Mendocino County Today: Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2022

High Temps | 164 New Cases | Ronald Valadao | JDSF Tour | Exciting Basketball | Noyo Tunnel | Fishing Restrictions | THP Tour | Universal Excuse | SMART Trail | Homeless Count | Cloverdale 1900 | Haul-Road Brushing | Eco Artists | Thistle Volunteers | Yuki Committee | Library Funding | Police Reports | Fire Management | Ed Notes | Valentines Special | Innkeepers Needed | Redwood Trail | Yesterday's Catch | 50 Years | Federal Largesse | Banned Books | New Low | Trucker Strategy | Axemen | Brand Interview | Young Whalers | Anzilotti Warned | Carolyn Wilt | Abbey Rabbit | Paparazzi Gear | PG&E Loose | No | Deep Despair | Perv Parking | Real Adversaries | Whoopi Cordberg

A HIGH PRESSURE SYSTEM will dominate the Northeast Pacific into the weekend. This will promote gusty northerly winds over the coastal waters, and also general offshore flow. Record breaking high temperatures are possible today and potentially into the weekend for the region. A slight chance of precipitation is possible early next week. (NWS)

164 NEW COVID CASES (since last Friday) reported in Mendocino County yesterday afternoon.

RONALD VALADAO

Ronald Valadao passed away at home on February 5, 2022. He was born October 9, 1950 in Fort Bragg to James and Beatrice Valadao (Budi). He was raised in Caspar and attended schools in Mendocino where he graduated with the class of 1968.

Ronald worked at the mill in Fort Bragg until its closing and also beside his father as a carpenter. After retirement, his happy place was home with his wife Judy and their dogs and working in his shop creating beautiful projects from wood that depicted logging in the area.  He was an avid baseball card collector and Giants fan. 

Ronald was a soft-spoken, quiet guy with a wonderful sense of humor. He enjoyed riding his Harley and was very proud when his wife Judy got her license and purchased a Harley to ride along beside him. 

Ronald is survived by his wife Judy (Tubbs) Valadao; his children (from his first marriage) Chris Valadao, daughter-in-law Jennifer, grandsons Kenai, Alex and granddaughter Lanie; daughter Natasha and son-in-law Mike Ciancio, grandchildren Cody and Cherie Ryden. Stepson Donald Peeler, grandchildren Darrold Peeler, and Crystal McMillan. Sisters Patricia Sinkay and Carol Shoberg; brother-in-law Donald Shoberg. He leaves behind seven great-grandchildren. Ronald cherished the time he spent with his brother-in-law Mike Tubbs sister-in-law Joan Tubbs and his nephew Erick Tubbs. 

Ronald was preceded in death by his parents; brother Jerald; stepson Gregory Peeler; brother-in-law Bob Sinkay; father-in-law Lester Tubbs and mother-in-law Helen Tubbs.  

At his request, there will be no services. Donations may be made in his name to the Humane Society Inland Mendocino County in Redwood Valley or to the Mendocino Coast Humane Society in Fort Bragg. 

Ron will be remembered for his compassion for others and will be missed by all who knew him.

(courtesy mendofever.com)

THRILLER IN THE BOONVILLE GYM

Well tonight was some exciting basketball, especially for our last home game of this season.

Our varsity teams went head to head with the Laytonville Warriors. Our varsity girls team dominated and won their game 40-20. Our varsity boys had a real nail-biter, coming down to a last-minute chance at tying the game with 1.7 seconds on the clock. Unfortunately, we came up short, losing 51-54.

The last game of the season will be held at Mendocino High School this Thursday. Play offs are looking hopeful in our varsity girls' future as they are still undefeated.

— Arthur Folz

NO WATER, NO FISH

The California Fish and Game Commission has adopted emergency regulations allowing the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) to extend low-flow related fishing restrictions on portions of the Smith, Eel and Russian rivers and a number of other coastal rivers and streams through April 30 if needed to protect runs of salmon and steelhead.

“We’ve observed extended periods of drought and warming climate trends over the past decade,” said Jonathan Nelson, environmental program manager for CDFW’s Anadromous Fishes Conservation and Management Program. “The added flexibility to manage the health of our fisheries through extended angling restrictions on coastal waters when low flows create potentially lethal conditions is paramount to the long-term survival of our salmon and steelhead populations.”

The emergency regulations took effect January 31, 2022. Prior to the change, CDFW was allowed to enact low-flow specific angling closures on coastal rivers in Del Norte and Humboldt counties including the Smith, Mad, Eel, Van Duzen and Mattole rivers through January 31 of each year and in Mendocino, Sonoma and Marin counties including the Gualala, Russian, Napa rivers and several others through March 31 each year.

The emergency regulations have been added to the 2021-2022 California Freshwater Sport Fishing Regulations (PDF)(opens in new tab) online. For a complete list of the coastal rivers subject to low-flow restrictions, please review the California Code of Regulations, Title 14, section 8.00(a) and (b).

CDFW will make information available to the public by a telephone recorded message updated, as necessary, no later than 1:00 p.m. each Monday, Wednesday and Friday, as to whether any river or stream will be open or closed to fishing. It is the responsibility of the angler to call and obtain information on the status of any stream.

For information about coastal rivers in Del Norte, Humboldt and Mendocino counties, call (707) 822-3164.

For information about coastal rivers in Marin and Sonoma counties, call (707) 944-5533.

(Fish & Wildlife Presser)

SUPERVISOR GLENN MCGOURTY asked a good question at Tuesday morning's Supervisors discussion of the consent calendar: 

McGourty: “On Item 3k, why is this retroactive? It seems like something that could have been planned ahead of time. And not in the contract proposed after the fact. I know that Jenine's [Dr. Jenine Miller, PhD, Director of Behavioral Health] office often has to transport patients themselves, so if we have a contract, why are there gaps?”

But Dr. Jenine Miller’s answer was as usual kinda muddy. Notice the frequent invocation of Official Mendo’s Universal Excuse for whatever they want to do, especially if it involves Redwood Community Services.

Miller: “This was part of the covid surge. We were already sort of [sic] doing these services to help the hospitals, so that was part of the thing [sic]. Also, we were working with the contractor to determine what the services were going to cost to do the transport.”

Probably due to covid they couldn’t get competitive bids, so they asked the go-to sole-source, non-competitive Schraeders to simply max out the cost.

Miller: “We didn't know at the moment because we kind of [sic] enacted this quickly, we were just doing it to get through the covid surge. Once we were able to get it they were able to figure it out.”

The “it” apparently being whatever the Schraeders wanted to charge.

Miller: “We had to wait and see what their costs were so we could adequately propose a contract amount.”

Again, whatever they wanted to charge for a glorified taxi service.

Miller: “It took some time going back and forth to make sure we covered everything that we needed to cover in the contract.”

Ah yes, “everything” they could get in there as part of their cost.

Miller: “Yes, in the future we would love [sic] to do them earlier and of course we were already doing the service before we actually came to the board and asked for approval for the funds.”

Of course! They’d love, love, love to do it correctly with advance notice and competitive bids and all that troublesome stuff. But when it comes to what we were already doing with oh-so accommodating Schraeders “we were already doing the service.”

Miller: “We didn't know we needed a contract.”

We doubt that.

Miller: “And then we had the covid pandemic surge, and this was something we don't normally do, and we did it to assist the hospitals with the covid surge so they could get clients from the emergency room to a psychiatric facility.”

Oh yes, we had to help the hospitals during the covid surge.

McGourty: “I know that you have some of your staff doing some of the work too. Was this just a fill-in, or do you routinely transport psychiatric patients?”

Miller: “We don't routinely transport. Usually transports are done by the ambulance. Insurance companies won't reimburse the county or a contractor if we do the transport, but they will reimburse the ambulance company if they do the transport. We can't bill for the service, but the ambulance can.”

With Dr. Miller, it’s always, always, always about the reimbursements.

Miller: “Historically the ambulance companies have been doing the transports for the patients and other individuals who need to be transferred to an inpatient facility, they are usually transported by the hospital from the ambulance to the psychiatric hospital depending on whether it’s [illegible]. So at the moment this is the way the psych hospitals are accepted. During the covid surge we were asked to step up because it was causing a huge delay and impacting their ability to treat all clients because sometimes they needed to do a quick transport.”

This may have been true, but it’s no excuse for not getting competitive bids or “now knowing” they needed a contract.

Miller: “It's not something they can always turn around and do and they had to stay longer in the emergency room and it was impacting their emergency room. So we agreed to activate this quickly and we started doing it and we agreed to do it through December 31.”

December 31? A whole year? Why so long? Why not a shorter period so they could solicit other bids? Oh, that’s right, it’s the Schraeders.

Miller: “We do pick up from the hospital, so when a client is ready to discharge, we do go and pick the client up and drive them back to the county. Once again, it's not really a reimbursable service but we do that. This is not something we normally do, it's done by ambulance.”

Wait a minute. Who’s the “we” here? The County or MedStar Ambulance? Probably won’t be long before the Schraeders are doing this too.

McGourty: “Do you plan on continuing this arrangement? Or is it just to deal with the covid surge?”

Miller: “This was to deal with the covid surge. I think there have been some locations for the long term where there are options as we wait to build the psychiatric health facility in Mendocino County as we always hear concerns [sic] when we take an ambulance out of county and the drives are not close so they do require longer drives. There were conversations with the ambulance company when we first started talking about having the county do all of them with some contractor support. It does impact the finances of the ambulance company because the inter-facility service is part of their income for the ambulance company. If they brought on another ambulance to support these mental health drives it would impact them and possibly lead them to reduce their ambulance if we took these services away completely.”

Whatever that last blast means… And that was the end of the “explanation.” 

SMART TRAIL

BI-ANNUAL FRAUD SET FOR THE 24TH

The 2022 Homeless Point-in-Time (PIT) Count in Mendocino County will be on Thursday, February 24th, 2022. The count includes people who, on the night of the count, are living in emergency shelters and transitional housing (Sheltered) or staying outdoors or places not designed for habitation including vehicles, streets, parks, and abandoned buildings (Unsheltered). We need YOUR help to ensure all people who are experiencing homelessness in Mendocino County Count! To volunteer, visit https://Mendocino22.PointinTime.info/. For questions or further information, email hometeam@mendocinocounty.org or call (707)468-7071.

2022 HOMELESS POINT IN TIME (PIT) COUNT

Volunteers Needed to Complete Surveys

The Mendocino County Homeless Services Continuum of Care (MCHSCoC) will be conducting its annual unsheltered Point-In-Time (PIT) Count which will begin at sunset on February 23, 2022, and run through the following week. The Point in Time (PIT) Count is mandated by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development and is used by the State of California and multiple Federal Departments to calculate allocations of homeless services funding. The data received through the PIT Count will help our local community to identify needs and develop planning to engage and support those persons experiencing homelessness throughout Mendocino County.

The Continuum of Care is a group of agencies that consist of service providers, non-profits, faith-based organizations, concerned community members, and Mendocino County staff. These individuals and agencies come together to help address the needs of those who are experiencing homelessness or are at-risk of homelessness. This undertaking requires a lot of individuals performing a lot of different tasks in preparation for this event, as well as surveying individuals and families experiencing homelessness throughout Mendocino County. We need volunteers to count along the Coast as well as Southern and Northern Inland portions of Mendocino County. 

If you would like to volunteer, please sign up at https://Mendocino22.PointInTime.info/. If you have questions or would like further information, please contact Veronica Wilson at hometeam@mendocinocounty.org or (707) 468-7071.

ANOTHER OLD POSTCARD - Cloverdale, California, circa 1900.

Snow??

(via Marshall Newman)

ANSWER TO HOLLY TANNEN'S question yesterday on the Big River Haul Road...

California State Parks will be performing maintenance work along the Big River Haul Road in Mendocino Headlands State Park, Big River Unit. To facilitate upcoming stream restoration work in the Mendocino Headlands State Park Big River unit, California State Parks will be brushing the Main Haul Road, High Chute and M9 road networks. (CoastChatline)

BEAT BACK BULL THISTLES

Navarro Point Stewarding this Thursday

Hello potential Navarro Point Preserve volunteers. The Mendocino Land Trust and I invite you to join us as we remove the ever-dwindling population of bull thistles at Navarro Point this Thursday, February 10th, from 10am til noon.

The Preserve is located about 2 miles south of Albion on the ocean side of Hwy 1. Sunny weather is predicted and the ocean views are jaw-dropping. We hope to see you there!

Tom Wodetzk, tw@mcn.org

Navarro Point Preserve is owned and managed by Mendocino Land Trust, which relies on volunteer stewardship workdays to maintain our network of public access trails. Volunteers spend two hours a month pulling invasive plant species, picking up garbage, maintaining the trails and taking in the beautiful scenery. Stewardship workdays are scheduled for the 2nd Thursday of each month, 10am to 12 noon, and are open to all ages and experience levels.

FLASH WILLIAMS: 

A week or so ago, there was a post regarding the proposal for an additional tax to support the Mendocino County Library in the face of declining revenues. Most of the responses and many of the comments ignored the various reports issued by the Mendocino Grand Jury regarding the funding of the Library. I am attaching the most recent of those reports (only the introduction actually) to give everyone a better idea of the scope of this funding concern. I will note, as the Grand Jury does in this introduction, that the Library precedes Prop 13 and it's limits. The Library is a special district and that means its funding should come from the general property tax base - which is not precisely what has been done. The report below is much more precise and clear than I am perhaps being, but it is a worthy read. 

THE LIBRARY

May 27, 2015

SUMMARY

This is the second time in two years the Grand Jury has chosen to review Mendocino County’s handling of the County Free Library.

During the investigation, a frequent answer to many of the Grand Jury’s questions that dealt with why the County is using a particular method of handling an issue was, “I don’t know” or “Ask the Auditor.” These responses seemed a bit strange to the Grand Jury when coming from the staff responsible for constructing the budget for presentation to the Board of Supervisors.

When the Grand Jury looked at the listing of revenue and expenses in the Library budget, the only change from the 2013-14 FY to the 2014-15 FY was a line item labeled A-87. The County administration still does not recognize the Library as a Special District, despite State law and clearly stated conclusions by previous County officials conceding the issue. The State Revenue and Taxation Code1 states:

“…any special district authorized to levy a property tax by the statute under which the district was formed shall be considered a special district. Additionally, a county free library established pursuant to Article 1 (Commencing with Section 19100) of Chapter 6 of Part 11 of Division 1 of Title 1 of the Education Code and for which a property tax was levied in the 1977-78 fiscal year, shall be considered a special district.”

Prior to the enactment of Prop 13, the Mendocino County Free Library was supported by a property tax levy in the 1977-78 fiscal year. Therefore, after Prop 13, the Library in Mendocino County is still a Special District entitled to its pro rata share of the property tax.2

The 2013-14 Grand Jury pointed out that the Librarian’s salary is required to be paid out of the same fund as that of other County officials as stated in Education Code §19147. This reading of the code section is categorically rejected by County officials.

Their current interpretation of this code section relies on changing the word “same” into “same kind of” and on ignoring the companion section, Education Code §19148.

Many of the questions asked by the Grand Jury of County officials were answered by referring the Grand Jury to the County Auditor for answers. The Grand Jury then asked the County Auditor the questions and one of the responses the Grand Jury received was (in the case of why items were reflected in the budget a certain way), “We have always done it this way.”

The Grand Jury heard from various staff and officials that they do not understand many, if any, of the A-87 rules and regulations. The Grand Jury found this to be disappointing given the report from last year that raised serious issues about the propriety of A-87 costs for equipment and building use. 1 Revenue and Taxation Code Article 1 §95. This section is under the heading of Implementation of Article XIII of the California Constitution – otherwise known as Prop 13.

The other primary response to issues concerning the various A-87 costs was that the State Auditor accepted the reports issued by the County Auditor on A-87 costs. The A-87 cost plan is audited by the State to determine if the plan is correct for the State and Federal cost accounting purposes only. The County applies the plan to the Library for a different purpose. The Grand Jury believes that the staff working on the budget and the Board of Supervisors voting on the budget should question if doing the budget “the same way” is either the proper or correct manner of enacting a budget.

The Grand Jury devoted time and effort in reviewing the responses to the Report from 2013-14. It was clear that fuller explanations in the responses, as required by Penal Code §933.05, would enhance the public’s understanding of the issues.

The full report and all of the various other reports on the Library can be found on the Mendocino County Web Page under the heading Grand Jury.

EXPENSIVE DRUNK

On Sunday, February 6, 2022 at 7:12 P.M., a caller contacted 9-1-1 to report her boyfriend was being shot at by a Hispanic male in the 100 block of Blue Bonnet Lane in Ukiah.

On arrival, the Deputies contacted Miguel Lopez, 52, of Ukiah, in the street in front of a residence. 

The Deputies noticed Lopez showed objective signs of being intoxicated and he took his shirt off while being verbally hostile towards the Deputies.

The Deputies detained Lopez for public intoxication and continued their investigation into the shooting.

The Deputies observed a white Ford truck idling in front of the residence. The truck matched the description provided by the caller and Deputies were able to connect Lopez to the vehicle.

The Deputies observed a handgun on the center console, in plain view. A records check revealed Lopez was prohibited by law from possessing a firearm.

Upon further scene investigation, Deputies learned Lopez brandished a firearm; however no shooting occurred as initially reported.

Lopez was arrested for Unlawful possession of a firearm and Public Intoxication.

Lopez was booked into the Mendocino County Jail where he was to be held in lieu of $25,000 bail.

---

UP HIS SLEEVE

On Monday, February 7, 2022 at 7:15 P.M., Mendocino County Sheriff's Deputies received a call of a domestic argument occurring in the 1300 block of North State Street in Ukiah.

The Deputies responded to the location and were unable to locate either party. The Deputies searched the surrounding area and eventually located the an adult male, subsequently identified as Jeremiah Medlin, 42, of Ukiah.

Deputies learned Medlin was in a verbal argument with a female, but the argument was not associated with any violence.

As the Deputies were talking to Medlin, they discovered a large fixed blade knife concealed in his shirt sleeve.

The Deputies arrested Medlin for Felony Carry Concealed Dirk or Dagger.

A search incident to arrest revealed a suspected methamphetamine smoking pipe. A charge of Misdemeanor Possession of Drug Paraphernalia was added to Medlin's charges.

Medlin was transported to the Mendocino County Jail where he was booked on the listed charges to be held in lieu of $15,000 bail.

ED NOTES

WORLD FIGURES. That photo of Putin and Macron at opposite ends of a very long table is obviously Putin messing with the guy, and he's messing with him because he's contemptuous of him, and with good reason as subsequent events proved when Macron announced he had a deal with Putin not to invade Ukraine. 

Putin immediately said there was no such agreement, and went on to take a shot at Ukraine's president Zelensky in this nifty insult, “Like it or don't like it, it's your duty, my beauty.” 

THERE'S SOMETHING innately irritating about Canadian prime minister Trudeau, that “something” being that his entire presentation, his Gestalt, fairly screams, Candyass! The trucker's Ottawa blockade wouldn't have the popular support it has without Trudeau. 

TRUMP, like Putin, from the fascist school of public relations, also operates on the candyass principle, in that he does and says whatever he wants because he knows nobody dares intervene. Remember when he paced up and down behind Hillary like some kind of hulking hitman during their “debate”? He knew nobody in the place, least of all Bill Clinton, would call him on it. And he had Little Rocket Man totally buffaloed during their joint appearances, big bully intimidating little bully. (Don't hesitate to contact me if you want a psycho-social analysis of big events and personalities.) 

OUR more or less accurate thermometer read 75 degrees in Boonville today at 2pm. My fruit trees are budding out as February becomes early June. The fire authorities are already warning us to be fire-careful. Used to be the serious fire season commenced late May early June. We've had less than an inch of rain since January. Earth is still moist but low humidity and warm days are drying it out fast. Put the ominous weather in the context of everything else that's going haywire and the general anxiety out there is itself nearly combustible.

THE TEENSY power conferred on Ted Williams as supervisor seems to be going to his head. Ted suddenly announced this morning that public expression would come at the end of Tuesday’s meeting. Has public comment become so annoying to their majesties that the public comes last? Has public comment ever taken more than 15 or 20 minutes? Often, there is zero public comment, the public having rightly concluded that nobody's listening. 

HELP WANTED

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Shifts are generally 8:00 to 1:00 & 1:00 - 7:30. Pay is competitive and based on experience.

Glendeven Inn & Lodge and The Inn at the Cobbler's Walk comprise 30 rooms.

We are set across eight different buildings amongst mature gardens surrounded by Van Damme State Park on a total of 16 acres with ocean views, and a little working farm, too!

Our inns are top rated, and are beautiful, fun places to work!

Glendeven Inn & Cobbler's Walk Mendocino
8211 N Highway One, Little River, CA 95456
707.937.0083 | 707.937.0088
glendeven.com
cobblerswalkmendocino.com

THE GREAT REDWOOD…

STATE SENATOR McGUIRE;

Big changes are coming to the now defunct North Coast Rail Line that traverses a wide swath of spectacular scenery between San Francisco Bay and Humboldt Bay! 

Great meeting with the Coastal Conservancy today. The Conservancy will be taking over management of the Great Redwood Trail project this summer! 

Stay tuned for the master plan process and community meetings later in the fall!

CATCH OF THE DAY, February 7, 2022

CHRISTOPHER ACKERMAN, Ukiah. Probation revocation.

JUSTIN BALL, Fort Bragg. Battery with serious injury.

CHRISTOPHER COWAN, Modesto/Ukiah. Controlled substance, paraphernalia, probation revocation.

KELLY GOODWIN, Laytonville. County parole violation.

CHRISTOPHER GUERRERO, Willits. Failure to appear.

NEAL HOFFMAN, Fort Bragg. Domestic battery, false imprisonment.

JEREMIAH MEDLIN, Ukiah. Concealed dirk-dagger, paraphernalia.

NATHAN ROBERTS, Boone Terre, Missouri/Ukiah. Fugitive from justice.

CHRISTIAN WYATT, Fort Bragg. Probation revocation.

$7 MILLION FROM FEDS TO COVER WILDFIRE REPAIRS AT LAKE MENDOCINO, INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS IN SONOMA COUNTY

by Guy Kovner

Snapshot of California’s windfall from federal infrastructure bill California as a whole is to receive $45 billion just through baseline boosts to infrastructure funding. Here’s how that sum breaks down:

– More than $25 billion for highways

– $4.2 billion for bridges

– $9.4 billion for public transportation

– $3.5 billion for clean water projects

– $1.5 billion for airport infrastructure

– $384 million for expanding electric vehicle charging stations

– $100 million for broadband coverage

– $40 million for cybersecurity

– $84 million for wildfire resilience

– Billions more dollars will be available in different grant funding programs

(SOURCE: White House)

A combined package of roughly $7 million in federal infrastructure and disaster relief funding is set to enable a host of badly needed repair and upgrade projects at recreation sites and reservoirs serving Mendocino and Sonoma counties.

Visitor shelters and foot bridges torched by the 2021 Hopkins fire at Lake Mendocino will be rebuilt with a $2.5 million award from a federal disaster relief bill.

The funding accompanies nearly $4.5 million from the $1.2 trillion congressional infrastructure bill designated for critical — but far less visible — improvements at Warm Springs Dam near Healdsburg and the Coyote Valley Dam at Ukiah.

The service gates to be replaced at Warm Springs Dam are 300 feet underground in the dam’s abutment and are the critical moving parts of the flood-control facility completed in 1982.

SMART is seeking funds to build a new railroad bridge across the Russian River in Healdsburg. (Photo by John Burgess/The Press Democrat) How does the North Bay stand to benefit from $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill?

Hopkins fire suspect’s competency questioned, ordered to stand trial “That’s where the wear and tear comes from,” said Nick Malasavage, the Army Corps of Engineers official who oversees operations at both dams.

At a replacement cost of $2.95 million, the gates are the largest expenditure covered by the nearly $7 million in federal infrastructure and disaster funding.

“These are good investments in services that we deliver to the public,” Malasavage said.

Replacing the gates will allow “safe and reliable release of water from Lake Sonoma,” said Grant Davis, general manager of Sonoma Water, the county agency that delivers water to more than 600,000 residents in parts of Sonoma and Marin counties.

The releases also “ensure that clean and cold water continues to flow for endangered salmon at Warm Springs Fish Hatchery and in Dry Creek,” he said in a news release.

Infrastructure funding included $1.5 million for repainting the control tower bridge at Coyote Valley Dam, built in the 1950s.

The tower, which stands from the reservoir bottom to the top of the dam, has been coated with lead paint, an environmental hazard that will be eliminated with the new application of unleaded paint, Malasavage said.

The smallest allocation of infrastructure funds was $20,000 for continued monitoring of the Bodega Bay rock jetty that calms the bay’s waters.

“Waterways, dams and jetties are vital parts of our communities and the economy on the North Coast, but many are in need of repair,” Rep. Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, said in a news release.

The federal funds will “ensure that these structures can continue to serve Californians and all who rely on them for decades to come,” he said.

Bodega Bay’s north jetty is a popular ocean fishing spot, while the Lake Mendocino Recreation Area, a park that surrounds the nearly 2,000-acre reservoir, offers boating, swimming, camping, picnicking, fishing and hunting.

Prior to the drought, the park drew nearly 1 million visitors a year, but last year — when Lake Mendocino shrunk to its second-lowest level in history — visitation fell to 267,288 people, said Poppy Lozoff, operations project manager at the lake.

At its low point, park rangers cut a trail through the horseweed that grew 8 feet tall on barren earth as the lake receded far from shore, Lozoff said

Compounding the park’s woes, the 257-acre Hopkins fire — an arson blaze driven by gusting winds and triple-digit temperatures — scorched about 30 acres at the lake’s northwest corner last September.

About a dozen day use visitor shelters in the Pomo Day Use Area were damaged or destroyed, along with two restrooms, a maintenance shop and two foot bridges on the Shakota Trail, Lozoff said.

Reconstruction costs totaled $1.4 million for buildings, $600,000 for utilities and $500,000 for land restoration, she said.

The campgrounds are now closed due to the wildfire damage and the pandemic, but Lake Mendocino has more than tripled in volume, rising nearly 31 feet amid runoff from strong winter storms.

FALSE PROMISES

Editor:

The Democratic Party has hit a new low, it seems. President Joe Biden is promising to cut cancer deaths in half within 25 years. How is he going to do that? Is he saying that doctors could have been doing better, they just chose not to? Is he promising scientific advancements that may not come? You can’t just promise scientific advancements that don’t already exist.

And Rep. Mike Thompson is just going right along with it, posting on social media that Biden is going to cut cancer deaths in half. This might be the worst thing I’ve ever heard politicians say. How disgusting to make these promises, knowing that they won’t be in office to be held accountable if it doesn’t happen.

It is incredibly offensive to prey on the emotions of cancer patients and their families. Biden’s not offering the public option that he ran on, he’s not ending support of genocide in Yemen, and he’s not reducing drilling permits, but he wants you to think he’s going to cut cancer deaths in half.

Jason Kishineff

American Canyon

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

While I sympathize with the truckers, I have to wonder if staying home and refusing to drive might have been a better strategy than blocking a border crossing and laying siege to Ottawa. Camped out in the cold while Jussie plays hide and seek in his pajamas. If the stand-off drags out and people are inconvenienced, public opinion could turn against the truckers as the obvious source of the impasse – they see them all day every day on TV. And where is the little boy who looks after the sheep?

CONVERSATION WITH RUSSELL BRAND, Who Isn't "Right Wing"

by Matt Taibbi 

Had a terrific and wide-ranging talk recently with someone I’ve long admired, the comedian, actor, and podcaster Russell Brand, for his podcast Under the Skin.

I don’t often end an interview and think, “Wow, I actually like that guy,” but that happened in this case, which I hope is reflected in the show. The above is a just-posted excerpt.

Some of you may have seen, in recent days, a tweet that describes Brand and a ridiculous range of other Joe Rogan guests as “right-wing.” The list is full of people who clearly don’t fit that description, from Tulsi Gabbard to Steven Pinker and beyond:

This is exhibit A in a phenomenon that’s become ubiquitous in mainstream press, where “right-wing” has become a stand-in for “heterodox” or “dissenting” or even just “open-minded.” Brand’s show, which now has 4.9 million subscribers (it was 4.8 million when we spoke), has been the repeated subject of crude smear jobs describing him as an alt-right Pied Piper, with the most shameless example being a Daily Beast piece from October called, “Comedian Russell Brand Has Become a Powerful Voice for Conservatives and Anti-Vaxxers.”

That piece went off on Brand for having “vaccine-skeptic views” and running a “conspiracy theory-laden YouTube channel,” which led one to expect an avalanche of nuttery. Then you got into the piece and found the Beast’s complaints were things like questioning mandates and “pondering whether people could trust Bill Gates.” (That last line is such a perfect artifact of aristocratic cluelessness, it belongs in a museum). Worse, according to the Beast, Brand showed interviews of vaccine skeptics without mocking or denouncing them, almost like he was interested in hearing why they think what they think. Even more treacherously, he suggested people think for themselves:

A December 2020 video titled, “Covid Vaccine - Skepticism or Trust?, “ released just as the vaccine was rolling out in the U.K., saw Brand airing a series of clips of vaccine skeptics being interviewed on the street, before sharing, “I’m certainly by no means saying ‘Don’t take a vaccine,’ neither am I saying ‘Do take a vaccine’,” and railing against an increase in “government authority” and decrease in “personal liberties” that is “concerning.”

Much like the “NBC Verification Unit” that tried to get The Federalist in hot water with YouTube over supposed hate speech, and the reporters from The Guardian and The Washington Post who just pulled the same stunt with Substack over vaccine misinformation, The Beast bragged about its (ultimately failed) efforts to get Brand stuck in YouTube timeout over these offenses: On Wednesday, YouTube announced it planned to crack down on content posted to its platform that spread medical misinformation, saying it had already removed more than 130,000 videos within the past year that violated its COVID-19 vaccine policies. YouTube said of Brand’s channel, “We’re reviewing the videos raised by The Daily Beast.” Of course, Brand’s real crime is the basis of the show’s success: a welcoming, positive tone, the breezy lack of judgment, and a refusal to denounce anyone as enemies. The opening salutation — “Welcome, you 4.9 million shimmering wonders, you awakening souls, my brothers and sisters” — is a funnier, more exultant update on radioman Lowell Thomas’s legendary salutation from a century ago, “Good evening, ”

Thomas set the tone for generations of media outlets that saw their programs as places where the whole population could come together for discussion and debate, as opposed to being herded into warring camps. Brand is doing the same thing, just with more panache (saying a lot, since Thomas was also a storied stage performer).

This willingness to court all audiences is an affront to the basic formula of current commercial media, which relies upon a strategy of identifying out-groups and rallying audiences to escalating hatreds. Any show that sends an opposite message that people with differing views can and should coexist, or that people who cross conventional wisdom may be interviewed for any reason beyond being “called out,” must now themselves be considered reactionary. We’re seeing how intense the propaganda about this sort of thing can get with the Rogan situation. Make no mistake, if the Jim Acostas and Brian Stelters and Daily Beasts of the world succeed in chopping Rogan’s knees out, they will go looking for the next target, which could easily be Brand or anyone else on that list of “right wing” terrors.

I don’t want to get into this too much, as I’ve interviewed some other people on that list and want to share their takes on this as well later on. Still, this phenomenon has now reached points of absurdity, where being antiwar or supportive of free speech or even just sort of generally chill and forgiving — all part of the liberal’s basic toolkit, once — can inspire accusations of rightist treachery.

Transparently, this is a tactic by a political mainstream so desperate to control what people say and think that it refuses to concede there’s even a word for legitimate disagreement with its dictates. As stupid as mainstream press people are in general, this specific stratagem is clever. First, it provides a massive disincentive for left-liberal thinkers to step an inch outside conventional thinking. Secondly, while people are arguing over the superficial provocation — Hey, wait, I’m not a right-winger! — even more dubious notions are slipped in through the back door, like the idea that Joe Rogan isn’t allowed to interview conservatives, or that if he does, he must do so using some bizarre pre-approved mathematical ratio.

No matter what, it’s definitely true now that anyone who disagrees with the standard line on anything, from Russiagate to intervention in Syria or Ukraine to whether or not Anthony Fauci lied a time or five, can sooner or later expect to wake up wearing the wrongthink tag.

ANZILOTTI WARNED!

From: Fair Political Practices Enforcement Agency

James Marmon: This is a big deal because Sue is now using her position to block FOIA requests. The team is having a very hard time getting information they need from the Sheriff's department. Hopefully your beloved Sheriff Kendall will finally fire her, but that wouldn't look good for the County until after the lawsuit is over.

January 25, 2022 

To: Ms. Susan Anzilotti 

Warning Letter re: FPPC Case No. 17/1399; Susan Anzilotti 

Dear Ms. Anzilotti: 

The Enforcement Division of the Fair Political Practices Commission (“FPPC”) enforces the provisions of the Political Reform Act.1 In November 2017, we received a sworn complaint against you, with respect to your official position as a Staff Assistant III / Public Records Act Clerk with the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office. The complaint was received from your neighbor, Chris Gurr. We opened this case to determine if you violated the Act’s conflict of interest provisions by using, or attempting to use, your official position and email account to influence decisions by other government agencies, for the purpose of preventing Gurr from moving forward with commercial cannabis cultivation in your neighborhood. Please be advised that we are closing this case with this warning letter, as discussed below. 

. . .

Conclusion 

As a member of the public, you do have the right to send emails like the ones described above, but they must be sent from your personal account, and you cannot act—or purport to act—in your official capacity. At this time, we are closing this matter without further action. This letter serves as a written warning. The information in this matter will be retained and may be considered should an enforcement action become necessary based on newly discovered information or future conduct. Failure to comply with the provisions of the Act in the future will result in monetary penalties of up to $5,000 for each violation. 

A warning letter is an Enforcement Division case resolution without administrative prosecution or fine. However, the warning letter resolution does not provide you with the opportunity for a probable cause hearing or hearing before an Administrative Law Judge or the Commission. If you wish to avail yourself of these proceedings by requesting that your case proceed with prosecution rather than a warning, please notify us within ten (10) days from the date of this letter. Upon this notification, the Enforcement Division will rescind this warning letter and proceed with administrative prosecution of this case. If we do not receive such notification, this warning letter will be posted on the Commission’s website ten (10) days from the date of this letter. 

If you need guidance regarding your obligations in the future, please visit our website at www.fppc.ca.gov/advice.html or call the Commission’s Toll-Free Advice Line at 1-866-ASK-FPPC (1-866-275-3772). 

Thank you for your attention to this matter. Please do not hesitate to call if you have any questions. 

Very truly yours, 

Neal P. Bucknell
Senior Commission Counsel Enforcement Division nbucknell@fppc.ca.gov (916) 323-6424 

NOT THAT ONE

by John McPhee

Edward Abbey was a walking Profile subject. In 1972, I came close to acting on that fact, but in the ensuing years never got to it. 

Abbey came to Princeton as a guest speaker in a colloquium series called “On Wilderness,” organized by two young physicists, Rob Socolow and Hal Feiveson, who described themselves and a number of their colleagues as the Center for Environmental Studies. The colloquia were open to the public, and the public came — townspeople, tennis shoes — crowding a large living room also occupied by some interested students and faculty. These events were among the harbingers of environmentalism in an academic curriculum, of what evolved some years later into Princeton’s Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.

Four years earlier, Abbey had published “Desert Solitaire,” a nonfiction rumination about his time as a seasonal ranger at Arches National Monument, in Utah. The book is full of anarchism and vitriol with regard to land use, not to mention Abbey’s signature bluntness and wry, dry humor. This was a writer who wrote his own last words long before the day came when he might have said them. In a desert location still unknown, friends who buried him set a rock by the grave and scratched on it Abbey’s last words: “No comment.”

At the Princeton colloquium, in Stevenson Hall, Abbey sat in a large upholstered armchair, his long legs stretched out, his look dark and handsome, his cowboy boots showing wear. He had come a long way from Home, Pennsylvania, where he grew up. His home at the time was near Tucson. The Center for Environmental Studies had entitled his appearance “The Modern Battle of the Wilderness,” and nearly all of what he said was in thoughtful response to questions from the floor. 

Afterward, I volunteered to show him around Princeton, it being my home town. He accepted readily, and in the morning I turned up at the university’s guesthouse, and off we went. 

For several hours, we walked all over the campus and through Princeton’s gradational neighborhoods. Loose, lanky, in his Western hat and boots, emitting that quiet humor, he was one likable guy. But that memorable walk is not the most memorable item that has lingered from Abbey’s visit. Most of the questions asked by the crowd in Stevenson Hall of course had to do with “Desert Solitaire,” including one from a woman who appeared to be at least Abbey’s age, which was forty-five. She brought up an “experiment” he describes in the book—conducted outside his house trailer in Utah — when he “volunteered” a passing rabbit as the experimentee. He picked up a rock, fired it at the rabbit, and brained it on the spot. The woman in Princeton said to him, “How could you do that? How could you be so cruel? How could you…,” and so forth. She really lit into him. Sitting back in the armchair with his legs at full stretch, one boot across the other, he seemed to be aiming through a kind of gun sight formed by his toes. There was a long silence — Abbey silent, everyone in the room silent. And more silence. Finally, Abbey said, “I won’t do it again.” Muted laughter rippled here and there. And again Abbey fell silent, for an even longer time, and then he said, “Not to that rabbit.”

PAPARAZZI PHOTOGRAPHER Ron Galella would wear a football helmet around actor Marlon Brando, after Brando once sucker-punched him, broke his jaw, and knocked out five teeth in 1973.

PG&E ON THE LOOSE AGAIN

by Ellen Taylor

PG&E’s probation was imposed 5 years ago after the fiery and deadly San Bruno gas explosion, ended last week. Judge Alsup’s final remarks were grim, and as tragic as the Prince’s last words in Romeo and Juliet: “All are punished”.

What were the terms of probation he had been asked to oversee? In Judge Alsup’s statement, “Rehabilitation of a criminal offender remains the paramount goal of probation. During these five years of criminal probation, we have tried hard to rehabilitate PG&E. As the supervising district judge, however, I must acknowledge failure.”

An ordinary citizen on probation is admonished not to break any laws, deal in guns, drugs, and so on. Probation officers supervise the probationers with weekly visits. At the discovery of a single violation, the probationer is remanded to prison, with an additional burden of time on their sentence.

During its probation, PG&E might as well have been sniping concertgoers in Las Vegas or dealing fentanyl, when you count the deaths they caused. Judge Alsop counted 113. In his discussion, he goes on to list the lengthy rap PG&E has accumulated in fires started and towns and forests destroyed, while on probation.

He concludes,

“So, in these five years, PG&E has gone on a crime spree and will emerge from probation as a continuing menace to California. Almost all of the survivors of these fires are still waiting for compensation. Many hundreds who lost their homes endure in travel trailers because they have not yet been compensated. Meanwhile, PG&E management pays itself handsome salaries and bonuses, all paid from revenues collected from customers. This unfairness should tug at our conscience.”

According to Reclaim Our Power, a group that watchdogs the California Public Utilities Commission, PG&E’s hedge funds “have taken billions in profits, while survivors of the fires it caused continue to be given slow, incomplete access to funds to recover damages caused by PG&E”.

PG&E spokesperson James Noonan claimed that the company had become “fundamentally safer” during the probation term. In response to this, the Judge cited PG&E’s “stubborn resistance” to confessing responsibility. He describes the origins of the Dixie Fire, reported twice, and firsthand, by a PG&E Troubleman in a timely fashion, who then, nine weeks later, at the evidentiary hearing, refused to stand by his report, and suggested that lightning was the culprit.

“Sadly, during all five years of probation, PG&E has refused to accept responsibility for its actions until convenient to its cause or until it is forced to do so,” reflects the Judge.

In fact, PG&E has the people of California over a barrel, since our entire economy is based on electricity. People howl when the power is turned off. They need to cook, to see, to heat and cool, to engage with the world. PG&E fire victims have been given stock in lieu of cash, as reparations. Their own well-being is therefore pitted against their sense of justice. PG&E spokespeople argue that they should be on the side of the corporation (“Don’t you want the lights to come on?”)

Thus, claiming both victim and general public support, Newsom’s Office of Energy Infrastructure Safety handed PG&E its safety verification certificate, stating that it is “working toward becoming safer and improving its operations and culture”.

The certificate will allow PG&E access to the $21 billion fire insurance plan provided by the state, as well as to charge ratepayers for the cleanup of their wildfire costs. And PG&E will be free to continue to be a menace to California, as forecast by Judge Alsup,

Here, on the remotest outpost of the empire, on the Lost Coast, people are not as defenseless. Many are completely off the grid or have backup generators. Most heat with wood. And, because we are relatively wet, foggy, and cooler in the summer, we have less fear of fire.

However, like the rest of PG&E’s realm, during the last 4 months, we have been besieged by Enhanced Vegetation Management, PG&E’s response to probation requirements.

Judge Alsup had something to say about this feature of the menace posed by PG&E:

“One systemic cause, in my view, is that for decades, PG&E has been outsourcing to independent contractors its statutory responsibility for finding and removing hazard trees and for maintaining vegetation clearances. A large part of the wildfire problem, as the Monitor has pointed out. has been sloppy inspection and clearance work (almost exclusively outsourced to independent contractors).”

Indeed. With possibly hundreds of private contractors (Mattole Forest Defense counted 50 companies along the Humboldt Redwoods State Park border) from all over the country, many unskilled, the majority non-English-speaking, PG&E has decreased our fire resistance, despoiled our roadways, damaged our riparians, decreased shade, prepared the soil for fuel load recrudescence, and thrown huge quantities of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Many houses now appear to be intentionally perched on funeral pyres.

Judge Alsup surmises that PG&E outsources because it’s cheaper, (no benefits required to be paid to and for workers) and because it transfers responsibility. In concentrating on their bottom line, PG&E has allowed for fatally “sloppy inspection and clearance work”. The workers are ignorant of the ecosystems, hydrology and habitat exigencies here. Many cannot distinguish between tree species. They are not working to reduce fire risk or greenhouse gases, only to reduce PG&E liability. There is no incentive to understand the impacts of their work. They are mercenaries.

Mill Creek Forest, an old-growth preserve on the Lost Coast, was saved from logging through money and efforts provided by the community. It is now BLM-managed. When PG&E began marking Mill Creek Forest trees for destruction, the community protested, with apparent success, until a few days ago, when roaming forest defenders discovered that two enormous trees, far from the power lines, but perched over the salmon-bearing Mattole River and no fire danger, had been felled by a departing crew.

Are they paid by the tree? Or by the size, or poundage, of the tree? It was vandalism, pure and simple.

Judge Alsup’s feeling of helplessness and failure is poignant. He laments the failure of the US District Attorney’s office to extend PG&E’s probation. He reflects on the expedient of a corporate break-up, substituting smaller more manageable units, calling to mind electricity cooperatives that exist around the country, formed by farmers or municipalities, who have bought out their contracts with utilities in order to have freedom with renewables, or simply take better care of their members.

Many blame Newsom’s administration for micromanaging the supposedly independent California Public Utilities Commission in PG&E’s favor, pointing to campaign support ($280,400 in Newsom’s case) to elected officials. Money certainly rules, a fact also substantiated by corporate attempts around the country to squash the rooftop solar movement.

As with voting rights and multiple other issues regarding the definition of freedom, the face of strong-willed and single-minded corporate power is emerging ever more boldly through the warp and woof of the laws we have designed to structure our democracy. For the sake of ourselves and future generations, freedom-loving governments must pull themselves together to protect the entire scope of human rights, or, like PG&E’s negligence of potentially controllable fires, democracy will go up in smoke.

(Ellen Taylor can be reached at ellenetaylor@yahoo.com.)

A LETTER FROM ME TO YOUR DEFEATED SELF

by Michael Moore

Friends,

Here are a few samplings from my online mailbag this week, a typical week in these times:

“I am so depressed. The Republicans are going to take control of the House and Senate in November!”

“I can see now there’s nothing we can do. Trump is going to run and win in 2024!”

“The insurgents and QAnon are taking over and the Democrats are incapable of stopping them. There goes our Democracy.”

“I’m all alone. Haven’t seen any family in two years. Life generally sucks. I didn’t sign up for any of this. I’m sick of this pandemic. It’s given me too much time to ponder this central question: Why haven’t I achieved my original dreams? Nothing seems to be what I thought it would be.”

Almost every day is like this when I open up my email. With 10 million social media followers, and nearly 650,000 free (and paid) subscribers to my Substack, I get a lot of mail. But lately the letters have not just been about political despair. Over these two years of the pandemic, the content and tone has changed to the personal. People now write me about a deep personal loneliness, an understandable depression brought upon them by this plague which has uprooted our way of life.

These letters, both the personal and the political, are bone crushing. They have me worried, anxious, and unable to know how best to respond. My heart is sad, my soul shares their despair. I want to offer hope, but I don’t want to lie to them or to you. Things are bad. The Right is off its rocker. They are now willing to kill. They’ve got close to 400 million guns — more than the entire Russian and Chinese armies combined.

THE POLITICAL

So yes, I too now feel a darkness closing in. And each day it becomes harder and harder to keep hope alive, to find a way to not give up.

But I don’t give up. And I’ll never give in. And the main reason I don’t is because I actually don’t believe the bad guys are going to win. First, as I’ve said many times, there are far more of us than there are of them. By the millions! Each year there are four million more American teenagers who come of voting age. By landslide numbers they are refusing to register as or vote for Republicans. By the time of the next election, that’s 16 million new youth voters. The numbers are wildly on our side. Take huge heart in this.

And the large Democratic base of voters of color — by the end of the decade, nearly 40% of all American voters will not be white. For the past decade, the majority of first graders who have entered American schools have not been white. Already, 10% of all states no longer have a white majority, including our two largest — California and Texas. When you think of Texas, do you think of it as a white minority state? Of course you don’t. But the numbers don’t lie: Only 39% of Texas is white. A whopping 57% is Hispanic, Black, Asian or Native American. We're two decades — or less — from the first American elections where whites will be the true minority. You need no other explanation than this as to why so many white men (and sadly way too many white women) don’t want all the votes counted in 2022 or 2024. The racial demographic changes now underway are why whites want to make it harder for minorities to cast those votes, why they want to keep gerrymandering districts so they can rig their control of Congress, and why they seek to frighten and oppress those who will soon take power.

But whether the insurgents and Trumpsters like it or not, their days are numbered. And one day soon, the majority of the country won't be them. So we must not sink into a wrong-headed despair, stuck on a belief that the Right is taking over.

It isn’t.

And if you keep repeating that it is, then you are doing their work for them. Your enemy isn’t them — it’s the weak, ineffectual, always-ready-to-throw-in-the-towel Democratic Leaders. Their inability to lead, to even just get their message straight so the public understands how much life is really better under Biden — they can’t even do that! But if you, my sisters and brothers, keep bemoaning how the Republicans “are going to win,” well you may just be wishing that into existence. Stop concocting a story that you want to tell yourself, to scare yourself and others, especially when it isn’t true. When children do this we try to calm them down by leaving a light on in their room to show them there are no monsters in there. Please, do I have to come and turn on a night light for you? I’m not saying don’t be vigilant, and yes you must be ACTIVE, but you must also be brave and self-assured, knowing that the Republicans aren’t Martians with superpowers who are able to kidnap our Democracy with a magic wand. The Republicans are no more than frightened earthlings who are not that bright and worship an Orange Man who dances to “YMCA.” They are over. They know it. Let’s do our best to peacefully shut them down — and promise them the great universal heath care we’re going to get passed, which will come with many free and much-needed prescriptions for their final years. Senior rest homes that will look like resorts, brought to you by Generation Z and their older Millennial siblings who will have sent planet destroyers like Ted Cruz and Ron DeSantis packing. THAT is what is actually going to happen.

IF we activate, IF we force the lame Dems to do their job, then there is no way Trump is coming back, and we will have 52 or 54 votes in the Senate next year, thus making Manchin and Sinema — “Sinechin” — irrelevant. THIS is best way to cure depression. Run for City Council. That helps, too.

THE PERSONAL

You are not alone, my friends. These last two years have changed how we lived in ways none of us were ready for. Some of you have lost family members. Some of you have lost your sense of taste and smell and are wondering if it is gone now for the rest of your lives. Some of you were hoping this would be the year you would find the love of your life — but that year was 2020, and now you haven't even dated in over two years. The human touch seems a distant memory. Remember lips? Covid hopes you don’t.

As for work, there’s no way to even get into this. Let’s just say to the 20 million who’ve quit — good on you! You probably shoulda done that 10 years ago. Many of you have used this time to create a new idea of what your work should be and how you want to do it. You’ve committed to living the rest of your life on YOUR terms. YES! A lot of the time it won’t be easy, but you’ll be happy. You’ll take better care of yourself. And then BOOM! In walks that love of your life you were looking for back in 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017

 If you haven’t already started to read more books, start tonight. If you have a list of 20 movies you’ve always wanted to see, start tonight. If you don’t have a list, I’ll send you one (it’s actually at the bottom of this letter).

As for your kids, they’re going to be OK. They’re resilient, unlike a lot of us. They find us a bit odd. But they are also amused by us — and that’s good that we can provide them with some daily entertainment. You and I are incapable of teaching them trigonometry or Mandarin, but you can have them write you a short story. A poem. Sing you a song. Have them keep a diary of their life in this time. Your great-great grandchildren will be grateful for this history some day, just as they will be relieved that your daughter eventually started a movement from an idea you gave her by watching a documentary one night during the pandemic that told the real truth about why it wasn’t climate alone that was destroying the earth— and it was her leadership in her 20s that helped turn it all around. To think she may had never have had the time or the chance to figure this all out if it weren’t for her parents agreeing to stop fighting and to do something that might make the world a better place — now if only Mother Nature would give us one last chance.

She will. And we will all take that gift and create that better world. What if this plague became the impetus we were looking for, and though the virus would never thoroughly leave us, we learned to adapt, we let science and love lead the way, and while we were gripped in depression we threw off those chains. And we did it with others who had had enough and decided it was finally time to bake a loaf of bread, to go for a walk amongst the redwoods, call an old friend, check in on an elderly neighbor, breathe in some fresh air, listen to a deep cut on Bridge Over Troubled Water, then kiss each other’s sweet vaccinated lips while we share the biggest smile and laugh we’ve had since way back in 2019.

I’m convinced some, or all, of this will work. Rise up out of your despair! I’m doing it with you! We will find our new and joyful way, and none of this will require drinking Clorox.

— Michael Moore

AMERICA’S REAL ADVERSARIES ARE ITS EUROPEAN AND OTHER ALLIES

"The Iron Curtain of the 1940s and ‘50s was ostensibly designed to isolate Russia from Western Europe — to keep out Communist ideology and military penetration. Today’s sanctions regime is aimed inward, to prevent America’s NATO and other Western allies from opening up more trade and investment with Russia and China. The aim is not so much to isolate Russia and China as to hold these allies firmly within America’s own economic orbit. Allies are to forego the benefits of importing Russian gas and Chinese products, buying much higher-priced U.S. LNG and other exports, capped by more U.S. arms. ...The sanctions that U.S. diplomats are insisting that their allies impose against trade with Russia and China are aimed ostensibly at deterring a military buildup. But such a buildup cannot really be the main Russian and Chinese concern. They have much more to gain by offering mutual economic benefits to the West. So the underlying question is whether Europe will find its advantage in replacing U.S. exports with Russian and Chinese supplies and the associated mutual economic linkages. ...What worries American diplomats is that Germany, other NATO nations and countries along the Belt and Road route understand the gains that can be made by opening up peaceful trade and investment. If there is no Russian or Chinese plan to invade or bomb them, what is the need for NATO? What is the need for such heavy purchases of U.S. military hardware by America’s affluent allies? And if there is no inherently adversarial relationship, why do foreign countries need to sacrifice their own trade and financial interests by relying exclusively on U.S. exporters and investors" - Michael Hudson

thesaker.is/americas-real-adversaries-are-its-european-and-other-allies-the-u-s-aim-is-to-keep-them-from-trading-with-china-and-russia/