MCT: Tuesday, August 25, 2020

• Storm Remnants
• Smothered Lightning
• 645 Cases
• Covid Outreach
• Fire Overview
• Dear Marc
• Early Mendo
• Distance Learning
• Coast Highway
• Muppet Movie
• Ed Notes
• Caspar Store
• Night One
• River Logging
• Critter Extraction
• Union Theatre
• Big Fan
• Yesterday's Catch
• Firefighter Reserves
• Big Logs
• Enough LOLs
• Trumpweek
• Mendocino
• Botts Dots
• Fort Bragg
• Comments
• War Face
• Graveyard
• Objectively Detached
• Nepotism
• Biblical Travails
• Out Door
• DNC Message
• Ronnie's World
• Dam Removal
• Mr Zip
• General Strike
• Smoke Cloud
• Climate Fires

ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS are possible over portions of Trinity County during Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons, with seasonably hot conditions returning late this week for interior valleys while marine cloudiness persists at the coast. (NWS)

SAVED BY THE SMOKE

Finally some good news to report: last night's dry lightning event was less widespread & intense than earlier feared. Nearly all lightning spared Bay Area, though there were strikes in Central Valley & western Sierra foothills that may have sparked new fires. 

What happened? Well, there was plenty of elevated convection just above everywhere, but it wasn't quite deep enough to generate much lightning. Models were slightly off with timing, and may have underestimated smoke effect, and that made all the difference.

Also: we still aren't totally out of the woods in NorCal. Dry thunderstorms are still expected today, mainly in northern 1/3 of state but possibly clipping North Bay. These could yet spark new fires. But all in all, a better than expected outcome.

— Daniel Swain, August 24, https://twitter.com/Weather_West/

16 MORE MENDO VIRUS CASES 

COVID-19 Daily Update – 8/24/2020 — 16 additional cases of COVID-19 have been identified in Mendocino County, bringing the total to 645. 

COVID-19 PREVENTION EDUCATION AND OUTREACH IN ANDERSON VALLEY

To Anderson Valley Employers,

This August of 2020 we will be initiating the Covid-19 educational outreach campaign that will focus on the Spanish speaking community in Anderson Valley. This out-reach program will be on-going through the Anderson Valley Health Center and the community volunteer network.

Presentations will be given by Leah Collins, a bilingual medical professional. We are hoping to have your support in providing a half hour of paid worker time, and to provide a time and a place that works for your establishment. Please call or email the volunteer coordinator Kira Brennan to arrange details or the Covid email at AVHC.

These are critical times. The more outreach and education we can do, the safer our community will be.

Thank you for your support,

Kira Brennan and the Anderson Valley Health Center

Please call or email Kira to schedule your presentation.

Home: 707-877-3479

Email: kibrenn@yahoo.com

Marcelle: covid@avhc.org

Here is the link on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSx2CDqpfzA

SHERIFF MATT KENDALL POSTS:

I made some time to meet with my brother Luke, in Lake County today. Luke is a CalFire Division Chief and was able to give me an overview of the fires in Northern California. 

More specifically, Lake and Mendocino Counties. I'm happy to report that right now, Mendocino County is looking good. Let's keep our fingers crossed. 

OPEN LETTER TO MARC LUCAS: 

Many watched you grow up in Albion, Marc. And the child you were did not show up in the mugshots. Surely there is a part of that child still in you. Michael Riley, leaping from the Albion bridge, must have been especially painful for you because with your own father’s abandonment, Michael played the parental role for you. Don’t you know that Michael’s wish for you would be towards healing and working towards a happy life? His death was from age and illness. You owe it to him to strive for life and health. Many people have no ability to truly forgive themselves for wrongdoings. They consider this as being honest. So they carry around self-hate. 

Following is a formula from that to love. It may not be all but it is effective in accomplishing the goal. What you have been doing for others, Marc, hasn’t helped you. So why not give this a try? It isn’t much to ask. 

Christianity teaches that Jesus’s death on the cross for was to pay for the sins of the world. When you invite Jesus into your heart, you are reborn. You are made new into your authentic self. We are all grateful for the people who helped “catch” god. 

You didn’t hurt anyone and thankfully no one hurt you. A lot of people care for you and hope to see you improve. 

Name Withheld

Mendocino 

EARLY MENDO COAST

DISTANCE LEARNING began Tuesday of this week in the Anderson Valley, with teachers instructing both from their homes and their classrooms. Those teachers working from home are also minding their own children. The rest of the K-12 faculty will work from their classrooms. Superintendent Wayrich said Sunday that “Teachers, administrators, and support staff have all worked feverishly to prepare for opening, and I'm both proud and impressed with what they've done.”

HAPPENED to encounter Elementary School principal, Sid Frazer, early Monday morning at Mosswood. He was guardedly optimistic that this unprecedented educational experiment would work out. “We’ll see this week,” he said. The principal also mentioned that he expects to become a grandfather “any time now.”

BUT, as the SF Chron reported Monday, the video call service Zoom reported partial outages Monday morning, causing problems on the first day of classes for many schools.

SMOKE from the huge fires burning to our south was so thick in Boonville on Monday afternoon that the east hills were invisible. A caller said it was nearly as thick out on the Coast at Albion.

OLD COAST HIGHWAY

DRIVE IN MOVIES AT AV GRANGE: Saturday, Aug. 29th.

The lot opens for parking at 7:30 or thereabouts: ‘The Muppet Movie’. Not just for kids, and by all accounts it's the best of the Muppet films. So come prepared with your masks and help us all stay safe. Bring a donation and a thank you to the Grange for finding a way to share safely.

We've tested the big screen, the sound system and snacks. Everything is working wonderfully. We are registered with the county and are following all Covid protocols. We plan to show movies every other Saturday evening starting at dark until the rain chases us away. Contact person: Cap Rainbow 895-3807

ED NOTES

AND NOW a blast from the past: “Laytonville Rancher Dolph Camilli on the Wheaties Box”

JIM SHIELDS of the Laytonville-based Mendocino County Observer, filled in the Camilli blanks: Funny you should ask, Dolph and my Dad were work Buds. I've been up since Sunday morning breaking in the new media we loaded into the filtration vessel after installing the new laterals, so I'll keep this short. Dolph's ranch is now known as the Ben Mast Ranch, located a couple miles west of Laytonville along Branscomb Road. It was a working cattle ranch when he owned it. Camilli's family and mine lived in San Mateo and he worked with my Dad who was athletic director in the early 1950s at the Hunter's Point Naval Shipyard. As I recall from what my Dad told me, Dolph at that time was a scout but they all had second jobs back then, that's how he ended up working with my Dad, who was an outstanding athlete and played minor league ball for a season or two back in the 30s in the old ‘Three–I League,’ which I think was a Class C or D league. Anyway, my Dad told me a lot of stories about Dolph, as I was too young to remember much about him, some of the stuff was pretty sad.”

MUCH OF THAT SADNESS derived from the death of Francisco Camilli, Dolph’s brother, a professional boxer who fought under the Scottish name Frankie Campbell to help sell tickets to the “Wasps” in the Bay Area. Francisco was killed by Max Baer in a 1930 heavyweight fight in San Francisco. “Something feels as though it broke in my head,” Campbell-Camilli told one of his handlers between the second and third round. During the autopsy it was discovered that Baer’s punch had separated Campbell’s brain from its connective tissue inside the skull. Decades later Max Baer Jr., Max’s son, remembered, “My father cried about what happened to Frankie Campbell. He had nightmares. In reality, my father was one of the kindest, gentlest men you would ever want to meet. He treated boxing the way today’s professional wrestlers do wrestling: part sport, mostly showmanship. He never deliberately hurt anyone.” When Frankie Campbell’s kids were ready for college, Max quietly paid their tuition. He also boxed in many benefit bouts for Campbell’s family over the years. Just to make sure they were taken care of. Years later when Baer retired and moved to Sacramento, he told sportswriter Harry B. Smith of the San Francisco Chronicle: “ I’ve made a lot of mistakes but that is one I wish I could take back. I’ll regret it as long as I live.”

* * *

BIDEN has said he will raise taxes for those earning more than $400,000, but “no new taxes” beyond that. Translation: Jobless? About to lose your shelter? Outta luck with Joe.

CHRIS SKYHAWK NOTES: "I find it interesting that Marbut ended up working for the Trump administration I doubt it has any significance but just interesting."

MARBUT'S basic strategy, as presented to our unhearing Supervisors prior to his Trumpian elevation, was/is: "Take care of the local homeless population first, give the transients a sandwich or two then boot them down the road." Which seems from here not unreasonable looked at objectively as transient deadbeats overwhelm Mendo's capacity to provide "services" for them. I think it was Marbut's bluntness in describing professional moochers as professional moochers that "shocked" local helping professionals whose jobs, after all, derive from "serving" this population as it grows ever larger, not only bumming out Fort Bragg and Ukiah but also overcrowding the County Jail because a large sector of the homeless population includes drug addicts, drunks and free range crazy people not quite crazy enough to warrant permanent sequestration but do get arrested a lot. As our fair land continues to implode and more and more people say to themselves, "Wot the hell? No hope in sight so it's dope and/or the bottle for me.” As the severely estranged grow in number, with no viable or adequately funded strategies to cope with them from our limousine-ed political class of both parties, Marbut's give 'em a couple of chokers (peanut and butter sandwiches) and kick 'em in the arse outtahere seems quaintly optimistic. 

I WAS SO startled at reading a New Yorker poem that poetically moved me — first one in a coupla years — I'm posting it for whatever comrade poetasters there may be out there:

WHISK

I told my grandmother I am afraid and she made that little

wave, each plump finger brushing away my worries just the

way she'd brush crumbs from around the toaster tray, the way

she'd sweep the dog's dry tracks from the trailer floor. Oh, now,

it's not so bad here, she said, but I am afraid that when I'm gone

no one will remember her, her dimpled knuckles, the way her

mouth turned down at the corners in a sweet prim frown. No 

one will put flowers on her grave; even I don't do that now,

but what I mean is, no one will intend to. I told my mother I

am afraid she'll die alone and she laughed out loud: Let's hope

that's the worst thing coming. I looked down at my own hands,

knotted in the dog's fur, and saw that they are like my father's,

blue-veined and broad, and I stroked my hair, my cheek, with

the hand that is most like his, until the dog struggled to get

down, until the kettle whistled; then I sat alone at the kitchen

table and stirred a cup of tea. 

— Anna Scotti 

CASPAR LUMBER COMPANY STORE

RNC NIGHT ONE: Republicans Argue Only Trump Can Save America

by Daniel Strauss

Republicans have used the first night of their national convention to issue dark warnings about the future of America, arguing that re-electing Donald Trump is the only way to save the country from falling into socialism, economic ruin, violence and anarchy.

Monday night’s theme was officially the “land of promise,” but the collection of speeches offered an almost apocalyptic vision of what’s at stake in November’s elections, and a dizzying array of misleading claims.

“They’ll disarm you, empty the prisons, lock you in your home and invite [street gang] MS-13 to live next door,” the congressman Matt Gaetz of Florida said of the Democrats in his speech, likening the prospect to a “horror movie”.

“The same socialist policies which destroyed places like Cuba and Venezuela must not take root in our cities and our schools,” Trump campaign senior adviser Kimberly Guilfoyle warned in a loud, inflammatory speech to an empty room.

Directly lifting a line from the Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden’s stump speech, Guilfoyle, whose partner is the president’s son Donald Trump Jr, said: “This election is a battle for the soul of America. Your choice is clear.”

Guilfoyle described Democrats as focused on enslaving Americans to their liberal ideology “to the point that you won’t recognize the country yourself”.

While Biden has moved to the left during his presidential campaign, he is regarded as a moderate within the party, and spent much of the Democratic convention last week touting his support among anti-Trump Republicans.

Other featured speakers described the incumbent president as a compassionate man who succeeded through his first term in office in the face of “radical” Democrats and the media, both presented as the president’s coordinated enemies hellbent on blocking his initiatives.

Mark and Patricia McCloskey, a white St Louis couple facing charges for brandishing guns at peaceful Black Lives Matter protesters, gave a pre-recorded speech, in which they baselessly accused Democrats of “protecting criminals from honest citizens” and trying to “abolish the suburbs”.

The dark tone was apparent to political operatives.

The “campaign said the convention would be about hope and light but so far most of the speeches are extreme fear porn”, one veteran Republican presidential campaign operative told the Guardian.

A video of Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic featured multiple Democratic governors complimenting Trump and the federal government, editing out the fierce criticism of the administration’s response from those same speakers.

Trump has been criticized for playing down the pandemic, and saying the coronavirus – which has killed more than 175,000 people in the US, more than any other country by far – will eventually just “disappear”.

Voters have increasingly viewed the president’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic in a negative light. A new Gallup poll found that just 36% of Americans surveyed approve of how he’s handled the pandemic while 63% disapproved.

As the night wore on the more high profile speakers took aim at Biden and his running mate Kamala Harris.

“Joe Biden and the Democrats are still blaming America first. Donald Trump is putting America first. And he deserves four more years as our president,” the former UN ambassador Nikki Haley said, who is seen as a potential Republican presidential candidate for the 2024 election. “President Trump brought our economy back before, and he will bring it back again.”

One of the most common warnings throughout the night was about cancel culture - the blanket censorship of public figures. Haley said Trump “knows that political correctness and ‘cancel culture’ are dangerous and just plain wrong”.

“Joe Biden and the radical left are also now coming for our freedom of speech and want to bully us into submission,” Trump Jr argued in his speech, again to an empty room. “If they get their way, it will no longer be the ‘silent majority’, it will be the ‘silenced majority’.”

The South Carolina senator Tim Scott warned “Make no mistake: Joe Biden and Kamala Harris want a cultural revolution. A fundamentally different America.”

The DNC included speeches from Republicans as a way to try and woo over moderates and Republicans who don’t support Trump. But most of the RNC addresses on Monday were aimed at revving up the Republican base. Trump himself has been more focused on that throughout his re-election campaign, hoping that an energized conservative electorate can overpower any broader coalition backing Biden.

The convention had some of the same elements as the Democratic national convention last week, including a short taped version of the roll call across America, testimonials from average Americans and the president interacting with people affected by the pandemic. But it also featured more live addresses over pre-recorded videos, which sometimes fell flat without the usual audience responses.

The format of the convention changed several times over recent months as the coronavirus crisis worsened. But despite health concerns, more than 300 cheering Republicans convened in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Monday to officially nominate Trump as the party’s presidential candidate.

In a preview of what was to come later in the evening, Trump claimed without evidence that the Democrats were attempting to “steal” the election.

“The only way they can take this election away from us is if this is a rigged election,” Trump told the 336 delegates in the hall, who had traveled to the convention from the 50 states and US territories. “They’re trying to steal the election.”

The majority of speakers at a political nominating convention such as the RNC or the Democratic national convention are usually current or former elected officials. But this year many of the speakers are celebrities for the conservative wing of the party.

Over the next four days the RNC is poised to be the latest example of the Republican party’s complete shift over to a political party centered on Trump. The revised party platform for the convention this year is just an expression of support for the president’s second-term agenda. And none of the featured speakers at the convention are Republicans who have strongly dissented with Trump – a few, like the former Arizona senator Jeff Flake, have instead endorsed Biden.

Usually former presidents attend their party’s nominating convention, but former president George W Bush, the only living former Republican president, is not attending or offering a taped video. All three former living Democratic presidents participated in last week’s Democratic national convention.

Both national and statewide polling has shown Trump trailing Biden and although polls have recently tightened, Biden came out of his party’s convention with a polling bump. Trump and his aides are hoping the convention will help shift both Trump’s approval numbers and the national spotlight in the president’s favor.

(courtesy The Guardian)

BIG RIVER LOGGING

CRITTERS

Invasive Critter--Humane Exclusion

There is no one here on the coast who will help you remove something from your attic or crawl space. The nearest people are the Sonoma County Wildlife Rescue Humane Exclusion Program. They can advise you on all the tricks to get something out of your attic. 1) use a small shop light to illuminate the area or 2) putting in a one-way door of scrap wood to allow them to get out, but not back in. When they are out, and you are sure they are out, you can plug up the entry hole--see Google/internet. 2) Also moth balls work, but are toxic and the smell may enter your house and be rather unpleasant. I recommend tossing in a few in several little sock bags with 'retrieval strings" attached so you can get them out again. 4) You can ask the county to call the trapper to trap and remove them, and he will kill them regardless of what he tells you because it is illegal to release wildlife anywhere but where they came from, and they are govt. workers so must obey the law. And probably they won't come for a nuisance call like that as it requires getting a removal permit and other red tape. Here is their web address. Be patient, all wildlife facilities are overwhelmed with fire evacuations and incoming wildlife and have no volunteers to answer phones right now because of the pandemic. Here's their web address: scwildliferescue.org/a-wildlife-exclusion-service.html

UNION THEATER, FORT BRAGG

MSP’S MCCARTHY ANSWERS HIS CRITIC

They love me out here! I just got a message about my reporting from a big fan (Natalie from Ukiah) Sunday afternoon: "You’re a disgusting human being. Unfortunately for you, when you post something on the internet it never goes away. You can deal with the officials from this point on. You’re 65-year-old ass is very insensitive. Go back to New Hampshire you piece of shit."

I've always had this effect on women…

— Paul McCarthy, MendocinoSportsPlus

CATCH OF THE DAY, August 24, 2020

FOX HOAGLIN, Covelo. Concealed dirk-dagger, county parole violation, probation violation.

ROBERT JAMES JR, Ukiah. DUI-alcohol&drugs, no license, controlled substance, concentraed cannabish, county parole violation.

DYLAN PULLINS, Ukiah. Gross vehiclular manslaughter while intoxicated, DUI causing bodily injury, false personation of another, false ID. 

TIFFANY WHITE, Ukiah. Domestic abuse, protective order violation, burglary, disobeying court order, probation revocation.

RESERVE FIREFIGHTERS?

Editor: 

This may expose my utter ignorance about how professionals fight these fires, but I keep hearing about a massive shortage of personnel to deploy to these seemingly annual fires, and I wonder if it is time to create a reserve volunteer corps of citizens who can be called on in desperate times.

High school students earning service hours and willing community volunteers could take weekend trainings to earn certifications and, when needed, be prevailed upon when these shortages occur.

Under the leadership of trained Cal Fire professionals these reserves could cut fire lines, remove brush, bring supplies — help anyway they can.

I have tremendous respect for our venerable firefighters, and I hope my firefighting naïveté will be excused, but where once colonial farmers had muskets above their hearths to be called on a minute’s notice to protect their homes, maybe now some of us can trusted with a McCleod and pick-ax to help protect ours.

Adam Leslie

Santa Rosa

CASPAR BEACH BRIDGE STRINGER

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

One thing I find incredibly funny in all of this is that no matter what one thinks of Trump, the Uniparty cannot come up with a single candidate that appears more convincing. 

And, to rub salt in the wound, this analysis takes into account the fact that the Trump Biden is running against is the absurd McMedia-created character that lives rent free in the heads of wokesters and those of the lowest of IQ.

They can’t even find someone to take on THAT. 

There are not enough LOLs in the world for this level of failure.

TRUMPWEEK: IT WAS WHAT IT WAS

by Steve Heilig

I Do This So You Don't Have To... But it was Quite a Week:

Trump recommends an oleander concoction promoted by Ben Carson and the MyPillow guy/Trump donor to fight Covid; so many actual doctors point out that it's poisonous that Carson has to backtrack and say its use would be "premature."

Trump ordered to pay about $45k in legal fees for Stormy Daniels, pornstar he hired and 'grabbed by the p---y," while married, lying to his wife and the nation about it

Trump Jr. spreads a tweet calling Kamala Harris "whorendous," see item above.

Trump ordered by court to release his taxes, as he promised to do during his first campaign but has been fighting like mad ever since.

Trump's former main advisor Steve Bannon arrested for conning 'build the wall' rubes into paying for a private effort; about 300 feet gets build, while scads of money go into Bannon's pockets for all sorts of luxury living. Trump tries to distance himself from Bannon but, oops, photos of him praising the Bannon project surface, as do reports he steered funding towards Bannon even after they parted ways; Bannon, former editor of Breitbart, once referred to his own readers as idiotic ignorant "Hobbits" so he is at least consistent in ripping off the Wall fans.

Bannon now 7th, at least, of Trump's inner circle to be arrested, with previous six all convicted, some pardoned by Trump even after they admitted their crimes and pled guilty; this is Trump's version of "Draining the Swamp," with MAGA now said to denote "My Ass Got Arrested."

Former closest Trump advisor/fixer Michael Cohen, one of Trump's closest convicts, gets ready to release his book about Trump, which, oops, says the sleazy reports of Trump's "golden shower" and other behavior are true, that Cohen served as secret liaison to Putin and liar to Melania, and that Trump is a "cheat, liar, bully, racist, predator, and con man," who called him first thing in the morning and last each night; Trump sues to stop book being published, w/o success, as Cohen says "It's only mobsters who can reveal the truth about organized crime."

New bipartisan 1000-page report details Russian contacts and assistance with Trump's election in much more detail than Mueller report; as if on cue, leading anti-Putin Russian dissenter collapses, believed to be poisoned like a long list of fellow anti-Putin figures; Trump silent, but old letters surface he sent to Putin, praising him like a drooling fanboy.

List of 70 former Republican US security officials of both parties denounce Trump as threat to America, up from a list of 50 a few years back, calling him 'unfit for office."

Court reaffirms that Trump family is forever barred from having a so-called philanthropic foundation, due to their history of fraud and other illegal actions, having paid millions in fines; just for historical precedent, other Trump Jr. previously held responsible for diverting donated funds for kid's cancer to Trump family fun, and Trump "University" found to be a scam and forced to disband as well.

Trump family members shown to be taking large unreported salaries from Trump campaign donations, skirting legal and reporting constraints by tricky technical dodges.

Trump keeps yelling some form of 'law and order," and that he will 'save the suburbs," knowing that his support there is plummeting, but also, see item above.

Trump yet again misses previously-announced deadline for his 'fantastic' new health plan to replace Obamacare; said plan has never been seen by even his own party; despite the Covid pandemic, he still promises to get rid of the ACA, which gave over 20 million Americans health coverage and protections.

New American Public Health Association report calls Trump response to Covid a "radical failure."

Trump opens Alaska to oil exploration and drilling, despite previous GOP support for keeping Alaska unspoiled and that oil prices are at a deep low and such exploration is stalled for that reason.

Vast ice shelves/glaciers in Canada, Greenland, and Italy collapse, with scientists noting this is as predicted for an accelerated 'tipping point' type of sea level rise disaster coming on; silence from the Trumpian 'global warming is a hoax' crowd.

Big fires break out in California again; Trump blames state, saying emergency funding should be withheld as "you gotta clean your floors."

Trump deregulates Covid testing industry, allowing virtually anybody to market tests, but keep saying US only has lots of cases because we do lots of testing.

Trump admin pushing hard for 'fast and furious' release of Covid vaccine, despite many experts' concerns that, as in Russia, it would not be sufficiently tested for safety or efficacy and mostly be something he could tout during his campaign.

Trump further fights court order to submit to DNA test in rape case where there is a sample on the dress of the woman who says he raped her, despite that it would prove him innocent if he was in fact innocent.

Trump touts stock market high, ignoring or ignorant of fact that (1) this only helps those who own stocks; and (2) the reason, say the Financial Times, is that smart money is now betting on him being gone soon and much new investment in clean energy, etc will ensue.

Trump raises a 'birther'-type complaint about Kamala Harris, saying her parents weren't born here, despite fact that (1) he's constitutionally wrong, as usual, and (2) his own mother wasn't born here and he'd be ineligible for office under his own 'theory."

Trump urges boycott of Goodyear after they ban branded "MAGA" material; company says sorry, we don't do that for anybody, including you, but it's not about you if you can understand that for once.

Trump "pardons" legendary woman's suffragist Susan B. Anthony but her library/estate just says No thanks, not from you, sir.

Trump again yells in tweets about a vague something he calls "Obamagate," and again nothing surfaces and even his advisors just clam up.

US deficit announced to be highest in half a century, with projections of historic levels coming w/o serious changes.

Trump attacks US Post Office for all sorts of unverified or disproven reasons, including false fears of fake votes via mail, while yes, voting via mail himself; he inadvertently admits this is for political reasons more than any other justification; head of USPS has to back off and say he won't implement the changes Trump wants until after election, due to widespread outrage and people not getting meds in mail on time.

"MAGA" masks appear, despite Trump being among the last to endorse using masks; maybe made in China but not sure.

Trump trumpets new Middle East deal but first Palestinians say no, it does nothing for them, and then Israel says no, it's a ruse for selling lots of US weaponry to other nations there.

Trump says that Dems deleted "God" from the Pledge of Allegiance, quickly shown to be yet another of his lies as they said/read the "God" part repeatedly; he then goes golfing instead of to church, as always.

Joe Biden delivers 24-minute talk that, whatever one thinks of the content, puts the lie to all those who say he's senile by him sounding more measured, reasoned, and compassionate than the last 3.75 years of Trump bluster and apparent dementia.

Dem convention features a grieving young woman who says her father is dead of Covid due to him being somebody who "Trusted Trump" and took his advice re no masks, socializing etc.; plus a kid who tells how Biden comforted and coached him about how to deal with stuttering.

Kanye West, recently confirmed by his wife to be struggling with mental illness, continues to say he will run for president, with indication right-wing Trump support is behind his 'third party' campaign, hoping to draw away non-Trump voters.

Dr. Tony Fauci bobblehead sells out quickly, despite/because Trump has sidelined his most qualified medical advisor in favor of a new guy with no relevant specialty training.

Republican convention to feature the scared white couple who brandished guns at a BLM march, both of them now charged with felony weapons violations.

Trump supporters spread photos of Joe Biden touching/hugging kids, calling him a "pedo"; photos shown to be of his grandkids at the funeral of their father, his son Beau.

Trump desperately attempts to recruit more nonwhite people while simultaneously reassuring white suburbanites he wouldn't let such people move into their neighborhoods.

Wall Street Journal opines that Trump makes ever-growing numbers of decent Republicans "cringe," but elected ones are mostly too cowardly and afraid of him, as in nations where a violent despot is in control.

Facebook and other social media platforms ramp up efforts to purge disinformation sites such as "Q" and Covid and anti-vaccination propaganda, plus those which might advocate for Trump to corrupt election and/or refuse to leave office if he loses it.

Military/veterans' groups press military leaders to pledge to remove Trump from White House forcibly if he refuses to go.

Former Reagan speechwriter/staffer and Pulitzer WSJ columnist Peggy Noonan, who has already called for Trump to resign for the good of the country, now writing about Obama's speech at the Dem convention "Obama's speech will stick in history ..This is a former president calling the current one shallow and lazy. He also suggested he's greedy and intellectually incapable. Unprecedented? Yes. Unjustified? No, alas. And I'm not seeing Trump supporters rise up in indignant defense. They know it's true, too."

Trump first presidential candidate to be opposed by all living former presidents, of any party.

Trump says "Qanon" conspiracy nuts include some fine Americans, refusing to disavow the most insane paranoid fantasy group ever to arise in American history, a sort of trailer-trash Scientology that would be purely funny if they didn't sometimes inspire paranoid violence; 'good people on both sides"?

That's all I got, sorry. I'm a news junkie, but there must be more? Did Trump do something GOOD for America, or even a few people other than the wealthy and/or the criminal? Thank you.

NO SNOW BUMPS

Editor-

Re: Krumholtz Bumps; my letter, AVA, Aug. 12.

For the five or six readers who might be interested:

Years ago I was talking to two male friends about the bumps on lane dividers on California freeways. I told them that I had never seen the bumps on freeways and expressways in other states and I remembered a drive with my family to Lake Tahoe on I-80 when I was a kid on which I noticed that the bumps stopped in Auburn.

One of my friends pointed out that Auburn is about where snow starts to fall on I-80 in the winter and that the bumps would impede the progress of snowplows, which made sense to me.

As to “Krumholtz Bumps,” named for the inventor, I must have looked that up years ago on the internet, perhaps on the Caltrans website.

Now back to Covid-19 news.

Keith Bramstedt

San Anselmo

ON LINE COMMENTS OF THE WEEK

[1] Very near where I live are four small homes used as short term rentals in regular times. I think now some are being used longer term due to Covid. Recently I have noticed an elderly woman, somewhat frail looking on one of the big porch in the evenings, and now I see a man who appears likely to be her son joining her. I think the car with California plates is his, and they sit together on the porch. These four houses often have americans staying in them in the summer months for music festivals, etc. Always license plates from Washington State. I feel certain the woman has been brought here to protect her from exposure to Covid given her age. The border closed in March, but remained open to americans needing to get home to Alaska. They are not supposed to stop anywhere but go straight to Alaska. I don’t care if they’re breaking the rules. We’ll protect her at any cost. Circle the wagons.

[2] Then there’s the woman from Scotland who saw Jesus’ face on a potato. Yes, a potato. I may not ever eat one again. 

I just have to ask: Why would Jesus wait 2,000 years for his second coming by putting his face on a potato?

To me, it looks like the whole world is mad and has gone down the shitter. Scotland, it turns out is not immune to madness, either. Sorry, GA.

I can only conclude God has a robust sense of humor (or is shaking his head about his decision to let some people live after the flood.).

[3] If the Democrats were in Canada they would be considered to be a right-wing party. Calling them “extreme left” or “Marxist” is pretty funny to anyone looking at the US from elsewhere. Canada’s publicly-funded healthcare for every Canadian is considered to be “socialism” or “communism” by Americans, but two-thirds of Americans who file for bankruptcy say it was because of medical bills. In a civilized country all citizens should have healthcare, but for millions of Americans that’s just a dream. And Americans consider their country to be “exceptional”. That’s pretty funny too.

[4] A few general comments regarding mostly inflation:

The house I live in is 108 years old. Its construction was completed in 1912. We bought the house in June 1978 so we’ve been here 42 years. The house has a slate roof which has required repair many times and slate repairs ain’t cheap. Rather than fix it this time we decided to have a total roof replacement using top notch materials including ’50 year’ shingles. I’ll be lucky to enjoy this new roof for 5 years since I’m almost 80 and nobody in my bloodline has made it past 84. 

My wife may enjoy the new roof for 20 years but when ever the house is sold the roof, new rain gutters, etc will be a selling feature. The cost of this new roof equals 43% of what we paid for the entire house and property back in ’78. Gulp!

Two days ago the roofing outfit delivered into my driveway all the required materials plus a dumpster. The next day, yesterday, a crew showed up at 7AM. They were all Hispanic but their crew chief spoke both English and Spanish perfectly. They worked until 7:45PM. Almost 13 hours. How do they do it? And they are back at 7AM again today to continue the job.

[5] How voting for a third party is like not wearing a mask:

There's so much stupid, so much entitlement, so much cultivated ignorance embedded in here (on the Coast Listserve), I can't help myself. I try to avoid participating in Coast Listserve discussions, but this one pushes me over the edge.

1. We live in California. The Electoral College is still in place. Biden will get California's electoral votes. Voting for a minor party in California does not help Trump. 

2. Biden has not earned my vote. He is loathsome in every way. He is opposed to everything I support, and he supports everything I oppose. Even when he pretends to support something good, we all know he'll back off as soon as his corporate puppeteers make a tiny peep of unhappiness. 

3. Minor parties have no chance because people like you listen to the pundits who say that minor parties have no chance. Turn off MSNBC and vote your conscience. 

4. Who gives a flying rat's ass what some comedian says about how we should vote? 

5. Joe "Nothing Will Fundamentally Change" Biden's main campaign platform plank is to restore the very same status quo which spawned Trump. The next Trump may have all of this Trump's evil without his incompetence. 

[6] 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!

[7] “Modern Architecture is a soul killing invention of the devil”

Modern architecture is a reflection of the way we produce and communicate.

Soulless, mechanical mostly with limited skill sets, strapped in a production system solely aiming to produce for the profits of the few, atomized individualism that actually denies the existence of “society”.

What does one expect from artistic expressions in such a social environment? From an approach to an integrated architecture providing spaces that are a pleasure to live in, to meet and communicate instead of encountering automatons hacking away at their various “I-phone” iterations?

Luckily in Europe there are still such places….

[8] What’s even more odd is how many people are little toady lickspittles that also propagate the latest talking point data. We now have a nation of Karens scared to death of everything. Three different outings yesterday for a trip up into the hinterlands of San Diego wife got a subway sub and some weirdo was in their screaming about cookies and a water cup calling all the women sweetie and cussing at the young counter ladies. To the point she called me as I walked in I assessed not one “man” in the place and thought this could get ugly fast. Funny I walked in he took one look at me and scurried off. The manager of the Subway comped our sub. Since we had the dog in the car she then went into the local Smart and Final store for some drinks and watched some lady flipping out on people about coming within six feet of her screaming and yelling. Finally having had enough of people she decided at the gas station to just stay in the car while I went in to pay for some gas and one of the customers decided to whip it out and urinate on the gas pump next to his car. Mind you the guys wife was in the car next to him. We finally wound up in the mountains about twenty miles away from the nearest paved road and had the heavens open up and pour down at least 1″ inch rain causing the temps to plummet from 90 degrees to 71 in about ten minutes then back up to 88 when the rain stopped. Not a soul in site anywhere nor any cell signal having lunch on top of a mountain. Every lizard around was out sunning themselves after getting rained on and the local hawks were picking them off as fast as they could. The dog was bouncing around chasing lizards until she was exhausted. The only sounds to be heard was the thunder off in the distance, quails and my dog panting. Sometimes we need to take stock of our surroundings and change them for our own sanity.

A SOLDIER'S FACE BEFORE AND AFTER THE WAR: 1941 vs. 1945

The man in the photo is Evgeny Stepanovich Kobytev. In 1941, he was a young man who had aspirations of becoming an artist as he loved painting portraits and landscapes. He had just graduated from the Kyiv State Institute in Ukraine and was looking to embark on his career as an artist when Germany invaded the Soviet Union. Kobytev had to set his dreams aside to fight in the war.

He fought in several fierce battles in Ukraine, but was wounded in September of 1941 and became a prisoner of war. He was locked away in a prison camp called "Khorol pit" (Dulag #160) where approximately 90,000 civilians (including Jews) and POWs died. The camp was built upon what used to be an old brick factory and only had one barrack to provide shelter. Those that managed to get a spot in the barrack were crammed inside like sardines. Inside, the stench was unbearable but it was better than living outside, completely vulnerable to the elements.

Kobytev spent two brutal years in the camp, before he finally managed to escape. He then quickly rejoined the army and served out the remainder of the war fighting in battles to liberate German-occupied cities in Ukraine.

GRAVEYARD, MENDOCINO

TO STUDY ANY SUBJECT scientifically one needs a detached attitude, which is obviously harder when one's own interests or emotions are involved. Plenty of people who are quite capable of being objective about sea urchins, say, or the square root of 2, become schizophrenic if they have to think about the sources of their own income.

— George Orwell

BIBLICAL TRAVAILS

by James Kunstler

It’s looking a little bit like the nation’s attention to the Republican Trump-O-Rama Fest this week will get shoved rudely aside by Hurricane Laura, currently tracking to make a direct hit on New Orleans and then beat a path up the south-central USA, drowning croplands clear into Kentucky and Ohio. The internal quarrels of the GOP will have to take a backseat to disaster relief. It might be a political blessing for the president, unless he blunders through the event George W. Bush style — remember “Brownie, you’re doing a heck of a job,” apropos of then FEMA chief Michael Brown, who herded thousands into the NoLa Superdome, which quickly turned into a Lord of the Flies horror show of administrative incompetence.

I know: just what America needs, another Biblical-scale natural disaster, with Covid-19 apparently fermenting in the air-conditioning units all over Dixieland, and plenty of summertime left to breed up new plagues of mosquito-borne illness in the wake of Laura’s flooding. And, of course, the hurricane season is only beginning. Such are the Job-like trials of America as we slide into something that quacks like collapse.

Could the country even stand another full-on political convention after the Democrats’ nauseating extravaganza last week? The nation is so marinated in agitprop, disinfo, and straight-up mendacity that all the intelligence has been leached out of the population, perhaps even the will to live. A Republican convention complete with the usual showboating might deplete the remaining oxycontin supply across the land as unemployed millions, mulling over rents overdue and unmet car payments, resort to vodka, Xanax, cough syrup, and airplane glue to quell the pain induced by unbridled political bullshit. As BLM might put it: “Know whum sayin’?”

Speaking of BLM, on Sunday one Jacob Blake, 29, was apparently shot in the back by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin, while getting into a car. The incident inspired a night of BLM rioting and looting in downtown Kenosha, with excellent prospects for violence to spread to other cities. Mr. Blake was hospitalized and survives, so far. He was not complying with police instructions in the process of his arrest. He had been previously arrested in 2015 and charged with brandishing a gun in a barroom. Upon his arrest then, the gun was found on the floor of his car. In the latest incident, Kenosha police were responding to a domestic abuse complaint. There was an active warrant out on Mr. Blake.

Also over the weekend, police in Lafayette, Louisiana, shot and killed 31-year-old Trayford Pellerin outside a convenience store he was entering while brandishing a knife. They had followed him from another convenience store in the vicinity where he “created a disturbance with a knife.” Mr. Pellerin apparently refused to comply with police orders to get on the ground. Ben Crump, a civil rights lawyer hired to represent the Pellerin family during the investigation into the shooting, said, “His family believes that he was suffering a mental illness crisis and what he needed was a helping hand. But what he got was what looks like 11 bullets.” His mother told the Associated Press that Mr. Pellerin had sought therapy for social anxiety.

What to make of all this? The common denominator seems to be that a failure to follow the instructions of police can lead to serious injury or even death, especially if you are carrying a weapon or have a previous arrest record involving a gun. But never mind that inconvenient reasoning. Two fresh martyrs on the scene assure a new round of mostly peaceful protests. The Democratic Party is sure to play up the tragic injustice of police violence against black Americans. The riots and looting will continue until the un-black demographic of America gets its collective mind right and abolishes police altogether. Or, perhaps, instead, decides to not get hustled anymore and votes against the race hustlers.

So far, candidate Joe Biden hasn’t offered any commentary on these incidents. Or on anything else going on since his exhausting performance last Thursday. The Hurricane Laura situation plus the Republican Convention will give him another weekend to rest-up in the basement. Long about mid-September, voters may begin to wonder if his handlers will ever subject him to any public appearance, or scrutiny of the news media — most of which will function anyway as an arm of his campaign press office, with or without the candidate. Sometime in October, if he’s still alive, Mr. Biden may emerge from his hole in the ground like fellow Pennsylvanian, Punxsutawney Phil. If he sees his shadow, it’ll be back to the basement until Nov. 3 when the ghastly business is finally over. Or else, and pretty soon, the party will have to anoint a replacement.

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

DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION: NEW FACES, SIMILAR POLICIES

by Ralph Nader

A national political nominating convention, as the Democrats have just completed, is, to be sure, a mutual admiration event. A steady stream of speakers led to the finale with the acceptance speech by the presidential candidate, Joe Biden. But the Convention has another declared purpose: to show the country what the Democratic Party stands for and the future it wishes to shape for the American people.

Repetition is expected and it was no surprise that speaker after speaker attacked “inequality” and the injustices of discrimination against minorities, women, and the poor.

Intriguingly was what the three-day talkfest left out. The Democratic Party avoided the issue of what to do about the gross maldistribution of power between the tiny few and the rest of the people in America. This glaring omission signaled that the aggressive progressive wing of the Party – led by Bernie Sanders and youthful incumbents in Congress could have their priorities excluded with impunity by the Party bosses. The overriding desire for unity against Trump became the muzzle for most of the progressive delegates.

When unity, as if any Democrat had anything else in mind in stressing the defeat of dangerous and corrupt Donald, becomes a tool to demand unanimity on policies, alas, the Party is up to its old establishment ways.

The Biden/Harris Democratic Party looks like it will repeat the Clinton/Obama practice of avoiding major hurdles to peace and justice. Here are some glaring omissions:

*Trump shreds the Constitution daily with numerous impeachable offenses. He is getting away with these abuses because of the AWOL Congress’s indifference to his unprecedented dictatorial seizure of legislative authority, including his recent brazen executive usurpations of Congress’s power of the purse and taxation. Some of Trump’s acts include criminal violations of federal law.

*The gross distortion of the federal budget with over 50% of operating expenditures going to the Pentagon, the bloated military contractors, and the pursuit of a boomeranging, draining Empire. Speakers could have felt secure by quoting President Eisenhower’s farewell warnings regarding the military-industrial complex. Empires starve their country’s necessities and the U.S. is no exception to such misallocation of funds.

*There was much talk of expanding social safety net programs, but little or no discussion about how to pay for these vital programs, but no demand, other than a passing reference in Biden’s speech, to repeal the $2 trillion Trump tax cut for the super-wealthy and giant corporations like CEO Tim Cook and Apple. There was no demand to cut enormous corporate welfare payouts – crony capitalism and no push for a financial sales tax on Wall Street trading, notwithstanding recent support for that huge source of new revenue from Michael Bloomberg and Wall Streeter Robert Rubin.

*The corporate crime wave keeps roiling higher and higher with immense costs to regular people and their families. It would have been easy and popular to call for more law and order and adequate enforcement budgets to catch corporate crooks. Billing fraud and abuse, just in the health care industry, costs consumers and taxpayers one billion dollars a day!

*One would think that the unconstitutional, illegal, mass surveillance by federal agencies, in violation of the Fourth Amendment, would be worth a shout out. Privacy destruction is on people’s minds. Is this deemed too controversial for the Democratic Party?

*What about telling people about changes the Democrats want to make in the country’s foreign policy? What about the role of monopolistic corporations escaping taxes by using overseas tax havens, fomenting trouble, and exploiting indigenous people in foreign lands?

*Wouldn’t you think Convention speakers would report the crimes, misdeeds, and corporate takeovers of our government’s agencies and departments by Trump’s big-business henchmen? Look at EPA, OSHA, the CFPB, and the Departments of Interior, Labor, Agriculture, and other health/safety regulatory agencies and the life-saving and economic protections Trump and his cronies have shut down. In Minneapolis on Monday, Trump, in one fast minute, strung together his serial madcap attacks on the Democrats, who in the hours at their Convention, did not adequately return the favor.

*It would have been extraordinary had the Democrats addressed the Trump voters, especially those blue-collar workers who left the Democratic Party because the Party deserted them on economic/trade matters. Barack Obama did mention “white factory workers” whose jobs were displaced. But the tens of millions of low-income whites did not hear the Democrats directly saying much about working-class grievances.

It is standard practice for the presidential nominee’s team to clear drafts of all Convention speeches to make sure none stray too much from the permissible positions and non-positions of the candidate. If Joe Biden followed this practice, then what Convention speakers said and did not say reflects Mr. Biden’s range of proposed action and inaction.

However, the Democratic Convention’s embrace of replacing Trump’s deliberate chaos and confusion with recovery and rebuilding the country did seem to come through persistently over three days. The Democrats presented a contrast to the crazed, bungling, ego-maniacal Trump spewing hate, inciting violence, and emitting hourly lies.

SPEAK UP FOR EEL RIVER DAM REMOVAL!

Hi Friends,

 We hope you are all well and staying safe amid the fires burning all around us. Especially to our friends in the upper Eel watershed facing potential evacuation and intense smoke from the Hull and August Complex fires, we are thinking of you.

In this newsletter we have an opportunity to submit comments to FERC on Scoping Document 3, elevating Eel River dam removal as a priority. Use the instructions below to comment online by this Thursday, August 27.

Also in this newsletter is information about an Eel River Dam Removal webinar hosted by the Salmonid Restoration Federation and California Trout this Friday August 28 at 1pm. Tune in to hear about the Potter Valley Project re-licensing status, the dam removal project plan, and expected benefits to salmon.

And finally, FERC made an unexpected ruling on the Klamath dams last month. Listen to our EcoNews Report episode from July 25, or watch Congressman Huffman's forum from August 18 to learn more.

Submit Comments on Scoping Document 3

Here’s another chance to make your voice heard and help us elevate critical issues related to Eel River dam removal. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) just issued Scoping Document 3, a first step toward preparation of an Environmental Impact Statement which will evaluate a potential license based on the Feasibility Study Report that the Two Basin Partnership submitted in May. Whew, that’s a mouthful. The simple version is that we have yet another opportunity to remind FERC how important it is to remove Scott Dam from the Eel River as soon as possible.

If you have submitted comments to FERC before, the process is the same. You need to register with FERC online (https://eelriver.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u=1260e76581786d9b486399431&id=10dba2a809&e=4535228e31) and follow their instructions for submitting your comments.

There are three main issues that we feel are not adequately addressed in Scoping Document 3. Those are: Dam Safety, Adequate Project Alternatives Including Removal of Cape Horn Dam, and Eel River Restoration Plan.

Dam Safety FERC’s approach to dam safety throughout the process thus far has been inadequate at best, allowing significant liabilities to be concealed from the public. Our concerns include, but are not limited to, concerns about the materials, techniques, and design used to construct the dam; the location of the dam immediately proximal to a major fault system; the presence of an active landslide above the dam’s southern abutment; and the potential for storms well in excess of those which the dam was designed to accommodate. You can learn more about FOER’s research on Dam Safety here (https://eelriver.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u=1260e76581786d9b486399431&id=35e96186b7&e=4535228e31) .

Project Alternatives and Cape Horn Dam Removal True volitional fish passage past the current project location cannot be realized without substantial modifications to the existing fish passage structure at Cape Horn Dam. Despite a series of reconstruction efforts over the last century, volitional fish passage still has not been achieved. If true volitional fish passage is not feasible, Cape Horn Dam must be removed.

Cape Horn Dam removal must be fully analyzed as a project alternative, not only to prepare for the potential full decommissioning of the project, but also to ensure that accurate information is available to all stakeholders as we seek an equitable resolution to the problems presented by PVP relicensing.

Eel River Restoration The Eel River has been substantially impaired by the construction and operation of the PVP over the last century. Equity demands that PG&E, as the beneficiary of the harms suffered by the Eel, should provide for the restoration not only of the locations where PVP facilities now exist, but of the larger watershed. An analysis and prioritization of watershed restoration actions should be conducted as part of any relicensing process and NEPA analysis.

Take a few minutes today (https://eelriver.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u=1260e76581786d9b486399431&id=09066be161&e=4535228e31) to let FERC know that the public is counting on them to analyze this proposed project in full.

Comments due this Thursday August 27. Please join FOER in submitting comments

Download and personalize sample comments here (https://eelriver.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u=1260e76581786d9b486399431&id=340b1387bc&e=4535228e31)

Click here to register with FERC and comment online, docket # P-77-285 (https://eelriver.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u=1260e76581786d9b486399431&id=c158fc67d9&e=4535228e31)

Sample Comments:

Dear FERC Staff and Commissioners,

I am writing to comment on Scoping Document 3 for the Potter Valley Project (PVP), issued by FERC on July 28 2020.

I care about the Eel River, its fisheries, and pursuing an equitable solution to the long-standing problems this project has inflicted on the habitat.

It is important that FERC fully analyze this proposed project, including the serious liability issues associated with dam safety, as well as alternatives which were not part of the NOI parties’ Feasibility Study.

Just two of many dam safety concerns that need to be analyzed are the major fault system adjacent to Scott Dam and the presence of an active landslide above Scott Dam’s southern abutment. Scott Dam is rated as a high hazard facility, and thus likely presents a fatal liability in the result of dam failure.

Cape Horn Dam removal should be analyzed as a project alternative. Substantial modifications are necessary to achieve volitional fish passage, and in the event that modifications cannot achieve this requirement, dam removal may be necessary. Thus, full removal should be analyzed so that accurate information is available to all stakeholders and future license holders.

Finally, given the substantial impairment the project has wrought on the Eel River watershed, PG&E should provide for broad watershed restoration. Generations of people negatively impacted by this project deserve equity.

Sincerely,

[your name]

Eel River Dam Removal Webinar

Friday, August 28 at 1pm

A GENERAL STRIKE CAN STOP THE GOVERNMENT’S POLICY OF ACTIVELY SPREADING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC 

by Dr. Nayvin Gordon 

The Federal Government issued advisory guidelines, August 18, 2020, adding teachers to the list of “essential workers”. These workers can be allowed to continue working and not quarantine after they have been exposed to Covid-19. 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2020/08/21/trump-administration-declared-teachers-essential-workers-heres-what-that-means/

These guidelines directly contradict the science of public health pandemic control and will further spread disease and death to students, staff, teachers and their families across the nation. Following an outbreak in Camden County Georgia in early August, Deputy Superintendent Jon Miller is reported to have sent a district wide email to administrators, writing, “Staff who test positive are not to notify any other staff members, parents of their students or any other person/entity that they may have exposed them.” Furthermore, some states are already concealing the true number of Covid-19 infections.

All this is part of the systematic attack on science for the people. The recent passage of the Cares Act gave $ trillions to the rich, Corporations and Wall Street while pennies went to mass Covid-19 testing to protect the people. 

July 2020 the white House Press Secretary said “We will not let science stand in the way of opening schools..” https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2020/jul/16/coronavirus-us-covid-donald-trump-anthony-fauci-joe-biden-live-updates Vice President Mike Pence also said “we don’t want the guidance of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) to be a reason schools don’t open.”

These murderous policies of deliberately accelerating the spread of the pandemic must be stopped. A strike of teachers, students and parents can be the spark that ignites a general strike for mass testing, tracing and isolation to end this epidemic. It is up to us. Only a mass movement of workers can force the government to meet the needs of the people.

Our lives depend on sharpening the class struggle.

Dr. Nayvin Gordon 8/24/20

Dr. Gordon writes about health and politics and can be reached at gordonnayvin@yahoo.com

CALIFORNIA AND COLORADO FIRES MAY BE PART OF A CLIMATE-DRIVEN TRANSFORMATION OF WILDFIRES AROUND THE GLOBE

Despite what may look like a new world of wildfire, Daniel Swain, a climate scientist with the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and the University of California, Los Angeles, said few climatologists and fire scientists have been surprised by the severity of the fires across the West this year.

insideclimatenews.org/news/22082020/california-colorado-wildfires-climate-change-global-transformation