MCT: Saturday, August 22, 2020

• Hot Thunderstorms
• Satellite View
• Complexes Growing
• Walbridge Uncontained
• Fire Clouds
• National Guard
• Dry Lightning
• Robert Cooper
• 605 Cases
• Doubling Days
• Co-op Coping
• Alvin Johnson
• Psych Motel
• Remote Schooling
• Ed Notes
• Bad News
• Hay Wagon
• PSPS Generators
• Sun House
• Fort Flippant
• Hortense House
• Streetscape Update
• Yesterday's Catch
• Convention Muzak
• Pierce Arrow
• Jerry Scrivener
• Hop People
• Your Trash
• Gobbi Ranch
• Bamboo Paradise
• Planning Cancelled
• 1947 Fire
• Indecent Joe
• 1957 Dancers
• Project Sanctuary
• My Opposer
• Dem OD
• Outta Options
• Crazy People
• Found Object

WARM TO LOCALLY HOT temperatures will occur across interior valleys during much of the next seven days. Otherwise, isolated to scattered thunderstorms will be possible across the region Sunday morning through Tuesday morning. (NWS)

SMOKE, CLOUDS & A TROPICAL STORM

HUGE COMPLEX FIRES CONTINUE GROWING

• 

• 

WALBRIDGE FIRE GROWS TO MORE THAN 43,000 ACRES WITH NO CONTAINMENT

by Mary Callahan & Julie Johnson

A stubborn wildfire burning in rugged west Sonoma County timberlands doubled in size over the past several days, growing to 43,266 acres and continuing to threaten communities north of the lower Russian River and west of Healdsburg Friday.

The Walbridge fire sent flame fingers and fire fronts in multiple directions through rough terrain and forested communities with significant flareups late Friday visible on wildfire detection cameras, including flames threatening key communication towers on Mount Jackson.

A still-slim firefighting force worked to hem in the blaze — still entirely uncontained five days into the firefight — though its potential to torch more populated areas has finally begun drawing more firefighting resources to the area.

Cal Fire Division Chief Ben Nicholls said the fire posed challenges on all fronts.

“All sides of the fire are moving,” Nicholls said.

Cal Fire’s estimate of the fire’s size doubled throughout the day Friday — from 21,125 acres in the morning to more than 43,000 acres by evening. Nicholls said most of that growth actually occurred over several days but they had been unable to capture its full size because of the remote and difficult terrain.

Local firefighters made significant progress with the Meyers fire near the Sonoma Coast, still at 3,000 acres, holding the fire at Meyers Grade Road and letting the western front burn down to the beach.

On Mount Jackson’s southern flank, crews were slated to begin digging fire breaks to keep the Walbridge’s southeastern edge from spreading into Rio Nido and other river communities, a concern that led the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office Friday morning to call for precautionary evacuations in Forestville.

The fire crept with lower intensity around some areas, while tough-to-tackle hot spots broke out in areas such as Pool Ridge near Armstrong Redwoods State National Reserve, along Sweetwater Springs Road further east. The fire’s northeastern heel near Lake Sonoma belched dark smoke as the blaze flared up in dry oak and chemise hillsides west of Dry Creek Valley — its most active front Friday.

A sustained air attack the past two days on that portion of the fire, which was once a separate blaze called the Stewart fire before it merged Wednesday with the larger Walbridge, “has bought us time to get those bulldozers and ultimately the hand crews in to get those lines cut so we can keep those out of those critical areas” Nicholls said.

The firefight has been hobbled by a lack of reinforcements for local crews performing grueling work for days on end without relief. The fire ignited Monday and was just one wildfire that broke out amid a mostly dry lightning storm that officials said started dozens of fires across California. By Friday, there were 771,000 acres ablaze statewide.

Crews released from other wildfires in California on which more progress has been made are starting to work their way to the North Bay, where they will serve as reinforcements for weary firefighters who have worked long days to keep the Walbridge and other fires in the region from doing more damage than they have.

"This is really good news,“ Sonoma County Supervisor Lynda Hopkins said. ”This is dozens of new engines coming into this entire complex. Some of this will wind up in Guerneville helping to defend our community."

State officials also have secured commitments from neighboring states, who are sending several dozen engine companies to the state for deployment here. It's not clear exactly how many out-of-state crews will be assigned to the LNU complex, which includes fires in three counties, and from there to Sonoma County.

Smoke from the fire degraded air quality in the county and further south into San Francisco and other coastal areas. The Walbridge fire burned in dense timber that hasn’t burned in years, though the county has been repeatedly tested by major fires and other calamities, including a major flood last year and the current coronavirus pandemic, since 2017.

“I am tired of being resilient,” said Forestville resident Duskie Estes, a local celebrity chef, on Friday afternoon.

Earlier fires set Estes and her husband, chef and pork master John Stewart, into action making food for fire victims. She and her husband closed their restaurant, Zazu Kitchen & Farm, after it was flooded along with much of the rest of The Barlow retail center in Sebastopol in early 2019.

Estes recalled, too, that her mother’s house off Chalk Hill Road was in direct peril from the Kincade fire when it was saved by the valor of firefighters last fall.

As sheriff’s deputies on Friday afternoon used their sirens and loudspeakers to urge those Forestville residents within the mandatory evacuation zone to leave, Estes and Stewart packed their dogs and cats — and freshly plucked vegetables — into their vehicles. They left their small farm in Forestville and went to stay with Estes’ mother near Windsor.

“We went around the farm and harvested every bit of food we could get to bring over to my mom’s house,” Estes said.

Friday afternoon, the fire was about a half-mile from Rio Nido but moving slowly with low intensity, Nicholls said.

At a bend in the river near Korbel Winery on River Road, a trio of helicopters rotated to the water, scooping up water and returning to the firefront in the hills above Rio Nido, a dramatic dance that continued for hours.

Sonoma County District Fire Chief Mark Heine was guiding the fight along the fire’s southern perimeter to protect the Russian River communities. He said they were prepared to make a stand to protect Rio Nido and Guerneville, one he hoped they could avoid by halting the fire’s momentum — that is, unless stronger winds arrive.

“If there’s a threat of it getting into Guerneville that’s probably days away,” Heine said. “I hesitate to say that because it depends on the wind. If we get a strong wind, it’s a different story.”

Standing in front of the Rio Nido Roadhouse, which they call “the community center,” Scott Ades and Lionel Burns reflected on the floods, mudslides and now fire that had threatened their wooded enclave.

Last year, they said, they had floodwater up to the Live Music sign hanging outside the roadhouse, like 8 feet off the ground.

“Floods aren’t so bad as fires,” said Burns, who has lived in Rio Nido all his life.

“I’ll take a flood right now, I’ll tell you what,” Ades said.

A storm forecast to arrive Sunday could bring another round of lightning strikes and, therefore, fires.

The National Weather Service issued a new fire weather watch for the North Bay, forecasting scattered dry thunderstorms could develop Sunday afternoon into Monday morning. A second round of storms is expected to arrive later Monday into Tuesday.

The weather service warned “lightning will likely spark new fires across the region, including remote areas.”

No official estimate was available for how many structures were destroyed in the Walbridge fire, with most destruction appearing to be in the forested communities along the upper reaches of Mill Creek and Sweetwater Springs roads.

Cal Fire lumped its reports on the Walbridge fire with a group of other wildfires in Napa and Lake counties, and did not provide specific information on damage or containment for each fire.

Those fires in three counties burned a collective 302,388 acres and were considered 15% contained. But it was unclear if firefighters in Sonoma County had made and held any containment lines around the Walbridge fire.

But firefighters had made significant saves, including a late Thursday stand to defend the critical repeater site and communications tower that was again being threatened Friday night on Mount Jackson. If that tower burns, crucial radio service for firefighters and other first responders could be knocked out, along with cell phone communication for western Sonoma County.

Crews spent hours late Thursday afternoon removing brush, cutting down trees and trimming lower limbs to remove fuels near the tower and other equipment.

They were ready when flames arrived sometime before 10 p.m. Thursday, and they lit a backfire that caused the fire to burn into itself and diminish.

“Those are critical,” Heine said.

Friday was day five of the firefight yet the first when fire officials had enough resources to put engines, hand crews, bulldozers and other resources in places around the fire, Cal Fire officials said.

Yet fire officials acknowledged a major obstacle to knocking the Walbridge fire down continued to be that there still were not enough firefighters and equipment in the county.

“Many of my crews have been out there for three, four days in a row with no rest period,” Heine said. “That’s very challenging for their health and their safety when they’re operating on a large-scale fire with no relief.”

(courtesy The Press Democrat)

LOOKING SOUTH FROM ELK

A READER WONDERS: Why hasn't Trump declared a national emergency and called out the National Guard to help the beleaguered and overstretched firefighters in this state? Cal Fire does not have the personnel to do anything about the catastrophe unfolding before our eyes, all over the north state. Trump is probably rubbing his little hands together and laughing while California burns to the ground.

THUNDERSTORMS RETURN TO FORECAST with slight chance of more dry lightning.

sfgate.com/bayarea/article/thunderstorms-lighting-Bay-Area-forecast-summer-15505474.php

FROM DAVID GURNEY: "For anyone who knew him, Robert Cooper better known as 'Banjo Bob' passed away at Sherwood Oaks Health Center earlier this week. He had heart disease and died from complications from Covid related illness."

COVID-19 DAILY UPDATE – 8/21/2020

21 additional cases of COVID-19 have been identified in Mendocino County, bringing the total to 605. Two additional deaths have been reported (one death from the Ukiah Valley Area and one death from the South Coast).

AT HER PRESS CONFERENCE Friday, the Public Health Officer, Dr. Noemi Doohan, said Mendocino County’s virus numbers are doubling every 23 days. Ten schools in the county (grades six & under) received waivers to open to “in-person” learning - Mendocino has 183 cases per 100,000 population - if it goes over 200 cases ALL schools will have to go to distance learning... 

(Courtesy, MendocinoSportsPlus)

CO-OP COVID MEASURES

As you might have heard, Ukiah Natural Foods had staff that were COVID positive.  Each staff member isolated at home and most have returned to work with support from our store team.  We have continued to respond to the cases with deep sanitation of the store.

Since the beginning of the COVID outbreak, keeping our doors open to the community has been challenging and stressful.  We have created and enforced many new internal practices and monitored shopper behavior regarding the face covering mandate put into place by the state of California.  We’ve gotten into the new swing of things as we all learn new ways of safely existing together.

Please be confident that the Co-op is taking all necessary steps and precautions to keep our staff and shoppers safe.  To maintain social distancing, we are limiting the number of shoppers in the store and ensuring that all shoppers are properly masked upon entering and while shopping.  Sanitation measures are ongoing throughout the day, including regular cleaning of the hand baskets, shopping carts, register belts, credit card machines, door handles, knobs, bulk bin handles, to name just a few.  The routine schedule of sanitation is in place during and after operating hours.

The outpouring of positive support from our board of directors, members, and shoppers has been very helpful in keeping our staff morale up during this unprecedented time.  We will continue to work hard to maintain a high level of customer service as keeping the store stocked, clean and safe.

Stay well and healthy.

In Cooperation,

Lori Rosenberg, General Manager

ALVIN (AL) JOHNSON

Alvin (Al) Johnson was born on March 30th, 1941 to Mary & Leonard Johnson. He passed away on August 7th, 2020. He married Marcia Freel in 1972 & they had two daughters: Tina, & Chalee. He grew up in Marin County & graduated from Redwood High. He later attended College of Marin. One of his favorite pastimes was playing trumpet in the college community band, and later in the Rohnert Park Community Band.

Survivors include his wife, Marcia; his daughters; Tina Silverman (Jerry), Chalee Johnson; his precious grandson, Carter Johnson; his brother, Richard (Deb); & numerous nieces & nephews.

His passions were playing golf, woodworking, playing his trumpet, & volunteering at Assistance Dog Institute (ADI) as a puppy petter, & he later volunteered in his grandson’s school. He worked in numerous management position with Pinky’s Pizza being his favorite.

In 2011 Al & Marcia moved to Redmond, WA to be near their daughters & grandson.

A celebration of life will be held in April 2021 in Northern California. More details can be obtained by contacting Marcia at marcia.m.johnson49@gmail.com

THE SCHRAEDERS’ MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR PSYCH-MOTEL

by Mark Scaramella

The Supervisors rubberstamped the huge gift of a gold-plated “Crisis Residential Treatment” building next door to the Schraeders last Tuesday. Nobody actually said “Schraeder” or “Redwood Quality Management Company,” instead referring to the Schraeders as “a good operator” which will operate the new building next door to the Schraeders’ existing operation on Orchard Street in Ukiah. In prior Measure B Committee meetings, they at least had the honesty to refer to the Schraeders as “the odds-on favorite” to get the CRT operator contract.

Measure B Project Manager Alison Bailey told the Board that the building — essentially a glorified motel — will end up costing about $5 million. 

The project’s $5 million cost is made up of $500k for the bare land (being paid for out of a state mental health facilities grant), $750k for “design and architecture,” $3.25 million for construction with contingency, and $500k worth of “soft costs” — a construction manager, “building commissioning,” materials testing, plan checks and permits, utility connection fees, and “contingency.”

The CRT as proposed by CEO Angelo’s hand-picked extremely pricy Sacramento architect Nacht & Lewis is essentially a 2000 square foot four-bedroom house. For comparison the most expensive four-bedroom house for sale in Ukiah is about $1 million. It has 4.5 bathrooms and about 2500 square feet. The lowest cost 4 bedroom house in Ukiah is about $500k with the average or typical 4-bedroom house at about $700k. 

Asked why the building is so expensive, a Nacht & Lewis rep named Fadness told the Board that it is “not a typical residence.” Oh no, no, no, no. Although, according to Fadness the building “looks like a home and feels like a home,” it has to have “ligature resistance,” and special high durability windows with insulated tempered glass, and stucco outer walls. Fadness also noted that the laundry room needs an expensive exterior door “to avoid bringing contaminated clothing or bedding inside.” Another big expense, Fadness added, will be that “the exterior facing windows will have nice views of fruit trees.” And gosh it’s an undeveloped site (right in the middle of Ukiah) and it needs fire accessibility and utilities. “There’s nothing extravagent about the design,” said Fadness, but it “has to be built to a behavioral health standard.” 

This pure bullshit was, of course, swallowed without question by the Supervisors who have consistently been told that to get the $500k grant from the state, the Schraeders’ CRT has to be built in a hurry because of some silly funding deadline the state insists on. So essentially they have to spend millions more on the Schraeders’ psych-motel because otherwise they’d lose (allegedly, but highly unlikely) a $500k grant from the state. By that kind of logic, you should buy a Rolls Royce because they’re offering a $10,000 cash rebate — but the offer expires soon!

Obviously, money is no object when it comes to the Schraeders who are the only “good operator” that would consider bidding on staffing the facility, especially when it’s right next door to their existing operation.

County Mental Health Director Jenine Miller said that operating the facility shouldn’t cost much Measure B money because the services to be provided will be reimburseable by state and a little private insurance.

This of course is a complete betrayal of what the voters for Measure B were told: that the primary purpose of the Measure B money was “to fund improved services, treatment and facilities for persons with behavioral health conditions,” not simply for business as usual next door to the Schraeders. 

This Cadillac of a CRT would basically provide no service improvements at all; it’s just a building for the “treatment” of the existing reimburseable “clients.” Insurance/reimbursement only covers persons with “severe” mental illness, not the drug-addled, the “mild to moderate” street nuts, and the addicts and alkies that the voters expected to be removed from the streets for help.

What about the “Psychiatric Facility” promised by Measure B advocates? Ms. Bailey now says that a Psychiatric Health Facility (aka PHF) will end up costing another $20 mil or so just for the facility. (The Kemper Report said firmly that a PHF should cost less than $5 million based on similar facilities in other California counties.) 

But nobody involved seems interested in that much larger (and obviouly grotesquely overpriced) project, which has no deadline and won’t even be on anyone’s list of projects until sometime after the CRT is built and operating in 2023. And the PHF will actually cost money to operate since most of its services, should it ever exist, would not be reimburseable. Nor would the PHF be next door to the Schraeders.

By the time the County gets around to even considering a $20 million PHF — there’s no time pressure; the only reason the CRT is getting pushed through is the state’s artificial deadline — a large chunk of the Measure B money will be used up on the gold-plated CRT. If a PHF project is ever even started then planned like the CRT with high-cost architects and designers and planners and project and construction managers, the $20 million or more they’ll spend on building another gold plated facility will leave very little for the “improved services” Measure B was supposed to deliver. 

ELEMENTARY SCHOOL 2020

ED NOTES

TWO KARENS are out to dinner. The waiter stops at their table to ask, "Is anything ok?"

THE DNC SHOW took up four nights saying the same thing: “It's all Trump’s fault, so you, you racist, homophobic dog pigs better vote for us because we're not Trump." Next week we'll get four nights of maga-hats telling us that if Biden wins American cities will be destroyed and your grandparents won't get their sex changes. Stick a fork in US. We're done.

THE DEMOCRAT'S four-night infomercial veered from one nauseating act to another through maudlin montages set to treacly "music," and reaching their psychopathic low in a clip of a 13-year-old kid claiming that Biden had helped him cure his stutter. 

SPEAKING of the nearly three months of alleged outrage at racial injustice as expressed in Portland every night, I'll bet at least some of the people committing the major assault and arson felonies are committing them on some rightwing payroll. The violence always, and always has, played into the hands of the fascisti, as Portland works majorly every night to Trump's advantage. 

IN THE ROMANTIC yesterdays of civil insurrection the people advocating felonious behavior were cops, and in the case of Earth First! a few years after the sixties, FBI agents went to work to sabotage Earth First! which, in my opinion, they also were right here in Mendocino County during the Bari interlude. 

IT WOULD NOT SURPRISE ME if some day that the installation of the inert and environmentally irrelevant Mendocino Environment Center at 106 West Standley Street, conveniently located across the street from the County Courthouse, was revealed as a federal listening post as the feds established in black neighborhoods during the sixties to monitor and subvert legitimate political opposition. 

NEXT TIME you see Supervisor McCowen, owner of the ramshackle premises at 106, ask him who paid rent to him all those years. He'll say, "Nobody. I donated the building to the cause." And then you say, "Who were those guys who pulled out the phones the day Judi Bari was bombed?" And he'll say, "Phones? What phones?" Then ask him, "How come Mike Sweeney, Bari's husband, maintained his recycling office in your building?" And McCowen will say, "Because Judi Bari vouched for him and he was, after all, a recycler and recycling is good." Then ask the Supervisor, "How is it that you followed me around four counties denouncing me as a liar for saying that I was sure Bari was bombed by Sweeney but somehow and magically Sweeney eluded Suspect Number One status?" And McCowen will say, "Well, you'll have to ask the FBI." 

THAT HOMICIDE in Covelo was that of a young Mexican man, unknown to the shooter. The victim was simply waiting to report his truck stolen when here comes Jameson Jackson who stole the guy's truck roaring past, and Jameson, who was not driving, leans out the passenger side window and cranks off a shot in the general direction of the young Mexican man and a second young Mexican man, both trying to hide behind a tree not large enough to conceal or shield them from the high-powered round shot from Jackson's high caliber handgun. That shot wings one young Mexican man, kills the other straight to the head, a fluke shot from Mr. Jackson, a death shot to the kid it killed. Jackson, as a Willits teenager, stood idly by as his murderous teen crime pal named Coleman shot Joan LaFeat at that little Brooktrails convenience store as she begged for her life. Jackson's crime pal is still in adult prison, but Judge Cindee Mayfield, ignoring a probation report that recommended Jackson also be put away permanently, ignored the report that pegged Jackson as a dangerous psycho even as a kid, and sentenced him as a juvenile. 

Jackson got out and here he is again being sought on a variety of charges including cruelty to a child when he steals a truck and cranks off a random shot at two guys presenting no threat to him, one of whom dies. Jackson didn't necessarily mean to kill anybody, just as a kid he didn't rob the little store at Brooktrails with the intent to kill anybody, but both times he's around a gun someone died.

FROM A SMALL FARM SOUTH OF BOONVILLE...

Petit Teton Monthly Farm Report - July 2020

Hi all,

I don't feel like writing this month; too much negativity in the atmosphere. Countless fires to the north, east and south of us. Big Basin Redwoods, oldest CA state park, on fire. Hourly radio alerts about immediate evacuations. Covid numbers on the rise in the county, state, country. Evil empires, including ours, continuing to undermine anything visionary or humane in their countries. Glaciers melting and brain and body numbing, high temps all over the planet. Hardly any focus on the root cause of all our distresses... rampant human reproduction and complete disrespect for the other inhabitants of our planet. We wish our meat rabbits would reproduce as prolifically as people, but they appear to be smarter than that. Hang on and hang in and do your damnedest to cause positive change. 

Nikki Auschnitt and Steve Kreig, Yorkville

PS: So far the valley has escaped fire and second hand smoke although we can see the fire plume from our window. Luck. It doesn't remove the knot in the gut and distress and fear from the mind.

UKIAH MILLING CO., 1908

HELPFUL INFO FROM 4TH DISTRICT SUPE DAN GJERDE

As we see the fires and evacuations in neighboring counties, please do what you can to prepare for Public Safety Power Shutdowns expected later this year. To help us here on the Coast, many of you know by now that PG&E has installed generators at its Fort Bragg substation.

This will be long for a Facebook post, but I want to share additional information about the service we can expect from those generators.

If weather conditions are safe here but require a PSPS due to weather conditions inland, PG&E's generators are capable of providing electrical power to the homes and businesses seen in within white lines on this map of the Northern Mendocino Coast. Roughly speaking, that means power could be provided from Gibney Lane to a few miles North of Westport. PG&E adds that if we were to have high winds or other high risk conditions here on the Coast, protocols would require they only provide power to the properties shown in green, the Tier 1 fire risk properties. If you live or work in the yellow, Tier 2 fire risk area, please note safety protocols would not allow PG&E to provide you with power, if we were experiencing high fire danger conditions here on the Coast during the PSPS. Finally, PG&E has noted that we did not have high fire risk conditions on the Mendocino Coast during last year's PSPS events.

I hope this clarification is helpful.

SUN HOUSE, 1979

NOYO HARBOR

Letter to the Editor: 

How many times have you heard when traveling, "You are from where? Fort Bragg? Really? That's an army base in North Carolina, isn't it?" At any rate, it is the most un-grounded, unrepresentative name one could imagine for this beautiful place where we live. And, actually, ugly in much of what it has historically represented, such as the purpose of the 'fort' and the forgettable traitor it was flippantly named after.

History has presented us, not without good reason, an important and timely opportunity to re-name our wonderful but unfortunately named town. Here is what I suggest, and why.

Ideally, the new name, just on general principles, should be firmly grounded on a topographic feature for a strong sense of 'place', like a harbor or a mountain, a beach or a forest. In our case, of course, the word 'harbor' fills the bill nicely.

Also, the name should represent the local, traditional, small-scale work culture. Conveniently, the word 'harbor' can do double duty here as it also represents the ancient and storied history of the small, family-business culture of the fisher folk and their boats. "The largest salmon port between San Francisco and the Oregon border," remember?

Finally, we need a word to complement 'harbor' that is both beautiful and fills our other cultural need, recognizing our local Native American culture. We are exceedingly lucky in that we need not search far at all for there is no more beautiful word than Noyo, and it has been a name for this place as long as anyone alive can remember. And, not only is it beautiful, it fulfills that need to honor the heritage and dignity of the native people.

I therefore propose that there is no better name for our town than Noyo Harbor, California.

Actually, the upshot of this is that we aren't really taking on a new name, just embracing a name that has always been an integral part of this place, and adding 95437.

It will be a "new day" for America when we escape beyond the tower of babel catastrophe that's fallen upon us. Now is a perfect time for us to choose a new/old name, a name for the future that speaks to the past, and there is no better, in my humble opinion, than Noyo Harbor, CA 95437.

Let’s have an open debate on this question in our public forums. And, not next year, thank you. In my experience, it has always seemed like a commission is a place where an idea goes to die.

Respectfully,

Name Withheld 

Fort Bragg

HORTENSE STREET, UKIAH, 1910

UKIAH STREETSCAPE PROJECT Construction Update - August 22-August 28

Big changes are coming next week! The second phase of the Streetscape Project begins on Monday, August 24th. For the first time since the project started, we’re going to see work happening along the entire stretch of the project—from Henry on the north to Mill on the south. Because different work will be happening in different places, the information in this email will be divided into two parts. Most notable next week will be the start of sidewalk demolition and tree removal on the north side of the project, as well as some modifications to traffic. Parking will be opened up on the west side of State Street between Perkins and Henry Streets. 

North Side: Perkins to Henry Street 

Wahlund Construction will be working over the weekend, August 22-23. Saturday will be mostly clean-up work, and on Sunday, new water connections will be made on West Perkins Street starting at 7am. 

Monday: Wahlund will be paving a small section of State Street between Smith and Henry Streets and preparing to move their equipment to the south end of the project. 

Also on Monday, Ghilotti begins work on the east side of State Street between Perkins and Standley Streets. You may see some changed traffic patterns in this area, and the work will be noisy with “sawcutting’” the pavement. Please pay attention to signs and drive carefully in the construction zone.

Tuesday: Street trees on the east side of State between Perkins and Henry will be removed. Remember—the sidewalks are being widened, so new trees will be planted in the appropriate locations at a later date. Not going to lie, though--it will look a little naked for a while.

Wednesday-Friday: Sidewalks will be demolished between Perkins and Smith Streets. Base rock will be placed on the side closest to the businesses to maintain pedestrian access. While access to all businesses will be maintained. please note that some crosswalks may be closed. 

Work hours are from 7am to 5pm in this area this week. 

South Side: Church to Mill Street 

Wahlund Construction will begin the underground utility work in this area—the same work that was performed on the north side of the project. 

Monday-Tuesday: Traffic control measures will be put in place. Through traffic will remain in each direction in the two center lanes; outside lines and parking on both sides will be closed. 

Wednesday-Friday: “Potholing” will occur. This is the process of drilling holes in various locations in order to more accurately identify where utilities and other obstacles are located. 

Due to the heat, underground utility crews will begin work at 6 am this week in this area. No side streets will be closed in this area, and no night work is planned.

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me directly. Otherwise, have a great weekend!

More information about the project can be found at www.ukiahstreetscape.com; follow our facebook page, too: https://www.facebook.com/UkiahStreetscape/

Shannon Riley

Deputy City Manager

City of Ukiah

300 Seminary Avenue

Ukiah, California 95482

w: (707) 467-5793

CATCH OF THE DAY, August 21, 2020

ANTONIO CALDERON-ROSAS, Willits. Concealed weapon in vehicle with prior, alteration of firearm ID, felon-addict with firearm, probation revocation.

AUGUSTINE FREASE, Hopland. County parole violation.

DWIGHT GARGER JR., Ukiah. Saps or similar weapons, discharge of firearm in grossly negligent manner, offenses while on bail.

SHAYLA GUERRERO, Ukiah/Covelo. Harboring wanted felon, conspiracy, suspended license, probation revocation.

JAMESON JACKSON, Redwood Valley. Murder, armed with firearm in commission of felony, failure to appear, probation revocation.

RONALD MAPLE, Covelo. Controlled substance for sale, probation revocation.

LORENZO MARTINEZ, Willits. Controlled substance, county parole violation.

JASON MILLER, Fort Bragg. County parole violation.

PATRICIA MOORE, Santa Rosa/Ukiah. Probation revocation.

KELLY OTT, Willits. Failure to appear.

AURA PALMA, Clearlake Oaks. Protective order violation.

MIGUEL PINEDA, Ukiah. Controlled substance for sale, probation revocation.

SEBASTIAN RABANO, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol, failure to appear, probation revocation.

JOEL RAMOS, Hopland. County parole violation, probation revocation.

ANDRES REY, Ukiah. Probation revocation.

ANGELA RIVERA, Ukiah. Probation violation.

ESTEBAN RODRIGUEZ, Ukiah. Arson, probation revocation.

JOSEPH SHORTSLEEVES, Fort Bragg. Fugitive from justice.

MICHAEL SMITH, Redwood Valley. Disorderly conduct-under influence.

LINDA SOMERSALL, Ukiah. DUI, no license. 

CHRISTINE TUPPER, Ukiah. Arson, ammo possession by prohibited person, probation revocation. (Frequent Flyer)

TORCH SONGS FOR JOE

by David Yearsley

Politically packaged, extended-play infomercials (i.e., conventions) make abundant use of music. Partly this has to do with the necessity of cleansing the palate and the ear of the monotone of presidential promotion and the same-old pitches (i.e., speeches).

Even if the underscoring for the ads and personal-interest filmlets that flooded the virtual Covid convention this time around is as predictable, manipulative, and tiresome as the talk, it can be instructive: the way the piano mourns the assault on our democratic institutions; synths and strings pacing and fretting at how dire our situation is; oboes promising to restore the middle class; horns sealing the deal with the call to build back better.

The heaviest musical lifting comes in the interludes when celebrity muscle is flexed in order to prove that the Democrats have the better lineup than the other guys. Republicans instead face scorn and lawsuits from pop stars demanding that their candidates cease and desist from using their tunes. In the infamous Tulsa rally held on a Saturday night in June, Trump walked out into the near-empty arena to Elton John’s “Saturday Night’s Alright (For Fighting)” and also helped himself to Neil Young’s “Devil’s Sidewalk.” Sir Elton, who turned down Trump’s invitation to sing at the inauguration, has called pro-Brexit British voters “stupid, colonial idiots.” His views on the intrepid MAGAites of Oklahoma have not yet been recorded. Young went to court this month to make The Donald understand that his Sidewalk ain’t wide enough for the both of them.

If Republicans are the Party of Business, then Democrats are the Party of Show Business. Some of these True Blue entertainers are so deeply enmeshed in the political gears that the shards of their melodies will never be cleared from the machinery. The grind and scrape of diehard Democrat Bruce Springsteen’s “The Rising” was already old by pop culture standards when, in the 2008 election campaign, it made the rounds from subsequently disgraced John Edwards to Hillary Clinton and finally to Barack Obama after he had secured the nomination.

By now the “The Rising” is indispensable to the Democratic brand. The Boss lent “The Rising” to a new Corona-Convention video that premiered on Monday night. The imagery and editing was off-the-shelf Americana updated with scenes from the pandemic: belching factories; tractors working the fields; lots of flags; old brick main streets with an American-made pick-up bumping by; riot police embracing protestors; a deserted Yankee Stadium; and front-line workers trying to save people. Billboard reported that downloads of “The Rising” immediately surged. The song’s refrain—“come on up for the rising” suggests “uprising” and tries to kindle a revolutionary spirit albeit in wispily plaintive tones.

After the video was shown, fragments of “The Rising” continually emerged when the next pre-recorded spot was getting cued up, or one actor/host or the other was hitting her next mark on the studio floor. In the most frequently recycled snippet, the word “rising” was pulled downward by the melody as if the air were going out of a Corona-Time sourdough starter. Thus “hope” was bathed in melancholy. In some not-so-distant dystopian future when human delegates, having learned the lessons of 2020, enlist androids as their surrogates, “The Rising” will be intoned by armies of flag-waving Dem-Bots in tattered jeans and kerchief headbands in a Convention Center built just for them.

“The Rising” has now taken its place alongside venerable elements of the American patriotic liturgy. After Night 1’s convening prayer to the One God and an open-range horn concerto introduction, a tiny bell and strum of an angelic harp ushered in the National Anthem done by a kids choir, its members gathered together but each in their own constantly-reconfiguring ZOOM boxes. It was an ethnically and geographically diverse ensemble that shone with the promise of the Digital Age: the Algo-Rhythms! Auto-tune the electorate! Download the RUN DNC software and the Swing States will be swinging your way! As the Anthem built momentum the chorus was reinforced by galloping cavalry strings, then brass cannon fire and cymbal explosions. Duck and cover—your ears!

The Chicks—their name now cleansed of the appalling “Dixie” so that the suffragette-themed “Chicks” can stand proudly alone—did the opening musical honors on the last night in a tour-de-force of musical triangulation: their rendition of the Star-Spangled Banner in three-part harmony was armor piercing, honing in on the pitches with the precision of a trio of cruise missiles.

The American musical arsenal is so richly diversified that some of its most effective weapons didn’t even have to be deployed. (Thankfully, Bill Clinton’s saxophone has been banned by international treaty.) Across the convention’s four nights I heard nary a drone. Such strikes are best kept secret from the public.

This strategy allows conventional musical means “to get the job done.” Countless hearts and minds can be conquered by boots on the grounds and a few tasty licks. Keep it simple. Grab the go-to political power chords: “greatest nation on earth”; “[not] who we are”; and “battle for the soul of America.” Occasionally allow a new spin on an old riff, but really there is nothing as static as “change”; “for the children”; “our democratic institutions”; “God bless our troops.”

I suppose we should thank the just-mentioned Abrahamic God (that adjective eruditely brandished by the nun who did the last night’s prayer) that the Pledge of Allegiance has not yet been musically weaponized. Troublingly, however, rumors from within the Pentagon suggest that John Legend has trained his Weapons of Mass Musical Destruction on the target.

Charged with bewitching the Obama voting bloc with his radically centrist musical charms, Legend was beamed in to close out Night 2. “Oh-ho, yeah … ” he began, succinctly capturing the essence of his candidate’s political vision. Avid seeker of the Springsteenian mantle, Legend offered up a love song to the Democratic Party: “We won’t lose our way because we both know who we are.” Even in the safety of my own home I reached for my ear masks: that italicized cliché has thoroughly infected political discourse and its superspreading songsters. The vaccine of originality won’t be developed during this campaign season—or any other.

The Legendary self-buffing, with the rapper Common spraying on the sonic Turtle Wax, continued early on Night 4 with “Glory” from his 2014 album Selma. “One day when the war is won, …” Legend strained. What was meant to be a paean to fallen Civil Rights hero John Lewis unwittingly became a hymn to Endless War.

An aesthetic and architectural highpoint was reached at the conclusion of Night 3 with Jennifer Hudson belting out Sam Cooke’s “A Change is Gonna Come.” Hudson was accompanied not by one, but two giant grand pianos, these landing crafts having somehow beached themselves way up under the cupola of the Harold Washington Cultural Center in Chicago. An enchanting soprano saxophone invited the camera up the stairs as Hudson let her resplendent voice echo off the gaudy marble and mosaiced vaulting. Was it a giant mausoleum to the former Chicago mayor who died on the job back in 1987, or a tomb emptied of political ideas and action? With her last note, Hudson began her descent of those same stairs. The choreography could have been meant to suggest that she would be taking the fight to the streets or, more likely, that it was all downhill from here.

The most telling performance was offered up by singer-songwriter Billie Eilish. Pin-striped host Kerry Washington assured us of the young star’s activist bona fides, among them her 2019 oxymoronically “eco-friendly” World Tour. Here are Eilish’s uplifting words on that bold international initiative: “So there’s no plastic straws allowed, the fans are going to bring their own water bottles, there’s going to be recycle cans everywhere, because it’s like, if something’s recyclable, it doesn’t matter unless there’s a recycle bin.”

For her DNC appearance Eilish, who is just old enough to vote, premiered “My Future,” something that, according to the song, she’s “in love with.” Mist and music swirled across the set like sea smoke rising up from vanishing Arctic ice—or perhaps like the contrails of a jet transporting Eilish round the globe so she that can recycle straws. In a season of fire hers was a torch song to Joe.

Then the beat dropped and Eilish found her resolve:

But I know better

Than to drive you home

‘Cause you’d invite me in

And I’d be yours again

Yet there she was at the wheel with the older man at her side.

(David Yearsley is a long-time contributor to CounterPunch and the Anderson Valley Advertiser. His latest book is Sex, Death, and Minuets: Anna Magdalena Bach and Her Musical Notebooks. He can be reached at dgyearsley@gmail.com.)

PIERCE-ARROW CAMPER, COURTHOUSE, 1924

BARTLEBY THE PHILBRICK

Hey AVA Gang:

Thanks for the continued newspaper effort. I sadly haven’t had time to read much these days so I’m just in the process of catching back up with the Mighty AVA.

Sure enough the trusty Jerry Philbrick is still at it with his ever-present letters. Is he a machine or what? I picture him as Boonville’s answer to Bartleby, the Scrivener. Yo, Jerrry, can you please run off at the mouth about something else besides Donald Trump? “I would prefer not to.” Ah Bartleby! Ah humanity!

Another question for Jerry boy: How on earth do you walk around all day with that perpetual hard on you’ve got for your daddy, Donald?

God Bless Jerry Philbrick’s 24-hour a day erect penis.

Ralph Coon

Los Angeles

HOP PICKERS, 1907

HOP PARADE CAR, 1914

SLOB-ISM

Editor: 

Along with the increase in outdoor recreation, I wish all the folks heading out to enjoy nature would remember one basic rule: pack it in, pack it out.

Even as our county experiences record turnouts at beaches, parks and campgrounds, parks staff are shorthanded, and cleanup nonprofits like one I work for are cut to a skeleton crew because of the pandemic.

Unregulated Russian River beaches with no services are being overwhelmed by trash. One staff person covering the Cloverdale/Geyserville area singlehandedly collects several thousand pounds of trash every week from river beaches. Three volunteers recently collected two pickup truckloads of trash from under the Hacienda Bridge in Forestville.

Every day I ask how can people who enjoy spending time at the river have so little regard for it, and for the fish, birds and animals that are harmed by trash?

When you go to the beach or river, bring a trash bag. If there are no garbage cans, take it home. Don’t leave it for someone else to deal with. And the beach isn’t an ashtray; cigarette butts are deadly to wildlife.

Your trash, your responsibility.

Robin Factor

Clean River Alliance / RussianRiverkeeper

GOBBI RANCH VINEYARDS, UKIAH, 1900

CREEKSIDE FARMS PARADISE

by Paul Modic

The bamboo is marching voraciously through the Texas heat here on Creekside Farms Road, wrapping around the party barn and heading toward the main house. There is now a sixty-foot trail through a bamboo forest to the next door neighbor who planted it thirty years ago.

Creekside Farms Road is an oasis, a retreat from the city that surrounds it. The city has discovered it and just raised the taxes 400-800% and the residents are freaking out and trying to protest the rise. All the apartment buildings nearby would gladly continue to deforest the land and obliterate this little paradise at the edge of Austin. Speculators call often trying to buy this parcel where I have been staying the last few days, a lush acre above a turtle-loving pond.

The bamboo has swallowed up a shed and other piles of wood and supplies as it spreads toward the house. Wandering around stoned the first night I cut a trail to the old radio station shed at midnight. The next day I talked to the owner who has been cutting it down little by little and dragging it up to the nearby forest to compost.

“I think you need a crew,” I said. “A few strong young men.” I looked online and found a tree guy nearby. He came by a few hours later and said he and his crew of three could do a day of cutting and removal for $600. They would cut it down with chainsaws. “She doesn't have much money,” I said. “I wanted to contribute $300 to get the bamboo removed, see how far that went in one day.”

The guy said he could come by later in the week to do the job and after he left Jenny agreed to match my $300. “This might be the best offer you get,” I said. “Jenny, you are always helping others, putting yourself out there, so I'm glad to give back something to you.” I was crashing in the party barn and sharing it with a rat or mouse family as well as a Texas-sized spider. “For example, right now you have your mechanic's crazy son living in the camper in your back yard.”

“Friends tell me to get rid of him but there's no where for him to go. He got kicked out of his group home a couple months ago and has been here ever since,” she said.

“Jenny, that's not your responsibility,” I said. “There are hundreds, thousands of people with nowhere to go.”

Yesterday afternoon he was screaming, freaking out, and Jenny texted his parents who come by every day to bring him food, usually a bag of McDonalds. He sits in the trailer all day and night and rarely comes out. “Well if it doesn't bother you then it's nice that you can provide a troubled guy some sanctuary.”

“He took some bad drugs, I think,” she said. “His parents are illegal and it's hard for them to figure out what to do with him. No, it's not a good situation, him alone there all day.” Her teenage son came into the kitchen to get something to eat.

“Well, this is a good cross-cultural experience for you Luc,” I said.

“Cultural?” he said.

I paused and thought about it. “Well, we all have our own cultures. His is drugged out crazy and yours is studious stability,” I said. “The lesson your mom is giving you is to care about and try to help those in need. Would you like him to leave?”

“I just want him to get better,” he said.

Down by the pond at night unidentified creatures speak, sing and croak across the water. It's a duet with the sounds of traffic on I-35 a couple miles away, reflecting the buzzing economy. Creekside Farms Road feels like the heart of Austin. This little country road and this verdant acre is the jewel of Creekside Farms, a little paradise hanging on against the forces of development.

(I'm pretty lucky I guess, if I couldn't stay here another friend has an old mansion downtown near the university. The last time I stayed there I had ten rooms and five baths all to myself. It was hectic running around trying to poop and pee in all of them.)

NO PLANNING THIS MONTH

The Planning Commission meeting cancellation notice for September 3, 2020, is posted on the department website at: mendocinocounty.org/government/planning-building-services/meeting-agendas/planning-commission

Please contact staff with any questions.

James F.Feenan

Commission Services Supervisor

Mendocino County Planning & Building Services

860 North Bush Street, Ukiah CA 95482

My Direct Line: (707) 234-6664

Main Line: (707) 234-6650

FARM LABOR OFFICE FIRE, Ukiah, 1947

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

Are you actually trying to say that Biden is decent man? How about the the fact that he set his family up for billions of corrupt $ income (including coke addict son, Hunter and his brother), helped give millions of tax payer money to Iran illegally, stole another man’s wife, started massive law enforcement efforts targeting poor POCs, was involved in the spying on American citizens (see Durham’s recent report), endorsed racist policies throughout his career, lied about his credentials in multiple settings, plagiarized as often as possible, and engages in pedophilic advances toward female children. Maybe you are crazy or maybe you are just brainwashed. But Damn, decent man, NOT.

Wake up or go take your psych meds. Or both!

BUBBIE GRIFFIN DANCE STUDIO, 1957

PROJECT SANCTUARY Continues to Support Survivors During Pandemic

Ukiah, August 21, 2020 - Since the onset of Shelter In Place, Project Sanctuary, a domestic violence and rape crisis center serving all of Mendocino County, has worked diligently to align its services with County Co-Vid mandates and community needs. “We have worked remotely since March but have maintained our delivery of services including confidential phone and HIPAA compliant video counseling, in both English and Spanish, emergency shelter, restraining order preparation assistance, court advocacy, sexual assault response, and a 24/7 crisis and support line,” said Executive Director Dina Polkinghorne. “All our services are free.”.

The need for these services has been laid bare by the CoVid Pandemic. According to Project Sanctuary Community Outreach Coordinator, Lydia Lopez, there is significant risk for those living in domestic violence situations, and/or sheltered with their abuser. Said Lopez, “locally, nationally, and globally, one can witness a sharp uptick in reports of domestic abuse. Estimates from the United Nations suggest that just three months of quarantine will result in a 20% rise globally”. Continued Lopez, “The CDC warns that in addition to the increased rates of abuse, the severity of abuse can increase as well. There are many factors that underlie this dramatic increase--- stress, financial anxiety and joblessness, isolation, difficulty accessing resources, and more. While none of these will trigger acts of violence in of themselves, they can act as an amplifier for homes in which domestic violence has already occurred”.

While individuals can not currently "walk in" to the Project Sanctuary walk-in counseling centers, which are closed due to the Co-Vid Pandemic, advocates are available 24- hours a day, 7 days a week by calling (707) 463-4357 for the Inland Crisis and Support Line or (707) 964-4357 for the Coast Crisis and Support Line. Besides counseling, all other services can be arranged by calling the crisis and support line. 

---

Project Sanctuary is a not-for-profit organization with the mission to “prevent domestic violence and sexual assault in Mendocino County through advocacy, crisis response, community collaboration, education, and shelter”. Founded in 1977, Project Sanctuary assists over 2,000 survivors annually and is supported by state and local funds and contributions from individual donors. Project Sanctuary is open to all genders and orientations, regardless of socioeconomic factors or immigration status.

I AIN’T DRAFT DODGING. I ain’t burning no flag. I ain’t running to Canada. I’m staying right here. You want to send me to jail? Fine, you go right ahead. I’ve been in jail for 400 years. I could be there for four or five more, but I ain’t going no 10,000 miles to help murder and kill other poor people. 

If I want to die, I’ll die right here, right now, fightin' you, if I want to die. You my enemy, not no Chinese, no Vietcong, no Japanese. You my opposer when I want freedom. You my opposer when I want justice. You my opposer when I want equality. Want me to go somewhere and fight for you? You won’t even stand up for me right here in America, for my rights and my religious beliefs. You won’t even stand up for me right here at home.

— Muhammad Ali

JEFF BLANKFORT:

Well, the virtual convention of the Democrat Party is over and that's the good news. Many of those who are reluctantly voting for Joe Biden as the anti-Trump, I suspect, were taken back by the shameful display of praise for the American military throughout the evening with not a single question raised or implied about the role it has served since 9/11 nor an iota of concern for those who were and continue to be its victims. Nor, of course, was there any mention of the bloated military budget.

It was left to Sen, Tammy Duckworth, an Asian-American, who lost both of her legs in Afghanistan to raise the Russian specter, complaining that Trump had nothing to counter the Russians for having paid the Taliban to kill US soldiers, an allegation that has yet to be backed by a single piece of evidence and consequently is no longer news.

So many scenes were shown of Biden with his late son, Beau, who had served in Iraq, in his army uniform, who subsequently died from a brain tumor, viewers unaware of the story could have been forgiven for thinking some of the scenes were of a younger Joe in uniform since father and so looked very much alike. I suspect that was the intent of the show's producers. In any case, whatever viewers might have thought, it was an overdose.

I can't imagine any registered Democrat with a sense of decency could feel anything but dirty after the evenings' jingoistic presentation and that it was wrapped around Americans of every color and age and sexual orientation, made it all the more disgusting."

‘GOOD TROUBLE’ & NOT GOOD TROUBLE

by James Kunstler

And so, the party of the Resistance has completed its solemn four day confab of info-ceremonials and sent forth its Primero Ingenioso Hidalgo, Joe Biden, on his limping horse of platitudes, armored by news media hosannahs, a saintly woman-of-color at his side to assist, tilting onward with his lance of moral instruction to bring love, hope and light to a world darkened by the shadow of MAGA-Diablo, Trump-the-Terrible. Plus, Joe promised to stop Covid-19 and cure cancer.

The convention organizers contrived a schedule Thursday night that did not put Mr. Biden before the cameras until eleven o’clock, preceded by a cavalcade of his former primary election rivals and family members pouring on soporific encomiums to a tinkly-treacly musical sound-track — aiming, apparently, to lull as many viewers as possible to sleep before the speech. But finally, the candidate appeared out of the studio mists, and acquitted himself ably reading from the jumbotron teleprompter, while his handlers cringed off-stage in little pools of flop-sweat.

The speech itself was wholly an invocation of righteousness in opposition to the manifest evil as represented by the current occupant of the White House. The question is: how many voters actually believe that when the party of the Resistance tacitly supports mobs looting, shooting, and burning across the land? Earlier that day, the Terrible Trump sallied forth diabolically to Joe Biden’s place of birth, Scranton, PA, where he inveighed against “the crazy people on the other side.”

He had a point. The Democrats are crazy people with a mostly crazy policy program — which a large number of non-crazy Americans actually see for what it is: the drive to run America on sheer coercion, pitting the supposedly under-privileged against the supposedly over-privileged, telling everybody what to think and punishing all non-correct thinkers. The catch is that life in this country has gotten a whole lot harder for everybody economically and, before long, matters may turn quite desperate. So, will the months and years just ahead become a fight over the table-scraps of the bygone 20th century banquet, with dreadful racialist overtones, mobs rioting and battling in the streets?

The Democrats have not called off their war-dogs and really everybody is aware of that. Antifa rioters have insulted the public order for eighty-some nights in Portland, Oregon, while the Democratic mayor, Ted Wheeler, and the Democratic governor, Kate Brown, do absolutely nothing to stop it. Similar campaigns against civil order are run by Democratic mayors Lori Lightfoot in Chicago and Bill deBlasio in New York City to the degree that these places may never return to the old normal. Mayor Jacob Frey allowed “social justice” mobs to burn down Minneapolis, leading the city council to logically propose abolishing the city’s police force. The Democratic regime in California uses hordes of the mentally ill homeless to prod its productive citizens to flee the state. Baltimore, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Richmond, Louisville — all yield to Democratic Party inspired violence and anarchy.

For Mr. Biden, the party’s Don Quixote, and his sidekick Kamala Harris, yesterday with all its infomercial glitz will be the apogee of the campaign. Antifa is promising a big Saturday night of “good trouble” in Portland to end the week. The NFAC black paramilitary gang is promising a show of armed “resistance” at the Louisville racetrack on the rescheduled Sept.5 Kentucky Derby day. Last time the group came out, in late July, they accidently shot three of their own troops. Just a week before the Democratic Convention, looters on Chicago’s ritzy Michigan Avenue announced that their robberies should be written off as “reparations” for slavery. Mr. Biden and Ms. Harris haven’t said a word about any of it. The voters are not supposed to notice, or care.

Personally, I don’t see how this amounts to a winning election strategy. And the Democrats themselves may not either. Rather, their aim may be to generate as much disorder as possible from the election process itself to paralyze governing the USA at every level and paint Mr. Trump as Hobgoblin-in-chief in order to keep their hustle going: the mau-mauing of America. It’s a really dumb and reckless game and it will bring on a whole lot of not-good trouble for a country reeling into full-blown economic collapse.

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

FOUND OBJECT