Mendocino County Today: December 13, 2020

Rain/Snow | 22 New Cases | Liz Responds | Caspar Creek | Incense Cedars | Pet Audi | Willits Miracle | Abandoned Mill | Richardson Grove | Breezewood USA | Agenda Items | Yesterday's Catch | Blowhole | Replacing Drake | Up Creek | Singing Biden | Likely Outcome | Sloop Upriver | Out There | Missed Zodiac | Pay Up | Killer Message | Crab Boat | American Stress | Rallies Upside | Fascism Podcast | Chip Off | Marco Radio | Found Object

RAIN SHOWERS AND MOUNTAIN SNOW will occur across northwest California today. A period of dry weather is then expected on Monday, followed by additional rainfall Tuesday through Thursday. (NWS)

22 NEW COVID CASES reported in Mendocino County on Saturday, bringing the total to 1953.

ZIP | TOWN | CASES

ED NOTE: Alicia Bales, the program director at KZYX, is leading a campaign to defame Liz Evangelatos Barney, a social media public information officer who works in this capacity for the Sheriff's Department. Bales' efforts have been successful enough that Ms. Barney has written the following to defend herself:

LETTER TO THE PUBLIC:

It seems I have inadvertently been making the local news lately and would like to clarify what is true and what isn’t. I’ve been called a bigot, a racist and have been accused of promoting violence. None of this is true. I believe another claim was something about me making $75,000 a year. On an average year, I make around $15,000 or so from the Sheriff’s Office. The public may not understand that most of the money in the contract is earmarked for emergencies, if the Emergency Operations Center opens, it’s not a steady monthly stream of income. If I don’t get called in, that contract money stays in the Sheriff’s budget and eventually goes back the County’s General Fund. Again, it’s unfortunate this type of misinformation comes from people who don’t research the subject matter. 

All of this focus on me appears to stem from a recent request for proposal to continue as the Sheriff’s Office Social Media Manager which is a contract position. 

Most of the confusion about who I am relates to a new Parler account I opened to explore and learn this new social media platform. I’d like to begin with the posts by Stef Ani who is https://www.facebook.com/stef.chenwelch.9 on Facebook. That account has very little information, so it’s unclear to me whether she is a resident of Mendocino or a fake profile. Regardless, it is obvious that her political views are vastly different than my own. And that is completely ok with me. 

I’m sure our backgrounds are very different. Please allow me to give you some insight into mine which should shed some light on where I get the concerns I now have related to the need for more transparency in our government and election process. I was born in Egypt and came here with my parents and siblings many years ago after a very violent political regime change in Egypt. In 1956, 99.95% of Egyptian voters cast their ballots for Nassar, (to read more please go to history.com/.amp/this-da-in-history/Nasser-elected-president) who toppled the previous government in a military coup (while leading under 100 people). In that election his was the only name on the ballot. He immediately created a new constitution creating a single party socialist state. As a result of this coup, my parents witnessed much violence in the streets and worried for the safety of themselves and their children. Their property was confiscated and we were only allowed to leave the country with the equivalent of $50 US dollars. 

My parents made the decision to come to the United States with four children on a refugee status. My father spoke four languages and not one of them was English. Both my parents went to night school and attended a class designed for Spanish speakers to learn English. I’d like to mention neither of my parents spoke Spanish either, but somehow with the help of the Italian they knew, learned enough English to not only assimilate, but thrive. Through a lot of hard work, they purchased a small restaurant in Ukiah and left that legacy to their children. In essence, our family’s version of the American Dream. 

When I was growing up I heard that America was “The Melting Pot” of the world. People outside of our country were amazed at how so many different religions, cultures, races could come together and live in harmony. Did we have differences of opinion? Of course we did. But there were many times in my lifetime that you could engage in a debate with someone and end up sharing a meal with them at the end of the day. Sharing opposing viewpoints was seen as a way to expand everyone’s perspective and learn more about each other. 

My Parler account is new and I’m still fumbling with it a bit. For those individuals that have never been on that platform, there is a mechanism called an “echo” which is like a retweet or share. The functionality is not yet equal to Facebook or Twitter so options to interact with the poster are limited. I follow many accounts that I don’t totally agree with, but they do share information that is difficult to find on other platforms. It’s also important to note that as a social media manager who acts as manager for other businesses, I need to stay current on new platforms. I’ve shared videos and online newspaper posts that I think more people should be exposed to. I don’t believe that there is such a thing as too much information. I believe the more information anyone has, the better decisions they can make. When I share a post it does not mean I agree with every one of their points but it might be interesting and beneficial to look at different perspectives. 

When I shared the post about Rep. Rashida Tlaib, it was not because of the Mossad line that someone else had written above it (and incorrectly attributed to me), but to share the article she was in. I think it’s important for all Americans to know where all their representatives stand on issues. In the article in question, she was advocating for violence against Israel. To be clear, I’m against violence of all kinds. 

My tenure with the Sheriff’s Office as an employee and later as a contractor has given me the opportunity to work with several Sheriffs. While certainly each was their own man, a commonality that each in their own way instilled in me was the importance of our Constitution. They reinforced my belief to respect and protect the Constitution and all the rights we too often take for granted. 

Being a social media manager for so many years, I am very cognizant of everyone having the Freedom of Speech. Which is why this attack on my personal views really surprised me. It did bother me to a great degree that there are allegations floating around the internet that are completely unfounded. What you will not hear me saying is these posters have no right to speak in this manner even though I disagree with them. 

I’m being called a racist, and worse. I’m a half Arab, half Greek woman, married to a Native American man. I have a son that converted to Islam about 15 years ago and married a Muslim woman and they have given us two beautiful grandsons. I also have two other children that are Greek Orthodox, one which will be baptizing their first born in a Christian Church as soon as that becomes possible again. My husband and I also have a beautiful granddaughter who is part Native American and part African American, two more that are part Native American. In our family everyone is equal and loved so I am not sure how I got labeled a racist? This is only possible through mass assumption with no personal knowledge of me or my family. 

Yes, I worry about the lack of transparency in government because of my background I outlined above. I’m also troubled by so many people who jump to conclusions without many, or any, facts. 

When I started handling the social media for the Sheriff’s Office, Sheriff Allman gave me a lot of latitude and trusted that I would post in a way that represented his way of thinking. Since around 2009, every post about every fire, every flood, every emergency was me behind the keyboard when most people thought it was Sheriff Allman. 

Since Sheriff Kendall and I have not yet had the opportunity to spend years working together, I appreciate the time he’s provided for me to assist with the department’s community Public Service Announcements and the fact that, because I’m not in the Office but working remotely most of the time, I have Captain Greg Van Patten and Undersheriff Darren Brewster to work with me with department messaging. 

I think it’s important to know that I’ve had a good relationship with CEO Angelo for quite some time. I was honored that CEO Angelo introduced me at a meeting in early 2020 in front of about 100 people as “the closest thing we have to a County PIO.” She also met with me prior to March of 2020 on a couple of occasions to discuss the possibility of her and I working together on a personal website for her and her personal social media. Because of her extremely time consuming (and continuing) role in the Covid epidemic, we’ve put off those talks, but I look forward to working with her in the future. She also approved a contract for me when the Covid pandemic hit us in early March so that I could train others on government agency social media tactics and strategy in the Mendocino County Department of Public Health and one of her Deputy CEOs. I worked with these two women for about two months and the three of us were focused on communicating public health messaging based on best practices known at the time. We also worked together to create and produce video and radio Public Safety Messages. None of us had a political agenda to push, so to be honest, for people to say they can’t trust me because of my political views is insulting. 

To address masking concerns, I have never advocated that anyone not follow or comply with public health guidelines, including masking and social distancing. I do personally wear a mask in public and adhere to the social distancing guidelines. I have followed people on other platforms who do question the guidelines but just because you follow someone does not mean you agree with everything they say. There are times when someone posts something lengthy and perhaps I only agree with a portion of it, or they have a link attached that I think is something more people should see. If that link is worth sharing, I’ll share it. This is on my personal account of course. 

At one time I managed the Facebook pages for the Mendocino Sheriff’s Office, the County of Mendocino and the Mendocino County Department of Public Health. I’d like to invite anyone to view these pages and let me know if I ever pushed any political agenda. In fact, there have been many years of me reading posts on government agency pages that are quite political in nature and I see part of my job to be getting people to separate politics from the emergency/incident at hand. 

I appreciate you taking the time to read this and apologize that it was much longer than I had anticipated sending you, but it’s important to me that you know and understand who I am. I would also suggest you might reach out to the many people I have worked with over the years and I am sure they would verify I am not a racist or bigot, nor do I advocate violence against anyone. It’s also a sad time for me personally because in America everyone should be able to speak freely and not be afraid of being bullied into silence. 

Respectfully submitted, 

Liz Barney 

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ms notes: Item 4o on next Tuesday’s consent calendar is the proposed contract with Ms. Barney for social media, web design and training services. The contract amount is listed at $150k. As of Saturday night there were four public comments on the item, all four of which use common language similar to Alicia Bales’s ill-informed statement on the KZYX website — three of them are almost identical. 

BRAD WILEY ON INCENSE CEDARS:

I am glad others beside me wonder about that incense cedar stand visible a half mile on both sides of the Highway 128, milepost 33 or so. I do, as I've not found another piece of topography like it in my wanderings around northern California. One time about 25 years ago I was bringing for a first Valley visit British friends, both phD scholars in botany and chemistry. As we headed south toward Boonville, I noted the site to my visitors and described my confusion about the grassless gravelly rubble with the few scattered trees dramatic difference from the rest of the local terrain. Jean Jarvis, the wife, said authoritatively and with no hesitation, "oh yes, that's an eroding lava field, nothing wants to grow on it except those cedars." Lava, from what source? Mount Konocti near Clear Lake is forty miles away. Is there a closer volcanic source over by Cloverdale's geysers? How did the cedar seeds find their way to MP 33, bird drop? And how did one single incense cedar end up in logged-over redwood forest soil down by the highway at my place, milepost 15, another accidental bird drop? This tree was about twelve feet tall and three inches on the stump when I first moved to the farm, definitely not a redwood with those leaves and aroma. Then when I started a goat band the next year, they immediately began stripping the bark off the tree for their sustenance. When I discovered this browsing activity, they had girdled three quarters of the tree for about two feet all around. So I put a protective wire cone around the tree and hoped it could survive such almost fatal punishment. Forty odd years later the tree is fifty feet tall and about eight inches in girth, very happy to be living in Navarro. 

UKIAH SHELTER PET OF THE WEEK

Audi is a big ol’ lap dog and enjoys cuddling up. He came to the shelter with a small dog who may have been his housemate. When Audi met Arrow, another shelter canine guest, he was friendly and wanted to play. When out in the play yard exploring, Audi is quick to come when called and we’re pretty sure he’s house trained. Handsome as can be and good manners, too! Audi is a year old and a very svelte 60 pounds. 

For more on Audi, go to mendoanimalshelter.com. While there, read about the services, programs, events, and updates regarding covid-19 as it impacts the Mendocino County Shelters in Ukiah and Ft. Bragg. And of course, check out all of our adoptable dogs and cats! Visit us on Facebook at: facebook.com/mendoanimalshelter/

For information about adoptions please call 707-467-6453. 

RE PROSTITUTION IN WILLITS, a reader writes:

It's called Miracle Mile because of what kind of businesses are there — the usual gas stations and supermarkets and fast food and tire shops — as opposed to the old downtown. “Miracle Mile” — I never heard that applied to an area with prostitution before. Sounds like somebody just making shit up, to be honest. The County Sheriff would have nothing to do with “allowing it” inside the City of Willits. Whoever wrote that doesn't have a clue about how things work, obviously. Bad stories I've actually heard about WPD and drugs are from many many years ago. 

Oddly enough, when I think of the motels, the funkier motels are actually NORTH of the tracks, north of Highway 20 / Main Street intersection. The idea that “south of the tracks” means “the poor side of town” is not really correct. If you're going to use the railroad tracks as some kind of social divider, it's really more like “east of the tracks” is the poor side of town. 

What's south as far as motels is Best Western, Baechtel Creek, and the Old West, none of which I'd believe was involved in any regualr prostitution scheme. Best Western and Baechtel Creek are intent on being “the nice places” in town, higher prices, and Old West being owned by a guy on the Chamber of Commerce board. I think the bars are ALL north of Highway 10 / 101 intersection too. Am I saying nobody ever sells their body for sex in Willits? Well, obviously not, how would I know? I'm sure it happens. But the idea that there's a miracle mile in Willits with female prostitutes flaunting themselves on the side of the old highway and selling drugs where cars are driving by at 35 / 40 mph seems really off to me.

SAVE RICHARDSON GROVE, an on-line comment: Bypass Richardson Grove. There is no reason to run rigs through there.

Run your rigs over 299. Hundreds of millions of dollars were spent to improve 299. There is going to be a mega-protest blocking the proposed project. The Willits bypass was held up for years due to poor processes proposed by Caltrans! Do they really want to fight this battle again? Just build the bypass, or ban rigs North of Willits! Do you really need 300 kinds of shampoo and 400 different cheap-ass bras at Target?

The rigs are in too many wrecks already! Instead of bulldozing the grove, try demanding responsible trucking!

Learn to grow your dope in the dirt. All those loads of “potting media” are destructive to the environment anyway…

The population is shrinking. Use 299.

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COURT DEALS EPIC A SETBACK IN RICHARDSON GROVE RULING

kymkemp.com/2020/12/12/court-deals-epic-a-setback-in-richardson-grove-ruling/

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KYM KEMP ON RICHARDSON GROVE: Yes. I’ve supported it for about 10 years since I read the actual proposed activity on the site. Once I realized that no old growth trees were being taken down and that even ferns in many places were being dug up and then replanted in areas, the advantages weighed against the disadvantages seemed obvious.

Here’s one early piece I wrote. https://kymkemp.com/2011/02/19/demonizing-the-opposition/

Although most regular readers know this, I should also state that my husband, my father, and my grandfather all work/ed for Caltrans.

APPARENTLY, that “Strategic Plan” for Measure B presented back in October was never intended to be distributed, much less constitute a strategic plan, although at the time it certainly seemed like it. Typical of almost everything involving Measure B it’s muddy.

On next Tuesday’s Board agenda there will be a Measure B discussion entitled “BOS Measure B Ad Hoc Committee of Supervisors Haschak and Williams,” which is a loosely organized series of answers to questions posed by Haschak and Williams regarding Project Manager Alyson Bailey’s “strategic plan.”

In the attachment Ms. Bailey attempts to answer the questions. At the end, she simply states, “No one signed off on this document, including myself. There was a misunderstanding regarding when it would be submitted and under what conditions.”

But Ms. Bailey herself put it on the Supes agenda on November 3 under the title “Strategic Plan: Mental Health Treatment Act (Measure B) DRAFT-October 2020.” We gather from statements made by Supervisor Ted Williams that the Board is going to be taking a more active role in Measure B, seeing as how the Measure B Committee and staff aren’t getting much done, and what they have done is not the top priority of the Supervisors.

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ALSO on next week’s agenda is an item to review the Supes ad hoc committees with an eye toward disbanding them. What’s interesting about this is that there are committees we either never heard of or had forgotten about mainly because covid-19 intervened. For example:

There’s an ad committee to “examine cannabis tax revenue available for the purposes specified in Measure AJ” which is the advisory measure that passed by in 2016 saying that proceeds from the pot tax should go to mental health, roads, emegency services and cannabis permit enforcement. Obviously, none of that happened and the County has ignored the will of the voters.

There’s an Ad Hoc Committee “to work with Measure B Staff and Measure B Committee as needed to develop a business plan and formulate a common set of goals, including the development of a PHF unit” which was done but so far there’s no business plan and the last time the subject came up Supervisor Williams said he had “capitulated” and was no longer expecting the Measure B Committee or staff to come up with a plan.

The Board also has a committee “to work with County Staff to discuss policies and procedures for placing items on BOS Agendas.” Funny, we thought the elected officials and staff could put any item they wanted on the agenda, even if sometimes they had to be put off. But no, all such items must be approved by the CEO.

We had forgotten also that the Supes had formed “an Ad Hoc Committee regarding hack and squirt ‘Measure V’ (Motion to direct code enforcement to investigate a documented first complaint regarding Hack and Squirt and return to the Board within 30 days; and formation of an Ad Hoc Committee.) (Williams, Haschak)”

The last time this was discussed Code Enforcement Consultant Trent Taylor said he went out and looked but the complainant wasn’t home and he couldn’t tell which parcel was alleged to have been in violation. And that was that.

Then there’s “Formation of an Ad Hoc Committee to bring forward recommendations to reduce street-level homelessness in Mendocino County.” Needless to say, that one is a complete dead letter except for the “Continuum of Care” whose main objective is continuing their funding, not reducing street level homelessness.

This item is “sponsored by the Executive Office,” meaning that the item is on the agenda because two Supervisors are leaving the Board and two new ones are coming in and CEO Angelo probably wants to do away with all these pesky ad hocs in hopes that the new board won’t bother re-establishing them next year.

(Mark Scaramella)

CATCH OF THE DAY, December 12, 2020

DEANDRE BRAZIEL, Ukiah. Controlled substance&transportation, probation revocation.

NICOLAS MATA, Ukiah. Domestic battery, damaging communications device.

OSCAR OLIVER, Ukiah. DUI, suspended license for refusing drunk-chem test. 

JILLIANE WILLIAMS, McKinleyville/Ukiah. Domestic abuse, assault with deadly weapon not a gun, more than an ounce of pot, paraphernalia. 

NO NAME HIGH

Editor --

Why has the brain trust board of school trustees been so damn bent on changing Sir Francis Drake high school’s name? No follow up!

This rush for correction is/has fallen out of favor in replacing Sir Francis’s historic title. Why? Sir Francis Drake’s name not only has had position in San Anselmo school and boulevard, it is renowned in books and places around the world. Look them up you retards and retardettes. You may learn something. But I doubt it.

This name change requires consideration and thought. It should be accomplished by a very large contingent of far far left wing flaming liberal socialists. Please don't allow any true Americans to participate.

Let's take a long look with great consternation at the new names Sir Francis Drake will be replaced with.

Outstanding politicians or great names from the sports world. Let’s start out with some real bad overrated historians.

Columbus -- had three boats. So what? Had slaves, bad guy.

Washington -- crossed the river, big deal. Had slaves, shame.

Jefferson wrote a lot, had good penmanship. So does the bill collector. No good, had slaves.

Franklin -- wrote some blurb in some old document that nobody reads. So? Had slaves -- bad, bad guy!

Now that we've got some of the bad boys behind us, let's look at who I think could fill the bill during these great change-everything times.

Marion Berry was mayor of Washington DC. Outstanding work behind the scenes. Did great work on educational films about what not to do when dealing drugs behind closed doors.

"Colon" Kaepernick was quarterback for the 40 whiners. Didn't stand for much but had a great presence on one knee and could have great fine brothers. A real standout. 

Harry Reid -- U.S. House Representatives under nanny. Here's a guy with a list of accomplishments as long as my -- (censored). His mother must have been proud! Nanny just loved him. No home movies.

And if a new name is too much for you worldly board members, what would you find wrong with No Name High School? It speaks to our society today, the tail wagging the dog!

Gran says, "Young ’unn, when are you going to scrap that hog pa has pulled out the hot tub?”

I said, "Grand, I got out your bib and new scraper you got last Christmas. You do such a good job you should scrape. Gramps has hit that special cold medication pretty hard this morning. He went into the outhouse two hours ago. Not sure what's going on. He had a bottle of something. Oh? Well, if he ain't out by bedtime I'll check on him.

Love you, Gran.

God bless America, the Donald, Grandpa, Jerry Philbrick

Old and Angry,

Boonville

SONGS OF THE BIDEN HEART

by David Yearsley

Much has been made of the playlists of the erstwhile presidential contenders. Back in 2016 Trump’s obsession with winning was given voice by Queen’s “We are the Champions,” who have, as the lyrics put it, “no time for losers.” How wistfully the deposed tyrant must now look back on his infamous entry, as if a god materializing from the heavens, at the previous Republican National Convention.

The aggrieved band could not stop Trump’s expropriation of their anthem of triumph. The president’s supporters were wont to bellow the song up until Election Day 2020.

Among Trump’s other unsportsmanlike musical favorites was Michael Jackson’s “Beat It”; the hit’s bullying words when heard from MAGA loudspeakers was gloss on “You’re Fired!”: “Don’t want to see your face, you’d better disappear.” In the 1990s the singer and his then-secret bride, Lisa Marie Presley, bought a luxury apartment in Trump Tower a few floors below the future president’s penthouse. Such proximity aside, entertainment elites generally hate Trump, all the more when he kidnaps their tunes for political purposes.

No such celebrities have taken up residence in Wilmington’s loft district of late, but the relationship between Joe Biden and the stars of musical firmament is much brighter than it is over Trump Tower and the White House, at least until January 20th. The famous talents of our time sing for Biden: from the sublime expressed power of Jennifer Hudson at the Democratic National Convention, to ever-loyal Democratic bard and cantor of American greatness and grit, Bruce Springsteen, to would-be visionaries of the younger, threatened generation like Billie Eilish.

Last week, Stevie Nicks, her music once favored by another New Democratic, Bill Clinton, dedicated “a lyric video” of her 2008 song ”Show Them The Way” to Biden and Harris. Nicks is sure the pair will “do great things.”

Her song serves up a smorgasbord of references to JFK and MLK that anticipates the much longer musings on Kennedy, King and American history heard in Bob Dylan’s “Murder Most Foul,” released last March during the first pandemic Lockdown.

If one seeks to understand why so much of America hates the Democratic Party and its allies in the world of entertainment, it’s only necessary to make it thirty seconds into Nicks’s video and the song’s first verse with its cloying epiphanies gained at a swank beach house where she’s already done some fund-raisers:

“I had a fragile dream in a gray house in the Hamptons

I’d been there before, singing songs and doing benefits

Was in a room alone putting on my makeup

Like so many things that come to me

The dress came across the Persian carpet

As I fell into the dress, a thought came to me

Into my heart, I have a dream

And a door opened

I turned to face the music

I was ready for the Kennedy’s”

On another side of this grating recitation of rich-and-famous lifestyle choices and pampered spirituality comes the prayer of the chorus:

“Please God, show ’em the way

Please God, on this day

Spirits all given the strength

Peace can come if you really want it”

The simple, heartfelt melody, heard here through a studio gauze of ambient piano, is well-calibrated to reach Biden’s musical sensibilities, themselves a gauge of his political inclinations as accurate as the bars and needles on a big-time music producer’s mixing board.

We know Biden to be a devout man, a man of prayer. He ends his public addresses with the words, “God Bless our Troops.” At his victory speech last month in Wilmington he quoted the refrain of his favorite, a hymn, “On Eagles Wings,” written by the Reverend Jan Michael Joncas, a Catholic priest and church musician: “And he will raise you up on eagles’ wings, bear you on the breath of dawn, make you to shine like the sun, and hold you in the palm of his hand.” 

His most famous composition now boosted to still greater heights of fame thanks to Biden, Joncas has stressed that the words are all drawn from the Bible. Yet one can’t help but notice that the God-blessed creature of the air also happens to be the American National Bird, a symbol of military might—an embodiment of Biden’s blessing of the troops.

Joncas’s song has the endearing, sometimes ecstatic simplicity of much Christian praise music; its popularity is not confined to the Catholic church. I have played it at many funerals in various Christian denominations, most memorably accompanying a singing preacher at a then-new church in the Silicon Valley in the early 1990s. Any eyes that had remained dry up until his powerful rendition were soon no longer so—my own included. His mighty baritone crescendo soared on the chorus’s updrafts as tears fell. Not long after this the pastor was removed from his post for having an affair with the church secretary, and on church premises: many a church father, from Augustine on, would have heard, and likely condemned, the sensuality of “On Eagles Wings”: its spirituality is seductive.

As Biden quoted the song’s chorus in Wilmington last month for the uplift of the nation, I couldn’t help but think of the closing scene of the movie Forrest Gump where a feather — the soul of his beloved — is lofted skyward by similarly maudlin music.

In contrast to Trump, who bragged in ‘The Art of the Deal’ that he punched one of his music teacher’s because the guy didn’t know anything about music, Biden is self-deprecating about his musical talent and knowledge. But he does know what he likes. He’s drawn to the straightforward and downhome.

Biden claims the Chieftains as he favorite band, and has said on occasion that he would break into their version of “Shenandoah” if he could sing.

Even if Van Morrison burdens his rendition of the song’s simple pentatonic melody with much ardent filigree, the yearning, direct sentiment of the tune comes through — handerkchieftains at the ready to dry those eyes after yet another folksy tear-jerker. The glowing nostalgia of the song is displaced to geography— the flowing rivers, the Shenandoah and the far Missouri.

Only a glimpse now remains of the lyric’s original, longer tale of a white trapper’s abduction of a young Native woman — or girl. This comes in the second of the four verses: “Oh Shenandoah, I love your daughter” — this Shenandoah claimed by some folklorist to refer to an Oneida leader who fought on the British side in New York during the French and Indian War.

Early versions of the tune tell the story more fully and are unlikely to be exhumed by originalists:

“Missouri, she’s a mighty river.

Away you rolling river.

The redskins’ camp, lies on its borders.

Ah-ha, I’m bound away, ‘Cross the wide Missouri.”

Across the nineteenth century the song travelled the globe, sung by Indiamen and even public school boys, as W. B. Whall informs us in his collection ‘Sea Songs, Ships & Shanties’ published in Glasgow in 1913. The volume accompanies the song’s text and melody with a Romantic pictorial image of interculturul love:

But the final strophes found in Whall’s book paint a darker picture — one of drug deals and sex slavery:

Maybe there’s guilt in the yearning melody of Shenandoah still. But what Biden hears and loves in this tune, now mostly purged of rape and pillage, is its sentimentality — a dangerous emotion for any politician to be carried downriver by.

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

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

I am just a little confused about where we want all this to take us;

Result #1 – Trump presents evidence of treason by Democrats and proves widespread election fraud. Election is awarded to Trump.

Outcome #1 – Approximately half of the electorate did not vote for Trump. They perceive that the election has been stolen from them, and they are very upset. They start acting out in ways that are sometimes violent.

Result #2 – It turns out that there is actually no evidence of election fraud. With the support of some of the US Military, Trump attempts to seize power.

Outcome #2 – Lasting civil war in the US leads to lasting violent conflict, the complete destruction of the US economy, and loss of US influence throughout the world. Foreign powers find it in their interest to fund certain sides of the new Civil War. 

Do any of us really want either of these two outcomes? Before World War I, the French and the Germans both assumed that they were inevitably headed for war, to the extent that French freight cars were stenciled ’40 men or 8 horses.’ The conversations here sort of have that look and feel. Can Civil War II be avoided?

Of course there are other possibilities –

Result #3 – Trump’s election initiatives go nowhere. Biden is sworn in as US President, but without violent protest.

(Most Likely) Outcome #3 – Biden and Harris create policies that speed the collapse of the US Economy (and with it the Global Economy) that was going to happen anyway. The resulting hardships are attributed to Democrats and Progressives. 

Would Result #3 really be so bad?

WHEN YOU DRANK the world was still out there, but for the moment it didn't have you by the throat. 

— Charles Bukowski

A READER COMMENTS: 

Zodiac was eating at the French Laundry a few weeks ago. He was sitting in the corner and had a buzzed haircut, black dark-rimmed glasses, and a white covid mask with a Zodiac symbol. The problem is Newsom was there and everybody was focused on him and his stupid party. They missed the Zodiac - AGAIN!!!

ZODIAC: CIPHER FROM CALIFORNIA SERIAL KILLER SOLVED AFTER 51 YEARS

It took 51 years and a team of experts from three countries to crack the code to a cipher left by the still unidentified Zodiac Killer, who haunted northern California communities in the 1960s and 70s. But, on Friday, the code-breaker David Oranchak revealed for the first time, the ominous message sent by the murderer.

theguardian.com/us-news/2020/dec/11/zodiac-killer-cipher-cracked-california

THE AMERICAN WAY OF STRESS is comparable to Freud's “beloved symptom,” his name for the cherished neurosis that a patient cultivates like the rarest of orchids and does not want to be cured of. Stress makes Americans feel busy, important, and in demand, and simultaneously deprived, ignored, and victimized. Stress makes them feel interesting and complex instead of boring and simple, and carries an assumption of sensitivity not unlike the Old World assumption that aristocrats were high-strung. In short, stress has become a status symbol.

— Florence King (1936 - 2016)

NO COUP FOR YOU!

As Trump’s brazen attempts to steal the election in the courts continue to falter, and as his legal team humiliates themselves at every turn, are we becoming too content in laughing it off and too comfortable in thinking our institutions are now stable? 

Historian and author Ruth Ben-Ghiat appeared in “Fahrenheit 11/9” to help warn of the fascist threat posed by Trump, and she now joins me on the latest episode of RUMBLE to share her most recent ideas about the danger we are currently in and how leaders like Trump help us become our worst selves. 

She’s written a new book looking back at fascists from Mussolini to the present day and finds many similarities between these leaders’ use of propaganda, their endorsements of violence, and their projection of virility and masculinity to appeal to male and female supporters alike.

Listen and subscribe for free — Michael Moore

Apple: https://apple.co/rumble

Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3734Y99

Google: http://bit.ly/3mc7z4Z

THE WHEEL OF SCHMEGEGGE.

Subject: The wheel of schmegegge.

The recording of last night's (2020-12-11) Memo of the Air: Good Night Radio show on KNYO-LP Fort Bragg is right here: https://tinyurl.com/KNYO-MOTA-0414

Furthermore, at https://MemoOfTheAir.wordpress.com you'll find a fresh batch of dozens of links to not necessarily radio-useful but nonetheless worthwhile educational items I set aside for you while gathering the show together. Such as:

You can feel these titles and photographs massaging and improving your brain. https://www.boredpanda.com/misleading-thumbnails/

Tooka-chooka PHBBLTT!, yo. https://laughingsquid.com/beatboxing-parrot-scratches-out-song/

"Let’s put Christ back in Christmas." The aspect ratio is not right. It makes the guns look like cigaret-lighter guns. You kids are too young, you don’t remember, but they used to be all over the place. It was a smooshed-looking little gun that you’d point at your own face and shoot fire at the cigaret in your mouth. You could refill it with regular lighter fluid, and when it stopped sparking you could buy a little cellophane envelope of flints from the store to fix it with. You had to use tweezers, and even then it was iffy; they gave you five tiny flints and you always lost four of them in the rug. But back then everything only cost a nickel anyway. A loaf of bread. A harmonica. A radio tube. Everything was a nickel. If you were a millionaire in those days you could buy a whole town. Also music was /music/, it wasn't just a bunch of punks hanging around the gas station banging on pots and pans. https://misscellania.blogspot.com/2020/12/the-reason-for-season.html

Start slideshow. https://tinyurl.com/ProfilesOfCourage

And Hamildolph. https://laughingsquid.com/hamildolph-christmas-parody-of-hamilton/

p.s. If you want me to read on the radio something that you've written, just email it to me and that's what I'll do on the very next Memo of the Air. That's what I'm here for.

— Marco McClean, memo@mcn.org, https://MemoOfTheAir.wordpress.com

FOUND OBJECT