Mendocino County Today: January 21, 2021

Weak Front | 78 Cases | AVFD Report | 1971 Visions | Elder Shots | Wildlife Response | Take-Out Dinners | Capitol Trophy | Ukiah Fratricide | Vietnamese Bridge | Lizarraga Again | Piñata Burn | Bank Heist | Ed Notes | Klobucheese | Kneeling Speed | Weirdo Radio | Sportsing | Locating Lopez | Leader Apprehended | PPP Program | Yesterday's Catch | Vaccination Committee | Irrational Hatred | Cop Talk | Chromosomes Questioned | The Donald | Scary Headline | Regime Change | Tax Changes | Joe's Speech | Found Object

AN INITIALLY DRY AIRMASS will moisten today as a weak front approaches from the northwest. Light shower activity will subsequently spread across northwest California this evening into Friday. Thereafter, a day of dry weather appears likely Saturday, followed by widespread moderate precipitation Sunday and Monday. Additional precipitation will be possible through the middle of next week. (NWS)

78 NEW CASES the past three days (January 17-20).

TOWNS with more than 5 current cases:

• Ukiah 134
• Willits 29
• Covelo 20
• Redwood Valley 17
• Fort Bragg 17
• Gualala 7

ANDERSON VALLEY FIRE CHIEF ANDRES AVILA:

1) 37 of AVFD fire and EMS personnel have completed the COVID 19 vaccination series. This covers the vast majority of AVFD’s crew of 45. Having our crews fully vaccinated will provide them with another layer of protection in addition to their normal PPE (personal protective equipment). Some of our dormant EMS crew members will now be coming back to staff EMS shifts with the change. The vaccination rollout is providing our crew a higher confidence that we can safely serve the community with limited risk to our patients and our families. 

2) Four of AVFD’s first responders were put on home quarantine last week due to an exposure to COVID 19 during a response. AVFD was called to a “lift assist”, which are typically are not high acuity incidents. The crew entered into a residence to assist a patient and after an initial medical assessment discovered the patient had flu like symptoms and was later verified COVID positive. The crews needed to wait five days for any potential viral load build up and before receiving rapid tests last Friday. Each one of the crew members had received their first vaccine dose a couple weeks prior to the exposure. They all were cleared as negative and returned to normal status. 

3) Several recent calls out of Ranch Navarro have resulted in air ambulances declining to use the Demonstration Forest landing zone (LZ) on the Masonite Road near the Hwy 128 intersection. Our current mitigation to this issue is to use another LZ several miles east. Moving the LZ further east can be problematic due to the closest advanced life support (ALS) ambulance is arriving from the west. REACH 18 made a test flight to the LZ today to provide a consult on any LZ improvements. Several trees and large bushes have been encroaching on the approach/departure angles and will need to be removed. AVFD will be contacting Mendocino Redwood Company (MRC) about removal of the vegetation since they are the surrounding property owner in order to get the LZ opened back up for use in that portion of the district.

SUPERVISOR WILLIAMS: I’m pleased to see progress in regard to the CVS/Walgreens program to vaccinate Long Term Care Facilities. Are there any such facilities not included in the list below? 

• Mountain View Assisted Living
• Caring Home Llc Too
• Caring Home, Llc
• Dalistan Care Home Ii
• Harpe Home, The
• Holy Spirit Residential Care Home, Inc.
• Holy Spirit Residential Care Home Inc. Ii
• Holy Spirit Residential Care Home-iii
• Mendo House
• Observatory Care Home
• Ocean Side Comfort Care Llc
• Oceanfront Comfort Care Llc
• Oceanside Villa
• Redwood Valley House
• Three Oaks, Inc
• Turning Point - Journey On
• Turning Point Northern Lights
• Atalig's Care Home
• Azalea House
• Canyon View Senior Home Care
• Haven House Of Ridgewood Ranch
• Redwood Creek
• Romes Care Facility I
• Victoria Manor
• Sherwood Oaks Health Center
• Ukiah Post Acute
• Northbrook Healthcare Center
• Redwood Cove Healthcare Center

WILDLIFE RESPONSES TO CLIMATE CHANGE IN CALIFORNIA FIRE REGIMES

California continues to grapple with frequent large-scale wildfires across the state. The Hopland Research and Extension Center (HREC) provides a unique and powerful opportunity to observe the effects of these wildfires on native wildlife species. In this webinar Kendall Calhoun (Ph.D. Candidate, UC Berkeley) describes the use of several biodiversity monitoring tools currently being used to understand the responses of various species to the 2018 River Fire at HREC.

Bio: Kendall Calhoun is a PhD Candidate at UC Berkeley with the Brashares Lab in the department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management. Kendall was raised in the Central Valley of California and hopes his research in wildlife ecology can be used to benefit native biodiversity. 

When: This Thursday, January 21, 2021, 11AM-12PM

Registration: https://bit.ly/hrecwildfire

Price: Free

Hannah Bird, Community Educator, Hopland Research & Extension Center

BOONVILLE HOTEL:

It’s a beautiful day and Perry’s put together some scrumptious dinners for take-out this week. Orders placed on line at: www.boonvillehotel.com

Take good care everyone!

January 21: Thursday Dinner - Fermented Piment d'Ville Hot Chile “Nashville Fried Chicken", served with shaved parsnip, cabbage, tangerine slaw. and something sweet too! $36 per person

January 22: Friday Dinner - Mendocino Dungeness Crab and Shrimp Louie “Verde” dressed with a green goddess, little gems, egg, horseradish, and radishes, also served with Potato Green Garlic Soup and something sweet! $64 (serves 2).

January 24: Sunday Dinner - Whole Roasted Wolfe Ranch Quail, served with creamy tomato sonora white beans, simple salad and chocolate chip cookies. $39 per person.

FRATRICIDE ON LAWS AVENUE, UKIAH'S CRIME CENTER

On Tuesday, January 19, 2021 at about 5:00 am, the Ukiah Police Department Dispatch Center and the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office Dispatch Center began to receive calls regarding a stabbing in the 100 block of Laws Avenue in Ukiah.

Mendocino County Sheriff's Office Deputies were advised and both agencies responded to investigate.

Upon their arrival, Jordan Luna, 30, of Ukiah was located in a second story apartment suffering from stab wounds.

Jordan Luna's brother, Jeremiah Luna, 38, of Ukiah, was also located inside the apartment and was detained by responding law enforcement officers. Emergency medical personnel arrived and confirmed Jordan Luna was deceased.

Sheriff's Detectives were summoned to the location to conduct follow-up investigations.

During the investigation, Sheriff's Detectives determined there was sufficient probable cause to arrest Jeremiah Luna for Murder.

Additionally, Jeremiah Luna was identified as being on CDCR Parole and a parole hold was issued based on this incident.

Jeremiah Luna was subsequently booked into the Mendocino County Jail where he was to be held in lieu of $500,000 bail.

The circumstances surrounding the incident, such as motive, are still under investigation at this time.

On Tuesday, January 19, 2021 Criminalists from the California Department of Justice Bureau of Forensic Services labs in Eureka and Santa Rosa responded to assist with the processing of the crime scene along with investigators with the Mendocino County District Attorney's Office.

Sheriff's Detectives are asking for the public's assistance regarding this investigation and request anyone with information from Tuesday, January 19, 2021 between about 1:00 am until 5:00 am in the 100 block of Laws Avenue to contact the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office Tip-Line by calling 707-234-2100.

The Mendocino County Sheriff's Office would like to thank Medstar Ambulance, the Ukiah Police Department, the Mendocino County District Attorney's Office, and the DOJ Bureau of Forensics Santa Rosa and Eureka Labs for their assistance related to this investigation.

MENDO’S KING OF THE DOUBLE DIPPERS

(Willits City Council meeting agenda, Oct. 28, 2020)

City Manager Reports And Recommendations

a. Approve Contract with Interim Police Chief, Fabian Lizarraga, for an Amount Not to Exceed $50,000, plus an Agreement to Secure Housing, at a Cost Not to Exceed $1,700 Per Month, or a $1,700 Cash Stipend Per Month. (Approved unanimously.)

PETIT TETON MONTHLY FARM REPORT - December 2020

O frabjous day! Calooh callay! We chortle in our joy.

Hey Everyone, HOORAY! The day we thought would never come. We have nothing to add except: wasn’t that young poet gorgeous and eloquent? Blew us away.

The attached picture tells how we celebrated. Several years ago a friend gave us two piñatas one of which we’ve had hanging and degrading (sorta like the real thing) from our garage beam as a rage outlet — darts, bats, knives, kicks — were encouraged. The second was kept stuffed in the closet stuffed full of candy awaiting this day. Originally we were going to throw a real Piñata Party but because of covid we decided to do a Piñata Burning instead so we emptied the candy out and gorged ourselves as we stood around the burn pile breathing deeply with relief. It was equally rewarding.

Now it’s time for all of us to get to work changing the direction of this ship of state. Have a good evening of celebration.

Nikki Auschnitt & Steve Kreig

Petit Teton Farmer" <farmer@petitteton.com>

CHASE BANK STICK-UP

A Ukiah man was arrested early Wednesday for allegedly robbing the Chase Bank on South State Street, the Ukiah Police Department reported.

According to the UPD, officers responded to the bank at 700 S. State St. around 4:40 p.m. Jan. 19 after an employee reported that a man approached her window and said “this is a robbery and give me the money.” The suspect did not display a weapon, but the employee reportedly feared for her safety and gave the suspect more than $3,000 before he left.

While reviewing the bank’s surveillance footage, officers recognized the suspect as a man on parole, identified as Dean M. Stevens, 53, of Ukiah. A Mendocino County probation officer also reportedly identified the suspect as Stevens.

Based on prior contacts with Stevens in the week before the robbery, officers identified a vehicle that the suspect might be associated with, and around 1:35 a.m. the morning after the robbery, a sergeant with Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office reported seeing the vehicle in the parking lot of a motel in the 1700 block of North State Street.

UPD officers and the sergeant then contacted Stevens in his hotel room, where they reportedly located a bag of cash and other evidence connecting Stevens to the robbery, including clothing that matched the items worn by the suspect.

Stevens was booked into Mendocino County Jail on suspicion of robbery and violating his parole and held under $75,000 bail.

ED NOTES

NOT QUITE as grotesque as I expected, but the Biden inaugural was still at least ten degrees off. Hard to take the solemnity of the occasion seriously when a person takes center stage who's introduced as “Lady Gaga.” President-elect Lord Gaga strung out his cliches with only a couple of stumbles — “I call on Congress…, Light not darkness…, Listen to each other…” Never heard of “J-Lo” before this morning but had to wonder if she was aware that her terrible rendition of “This Land Is Your Land” was written by a communist fully aware that the people he was singing it for had no land and should seriously think about taking some for themselves. An attractive black kid read a long, unpoetic poem heavy on the soppy sentimentality that ran through the event like the Cuyahoga the day it caught fire. Cowboy singer Garth Brooks butchered “Amazing Grace,” and why him in a country with at least a million people who could do it better? Maybe it was a sop to rednecks to get their dumb asses as woked as this fat guy in the black cowboy hat? If this is “the soul of America” welcome to mass atheism.

FEEDBACK from Stephen Rosenthal on-line: “Geez Bruce, you and I agree about a number of things, but what an incredibly dark and cynical observation of, at long last, a glorious day when we can take a deep breath and be thankful that we survived the four plus years of existing under a cult of hate. It’s time to lighten up. At least give President Biden and Vice President Harris and their teams a chance to overcome the numerous obstacles they face before allowing the bitterness to creep in.”

STEVE, PLEASE. I was critiquing the festivities, not the catastrophes these people are unequipped to mitigate.

AS TRUMP slunk out of town after pardoning a hundred more crooks and sleazebags, we argued if he was the worst president ever, concluding that Andrew Johnson, Lincoln's vp, was worse, as was George W. Bush. Johnson, a drunk and unabashed racist, single handedly undid Reconstruction when he succeeded the martyred Lincoln. If Grant had succeeded Lincoln the next 200 years might not have been so terrible for black people. Bush single handedly destabilized the entire world by invading the Middle East. Biden? The magnitude of the rolling catastrophes will prove much greater than his meager abilities and his advisors can possibly cope with, the former a stone grifter from way back, the latter a gang of undistinguished hacks left over from the Clintons and Obama.

FROM ABC later on on Inauguration Day:

George Stephanopolous: “What did you think of the inauguration?”

Amy Klobuchar: “We didn't think it was going to snow, but it turned to sun. And I got to talk to Lady Gaga, so that made it all worth it.”

SOME PERSPECTIVE from an on-line commenter: “While we are vastly relieved to get rid of that orange monstrosity and his horrid family, there was never any real threat to the republic. That pathetic crowd of ninnies that stormed the Capitol couldn’t overthrow Burundi on a good day. We are far better than to let an ignorant mob like that derail the enterprise. Established wealth will never allow it. You on the right understand that, don’t you?” (No, they don't, but established wealth certainly does.)

HARD to believe but some pwogs thought Trump would be sure to pardon truth tellers Assange and Snowden, knowing full well Biden won't. And now that the Orange Monster has been vanquished we'll all just settle in as things return to “normal.” 

TRUMP did one truly grand service to the country — he destroyed the Republican half of the duopoly.

A READER WRITES: Have you noticed that Senator Amy Klobuchar seems to have a fake smile on her face all the time, no matter what the subject? 

As far as I can recall, the only time she doesn’t smile is when she’s debating with Bernie Sanders. Then she turns deadly serious. 

GREAT MOMENTS IN PUBLIC RADIO

AVA News Service

KZYX, Monday, January 18, 2021. ‘The Discussion,’ 7-8pm. Hosted by Aaron ‘Cobb’ Martin.

Martin: You are tuned to The Discussion, everybody. 707 895-2448…

Woman Caller: Hi Cobb. Thank you for doing this program. I'm calling to tell you about a person who was active in our community and a participant in The Discussion many weeks, in fact a participant in KZYX, and has left her corporeal environment and gone on to some other plain. I'm talking about Dorothea Dorman who many listeners will remember. Her comments were not always favored by everyone. And her contributions to the community were not always recognized. But she gave us all a lot and she always gave from her heart.

Martin: I loved Dorothea. How long ago did she pass away?

Woman Caller: Last week. Some people may think she was antiquated and very difficult. But she was active right up until the end. I'm calling to remind everyone that Dorothea Dorman was here.

Martin: A big shout out to Dorothea Dorman. She called in a lot. I didn't know her very well. She had a gloriously wide brimmed floppy sun hat that I really admired.

Woman Caller: She always wore big floppy hats. That's who Dorothea was. She had many other remarkable qualities, not that a big hat is a quality. But I'm glad that you also appreciated her.

Martin: A regular caller here. If you were not familiar with her you were not listening to KZYX. I say it with endearment. Thank you. Dorothea Dorman is out there listening. These broadcast waves have a mystery about them that reaches far beyond regular radio receivers sometimes.

---

Second Woman Caller: Dorothea Dorman was on the program and she— I guess you were not hosting last week, I considered her a friend. She was very active, very progressive in many ways. But last week she was talking about immigrants and how they have too large families and she's done this before and this time there were quite a few more listeners and they were calling in and they were pretty upset about that and I was pretty upset too because it seems to me that the Mexicans are doing most of the physical labor around here. I don't know what I would do without helpers once in awhile. They are always Mexican who will come and do physical labor. And she was also working with Mexicans. So I was sort of shocked myself. She had done this before, but this time a lot of people called in and were upset about that and I was upset. I called her the next morning I think. And I left her a message. It seems kind of weird now. But that's a whole thing. I said, Dorothea, if I were you I would not go to town for a while because a lot of people are really angry about you bashing immigrants. So I didn't hear anything and then I had to go to town that day and I don't know if it was the next evening or the next day but somehow Mariah Gilardin called me. I think that was the next Thursday…

Martin: We are getting into a territory here that I have difficulty navigating which I'm guessing you are coming from a good place and wanting to remember something but mentioning people’s names and the like is borderline, like we are gossiping and it's -- I feel somewhat uncomfortable. But I want to listen to you and give you a chance on the air.

Caller: I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that.

Martin: I know. I'm trying to --

Caller: Okay, I'll go. I just thought we had that we had progressed so that we could --

Martin: You are talking about a previous discussion. I get that. What were you coming to as far as an overall -- I guess what I want to do is just get to the idea without naming names and people specifically right now. If you have an idea you are trying to -- or a certain memory?

[Click.]

Martin: Are you there? … Okay.

[Static.]

Martin: Please call back. Now that your phone is breaking up -- So yes. I'm not exactly sure that what was making me uncomfortable about that call but I also did not cut you off, caller, and I want the listeners to know that, you were starting to break up. So if you can get to a better spot -- I guess my concern is, for one thing, especially, Dorothea just passed away and there is something -- I can't articulate it right now. I see where the caller is coming from wanting to bring up some sensitive subject in previous discussions which are certainly out there in the public sphere although I didn't happen to tune in and hear it. So I'm going to move along.

W.Dan Houck (alternating host of ‘The Discussion’): I was sorry to hear about Dorothea. That call you were talking about was two weeks ago. She put it kind of inelegantly, but that was Dorothea. She was a contrarian and a bit of a curmudgeon and a bit eccentric and I think that really adds color and flavor to our lives. And this radio station allows that to happen and I think it's a wonderful thing. I used to own a bookstore six or seven years ago with my wife Loretta in Boonville and Dorothea stopped in one day and she was a short lady, I'm six-foot-two so everybody is short to me, but she reminded me of a gnome or a wizened wise woman. She came in and introduced herself. She stopped by and heard that I had a bookstore and I happened to be reading a magazine called the Skeptical Inquirer. It had an article, I think it was on homeopathy or non-Western medicine and she asked what I was reading and I shared it with her and she asked if she could have it and I said sure. I didn't think she was going to like it. She took that magazine and a couple of weeks later, I don't know if it was on The Discussion or The Treehouse but she got back to me and thanked me for letting her take my magazine and she said she found it very interesting but she did not agree with it. And she proceeded to let me know why she didn't agree with it. I didn't always agree with Dorothea and she didn't always agree with me as with most people in our lives. We are lesser because of not having Dorothea in our lives. Just through the radio or however she impacted our lives I think we are all a bit less. I'm very sorry for passing.

Martin: Well articulated. Thanks Dan. I appreciate that and that helps me to navigate hosting this show some. Dorothea, Yes. I have a good memory.

---

Sister Yasmin: Hi Cobb. I hope you don't cut me off. I haven't called for many months because I think we need more kindness, all of us. I did not know Dorothea. But I used to argue with her over the radio because I thought her ideas about overpopulation were a little skewed as most people in this country due to not understanding other cultures and women's rights. All over the world it's been proven that if you educate women the birth rate goes down and don't forget religion is part of it and that's part of the Latin culture and I don't think she was racist at all. I think she was just misinformed like many people are about, there is really enough to go around if there wasn't so much inequality that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer and poorer. If you study the Latino culture there are all kinds of cultural reasons besides the ones I just mentioned that people have a lot of children and when they emigrate they probably lost a few children because being poor, and shitty healthcare, and— Oh, excuse me I said a bad word. Anyway. I think that words are so powerful and you guys, men -- I am a feminist. I am a radical. To stand up for somebody and say you like them and then call them a wizened gnome and a curmudgeon is not kind. That's one of my faults with W. Dan. I don't think he's aware of times when I feel offended by a lot of stuff. He's just unaware. We're not all very smart. I'm pretty smart and I'm not the smartest. But there are a lot of weirdos on the radio. But if you are a caller and you are weird you are not allowed to have a voice. And you are kind of weird yourself, Cobb. Dan is definitely weird.

Martin: Wait! Dorothea! I mean, not Dorothea, Yasmin! Sorry. 

Yasmin: I have been whatever you call that word, attacked, for years and years and years.

Martin: But it also, I did not just cut you off just now—

Yasmin: I'm preaching love. We have guns and cops and thieves and murderers in the streets…

Martin: I just cut you off, Yasmin. The reason I did it as the host there are rules of how we do the show. You know, I'll bring you back on the air. You can call back. But you violated an FCC policy. I hope it didn't go out over the airwaves. But that's a policy we have to watch out for as hosts. And we do disagree and it's wonderful and I enjoy when you call in and another thing we’re trying to do is speak to ideas and not so much people when we contrast one another and it can be a hard line to walk and I doubt that I walk it well.

Yasmin: I hope you didn't hang up on me. The woman you cut off at the beginning of the show when she was telling her story was painful to hear. You don't know where she was going with her story. I didn't feel like she was offending anybody. I wanted to hear what she was saying. And you felt uncomfortable. I mean, that's kind of part of your job. You are not always supposed to feel comfortable as the host of the show, right?

Martin: Right.

Yasmin: It's okay if you don't feel comfortable.

Martin: Right. I agree.

Yasmin: This is supposed to be our show and I think you censored her. I don't think she got cut off, I think she hung up because she felt bad because you cut her off. You don't know what her story was.

Martin: Wait a second. I didn't cut her -- it was--

Yasmin: You insulted her and I think she hung up and you thought her phone went off. Maybe it was her phone or you, you— She would have called back and said, Can I finish my story?

Martin: Wait, Yasmin. Before I cut you off. Will you allow me to respond?

Yasmin: A little while ago there was a suicide here. I didn't know the woman but I felt very very akin to her because this is a really really hard time, especially for outcast type people who are not in the in crowd. I call myself one of them. We need to have support for each other--

Martin: We are discussing--

Yasmin: We need to have more love and that's what I'm trying to say and I hope you can let me say that. 

Martin: Of course I can. But can we discuss together?

Yasmin:— and more compassion and love — 

Martin: Will you allow me to talk while you're still on the radio? Without me having to cut you off? 

Yasmin: Yes.

Martin: OK. So that previous caller. I've got a couple of things here Yasmin. If you want, a little bit longer.

Yasmin: Thank you.

Martin: I literally did cut you off earlier just now but I didn't hang up on you when I should have originally because you said a curse word and I really hope that our seven second delay technology that all of our fantastic pledging pays for kicked in and I was able to drop that curse word without violating FCC language.

Yasmin: Is that one of the seven or eight deadly words?

Martin: Oh, Yeah. Having said that --

Yasmin: I was on KZYX for ten years (crosstalk) and I did not violate that rule. Not once.

Martin: I am going to hang up on you if you don't allow me to finish.

Yasmin: I'm sorry. I apologize.

Martin: No apology necessary. That caller did not get cut off. It was literally a reception issue with the cell phone and if you recall I invited them to call back.

Yasmin: That's not the woman I mean. I mean the one at the very beginning when someone just said Dorothea died and she was saying, she mentioned that Dorothea, blah blah blah, and Mariah Gilardin, and you said you felt uncomfortable and she couldn't continue her spiel because it made you feel uncomfortable and you did not know why but you thought she was being too personal and you didn't know where she was going. Remember? I'm talking about that one.

Martin: Okay. Yeah. I think I remember. I'll be honest. It's hard for me to remember that part.

Yasmin: I know. It was way along time ago. 

Martin: But I'm listening to you.

Yasmin: It felt like--

Martin: We are only going to go a minute longer though.

Yasmin: I think she felt bad, that lady. I apologize to that lady for you. That was painful to hear when you did that. It's okay if you feel uncomfortable. This is an uncomfortable time for all of us, right?

Martin: Sure!

Yasmin: That's why we need to be nicer to each other! There's a lot of kindness coming out of the kind people and there are a lot of people that are getting more hateful and that's why some people are feeling really desperate and that's why this woman walked out of her house in the middle of the night a few weeks ago on New Year's Eve or whatever and walked off a cliff because she was bereft! I feel bereft a lot! And I'm sure a lot of people do. Bereft! A heavy load. I'm glad we are talking about butterflies, that's important. But let's talk about giving more love and thinking about language. You don't call someone a wizened gnome and a curmudgeon and a this and that. I relate to Dorothea Dorman because she was a weirdo and people didn't understand her and I am too. Give the weirdos some slack!

Martin: Thanks for calling, Yasmin.

Yasmin: We can't all fit in.

Martin: We can't all fit in. That's a good thing. Yasmin.

---

Martin: Make no mistake, everybody. My name is Cobb and I'm responsible for my actions and my opinions are my own and I am maybe holding more responsibility than any common, you know, participant in this show -- Common? I don't know if that’s the right word there. But I have full control over all these buttons and every button I push is a button I have chosen to push so regardless of whether I seem uncomfortable or comfortable or what have you, I'm here with you all and I'm pushing the buttons and it's a deliberate thing and I'm responsible for that and I'm choosing to be here. I enjoy it. That's why I volunteered to do it. I really respect and have high regard for all of you out there that care to or dare to participate whether you agree or disagree and there are all sorts of things to navigate and I definitely have certain feelings and have a responsibility to a broader audience even as we are discussing with each other but I have rambled enough here.

Male Caller: I wanted to address something that Sister Yasmin said. And this is not a personal attack. I'm just commenting on what she said. She criticized someone for saying something about Dorothea being a gnome or whatever. But then she called Sister Dorothy a weirdo.

Martin: I was wondering if anyone caught that.

Male Caller: So where does she care to draw the line? She feels perfectly free to call a person a name which the person might be offended by. Not everybody likes being called a weirdo just because she feels like calling herself a weirdo. Okay? I just wanted to offer a little bit more.

LOPEZ NO LONGER ON THE LOOSE

On Wednesday, January 6, 2021 at approximately 9:18 PM, Ukiah Police Dispatch received reports of a shooting that occurred in the parking lot of the Sunrise Inn, located at 650 S. State Street. Officers responded to the motel and contacted several witnesses/victims. While interviewing witnesses, Officers learned that a 27-year-old female (victim #1) had been in a dating relationship with a male named Phillip Ronnie Lopez, 31, of Ukiah. 

Lopez was known to Officers, from numerous prior contacts, and they were aware he was on CDCR Parole. Victim #1 advised she arrived at the motel and was contacted by Lopez. She chose not engage in conversation with Lopez and tried to distance herself from him. Victim #1 contacted a friend, a 34-year-old female (victim #2), who had a vehicle parked at the motel. Victim #2 allowed victim #1 to enter the vehicle and Lopez approached the vehicle. Lopez began striking the vehicle’s side window, with an unknown object, causing the window to break. Victim #1 believed Lopez was going to kill her, told this to victim #2 and requested victim #2 drive the vehicle away from the location. Victim #1 attempted to conceal herself in the rear portion of the vehicle.

Lopez positioned himself behind the vehicle and fired a single shot, from a handgun, into the rear of the vehicle. Lopez left the area on foot. Both victims were uninjured, although the trajectory of the bullet nearly struck victim #1. 

Officers canvased the area in an attempt to locate Lopez, while other Officers reviewed surveillance footage from the motel. Footage provided information that corroborated witness/victim statements. A single expended handgun casing was located at the scene, as well as a bullet from inside the vehicle. Based on the information obtained throughout the investigation, Officers believed there was probable cause to arrest Lopez for Attempted Murder and Violation of Parole. Lopez was unable to be located, at that time. A BOLO was issued to surrounding law enforcement agencies advising them that Lopez was wanted for the aforementioned violations. 

UPD Detectives assumed control of the investigation. UPD contacted Lopez’ CDCR Parole Agent and advised him of the incident. The Parole Agent subsequently contacted the US Marshalls Service and the CDCR Fugitive Apprehension Team for assistance in locating and arresting Lopez. 

On Tuesday, January 19, 2021 at approximately 5:00 PM, UPD Detectives were contacted by Lopez’s Parole Agent. The Agent advised the Fugitive Apprehension Team, US Marshalls Service and MCSO Deputies had located and arrested Lopez inside a home located at 117 Poulos Court, Ukiah. Lopez was arrested without incident. UPD Detectives contacted Lopez and he was subsequently booked at the County Jail for the above detailed violations. 

UPD would like to thank CDCR Parole Department, the CDCR Fugitive Apprehension Team, the US Marshalls Service and MCSO for their assistance with this case and the apprehension of Lopez. 

A READER WRITES (regarding the Paycheck Protection Plan local recipients): “The PPP program was created by the CARES Act in March 2020 to help businesses which were adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Qualified businesses could apply for and receive loans of up to $10 million. Loan proceeds could be used to pay for certain expenses incurred by a business, including salaries and wages, other employee benefits, rent and utilities. If the business used at least 60 percent of loan proceeds towards payroll expenses, the entire amount of the loan would be forgiven. Congress later overruled the IRS’s position in the Emergency Coronavirus Relief Act of 2020 officially making all expenses paid for using proceeds from a forgiven PPP loan tax deductible for federal tax purposes.”

CATCH OF THE DAY, January 20, 2021

JOSHUA FRAILEY, Orland/Willits. Taking vehicle without owner’s consent, reckless evasion in opposite direction of traffic.

NICHOLAS HALVORSEN, Fort Bragg. Assault with deadly weapon with great bodily injury, criminal threats. (Frequent Flyer)

WESLEY HUDSON, Red Bluff/Fort Bragg. Stolen vehicle. 

PHILLIP LOPEZ, Ukiah. Attempted murder, parole violation.

JEREMIAH LUNA, Ukiah. Murder, parole violation.

JACOB SILVERMAN, San Francisco/Ukiah. Possession of more than an ounce of marijuana, evasion, resisting.

DEAN STEVENS, Ukiah. Robbery, county parole violation.

A READER WRITES: I was disappointed to read Dr. Miller’s description yesterday about California’s laughably complex vaccination planning. Dr. Miller said, “the State has developed a complex algorithm for determining who should be vaccinated and in what order. This algorithm has at least three phases, divided into sub-phases and sub-sub-phases being divided into separate tiers. This strategy is designed to make sure that the vaccine is given out fairly and ethically and considers factors such as risk of exposure, risk of mortally and the essential nature of particular jobs in society. We are in the second stage of that algorithm, which includes persons age 75 and older. Another complexity is the State’s mandates to track every single dose to ensure that the vaccine is being given according to the algorithm. Then, there’s the decision to distribute the vaccine through multiple different venues. Nursing homes, for example get them through commercial pharmacies like CVS, while the general public is to get it through public health departments. Again, well intentioned in that the strategy was hoped to avoid bottle necks, instead it has created confusion adding to slow downs.”

I wonder who dreamed up this approach? Did Governor Newsom assign Supervisors McCowen and Haschak to an ad hoc vaccination rollout committee? Where’s Supervisor Pinches when we need him?

THE CONSTABLES 

by Philip Murphy

It wasn’t until I was around the age of twenty that my impressions of the cops really began to take form, with some of my earliest encounters with the men in blue being a couple of traffic stops. One of the stops involved a speeding ticket, which I decided to contest. In court the cop went through his spiel first, after which I told the judge that everything the cop said was true but that he had left out the part about him giving the car behind me a ticket for speeding and following too closely and that on this stretch of road their was no shoulder so I couldn’t just pull-over and let him pass.

All of a sudden there was a dramatic shift in the courtroom dynamics, as the crusty old judge was now glowering at the cop instead of me as he said, “Is this true?” The cop was caught flat-footed and could only stammer, “Well, um, uh, yes” when confronted with some enlightening context, but his lesson in humility wasn’t over yet. The judge went on to say, “ I know that road very well and have had the same thing happen to me more than once,” and as he shot a withering glance at the cop he barked “Case dismissed!” The big cop slunk out of the courtroom with his head hanging low, a broken man.

The second encounter began with a test ride after finishing a tune up on my motorcycle. As I sped across town, my thoughts were on the sweet sounds of the freshly tuned motor and the road ahead, so I didn’t notice the patrol car following me until he lit me up of all places right in front of the local courthouse. “I’ve been following you for two miles and you ran two stop signs and were going 65 in a 25 zone just for starters,” the clearly irate officer bellowed as he bounded up to me and flipped open his ticket book. “Son of a bitch,” he shouted as he stared at the book in disbelief “I’m outta tickets!” A frantic call was made for some bureaucratic back-up, but it was to no avail as everyone else had bigger fish to fry that afternoon. I struggled to contain the belly laugh I felt building deep inside me as the red-faced cop (Who I was genuinely worried might have a stroke at any minute), hollered, “If I ever see you again blah-blah-blah”.

So I learned that cops were just as emotional, deceitful and dumb as the rest of us, but my real education began when I moved to Sacramento and got a job running a shop where I had to interact with cops on a regular basis. There were about a dozen law enforcement agencies on my customer list that ranged from the FBI to the local school district police, plus the tow yard next door used some of my extra shop space to store stolen recovery and crime scene vehicles, so I talked to cops almost every day.

Regardless of age or race Sacramento city cops were all the same, their goals were to expend the absolute minimum amount of effort while on duty and to never leave the relative safety of the patrol car unless absolutely necessary. CHP officers came in two types, the go-get-‘em rookies and the forty-something “I’m counting the days until my twenty years are up” burnouts, who through the years had honed their time wasting skills to the point where a two hour job could be stretched to cover an entire shift. Then there were the deputy Sheriffs, who were a whole different breed of cat. Imagine your grammar school bully high on cocaine with a gun and you’d have the average deputy sheriff pretty well summed-up in Sacramento county during the early 1990s.

There were times the deputies would tell me things where I wasn’t at all clear on whether they were bragging or confessing — and I sometimes had serious doubts they knew either! For instance, they would tell me how on a slow shift to liven things up a bit they would “Shake the tree” when they saw two or three young black or hispanic men driving around using a made-up premise for a vehicle stop in the hope that they would find something they could drag someone to jail for. Some of the driving force behind this (probably most of it) was straight-up racism, and part of it was a reaction to the fact that those were some pretty wild times in Sacramento. The murders and car thefts may take place in the city, but the dead bodies and stripped cars were left outside of the city limits for the deputies to retrieve.

As repellant as I oftentimes found the cops to be, I also sometimes pitied them, as they seemed almost trapped in their world of law enforcement and struggled at times to interact normally with civilians. It didn’t seem like the majority of them had dreamed of one day becoming a cop, it just looked like the least awful career option at the time. There had to be a cost beyond the higher divorce, suicide and alcoholism rates, the mental wear-and-tear that comes from having so many opportunities to do the wrong thing and the struggle to carry the baggage that came with the failures to take the high road.

My 2015 bust for running a 100% compliant 215 cannabish collective showed both sides of the law enforcement coin, the charges (which of course were later dropped), were payback for writing a story two weeks earlier and talking on my radio program about the Lake County Sheriff’s deadly failures during the Valley Fire evacuations, the flip side being the officer who got the whole thing started came back a few days later to say “I’m sorry for getting you into trouble the other day.” It restored my faith in humanity, as well as once again showed me that cops had all the same shortcomings and virtues as the rest of us — how many people have had the cop who got them busted apologize for it?

Over the years I’ve seen and cops have told me about an astounding array of police misconduct, from taking $60K during a raid and only $20K making it to the evidence locker to planting fake evidence or lying about how a suspect died in their custody, so I’m not at all blind to what cops are really like. But in the last year or so I think the pendulum has swung too far against the cops, and its unnerving to see so many people so far removed from the realm of law enforcement slam the police using so much cherry picked misinformation. 

In the Bay Area I know of a public school where a teacher screened a pro-BLM documentary and said the class would discuss the film afterwards but that no one should criticize it or say anything supportive of the cops because she and all other black people would find it hurtful. Apparently this sort of censorship, mind control and propaganda is where we’re headed as no one objected.

What I’ve seen in the last thirty years is a big change in policing, as the screening processes, training and equipment have all been significantly upgraded. We have body and dash cams, a whole new generation of much less racist cops and an array of less lethal weapons that give officers more options when dealing with difficult suspects. That doesn’t mean that all policing problems have been solved, but people should know that big improvements have been made and the trend is for that to continue. As citizens we need to stay aware and ready to step-up, as many of the changes for the better have been aided by citizen-supplied video footage. We also need to insist that our police chiefs, sheriffs and their officers be consistently held accountable, and that police unions don’t protect problem cops. That goes for DAs, judges and Grand Juries too, as we’ve seen some big failures on their part in investigating police killings lately as well.

We need to be clear on the fact that to a degree the cops are a reflection of our society, when you have legions of unsupervised mentally ill people roaming the streets and a homicide rate that is a national disgrace you can’t blame that on the police. Things need to be kept in their proper context too, something the MSM has failed miserably at in recent years. The impression the news media have given the public is that racism and unjustified police killings of people of color are skyrocketing, when the general trends are the exact opposite. Statistics always need context, like was the unarmed young black man shot while wrestling for control of an officer’s gun or did an officer shoot him because they mistakenly thought a cell phone was a pistol-or was he an innocent bystander caught in a crossfire? It matters when deciding if there is a problem or what to do about it, statistics without context can tell a very misleading story as our MSM has shown us time and time again.

We also need to understand the fact that its almost impossible to get a clear idea of what is going on by listening to just one news source, those days are long gone in America. Today we have whatever flavor of high-paid liar you want, if you like anti-cop propaganda listen to professional liars like Amy Goodman, Thom Hartmann or TYT, if you want people to tell you all cops are wonderful listen to right wing liars like Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity or Ben Shapiro, or if you prefer pretentious BS listen to PBS or NPR. Most of the people and outlets just mentioned don’t actually tell you lies (usually), they instead lie by omission, they know the truth but don’t mention the stuff that contradicts their ratings-driven propaganda. 

When I was a kid I could read the SF Chronicle and get a fairly good idea of what was going on, but that was 50+ years ago and today I generally have to look at several news sites that are at opposite ends of the political spectrum to get the story straight, and I know not many people have the time or patience for that. The result is most Americans have been brainwashed by somebody with an agenda and they never hear an opposing viewpoint, or if they do hear a subject debated it will be a rigged theatrical event of the sort PBS is famous for.

We also need to understand that even video without context is potentially misleading, the video of the death of George Floyd is proof of that, if you didn’t see the twelve minutes of body cam video taken before Floyd was laid on the ground (at his request), you really have no idea what is going on. How many Americans know that Floyd had a lethal level of Fentanyl/meth in his blood? Not many, since the MSM kind of skimmed-over that part, which is dangerous because people will undoubtedly get riled when the cop is found not guilty. We have to be open to the idea that whatever our emotional first reaction to the citizen’s video was it didn’t tell you the full story, like the cops had already called for an ambulance before he laid on the ground because of his obvious drug intoxication, or that Floyd was saying “I can’t breathe’ while seated upright in the patrol car with no one touching him. Even kneeling on his back is right out of the police handbook, they didn’t have many options as a taser dart would have almost certainly caused Floyd to flat-line, at some point people have to be responsible for their own well being. 

So be careful jumping on that (or any other) bandwagon, listen carefully to voices that challenge your assumptions and understand everyone’s biases and motives, and when your understanding of the facts changes don’t be afraid to let your opinion change course as well. 

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

I’m surprised that he even really WANTED to be re-elected. He got the job by accident and, reportedly, very much to his own surprise. 

During the four years of his Occupation of the White House, he showed himself to a guy who really didn’t seem to want to do the job either. It was just a huge ‘reality TV show’ to him. 

The final episode has been a drama worthy of a fifth-rate three-in-the-morning soap. But, boy, howdy! Is he going to MISS all the attention! When he was sent to the Naughty Corner and had his social media cut off, that was bad enough. But when his money-faucets were also turned off, that must have really hurt. 

When he could no longer grift the 34% of Americans who were flicking him a few dollar-bucks every week or so, or sell them his “Made in China” tatt, the realization of his own impotence must have come over him like a cold sweat. 

Result? True to character, he threw his own loyal supporters – the ‘Capitol Stormers’ – under the bus in a feeble attempt to help save his own skin or at least lessen the possible charges he faces, come Thursday.

If he lands in Florida after 11:59 am tomorrow, he’d better look out for the FBI. He might find himself being arrested and charged with “inciting insurrection”.

SCARY HEADLINE OF THE DAY: "Wall Street hits all-time high, Biden breaks Hoover’s record for stock gains"

US stocks closed at record highs Wednesday as Joe Biden was sworn in as the 46th president — with the new commander-in-chief setting a record for stock gains between his election and his inauguration. The benchmark S&P 500 index rallied to finish 14 percent higher on Inauguration Day than it was on Election Day, breaking a record set by President Hoover in 1928 when the S&P rallied 13.3 percent during the same interval, according to MarketWatch.

nypost.com/2021/01/20/stocks-hit-all-time-high-biden-breaks-hoovers-record-for-gains/

NOW, JOE

Editor: 

Here are some tax changes needed immediately so those hurt financially by the pandemic don’t get a tax bill when they file income taxes for 2020. As an income tax preparer the past six years for low-income filers, I have seen too many people have to pay back money.

Unemployment insurance needs to be tax free. This is like a double tax on those losing their jobs. Very few have federal and state income taxes taken out of their unemployment checks. The pandemic made it worse for millions of Americans. Social Security money for those 66 and over, which is full retirement age, should not have any of this money taxed. Sometimes it is because of other income coming in. Many still work, some have retirement income, interest or investments. California doesn’t tax Social Security income.

Also, raise the tax subsidies on the health care exchange. Seniors often give back part of their tax subsidies because their income fluctuated and the tax subsidies are too low. Tax subsidies need to be increased for the middle class, not just low-income filers.

Andrew Smith

Santa Rosa

JOSEPH R. BIDEN'S INAUGURATION SPEECH

Chief Justice Roberts, Vice President Harris, Speaker Pelosi, Leader Schumer, Leader McConnell, Vice President Pence, distinguished guests, and my fellow Americans.

This is America’s day.

This is democracy’s day.

A day of history and hope.

Of renewal and resolve.

Through a crucible for the ages America has been tested anew and America has risen to the challenge.

Today, we celebrate the triumph not of a candidate, but of a cause, the cause of democracy.

The will of the people has been heard and the will of the people has been heeded.

We have learned again that democracy is precious.

Democracy is fragile.

And at this hour, my friends, democracy has prevailed.

So now, on this hallowed ground where just days ago violence sought to shake this Capitol’s very foundation, we come together as one nation, under God, indivisible, to carry out the peaceful transfer of power as we have for more than two centuries.

We look ahead in our uniquely American way — restless, bold, optimistic — and set our sights on the nation we know we can be and we must be.

I thank my predecessors of both parties for their presence here.

I thank them from the bottom of my heart.

You know the resilience of our Constitution and the strength of our nation.

As does President Carter, who I spoke to last night but who cannot be with us today, but whom we salute for his lifetime of service.

I have just taken the sacred oath each of these patriots took — an oath first sworn by George Washington.

But the American story depends not on any one of us, not on some of us, but on all of us.

On “We the People” who seek a more perfect Union.

This is a great nation and we are a good people.

Over the centuries through storm and strife, in peace and in war, we have come so far. But we still have far to go.

We will press forward with speed and urgency, for we have much to do in this winter of peril and possibility.

Much to repair.

Much to restore.

Much to heal.

Much to build.

And much to gain.

Few periods in our nation’s history have been more challenging or difficult than the one we’re in now.

A once-in-a-century virus silently stalks the country.

It’s taken as many lives in one year as America lost in all of World War II.

Millions of jobs have been lost.

Hundreds of thousands of businesses closed.

A cry for racial justice some 400 years in the making moves us. The dream of justice for all will be deferred no longer.

A cry for survival comes from the planet itself. A cry that can’t be any more desperate or any more clear.

And now, a rise in political extremism, white supremacy, domestic terrorism that we must confront and we will defeat.

To overcome these challenges – to restore the soul and to secure the future of America – requires more than words.

It requires that most elusive of things in a democracy:

Unity.

Unity.

In another January in Washington, on New Year’s Day 1863, Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.

When he put pen to paper, the President said, “If my name ever goes down into history it will be for this act and my whole soul is in it.”

My whole soul is in it.

Today, on this January day, my whole soul is in this:

Bringing America together.

Uniting our people.

And uniting our nation.

I ask every American to join me in this cause.

Uniting to fight the common foes we face:

Anger, resentment, hatred.

Extremism, lawlessness, violence.

Disease, joblessness, hopelessness.

With unity we can do great things. Important things.

We can right wrongs.

We can put people to work in good jobs.

We can teach our children in safe schools.

We can overcome this deadly virus.

We can reward work, rebuild the middle class, and make health care

secure for all.

We can deliver racial justice.

We can make America, once again, the leading force for good in the world.

I know speaking of unity can sound to some like a foolish fantasy.

I know the forces that divide us are deep and they are real.

But I also know they are not new.

Our history has been a constant struggle between the American ideal that we are all created equal and the harsh, ugly reality that racism, nativism, fear, and demonization have long torn us apart.

The battle is perennial.

Victory is never assured.

Through the Civil War, the Great Depression, World War, 9/11, through struggle, sacrifice, and setbacks, our “better angels” have always prevailed.

In each of these moments, enough of us came together to carry all of us forward.

And, we can do so now.

History, faith, and reason show the way, the way of unity.

We can see each other not as adversaries but as neighbors.

We can treat each other with dignity and respect.

We can join forces, stop the shouting, and lower the temperature.

For without unity, there is no peace, only bitterness and fury.

No progress, only exhausting outrage.

No nation, only a state of chaos.

This is our historic moment of crisis and challenge, and unity is the path forward.

And, we must meet this moment as the United States of America.

If we do that, I guarantee you, we will not fail.

We have never, ever, ever failed in America when we have acted together.

And so today, at this time and in this place, let us start afresh.

All of us.

Let us listen to one another.

Hear one another.

See one another.

Show respect to one another.

Politics need not be a raging fire destroying everything in its path.

Every disagreement doesn’t have to be a cause for total war.

And, we must reject a culture in which facts themselves are manipulated and even manufactured.

My fellow Americans, we have to be different than this.

America has to be better than this.

And, I believe America is better than this.

Just look around.

Here we stand, in the shadow of a Capitol dome that was completed amid the Civil War, when the Union itself hung in the balance.

Yet we endured and we prevailed.

Here we stand looking out to the great Mall where Dr. King spoke of his dream.

Here we stand, where 108 years ago at another inaugural, thousands of protestors tried to block brave women from marching for the right to vote.

Today, we mark the swearing-in of the first woman in American history elected to national office – Vice President Kamala Harris.

Don’t tell me things can’t change.

Here we stand across the Potomac from Arlington National Cemetery, where heroes who gave the last full measure of devotion rest in eternal peace.

And here we stand, just days after a riotous mob thought they could use violence to silence the will of the people, to stop the work of our democracy, and to drive us from this sacred ground.

That did not happen.

It will never happen.

Not today.

Not tomorrow.

Not ever.

To all those who supported our campaign I am humbled by the faith you have placed in us.

To all those who did not support us, let me say this: Hear me out as we move forward. Take a measure of me and my heart.

And if you still disagree, so be it.

That’s democracy. That’s America. The right to dissent peaceably, within the guardrails of our Republic, is perhaps our nation’s greatest strength.

Yet hear me clearly: Disagreement must not lead to disunion.

And I pledge this to you: I will be a President for all Americans.

I will fight as hard for those who did not support me as for those who did.

Many centuries ago, Saint Augustine, a saint of my church, wrote that a people was a multitude defined by the common objects of their love.

What are the common objects we love that define us as Americans?

I think I know.

Opportunity.

Security.

Liberty.

Dignity.

Respect.

Honor.

And, yes, the truth.

Recent weeks and months have taught us a painful lesson.

There is truth and there are lies.

Lies told for power and for profit.

And each of us has a duty and responsibility, as citizens, as Americans, and especially as leaders – leaders who have pledged to honor our Constitution and protect our nation — to defend the truth and to defeat the lies.

I understand that many Americans view the future with some fear and trepidation.

I understand they worry about their jobs, about taking care of their families, about what comes next.

I get it.

But the answer is not to turn inward, to retreat into competing factions, distrusting those who don’t look like you do, or worship the way you do, or don’t get their news from the same sources you do.

We must end this uncivil war that pits red against blue, rural versus urban, conservative versus liberal.

We can do this if we open our souls instead of hardening our hearts.

If we show a little tolerance and humility.

If we’re willing to stand in the other person’s shoes just for a moment.

Because here is the thing about life: There is no accounting for what fate will deal you.

There are some days when we need a hand.

There are other days when we’re called on to lend one.

That is how we must be with one another.

And, if we are this way, our country will be stronger, more prosperous, more ready for the future.

My fellow Americans, in the work ahead of us, we will need each other.

We will need all our strength to persevere through this dark winter.

We are entering what may well be the toughest and deadliest period of the virus.

We must set aside the politics and finally face this pandemic as one nation.

I promise you this: as the Bible says weeping may endure for a night but joy cometh in the morning.

We will get through this, together

The world is watching today.

So here is my message to those beyond our borders: America has been tested and we have come out stronger for it.

We will repair our alliances and engage with the world once again.

Not to meet yesterday’s challenges, but today’s and tomorrow’s.

We will lead not merely by the example of our power but by the power of our example.

We will be a strong and trusted partner for peace, progress, and security.

We have been through so much in this nation.

And, in my first act as President, I would like to ask you to join me in a moment of silent prayer to remember all those we lost this past year to the pandemic.

To those 400,000 fellow Americans – mothers and fathers, husbands and wives, sons and daughters, friends, neighbors, and co-workers.

We will honor them by becoming the people and nation we know we can and should be.

Let us say a silent prayer for those who lost their lives, for those they left behind, and for our country.

Amen.

This is a time of testing.

We face an attack on democracy and on truth.

A raging virus.

Growing inequity.

The sting of systemic racism.

A climate in crisis.

America’s role in the world.

Any one of these would be enough to challenge us in profound ways.

But the fact is we face them all at once, presenting this nation with the gravest of responsibilities.

Now we must step up.

All of us.

It is a time for boldness, for there is so much to do.

And, this is certain.

We will be judged, you and I, for how we resolve the cascading crises of our era.

Will we rise to the occasion?

Will we master this rare and difficult hour?

Will we meet our obligations and pass along a new and better world for our children?

I believe we must and I believe we will.

And when we do, we will write the next chapter in the American story.

It’s a story that might sound something like a song that means a lot to me.

It’s called “American Anthem” and there is one verse stands out for me:

“The work and prayers

of centuries have brought us to this day

What shall be our legacy?

What will our children say?...

Let me know in my heart

When my days are through

America

America

I gave my best to you.”

Let us add our own work and prayers to the unfolding story of our nation.

If we do this then when our days are through our children and our children’s children will say of us they gave their best.

They did their duty.

They healed a broken land.

My fellow Americans, I close today where I began, with a sacred oath.

Before God and all of you I give you my word.

I will always level with you.

I will defend the Constitution.

I will defend our democracy.

I will defend America.

I will give my all in your service thinking not of power, but of possibilities.

Not of personal interest, but of the public good.

And together, we shall write an American story of hope, not fear.

Of unity, not division.

Of light, not darkness.

An American story of decency and dignity.

Of love and of healing.

Of greatness and of goodness.

May this be the story that guides us.

The story that inspires us.

The story that tells ages yet to come that we answered the call of history.

We met the moment.

That democracy and hope, truth and justice, did not die on our watch but thrived.

That our America secured liberty at home and stood once again as a beacon to the world.

That is what we owe our forebearers, one another, and generations to follow.

So, with purpose and resolve we turn to the tasks of our time.

Sustained by faith.

Driven by conviction.

And, devoted to one another and to this country we love with all our hearts.

May God bless America and may God protect our troops.

Thank you, America.

FOUND OBJECT