MCT: Wednesday, February 26, 2020

• Warming Drying
• Messy Debate
• MCCAAC Attack
• AV Village
• Old Postcards
• Elise Drexler
• MTA Contest
• Formula Stores
• Grand Jury
• Ed Notes
• 32 Seconds
• Oil Trail
• Covid-19 Scenario
• Supes Notes
• Yesterday's Catch
• Vote Bern
• Typo Rabbit
• Tax Wealth
• Market Drop
• Assange Plot
• Inequality Response
• Nobler Depths
• Media Grief
• Zuckerberg Option
• Reliable Socialism
• Fo Mo
• Golf Savings
• Cannabis Equity
• PTSD
• Cannabis Event
• Found Object

WARM AND DRY CONDITIONS will continue through Friday. Cooler temperatures are expected over the weekend, perhaps with a few light showers. A slow warming trend is expected next week, with dry conditions expected to continue. (NWS)

DEMOCRATS SHOUT AT EACH OTHER, turn on 'racist' Mike Bloomberg and gang up on 'unelectable' Bernie Sanders in messy debate - while the CBS moderators lose control so badly even Gayle King and Norah O'Donnell start arguing

dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8044731/Democrats-hammer-Bernie-Sanders-final-2020-debate-South-Carolina.html

NAOMI WAGNER of Willits, writing yesterday in response to John Sakowicz, said: “The MEC is proud of our role as incubator for the Mendocino Climate Action Advisory Committee and supports the development of the MCAAC. In my personal opinion, no amount of well placed funding is too much to try to salvage Life as we know it and our future existence on the Planet. A few nuclear weapons would go a long way.”

Mark Scaramella notes: Ms. Wagner lives in Willits where there’s already an enviromental center, the Willits Environmental Center. Funny how she somehow joined and then became president of the Ukiah-based Mendocino Enviromental Center. Long-time readers probably remember Ms. Wagner from her days in the inner circle of Mendo’Earth First! activists along with “Alicia” in the late, lamented Judi Bari’s Mendo-based “radical” enviro club. We’ll spare readers a recap of that over-documented timeframe. But Ms. Wagner’s recent paragraph should not go unremarked.

At their first meeting in November the MCCAAC agenda had nothing but process and procedure items. In January they heard a “presentation from Kitchen Table Consulting regarding meeting objectives,” and other process items like how to set up ad hoc groups, bylaws, standing committees and “ways to share meeting information.” The presentation included some blank forms about Greenhouse gases, carbon storage, and generic categories like rangeland, agriculture, watercourses, etc. along with a “prioritization impact chart” with a three year [sic] timeframe. In spite of all this folderol, there are still no minutes for those Brown Act meetings even though the November meeting was three months ago, not that anybody cares. According to their draft bylaws the “actions the MCCAAC may take” are: “Adopt, refer for further development,” and “table.” And their “three paths to accomplishing the desired outcomes: Requirements, incentives, encouragement and education.”

And finally, “Report from the MCCAAC will be regularly agendized at BOS meetings.”

Nothing even remotely substantive arose, much less raised for adoption, referral or tabling. Nothing was suggested for future agendas. No reports have been made to the BOS. Nobody on the Supervisors has mentioned the MCCAAC meetings.

The idea that the MEC and it’s John McCowen-spawned Mendocino County Climate Action Advisory Committee (which McCowen initially wanted to fund at around $100k per year, but ended up at a still ridiculous $7500 per year) is going to “try to salvage Life as we know it and our future existence on the Planet” is proof that we’re doomed as a species. Then, to add, “no amount of well-placed funding is too much…” If “Climate Action” is so important and so urgent you’d think that Ms. Wagner et al’s ill-conceived committee would be flooding us with some initial ideas on how to “salvage Life as we know it.”

PS. We have no idea what Ms. Wagner is talking about when she concludes even more ominously: “A few nuclear weapons would go a long way.”

AV VILLAGE EVENTS THIS WEEK AND BEYOND

See these AV Village and other local events listed on the Events Calendar on our website:

https://andersonvalley.helpfulvillage.com/events

This Week:

Book conversation:

Our next AV Village Book Conversation is Tuesday Feb 25th at 1:00 pm 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 13, 14 & 15. We’ve changed the date and time for this one to accommodate a current attendee. This probably won’t be a permanent change, stay tuned for the next one. Contact Lauren for questions.

Coffee with the AV Village Coordinator:

Join us Thursday February 27th 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.

Generator Help!

Thursday, February 27th, 5 - 6 PM

Anderson Valley Fire Department, Boonville Feel like you want to be better prepared if and when the power goes out - scheduled or not? Join us for a presentation on generator basics, safety and basic maintenance - with time for questions and answers.

March:

We have a volunteer training Sunday March 8th 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 will attend. Thank you!

This month’s gathering "Meet Matt Kendall, the new Sheriff!" on Sunday March 8th 4 to 5:30 pm at Lauren's. Refreshments provided. Welcome the new Sheriff and help introduce him to the Anderson Valley! As always, all are welcome! And 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!

All the best,

Anica Williams

Anderson Valley Village Coordinator

Cell: 707-684-9829

Email: andersonvalleyvillage@gmail.com

MARSHALL NEWMAN SENDS ALONG:

A couple of Ebay postcards of local interest—

First: Either lower Anderson Creek (most likely) or lower Indian Creek. Circa 1915.

Second: Ray’s Resort, circa 1958

ELISE DREXLER

by Katy Tahja

Mendocino County produced many memorable women but one from the Mendocino Coast proudly declared her occupation as a “Capitalist.” This was Elise Drexler, daughter of Mendocino coast pioneers William and Eliza Kelly.

Born in 1866 on the coast she was educated at a girls private school and went to Mills College in Oakland, at a time when only 2% of American women were getting a college education. She traveled extensively in Europe as a teenager with her sister Daisy and family members.

Determined not to marry young, or to a local man, she made the rounds of the high society in San Francisco on the debutant circle. She worked hard on what would become her main claim to fame, her business acumen, which she inherited from her father. She loved buying and selling commercial properties, took pleasure in wheeling and dealing business opportunities, championed women’s rights and supported prohibition.

At age 27 she married a man twice her age and a millionaire, Louis Drexler. In seven years he was dead and left Elise one of the richest women on the west coast. By 2006 accounting standards Drexler’s estate was worth $58 million.

There was only one problem. Her husband’s will said she could only manage his property holdings. Her inserted a clause that said she could not sell certain valuable properties. Mrs. Drexler came to public notice when she instituted a court case challenging her dead husband’s right to impose limits on what she could do. She won that court case and proceeded to make more millions.

Buying, selling and developing properties kept her busy. Drexler lost her home on Nob Hill in the 1906 Quake and lived in expensive hotels instead. She kept architects employed, including the now famous Julia Morgan, who designed Drexler’s retirement estate on 21 acres in Woodside.

Drexler was busy for years rebuilding her holdings in San Francisco after the quake. She liked swapping properties and traded a building she owned, seven stories high with stores, offices, electricity, steam heat, plumbing and elevators built after the quake at New Montgomery and Minna for 3,200 acre Roberts Island in the San Joaquin Delta where asparagus grew. It was a $250,000 trade. In 1904 her building on Market between Sixth and Seventh was earning $18,000 a year in rent.

A loyal member of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union she would not allow wine or intoxicating beverages to be sold in buildings she owned. She encouraged A.P. Giannini to open the Bank of Italy in one of her building and it went on to become Bank of America.

With more than a dozen properties around San Francisco she stretched her land holdings beyond the city to Roberts Island in the Delta, to ranches near Placerville and Stockton and prune orchards in Anderson.

It’s easy to be beneficent when wealthy. She financially helped out family members and in 1903 donated a bell for the Baptist Church in Mendocino City, which her father had built, in honor of her mother Eliza. Society columnists in newspapers noted her visiting Geyser Hot Springs east of Cloverdale in 1910 and she wintered in Palm Springs and Riverside with her sister Daisy in 1942.

Elise Drexler moved permanently to Woodside in 1913 and began the biggest philanthropic effort of her life. She founded a convalescent hospital and school for crippled children in Palo Alto. It started with a $#16,000 grant for nurses quarters and a girls housekeeping unit. Crippled children were taught tailoring, stenography and cabinatemaking, though kids with tuberculosis were not accepted. In 1916 she provided a million dollar bequest for the institutions future. At her death in 1957 she left her sister Daisy’s daughter a $900,000 estate as Elise never had children of her own.

ONE OF THE THINGS WE LOVE about riding the MTA bus is the view out the big windows. Here's one of an old fence made of redwood stakes and coastal cypress trees. Be first to tell us what town this is in and win a bus pass! http://bit.ly/MTAhome #viewfromthebus #enjoytheride

(MTA presser)

MONDAY CITY COUNCIL MEETING A 'GREEK TRAGEDY?'

by Rex Gressett

The Monday night Fort Bragg City Council meeting had the mysterious inevitability of a Greek tragedy. All the players were trapped in their political identities. All of them did their expected thing and strangely, by a kind of gravitational pull, the obvious became significant.

Behold Tabatha Miller, the Fort Bragg City manager, a heroine brought from afar to replace a corrupt City Manager. The less said the better. Misgovernment has left $3 million in misallocated cash to be repaid. Even now, that labor continues behind the curtain of Finance Department in-transparency.

On the horizon, the storm of impending pension fund payments. CalPers is another existential threat. Alone Tabatha Miller is left to grapple with the fundamental issue. Solvency and bankruptcy. For the city, Life and death. It is upon her that the city and the City Council depends.

Posturing and positioning, pandering and promising — the Council handles that.

February 24th, 2020. Tabatha Miller strips all other businesses from the Council agenda. One issue is before them. Formula stores. The unaesthetic scourge of pampered dog walkers. The Chinese poison that has killed a civilization with cheap plastic.

On the projector screen above the City Council, Tabatha Miller displays the chart. The Council turns in their overstuffed chairs, crane their necks and look up. Sales tax. The top payers. 30 companies (I think it was 30). Tax that the city converts to roads and parks, water and cops and trash removal. All but two “Formula” stores.

Chorus: Improbable city, built by hardy loggers for a mill past remembering. Alone in your wilderness paradise hard by the wild ocean. While other City Councils far over the hill draw on the wealth of multitudes. You alone, Fort Bragg, scorn the confusion of the masses and indulge yourselves in gardens. Crime free, (mostly) and drink lattes at headlands.

Two choices Tabatha Miller puts before the Council: use permits (UP) and minor use permits (MUP). A “UP” presenting just slightly more difficulty to entirely hypothetical formula stores, A MUP is slightly less.

The very question made possible because the City Attorney (Tabatha Miller's hidden ally) has pulled a fast one. Perfidious council.

Formula stores can not be banned as such. Every member of the City Council has done its Google search and knows that information is flatly false. But they all take refuge in convenient subterfuge. Tabatha Miller leads them past it. UP or MUP the only question.

Up to the microphone comes the public. We have our paradise. We like the ocean views. We decry the plastic signs and minimum wage slavery of the big box culture. Down, down, down with the formula store.

One-by-one the Council plays their roles. Out comes the city map. They allocate variously a UP or a MUP to each of four areas all along the commercial highway.

Councilman Lindy Peters waffling wildly in his accustomed manner. Thinks first one thing, and then another. South of town, the gateway to the city gets a UP. The harder to get permit. But up the highway to the north where CVS, Rite Aid and Safeway already sit in ponderous promiscuity, a MUP. NO, a sudden explosive innovation let the formula stores come there “by right.” No permit process at all! The Council caves one by one in gracious acquiescence. A triumph for Tabatha Miller.

Will Lee, Mayor of the City, boldly declares he's for business (by God) and wants as little of this MUP, UP interference in commerce as he can obtain.

Will Lee understands what sales tax is — and claims his constituency knows it too. He stands for that, within the constraints of inter-council civility of course. But he goes along with the various majorities as they form and mutate.

Councilmember Brave Jessica Morsell Haye, she who slapped the Mayor around so amusingly in the last meeting, holds fast for maximum “public transparency.” All MUP’S EVERYWHERE. But she also acquiesces in majorities. Graceful Councilwoman, fast learning and principled.

Councilmember Judicious Bernie Norvel. Stops the MUP in the heavily industrialized north of town. Swinging the council like a ball on a string. Only UP’s for hard-laboring industry — should any such occur.

Only councilmember Tess Albin Smith, unconsulted and scorned in all the mutating alliances and quick formed majorities, sits alone. Too confused by the complexities of negotiation and fact to even know (one really wonders) where the hell she is.

The curtain is falling, “Let's form an ad hoc committee” bawls Tess. Even folly must have its moment. The players roll their eyes and the curtain falls. Tabatha Miller has her avenue for formula stores — stony in some places, but easy where it might count.

Outside town hall Tabatha Miller raises her collar to the gentle wind and walks through the darkened city. Alone.

ED NOTES

UH OH. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Tuesday that Americans need to prepare for 'tele-schooling' should the virus continue to spread throughout the US. So far, 57 cases have been confirmed in the US — 14 in the nation, 40 from citizens repatriated from the Diamond Princess cruise ship and three evacuated from China. And although the threat is currently low, Dr. Nancy Messonier, CDC's director of the Center for the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, says the public needs to prepare if the virus becomes a pandemic.

SUPERVISOR McCOWEN informed his colleagues and the 9 citizens watching Tuesday's meeting on Youtube that Ukiah's graceful old train station had been consigned to history's oblivion bin. This site prep for the new County Courthouse that nobody, apart from retired Superior Court Judge David Nelson and McCowen seem enthusiastic about will house only our nine (count 'em) judges and their servants with, natch, an indoor parking set aside for their honors with a private elevator to their sacristies. Everyone else presently housed in the perfectly serviceable County Courthouse, including the DA, will have to foot it down Perkins for court business, a long three blocks — and back.

I MEANT to include a question about the new courthouse in our candidate's quiz, and can only hope now that some publicly spirited citizen will ask them where they stand on this extravagant boondoggle. The present courthouse could be fixed up and maybe even restored to its early 20th century beauty for less money than this new glass and steel eyesore will cost. It's laughable that despite the constant promotional hoo-rah from the Ukiah City Council about restoring downtown to at least a semblance of its glory days as a coherent, serviceable small town center that Ukiah will soon have a half-empty County Courthouse to go with the eternal wreck of the abandoned Palace Hotel.

MARK SPRINKLE has again been turned down for parole, an act of pure sadism on the part of the State Parole Board given that Sprinkle has racked up a nearly perfect record inside. The guy's another example of personal growth via incarceration, and not the same man he was when he went in on what has always seemed like a set-up by his tweaker ex-girlfriend. Sprinkle's case is linked below, but having known him for years now I can attest to his "getting with the program" as an inmate. He's done everything possible to demonstrate his fitness for release. And, by the way, this is a man who was always employed as a truck driver on the outs, so it's not as if he'll be one more lost soul shuffling up and down State Street with all his stuff in a Safeway cart.

Background:

Prior parole hearing item from 2012: www.theava.com/archives/14320

Short version from Feb 2017; last parole denial: www.theava.com/archives/65453#3

The only full length story of Sprinkle’s case on line is the reprint of the story in Warren Hinckle's Argonaut in 2012 by Bruce Anderson: argonaut360.com/argonaut/ArgonautJUNE2012websm.pdf

RECOMMENDED VIEWING that oughtta to be required viewing by parents of keen teens, male and female. Which is the excellent ABC News documentary by Dan Noyes on Channel 7 called "32 Seconds: A Deadly Night in Rome."

Two wildly over-indulged Marin County boys, Gabriel Natale-Hjorth and Finnegan Lee Elder, travel to Rome where, armed with combat knives, they attempt to buy drugs, and one of them stabs an Italian plainclothes cop — Mario Cerciello-Rega — to death.

Their parents are of course shocked, but one kid, the stabber, has been expelled from school for sucker-punching a classmate with so much force the kid damn near dies. The parents think their little darling's facebook posts celebrating drugs, weapons and criminal lingo derived from the inspirational world of gangsta rap are merely a fad aped by lots of otherwise normal kids, apparently assuming that children raised in the psychotic nexus characteristic of American adolescence in places like Marin County are fully, sanely functioning.

SIERRA’S TELLTALE TRAIL OF OIL

On Sunday, February 22, 2020 at approximately 4:51 a.m. Officers noticed a street sign lying in the middle of the sidewalk on the west side of the 200 Block of N. Franklin Street that had been struck by a vehicle. Officers found a trail of motor oil leading away from the scene of the collision. Officers followed the oil to a vehicle parked and abandoned in the 400 Block of N. McPherson Street. Officers towed the vehicle. Officers further learned this was the same vehicle that was referenced in a possible driving under the influence / Be on the Lookout (BOLO) warning issued by the California Highway Patrol for an incident which occurred south of the city limits of Fort Bragg. The California Highway Patrol was actively investigating a hit and run traffic collision at the Nor Cal Gas Station.

Officers responded to Nor Cal Gas and obtained surveillance video identifying Sierra Kocher, 21, of Fort Bragg, as the driver of the vehicle. Witnesses and surveillance video show Kocher was showing signs of intoxication at the time of this incident.

This investigation is ongoing and will be sent to the Mendocino County District Attorney’s Office to review for charges.

If you have information related to this investigation, please contact Officer Welter at (707) 961-2800 ext. 168 or awelter@fortbragg.com. Anonymous tips may be left on the Crime Tip Hotline at (707) 961-3049. Questions regarding this press release may be forwarded to Sergeant Awad at (707) 961-2800 ext. 180 or e-mailed to cawad@fortbragg.com.

(Fort Bragg police presser)

A READER SPECULATES:

The Corona Virus (Covid19) will not be claimed as a disease of "Pandemic" proportions until it hits the United States, and if so, that will set the Orange Man's hair on fire…Talk about a tan line. I can see it now: Hospitals will run out of masks, ambulance services will be stretched thin, anti vaxers will surface and claim spiritual providence over the whole thing. Market shelves beforehand supplying the population will dwindle in supplies, the Mendocino Board of Supervisors will debate what to do with the homeless who become infected. Gas stations will be in need of fuel, Costco will see a run on toilet paper and paper towels. The ocean will continue to warm (not really related, but add it to the scenario), Kuntsler will astound the populace by saying "I told you so", the striding AVA will hunker down and keep the presses rolling electronically and where possible in paper format, Bloomberg's hair will fall out, Donald J. will be touring some place at the end of the world and continue touting how great things are while sporting a ridiculous MAGA hat, Newsom…Who knows?, Pelosi and Schiff will be in some bunker somewhere trying to figure out who this Bernie character is, and meanwhile Ted Williams will surface as the savior to the county as I am sure he has some really cool N-95 masks stashed deep in the fire department bunker. If this doesn't sound real, then maybe it is not.

TY SIMPSON was one of the (unpermitted/former) pot growers speaking at the Supes pot program cultivation revision hearing on Tuesday. Simpson said he was a “legacy grower” from 2002 (long before it was legal). He’s not growing now because he was burned out in the Redwood Complex fires and has since been red-tagged for trying to build something to live in on his Potter Valley property without a permit. We thought he looked vaguely familiar from the Booking Log and, sure enough, there he was with several arrests all in the summer of 2015 for:

June 9 (Sheriff’s press release): “…At about 217 AM Ukiah Police observed a blue Subaru parked idling with its headlights on along the west side of the Tapestry Family Services Building, 290 E. Gobbi St. When officers began checking the vehicle they observed a small child sleeping in a car seat secured in the backseat of the vehicle. The vehicle’s radio was playing music, the windows were down, and the doors were unlocked. Officers began checking the immediate area for a parent without success and after 30 minutes of searching the area 31 year old Potter Valley resident Ty Simpson was observed exiting from bushes that boarder a residential property located on Marshall Ave. Upon contact with Simpson he was found to be in possession of property that came from inside the residence on Marshall Ave. The residents were contacted by officers and were unaware that Simpson had been inside their home while they slept. Simpson was arrested for burglary and child endangerment. Child Protective Services was contacted and took custody of the child.”

July 10: Burglary, loitering, child endangerment.

August 5: Court Order violation.

August 18: Court order violation, resisting.

August 23: Unauthorized entry into dwelling, protective order violation.

August 39: Stalking, criminal threats, court order violation.

As far as we know Mr. Simpson has not been arrested since that flurry of arrests.

He now says he wants to start a marijuana church on his property for “religious assembly” as a camping facility. He wanted the Supervisors to tell him how he could make his property into a “medical marijuana friendly cannabis campground.” Simpson also wanted to know why he had to pay high retail prices for his “medicine.”

The Supes declined to respond to Mr. Simpson’s inquiry.

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SUPERVISOR JOHN HASCHACK wrote in his most recent “Third District Supervisors Report” that: “Information is being gathered to figure out the best way to improve emergency medical services in our county. I met with the Sheriff, ambulance services, fire departments and the health clinic in Covelo last week. We are trying to improve the capacity of the Covelo ambulance service. If an ambulance has to go to Round Valley or meet the Covelo ambulance on Hwy 162, it lowers the capacity of the ambulance services on the 101 corridor. We will have a special Board of Supervisors meeting on March 23 from 1pm to 5pm to take an in depth look at how to improve services.”

WHICH IS GOOD TO HEAR, as far as it goes. But Haschak’s mention of “information being gathered,” continues to be dubious because back at the January 21 Board meeting, Coastal Valley EMS (Sonoma County) rep Jen Banks promised to come back to the Board or any applicable committee with financial information about sustaining or expanding inland ambulance services. But so far, Ms. Banks has not presented the information that she “gathered” to the County’s newly (re-)formed Emergency Services Coordinating Committee or the Emergency Services Sustainability ad hoc committee. Maybe she’ll have something by March 23.

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MENDOLANDERS expecting to hear a discussion of mental health service performance data, including, significantly, the Fort Bragg City Council who initiated it, were disappointed late Tuesday afternoon when the item was postponed because the inconclusive pot regulation streamlining review rambled on for the entire afternoon and there was no time left. The item has been rescheduled for March 10 in the afternoon.

CATCH OF THE DAY, February 25, 2020

JOSHUA BELL, Fort Bragg. Probation revocation.

OSCAR BENAVIDEZ-RANGEL, Philo. Disorderly conduct-alcohol, resisting.

SHAWN BIAS, Fort Bragg. Probation revocation. (Frequent Flyer)

SUSAN BROWN, Fort Bragg. Suspended license (for DUI), fugitive from justice.

JON CARTER, Fort Bragg. Probation revocation.

FREAYNE CHARLEY, Talmage. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.

LAESHA COOPER, Fort Bragg. Domestic abuse.

RAMIRO MACIAS, Ukiah. Controlled substance for sale, felon-addict with firearm, ammo possession by prohibited person, arrmed with firearm in commission of felony, controlled substance while armed with loaded firearm.

AARON MUDRICH, Ukiah. Paraphernalia.

ELLIOT SEELEY, Fort Bragg. Controlled substance, sale-transport-furnish organic drug, contempt of court.

JACOB SELLMER, Ukiah. Resisting.

JENNIFER SMITH, Willits. Paraphernalia, trespassing, resisting.

ARTURO VARGAS, Ukiah. DUI, suspended license (for DUI).

FLYNN WASHBURNE, Potter Valley. Parole violation.

THOMAS WILLIAMS JR., Willits. Failure to appear.

BERNIE!

Editor:

Many liberals oppose Sanders as “too-far-left” to defeat Trump. I believe the other Democratic candidates (except Warren) are too corporate to attract most voters.

Trump ran as the anti-establishment candidate to end Washington’s corruption and defend the little guy. While he lied, it was a winning platform. Among the Democrats only Bernie can win millions of alienated, young and new voters because for decades he has fought for average Americans, opposed corporate rule and is incorruptible. Major polls show Sanders beating Trump by 5%.

Sanders is attacked as a “socialist,” as was Franklin Roosevelt, yet FDR’s government programs pulled us out of the Great Depression and won him huge popularity and an unprecedented four Presidential terms.

A recent Harris poll showed half of Americans under 40 would “prefer to live in a socialist country, and three-quarters of Democrats believe the country would be ‘better off’ if it were more socialist.”

The Democratic establishment and corporate media attack Bernie because he would: fight Big Money which corrupts our democracy and increases inequality; tax the rich; and advance universal healthcare, a Green New Deal and other progressive programs. That’s the platform that will defeat Trump; another centrist, corporate candidate will not.

Our country faces huge structural problems that require fundamental changes. Establishment Democrats will not fight for them OR defeat Trump. Only Bernie has the people’s trust, platform and support to save America.

Tom Wodetzki

Albion

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY #1

Yes, California is the 5th largest economy in the world. We don't have a wealth problem, we have a tax problem. We need to limit how much money people can sequester into non-taxable family foundations, where they essentially hoard money and fund pet project, have a wealth tax on all income over $5 million and force Apple, Google, Facebook and other large tech companies to bring back the billions of revenue they are off-shoring and pay taxes on it. The founders of these companies and many of their employees have many hundreds of million of dollars in this state from our infrastructure and they need to pay it forward so the next generation of Californians don't face a state with a collapsed public sphere. We need to stop taxing the middle and working class and start taxing the ultra-wealthy. Mark Zuckerberg has a net worth of over $45 billion. We need a progressive income tax in this state and in the nation. We need to have the same tax code they did in the 1950s and 1960s to help stabilize the growing wealth inequality and support the middle class. California is more wealthy than many countries. We have a ton of money here, we just need to redistribute it a bit more.

FOX BUSINESS BLAMING STOCK MARKET DROP ON SANDERS IS SIGN OF THINGS TO COME

Ignore the possible pandemic, blame the Bern

rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/fox-host-blames-bernie-sanders-stock-market-957318/

US 'PLOTTED TO KILL JULIAN ASSANGE AND MAKE IT LOOK LIKE AN ACCIDENT'

US spies hatched a plot to kidnap or even poison Julian Assange using shady Spanish private detectives after he leaked 250,000 top secret documents online, his extradition hearing was told yesterday.

dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8041597/US-plotted-kill-Julian-Assange-make-look-like-accident.html

TO THE CANDIDATES

If you would be our leader

Examine the character

Waiting in our nobler depths.

We will inspire you.

—The American People

(James Luther)

BERNIE SANDERS PLUNGES TO FIRST PLACE

For the most part corporate media have moved on to the next stage of grieving, which is anger.

by Jim Naureckas

Remember when the big winner of New Hampshire was third-place finisher Amy Klobuchar?

“Bernie Sanders may have come first in New Hampshire, but Amy Klobuchar won,” Bloomberg (2/12/20) declared (the media company, not the billionaire candidate who owns it). “I would almost argue that a third-place finish for Amy would be stronger and more important than a first-place finish for Bernie,” MSNBC commentator Adrienne Elrod (2/11/20) asserted.

That’s not how it worked out, of course; since February 14, Bernie Sanders has gone from a 4-point lead to a 12-point lead over his closest rival, Joe Biden, in national polling averages, while Klobuchar remains in fifth place. In the Nevada caucuses held February 22, Sanders got twice as many final votes as No. 2 Biden, whom Sanders was trailing in the polls as recently as ten days earlier.

Caucus entrance polls found the Vermont senator was the top choice of both men and women, whites and Latinos (though not African-Americans, where he was second to Biden), all age groups except those 65 and older, Democrats and independents, union households and non-union households, and those with and without college degrees. He had the most support among those described as “very liberal” and “somewhat liberal,” and tied Biden among those labeled “moderate or conservative.”

So while there’s still some coverage that might be said to be stuck in the denial stage about Sanders “Nevada Caucuses Win Would Make Bernie Sanders a Weak Front-Runner” (Washington Examiner, 2/18/20; MSN, 2/18/20) was a late entry in that genre — for the most part corporate media have moved on to the next stage of grieving, which is anger. MSNBC’s Chris Matthews notoriously compared Sanders’ victory in Nevada to the Nazi invasion of France:

I was reading last night about the fall of France in the summer of 1940. And the general, Reynaud, calls up Churchill and says, “It’s over.” And Churchill says, “How can that be? You’ve got the greatest army in Europe. How can it be over?” He said, “It’s over.”

(Sanders communication director Mike Casca responded: “Never thought part of my job would be pleading with a national news network to stop likening the campaign of a Jewish presidential candidate whose family was wiped out by the Nazis to the Third Reich. But here we are.”) Former Bill Clinton advisor James Carville on MSNBC mocked the idea of winning elections by increasing voter turnout:

The entire theory that by expanding the electorate, increasing turnout, you can win an election is the equivalent of climate denier. People say that, they’re as stupid to a political scientist as a climate denier is to an atmospheric scientist.

Full article: commondreams.org/views/2020/02/25/bernie-sanders-plunges-first-place

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY #2

So many people here who get the vapors over the S word are like children who believe in the boogey man. You already have a quality of life that depends on socialism. How many here receive socialism security checks and have the health looked after because you receive “commie care”. Grow up people!

“Crooked Donald Trump, the erstwhile failed gambling czar and corporate welfare king, is assailing Bernie Sanders for his “radical socialism.” How ludicrous given Trump’s three-year giveaway of taxpayer assets and authorities to giant corporations – a perfect portrait of crony capitalism.

Others are joining the socialist labeling bandwagon, including corporatist right wing radio talk show blowhards, themselves freeloaders, profitably using the public airwaves. This pack includes Lloyd Blankfein, former lawbreaking chairman of Goldman Sachs.

Bernie knows, of course, how to rebut this distorted interpretation of “democratic socialism.” But will his rebuttals be enough given that the Biden-Bloomberg-Klobuchar wing of the Democratic Party is determined to label Bernie “unelectable” against the boastful Don the Con?

Some suggestions for Bernie and others to use in this upcoming back and forth on “democratic socialism” vs. “corporate socialism” of the super-rich corporations: Go after the corporate socialists who have invited Wall Street and Big Business to socialize the means of government against the peoples’ necessities and freedoms. It is a government of, by, and for the dominant corporations. Such private power dominating our government in so many reported ways was called “fascism” in 1938 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in a formal message to Congress. This is a fertile field for taking the offensive. “Democratic socialism is a political force in countries like Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway, the Netherlands, sometimes Canada, and others. In these places, it means all the people in those countries get their taxes returned in the form of improved livelihoods, economic security, and peace of mind. Democratic socialism means better pay, universal healthcare, pensions, day care, family sick leave, vacations, tuition-free higher education, robust public transit and parks, and many other amenities backed by stronger unions, denied the American people in the “land of the free and home of the brave.” Since World War II, the European political movements were led by “social democratic” parties. Back to our country. Corporatists and right-wing Wall Street Democrats are inferring that “democratic socialism” is un-American, ruinous for our economy. These demonizers argue that a self-proclaimed “democratic socialist” is a sure loser in the election against Donald Trump – a self-enriching crook, outlaw, boastful, savage sexual predator, bigot/racist in his policies, inciter of violence, and a serial, delusionary liar. Trump, the Electoral College-selected tool of the super-rich and corporate powers should be easy to defeat given his disgraceful presidency. The American people of all backgrounds like their public libraries, public local control water works, municipal fire departments, police precincts, and public schools. They seem okay with government highways, bridges, public transit, and want their taxes spent to repair and upgrade these vital pieces of our infrastructure. Taxpayer’s don’t want our commonwealth being owned by tax-escaping, gouging corporations.

There are over 1,000 municipal public utilities providing electricity. The “Red” states of Tennessee and Alabama would fight any corporatization of the Tennessee Valley Authority, which 87 years ago, brought electricity to a large poor region that the private electric companies didn’t think was profitable enough.

The unfairly maligned Veterans Administration brought free hospitals and health care to millions of veterans. Millions of Americans are favorably disposed to life-saving Medicare and Medicaid and are economically saved by Social Security and unemployment compensation. Hey! There must be a lot of “democratic socialists” out there in “blue” and “red” states. New Hampshirites are mostly okay with state-owned, revenue-producing, hard-liquor retail stores.

At a meeting long ago with top medical officials at the Walter Reed Army hospital, I was told that after learning the second leading cause of hospitalization for U.S. soldiers in Vietnam was malaria, the U.S. Army asked the drug companies to develop remedies. The negative response was that developing medicines to deal with malaria wasn’t profitable enough. In response, the Pentagon brought together skilled doctors and scientists and started its own “drug company” inside Walter Reed and Bethesda Naval Hospitals. For less than 10 percent of what the big drug companies say it costs, our government developed three out of four of the leading anti-malarial drugs in the world and made them available everywhere without any patents producing big pharma-like profits.

If the political and corporate Trumpsters and the Clintonite Democrats snort at all this, tell them that they do agree on one thing. Those in both these camps have been eager to have collapsing capitalism, as during the 2008 Wall Street dive, always saved by reliable socialism – aka – trillions of taxpayer dollars via Washington, D.C. funding the bailout of the reckless bankers and speculators.

IN SUPPORT OF MO MULHEREN FOR SUPERVISOR

Editor,

I have known Mo Mulheren professionally for over 15 years. In that time she has become an inspiration to me through her consistent community involvement and as a leader and member of Ukiah City Council. As a city council member she has worked tirelessly to improve our community and make life better for her constituents especially those like me, that have family members with special needs. When the City of Ukiah was working on getting a grant for some improvements at Vinewood Park, my family was concerned about the accessible pathways for our son, Sam who uses a wheelchair. Council Member Mulheren listened to our concerns about the path and how it would affect our son and worked to make sure that everyone in wheelchairs would still have access to the park. In addition to her tireless advocacy, last fall during the Public Safety Power Shutoff Mo again stepped up to the plate and was accessible and resourceful in helping us make sure that my son's special needs and life safety concerns were considered and met. In the 15 years I have know her, Ms. Mulheren has been out in our community every weekend helping to make improvements whether it was participating in cleaning up the trash in our creeks or decorating our streets for the holiday season. She has proven to be helpful to everyone in our community especially those with special needs. Our Family is honored to support Maureen "Mo" Mulheren for Mendocino County Second District Supervisor because she supports us tirelessly. I know Mo Mulheren has my back, and that's why I want her as my County Supervisor.

Sincerely

Jason Brenner

Ukiah

PUBLIC COMMENT, February 25, 2020, Agenda Iten 5f

(by John Sakowicz)

To: Clerk of the Board of Supervisors, Mendocino County

Recently, my candidacy for Mendocino County 1st District Supervisor was endorsed by two legacy farmers, Eddy Lepp and Tim Blake.

With the legacy of Eddy Lepp and Tim Blake in mind, I enthusiastically support this agenda item which will establish a Local Cannabis Equity Program.

Going forward, Mendocino County's Local Cannabis Equity Program should be designed to lower barriers to cannabis licensing for those hardest hit by the War on Drugs. The Equity Program should do this by enabling verified Equity Applicants to apply for a cannabis permit, hopefully by the end of 2020.

Equity Applicants should not have to pay the permit fees. They should also benefit from an incubator partnership that I hope Mendocino County will create that will provide rent free space for 3 years or technical assistance to operate the businesses of Equity Applicants.

Eddy Lepp

Eddy Lepp, born Charles Edward Lepp, is a Vietnam War veteran, California-based medical marijuana activist, world-renowned cultivator, author, poet, and artist born in 1952. After gathering signatures to get California’s original medical marijuana bill (prop 215) on the ballot with Jack Herer and Dennis Peron, he was the first American to be arrested, tried, and acquitted in 1997 for growing medical cannabis under California’s Prop 215. After refusing to back down from allowing patients and members of the ministry to produce cannabis on his property, providing care to his wife (Linda Senti, who was ill with cancer) and 2,700 other patients who needed safe access to medical cannabis in California, he was raided and faced 4 consecutive life sentences, plus 40 years in federal penitentiary, and $17,000,000 in fines. Eddy ended up sentenced to federal prison in 2008 for conspiracy to manufacture marijuana, as well as conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance, and served 8.5 years of a 10 year sentence – the absolute minimum of time required, and no fines as the judge presiding over the case saw his original charges unjust. He was finally released in 2016. His wife lost her tumultuous battle with cancer just prior to Eddy leaving for his prison sentence.

Eddy’s Medicinal Gardens – the now famous Lake County, California site where Eddy oversaw the planting and growing of more than 32,524 medicinal cannabis plants for the thousands of members of his Multi-Denominational Ministry of Cannabis and Rastafari -- sadly no longer exists. However, Eddy is a true hero to everyone who now enjoys safe access to cannabis as medicine and sacrament. Before prison, he was known to never deny a patient access to the healing plant based on income or lack thereof. He made a space for everyone to take their health under their own control in a world where access to medicine is blockaded by one’s own income and social status. Throughout his journey, he has given away millions of dollars worth of medicine.

Tim Blake

Tim Blake founded the world-famous Emerald Cup in 2003 in Mendocino County. For many years, he served as the event's president and promoter. The Emerald Cup is the longest running organic outdoor growing competition in the world. The Emerald Cup grew dramatically in Mendocino County for ten years, and continued it’s expansion by moving a bigger, more accessible location. Starting in 2013, the event was held at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds.

Tim is also the owner of Healing Harvest Farms and the Area 101 dispensary in Laytonville.

In the following interview at "The Cannabis Connection" on SoundCloud, Tim Blake shares his story going back to Soquel High in Santa Cruz in the 70's and the 12-15 shipments of 100,000 pounds coming in from Thailand and abroad that continued until the mid 80's until it all changed. The War on Drugs changed the way of life for so many.

In the interview, Tim chronicles the progression of smuggling cannabis in through the San Francisco Bay to stewarding the plant in the early gardens to the world class farms showcased today at the Emerald Cup.

Tim Blake is a hero and role model to many of us. He is one of the Emerald Triangle’s most outspoken cannabis growers.

Link to SoundCloud interview: https://soundcloud.com/the-cannabis-connection/tim-blake-emerald-cup-healing-harvest-farms-area-101-12117

Thank you.

— John Sakowicz, Candidate, Mendocino County, 1st District Supervisor and proud member of the Mendocino Cannabis Alliance

CANNABIS ON THE COAST event on April 18, 2020 celebrates #420 with local cannabis community to benefit Cancer Resource Centers of Mendocino County.

[Mendocino Village, CA, February 25, 2020] Cannabis on the Coast is back with a town-wide event on Saturday, April 18, 2020, to showcase the spirit of our local industry and raise funds for the Cancer Resource Centers of Mendocino County. Around the world, people celebrate 4/20 to express their support for the cannabis plant and their community, and now they are invited to legally celebrate with us in the world-famous Emerald Triangle. Collectively, past events have raised nearly $5,000 for local charities.

Visitors to the Village of Mendocino (and locals too!) will have access to several activations throughout the Village, with a schedule of free daytime events including a Farmers Forum and Market, the Canna Chronicles from Sol De Mendocino, craft cannabis conversations from Emerald Exchange, glass blowing demos and discounts at Spark, the Joint Rolling Olympics and a 4:20 toast at the Leonard Moore Collective, the Madrone lounge and more.

Participating businesses in the Village will hang a Cannabis on the Coast ‘4/20 Friendly’ sign in their windows to indicate special deals and discounts for the day. As the sun goes down, the music turns up with our signature vibes including favorites The Reggae Angels, this time with headliner Mykal Rose! Tickets are available at Leonard Moore, Spark, Sol de Mendocino and via Eventbrite.

Founding Sponsors include Emerald Exchange, Leonard Moore Cannabis, Madrone California, Mendocino CannaTours, S Dot Productions, Sol de Mendocino and Spark.

Past Local Sponsors have included Amigo Bobs, Anderson Valley Reserve, Barge North Co., Sara Bassindale, Bloom Skincare, Dirt Cheap, Dragonfly Wellness Center, Flow Kana, Frankie’s Pizza, Henry's Original, Hill House, Himalaya Vapor, Hive Mendocino, Ingrid’s Lounge, The Joshua Grindle Inn, Lit House, Little River Inn, The MacCallum House, Mendocino Cannabis Alliance, Mendo Cannabis Company, Mendocino Country Store, Mendocino TV, Moody's Organic Coffee Bar, Northern Nights Music Festival, Redwood Remedies and Yoga Shine.

Event information and a full list of participants and tickets can be found at CannabisOnTheCoast.com https://www.cannabisonthecoast.com/.

Email Theresa at cannabisonthecoast@gmail.com for info on how to get involved.

About Cannabis on the Coast: Cannabis on the Coast is a community-focused collaboration of cannabis and cannabis-friendly organizations and individuals located on Mendocino County’s historic coast. Inspired by a love for the plant and a desire to see the local community thrive, we create memorable experiences for enthusiasts and newcomers alike that embody the heart and soul of cannabis culture in the world-famous Emerald Triangle.

Theresa Anderson cannabisonthecoast@gmail.com

Phone: 323.632.1884

Email: cannabisonthecoast@gmail.com

FOUND OBJECT