental health back-stopping these days in lieu of a federal hospital system and an ever rising tide of the mentally ill, many of them getting that way from drugs. When the incarcerated mentally ill are separated from the mainline tough guys, as they are most places, they may not get sane but at least they're not preyed upon, and even if there was a national effort to house and treat the mentally ill they would be housed in lock-up facilities, as the severe case used to be at Mendo's very own state hospital at Talmage, now a Buddhist learning center.

DURING one of my incarcerations at the Mendo County Jail, I was housed next door to what I recall was "A Unit," the section of the Jail housing the crazy guys. The violently assaultive crazy guys were housed in isolation cells awaiting transfer to the hard-to-get-into state hospital at Napa. But A Unit was probably the happiest room in Mendocino County! All day the inmates laughed, whistled, sang, played dominoes — a cacophony of joy! Outside, this crew is lost, unable to competently (or legally) function. Inside, they have structure and companionship.

A STORY on NPR this week lamented that fostered youth are bounced from home-to-home and then, at the magic age of 18, thrown out of the system to fend for themselves, many of them soon landing in jails and prisons, double victims of absent families and ineffective education. Along the way, an apparatus more numerous than them lives well off their dependence. This situation, and the seemingly annual discussion it inspires, is now at least sixty years old, beginning in the middle 1960's as the old orphanage system collapsed under the weight of more and more dependent, now monetized, children. For years, people who studied the foster system recommended the obvious, or what should have been obvious — in many cases if the money spent on foster homes were paid to the fragged family to care for their own child, the kid, however inadequate his parent or parents (short of overt psychosis), would be better off. America, in theory, doesn't have social classes, but foster children come from one class — the very poor. If wealthy children were snatched into government's clutches… Well…

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TRUMP'S denunciation of corporate liberals like Nancy Pelosi as "radical leftists" who, in his next breath he denounced as "radical leftists and progressives" echoes Pelosi, Biden, Mayor Pete, and Klobuchar who, at last night's debate, outdid themselves as they tried to out-moderate each other. "I'm more moderate than you, Pete!" These middle-of-the-road extremists, and their wealthy sponsors, are terrified that Liz-Bernie are polling wayyyyyy ahead of them and their funders. It's going to be interesting to watch how the DNC eludes Liz-Bernie in 2020, thus smoothing the way for four more years for Trump.

I WONDER how effective the deliberate conflation of communism, socialism, far left, anarchist, liberal, leftist, onanist, is with that stalwart American minority who vote? Liz-Bernie's medicare for all is the contemporary equivalent of what social security was for FDR's New Deal. The great malefactors of wealth, and their gofers of the 1930s, and like Biden, Mayor Pete, Trump et a today, denounced social security as downright Bolshevism, and did it in the same language they're using now to denounce medicare for all. Don't be fooled my fellow Mendolanders. Medicare for all, like social security, will be an enormous boon for the vast majority of Americans.

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PHIL BALDWIN was taking no chances when he wrote his own obituary. That way, Phil outflanked the critics he attracted when he was alive, telling his life story as he wanted it told. Good for him.. If your send off is left in the dubious hands of the mortician's secretary, well, like most of you I daresay, you've noticed the error-packed obits common in local newspapers.

BIG SURF TODAY

(via MSP)

JAMES MARMON on the County’s recent release of a large bunch of Mental Health data:

It appears that disallowances on Medi-Cal billing has gone down, which is good, but Medi-Cal billing is separate from the 20 million that the county is gifting to the Schraders. Where's the money Camille?

There's a lot of services being provided that would be Medi-Cal reimbursable but the programs don't meet criteria, such as day treatment at Manzanita House and Hospitality Center. By not being able to bill Medi-Cal for those services other funding is being used up that could be used to bolster other services. Another program that is eating up money is SUDT services due to the County's inability to bill Medi-Cal. Kemper talked about this in his needs assessment.

WILLITS RAPIST GOES AWAY

Defendant Marcus Levert Caldwell, age 29, of Willits, was sentenced Thursday morning by the Mendocino County Superior Court to 192 months (16 years) in the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

The charges for which the defendant stands convicted are forcible rape, three counts of sexual penetration by force with a foreign object, and residential burglary.

Because the rape charge is characterized in the Penal Code as a violent felony, any credits against his prison sentence that the defendant may attempt to earn at CDCR shall not exceed 15% of the overall sentence.

Additionally, as required by the prosecutor, the defendant waived all presentence credits he had earned from the date of his arrest in October 2018 through today's sentencing hearing.

For background, as potential jurors were reporting for jury service at the Ukiah courthouse back on November 12th, the defendant was upstairs for the first calling of his case to make sure the trial would be proceeding that morning. It was then that the defendant's appetite for a jury trial apparently waned. Instead of proceeding to trial, he opted to waive his right to a trial, he plead guilty to five felony charges, and he stipulated to a state prison commitment of 16 years, less than what he could have received had he been convicted by a jury under different legal scenarios.

However, things did not go as expected thereafter. Apparently suffering from a case of buyer's remorse, the defendant filed his first motion to set aside his trial waiver and guilty pleas. When that motion was called for hearing on November 27th, the defendant withdrew his request.

Today, the defendant attempted a second motion to set aside his trial waiver and guilty pleas. After hearing the legal arguments of the parties, the Court denied the defendant's request and the stipulated sentence was imposed.

The law enforcement agencies that worked together to gather the necessary evidence to support the defendant's felony convictions and today's sentence were the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office, the California Department of Justice forensic crime laboratories in Eureka, Redding (DNA), and Santa Rosa, and the District Attorney's own Bureau of Investigations.

The prosecutor who has been personally handling the prosecution of this defendant is Assistant District Attorney Dale P. Trigg.

Mendocino County Superior Court Judge Keith Faulder has been presiding over all proceedings in this matter.

Backstory

• www.theava.com/archives/89552#7
• www.theava.com/archives/113364

ACCORDING TO Jonah Raskin’s piece on the recent Emerald Cup in Ukiah, Supervisor John McCowen is even more delusional about his pot program than even we thought: “McCowen noted that while car dealerships had benefited from the Green Rush, not everyone had grown rich. Property values had declined with regulation, he said. But McCowen predicted that Mendocino would become well known for high quality cannabis and for pot tourism, too, and that the cannabis market would become an integral part of the economy of the whole county, and not remain an underground stream.”

GIVEN the many obstacles and costs to go legal and the continuing strength of the black market, does anyone agree with that prediction? In his most honest moments, even McCowen agrees that the pot legalization program is a failure by any measure, although McCowen prefers to blame the pot growers and the state for the problems, not Mendo’s own rules and fees.

MISDEMEANOR METH POSSESSOR: GUILTY

UKIAH, Wed., Dec. 18. — A Mendocino County jury returned from its deliberations this Wednesday morning to find the trial defendant guilty of the lesser-included crime of possession of methamphetamine, a misdemeanor.

Going into the trial, defendant Paul Jose Rivera, age 60, of Ukiah, was charged with commercial possession of methamphetamine, a felony.

Defendant Rivera was already on court-ordered drug education diversion, approved by the voters as part of Proposition 47, for a prior methamphetamine arrest when he was again arrested in August of this year with the drugs and other evidence that were the subject of this week's trial.

The investigating law enforcement agencies were the Ukiah Police Department and the Department of Justice forensic crime laboratory.

The prosecutor who presented the People's evidence was Deputy District Attorney Luke Oakley.

EIGHTH SMART TRAIN FATALITY THIS YEAR

A 71-year-old man who was struck by a northbound SMART train in Novato on Thursday died from the impact, the Novato Police Department said.

pressdemocrat.com/news/10492896-181/man-71-killed-by-smart

I DETEST a word that people use a lot, be cool. Why be cool when life is full of passion? Of love and hate and murders and marriages and dramas. Cool? Cool is for a drink. A soft drink even. So that was my remains. My burning, burning feeling.

— Edna O'Brien

MARI RODIN ENTERS 2ND DISTRICT SUPERVISOR RACE

Ukiah, CA – With the March primary approaching, longtime Ukiah resident, 11-year Ukiah City Councilwoman, and former Mayor Mari Rodin has entered the race for 2nd District Supervisor. During her tenure as a Ukiah City Councilwoman, Rodin represented Ukiah to the League of California Cities and served on the board of the Russian River Watershed Association. As Mayor, Rodin focused on issues of community health and land use, leading to the revision of the Ukiah City zoning and park policies to create a more walkable city and incentivize in-fill growth.

“Home to a severe housing shortage and a struggling economy, our community needs purposeful development and economic revitalization that reflects the realities of a rapidly changing world. As Supervisor, I will bring my knowledge and experience to the table to advocate for growth while protecting our agricultural lands and open space, spur economic development while supporting local businesses, and ensure a sustainable environment that contributes to a thriving Mendocino County,” says Rodin.

Rodin is cofounder of Hopper and Rodin Associates, a grant-writing firm that secures funding for local nonprofits and public agencies for projects ranging from disaster planning to youth violence prevention. Rodin’s recent work has generated funding for substance abuse treatment and case management at the Ford Street Project, development of segments of the Great Redwood Trail through Ukiah, and afterschool enrichment programs at Near & Arnold’s School for Performing Arts and Cultural Education. “The over $100 million in funds won by Hopper and Rodin Associates has had a tremendous impact on the quality and availability of services in our community,” says retired Director of Public Health Carol Mordhorst.

The 2nd District consists of large portions of the Ukiah Valley including the City of Ukiah and many of the surrounding neighborhoods. John McCowen, who currently serves as 2nd District Supervisor, announced his retirement from the Board of Supervisors in November. Former Councilwoman Mary Anne Landis, Carlos Jacinto, retired judge Dave Nelson, and physician Marvin Trotter in endorsing Rodin. The primary election will be held March 3rd, 2020.

To learn more visit www.MariRodin.com

Contact: Mari Rodin — (707) 462.9575 – Rodin@pacific.net

CATCH OF THE DAY, December 20, 2019

SHANNON BAKER II, Ukiah. Probation revocation.

BENJAMIN CLARK, Potter Valley. DUI.

HACK CULLING JR., Fairfield/Ukiah. DUI, domestic battery, false imprisonment, criminal threats.

VINSON HILL, Ukiah. DUI-alcohol&drugs.

WILLIAM JACKSON IV, Ukiah. Battery, controlled substance, ammo possession by prohibited person, suspended license.

EDDIE KNIGHT II, Redwood Valley. Disorderly conduct-alcohol, resisting.

WILLIAM MEDERS, Ukiah. County parole violation.

SONJA MOLINA, Willits. DUI, battery on peace officer, child endangerment.

ANTONIO RAMIREZ, Cloverdale/Ukiah. DUI-alcohol&drugs, no license.

TIMOTHY SALO, Fort Bragg. Disorderly conduct-alcohol, resisting, probation revocation.

TRUMP MELTS DOWN AT RALLY AFTER GETTING IMPEACHED

Actually amazing capture of President Trump’s devolution into senility. Whoa?

HERE’S THE REAL “SECRET HISTORY” OF THE AFGHANISTAN WAR: It wasn’t a failure, it was a success.

In every facet, on every front, Afghanistan is exactly what America needed it to be.

They dripfeed in the blood of young Americans, they destroy 100,000s of Afghan lives, and they reap the rewards they always intended to reap:

The permanent slow-simmer conflict gives them an excuse to keep thousands of US military personnel in a country which borders Iran, Pakistan AND China. (Not to mention a host of ex-Soviet states).

It keeps military expenditure nice and high, so Congressman, ex-generals and everyone else on the boards of Boeing or Lockheed Martin get great big bonuses every year.

They have sole access to the rare-Earth elements and other vital metals in the Afghan mountains. Lithium, most importantly of all.

They have control of the world’s opium industry. A vital cog in the relations of the US intelligence agencies, and organised crime. It’s essentially reverse money-laundering – turning tax-payer funds into dark money that can be spent hiring mercenaries, organising assassinations, arranging coups…or simply be stolen.

They have access to all the “radicalised” young men they could ever want. A little Jihadi farm, where “terrorists” can be named, trained and sent off to fight proxy wars in Syria, or spread fear and chaos in the West.

Afghanistan is a great asset to the Empire. The US Deep State has spent a fortune making it so. They could at least be honest about it.

—Kit Knightly

ANOTHER YEAR GONE BY AND MY OH MY

REINDEER GAMES

by James Kunstler

The WashPo staffers had barely finished toasting “merry impeachmas” — and then quickly deleting the incriminating tweet + photo that signaled their self-owned chagrin — when the implications of the day’s solemn work started sifting through those quarters of the alt-news media where the chronically self-owned don’t dare to go, or even look: Nancy Pelosi and her too-clever-by-half Lawfare grunts had engineered a Hanging Chad Impeachment.

Apparently, Mrs. Pelosi wants to play Hide the Salami with the impeachment bill. She invoked some slippery procedure to stash it where the sun don’t shine in the hope that the senate won’t be able to follow through with its duty to try the very charges set out in the bill. How’s that gonna go over when the details are actually sorted out?

So far, there are just opinions a’plenty. One was offered by Noah Feldman of Harvard, the very fellow who testified last week fervidly in favor of impeachment before Mr. Nadler’s Judiciary Committee. He wrote, in a Bloomberg op-ed, that the action would signify that the president had not, in fact, been impeached, that it would only be so if the bill were conveyed to the senate. The issue of conveyance looms large in the present kerfuffle.

The constitution says nothing about such conveyance, whether by errand boy, postcard, mounted messenger, dog-sled, palanquin, trumpet blast, Morse code, pneumatic tube, hog-call, smoke signal, telephone, FedEx, DM, skywriting, or a girl popping out of a cake with an envelope tucked in her brassiere. It just states that it’s the sole power of the House to draft the charges and the sole power of the senate to conduct a trial of the charges. Of course, the charges have been published in the Congressional Record, which one might think is sufficient “conveyance” of the house’s action and intent — though other voices claim not even that is required for the senate to act.

The matter of conveyance derives strictly from precedent, tradition, and rules accrued over the centuries in legislative practice. But these, of course, are not stipulated in the supreme law of the land, the founding document. Since the house made up its own rather unsportsmanlike rules for assembling the charges, first in Adam Schiff’s Intel Committee and then in Mr. Nadler’s HJC — deviously disadvantaging the defense with star chamber subterfuges — the senate can follow its own rules, too, including the option to dismiss the bill summarily as devoid of merit. After all, “abuse of power” has no criminal specificity, high or low, and “obstruction of the house” refers fallaciously to the president’s right to seek relief from the supreme court in a procedural disagreement with another branch of government.

Mr. Trump appears eager and avid to go to trial, where his side could call witnesses to his heart’s delight while denying the opposition any witnesses, just as the Dems did in the house. His managers could call in the Bidens, Joe and Hunter, to explain their 2014 adventures in Ukraine, and the impressive payments tendered to them — for what? The defense could compel the testimony of the rogue CIA agent, Eric Ciaramella, to explain his pretensions of whistleblowing, and also his enabler, Intel IG Michael Atkinson, who left a procedural slime-trail in his handling of the “whistleblower” ruse. They could call in the fact-witness to all that, Rep. Adam Schiff, who would excite the wonder and loathing of the nation in being forced to reveal his part in that charade and to recount the myriad falsehoods he has spawned in three years of RussiaGate chicanery — which, in a truly just world, would prompt his expulsion from the house. They could haul in Messrs Obama, Brennan, Clapper, Comey, Mueller, Weissman, Rosenstein, McCabe, Ohr, Lynch, Strzok, Ms. Page, Ms. Yates, Mrs. Lynch, Mr. Halper — though I suspect that bunch would be better left to the ministrations of John Durham, just as the Democratic primaries roll out.

A trial like that would be a rich spectacle for sure after subjecting the nation to three years of malicious, perfidious sedition. But other gusts of rumor intimate that senators on the Republican side would prefer to not open any cans of Ukrainian worms in a trial, since money laundered through the Ukrainian oligarch mills may have found its way into their pockets as well. Who knows…?

The simplest explanation for this hot mess is that Mrs. Pelosi’s team wanted desperately to just distract the country’s attention from the Horowitz report — which it pretty much failed to do — and now that she’s shot her wad with that gambit, she’s left holding a bag of meritless impeachment bullshit that will disappoint and embarrass the Resistance just as much as the Mueller investigation managed to do. Which leads to the question: when does this faction finally lose its appetite for self-degradation and dishonor?

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

THE REVOLUTIONARY LOVE MOVEMENT: AN IDEA WHOSE TIME HAS COME?

by Jonah Raskin

“At the risk of seeming ridiculous, let me say that the true revolutionary is guided by a great feeling of love. It is impossible to think of a genuine revolutionary lacking this quality.”

– Che

For centuries, love has been a revolutionary force in the lives of individual human beings and societies, too. Now, there’s also something called “revolutionary love,” though you won’t find that variety on the Wikipedia page for love, which lists “conjugal love,” “free love,” “platonic love” and more. Now, there’s also a contemporary “revolutionary love movement” that’s driven in part by the recent explosions of hate that come from the alt-right and from enclaves of white power, but that are not limited to one single ethnic group, gender or social class.

If love and revolution are both potent forces, each in their own right, think how alluring they have been together, and how many romantics, from the English poets, John Keats and Percy Bysshe Shelley, to the dashing reporter and bohemian, John Reed, have been swept away by them, sometimes to their deaths. Shelley died at 30, Reed at 32 and Che at 39. Love and revolution take a heavy toll.

One might say that there’s a worldwide epidemic of hatred that targets Moslems, Buddhists, Catholics, Protestants, Jews, atheists and agnostics and that finds expression in hate crimes, hate speech, racism, bigotry and some nationalisms.

Michael Lerner, a kind of maverick Berkeley rabbi, has recently written and published a manifesto titled Revolutionary Love in which he calls for the creation of a “Love and Justice Party,” the “globalization of generosity” and the formation of a “ post-socialist”and a “Caring Society.” Yeah, he’s a latter-day Utopian who tells his followers not to be realistic.

Lerner describes the world he wants to create “post socialist,” rather than “democratic socialist,” or just plain “socialist” because in his view, “societies that called themselves socialist democracies in Europe often ended up either susceptive to authoritarian leaders or to bureaucratic governments.” Too bad he ignores the positive achievements of socialist movements and socialist activists around the world. Lerner adds that the movement to which he aims to give birth “must differentiate ourselves by calling ourselves post-socialist or love socialists.” That’s a new term, too: “love socialists,” though many American socialists like Eugene Debs, thought they were in love with humanity.

Lerner seems to understand how fraught with difficulties the potent word “love” can be. In Revolutionary Love he writes that in the 1960s he “hated being told by rock stars at anti-war rallies, ‘ love all of you.’” How curious that he moves almost unconsciously from his endorsement of “love” to his recollection of how much he “hated” the self-defined apostles of love. By 1975 when Captain and Tennille came along with “Love Will Keep Us Together” love lyrics had been thoroughly overused and abused.

The love apostles were everywhere in the 1960s. “Love is all you need” the Beatles sang and a generation echoed their words. The Youngbloods chimed in with ”Try to love one another right now.” At least Roxy Music pointed to the dark side in “Love is the Drug” which tells a story of addictive lovers.

Lerner was not the first to be troubled by the indiscriminate use of the word “love.” Frederick Engels, Karl Marx comrade and co-author of The Communist Manifesto, noted in 1884 in his book, The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State, “civilization covers the evils it necessarily creates with the cloak of love, to excuse them, or deny their existence.”

That’s a harsh condemnation, though one can find examples of what he had in mind in Victorian England, near the height of the British Empire, when love was used to sell products like chocolates and especially on and around Valentine’s Day. One savvy manufacturer, inserted chocolates into boxes shaped like hearts. The idea being that if you love someone you purchased chocolates and gave them as a gift to someone to prove your affections.

Today, hearts and heart-shaped boxes, along with American flags are on products in malls and supermarkets here and everywhere that goods manufactured in the U.S. are sold. Do advertisers think that consumers will he persuaded to buy chocolates, soaps, perfumes, shaving creams and more because they have hearts and flags and the word love on the packaging? “Love—It’s What Makes a Subaru a Subaru” helps sell millions of cars.

In the 1960s, advertisers discovered that Americans would buy products and support causes if the words “revolution” and “revolutionary” were attached to them. We had “the revolution in underarm deodorant,” the “Dodge Revolution” and in the 1980s, to top it off, “The Reagan Revolution.” That was a major turnaround.

For decades, the words “revolution” and “revolutionary” had negative connotations. In the 1950s, a revolutionay was almost as bad as a terrorist. A revolutionary wanted to tear down and destroy, and not be constructive. Now at the end of the 2010s, and the start of the 2020s, love and revolution have been linked as never before, and not only by rabbi Michael Lerner and his Berkeley congregation.

Dozens of distinguished religious and political figures, as well as artists, have recently signed a “Declaration of Love” that has echoes of the Declaration of Independence and that’s separate from Lerner and his cause. Apparently it’s an idea whose time has come. “The Revolutionary Love Project,” which was founded by Valerie Kaur and that’s based at the University of Southern California, has posted the Declaration of Love on its website and a definition: “Love is not just a feeling but a form of sweet love.” Yeah, it’s hard work to love someone or something. Those who have signed the declaration include the usual suspects: Elizabeth Warren, Van Jones, Eve Ensler, Ani DiFranco, Jane Fonda and half-a-dozen U.S. rabbis, both men and women. Lerner isn’t one of them.

Warren and Company profess their love “for all who are in harm’s way,” including “refugees, immigrants, Muslims, Sikhs, Jews, queer and trans people, Black people, Latinx people, the indigenous, the disabled, women and girls, working-class people and poor people.”

Are we supposed to love all poor people and all queers and refugees? In a world of climate change, rising ocean levels, air pollution and toxic chemicals in foods and elsewhere, is there anyone not in “harm’s way?” Is one to express revolutionary love for all these people by sending chocolates, greeting cards, Christmas presents, and voting for candidates for the presidency like Warren?

With all the talk about “revolutionary love” in the age of global rage, it’s surprising that no one has quoted Che Guevara who proclaimed, “At the risk of seeming ridiculous, let me say that the true revolutionary is guided by a great feeling of love. It is impossible to think of a genuine revolutionary lacking this quality.”

Che, the guerrilla, was also a romantic and an adventurer who went on the road in Latin America and wrote about his experiences in Motorcycle Diaries. Later, he wanted to force the U.S. to overextend itself militarily, and for guerrillas to cut off its tentacles and bleed it to death. From the point of view of the 21st century that seems delusional, but it didn’t seem that way in the mid-1960s. Che: live like him! Now his name and his likeness are used to sell all kinds of commodities. I happen to have a cigarette box with Che’s image and signature and the words, in Spanish, “20 cigarrillos rubios con filtro” and “Prohida la venta a menores de 18 años.”

Che’s life, legend, marriages, to Hilda Gadea and Aleida March, and his five children, complicate the web of love and revolution. “May our children be like Che,” Fidel Castro said on the day he announced Che's death in Bolivia. We might amend his comment and say, “the true human being ought to be guided by great feelings of love.” Still, I’ve always thought that a little class hatred went a long way. If you’re going to build a barricade and overthrow the state, anger can be a very useful tool.

(Jonah Raskin is the author of For The Hell of It: The Life and Times of Abbie Hoffman and American Scream: Allen Ginsberg’s ‘Howl’ and the Making of the Beat Generation.)

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

I believe we are witnessing the unraveling of the US Government. The collapse of it is on the horizon. Party politics have degraded to outright gang warfare. One party controls the House. The other controls the Senate. Each plays an important roll in the Impeachment and potential Conviction process. The gang that controls the Senate accuses the gang that controls the House of rigging the hearings. Then the gang that controls the House will accuse the Senate controlling gang of rigging the trial. This will keep going throughout 2020 and it will infect the elections. I think that we’ll be seeing lawfare tactics employed to fight in the courts whatever the outcome will be. We’re headed to a constitutional crisis of epic proportions. I don’t pretend to know what happens then, but I just know it will not be pleasant.

ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL WITH ELIZABETH WARREN

rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/elizabeth-warren-interview-cover-927716/

FARMERS CONVERGENCE

The North Coast Farmers’ Convergence is coming to Ridgewood Ranch for its 8th year on Sunday, February 16th & Monday, February 17th (day two is all things MendoFood Hub related). So mark your calendars now!

The North Coast Farmers’ Convergence is a celebration of growing a resilient local food system and the vital profession of farming in Northern California.

In previous years, the Farmers’ Convergence has brought together over 150 local farmers, ranchers, retailers and advocates from Mendocino, Lake, Humboldt and Sonoma Counties for networking, education and inspiration.

This year’s Farmers’ Convergence is an opportunity for our community to gain access to resources, people, and programs they may not have known existed. Ideally, attendees will leave the event inspired and prepared for the growing season ahead. According to participants, successful outcomes of the day included forging successful connections that enhance our local economy, linking farmers with needed resources and new or renewed buyer contracts for food producers.

The 8th Annual Farmers’ Convergence promises to build on the successes of the previous years with new workshops, speakers and additional intensive educational sessions. We have an amazing lineup, stay tuned!

EVERYBODY HATES PETE

For reasons of both ideology and youth, the Indiana mayor had a target on his back in the Democratic debate.

thenation.com/article/democratic-debate-pete-buttigieg/

TULSI'S STATEMENT ON THE IMPEACHMENT VOTE

December 19th, 2019, Washington, DC — Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D, Hawaii) today released the following statement today on her vote regarding the impeachment of President Trump:

Throughout my life, whether through serving in the military or in Congress, I’ve always worked to do what is in the best interests of our country. Not what’s best for me politically or what’s best for my political party. I have always put our country first. One may not always agree with my decision, but everyone should know that I will always do what I believe to be right for the country that I love.

After doing my due diligence in reviewing the 658-page impeachment report, I came to the conclusion that I could not in good conscience vote either yes or no.

I am standing in the center and have decided to vote Present. I could not in good conscience vote against impeachment because I believe President Trump is guilty of wrongdoing.

I also could not in good conscience vote for impeachment because removal of a sitting President must not be the culmination of a partisan process, fueled by tribal animosities that have so gravely divided our country. When I cast my vote in support of the impeachment inquiry nearly three months ago, I said that in order to maintain the integrity of this solemn undertaking, it must not be a partisan endeavor. Tragically, that’s what it has been.

On the one side — The president’s defenders insist that he has done nothing wrong. They agree with the absurd proclamation that his conduct was “perfect.” They have abdicated their responsibility to exercise legitimate oversight, and instead blindly do the bidding of their party’s leader.

On the other side — The president’s opponents insist that if we do not impeach, our country will collapse into dictatorship. All but explicitly, they accuse him of treason. Such extreme rhetoric was never conducive to an impartial fact-finding process.

The Founders of our country made clear their concerns about impeachment being a purely partisan exercise. In the Federalist Papers, Alexander Hamilton warned against any impeachment that would merely “connect itself with the pre-existing factions,” and “enlist all their animosities, partialities, influence, and interest on one side or on the other.” In such cases, he said, “there will always be the greatest danger that the decision will be regulated more by the comparative strength of parties, than by the real demonstrations of innocence or guilt.”

Donald Trump has violated public trust. Congress must be unequivocal in denouncing the president’s misconduct and stand up for the American people and our democracy. To this end, I have introduced a censure resolution that will send a strong message to this president and future presidents that their abuses of power will not go unchecked, while leaving the question of removing Trump from office to the voters to decide. I am confident that the American people will decide to deliver a resounding rebuke of President Trump’s innumerable improprieties and abuses. And they will express that judgment at the ballot box. That is the way real and lasting change has always occurred in this great country: through the forcefully expressed will of the people.

A house divided cannot stand. And today we are divided. Fragmentation and polarity are ripping our country apart. This breaks my heart, and breaks the hearts of all patriotic Americans, whether we are Democrats, Republicans, or Independents.

So today, I come before you to make a stand for the center, to appeal to all of you to bridge our differences and stand up for the American people. My vote today is a vote for much needed reconciliation and hope that together we can heal our country. Let’s work side-by-side, seeking common ground, to usher in a bright future for the American people and our nation.

WILL MLB'S BATTLE WITH THE MINOR LEAGUES deal a blow to America's heart?

Part of MLB’s proposal includes shifting teams to new locations and moving some short-season teams to full-season status. But the bottom line is if the proposal is successful, minor league baseball will be reduced from 160 guaranteed teams to just 118. MLB claims its key rationale for the proposed changes is MiLB’s failure to address facilities improvements, MLB overly subsidizing MiLB operations, and reducing travel times for teams.

theguardian.com/sport/2019/dec/19/will-mlbs-battle-with-the-minor-leagues-deal-a-blow-to-americas-heart?

IMPEACH THE SYSTEM

by Frank Scott

The annual season of joy, compassion, and frenzied shopping with money we mostly don’t have to buy gifts people mostly don’t need, has competition in the market this year. The impeachment fiasco has only appealed to a minority of shoppers among the multitudes, but they number many and are mostly good folks honestly reacting to the program being forcefully fed us by our mind managers. If any American president were impeached for leading the country into murdering foreigners, dumping Americans into poverty and prisons and polluting the environment almost into ending its capacity to reproduce itself, that might be revolutionary. But while Trump buries his face more deeply into Israel’s crotch than any previous CEO of corporate America, we are bombarded with drivel about Russian meddling in the multi-billion dollar perversion we dub a democracy.

Trump’s presidency has introduced something beyond his own simplistic rich boy assholism to this era. While a near mindless assault on his personal character flaws approaches irrational frenzy, he introduces more criticism of the American political system — consciously or not — than his critics can muster, often because they are part of the problem and hardly its solution. Pretty shameful when this billionaire boob calls more into question than alleged protectors of minority rights, who might just as well openly support the minority they enrich: the 1%. He has created more problems for NATO, the WTC and other aspects of global capital’s imperial domination of the world than any liberal president, willingly or not, and the schmuck is a chapter and verse fervent believer in the system! He is such a threat to it that the owners and rulers have been out to get him since the day he backed into the subsidized housing in D.C., threatening to mess up their good thing even before nature destroys it.

As our political economic system gets worse for more people everyday, the spectacle created to distract us has become more bizarre for minority rulers to remain in control. While consuming vast amounts of commodities in celebration of the market forces of ancient capital in Israel and modern capital in America, we are programmed to see signs of collapse in that system as simply the fault of individuals and identity groups falsely labeled the source of our troubles. But the only label we need to really learn about and use, and the real source of our problems, is capitalism.

That is the system that survived under fascism in Germany and fascism is nothing more or less than a stage of capitalism. There are many similarities between the evil Nazi and benign American mass murderers of World War 2 but we are programmed to forget some and buy portions of the lie that their alleged “genocide” of Jews is somehow worse than our alleged “genocide” of indigenous people to establish our country centuries ago. The ”g” word is over used and murdering people is bad enough without having to prove allegations that the murderers wanted to kill everyone and not just a helluva lot of human beings. We need to grow up and get over it; we nearly destroyed the people who lived here for thousands of years before Europeans had any idea the continent existed let alone its people, and we shot, stabbed, exploded and deep fried hundreds of thousands of Japanese and Germans in war 2 without needing any camps or gas chambers and handled possibly even more innocents — which most of those Japanese and Germans were - not only later in southeast Asia but on the way up to the minute in the middle east. It’s got to stop before it's too late and we need to counter minority control of this nation and the world by working to create real democracy, the real power of the people, which will make it necessary to stop crapping on members of the working majority, worldwide, and concentrating on the tiny leisure minority presently controlling us into an uncontrolled and disastrous future if we don't change our, in order to change their, ways.

Unending hatred-fear-animosity directed at those labeled "fascist" now, frequently bald headed tattooed alienated people making spectacles of themselves so the comfortable class can aim its hatred at — relatively speaking — scapegoats while remaining helpless to or unconscious of Wall Street-Pentagon forces and the tiny minority of billionaires and multi millionaires who run this show. We make a really dirty joke of calling this thing a democracy because some of us get a chance to vote for a class of professionals of all sexes, skin tones and ethnicities sometimes truly wanting to help but mostly helping the system to survive by helping themselves.

Programmed divisions among the American "brand” of the human race are assuring that owners of the brand and profiteers from selling it remain in power while various "identity" groups declare war on one another, claim the most suffering for themselves and aim hatred at those in rare cases only slightly better off than they are, materially, while in most cases even in worse social condition. Who the hell else is going to shave his head and get a swastika tattoo and parade around in public than a totally alienated person? Or, an agent of the Southern Poverty Law Center, among those who make a great deal of money from the "fascists are coming" market?

The fascists, or those taking us in that direction, were in power long before the present rich pinhead moved into the white house, and they aren't alienated jerks marching in the street so members of the psycho-neurotic comfort class can make sport of them and feel righteous in doing so. They took and continue to take trillions of our dollars for war, to bail out banks, to manufacture the death and destruction of millions the world over, and they don’t wear tattoos or swastikas but ride in limos, live in mansions and laugh at us while we carry on about criminals in the ghettos and attach racist names to them about skin tones and other meaningless bullshit that defies science, religion, politics, economics and all other systemic excuses to cover for immorality.

Those who don’t accept human responsibility for climate change are dubbed anti-science but the dub-ers are part of the same system as the dub-ees. Islam says there is no god but god and that's religion, but science says there is no race but human and that's fact! Cultural differences can be profound, but they are not racial. People who are very tall, very short, very fat or very skinny are not members of a different race. They are simply tall, short, fat or skinny humans, and their skin tones, genitals, ethnicities or languages are meaningless on human grounds and only made to count among humans socially programmed to believe in such fanatic bullshit. Ending the divide and conquer minority-identity program currently in force is necessary in order to truly start a program for the democratic salvation of humanity.

The climate crisis — the threatened collapse of civilization — is problem humanity must deal with but is hardly caused by humanity. Several billion people didn’t decide on it. The move to democracy and away from minority rule must deal with the system that has transformed people, earth, air and water into commodities for sale at a market bringing private profit to individuals before any notion of the public good. The public good must come before, not after, private profit, and bringing that about means developing some respect for the public itself and not just one or another minority of it. The class ruling America - and their most important servants — is now composed of members from every identity group possible, even if most may still be of European descent. The rest of us in the ruled majority have to act consciously of and about our common predicament, whether we are of color, no color, multi-color, have nipples on our testicles or a penis between our breasts. We are the human race; we create material reality and need to take control of it for the betterment of all and not just some. Impeach the system.

ANNUAL CHRISTMAS DIATRIBE

"If the purpose of your visit is religious–to tell us of your god’s love for us, or to convince us that we need Jesus to be our personal savior, please do not knock or ring our doorbell.

Instead, bow your head and pray as sincerely and as intently as possible for this door to disappear. When it does, feel free to come on in; we will definitely want to hear what you have to say."

(Sign on my front door)

…

"Of course, Christ had followed a long succession of mangods in the ancient world, many of whom were said to have performed prodigies, and who shared with Christ the tradition of a virgin birth, a divine nature, a resurrection, and an ascension. And so it appears that the miracles surrounding Christ, including his divine nature, were very likely modeled on the miracles of more ancient cultures and are therefore mythical."

(Tom Flynn)

…

"The reason why Christmas came to be celebrated on December 25 remains uncertain, but most probably the reason is that early Christians wished the date to coincide with the pagan Roman festival marking the ‘birthday of the unconquered sun’ (natalis solis invicti); this festival celebrated the winter solstice, when the days begin to lengthen and the sun begins to climb higher in the sky."

(The Encyclopedia Britannica)

…

"The symptoms of the mass insanity that is Christmas are upon us: cloying Christmas music in drugstores and supermarkets, hideous lights and decorations on houses and buildings, and announcements for sales everywhere.

There’s a Spanish word for all this: "Hortera". It means, “trashy, tasteless, vulgar, garish, crude, crass, cheap, or offensive. It may refer to things or to a person. Trump supporters are personas horteras. Clinton supporters are horteras. Christmas is hortera.

Christianity is mythology—a derivative mythology. Cookie cutter Christs include Inanna, Zalmoxis, Mithra, Attis, Adonis, Isis, and Dionysus. Jesus scores a 19 out of 22 on Lord Raglan’s list of traits for mythical heroes. There are no non-Christian sources that support his existence. And the gospel story does not appear in the epistles of Paul of Tarsus: His Jesus lived and died (at the hand of demons) in an other-than-earthly realm."

(Louis Bedrock)

CONGRESSMAN BARRY LOUDERMILK COMPARES DONALD TRUMP TO JESUS CHRIST

“I rise today in opposition not only to these articles of impeachment but in strong opposition to the process that has brought us to this point,” Loudermilk declared during his House speech, adding: “Our founders knew a government without constraints could accuse anyone of any crime at any time even without compelling evidence.”

…“Before you take this historic vote today, one week before Christmas, keep this in mind,” Loudermilk exclaimed. “When Jesus was falsely accused of treason, Pontius Pilate gave Jesus the opportunity to face his accusers.”

“During that sham trial, Pontius Pilate afforded more rights to Jesus than Democrats afforded this president in this process,” he concluded.

ANOMIE, also spelled anomy, in societies or individuals, a condition of instability resulting from a breakdown of standards and values or from a lack of purpose or ideals. The term was introduced by the French sociologist Émile Durkheim in his study of suicide. He believed that one type of suicide (anomic) resulted from the breakdown of the social standards necessary for regulating behavior. When a social system is in a state of anomie, common values and common meanings are no longer understood or accepted, and new values and meanings have not developed. According to Durkheim, such a society produces, in many of its members, psychological states characterized by a sense of futility, lack of purpose, and emotional emptiness and despair. Striving is considered useless, because there is no accepted definition of what is desirable. American sociologist Robert K. Merton studied the causes of anomie, or normlessness, finding it severest in people who lack an acceptable means of achieving their personal goals. Goals may become so important that if the institutionalized means—i.e., those means acceptable according to the standards of the society—fail, illegitimate means might be used. Greater emphasis on ends rather than means creates a stress that leads to a breakdown in the regulatory structure—i.e., anomie. If, for example, a society impelled its members to acquire wealth yet offered inadequate means for them to do so, the strain would cause many people to violate norms. The only regulating agencies would be the desire for personal advantage and the fear of punishment. Social behavior would thus become unpredictable. Merton defined a continuum of responses to anomie that ranged from conformity to social innovation, ritualism, retreatism, and, finally, rebellion. Delinquency, crime, and suicide are often reactions to anomie. Although Durkheim’s concept of anomie referred to a condition of relative normlessness of a society or social group, other writers have used the term to refer to conditions of individuals. In this psychological usage, anomie means the state of mind of a person who has no standards or sense of continuity or obligation and has rejected all social bonds. Individuals may feel that community leaders are indifferent to their needs, that society is basically unpredictable and lacking order, and that goals are not being realized. They may have a sense of futility and a conviction that associates are not dependable sources of support.

FOUND OBJECT