Mendocino County Today: Thursday, July 29, 2021

Temps Rising | 12 New Cases | Confirmed Case | Vaccinate | 51st Death | Thanks Science | Mask Bragg | Kasten 1851 | Potty Talk | Morning Mendo | Michelle Ogletree | Tracey Thoughts | 50 Gallons | Dixie Firefighting | Volunteer Reception | Mendocino 1914 | Ed Notes | Yesterday's Catch | Glen Ford | Chaplin & Disney | Climate Now | Doctor Phuc | Sheepdog | Goat Biles | 1936 Cabins | Huff Strikes | Docked 1944 | City People | Big Catch | German Floods | Ladypants | Pummeled | Podiatrist | Space Bezos | Housing Bills | Self Preservation | 1899 Graduates | Declining Power | Dusty Hill | GOP School | Camp 1892 | Marco Radio | Sako Radio

TEMPERATURES ACROSS INTERIOR portions of northwest California will steadily warm during the week, with highs ranging from 100 to 110 Friday afternoon. Conditions will then cool during the weekend into early next week. Otherwise, isolated to scattered thunderstorms will be possible across the interior mountains Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. (NWS)

YESTERDAY'S HIGHS: Ukiah 103°, Yorkville 102°, Boonville 98°, Fort Bragg 65°

12 NEW COVID CASES reported in Mendocino County yesterday afternoon, and another death.

CONFIRMED POSITIVE COVID-19 CASE

Covid Public Notice

The Mendocino County COVID-19 Department Operations Center has confirmed a positive COVID-19 case at the following location: 

Patrona Restaurant and Lounge, 130 W Standley St, Ukiah, CA 

Members of the public who visited this facility between July 23 - July 24, 2021, may have been exposed to COVID-19, and are advised to seek COVID-19 testing if unvaccinated, or seek testing if exhibiting symptoms while vaccinated. 

Covid-19 Testing 

Public Health is prepared for the possibility of outbreaks due to increased close contact during the summer months. Public Health still urges members of the public to exercise their best judgment when making decisions that might affect their health and the health of the community. We appreciate the cooperation of the above local businesses to find those who could be exposed, and Public Health only publishes their names when we are unable to specifically identify everyone in the public who could have been exposed. 

Public Health Officer Dr. Andy Coren would like to emphasize the importance of staying home from work when exhibiting any symptoms of COVID-19. Common symptoms are fever, cough, and shortness of breath. Other symptoms may include chills, muscle pain, headache, sore throat, fatigue, congestion, runny nose, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, or new loss of taste or smell. 

We ask that the community stay vigilant and follow the guidance outlined by the California Department of Public Health and Mendocino County Public Health. For more information about COVID-19 vaccines, testing, and masking, contact the Mendocino County Public Health COVID19 Call Center at (707) 472-2759 or visit our website at: www.mendocinocounty.org/covid19. 

The following is a statement from the affected business: 

“I have always taken the health and safety of our community very seriously. When it became clear that one of our team had tested positive, We immediately followed the protocols set by Mendocino County Public Health for sanitization and tested. All of our employees have been testing and it is very safe to come to Patrona's.” 

Craig Strattman, owner 

MENDOCINO COUNTY RESIDENT who has been lost to the COVID-19 Virus

Mendocino County Public Health has been notified of another Mendocino County resident who has been lost to the COVID-19 Virus. We send our condolences to his family and friends. 

A 73 year old Willits man has been confirmed as Mendocino County's 51st death. 

At this time Public Health asks all Mendocino County residents to exercise caution when placing themselves in situations that could expose them to COVID-19, especially considering the new more infectious Delta variant. Mendocino County Public Health asks that you follow all CDC and CDPH guidance’s at this time. Vaccination, masking and social distancing remain the best options for combating the Covid-19 Virus. 

MASK WEARING REQUIRED INSIDE FORT BRAGG CITY FACILITIES 

Following the new guidance by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the strong recommendation of the Mendocino County Health Officer, Dr. Cohen, the City of Fort Bragg will implement mandatory face coverings inside City-owned buildings and facilities, effective Thursday, July 29, 2021, regardless of vaccination status. Exceptions to the face covering requirement, including those who are unable to wear mask for medical or health reasons and those under the age of two years old will continue to apply. 

The decision to revert to the stricter face covering requirement follows increases in the daily number of new cases of COVID-19 in Mendocino County and the spread of the Delta variant, which is two times as contagious as prior variants. As of July 27, 2021, the average number of cases in Mendocino County is over fourteen (14) a day. City Manager, Tabatha Miller stresses that “this is a simple step that both fully-vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals can take to protect ourselves and others.” 

The City is not mandating any businesses or organizations to require masks to be worn indoors, but is encouraging individuals and other businesses to consider following Dr. Cohen’s and other health officers’ advise across the State to implement mask wearing while indoors and outdoors in crowded conditions. 

Questions related to this information should be directed to City Manager, Tabatha Miller at (707) 961- 2823 or tmiller@fortbragg.com.

FROM THE COAST CHATLINE:

Phyllis Coppage: Mendosas and Pattersons have two potties on the sidewalks. I was told that the Chamber put them up because of our water shortage. If the residents, B&Bs and hotels have to buy water, why can't these two do the same? I'm also wondering if the MHRB approved them. Something about having these so close to where we buy our groceries and eat is bothersome. Are they going to look and smell like our public trash cans in a few days? You can email the Chamber and voice your opinion. 

Claire Amanno: My office is next to Patterson’s. They were not informed the potties were being placed there. And, they are locked with padlocks! Probably be more useful if they were accessible. Anyone know who to call? Thanks,

Harvest Market's (Mendosa’s) owner (Tom Honer?) replied: The county put them there. If we buy water it takes from residents that need it as well, that was the thinking by the county on this. They are being maintained daily and checked upon by our staff. The goal was to reduce the burden on the system as a whole. Water is now being bought from Elk, Westport and Irish Beach, when they stop selling where will it come from? Every truckload is limited to two trips a day. Please call and ask us, we are all trying our best to reduce our usage so residents have more opportunities at groundwater and water being trucked in. Yes we have bought water, but half our usage was coming from public toilets alone. 

Marco McClean: Put the town portapotties in the cemetery, across the street, to the north, and maybe in the little cemetery on the other side, to the southeast. If anyone really has to go, a few extra steps ain't no hill for a high-stepper, as Biff Rose used to say. And they're cemeteries; nobody residing there will complain about the smell.

COLD CASE MENDOCINO: Murdered 34 Years Ago, Michelle Ogletree’s Case Remains Unsolved On This, Her 59th Birthday

Piercy, California 1987. A blip on the map punctuating the border between Mendocino and Humboldt Counties. On August 29 of that year, Jerry Garcia’s solo band played at French’s Camp on the banks of the Eel River. Harley Davidson junkies roared their motorbikes down the rural 101 and stopped in Piercy for their Annual Redwood Run.

kymkemp.com/2021/07/28/cold-case-mendocino-murdered-34-years-ago-michelle-ogletrees-case-remains-unsolved-on-this-her-59th-birthday/

MY SWEET SISTER Tracey Towey, the bravest soul, needs our prayers, she lost her heart from her first transplant fifteen years ago, and after fighting to live with more hospital visits, side effects, and pain than anyone should have to endure, it brings to me the term, walk a mile in their shoes, and after doing my best to support her, I don’t believe anybody could. She is fighting a battle to live, and is receiving a transplant today at 5 o’clock.

I’m asking that you all say a prayer for her, a prayer to help her get a chance at a life that is not defined by pain, a successful transplant that truly gives her a chance to live. When i think of my Sister, I think of the poem, “Footprints in the Sand”, but in my thought, i change “it was me who carried you” to it was her carrying him, and it is now time for him to carry her, and I pray, that he does, may God love us all, but today, it’s Tracey’s turn.

Tom Towey, Boonville

SUPERVISOR WILLIAMS: Two seasons of abnormally low rainfall are reflected in dwindling reservoir supply across the state, but the mega-drought is even more alarming on the Mendocino coast and inland areas lacking water infrastructure where residents and businesses depend on well water. For those who maintain holding tanks, trucked water might be an option today at approximately $400 per load of 3500 gallons, but as coast water operators halt outside sales, the same delivery will likely cost $1000 or more. The added expense represents diesel fuel and driver time. For a family of three on conservation of 50 gallons per day each, this is enough water to last about three weeks. Some businesses have estimated a load being enough water to augment their operations for a fraction of a week. Options are slim, most requiring infrastructure that would take years to implement if funded today. One water tank manufacturer has two shifts running seven days per week, but we’re hearing 8-9 week delays. Hopefully some sort of government plan will materialize, but at present, I recommend you think about your water situation and exercise available proactive steps in anticipation of limited assistance. It’s recognized that the drought will impact businesses as they struggle to recover from the pandemic and local revenue from sales and bed tax will go dry.

ANICA WILLIAMS: Please join our team of much needed volunteers to support our elders as they age in place! There is some paperwork and a short training but your contribution is much needed and greatly appreciated! Hours are flexible and dependent on your availability; every little bit helps. Because we are working with a venerable population we do require our volunteers to be vaccinated - thank you again for the support! Join us at our volunteer reception on Sunday August 8th at 4 pm at the AV Senior Center! Contact the coordinator for more info or click below for the application and handbook - thank you! https://andersonvalley.helpfulvillage.com/events/1703-av-village-monthly-gathering:-volunteer-reception-and-“bring-a-friend”

ED NOTES

WATER. Signs of panic out there as wells pump sand and the springs that supply many hill households go dry. Along with the annual wind fan din, lack of water will drive property values down. A couple of on-line comments of the helpful water type: 

(1) I have put in a few of these smaller pumps recently. It's easy to be fooled into thinking that the well is dry when the pump is pulling 10 to 15 gallons per minute and the well runs out of water in a very short period of time. I have put in pumps that adjust down to as little as 1/2 gallon per minute in order to not overcome the production of the well, thereby keeping the well alive. Of course a storage tank is needed along with a second pressure pump to supply household needs. 

(2) One family I know whose well "went dry" months ago, obtained a Very Small pump. It was able to be dropped lower down to reach the lower ground water that their normal size pump was not, being that the well gradually becomes narrow at the depth and the water table is so much lower. They use the Very Small pump to fill their big holding tank and they have been using this system for several months and they have not run completely dry.

A READER WONDERS: “Why would the Sheriff turn to Duncan James law firm, the notoriously most expensive in town and the one who fleeced the city and the sanitation district for $$$, in his dispute with the Board and CEO? Surely, there are competent lawyers around that understand the tangled knots of government, and how to cut to the chase.”

UKIAH let itself be fleeced, which is what happens when elected people blithely spend public money on things they wouldn't consider buying themselves out of their own money. The Ukiah water/sewer fiasco should have been settled way before it stumbled on into court. The Sheriff's beef is legit, but it's another beef that should not have come to lawyers. It's clearer than clear that the Sheriff controls his own IT, which is a good thing lest the county fold it into their bungling IT department and the Sheriff can't efficiently go about his business. The last thing we need in Mendo is more confusion. But I agree the Sheriff, if he must seek outside legal assistance, should look in the bargain basement first. 

BACK TO MASKS! The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have recommended that vaccinated Americans should wear masks indoors in crowded situations. It is a reversal on the decision the CDC made on May 13th, that fully vaccinated Americans were safe to unmask indoors in most situations. The decision comes as cases across the United States are growing once again due to the highly contagious Indian 'Delta’ variant and the refusal of millions of people to get inoculated. (Mendo, a half-assed county in many respects, is only half-vaccinated.)

THE LOCAL HISTORY RE-WRITE BRIGADE remains determined to re-dub Fort Bragg because the Confederate general it's named after was morally defective. The re-writers, of course, are absolute paragons of ethical behavior and, as anyone who knows a few of them will attest, a very big barrel of laffs. But darned if Mr. Andrew Scully of Mendocino hasn't come up with a brilliant compromise: Take it away, Andrew: "I do believe I might have struck paydirt: 

FORT BRAG — elegant solution, removes disgraced treasonous slave-trading creeps name with one letter DELETE, easy-peasy, true. Or, FORT SWAG — fashion forward, just thinkin'."

YES, we try to keep our comment line free of..... free of cyber-stalkers, such as this Pat Kittle screwball, a crude anti-Semite who, like the rest of his confederacy of dunces, has only that single, wrong opinion. But I had to laugh the other day as I trashed this comment from him: "Embarrassing FACTS about Schumer will not be tolerated here!"

SCHUMER is one more national figure whose name, here anyway, is like a chloroform rag suddenly being clapped across my face. There is nothing interesting about Chuck Schumer; there can't be anything interesting about Chuck Schumer. He's a black hole of negative interest. 

IN FACT, like millions of Americans, I find the entire ruling apparatus, Democrat and Republican, so thoroughly contemptible that what's left of my mind automatically lurches into a defensive crouch whenever I see or read about them, knowing in my bones they are enemies of everything good and true.

CATCH OF THE DAY, July 28, 2021

ANTONIO LOPEZ JR., Hopland. Disturbs another by loud and unreasonable noise, probation revocation.

JESSE MCGARY, Fort Bragg. Probation revocation.

DENA MORRIS, Ukiah. Parole violation. (Frequent flyer.)

FRANKLIN PATTY, Willits. Probation violation.

ROSEANNE RIANDA, Salinas/Ukiah. DUI.

CLINTON SALLEE, Fort Bragg. Controlled substance, county parole violation, probation revocation.

THEODORE WATTS, Fort Bragg. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.

GLEN FORD, Editor of Black Agenda Report, died this morning in Newark, New Jersey, after long term battles with cancer. Ford was an advocate for socialism and civil rights. Glen was well known as a fierce critic of the Democratic Party and a supporter of Independent Political Action. He often praised the actions of third party and independent candidacies which posited a broader view for Justice than the confines of a two party system. (via Irv Sutley)

HOW MANY YEARS UNTIL WE MUST ACT ON CLIMATE?

We asked a panel of experts on when we need to start changing our economies and ways of consuming and producing. Their answer: NOW.

theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jul/28/climate-crisis-zero-fossil-fuels-environment

REMEMBER THE PHOTO of a 7 year old girl running naked down the road during a South Vietnamese attack? This Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph titled, “The Terror of War” has an update. The girl, Phan Thị Kim Phuc, suffered sever burns from the attack. 

The very same photographer Nick Ut saved Phúc’s life by rushing her to the nearest hospital and demanding treatment holding his American press credentials. Phan Thị Kim Phuc is now 51 years old and now a doctor and mother of two. She has finally overcome the events of the photo. 

She told the Huffington Post, “I have a husband and a new life and want to be normal like everyone else.” Another interesting fact is that as a teenager, Kim Phuc was accepted into medical school but was forced to quit because of the new communist regime. Ultimately, in 1982, Vietnam’s prime minister sent her to Cuba to study medicine.

SIMONE BILES has her own leotard line. She designed it herself to inspire other athletes all over the world - and sells them through GK Elite Sportswear for up to $390 a piece. Biles proudly wore several leotards from her own collection at last month's US Gymnastics Championships; one white and lilac, the other black. But they had an extra detail not available to the public - a rhinestone symbol of a goat, on the shoulder of her white leotard and the hip of the black one. Biles didn't choose a goat to personify her brand because they're her favourite animal. She chose it because in sporting terms, it stands for G.O.A.T. or Greatest Of All Time. “I want kids to learn that, yes, it's okay to acknowledge that you're good or even great at something,” Biles explained, when asked about it. Biles was due to take part in all four parts of the women's team final gymnastics competition. She was the leader of the team, and indeed the unofficial leader of Team USA at the Tokyo Olympics as the squad's most successful Olympian. However, in her first exercise, the Vault, she made a big mistake. But rather than dust herself down and battle on for Gold, as she did in 2018, she did something which absolutely staggered me. She quit. 

— Piers Morgan

DEMOCRATIC REP. JARED HUFFMAN was headed to the House floor Wednesday when he saw a vocal GOP vaccine resistor — unmasked — in the elevator. Huffman decided to take the stairs, but not before issuing a sharp warning to Rep. Byron Donalds, telling the Florida Republican he shouldn’t be crowding into an elevator with other members. The two crossed paths again outside the chamber and Huffman had more to say, calling the GOP freshman “selfish.” “Here’s a guy who comes from a state that is ground zero for the Delta variant, goes on national TV to tell the world that he’s unvaccinated,” marveled Huffman, a California Democrat, as he recalled the incident. Donalds, who confirmed the encounter, said afterwards: “People need to mind their own business.”

(From Politico)

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

I hear there's a big stir in the town of Mendocino about the porta potty; my first thought about this that the only people that don't find it is a good idea are the new people who have crawled out of the sludge called the East Coast or parts of Southern California. These people think they are residents of this county but they're transplants that have no say and should not ever talk about what's good and what's bad in a community. They were chased out of their own community either because of bad manners or they couldn't afford it anymore, but why come to our community Mendocino County and stir up the pot because you don't like what's going on? Crawl back into that cave that you came from and leave us alone. Sure, the drought is a big deal. The history of this town, distant as it may be, has always survived. Mendocino County survived all kinds of things — drought, storms even a few earthquakes but we're still here no thanks to the city people that have trashed our neighborhood, brought drugs and bad habits and even worse attitudes, because they think they're better and they're not, they are just part of that primeval slides that has slithered in looking to make money by stealing from long time local individuals by paying them not what they're worth in their time or for their property. There are people who come here to take advantage; much like the termites that eat your house the city people come to the community not to contribute, but take advantage of the locals. How dare they say things that are bad when what's being done is good and the simple fact that we have learned how to survive. Could they do the same with no electricity or sewer or no water? They would go skulking back to the caves called the cities where they belong.

As to the problem of no water in Mendocino they were offered many years ago land with water but they turned it down and would rather put in a sewer system. It all had to do with the city people moving to the country and bringing their bad habits. Most of these people are anti-logging anti-ranching and anti-growth unless it means them. They need to all leave town. We need a stronger border.

What would help many of these small towns is fixing it so only longtime locals people who were born here many generations ago and could be the only ones that could hold public office. That would change things greatly, and it would eliminate the city people from taking hold of our communities, yes Mendocino needs a city government but no one need apply that has not been here at least a couple of generations. To even the playing field we should even do that with County government and things would change greatly.

— RD Beacon

HOCHWASSER

by Chloe Daniel

The full devastation wreaked by Germany’s cataclysmic floods has emerged slowly. As the waters subside, survivors have cautiously waded back through the mud and rubble to salvage what is left of their communities. Last week an unusual zone of low pressure trapped between two areas of high pressure meant that two months’ rain fell in 48 hours. The Ahr, Erft, Swist, Trierbach and Volme, usually less than a metre deep as they wind through small towns and villages on their way to the Rhine, were transformed into fierce and destructive torrents.

Rhinelanders are familiar with floods but none this brutal. So far over 150 people are known to have died; more than a hundred are missing. Thousands have seen their homes and livelihoods destroyed. Tens of thousands are without running water, electricity, medical care or clean clothing. Some areas remain accessible only by air or water, as the army rushes to build temporary bridges. There was also partial flooding in southern Bavaria and Saxony but not on the same calamitous scale.

Angela Merkel was visiting Joe Biden in Washington. The first politician on the scene was Armin Laschet, the minister-president of North Rhine Westphalia and the CDU candidate to succeed Merkel as chancellor in September’s elections. Laschet was praised at first for not taking an entourage of journalists to capture favourable shots of him wading through the floodwaters. (Images of Gerhard Schröder visiting flood-stricken eastern Germany in 2002 are thought to have helped secure his election victory.) But other senior politicians gradually arrived and Laschet was caught on camera laughing while President Frank-Walter Steinmeier thanked local emergency workers for their efforts. Commentators speculate that the momentary loss of composure will cost Laschet votes. According to a survey in Der Spiegel, only 26 per cent of people thought he had proved himself an adequate leader during a regional crisis.

Last weekend my family and I were two hundred kilometres south of the floods, visiting my parents-in-law in a town on the banks of the River Main in Hesse. The weather was hot and sunny and the river was at its normal level, though a historic flood marker showed the many times it has stood underwater. The streets of the town centre are lined with Fachwerkhäuser (the timber-framed houses you see in illustrations to Grimms’ fairytales). My father-in-law showed us a house that had been recently renovated, explaining to the children how the gaps in the timber frame are filled with wattle and daub: strips of reeds alternating with an overlay of mud, gravel and straw, which is left to dry until solid enough to support the next layer. Later, in the garden, they put a ball of the daub given to their grandfather by a local builder in a bowl of water and watched as it became a heap of soft mud. The washed-away houses we had seen on the news suddenly made more sense.

But modern buildings, bridges and roads were also destroyed on an unimaginable scale. There was simply too much water. On Friday a photo of Blessem, a district in the commuter town of Erftstadt just outside of Cologne, made the front pages of international newspapers. It showed a giant mudslide caused by an overflowing gravel quarry that had dragged houses, cars and part of an old castle with it. Nearby, vehicles were engulfed as stretches of motorway disappeared in minutes under twelve metres of water. Some people escaped through open car windows; we don’t know yet about those who could not.

The extreme weather front was hundreds of kilometres wide. There has been universal praise for the untiring efforts of local and federal emergency services, and the solidarity of local communities, but many people are also asking questions: did the flood warnings come early enough? Were the rescue efforts efficient? The European Flood Awareness System (EFAS), set up in response to the floods along the Elbe and Donau in 2002, issued extreme flood warnings on Saturday, 10 July and more precise predictions in the days following.

On 13 and 14 July some Rhineland residents received warnings via local media and the federal government’s NINA warning app, designed to send notifications about local emergencies but downloaded by only nine million people nationwide. In other areas the fire brigade drove through with megaphones and advised people to evacuate their houses. But when the flood waters rose, too many were still at home and taken by surprise. Hannah Cloke, a hydrologist at Reading University, has called the high death toll a ‘monumental failure of the system’. The president of the German Firefighters Association said it was too early to assign blame or understand what could have been done better.

The opposition FDP and Green Party called for a shift to a more centralised disaster management system under the aegis of the federal government. Emergency relief in Germany is organised at a local level through a combination of the fire brigade, which is 95 per cent voluntary, the Technisches Hilfswerk (THW), a civil protection agency that’s also largely voluntary, the Red Cross, police and ambulance services. In the middle of the storm, when communication networks stopped working, co-ordination between the different agencies was barely possible. For a while, fire engines and ambulances from neighbouring districts were parked on the Nürburgring Formula One race track, unable to help.

News reports from the Rhineland described parents throwing their children from a first-floor window into the arms of neighbours, and clambering out themselves just in time, as their house was washed away beneath them. The 68-year-old owner of a building company was asked to use one of his diggers to clear the outlet pipe of a dam to release the water pressure and stop the dam from breaking. He didn’t think he could ask any of his employees to take on such a dangerous operation and so did the job himself. A girl returning to her family’s mud-slicked home found a rack of mini pink champagne bottles, a nineteenth-birthday present from her friends, had survived; her school exam certificate had not.

On the drive back to Berlin I saw a caravan of fire engines on the motorway, at least twenty of them, towing rubber dinghies, apparently on their way home from helping in the rescue effort. A while later I saw THW trucks streaming in the opposite direction, going to join in the arduous task of cleaning up. A €400 million relief package has been announced, funded by both federal and local government.

All the major political parties linked the extreme weather to global warming and acknowledged that such conditions are becoming more frequent. Reducing carbon emissions is now more than ever firmly on the mainstream political agenda. Merkel said that this flood, the worst in sixty years, surpassed imagination, but with North America still burning and parts of China now underwater, perhaps we need to reimagine the possible.

(London Review of Books)

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY #2

Back when prize fighting was big thing, many TV shows and movies had scenes with a badly beaten and bruised and exhausted fighter barely standing upright and straining to keep his eyes open and arms still extended in at least a pose of self-defense.

The American people (and much of the World) today ARE that badly beaten and bruised and exhausted fighter barely standing upright and straining to keep eyes open and arms still extended in at least an almost pathetic pose of self-defense.

We have been softened up and pummeled and taken beatings coming at us from various directions that have hit us repeatedly above and below the belt and even into those once-private bodily regions that were considered sacred and off-limits to outsiders. But even those limitations are now obliterated as the ongoing violation of the human body and spirit goes on without letup.

We have been completely softened up for… what? The final massive right-cross that lays us out half-lifeless on the cold dirty ring canvas for the Final Count?

How do we summon the strength to deal with our pain and the heaviness in our limbs and in our human spirits? Where do we find the strength to summon and call upon our God-given right of self-defense in the face of such an onslaught?

We beg for time to heal and get our wits back. But there is no time. The body blows keep coming and our arms and eyes get heavier and the need to find strength has never been greater.

Hollywood has already given us two possible outcomes. The badly-beaten fighter summons impossible strength to mount a furious defense and somehow prevails against all odds. Or, the massive right-cross comes from The Opponent and the tired heap of a broken fighter is laid out on the canvas for the Final Count in a pathetic heap of wasted effort and broken dreams. And the Opponent gets a wicked sick smile on his face and revels in his abusive punishing final blow and desecration of a human being.

What’s that we’re now all hearing?… “SEVEN… EIGHT… NINE!”

A CUNNING EXTRATERRESTRIAL PROFITTER

by Ralph Nader

Jeff Bezos touched down after his 10 minutes, 10 second vertical 66 mile zoom above Earth. He felt so on top of the Earth that he agreed to one-on-one interviews with a gaggle of salivating reporters. Looking over a list of their names, he spotted journalist Greg Galaxy and picked him first.

Galaxy: “Thank you, Mr. Bezos, for calling on me first. There are still zillions of people who don’t know who you are. May I describe you as the $200 billion man or $200 B-Man, for short?”

Bezos: “Sure, but you better hurry; it may be more than that by noon, ha, ha, ha!”

Galaxy: “You sure have that distinctive laugh. Anyhow, do you think this Blue Origin zip up and back represents your dreams or is this just another high-profile business venture?”

Bezos: “Let’s begin with the dreams, which I had since I was a little five-year old boy. Starting with space tourism we can move toward getting people and heavy industry into space to avert an energy crisis on Earth. We have to build a road to space so that our kids and their kids can build a future.”

Galaxy: “Surely you’re kidding me, $200 B-Man.” “Don’t you realize the cosmic complexities and the length of time involved in fulfilling your dreams?”

Bezos: “That’s what they told me when I proposed to build the world’s biggest business by getting consumers to abandon Main Street, pay me $100 bucks a year to get their stuff later than they could pick it up from the nearby stores, but slightly faster than other companies who only use the mail for deliveries. Ha, ha, ha.”

Galaxy: “There’s no comparison. Space spells infinite danger. Elon Musk wants to colonize Mars, he says, in case we ruin Earth. The environment on Mars can freeze people to death, not to mention many other lethal threats. It’s one thing to dream, another to be delusional, with all due respect.”

Bezos: “Ah, Galaxy, ye of little faith. Your skepticism gets me to the second part of your question. THIS IS AN ENDLESS BUSINESS IN THE WIDE-OPEN UNIVERSE, FUNDED BY AMERICAN TAXPAYERS AND RICH, BORED SUCKERS WHO WANT a ten-minute thrill straight up to give meaning to their empty lives. We’ve already, before printing tickets, got $100 million in ticket sales.”

Galaxy: “You shake me up, sir. May I quote you verbatim?”

Bezos: “Ha, ha, ha, with a bullhorn! The New York Times gets it. They called my Blue Origin ‘The Amazonification of space, with Big Tech taking over from what was once largely the domain of big government.’ This thrust into Space gets free publicity like mad, gets funded by NASA contracts (you should see the fine print), and gives us all the research and development discoveries and benefits. Only in America, Galaxy!”

Galaxy: “I don’t mean to be impolite, $200 B-Man, but don’t you find it a bit ironic that the great Amazon Forest is on fire, its trees being cut down in the millions every month, and having taken its name free, you’re giving up on Earth where you and your family still live?”

Bezos: “Greg, you just don’t understand modern business. It’s about massive profit margins, minimum tax payment, automated workplaces, government-funded basic research, and government guarantees against risks and losses. The rewards are infinite. The solar system can easily support a trillion humans, which means we would have a thousand Einstein’s and a thousand Mozart’s and unlimited, for all practical purposes, resources and solar power.”

Galaxy: “You just said, ‘I also want to thank every Amazon employee and every Amazon customer because you guys paid for all of this.’ But you’re known to want to replace all your workers with robots. Who are you going to thank when that happens?”

Bezos: “I’ll thank the robots. By that time, they’re able to reply, ‘thank you, master.’ [Greg thought the big guy was getting a little giddy]. After all, my capsule, New Shepard, took me, Mark, my brother, and two passengers up and down without a pilot – just algorithms, Greg babe, just algorithms. No strikes, no whining, no slacking, no crazy worker demands. (Voice rising) That is a key part of my business plan for the stars, then the galaxies, and the universe!”

Galaxy: “One last question: $200 billion man; do you believe in God?”

Bezos: “You’re looking at him…. for the time being.”

CALMATTERS: WHY ARE KEY California Affordable Housing Bills Bottled Up?

Encouraging housing to be built in place of abandoned big box stores and strip malls. Making it easier to build student housing near community colleges. Establishing an authority in Los Angeles to finance affordable housing.

These proposals all promise to ease California’s ever-worsening housing crisis by adding or preserving the already-scarce supply.

But these bills also appear to be dead in the water.

lostcoastoutpost.com/2021/jul/26/why-are-key-california-affordable-housing-bills-bo/

SELF-PRESERVATION

The animal realm
Certainly includes us too
All part of the realm

Other animals
Know to follow their instincts
Even when we don’t

When will we realize
Our enlightened self-interest
A human concept

So thoughtful and kind
Is just another instinct
And follow it too

— Jim Luther

WAKE UP, AMERICA: The world just isn’t that into you.

The people with big jobs in Washington came of age in the 1980s and 1990s, when America was the technological marvel of the world, and American inventions created the digital age. We haven’t done a lot lately except code some complicated software. China has installed about 80% of the world’s 5G mobile broadband capacity, the carrier for the Fourth Industrial Revolution as much as railroads were for the First Industrial Revolution, and is moving much faster towards smart cities, automated ports, autonomous vehicles, self-programming robots and a wealth of other 5G applications. To much of the world America looks like a declining power, precisely because it is a declining power.

asiatimes.com/2021/07/wake-up-america-the-world-just-isnt-that-into-you/

SHARP DRESSED MAN

Clean shirt, new shoes
And I don't know where I am goin' to
Silk suit, black tie
I don't need a reason why

They come runnin' just as fast as they can
'Cause every girl's crazy 'bout a sharp dressed man

Gold watch, diamond ring
I ain't missin' not a single thing
And cuff links, stick pin
When I step out I'm gonna do you in

They come runnin' just as fast as they can
'Cause every girl's crazy 'bout a sharp dressed man

Top coat, top hat
I don't worry 'cause my wallet's fat
Black shades, white gloves
Lookin' sharp and lookin' for love

They come runnin' just as fast as they can
'Cause every girl's crazy 'bout a sharp dressed man

— Billy F Gibbons, Frank Lee Beard, Joe Michael Hill

CALMATTERS: NEWSOM RECALL: GOP Challengers See Parents as ‘Consumers’

When the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered schools, the grades and mental health of millions of students declined. Several of the leading Republican challengers in the upcoming recall election of Gov. Gavin Newsom see this crisis as an opportunity.

Their solution: more school choice.

lostcoastoutpost.com/2021/jul/28/newsom-recall-gop-challengers-see-parents-as-consu/

WEDNESDAY NIGHT ON KZYX: Computers News and Q's, Plus Some Safety Apps

Marco McClean:

 I guess it's a little late for this show, but maybe for next time: I have a friend who was in plays at Mendocino Theater Company years ago. He was assaulted and severely beaten (not here; away from here, and many years ago now) and nearly killed; there was serious head injury. He never did theater again. Now recovered, he's living Back East and, among other projects, making a security program for cell phones, where you tap an icon or just say your distress word or phrase and it turns the camera on to record and contacts cops and friends and everyone on your list and tries to get you help --that's how I understand it, anyway. Here's the part of his email to me that's about that, for you to find out about if you want to: 

Adam wrote:

I want to reach people on the coast to invite them to download the Zeer Beta for free and provide feedback.

Adam David Jones, 267-608-9904, https://zeersafe.com

McClean: IN OTHER NEWS: Jim, get the bosses at KZYX to pay you for your radio work. They're being paid a great deal of money. Regardless of how much you like the work, and regardless of what a good cause it is, and regardless of how you're doing so well that you don't need the money, it's wrong for the real workers of any organization to work for free when the bosses are keeping for themselves all the money that your work brings in. Especially when they're constantly making decisions about the station's lineup and content based on making sure that money keeps coming to them, and not so much on innovating and improving and experimenting, nor on being anything more than a cookie-cutter NPR-colonized drone station indistinguishable from a thousand others, except that somehow KZYX has always mysteriously cost at least five times more to operate than it should. Fifty times more than KNYO, for instance. 

If your work is worth doing and it's possible to pay you, you are worth being paid for it. It is easy for them to pay you. It involves a five-minute phone conversation between the manager and the bookkeeper, and every regular airperson at KZYX can have their first $1000 a year check by next Monday. Don't let this drop. Bring it up again and again, and encourage the others to also, the young people, say, who can be excused for not knowing better, yet, about being cynically used. 

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

"HEROES AND PATRIOTS" returns to KMUD on Thursday, July 29, at 9 am, Pacific Time, with two special guests, Richard Silverstein and Aviva Chomsky.

RICHARD SILVERSTEIN

Richard Silverstein will discuss how Israel's cyberwarfare industry presents a global threat to human rights. Silverstein is an independent journalist and researcher writing about Israeli foreign policy and covert operations. He writes the Tikun Olam blog and contributes to Al Jazeera English, Middle East Eye, and Jacobin magazine.

Silverstein just wrote the piece "Israel's NSO Group Targets 50,000 Cell Phone Numbers in 50 Countries: Heads of State, Cabinet Ministers, Diplomats, Security Officials."

He also recently wrote the piece "Israeli Cyber-Mercenary Company, Candiru, Exposed as New Global Rights Threat."

AVIVA CHOMSKY

Aviva Chomsky will discuss whether the Biden Administration is obscuring the root causes of migration and the fate of immigration reform. Chomsky is professor of history and coordinator of Latin American studies at Salem State University in Massachusetts. Her new book is Central America's Forgotten History: Revolution, Violence, and the Roots of Migration.

Chomsky just wrote the piece "Migration Is Not the Crisis: What Washington Could Really Do in Central America."

Chomsky states: "Countries, sovereignty, citizenship, and laws are all social constructions: abstractions invented by humans. She is a thought leader in the peace and social justice movement."

KMUD

KMUD simulcasts its programming on two full power FM stations: KMUE 88.1 in Eureka and KLAI 90.3 in Laytonville. It also maintains a translator at 99.5 FM in Shelter Cove, California.

We also broadcast live to a national audience at https://kmud.org.

Speak with our guest live on-the-air at: KMUD Studio (707) 923-3911.

Wherever you live, KMUD is your community radio station. We are a true community of kind, loving, informed, progressive people. Please join us by becoming a member or underwriter.

— John Sakowicz at "Heroes and Patriots" at KMUD, https://heroespatriots.org