MCT: Saturday, August 29, 2020

• Smoky Warm
• Revised SIP
• 673 Cases
• Smoky Haze
• Smoky Fog
• Boonville ATM
• Grewal Case
• Law Gang
• August Complex
• Albion Store
• MCDH Concerns
• Sooty Shearwaters
• Sheriff Bartolomie
• 2020 Elections
• Palace Hotel
• Mailliard Fund
• Downtown Ukiah
• Priapic Oakley
• Streetscape Update
• Ed Notes
• SF Restaurants
• Yesterday's Catch
• Athletes Strike
• Chief Grief
• 1916 Auto
• Pandemic Freedom
• Daily Infections
• Corporate Socialism
• Lawless Hellscape
• Desperate Dems
• Jackson Hole
• Union Station
• Constitutional Sheriffs
• Found Object

VERY WARM AND SMOKY CONDITIONS will continue across much of interior northwest California through the weekend, though northerly winds will help bring clearer skies to portions of our region. Areas of morning clouds will give way to sunshine and breezy conditions each afternoon through Monday along the Redwood Coast. Dry weather will persist through next week with near to above average temperatures. (NWS)

HEALTH OFFICER ISSUES REVISED SHELTER-IN PLACE ORDER EFFECTIVE AUGUST 31ST

Today, August 28, 2020, Governor Gavin Newsom announced a new blueprint for reducing COVID-19 in the State and revised criteria for loosening and tightening restrictions on activities. The Governor has replaced the County Monitoring List with a four tiered approached.

Every county in California is assigned to a tier based on its rate of new cases and positivity. At a minimum, counties must remain in a tier for at least 3 weeks before moving forward. Data is reviewed weekly and tiers are updated on Tuesdays, beginning September 8, 2020. To advance tiers, a county must meet the next tier’s criteria for two consecutive weeks. If a county’s metrics worsen for two consecutive weeks, it will move back to a more restrictive tier. Mendocino County was assigned the highest tier, also known as the purple tier classifying COVID-19 as widespread in the community. The recent changes require modifications to the local Shelter-In-Place Order for businesses and activities. Health Officer Dr. Noemi Doohan issued a revised Shelter-In-Place order today, August 28, 2020, to align with the new state guidance. The revision was made in collaboration with the new incoming Health Officer Dr. Andy Coren, who will be sworn in on Tuesday, September 1, 2020. 

Major changes in the SIP Order included: 

• Hair Salon and barbershops can open indoors
• Retail establishments have a capacity restriction of 25%.
• Grocery stores have a capacity restriction of 50%.
• Indoor malls may open (except for common areas and food courts) with a maximum capacity of 25%. 
• The Childcare Unit and Children’s Extracurricular Activity Unit have also been modified in accordance with new Small Cohort Guidance (https://www.cdph.ca.gov/ Programs/CID/DCDC/Pages/COVID-19/small-groups-child-youth.aspx) increasing from 12 individuals to 14 children with up to 2 supervising adults. As explained in the Small Cohort guidance, guidance and directives related to schools, childcare, day camps, youth sports, and institutions of higher education are not superseded by the guidance for cohorts of children and youth and still apply to those specified settings.

Mendocino County’s revised SIP goes in effect Monday, August 31 at 8:00 a.m. and will be effective until rescinded. 

Based on the County’s status with the state, local schools are required to utilize distance learning, but can request a waiver for in-person instruction for kindergarten through 6^th grade. On August 21, 2020, Health Officer Dr. Doohan submitted waivers for 10 schools, which were approved today, August 28, by the California Department of Public Health. Thank you to Senator Mike McGuire, Supervisor Ted Williams, Dr. Andy Coren, Mendocino County Office of Education Superintendent Michelle Hutchins and our local district superintendents for their help and hard work facilitating submission of waivers to the State. For a list of the schools included in the waiver, please visit the County’s COVID-19 Frequently Ask Questions page at: https://www.mendocinocounty.org/community/shelter-in-place. 

The new Health Order is posted online at https://www.mendocinocounty.org/community/novel-coronavirus/health-order. 

The order is enforceable by imprisonment and/or fine thus we urge all residents and businesses to closely read the order and follow it. 

For more information on California’s blueprint for reducing COVID-19 in the state with revised criteria for loosening and tightening restrictions on activities please visit www.covid19.ca.gov.

For more on COVID-19: www.mendocinocounty.org

Call Center: (707) 234-6052 or email callcenter@mendocinocounty.org

The call center is open Monday-Friday from 8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

MEANWHILE: Mendocino County’s covid count jumped by 14 on Friday bringing the total to 673. Death toll remains at 17, and 551 have been released from isolation. 105 active cases remain either in isolation or a hospital.

WIDESPREAD HAZE and unspecified “areas of smoke” in inland Mendocino Saturday on top of clear and dry conditions. The haze is expected to continue through Sunday followed by “patchy smoke” with inland temps near 100. The Weather Service’s smoke prediction ends on Tuesday, but that may be optimistic. Similary hazy conditions expected on the Coast through Sunday at least with highs in the 60s. Light to calm southerly winds.

SMOKE & FOG on the Coast

THE REDWOOD CREDIT UNION ATM in Boonville is now operational.

MENDO LEGAL

Tuesday BOS Agenda

Item 5b: “Discussion and Possible Action Including Approval of Amendment to PA Agreement 20-81 with Liebert Cassidy Whitmore (LCW), Effective September 1, 2020, Increasing the Total Compensation by $125,000 (from $75,000, for a New Agreement Total of $200,000) for Litigation Services for Grewal v County of Mendocino (Sponsor: Risk Management)”

So Risk Management and County Counsel want to budget a total of $200k for the sole purpose of paying a San Francisco law firm to defend the County in regard to a Mendocino County Superior Court Case filed by former Ag Commissioner Harinder Grewal. Later in Tuesday’s agenda we find this item under closed session:

Item 9e) “Pursuant to Government Code Section 54956.9(d)(1) - Conference with Legal Counsel - Existing Litigation: Harinder Grewal v. Mendocino County. Mendocino County Court Case No. SCUK-CVPO-2020-73798.”

So it’s possible that the Supes will discuss whether to make a settlement offer, in lieu of $200k of outside legal costs. (And if you wonder why Mendo’s own staff of eight attorneys in the County Counsel’s office can’t handle this litigation for a lot less, you are in good company.

Also scheduled for closed session is:

Item 9d) “Pursuant to Government Code Section 54956.9(d)(1) - Conference with Legal Counsel - Existing Litigation: Thomas Allman v. Adam Aldrich. Mendocino County Court Case No. SCUK-CVPT-20-73829.”

AVA, Feb 19, 2020: FORMER SHERIFF TOM ALLMAN suffered a stalker when he was wearing the badge, and he seems to still be the object of Adam Aldrich's obsession, which has now morphed into lawyers and court appearances, with the former Sheriff taking out a temporary restraining order against Aldrich, and Aldrich postponing the restraining order hearing while he lawyers up. PS. We understand that Mr. Aldrich was part of what is known in the north County as the “Dead Dog Brennan Gang.”

We are not sure what the County's role in this case is. There’s nothing on the agenda about budgeting money for it. 

MENDO SHERIFF, ET AL, c. 1935-36

AUGUST COMPLEX UPDATE

WILLOWS, Calif – Aug. 28, 2020 – The August Complex was initially 37 different fires on the Mendocino National Forest that started on August 17, 2020. Many have been contained or have merged to form larger fires. Currently, the complex is 212,010 acres and 18 percent contained. Planned suppression actions are detailed below. 

On the Doe Fire, (172,327 acres; 31 percent contained), multiple resources are working the northern perimeter of the fire in cooperation with Crane Mills Timber to hold the fire along the M2 road. The fire has held from Green Springs to Buck Rock, and crews are clearing line down to Glade Flat. The Doe Fire perimeter is currently not impacting Jenks Place as the fire is holding along the M17 road. South of Jenks Place, the fire is backing down the ridge and will likely stop at the Eel River.

The Doe Fire is expected to join with the Glade Fire (20,001 acres, 0 percent contained) in the coming days. Firefighters conducted structure protection actions within the area of Dead Mule and crews are continuing to construct fire containment lines. On the Tatham Fire (9,050 acres; 11 percent contained) firefighters are working with CAL FIRE and Crane Mills Timber to construct a containment line completely around its perimeter. Crews are working to tie in to containment lines on the Glade Fire (20,001 acres; 0 percent contained) to the M2 road.

The Hull Fire (6,020 acres; 5 percent contained), made a push to the north Thursday toward the M61 Road, and the Hull Fire and the Doe Fire are expected to join in the coming days Firefighters are constructing containment lines along the southern perimeter. Fire activity has not progressed further to the south. Several fires located in the Yolla Bolly-Middle Eel Wilderness continue to be actively monitored.

Mendocino National Forest officials implemented an area closure for the August Complex on Friday, Aug. 21, 2020. The Forest Order 08-20-10 and map are posted on the forest website: https://tinyurl.com/y4ln8ysr. 

The most up to date information on the August Complex can be found on InciWeb: https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/6983/. 

(US Forest Service Presser)

FRIDAY EVENING ADVISORY: FOREST ROAD 30 AND HIGHWAY 36

Willows, Calif – Friday, Aug. 28, 2020, around 6:30pm – The Hopkins Fire is burning approximately 25 miles northeast of Covelo, California. The fire is burning in the Yolla Bolly-Middle Eel Wilderness, and has burned onto the Shasta Trinity National Forest. Please be aware that access to this area from Highway 36 or Forest Road 30 is not advised.

ALBION NEW CASH STORE, 1905

KATHERINE WHITE: 

This is a letter I read to the MCDH [Coast Hospital] Board of Directors at their monthly board meeting this evening. 

Dear MCDH Board of Directors and Representatives from Adventist Health,

My name is Katherine White and I am a retired RN living outside Manchester California. I authored one of the two letters that were included in last month‘s board meeting. I declined to read my letter at the meeting because I thought that would be overkill. Unfortunately I was wrong. 

I am disappointed with the board’s apathetic response to our complaint about John Redding’s social media behavior. In referencing our notes, Mr. Redding agreed at July’s meeting to remove his board member status from his social media profile and to date he has not done that. Mr. Redding unfortunately continues to post on social media in an apparent attempt to goad the public. This month he posted a misleading article regarding suicide rates, young people and schools opening. Immediately people reacted in distress and immediately Mr Redding began firing back at community members. At least ten individuals weighed in with various degrees of exasperation. 

I believe that your board has a role to assist with, and certainly not to hinder, the essential and consistent messaging that the public deserves during this immense healthcare challenge. 

I personally have no desire nor intent to scrutinize the MCDH Board. You were not on my radar until I encountered board member Redding on social media. But since I’m engaged I became curious. And that curiosity has led me to more questions and concerns. Let me share some of those with you.

I’ve observed that, 

1. Board members receive no guidance in appropriate and inappropriate interactions with the community.

2. The board is currently making changes to their financial compensation related to health coverage. Such coverage seems redundant. Mr. Redding is apparently 69 and qualifies for Medicare. Amy McColley is apparently a full-time employee at Sutter Health and Sutter Health employment includes healthcare coverage. Karen Arnold is apparently a full-time Human Resources Manager at Mendocino Coast Clinics and employment at Mendocino Coast Clinics includes healthcare coverage. Jessica Grinberg appears to be an independent contractor and I’m unable to determine her access to coverage elsewhere. 

I understand that the board is considering granting themselves a $600/month, $7200/year healthcare allowance for healthcare needs. At a time when 5 million citizens have lost health coverage and when many are financially vulnerable this expenditure appears frivolous and misguided.

3. Board Member Redding’s company UniGen Resources currently has a proposal that requires the board’s support. I read in your minutes that he “reassured” that board that he and his wife will receive no funds from the project. The public wants to know why this is not a direct conflict of interest and trusts that more due diligence is forthcoming.

4. I understand that the board is having support staff difficulties. Numerous requests were required for me to obtain board minutes. There are no archived meeting minutes nor agendas posted on the website for the entire year of 2020. Is 2020 not a very pivotal year for your organization? Isn’t this a major transition of leadership? Why is the Mendocino Coast District Hospital primary website nine months out of date?

I hope the Board and the Adventist Health Representatives in attendance recognize that public trust is important. Honesty and transparency are essential. Fiduciary malfeasance and conflict of interest concerns are troublesome. I hope that when the minutes of this meeting are released in a month’s time it will reflect sincere discussion about these concerns.

LARRY WAGNER: 

An extraordinary sight this evening-the migration of thousands of sooty shearwaters went by. They were passing by our home for at least twenty minutes. The migrate almost 12,000 miles, from Antartica to the Arctic. They strung out over the entire horizon. Amazing. Thanks to Carin Berolzheimer and Charlene McAllister for identifying this huge flock winging by. In fact, there were several hundred thousand birds if I estimated correctly. One of my photos has around 400 birds in it and they past through the frame in about 3 seconds. If they were passing for over 20 minutes (I didn't see the head of the flock, so it could have been much longer than 20 minutes, that is well over 100,000.

SHERIFF RENO BARTOLOMIE, Mendocino Sheriff from 1955 to 1975. Law enforcement career ended in 1975 after 38 years in uniform. Born April 18, 1916; died September 10, 1990.

NOVEMBER 3, 2020 ELECTIONS

We have received a few phone calls asking similar questions about the upcoming November 3, 2020 election. I hope this helps with your questions – and remind you of a few standard items related to your ballot. 

Official Ballots will be mailed October 5, 2020 to all registered voters in the State of California, including Mendocino County voters. If you do not receive your ballot by October 15, 2020, please call our office so we can get you out a replacement ballot.

During this pandemic, we encourage you to stay home, stay safe, vote the ballot you receive in the mail and return your ballot either through the mail or a Ballot Drop Box Location (listed below) at your earliest convenience. With this election, we can open and process your ballot as soon as we receive it. We cannot upload any results until 8 pm on Election Night.

When returning your voted ballot – NO postage is necessary, whether you mail your ballot/envelope or deposit it into a Ballot Drop Off box. Unless otherwise noted*, the drop off locations are available 24/7.

City Of Willits (Open 24/7), 111 E Commercial St – Willits

City Of Fort Bragg (24/7), 416 N Franklin St – Fort Bragg

City Of Point Arena (24/7), 451 School St – Point Arena

Mendocino Co Admin Bldg (24/7), 501 Low Gap Rd – Ukiah

Mendocino Co Fairgrounds, Fairgrounds Office – Boonville. Open - 9 Am – 4 Pm Monday – Friday

Round Valley Justice Court, 76270 Grange St – Covelo. Open 7 AM – 8 PM Election Day Only

You are welcome to call our office and verify your residence address, to make sure we have your most current information.

When returning your ballot - don’t forget to sign the back of the return envelope, we can’t count your ballot if it doesn’t have your signature. If you forget to sign it, we will contact you by mail so we can get a signature from you.

If you are worried that your signature has drastically changed, please re-register at www.registertovote.ca.gov or call our office, we will be happy to mail you a new voter registration card.

We check every signature – if your signature does not match, we will contact you by mail so it can be corrected.

We will have “In-Person Polling” locations throughout the County for those voters who need assistance or need to visit a polling location. You can drop your ballot off at any polling location in Mendocino County on Election Day – we have changed a few locations, they are marked with **. Because we are following our traditional polling place policy, our polling locations are only required to be open on Election Day.

If you are mailing your ballot through USPS, it must be mailed by Election Day. If mailing on Election Day, be sure to get it postmarked. If you use a Ballot Drop Off Location, please drop it off by 8 pm on Election Day. 

All of our “In Person” Polling locations will follow all Public Health Orders, including social distancing, wearing facial coverings, and having hand sanitizer and gloves available.

If you have any questions, please call the Elections office at (707) 234-6819 or email us at mcvotes@mendocinocounty.org

PALACE HOTEL, Ukiah, 1920s

GIVING BACK, August 28, 2020:A Desire to Be of Service: The Sandy Mailliard Endowed Fund 

by Megan Barber Allende Chief Executive Officer, The Community Foundation of Mendocino County 

“My grandmother is responsible for instilling in me the desire to give and to be of service,” says Sandy Mailliard. “I come from a long line of “gifters,” people with a social conscience sharing what we have. So when I learned about the Community Foundation I knew I wanted to set up a fund.” 

The new Sandy Mailliard Endowed Fund is a component fund of the Fund for Anderson Valley to support community grant-making in the Valley. It was important to Sandy to support the primary focus of the Fund for Anderson Valley: health and wellness, education, the environment, and the arts, but also to support emergency services. “I volunteer with the local fire department,” says Mailliard. “It’s the third fire department I’ve volunteered with. I’ve lived in many places, mostly rural, and appreciate supporting these critical services.” 

After Mailliard’s grandfather visited Mendocino County from San Francisco 90 years ago, he fell in love with the county and purchased property.

Mailliard has fond memories of spending weekends and summers on the ranch growing up, but only moved here full-time in 2005. She believed it was important to become part of the community, so she reached out to the fire department to become a volunteer EMT and ambulance driver. This experience gave her a much larger awareness and love for the Valley. When she opened her business, Bates, Mailliard & Moss Farmhouse Mercantile in Boonville, it gave her another way to connect with the locals and become part of the community. 

These connections resonated with that philanthropic core her grandmother nurtured in her. “I had never heard about community foundations before,” says Mailliard. “When I discovered the Foundation I thought it was a brilliant idea to support communities. I love the fact that the money that is raised off my money goes into the county. The piece I really love is that staff has gotten to know me over the years — when something comes up that I might be interested in they call me so I can choose to support things that are important to me. This is why I have a donor-advised fund with the Foundation to give during my lifetime, but also established the legacy fund as a component fund of the Fund for Anderson Valley.” 

Mailliard believes that with this dual approach she can make the greatest impact. With a donor-advised fund she can witness the impact of her gift during her lifetime. Establishing the Sandy Mailliard Endowed Fund will ensure ongoing support to the Anderson Valley community with a planned gift after her lifetime. 

By joining an established fund she can leverage collective giving, to continue to grow a cause close to her heart. When asked what impact she hopes to have in creating the fund, Mailliard responds, “I don’t want to set up requirements when giving. My hope is the money will go where it is needed the most. I come from a non-profit background and know how hard it is to raise money for the things that aren’t glitzy, the things that keep an organization running. I know the Foundation will make the best choice on how to use these funds.”

This approach to flexible giving allows the Community Foundation to support the critical non-profit infrastructure that keeps Mendocino County thriving. “My grandmother and parents instilled in me a desire to give and be of service. I am so grateful that the Valley has given me the opportunity to act on that,” says Mailliard. “And I am grateful to the Foundation — it has given me the vehicle to honor my grandmother and my parents and their gift to me so I can pass that gift on.” 

Visit our website to learn more about the Fund for Anderson Valley, or to make a contribution. www.communityfound.org

Foundation of Mendocino County | 204 South Oak Street, Ukiah, CA 95482

FOSTER'S 5-10-15 CENT STORE

LITTLE RIVER MAN ACCUSED OF RAPE

In February 2020, a Mendocino County Sheriff's Office Sergeant was contacted by the Mendocino County District Attorney's Office and advised of unreported allegations regarding forcible spousal rape, multiple acts of spousal rape of an unconscious person and multiple acts of domestic violence battery some of which resulted in visible injury.

The suspect was identified as being Anthony William Oakley, 27, of Little River. During the ensuing investigation, it was learned in addition to the previous incidents, there was at least one unreported act of criminal threats toward the initial alleged victim (Victim #1, age 25).

During the course of the investigation, the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office Sergeant learned there were at least two more alleged victims of a suspected sexual and physical abuse (Victim #2, age 24, and Victim #3, age 27).

Victim #2 was contacted and it was determined she was the alleged victim of a forcible rape within the last eight years. Oakley was identified as the perpetrator of that act.

Victim #3 was contacted and it was learned she was also the alleged victim of multiple forcible rapes over the course of a year. Oakley was also identified as the perpetrator of those acts. Oakley was also identified as making credible criminal threats towards Victim #3.

Further evidence was collected which corroborated the statements provided by all three alleged victims.

At the conclusion of the investigation and based on the threat of harm to at least two of the alleged victims, an arrest warrant was sought through the Mendocino County Superior Court.

On Monday, August 24, 2020, the arrest warrant was issued and on Wednesday, August 26, 2020 Oakley was taken into custody without incident at his residence in Little River, California.

Based on the aforementioned criminal threats, the nature of the allegations and Oakley's suspected propensity towards violence, a request for a No Bail warrant was included and granted by the Mendocino County Superior Court.

Oakley was booked into the Mendocino County Jail where he was to be held on a No Bail status.

Anyone with information related to this investigation or possible additional victims is asked to contact the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office by calling 707-463-4086 or the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office tip-line at 707-234-2100.

---

PREVIOUS OAKLEY ATTACK: www.theava.com/archives/115853#10

UKIAH STREETSCAPE CONSTRUCTION UPDATE - AUGUST 28

Construction Update - August 28 - September 4

The second phase of the Streetscape Project has begun on the north side and work is progressing well. Underground utility work has moved to the southern end of the project and remains on schedule as well. The existing traffic patterns will remain in place for at least the next couple of weeks, possibly longer. 

There’s no way around it—demolishing sidewalks is messy and disruptive, but the finished product will all be worth it. That work continues next week on the east side of State Street between Standley and Henry Streets. Contractors are doing everything they can to work around businesses’ hours, and will help escort customers into businesses if need be. 

Sidewalks will be torn up for about four weeks between demolition and reconstruction in order to remove material, construct new curb and gutters, install conduit for landscaping and lighting, etc.

North Side: Perkins to Henry Street 

Ghilotti Construction has removed trees on the east side of State Street and has begun the demolition of sidewalks and placement of base rock next to businesses to serve as temporary pedestrian access. This work will continue next week Monday through Friday on the east side of State Street between Perkins and Henry Streets. 

Unfortunately, demolition work is dirty and loud; however, the work is progressing quickly. The contractors will be using jackhammers, saws, and other large equipment in the area. 

Monday: Sidewalk demolition will take place between Standley and Smith Streets. 

Tuesday & Wednesday: Sidewalk demolition will take place between Smith and Henry. 

Thursday & Friday: Crews will move back to the corner of Perkins and State Streets and will begin preparations for the new curbs and gutters. 

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

South Side: Church to Mill Street 

Wahlund Construction will continue “potholing” (the process for exposing sewer and water laterals) for the underground utility work in this area this week. This work sounds like jackhammering and will create some holes in the sidewalk that will be temporarily filled with asphalt or covered. 

Monday-Thursday: Potholing will continue between Church and Mill Streets. 

Friday, September 4th thru Monday, August 7th, there will be no construction work in this area for the Labor Day Holiday. (If you also receive an orange flyer, please note that the dates for the Labor Day holiday were incorrect on that document. Our apologies.)

Due to the heat, 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. 

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

Shannon Riley

Deputy City Manager

City of Ukiah

300 Seminary Avenue

Ukiah, California 95482

w: (707) 467-5793

ED NOTES

THE GOOD NEWS on the day is Governor Newsom's announcement that a tentative deal, dependent on legislative approval, has been reached on an eviction moratorium. He said he wouldn't discuss the details until the agreement was ready in print form, but the deal apparently stipulates that tenants would pay 25% of their rents (and mortgages?) and would be required to get the approval of their landlords (Mortgage holders?) And just in time to hopefully at least partially stem an expected tsunami of evictions as millions of jobless and income-less Californians face life on the streets. No help from the federal government is anticipated any time soon. 

THE GOVERNOR also announced a cockamamie four-tier, color coded covid process whereby businesses in certain colors could do certain kinds of business with certain kinds of restrictions on how they do it. We can only hope that Mendo's new Health Officer, Dr. Coren, a long-time resident of and practitioner in Mendocino County, will lighten up on the many suffering small enterprises nearly put out of business (or destroyed) by overbroad application of plague rules.

BOONVILLE PUNDITRY is inadequate to describe Trump's acceptance speech last night, but it bore no relation to what we recognize as reality. Millions of our fellow Americans sensibly didn't bother to tune in, and I was still stunned by the screechingly 5150 address from an earlier night by Kimberly Guilfoyle, Newsom's former love interest, which came off as a combination of Mommy Dearest and a high decibel bag lady. Trump's cretinous sons also should be suppressed, but the whole array of loons who spoke were consistent with an objectively insane overall Trumpian presentation, but logical as a lead up to blustering El Blimpo himself.

WHO SAID, among other delusional things, "Despite all of our greatness as a nation, everything we have achieved is now endangered. This is the most important election in the history of our country. At no time before have voters faced a clearer choice between two parties, two visions, two philosophies, or two agendas. This election will decide whether we save the American Dream, or whether we allow a socialist agenda to demolish our cherished destiny." Talk about Big Lies. "Socialist agenda?" No agenda is more like it unless you think a lot of windy uplift rhetoric about being nicer represents a Democrat "agenda."

IN A WAY, Trump is correct. Four more years of him and the expanding chaos he's kicked off might just finish US off as a coherent nation-state, assuming the destruction already underway can be rolled back by whomever. Neither group of hot air artists — apology to artists; the rhetoric was consistently moronic from both sides — even mentioned climate change, nevermind mass unemployment and the rest of the rolling catastrophes accumulating by the day. Unfortunately, the organized limo-lib opposition to Trump-ism that has been foisted-off-on-us by undemocratic Democrats is making it easy for the fascist impulse Trump represents. 

I'M SURE I wasn't the only one watching the Trump show Thursday night who could hear the mob howling outside the event, and whenever the camera scanned the plump, simple pusses of the Trumpian live audience, few of them masked, I wondered how much security there was outside the White House grounds to protect these sitting ducks. Sure enough, Rand Paul got roughed up outside, and an old guy was sucker-punched by a leftwing fascist a third his age, the kind of ugly mob action that just might get Trump re-elected.

WOLF BLITZER has given me more laffs over the years than the rest of the lib lab CNN-MSNBC gangs put together. When an alarmed Wolfie hurriedly scoots around "The Situation Room" in his big chair, grabbing a pointer to highlight some disaster area on his world map… I shout, "Go, Wolfie! Go!" The other night, following Melania's bizarre appearance and Lady Dracula presentation, togged out in a kind of World War One khaki doughboy outfit, Wolfie said he'd been "very moved" by her "positive" speech. 

STUDY: SALES AT SAN FRANCISCO RESTAURANTS HAVE DROPPED BY 91 PERCENT

Over half of SF’s restaurants don’t have any sales at all.

sf.eater.com/2020/8/27/21404585/san-francisco-restaurants-chamber-of-commerce-sales-drop

CATCH OF THE DAY, August 28, 2020

AUSTIN ANDERSON, Ukiah. Parole violation.

STEVEN CABORN, Redwood Valley. Disobeying court order.

ROBERT CAMPBELL II, Ukiah. Parole violation, resisting. (Frequent flyer.)

JUSTIN GOODNOUGH, Ukiah. Burglary, disorderly conduct-alcohol.

JORDAN LUNA, Ukiah. Probation violation.

ANTHONY OAKLEY, Little River. Rape by force, violence, duress, menace or fear of bodily injury, rape of spouse, spousal rape while unconscious, domestic battery, other specified sex offenses, criminal threats.

ISIAH SILVA-FONNEST, Willits. DUI-alcohol&drugs, misdemeanor hit&run.

JOHN VANNOTE, Ukiah. Protective order violation, probation revocation. (Frequent flyer.)

LEONARD WHIPPLE, Covelo. DUI-alcohol&drugs, no license, controlled substance, paraphernalia, false information, county parole violation.

PROFESSIONAL ATHLETES ARE SHOWING AMERICA JUST HOW POWERFUL LABOR REALLY IS

by Dave Zirin

The wave of strikes by athletes against racist police violence is not ebbing. On Thursday night, the New York Mets and Miami Marlins took the field, held a 42-second moment of silence (in honor of Jackie Robinson), and then walked off. They left behind a shirt that read “Black Lives Matter” on home plate.

Numerous NFL teams have canceled their practices, with the Baltimore Ravens, after a four-hour team meeting, putting out a remarkable action statement. NBA referees even organized a march in the Orlando Bubble, wearing T-shirts that read, “Everyone Against Racism.” Even the National Hockey League, after first ignoring what was happening, to the chagrin of many players, canceled a slate of games in solidarity with the events swirling around the sports world.

Pro athletes have shown themselves willing to fight and be heard. Black athletes are saying that they no longer will be a repository of adulation with their uniforms on but a risk to be killed by police when the uniform comes off. It is a historic moment by any measure, and one without a blueprint. We don’t know where this is going, or how long it will last. But folks are already asking what this can actually accomplish beyond raising awareness about the shooting of Jacob Blake.

For now, it’s centering the conversation in this country on racist police violence and not the gaslighting “law and order” bombast coming out of the RNC, and inspiring people to violence during a time of relentless darkness. Frankly, if nothing else came out of it, it would still be important. But the players want more. Supporters want more. Everyone strangled by the absence of political oxygen in this broken country want more.

NBA player leaders want the franchise owners to put some “skin in the game.” They want the billionaire owners—who are not only wealthy but politically connected to every municipality where they have a publicly funded stadium—to push for legislation and using their influence to fight back. As NBA insider Shams Charania from The Athletic reported on Twitter from a meeting between players and owners, “Players challenged owners to be proactive, not reactive, to social justice changes; create actions, not simply financial commitments.”

I’m all for extracting concessions from billionaires. But there is another avenue the movement can take. What these players are doing is nothing less than striking for Black lives. They are using their power as workers to protest not only the police shooting of Blake and the white supremacist terrorism in Kenosha, but also the fact that, as one player put it, “nothing is changing.” After a summer of marches, uprisings, and occupations, scant legislation has moved and police still act with impunity.

By exercising their power as workers, the players are inspiring an incredibly dormant part of the resistance to racism and Trumpism: the labor movement. If the NBA can shut down in protest of racist police violence, why not other industries? Why not cities? Why not entire sectors of the country’s economy? Strikes do not have to be about wages and benefits. There is a long, hidden history in this country of striking for human rights—“not just bread but roses.” It’s a history the players could help revive.

That may sound far-fetched, but I can say that I received half a dozen calls from unionists or union officials last night telling me that they and their members felt like they had been hit with an electric prod. The idea that everyone in the country was talking about this “strike” taking place was making so many of these workers feel like they also had power.

This isn’t just about solidarity. This is about results. If the players want the results they crave, and if the country is as broken as they believe it to be, this is an actual solution: to strike against racist police violence. to strike against Trumpism, to strike for Black lives. Nothing else has worked. But by withdrawing their labor, the players in the NBA have immediately brought their bosses to the table and launched a national conversation. If that message blares across the land—and if labor leaders rise to the occasion and respond with equal courage—we could finally see solutions and not feel like we are all poised with bated breath, just waiting for the next hashtag.

CHIEFS, GOOD GRIEF!

Editor:

Why not go out on top as National Football League champions, Kansas City? Keep it classy by chucking “The Chiefs” moniker, and start the new football season with a brand new name. Native American team mascots are a thing of the past, whether most right-wing racist reactionaries realize it or not. It’s 2020 already. It’s not 1950, fools. 

In case you never noticed, sports teams are usually named after wild, ferocious animals. However, many conservatives continue to justify blatant bigotry by falsely claiming the naming of sports teams after Native Americans is some sort of honor that Native Americans should be appreciative of. 

Honor? Seriously?! Don’t even get me started on the lack of honor and humanity that led to several centuries of unjustifiable, unimaginable genocide against Native Americans by European invaders who saw Native Americans as nothing more than wild, ferocious animals in the way of empire. 

So keep your faked outrage to yourselves, clueless conservatives, because no one cares about your crying and complaining. This will be the final season for “The Chiefs”, because next year Kansas City’s NFL franchise will henceforth be known as one of these following ten names. Pick one, K.C. 

• Kansas City Cheetahs
• Kansas City Cheaters
• Kansas City Chihuahuas
• Kansas City Chinchillas
• Kansas City Chickens
• Kansas City Chupacabras
• Kansas City Chewbaccas
• Kansas City Cobras
• Kansas City Kraken
• Kansas City Klingons

Sincerely,

Jake Pickering

Arcata

OAKLAND AUTO, UKIAH, 1916

THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC with all its dire consequences has exposed how deeply flawed notions of “freedom” and “the rights of the individual” are in the US. When freedom of the individual relegates the collective good of society to the margins, it breeds a self-centered obsession with freedom which in the ultimate analysis undermines freedom itself. If freedom and the celebration of the individual are the glorious attributes of societies like the US, the pandemic has shown us all how ugly their misconception and misapplication can be." 

— Dr. Chandra Muzaffar

MEMO OF THE WEEK

Letter From Bernie: The ‘Danger of Socialism’…

If you have watched the first two nights of the Republican National Convention, and I am sorry if you have, you have probably seen speaker after speaker accuse Joe Biden and the Democratic Party of being SOCIALISTS who, if elected, will carry out the agenda of Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Ilhan Omar.

 If only that were true…

But while they scream "socialist" as an epithet in their videos and from the stage, what everyone needs to know is that Trump and the Republican Party just LOVE socialism — a corporate socialism for the rich and the powerful.

And let's be clear. Their brand of socialism has resulted in more income and wealth inequality than at any time since the 1920s, with three multi-billionaires now owning more wealth than the bottom half of our nation. Their socialism has allowed, during this pandemic, the very, very rich to become much richer while tens of millions of workers have lost their jobs, their health care and face eviction.

While Trump denounces socialism let us never forget the $885 million in government subsidies and tax breaks the Trump family received for a real estate empire built on racial discrimination.

But Trump is not alone.

The high priest of unfettered capitalism, Trump’s National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow, spoke in a video last night.

And who could ever forget when Larry was on television begging for the largest federal bailout in American history for his friends on Wall Street — some $700 billion from the Treasury and trillions in support from the Federal Reserve — after their greed, recklessness and illegal behavior created the worst financial disaster since the Great Depression.

But it is not just Trump and Larry Kudlow.

If you are a fossil fuel company, whose carbon emissions are destroying the planet, you get billions in government subsidies including special tax breaks, royalty relief, funding for research and development and numerous tax loopholes.

If you are a pharmaceutical company, you make huge profits on patent rights for medicines that were developed with taxpayer-funded research.

If you are a monopoly like Amazon, owned by the wealthiest person in America, you get hundreds of millions of dollars in economic incentives from taxpayers to build warehouses and you end up paying not one penny in federal income taxes.

If you are the Walton family, the wealthiest family in America, you get massive government subsidies because your low-wage workers are forced to rely on food stamps, Medicaid and public housing in order to survive — all paid for by taxpayers.

This is what Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. meant when he said that “This country has socialism for the rich, and rugged individualism for the poor.”

And that is the difference between Donald Trump and us.

Trump believes in corporate socialism for the rich and powerful.

We believe in a democratic socialism that works for the working families of this country. We believe that in the wealthiest country in the history of the world, economic rights are human rights.

So yes, progressives and even moderate Democrats will face attacks from people who attempt to use the word "socialism" as a slur.

There is nothing new of that.

Like President Harry Truman said, "Socialism is the epithet they have hurled at every advance the people have made in the last 20 years … Socialism is what they called Social Security … Socialism is their name for almost anything that helps all the people."

Our job in this moment is to stay focused.

First priority: defeat Donald Trump, the most dangerous president in modern American history — and defeat him badly.

Then on Day 1 of the Biden administration, we will mobilize the working families of this country to demand a government that represents all of us and not just the few. We will fight to ensure that every American has a right to a decent job that pays a living wage, to health care, to a complete education, to affordable housing, to a clean environment, and to a secure retirement — and no more tax breaks for billionaires and large corporations.

The one percent in this country may have enormous wealth and power, and they will use it to try and stop our agenda. But they are just the one percent. And if the 99 percent in this country stand together, defeat Trump, and go on to fight for the values we share, we can transform this country.

In solidarity,

Bernie Sanders

www.berniesanders.com

THE DURATION OF WHAT?

by James Kunstler

It’s nice to see The New York Times acting like a whipped dog after hounding the nation year upon year through thickets of falsehood and deceit to put over their hustle of systemic racism. “…some worry that local Democratic leaders are failing…” Really? Do you think that videos showing flash mobs of black looters rampaging through a Target Store, busting up cars on a dealer’s lot with baseball bats, and setting fire to a furniture shop might tell a different story? And that everybody still sane in this land knows that Democratic mayors and governors have been standing back, allowing it to happen?

The Democratic Party ought to worry that the voters are onto their game, because it looks like they’ve completely blown it only a week after anointing the most decrepit old pol in their donkey stable to run for president. Speaking of whom, Joe Biden finally crawled out from under a rock yesterday to issue a few timid peeps about the rioting, looting, and arson that went on in Kenosha, Wisconsin, for three nights running — and for three months in other cities around the country — during which he said nothing to halt the trashing of Kenosha’s downtown.

The different story that events themselves are telling voters is that young Americans act like savages when given the green light by politicians who refuse to enforce the laws against public violence, theft, and the destruction of property, and who justify all that with a fabricated narrative about systemic racism. Since Memorial Day, the Democratic Party has used the Black Lives Matter and Antifa orgs as shock troops in a stupid campaign aimed at abolishing the police. Well, now America can see exactly what happens when the police get functionally disabled by mayors and governors who order them to not do their primary job: maintaining basic civic order. The voters have seen it in Kenosha, Chicago, New York, Denver, Minneapolis, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Seattle, and Portland, Oregon.

What were the Democratic Party higher-ups thinking as all this rolled out? That they could keep posing people of color as victims while they ran amok, beat people up, robbed stores, jacked cars, and set buildings on fire? That the mayhem would continue until the nation’s morale improved? If that was actually their campaign strategy, then they’ve successfully burned down their national campaign before it even got underway. Having allowed all this havoc to be set in motion, can they stop it now? I guess we’ll see. Thursday was the first night that rioters failed to turn out in Portland after their epic 93-night siege of public buildings and once-quiet neighborhoods there. Perhaps someone told them they better knock it off in case voters connected the dots between these orchestrated antics and something Mr. Trump might point out in his nationally broadcast acceptance speech.

Street operations continued, however, in Washington DC while Mr. Trump delivered his remarks at the White House. In it, his speechwriters averred pretty crisply to those forces driving to “punish” the “wicked nation” for its sins. 

Meanwhile, Democratic Party water-carrier Jake Tapper over at CNN howled about the president violating the Hatch Act by using government property (the White House, where he lives) to stage a campaign event — making the CNN talking heads look ridiculous in the process. When that act ran out of steam, the panel carried on about the assembled audience on the White House lawn not wearing masks as proof of the manifest evil in the GOP ranks. (Then, a BLM mob beset Senator Rand Paul attempting to walk back to his hotel after the speech. DC police had to step in and escort him to safety.)

Earlier on Thursday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi decreed that there should be no candidates’ debates between Joe Biden and Mr. Trump — though Mr. Biden previously had agreed to it. It looked like Mommy ran out of the basement to save his skin. 

That can only confirm how desperate the Party is now, having set their own campaign tent on fire. Expect them to jam Joe Biden back under a rock for the duration. The question is: the duration of what? Of the interval between now and the dreadful moment in early September when they realize they must replace him at the head of the ticket, or else witness the suicide of party?

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

ON LINE COMMENT: 

I live and work in the Tetons of Wyoming.

The town of Jackson Hole and the immediate environs are one of the most liberal enclaves in America – set down in the middle of an endless Ruby Red Sea on all sides.

In the town of Jackson Hole – and all around it – are Trump signs and car stickers and branding everywhere – I have yet to see a Biden sign, banner, car sticker or anything of any kind – NOT ONE.

The electoral votes of Wyoming are in the bag for Trump – that is a foregone conclusion. But this lack of a sign of life for the Dem campaign in any way in THIS town is breathtaking.

UNION SERVICE STATION, UKIAH

MEMO OF THE WEEK II

Dear Supporter:

Did you know that over 40 Sheriffs in California oppose Gavin Newsom and the restrictions he’s been authorizing?

I heard that from Sheriff Warnke from Merced, California.

That’s 40 of the 58 Sheriffs in California.

What that means is the Sheriffs are waking up to the tyranny going on and will not go along with it!

I talk about that and much more in this call from last week.

This is a great sign of progress and it’s just the beginning!

There’s more news and updates happening everyday.

I will be sharing more soon.

Also, we’ve got our Week 5 Class for the CSPOA Certification Class happening tomorrow!

This class shares with you information about the Constitution and your local Sheriff that will help you know how to restore Liberty in your area.

And yes, when you join today you will still receive all the physical books and digital products.

Plus you’ll get instant access to the Week 1-4 content so you’ll have a lot to start with!

And we have some exciting surprises over the next couple weeks that we’ll be doing with the CSPOA Certification Class.

I look forward to sharing more with you.

Sincerely,

Sheriff Mack

P.S. I’ve received such great feedback from people who have been going through the classes each week.

I’ve heard from people who have started building a relationship with their local Sheriff already. That’s the beginning of the change we need.

It starts with individuals getting to know their local Sheriff.

We talk more about that and why it’s so important in our Certification Class.

If you’d like to join us, here’s where you can see more and sign up to join us.

 CSPOA - Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association | PO Box 567, Higley, AZ 85236

FOUND OBJECT