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HOT AFTERNOON TEMPERATURES are forecast to occur across many interior valleys today. Cooler weather will then spread across the region Thursday into the weekend, with beneficial rainfall expected Friday through Sunday. (NWS)
BRIAN WOOD writes with the sad news that "Diane Hering died peacefully yesterday (Tuesday) at about 2:15PM. She had been in the Ukiah hospital since Saturday, when she had been helicoptered over from Boonville in some distress. I saw her there a few times when she still had some awareness, and a few other friends were able to visit as well. She was kept as comfortable as possible, and I'm told the end was easy."
ANDERSON VALLEY HEALTH CENTER will be at the elementary school this Wednesday, May 25, from 1:20-3:30 to give Covid19 booster vaccines to kids 5-12 years old. A parent or guardian will need to be with the student to receive the vaccine. Students who are unable to get the booster this Wednesday may contact the health center to receive the vaccine at another time. Please bring the existing vaccine card.
BOOK SALE KELLEY HOUSE MUSEUM SUNDAY: Lots of history books, including some 140 years old! Sunday May 29 10a.m. to 3 p.m. Kelley House Museum east porch in Mendocino. 45007 Albion Street. 937-5791.
NOTE FROM AV UNIFIED'S SUPERINTENDENT
Dear Anderson Valley Community,
Today’s events in Texas are a startling reminder about how violent and turbulent schools can be. I beseech you once again, we CAN NOT do this alone. Your students come to us everyday to be taught and loved and empowered. As a staff, we work hard to meet every student where they are at. But in return, we ask our parents/guardians’ involvement and partnership. We need to work together as a team, so that when issues are identified at school and at home, we partner our resources and plan together to move students to making the great choices, we know they can.
I have sat in parent/guardian meetings where I have had WONDERFUL partnerships with parents on the same page for doing what is best for their students. I have sat in other meetings where participants may condone drug use, violence, and partake in excuse making. I have also heard staff make excuses too, so no judgment here. Let’s be blunt… What we are doing isn’t working in this country. What do we need to do to be better? I would offer on my end, increased engagement, student interest-based activities, listening, and collaboration, expectation and RIGOR. What do we need to make that happen? High expectations and excitement relating to student citizenship and achievement from our staff, and student and parent partnerships that help us work together to create amazing outcomes for kids.
Hard times right now. In our own community, we have examples of youth with extreme violence. This is not okay. I will continue to LOUDLY advocate with law enforcement, probation, and district attorneys to tell our story that IT IS UNACCEPTABLE. We need some help. A kid should never hear that 16 people were killed at a school.
A fair question for you to ask–What are we doing? We have ALICE (active shooter) training in place, a threat assessment plan scheduled for June, mental health services moving in for summer school and beyond, trauma informed practices professional development scheduled for August; and yes, we need to do more. In return, I ask parents and guardians, “What are you doing?” and most importantly, can we please get on the same page. Outcomes for kids are ALWAYS better when we are collaborative, thoughtful, and committed to one goal–a student’s educational success in the context of being a kind and empathetic person.
Today was a very sad day in Texas. Today was an amazing day at AV High School, as I saw senior students present senior projects that were mentored by Community Members, had rigor and innovation infused, and the expectation of excellence for their future ahead. Today at AVHS, should be everyday…
Resources:
- Talking to Students About Community Trauma: This resource includes separate resources for bullying, community violence, complex trauma, disasters, early childhood trauma, intimate partner violence, medical trauma, physical trauma, refugee trauma, sexual abuse, sex trafficing, terrorism and violence, traumatic grief (Multiple languages available).
- Talking to children about terrorism (Multiple languages available).
- Talking to children about violence (Multiple languages available).
Help me, help your kid. Let’s work together.
So grateful to you.
Louise Simson
Superintendent
EAGLES ALERT
Eagles Hall [Fort Bragg] has been for sale for a little while. Please help Gloriana secure the funds to purchase it before someone from out of the area purchases it. This is the crowdfunding link: https://gofund.me/b74c2486
ADDITIONAL CHARGES FOR STACEY ROSE
On Sunday, May 22, 2022 at 6:09 P.M., the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office Communications Center received a call for service.
The female caller reported her husband was on the family property vandalizing the property and burning items while armed with a rifle.
Mendocino County Sheriff's Office Deputies, along with CalFire personnel, Anderson Valley Fire personnel and California Fish & Wildlife Wardens responded to the location.
While responding to the location, the call was updated and the Deputies were informed that the husband, Stacey Rose, 51, of Boonville, had brandished the rifle and threatened to kill everyone on the property.
The Deputies arrived in the Boonville area and met with Fire personnel and Fish & Wildlife personnel. The law enforcement personnel established a perimeter around Rose's location.
The Deputies deployed an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV); which quickly gained an aerial view of Rose. The Deputies were able to communicate with Rose through the UAV's speaker and began giving him verbal commands.
At first, Rose did not comply with the verbal commands and continued to walk about the property. At one point Rose ran towards the residence where family members were taking refuge.
The Deputies responded to the main residence in an attempt to secure and protect the occupants inside.
Rose left the residence and walked to the rear of the property.
The Deputies continued to give verbal commands through the UAV speaker from a safe distance. Eventually Rose placed his hands in the air and complied with verbal commands to surrender himself as Deputies approached.
The Deputies interviewed an adult male age 64, one of Rose's family members, and learned a family member had contacted Rose to find out what was going on. Rose pointed an AR-15 style rifle at this family member and told him he would kill him and everyone else on the property. This caused the family member to be afraid for his safety and the safety of others.
The Deputies continued their investigation and located items of evidence; which included an imitation firearm; which replicated an AR-15 rifle. The Deputies observed the imitation firearm had been altered to disguise the red muzzle required by law to be visible.
As a result of their investigation, the Deputies developed probable cause to arrest Rose for Felony Criminal Threats, Misdemeanor Obliterates Coloration Or Marks Applicable To Imitation Firearm, Misdemeanor Resist, Obstruct Public Officer, and Misdemeanor Brandishing Imitation Firearm.
Rose was booked into the Mendocino County Jail where he was to be held in lieu of $20,000 bail.
DEEP IN THE EEL RIVER CANYON
ED NOTES
TROUBLE IN PARADISE. Four young men from Anderson Valley were arrested last week for an armed robbery of a convenience store in Cloverdale. 18-year-old Angel Marron, of Yorkville, and one of the three underage youth accompanying Marron, are being held in Sonoma County where both have been charged with numerous felonies, including attempted murder. Two of the boys have been released by Sonoma County juvenile authorities, much to the dismay of locals who describe them as “wannabe gang bangers.” All four are suspected of committing a rash of recent Valley burglaries, including the theft of guns from a Philo residence, a smash and grab at Lemons Market, Philo, that destroyed the store's front door, and a daylight ransacking of a home in Yorkville.
ON THURSDAY, May 19th, about 9:40pm, Cloverdale police were called to the Quik Stop on Cloverdale Boulevard where the clerk said two people wearing ski masks had run into the store brandishing a handgun and demanding cash. A witness sitting outside in his car had already reported suspicious activity outside the store as two young men pulled on ski masks and the witness leaned on his car horn to alert the store clerk that two bandits were on their way into the Quik Stop. The driver of the Honda then attempted to block the witness from getting closer to the scene when two of the robbers exiting the store fired at least three shots at him.
POLICE were able to match the Honda’s license plate number, thanks to the witness, to a vehicle belonging to Marron. He had been stopped about an hour earlier by Cloverdale Police for an unspecified reason, according to the press release on the evening's events.
THE MENDOCINO County Sheriff’s Office and officers from the Cloverdale Police Department were soon at Marron’s Yorkville address where they found the silver Honda Accord plus Marron and his three teen accomplices. Also found were “several items of evidence connecting the subjects to the crime.” Cloverdale Police arrested Marron and one of the minors for attempted murder, armed robbery, possession of a firearm with no serial number, and assault with a deadly weapon. The other two minors, since released, were charged with conspiracy to commit a crime.
YORKVILLE BUST
On Friday, May 20, 2022 at approximately 9:30 P.M., Deputies from the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office were informed of an armed robbery at a business that had occurred in the city of Cloverdale within the last hour.
Cloverdale is located in Sonoma County and is just south of the Mendocino County line along Highway 101.
It was believed the suspects were from Mendocino County and had fled back to Mendocino County after committing the armed robbery.
The information provided by the Cloverdale Police Department stated the suspects were armed with semiautomatic handguns with extended magazines and had fired multiple shots at an eyewitness who was trying to alert the clerk inside the business that she was about to be robbed.
Deputies received additional information on the possible whereabouts of the suspects and their vehicle. Deputies went to a residence in the 20000 block of Highway 128 in Yorkville (Mendocino County) and were able to confirm the suspect vehicle was indeed at the residence.
Cloverdale Police Department personnel obtained a search warrant for the residence which was later served by the Mendocino County Multi-Agency SWAT Team.
During the service of the search warrant the SWAT Team established a perimeter around the residence and announced their presence over a PA system. The SWAT team used verbal commands to get ten individuals (Two adults and eight juveniles) to peacefully exit the residence where they were detained.
During the a subsequent search of the property, evidence was located in connection with the reported armed robbery.
A stolen firearm from a recent reported burglary in the Anderson Valley area was also located. This burglary case was being actively investigated by the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office.
Due to the above items being located and seized for evidence, Angel Marron and three juvenile males (ages 16, 16, and 17) were arrested by Cloverdale Police Department personnel and were returned to Sonoma County for booking purposes.
MARRON'S bail has been set at $400,000.
ANOTHER MASS SHOOTING, this one also by a crazed, presumably, 18-year-old, but the second mass murder of small children, the first one on the East Coast, this one in an elementary school in a small border town in Texas. I feel more disgust than outrage that random murder seems to be on the increase, that this lunatic society seems to have begun to eat itself, that the sickness seems way beyond conventional reform like the obvious stipulations that might keep a few guns out of the hands of people so far gone they can gun down children, strangers, their own families. When President Jimmy Carter said he thought the national psychological breakdown was a matter of “malaise,” but that was back when the patient, us, seemed redeemable. Malaise doesn't begin to describe what's happening now, which is a full-on national psychotic break where we can't agree on anything that might at least make life a little more civil, a little less violent, less brutal, for everyone.
HOLD YOUR FIRE while the Boonville weekly announces full support for Archbishop of San Francisco Salvatore Cordileone's barring Nancy Pelosi from Holy Communion because she voted to codify Roe v Wade. Applying the impeccible logic of church doctrine, Cordileone said that a “Catholic legislator who supports abortion commits a manifestly grave sin” and that he wanted Pelosi to “understand the evil she is perpetrating.”
THAT'S RIGHT, your reverence. We'll pass on the accusation of evil, but I ask you, would Rotary International recruit anti-capitalists? Toastmaster's deaf mutes? Baseball played by hop scotch rules? Pelosi belongs to a church where the rules are clearer than clear, then she feigns surprise and complains when God's vicar says, “No exceptions.”
BETTER & BETTER
AVA,
We’ve been following the recent articles by Terry Sites, and they just keep getting better and better. The one about the Wildflower Show was really excellent. And that’s not just because I belong to the Unity Club. Terry’s writing is the kind of thing that helps build community, even though we don’t have much of it left.
Onward!
Beverly Dutra
Philo
RUNAWAY RV SMASHES INTO CLOVERDALE DOWNTOWN After Brakes Fail — Driver Arrested for Alleged DUI
Last Wednesday, May 18, 2022, an RV’s brakes failed as it approached a stop sign in Cloverdale’s downtown. The driver made a sharp turn to avoid colliding with another vehicle at the stoplight, bounced off a retaining wall, and finally came to a halt after smashing into the downtown streetscape. Cloverdale Police Chief Jason Ferguson told us the driver would be booked for driving under the influence of alcohol after testing over two times the legal limit.…
COMMENTS ON THE GLAMPERS PROJECT PROPOSED FOR RAY'S ROAD, PHILO
[Original] "FOR ANYBODY INTERESTED in the permit request for up to 300 or 500 “glampers" with cars and 13 hours of amplified music on Ray’s Rd. Philo 10 times a year, we are going to hold a meeting at the CSD Board room of the Anderson Valley Volunteer Fire Dept. in Boonville Thursday evening the 26th at 5:30. The permit applicant has been invited so all aspects of the proposed project hopefully will be covered. If you would like more information you may call me at 895-2011 or email nsn@pacific.net." (David Severn)
1. Wow, that’s a lot of campers. Which property is that on?
2. Across the way at what folks refer to as the Unicorn property.
3. Can someone go and report back? I’ll be in Chico that day.
Mary Zeeble: Hello all, I am the applicant working on this permit application with the County of Mendocino and I was not invited before the meeting time was set. I am currently out of town for a funeral. David emailed me yesterday about this and I let him know I could not attend. The article he wrote for the AVA last week was full of inaccuracies as is this post. The newspaper did not contact me to fact check anything before they printed it. There is not and has never been a request for 13 hours of music at any event, nor are there going to be 500 cars anywhere. There would only be 80 glamping tents at the most, so I’m not sure where you got that number from?? There will be a public hearing in July with the County of Mendocino Building and Planning office where the community can weigh in before anything is approved.
2. Hi Mary, happy you chimed in and I look forward to hearing more about the project. I made sure to read through the application before posting. Is there a newer or revised copy?
4. Sounds like a ton of money for the Valley.
5. An event venue in a residential neighborhood is extremely poor planning. There are two big ones in AV, the fairgrounds and the Masonite camp, both with good distance from residents. Just camping may be ok, but when someone wanted a shooting range in our neighborhood, our complaints shut down that bad idea.
Mary Zeeble: Actually the event site is 26 acres, acres away from Rays Road, closer to and behind The Brambles, who have hosted multiple events with zero complaints. And ha, no shooting range! That’s crazy.
6. It brings a ton of traffic down a tiny road that kids walk to and from the school bus. The cars already go way too fast down this road, cars that are headed to other big event sites. Maybe we need to concentrate on how to keep the cars from speeding and disregarding the pedestrians. It is scary. My son gets off the bus there sometimes.
Mary Zeeble: I totally agree on the speed limits issue. Remember a few years ago when CalTrans raised our speed limit in Philo up from 30 to 35, actually at a time a group of us were petitioning them to lower it to 25. Finally, as of January this year, the law allowing that has been rescinded and we can now appeal to them to lower the Philo speeds, in between the towns, and Boonville’s also. I see logging trucks and all kinds of vehicles bombing through the Valley at unsafe speeds.
6. Yes, when I was a kid my neighbor crossed the road with her toddler to get her mail from the post office in Philo and she got hit, her son passed away. It is still scary when the bus stops at Lemons, I still see cars pass the bus after all the red lights are flashing. Everyone is in such a hurry. Since your sight is pretty close to the highway maybe cars won't have enough time to get up to a higher speed. My only concern is the kids.
Mary Zeeble: I actually told that story to CalTrans and they couldn’t have cared less. It blew my mind. We need crosswalks, traffic calming measures and reductions on speed limits. If anyone wants to rally up and help me get this done I would love the help. I also asked Ted Williams for help. My driveway on Rays Rd is only around 150’ down the road so yeah not a lot of time to get any speed going but for sure I’d have systems in place to make sure it is safe and sane for everyone. One of the benefits of glamping tents is no one has to drive anywhere after an event.
7. It seems odd to me that our community would gather to discuss a permit during a time when the permit applicant (Mary) can't actually attend the conversation. Mary is a member of our community, not some big shady business. Hopefully we can treat her in a more neighborly way.
RURAL COUNTIES OPPOSE PG&E’S ATTEMPT TO EXEMPT ITSELF FROM LIABILITY FOR DAMAGE THEY CAUSE
To: The Honorable Brian Dahle Member, California State Senate State Capitol, Room 2054 Sacramento, CA 95814
September 7, 2021
RE: Senate Bill 396 – OPPOSE
As Amended September 3, 2021
Dear Senator Dahle:
On behalf of the Rural County Representatives of California (RCRC), I am writing to reluctantly convey our opposition to your Senate Bill 396 concerning vegetation management performed by electrical utilities. RCRC is an association of thirty-seven rural California counties, and the RCRC Board of Directors is comprised of elected supervisors from each member county.
RCRC member counties have suffered the lion’s share of destruction caused by catastrophic wildfires and experienced most of the state’s public safety power shutoff (PSPS) events. We understand the pressing need for utilities to quickly increase the pace and scale of their vegetation management operations to avoid wildfires and PSPS events. With these experiences in mind, we share your overarching objectives: 1) Facilitate utility removal of cut/felled trees at no expense to the property owner; and, 2) Clarify that utilities can access and remove material that may fall onto a power line and which is located outside of the boundaries of their easement. Unfortunately, we are concerned that the September 3rd amendments will substantially increase wildfire risk for many property owners in high wildfire risk areas.
Increased Wildfire Risk from Slash Left On Site.
The September 3rd amendments allow utilities to leave slash and woody debris up to a depth of 18” above the ground on the landowner’s property, except within 150’ of an approved and legally permitted structure that complies with the California Building Standards Code. RCRC has steadfastly supported SB 396’s requirement for utilities to remove cut/felled trees upon timely request by the landowner; however, we fear that this new provision will substantially increase the fuel load and wildfire risk for property owners in high-risk areas.
We understand the need for utilities to enter onto private land to create and maintain required clearances around power lines and to remove problem trees that may come into contact with those lines and ignite a fire. The Pacific Gas and Electric Company’s (PG&E) recent post-fire vegetation management work related to the 2020 wildfires resulted in over 100,000 felled trees being left on landowners’ properties. Unlike post-fire work done in previous years, the utility did not offer to remove felled trees and instead shifted those costs for transportation and disposal to the landowner. While we appreciate PG&E’s concern for the landowner’s rights to the felled timber, we note that it is often extremely expensive, if not impossible, for the landowner to remove that material. Where merchantable timber exists, the value of those materials may help offset some of those costs. Unfortunately, many of those trees were cut into unmerchantable lengths last year, thereby preventing landowners from offsetting some of the tree removal costs. For those reasons, we greatly appreciate SB 396’s requirement for utilities to remove wood upon request by the landowner.
Unfortunately, the September 3rd amendments move the bill in the wrong direction. Utilities will be cutting/felling large quantities of trees. We acknowledge the need for those removal actions; however, simply leaving the slash and debris on site to dry out and become fuel for the next fire is unacceptable. Far from asking utilities to “vacuum the forest floor,” RCRC is concerned that SB 396 allows utilities to leave in place drying combustible woody material, branches, and leaves up to knee depth in areas already at very high fire risk. While we recognize that the 18-inch slash allowance is in place for timber harvest plans, 14 CCR Section 1038 (c)(6)(C) requires timber harvesters to chip, lop, pile and burn, remove or otherwise treat slash to achieve a maximum of 18-inch post- harvest depth with 45 days of treating the area.
We remain concerned that given PG&E’s recent practice of “wack and stack” and without a similar specification in SB 396, piles of slash will be left untreated on landowner property and create an intended wildfire hazard.
Furthermore, while we appreciate that SB 396 prohibits slash and woody debris from being left within 150’ of a structure, this only applies to a “legally permitted structure that complies with the California Building Standards Code [BSC].” This qualifier is very problematic, as it is unclear how crews will be able to determine whether a given structure is permitted, much less whether that structure complies with the BSC. It should be noted that the BSC that applies to a project is generally that which was in effect at the date of construction; however, the bill lacks specificity about which version of the BSC’s would apply. Regardless, defensible space requirements do not ONLY apply to “legally permitted structures that comply with the building standards code” – they apply to all buildings and structures in mountainous areas, forest-covered lands, etc. (PRC 4291). As a result, SB 396 could lead to utilities leaving significant fuel loads within the defensible space perimeter of homes and structures. At the very minimum, this should be modified to create a buffer around “any structure that is required to maintain defensible space under any applicable state laws or local ordinances.”
Standards for Determining Problem Trees.
RCRC previously had comfort that trees would be selected for removal either by an arborist or through use of an arborist developed identification tool. Such a requirement would have established some standards and consistency for determination of which trees should be removed. Unfortunately, removal of that section by the September 3rd amendments means the decision on what trees to remove could be arbitrary and determined by someone without the requisite knowledge. While we understand that CAL FIRE has some oversight of utility tree removal decisions, a requirement to have an arborist or an appropriate tool determine those decisions would both ensure timelier removal of the proper trees as well as alleviate burden from the oversubscribed local CAL FIRE units.
Fails to ensure that notices to landowners satisfy due process requirements.
Under existing law, electrical utilities must first provide a landowner with a notice and opportunity to be heard before it may enter on the land to maintain vegetation clearances around utility lines. SB 396 formerly required utilities to provide letters to landowners, but the July 12th amendments allow utilities to provide a “letter, door hanger, or other means of notification” to satisfy the notice requirements. RCRC is concerned about the types of communications that may be utilized and whether they will satisfy traditional due process requirements. At a minimum, the notice provided must be reasonably calculated to apprise the landowner of the action and of the right to exercise an opportunity to be heard.
A note about the Legislature’s intent in repealing provisions of existing law concerning utility liability for damage to trees outside of an easement.
SB 396 repeals a provision of existing law stating that the utility line clearance obligations do not exempt utilities from liability for damages to vegetation not covered by an easement. RCRC understands that vegetation outside of the easement may pose risks to utility power lines and could cause a wildfire. It is essential that the utilities have the flexibility to address those hazard trees and abate any nuisances they cause. Utilities should remain liable for any damages resulting from their activities to the landowner’s property and for any trees that are determined to not pose a risk to utility assets. At the same time, utilities should not be liable for trespass or for conversion (or treble damages) for the removal of hazard trees located outside the easement, provided that the utility first provides the required notice. We have been told the Legislature’s intent is to reduce confusion and barriers to effective utility vegetation management and not to substantively change the law relating to liability for collateral damage or negligence resulting from vegetation management operations undertaken in compliance with existing law. It is important to highlight this intent to guard against others imparting new meaning to the detriment of injured landowners.
For these reasons, it is with deep regret that we must oppose SB 396. If you should have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me at jkennedy@rcrcnet.org or (916) 447-4806.
Sincerely,
John Kennedy Legislative Advocate
Rural County Representatives of California
(1215 K Street, Suite 1650, Sacramento, CA 95814 | www.rcrcnet.org | 916.447.4806 | Fax: 916.448.3154
(Alpine Amador Butte Calaveras Colusa Del Norte El Dorado Glenn Humboldt Imperial Inyo Lake Lassen Madera Mariposa Mendocino Merced Modoc Mono Monterey Napa Nevada Placer Plumas San Benito San Luis Obispo Shasta Sierra Siskiyou Sonoma Sutter Tehama Trinity Tulare Tuolumne Yolo Yuba.)
And:
ZEKE FLATTEN: Trent James Is For The People Of Mendocino!
BRUCE BRODERICK:
John Redding, The ‘Munch’urian Candidate?
What do these images have in common? The first is of a vehicle displaying support for John Redding that seems to be perpetually parked in the same spot. It could be considered a political advertisement I suppose but the signs on the front and rear of the vehicle can only be clearly seen from no more than about 20 feet away. Hardly an advertisement for cars passing on the street. The second image is of the unmaintained Mendocino Railway owned bank building directly to the north of where Mr. Redding's(?) vehicle is perpetually parked.
Does Mr. Redding have a campaign office in the Derelict bank building that is being provided by Mendocino Railway?
Is it possible that Mr. Redding and Mendocino Railway are collaborating to extend the railroads control by taking the fifth district supervisor seat with Mr. Redding as the front man to further the railroads agenda by gaining a supervisor vote.
Can we look forward to similar actions regarding the fourth district in two years? We know that Mendocino Railway is lining up their own candidates in an attempt to control Fort Bragg City council so why stop there?
After all, Redding and the railroad do seem to have a similar philosophy with regards to spreading unsubstantiated talking points as facts.
How long will it be before we can expect Mendocino Railways high priced public relations firm to start publicizing Mr. Redding's talking points about his opponent Ted Williams?
Remember when elections used to be about policy and not about trashing the opponent?
It's easy to paint pictures based on surface impressions. Look for policy and track records in these very important upcoming local elections. Our future depends on it.
TO BREAK EXPERIENCE IN HALF and call one side physical and the other spiritual is narrowing and confusing. It would be better if people even stopped thinking about food. Similarly, it would be well if people stopped troubling themselves about discovering the “true meaning of life.” We can never know the answers to great spiritual questions, but it’s all right not to understand. We have been born and we are living on the earth to face directly the reality of living.
—Masanobu Fukuoka, 1975; from ‘The One Straw Revolution’
ANDERSON VALLEY VILLAGE
by Carole Brodsky
The Anderson Valley Village was founded following a book group reading of “Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End,” by Atul Gawande. A frank assessment of aging wisely, the book provided inspiration for one of Mendocino County’s newest and most unique nonprofit organizations. “We were so inspired by the book we encouraged others to read it,” says Lauren Keating, Village board member. With more than 250 Villages nationwide, the group of Anderson Valley residents began meeting monthly several years ago to discuss and problem-solve the complexities of aging, particularly in a rural setting. The Village’s seed concept was to create an organization that helps people age in place.
“We formed a group to discuss the book, which we called, ‘Preparation for the Rest of Our Lives,’” says Keating. “We brainstormed topics, modeling ourselves after the Village concept, which emphasizes the benefits of staying connected and learning together, as a group.”
“We received a planning grant from the Community Foundation and used the funds to get organized. We wrote by-laws, became a 501(c)(3), wrote a member handbook and even during Covid, continued meeting via Zoom or socially distanced, outdoors,” said Phillip Thomas. The start-up grant from the Community Foundation helped to facilitate the transition into a nonprofit organization. In 2019, the all-volunteer group hired Anica Williams to be the Village’s paid coordinator, and accepted membership dues. Today, there are 63 paying members, whose dues provide the income to pay William’s salary and ancillary costs.
“Our group was clear that we didn’t want to fundraise to exist. We’re thrilled we have enough membership, alongside the Community Foundation’s support, to continue expanding,” says Keating.
“Anica curates two lists - the first consisting of volunteer caregivers, drivers and errand runners, and the second a list of people for hire - folks who do yard work, house cleaning and other tasks. Everyone on the lists is vetted by our Board,” says Keating. “When you age, and something on your property breaks down, the tendency is to let your world fall apart. Anica has a list of folks like plumbers who can help with those issues,” says Board President Gwyn Leeman.
“Volunteers offer rides to medical appointments, help with household tasks, even decluttering. We offer monthly meetings on topics from Medicare and end-of-life options to green burials. We have book clubs, walking groups, tech support from Anderson Valley High School students, discussion groups, outings and lectures on mental and physical health,” says Thomas.
Though the group does not offer medical referrals or the provision of direct services, they partner with the Anderson Valley Senior Center, the Anderson Valley Elder Home and the local Community Garden. “We sponsored a fledging Anderson Valley Council of Elders to support the 60-plus population,” Thomas continues.
“Our volunteer bank of helpers is growing, as is our referral list of ‘for hire’ paid providers,” Leeman notes. “We’re always soliciting volunteers and professional people. Currently, there are few requests that go unfulfilled.”
Keating emphasizes the Village is not focused on death.
“We’re investigating what we’re going to go through with aging, and how to live the most vibrant life we can - making these years as full as possible. Some folks say, ‘I don’t need this yet,’ because they’re currently independent. We encourage connecting with our community now by joining the group.”
The passing of Keating’s parents inspired her to research community models for aging.
“After Mom died, my dad was lonely. His world got smaller. I want to continue meeting people and expanding social connections, so I have a strong support system when it’s needed.”
Village members investigate topics that intrigue them.
“One member was a caregiver for her spouse. She’s organizing a caregiving symposium. We had a ‘Getting Your Affairs in Order’ four-session course which covered wills and Advance Directives. We created a private grief group for several Village members who met members with a therapeutic background.”
With the “Silver Tsunami” of aging Boomers crashing into communities nationwide, Leeman is grateful her community is taking a proactive approach.
“We all want to stay in our homes, our communities and combat isolation. There are many Village models. Many are virtual, but some have housing. Each community designs what works for them.”
With a dearth of gerontologists and senior services in rural areas, the Village concept helps identify available resources and fosters an engaged senior community.
“Almost everything we do is social and informational. Non-members are welcome to our meetings. Members may receive our volunteer pool list,” says Leeman.
“Our next goal is remaining fiscally sound while expanding services to elders who can’t afford membership fees,” notes Thomas. “The seed money from the Community Foundation helped launch us and ensure our success, resulting in a greater sense of community and positive changes for Anderson Valley elders,” Thomas concludes.
* * *
About Anderson Valley Village
PO Box 576, Boonville, CA 95415
(707) 684-9829
andersonvalleyvillage@gmail.com
www.andersonvalleyvillage.org
Village Coordinator: Anica Williams
Staff: 1 paid staff member
Volunteering: AVV is seeking more volunteers. One of the strengths of the Village movement is how it appreciates and organizes its volunteer network. The act of volunteering is simultaneously beneficial to the recipient, the volunteer, and the fabric of our community.
Membership: The primary purpose of AVV is to enhance the quality of life for adults 50 years and older, with a variety of programs to make life easier and more interesting including volunteer help, services for hire, special events, and contributing to the fabric of our community. Visit the website to become a member.
To donate (tax-deductible): Donate online, or send a check, payable to AVV, PO Box 576, Boonville, CA 95415.
(Anderson Valley Village (AVV) is a nonprofit organization empowering older adults to remain active, interconnected, and independent in the place they call home. We ease some of the challenges of aging by organizing services such as running errands and minor home repairs. We enhance the quality of life in our community by facilitating friendships, working with other local groups, and encouraging our Valley’s long tradition of multi-generational activities.)
CATCH OF THE DAY, May 24, 2022
CHRISTOPHER ASHURST, Ukiah. Battery with serious bodily injury.
JOSELITO CRUZ-RAMIREZ, Gilroy/Ukiah. DUI, suspended license for DUI.
CATARINO CRUZ-VICENTE, Laytonville. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.
JOSHUA DICKERSON, Talmage. Domestic battery, child endangerment, resisting.
VALEN LOPEZ, Ukiah. DUI.
ALEXANDER RAMIREZ, Fort Bragg. Assault with deadly weapon with great bodily injury. witness intimidation, probation revocation.
JON RICKEL, Ukiah. Domestic battery, elder abuse resulting in great bodily injury or death.
MONTE ROSE, Boonville. DUI-alcohol&drugs, misdemeanor hit&run, under influence.
EDGAR VICENTE-OCHOA, Laytonville. DUI, suspended license.
CASSANDRA WESTCOTT, Willits. Willful cruelty to child.
THREE MONTHS INTO THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR: WHAT HAPPENED TUESDAY (May 24)
It's been three months since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24. As Tuesday draws to a close in Kyiv and in Moscow, here are the key developments:
Signs are growing that the war could become a protracted stalemate. Militarily, on almost every front, Russia has underachieved, while Ukraine has overachieved over the three months of war. Yet both sides are now digging in, and neither appears capable of delivering a decisive blow.
The prospect of a major Russian advance appears less likely, but the Russians now control an unbroken swath of Ukrainian territory from the Donbas region in the east, to Crimea in the south. Russian troops have captured two important southern cities of Mariupol and Kherson, cutting Ukraine off the Sea of Azov. Heavy fighting continues in the Donbas as Russian troops push to capture Severodonetsk and the area around it.
Almost 6.6 million people fled Ukraine during the war, but also more than 2 million Ukrainians have crossed into Ukraine.Queues have stretched for miles to get into the country from Poland, the biggest hub of Ukrainian refugees. Some Ukrainians are going back and forth to visit family who fled, some return to cities that withstood Russia's attacks, including the capital of Kyiv.
Fears of a global food crisis are growing as the shock from the war added to climate change and rising inflation concerns.Ukraine and Russia combined produce 25% of the world's wheat in addition to other grains and cooking oil. Disrupted exports are exacerbating food insecurity in Afghanistan, Somalia, Kenya and many other countries. The United Nations has warned of "the specter of a global food shortage in the coming months" without urgent international action.
— NPR
EROS BOUND
by Marilyn Davin
When I walked into the day room of the Bay Area board and care facility where my friend Sally lives, a pall of gloom had descended on the place as bored-looking residents sat in front of a wall-sized television or picked at snacks at the long kitchen table. Even Sally, whose sunny disposition is usually a reliable ray of light in the repurposed suburban ranch house, was oddly subdued. Her “gentleman friend,” Doug, a fellow resident with whom she was contentedly giggling a short week ago, their heads nearly touching as the amorous pair huddled together, was now the picture of bereft misery. Gone were his adoring looks at Sally and his affectionate reach for her hand of just a few days ago; his overwhelming joy at her simple nearness had warmed my heart. Uh oh, I thought, as I sat down beside Sally, something’s gone down. Something bad.
The facility manager had laid down the law. No hanky-panky allowed here, no sireee. The geriatric lovebirds could no longer carry on like a couple of teenagers. Doug’s wife had gotten wind of the situation (the disgrace!) and had come unglued; Sally told me that she threatened during a recent closed-door pow-wow with the manager to move Doug to a different facility (along with his $8,000 monthly resident’s fee), far from Sally’s tempting clutches. (This is not an endorsement of marital infidelity, an entirely separate topic from individual rights.) I wasn’t privy to the precise terms of the uncoupling edict, but suspect it was along the lines of the old high school boundaries: first base, second base, or third base – though in this case it probably covered prohibitions like holding hands, cuddling, or (the scandal!), sneaking off to one or the other’s room and (scandal!) closing the door – along with their walkers, of course. And the other residents are no longer allowed to refer to them as The Lovebirds. During a recent visit Sally said, half indignantly and half wistfully, “I’m 81 years old...”
There is a surprising puritanical prissiness around the issue of old folks getting it on. Surprising because at this stage in life many of the physical barriers that fueled our hormonal younger selves have naturally fallen away: pregnancy, for example. Yet ingrained societal mores and a prissy uneasiness persist, and not only in our own ironically repressed sexual culture where it’s pretty ho-hum to watch people maiming and killing each other on TV but never see anybody masturbating, the ultimate victimless “crime.” (Berkeley’s Good Vibrations recently announced that May is National Masturbation Month.) One of my fave legal journalists, Jeffrey Toobin, who was fired from The New Yorker for the spectacularly ill-conceived offense of masturbating (below camera level) on a Zoom conference with his co-workers. (He said he thought the camera was turned off.) Icky and tasteless, sure, to say nothing of just plain bad manners and poor taste, but hardly worthy of all that salacious news coverage and his job loss when considered against the backdrop of our violent, rapidly devolving society.
When I lived in Turkey my Turkish mother-in-law told me that when she married at 19 her own mother took some type of drug (I could never find out what it was) that plunged her instantly into menopause and ushered in her heart problems and early death. Such was the gravity of the disgrace of becoming pregnant yourself when your newly married daughter was likely to become pregnant. Tsk tsk, grandmothers aren’t supposed to still be doing that…Or perhaps in our own culture it’s a simple matter of aesthetics–all that loose, sagging skin, wrinkles, and receding gray hair. Cunning and cynical marketers with dollar signs in their eyes warn us of the ugliness of our naturally aging bodies at every television commercial break and in “lifestyle” segments – and of course how we can reverse the dreaded aging process with the clickable purchase of their magic anti-aging products (“All credit cards accepted, just $19.99 with free shipping. Senior Discount with auto-refill”).
So if you’re in a care facility, can you or can’t you (blush)? Technically and legally, you bring your rights with you when you move into a care facility like Sally’s. But as we know, having something on the books is very different from actually holding that something in your hand. – or, in this case, in your bed.
A few years back a Wisconsin ombudsman attempted to clarify this sticky issue (no pun intended) in a document that specified a resident’s rights, including (for competent residents capable of mutual consent) the right to “private and unrestricted visits with any person of choice,” and the right to “share a room with any person of choice.” The document defines an “intimate relationship” as “…two residents of the same or different genders that feel affection, closeness or tenderness for one another.” Wisconsin care facilities are also required to publicly post these and other patient rights in those facilities.
The Mendo County website did not have a similar document that specific, or a link to a state version along the lines of the Wisconsin ombudsman’s thoughtful guidance, at least that I could find. There is a link to SeniorGuidance.org., a national organization based in Midtown Manhattan, adjacent to the Garment District, which includes a laundry list of assisted living facilities, by county. I picked one from the 15 facilities on the Mendo County list and called the listed phone number. An upbeat recorded female voice chirped, “A Place for Mom.” Thinking I had misdialed the number, I called it again. Same result. For years A Place for Mom TV commercials have blanketed TV’s daytime commercial wasteland, at one point featuring TV host Joan Lunden as its public face.
As I listen to friends and acquaintances describe the long, wasting years of physically declining parents, I tell myself how lucky I am that my own parents died at home after typical old-age illnesses that lasted a scant eight weeks each. If they could have chosen their deaths they would have chosen their own, having essentially died in their sleep. Most are not so lucky, and most of the residents of our senior community who can no longer live on their own go to some version of Sally’s board and care facility. The days of a back bedroom waiting for mom or dad at the end of his or her life are long gone, for many contemporary reasons beyond the scope of this essay.
Our mothers, fathers, and other elderly relatives have lived full, independent, and productive lives and don’t deserve to be treated like dependent children just because they got old and can’t manage their daily household tasks anymore. (My mom used to say “You spend your whole life learning and experiencing things then no one listens to you because you’re old.”) There are still cultures around the world that respect old age and wisdom, but it ain’t this one.
There’s so little love in the world that elderly men and women confined to four walls behind a locked door should be able to freely grab it with both hands in their final years. They’re living as we’re likely to live one day, counting down to the inevitable fate that awaits us all. They should be treated as we ourselves will want to be treated.
WHO KILLED OVERTIME PAY?
Photoessay by David Bacon, Series written by Marcus Baram, Published by Capital & Main, May 10-13, 2022
davidbaconrealitycheck.blogspot.com/2022/05/who-killed-overtime-pay-photoessay-by.html
ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY
When I was hiking in Bavaria some decades ago, near Andechs, I stopped in a small “Bauernkneipe” — a small room in a farmhouse where you could sit down and order a glass of the farm’s home-made schnapps. Probably this tradition has gone the way of the dodo.
So the mother was a very striking-looking farm woman, maybe in her forties. Brown hair and blue eyes. Her son, healthy, handsome, same blue eyes, VERY shy. The mom suggested (jokingly, I think . . .) that I consider marrying her son, although by that time I was too old for him (I thought)! I demurred — had a job in NYC!! — but suggested they put an ad in the Wall Street Journal for visitors to their “dude farm.” I reckoned they would get plenty of candidates among frustrated Wall Street bachelorettes who might like to help a sweet young farmer run his farm or at least have a nice rural vacation . . . But it was a job to explain the concept of a “dude farm” to a pair of Bavarian farmers.
SENDING HEARTFELT CONGRATULATIONS TO THE CLASS OF 2022
by Michelle Hutchins, Mendocino County Superintendent of Schools
After an especially strange high school experience, the graduating class of 2022 deserves our heartfelt congratulations. In spring of their sophomore year, these students were sent home to attend school remotely, while the world figured out how to deal with COVID-19. Students spent their junior year without in-person events such as dances, sporting events, academic competitions, and arts performances. During their senior year, they were allowed to return to campus but for much of the year, they remained masked and continually reminded of the dangers posed by the pandemic.
Despite all that, they are graduating! If ever there was a class that embodied adaptability and resiliency, this is it. And these traits may just put this generation ahead of the pack as they continue on to college and into the workforce.
Given all they’ve been through, I am happy to announce that in July, Governor Newsom signed Assembly Bill 104 into law. AB104 requires that any student enrolled in their junior or senior year in 2020-21, and who is not on track to graduate in four years, be exempt from all coursework and other requirements adopted by the governing body that are in addition to the statewide graduation requirements.
In other words, local educational agencies (LEAs) such as school districts are restricted from applying additional graduation requirements to a student that would prevent them from graduating on time with their class this June. LEAs must provide a pupil who was enrolled in their third or fourth year of high school during the 2020–21 school year, and who is not on track to graduate within four years, the opportunity to complete the statewide coursework required for graduation.
When we’re not in the middle of a pandemic, it makes sense for local school boards to set high expectations, to elevate education standards above the minimums set by the State. However, this year is different. Students deserve to walk at graduation with their classmates, and if they need to complete a few additional classes before applying to the four-year college of their choice or pursuing their preferred career, we have fantastic instructors at Mendocino College ready to support them.
I know some students are disappointed by the pandemic’s disruptions, and I can certainly understand why; however, there’s no denying that disruptions of this magnitude often bring unexpected opportunities. For example, living in a rural place used to mean giving up jobs that could only be found in major metropolitan areas. Now, the idea of hybrid work environments is commonplace, and students may be able to live in our beautiful, rural county while working for companies based elsewhere. This could radically improve their economic futures.
One of the reasons I ran for the office of county superintendent of schools is because I believe so strongly in freedom, and I define freedom as the ability to make choices. When we provide students with more educational options, they become more engaged. The more students advance their education, the more choices they’ll have: more education brings more freedom.
So, although this pandemic was terrible in many ways and these students suffered some losses by having such an unconventional high school experience, it may be that these students learned lessons that will help them thrive. Let’s get out of their way and see what they can do. Let’s make sure we do not put our own fears and limitations on them. Let’s support them in their pursuits. Let’s encourage them to dream and see where they go.
Congratulations, Class of 2022!
COAL TRAIN REVIVED?
Federal regulators have just made the decision to allow Big Coal corporations to submit their proposal to start up a Toxic Coal Train here in Northern California. This is truly the worst case scenario we’ve been talking about for nearly a year now.
Here’s what’s going on:
You may remember last September when we uncovered secret plans by big coal to ship millions of tons of toxic, filthy coal – one of the earth’s worst carcinogens and toxic pollutants – through our hometowns and along our rivers in Marin, Sonoma, Mendocino, Trinity and Humboldt Counties. The coal would be sourced from states such as Utah, Wyoming and Montana.
At the time, we rallied tens of thousands of North Coast residents to Say HELL NO to Coal!
We are well on our way to converting this long-abandoned rail line into the Great Redwood Trail: a 320-mile, world-class, multi-use rail-to-trail project connecting California’s iconic San Francisco and Humboldt Bays.
Yet, a ruling late last week by federal regulators will give big coal corporations the opportunity to submit a formal proposal to start up a massive Toxic Coal Train in our backyards. This is insane.
And – here’s what we know. They’ll have to come through us first – and I can assure you that it ain’t gonna happen. Our legislation, SB307, is advancing with broad bipartisan support to block any and all state funding that would be invested into the advancement of a Toxic Coal Train here on the North Coast. On the federal side, Congressman Huffman is working tirelessly to block this cockamamie proposal and we’re grateful for his partnership.
Let’s be clear, ultimately the Toxic Coal Train will be stopped in its tracks with your help! We’re excited to launch the Great Redwood Trail Master Plan in the coming few months and start formally engaging the community about this once-in-a-lifetime project.
A virtual Town Hall is planned for June 1 at 6:30pm where we’ll discuss all the details and talk next steps.
Warm regards,
Senator Mike McGuire
FOR GLENTZER
Editor,
With the upcoming election, there are two candidates running for the Mendocino County Superintendent of Schools. However, there is only one candidate who has been endorsed by many current educators, including four school district superintendents, multiple retired superintendents, the Ukiah Teachers Association, the CA School Employees Association, and the union representing Mendocino County Office of Education employees who serve under the Mendocino County Superintendent of Schools. This candidate is Nicole Glentzer.
I’ve had the pleasure of working with Nicole in previous years and know her abilities well. Nicole’s outstanding leadership, ethics, and integrity are just some of the reasons I am supporting her campaign. She is incredibly hard working, develops and maintains positive relationships, and inspires quality interaction with all that she comes in contact with.
I am the parent of a school-aged child and currently work for a county office of education so I know how important the support of the county office of education is to each local school district and charter school. During the pandemic, it was not unusual to see Nicole filling in to various positions, such as crossing guard, food service, classroom aide, or teacher. It is during extremely trying times that true leaders standout and Nicole’s true leadership has been evident in all that she did to support the students in her school district plus those around her.
Nicole worked tirelessly to get kids back in the classroom and developed resources and templates for other school leaders throughout this county and neighboring counties. Nicole is always willing to fill in where needed and is focused on providing better support to the children in this county. She serves on various committees and boards where she advocates at the state-level to shine a light on the unique challenges faced in our rural areas.
I urge you to please join me and the long list of educators in voting for Nicole Glentzer on June 7th!
Heather Rantala
WHERE ARE THE BUGS?
Editor:
I recently traveled between the Vallejo area and the Mendocino coast. Usually when I travel in the spring on Highway 101 and adjoining routes my windshield needs to be cleaned at least once, more likely twice, due to the number of insects. This time I couldn’t help but note that my windshield was virtually clean. This is a silent alarm we should all be deeply concerned about.
Insects, bothersome though they may be at times, are food for many animals we are used to having around. Without insects, what do birds eat? I used to see 40 or more robins seeking insects on my property. Now I see one or two. What do fish eat? What do reptiles and amphibians eat? What do we eat?
Insects are pollinators of plants; that means food. Our planet’s hospitable environment is in trouble. Other concerns pale in comparison. We all need to be conscious of what we are doing every day and try to minimize our negative impact and protect our environment. When millions of people make changes, the impact can be significant.
Carol Knolle
Fort Bragg
ED NOTE: More evidence, Ms. Knolle, of the looming apocalypse. The following is from an LRB book review called The Insect Crisis: The Fall of the Tiny Empires That Run the World…
Insects don’t get a great deal of airtime in Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring. The book that exposed the harmful effects of DDT on fish, birds, livestock and people had surprisingly little to say about the creatures the pesticide was intended to harm, except that they were starting to develop resistance – in other words, the case for spraying poison indiscriminately wasn’t compelling even on its own terms. ‘However rapidly technology may invent new uses for insecticides and new ways of applying them,’ Carson wrote, ‘it is likely to find the insects keeping a lap ahead.’
Sixty years on, that doesn’t seem like such a safe bet. Carson’s work led to the banning of DDT in agricultural settings around the world, but it was replaced by a new generation of pesticides, the most widely used of which, neonicotinoids, are hugely more toxic to insects. The first neonicotinoid came on the market in 1991. By the end of the decade, anecdotal evidence suggested that insect numbers were declining rapidly. People were making fewer stops on long car journeys to scrape bug spatter from their windscreens. They were seeing fewer ‘moth snowstorms’ in their headlights, fewer fireflies in their gardens after dark. These observations weren’t scientific, but they indicated, at least to some, that insect numbers were collapsing.
Almost a million species of insect have been identified – around 90 per cent of all known types of animal – but it’s thought there may be up to nine million more. The Smithsonian Institution puts the total number of individual insects at around ten quintillion, or ten million million million, almost 1.3 billion of them for every human. Ants alone outnumber us by something like a million to one, and if you squashed them all into a gigantic ant-ball, they would equal us in mass. Until very recently, the painstaking work required to monitor insect populations didn’t seem like the best use of entomologists’ time. It was often left to groups of amateurs, such as the Krefeld Entomological Society, which has been catching flying bugs in malaise traps since the late 1980s. When the society analyzed its data in 2016, it found that the total weight of its haul had fallen by 75 per cent over the previous 27 years. The account of these findings, published in the journal PLOS ONE, prompted much hand-wringing (as well as the unlovely coinages ‘insectinction’ and ‘insectageddon’). Critics pointed out that all the data came from Germany, and only from those parts of Germany where the researchers had expected to find large insect populations: perhaps local factors were to blame?
Subsequent studies, however, have confirmed the downward trend. Figures for the rate of decline vary wildly: the number of terrestrial insects may be falling by less than 1 per cent or by as much as 2.5 per cent a year. (Freshwater insects seem to be doing better, with their numbers increasing by a bit more than 1 per cent a year.) The extent of the overall decline hasn’t been settled either – there’s still no data from large parts of Africa, Asia or South America....
London Review of Books
COPYCAT SHOOTER
Editor,
The incidence of these heinous acts is speeding up. The supermarket shooting murders of ten people in Buffalo was less than two weeks ago. Today another evil individual with a military style weapon killed 14 children and one teacher in Ulvale, Texas.
Do we value guns more than our fellow Americans? Maybe the question should, Do US senators always give up caring once they begin their terms of office? Shades of Parkland, Sandy Hook, El Paso, and Columbine.
The media needs to take note of today's new FBI directions (and it is something the purveyors of news should have done a long time ago: ): Stop giving out the NAMES of the sickos (sp?) pulling the triggers. Unless this happens soon, there will soon be many more shootings by copycat shooters.
Frank Baumgardner
Santa Rosa
INSIDE BASEBALL
by Jeremy Bernstein
Roger Angell, the New Yorker writer and editor, died on Friday at the age of 101. He was one of the first people I met when I became a staff writer for the magazine in 1962. I didn’t know much about him except that he seemed to have an understated elegance which I thought was characteristic of the New Yorker. I later learned that his mother, Katharine Sergeant Angell White, had been the magazine’s first fiction editor.
After graduating from Harvard in 1942 Angell went into the air force and was assigned to be an editor of their journal. William Shawn hired him at the New Yorker. It was Shawn who asked Roger to go south and write about the spring training of baseball teams. I don’t know if Roger had much interest in baseball or indeed any kind of sport. We had a softball team that played other magazines and I don’t remember Roger showing any interest. But somehow Shawn, who had a genius for this sort of thing, suggested that Roger write about baseball and he became one of the most noted sports writers of his time. He must have stood out among the other baseball writers who were a pretty rough bunch. There was always something a bit reserved about Roger.
He specialized in drinking martinis where he moved from vodka to gin. But the New Yorker writers – at least some of them – were a hard drinking lot and Roger was not in that group. The last time that I saw him in action at the magazine was when S.I. Newhouse bought it (in 1985). One of the first things he did was to fire Shawn. We had a meeting on what to do. There was of course nothing to do but a few of the senior people like Roger said we should all sign a letter urging Newhouse to change his mind. A little committee was formed with Roger at its head and they produced what may be the best edited letter of protest ever written. We all signed it and it had no effect whatever. I was fired by Tina Brown who arrived in 1992 but Roger stuck around and wrote his last piece for the magazine in September 2020, just after his 100th birthday.
(London Review of Books)
IT FEELS INSANE WHEN HENRY KISSINGER IS THE ONLY SANE MAN IN THE ROOM.
Veteran US statesman Henry Kissinger has urged the West to stop trying to inflict a crushing defeat on Russian forces in Ukraine, warning that it would have disastrous consequences for the long term stability of Europe. The former US secretary of state and architect of the Cold War rapprochement between the US and China told a gathering in Davos that it would be fatal for the West to get swept up in the mood of the moment and forget the proper place of Russia in the European balance of power.
Dr Kissinger said the war must not be allowed to drag on for much longer, and came close to calling on the West to bully Ukraine into accepting negotiations on terms that fall very far short of its current war aims. .. He told the World Economic Forum that Russia had been an essential part of Europe for 400 years and had been the guarantor of the European balance of power structure at critical times. European leaders should not lose sight of the longer term relationship, and nor should they risk pushing Russia into a permanent alliance with China.
WHEN “JACKIE ROBINSON” IS USED AS A RACIAL SLUR
What happened at Yankee Stadium is not about one incident. It’s about how Major League Baseball chooses to remember Robinson’s legacy.
by Dave Zirin
The top news in Major League Baseball is not the “cardiac kid” Baltimore Orioles—three walk-off wins in four days!—or the dominant New York Mets. Instead, it’s an incident at Yankee Stadium, which is a microcosm of everything that baseball does wrong.
If you missed it, the Yankees third baseman, Josh Donaldson, called Chicago White Sox starter, Tim Anderson—one of the most prominent of the dwindling number of Black MLB players from the United States—“Jackie” several times. That’s “Jackie” as in Jackie Robinson, the legend who broke baseball’s color line in 1947. When the name-calling became too much for Anderson, the benches cleared out and the story got out to the public. Donaldson said that he was just fooling around and it wasn’t racist because he was referencing a 2019 Sports Illustrated article in which Anderson says, “I kind of feel like today’s Jackie Robinson.” No one saw Donaldson’s jab as a compliment and Donaldson himself implied that this was just good old-fashioned trash talking.
Tim Anderson didn’t see it that way. His teammates didn’t see it that way. His team’s manager, Tony La Russa, didn’t see it that way. Even Yankees manager Aaron Boone, in attempting to defend Donaldson, said, “Josh has been very forthcoming with the history of it and the context of it. So I don’t believe there was any malicious intent in that regard. But you know, this is—just in my opinion—somewhere he should not be going.” Somewhere he should not be going: That might sound like some seriously weak sauce, but a manager saying it about his own player, usually a verboten act in baseball culture, only reveals just how clearly a line was crossed.
The day after the incident, when Anderson came up to the plate, it really did feel like the dismal days of Jackie Robinson were being channeled as the Yankee faithful booed him vociferously and chanted “Jackie.” In the words of longtime sports columnist David Steele, “It’s ‘Boy Remember Your Place Night’ at the ballpark in the Bronx.” That Anderson responded to the boos with a three-hit game, including a three-run home run, ironically also echoed Robinson: succeeding in the face of a racist tidal wave by opposing fans.
There is a bigger issue here than just the morality play that went down in the Bronx. Consider the idea that Josh Donaldson actually used the word “Jackie” as a racial slur. On one level, this is shocking. Jack Roosevelt Robinson is a hero of the first order who walked through hell in a gasoline suit precisely so players—players like Anderson—wouldn’t have to endure the racism that he faced. His name should forever be remembered not only as a synonym for courage but also as a reminder that baseball—not merely “society”—was extremely racist when he attempted to integrate the sport. The problem with the way Major League Baseball celebrates and remembers Robinson is that it talks a lot about the first part—with abstract words like “bravery”—without discussing exactly what kind of athletic environment he had to be brave in. If the league does discuss context, it’s always that word again, “society,” as if racism was just something in the air—not something that baseball as an institution was actually built upon. Major League Baseball fits Robinson into a neat schema of “segregation, integration, celebration!” It’s desire for marketing and patriotism, which are really one and the same, is for baseball to symbolize “post-racialism.” This is a cruel joke, especially now, as all authoritarian thugs organize openly while the GOP cheers them on and Democrats yawn.
We need Major League Baseball to own its own problematic history more forthrightly, and speak about what it will do to change the ways that history informs its present in a poisonous fashion. As Jackie Robinson knew so well, and spoke about in his last public appearance in 1973, as well as in his posthumously published book I Never Had It Made, baseball never purged itself of its racism. We’ve seen this in contemporary managerial hires, executive positions, and the way the sport watched passively as the numbers of Black players from the United States waned. We even see it in Tony LaRussa’s vague praise of Anderson as having had a great game “under those circumstances.” What circumstances? When did racism become the weather?
The fact is that Josh Donaldson represents a lasting culture within Major League Baseball. It’s a culture in which Robinson is praised abstractly, but current players like Anderson are routinely disrespected. Alienating Black players with magnetism like Anderson has also discourages a generation of young athletes who choose not to play baseball because of how Anderson has been treated. That will cause the great sport to suffer immeasurably. The entire sport pays a price if it holds up a sign that says, “Not For You.” We also pay a social cost, beyond the generational loss of new talent, by allowing racist ideas to fester in the “national pastime.”
Calling someone “Jackie Robinson” should be the ultimate compliment. That it can be used as a slur only tells us just how much work this league still has to do to confront its own ugly past and reckon with how that past informs its present.
LADIES WHO LUNCH
TWENTY-TWO HOUSE REPUBLICANS DEMAND ACCOUNTABILITY on Biden's $40b War Spending
A cohort of Republicans, part of the dissenting vote on Biden's Ukraine war package, seeks oversight and specifics about the destination of U.S. money and weapons.
by Glenn Greenwald and Anthony Tobin
The House of Representatives, on May 10, approved President Biden's $33 billion package for the war in Ukraine, and then, on its own initiative, added $7 billion on top of it. That brought the new war spending authorization to $40 billion, on top of the $14 billion already spent just 10 weeks into this war, which U.S. officials predict will last years, not months. The House vote in favor was 368-57. All 57 NO votes were from GOP House members. All House Democrats, including the Squad, voted YES.
A similar scene occurred when the Senate, “moving quickly and with little debate,” overwhelmingly approved the same war package. All eleven NO votes were from Senate Republicans. All Senate Democrats, including Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), voted in favor, seemingly in direct contradiction to Sanders’ February 8 op-ed in The Guardian warning of the severe dangers of bipartisan escalation of the war. Efforts by Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) to delay passage of the bill so that some safeguards and accountability measures could be included regarding where the money was going and for what purposes it would be used were met with scorn, particularly from Paul's fellow Kentucky GOP Senator, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who condemned Paul as an “isolationist.” Following the Senate vote, a jet was used to fly the bill across the world to President Biden in South Korea, where he signed it into law.
But the lack of any safeguards over the destination of the money and weapons prompted close to two dozen House Republicans, led by Rep. Yvette Herrell (R-NM), to send a letter to the Biden White House on Monday demanding greater specificity and assurances about legal requirements on how weapons are used. The letter urges a public reckoning on the dangers of the U.S.'s bankrolling of the war in Ukraine: “We write today to express grave concern about the lack of oversight and accountability for the money and weapons recently approved by Congress for Ukraine,” it began.
"The aid package approved by Congress provides unprecedented funding for a foreign conflict in which the United States is not fighting, while there have been no significant hearings or substantive briefings on the use of the money and weapons being provided at taxpayer expense." The lawmakers raised the prospect of sophisticated weaponry falling into the hands of terrorist organizations, citing a documented history of illicit arms-trafficking within Ukraine, a market which is one of the largest in Europe:
"According to a 2017 Small Arms Survey briefing on arms trafficking, over 300,000 small arms disappeared from Ukraine between 2013 and 2015 and only 13 percent were recovered. Criminal networks, corrupt officials, and underpaid military personnel can make a profitable business from the sale of arms from Ukrainian military stockpiles. For example, in 2019, the Ukrainian Security Service uncovered a plot by Ukrainian soldiers to sell 40 RGD-5 grenades, 15 grenade launchers, 30 grenade detonators, and 2,454 rounds of ammunition for 75,000 Ukrainian hryvnia or around $2,900."
Indeed, the relentlessly war-supporting CNN last month acknowledged that “the US has few ways to track the substantial supply of anti-tank, anti-aircraft and other weaponry it has sent across the border into Ukraine.” Biden officials admitted the “risk that some of the shipments may ultimately end up in unexpected places.” About the heavy weaponry the Biden White House had originally said it wouldn't send, only to change its mind, a senior official briefing reporters said: “I couldn't tell you where they are in Ukraine and whether the Ukrainians are using them at this point.”
Following that trail, this new letter accuses the Biden administration of indifference toward Ukraine's dismal corruption record and the resulting possibility that large amounts of U.S. weaponry could soon circulate around the black market, placing the security of both Europe and the U.S at risk. The only member of “the Squad” to explain her YES vote in support of the $40 billion, Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO), referenced similar dangers in a written statement explaining her vote:
Additionally, at $40 billion, this is an extraordinary amount of military assistance, a large percentage of which will go directly to private defense contractors. In the last year alone, the United States will have provided Ukraine with more military aid than any country in the last two decades, and twice as much military assistance as the yearly cost of war in Afghanistan, even when American troops were on the ground. The sheer size of the package given an already inflated Pentagon budget should not go without critique. I remain concerned about the increased risks of direct war and the potential for direct military confrontation.
The letter from these twenty-two GOP dissenters questions the administration's compliance with the Arms Export Control Act of 1976, which governs and limits the use of weapons exported to other countries by the U.S. Government. The law was particularly designed to control the end-use of U.S.-supplied weapons, and it regulates arms transfers which might result in an escalation of conflict. With those legislative limits in mind, the lawmakers demand a response from the Biden administration to the following key questions:
- What steps has Ukraine taken to ensure weapons supplied to them are not falling into the hands of criminal networks or being sold for profit?
- How exactly is the U.S. government complying with the Arms Export Control Act and ensuring that end-use monitoring of defense articles and defense services" adhere to all foreign military sales standards?
- Has the U.S. discovered whether any weapons previously provided to Ukraine were diverted from their intended recipients or stolen? Have any of the weapons fallen in the hands of criminals or terrorists?
- Are you and your administration confident that you have effective end-use monitoring capabilities in place and enough resources to ensure no weapons will be used against U.S. citizens or those of allied nations, like weapons from the Balkans which were used in recent European terror attacks?
- Will the administration commit to the creation of a special monitor to ensure that funds sent under this and other aid packages to Ukraine are not subject to waste, fraud, and abuse and comply with all Arms Export Control Act requirements? This monitor should be modeled after the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction.
As escalating gas prices and the soaring costs of consumer goods place greater and greater strain on the American worker, the Republican lawmakers signing onto this letter highlighted the strange logic behind the bipartisan position that enormous sums of money must be spent on a war in a country in which the U.S., as former president Barack Obama long maintained, has no vital interest, all while Americas are asked to endure shortages and economic downturn at home. "The American people did not elect us to pour their hard-earned money into a conflict halfway around the world with little ability to track the end use of weapons or their effectiveness,” they argued.
So few questions were asked about the Biden administration's war strategy as the extraordinary $40 billion package sprinted through Congress that even the The New York Times appeared shocked. The paper, reporting on the House's approval, repeatedly noted how members of both parties appeared too frightened to express concerns or even scrutinize what the Pentagon and CIA are doing. The paper sounded a similar tone after the Senate quickly approved the bill on Thursday, noting that “the speed with which it moved through Congress, where the leaders of both parties raised few questions about how much money was being spent or what it would be used for, was striking, given the gridlock that has prevented domestic initiatives large and small from winning approval in recent years.”
Continuing a pattern of performing the function long-served by the now muted, or rather nonexistent, “antiwar Left,” these Republican lawmakers stressed at the letter's outset that "no path forward on ending the conflict in Ukraine has been outlined" by the Biden administration (the key argument Sanders made in his February op-ed before snapping into line last week to vote YES). While the Biden administration has been quite eager to flood advanced weaponry into this active war zone, and Congress even more so, it remains utterly uninterested in, if not opposed to, the prospect of a negotiated settlement. Speaking at the annual World Economic Forum on Monday, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) explicitly rejected the desirability of a diplomatic solution, saying the only acceptable outcome is full military victory over Russia by Ukraine and the U.S.
Whatever one's views on this war, it should be deeply concerning how little debate or scrutiny is being permitted as the Biden administration aggressively escalates the U.S. role in what is clearly its most dangerous war in decades. If Congress has no role in asking where these weapons are going or who is receiving these staggering sums of money, then it has no role at all. Even if one supports the spending of $40 billion more and untold amounts into the future as this war drags on, there is no denying that the few dozen members of Congress demanding answers from the White House about their strategy, their management of these expenditures, and their ability to control the destination of these weapons are doing their jobs.
greenwald.substack.com/p/twenty-two-house-republicans-demand
It is one forty-five in the morning at Building Bridges homeless shelter in Ukiah, CA, and I am just too generally content and feeling good to waste it sleeping. On the other hand, everybody has to be out of the building today by 8:15AM for a fire alarm check, so it’s either sleep now or go without. This is the existential dilemma in a nutshell. Fortunately, I was given a dental appointment in Windsor to get a stainless steel crown, and maybe they will do more on Friday. Beyond the dental work, am no longer tethered in Mendocino county. I could actually go somewhere and do something. Too bad though; have begun to enjoy hanging out at the Ukiah Public Library reading the New York Times, and not being anywhere near the miserable situations worldwide being reported. Through no fault of my own, I ended up filled with joy. Good morning everybody. ;-))
Bugs on the windshield?! Or lack thereof? Not sure what time of day y’all’s driving, but my windshield needs cleaning daily on my commute from Navarro to Fort Bragg. Bugs abound. Time to get out the butterfly net. Saw a tiger swallowtail in the greenhouse yesterday
This is a good year for bugs, thanks to the late rain. My house, and yard provide a good environment for bug predators, and they all seem to be doing well.
Elaine Stritch. Never knew her real name, but loved her character on the show 30 Rock. One of my favorite quotes of hers (paraphrased) “only those who are light in the loafers put pickles on their sandwich”
“HOLD YOUR FIRE while the Boonville weekly announces full support for Archbishop of San Francisco Salvatore Cordileone’s barring Nancy Pelosi from Holy Communion because she voted to codify Roe v Wade.”
I agree but not for the same reason. Your reason is logical, Bruce, it’s just not what jumps out at me.
I agree because six of the nine supreme court justices are Catholic. Those six should recuse themselves from deciding Roe V Wade. The archbishop’s stance highlights the need to keep the church separate from the state.
There are a whole bunch of good Catholics I know, I would say most, that routinely carry out practices that are in conflict with the Pope. A good question to ask, how many good Catholic families have two children with no additional intended to be on the way? How many Catholic couples live together in un-married relationships?
There is no evidence that Pelosi is pro abortion but rather supports abortion rights. Objection to abortion by Catholics and most other so-called pro-lifers is based on religious belief, and our country is not a theocracy (so far) but rather stands in principle on strict separation of church and state. Pelosi upholds that right, as she should, irrespective of her personal philosophical beliefs. The Church has no business interfering with our basic constitutional rights. If they don’t like it, there is Saudi Arabia or Afghanistan.
IT FEELS INSANE WHEN HENRY KISSINGER IS THE ONLY SANE MAN IN THE ROOM.
A must read book by Henry Kissinger is “World Order”.
“A must read book by Henry Kissinger” is an oxymoron. Maybe try “a must read book about Henry Kissinger.”
Bury the prejudice, and read it. You will be better for it.
It’s not prejudice. It’s history. Kissinger is a war criminal.
Kissinger knows more about relevant world history than any person or group I know. Read his book. War criminal? That is a crowded group that doesn’t include a vast number of people who don’t have the power to act.
Mr. Broderick, since you ask what I hope were honest questions, let me answer. I do not have a campaign office at all. That is not my car you see parked in Fort Bragg where I have spent little time recently in favor of going door-to-door in District 5. And I am not being backed by the Skunk Train or anyone else other than Chris Skyhawk. I made comments recently on the need for economic development with the mills site being an opportunity for it. I think we can all agree that the economy has been neglected and now we are experiencing the result — the County is grinding to a halt. There are just not enough workers to support healthcare, education, law enforcement or anything that still resembles a business these days. This is the result of lack of housing which results from a dying economy. I would ask you and everyone to approach economic development efforts like the mill site with a problem solving attitude.
EROS BOUND by Marilyn Davin
Busybodies and fascists, always seeking to regulate the joys of others. What’s most appalling is that staff decided they know what’s best for the old folks. You’d think that after a lifetime of navigating the shoals of life, older people might know a little something about what matters most. Love or fear? Let the lovers be, and fight the prissy fascists.
re: Ukraine. Even the staunch interventionists at the NY Times are beginning to see through the US / NATO false narrative of defeating Russia. It ain’t gonna happen.
“New York Times Repudiates Drive for “Decisive Military Victory” in Ukraine, Calls for Peace Negotiations.”
https://www.unz.com/article/new-york-times-repudiates-drive-for-decisive-military-victory-in-ukraine-calls-for-peace-negotiations/
Count this fallen Catholic among the many who applaud Nancy Pelosi for standing up to the far-right Archbishop of San Francisco. I will walk up the aisle with Speaker Pelosi to receive communion anytime. Perhaps the Archbishop ought to focus on how to better protect young boys from molesters within the church rather than punish those who support a woman’s right to choose. Besides, is he ready to deny communion to the Catholic politicians who favor the death penalty? Typical of the hypocrisy.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/05/24/pelosi-abortion-catholic-church/
WARRIOR’S COACH STEVE KERR—A PASSIONATE PLEA FOR ACTION ON GUNS
“I’m not going to talk about basketball. Nothing’s happened with our team in the last six hours. We’re going to start the same way tonight. Any basketball questions don’t matter.
Since we left shootaround, 14 children were killed 400 miles from here. And a teacher. In the last 10 days, we’ve had elderly Black people killed in a supermarket in Buffalo, we’ve had Asian churchgoers killed in Southern California. Now we have children murdered at school.
When are we going to do something? I’m tired. I’m so tired of getting up here and offering condolences to the devastated families that are out there. I’m so tired. Excuse me. I’m sorry. I’m tired of the moments of silence. Enough!
There’s 50 senators right now who refuse to vote on HR8, which is a background check rule that the House passed a couple years ago. It’s been sitting there for two years. And there’s a reason they won’t vote on it: to hold onto power.
So I ask you, Mitch McConnell, I ask all of you senators who refuse to do anything about the violence and school shootings and supermarket shootings. I ask you: Are you going to put your own desire for power ahead of the lives of our children and our elderly and our churchgoers? Because that’s what it looks like. It’s what we do every week.
So I’m fed up. I’ve had enough. We’re going to play the game tonight. But I want every person here, every person listening to this, to think about your own child or grandchild, or mother or father, sister, brother. How would you feel if this happened to you today?
We can’t get numb to this. We can’t sit here and just read about it and go, well, let’s have a moment of silence — yea, Go Dubs. C’mon, Mavs, let’s go. That’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to go play a basketball game.
Fifty senators in Washington are going to hold us hostage. Do you realize that 90 percent of Americans, regardless of political party, want background checks — universal background checks? Ninety percent of us. We are being held hostage by 50 senators in Washington who refuse to even put it to a vote, despite what we, the American people, want.
They won’t vote on it because they want to hold onto their own power. It’s pathetic! I’ve had enough!”
Addition: Steve Kerr’s words in print are worthy and passionate, but watch the video (on multiple sites) to get the full impact of his statement
I CONCUR
At a time the nation needed to come together, Steve Kerr politicized this horrific event. More division is not the answer, more mental health treatment is. The killer had no criminal history that would have been flagged in any background check. 18 year olds have been allowed to buy long guns in Texas for 60 years and do so. This is an isolated event that does not occur all that often, at least in Texas. The killer was mentally ill and fell through the cracks. Steve Kerr blaming the gun and not the lack of appropriate and effective mental health treatment in our nation is, for lack of better word, an “airball”.
Marmon
That Beto O’Rourke is another sick son of a bitch, interrupting the press conference like he did today.
Marmon
Beto did the right thing and, savvy self-promoter that he is, furthered his boundless ambition at the same time.
Mr. Marmon, perhaps you can lead us in more ‘thoughts and prayers.’ Maybe those will ease the divisions you cite, and bring the ‘nation together.’ Get real. We need more Steve Kerrs to speak up about the ‘isolated events’ that slaughter kids, and teachers trying to protect them.
More guns in schools is the answer.
Marmon
Ahh, yes. More guns. There’s the answer. Beto O’Rourke did the right thing by interrupting the sham press conference of Abbott and his cronies, who blather on about how tragic the slaughter of 19 kids is, and then head for the NRA convention in Houston to advocate for even looser gun regs.
I remember you asking if you were the “only sane one here” once.
I’m having my doubts after that comment.
The most dangerous place to be in America is a gun free zone.
Arm our teachers. Protect our children
Marmon
Pure lunacy.
And then there’s. Steve Kerr’s father got assassinated while teaching at a university abroad. Kerr knows more about the fallout of the murder of a loved one than everyone here put together. I would suspect.
Be well,
Laz
Or just make it illegal like in Chicago, that will fix it,like it did in Chicago. Only one school entrance with metal detector and an armed guard and maybe some trained cc permit teachers/hall monitors. Something has to be done in these changed times. Something effective is preferred though and protecting Ukraines boarder seem less important than protecting our kids.
Re Ed Notes:
“but I ask you, Baseball played by hop scotch rules?”
Already happening, Bruce.
The Catholic Church, which has been aiding and abetting pedophiles for decades if not generations, is not fit to judge the morals of any one or anything. What about lawmakers who supports capital punishment, will they be denied communion?
Nancy Pelosi has been pro-choice for a long time. So why deny her communion now? This denial is not a religious choice; it’s a political one.
The Smirnoff billboards and glossy ads featuring a big white Russian wolfhound, a borzoi, were common years ago. But that dog wound up w/ someone like the Elaine Stitch character — the lady who inherited the vodka distillery and was addicted to the stuff — and the dog had to be rescued from her. I used that dog with my daughter for a cover photo — the editor wanted a kid and a dog — on Ranch & Coast Magazine. But the borzoi had lost its glamor for my editor and I had to go reshoot the photo w/ a couple of salukis instead. I thought the borzoi was a more poignant story for fund-raising purposes (the ASPCA needed funds), but apparently the rich don’t care to be reminded that they, too, are fallible.
RE: WHEN A GUN SNAPS
We need to address Gun mental health, why do they go off like that?
Marmon
You are completely tone deaf mr marmon. I’m sure you’re getting a little giggle out of every response to your insensitive remarks. Political opinion aside, have some compassion! Just a couple weeks ago you commented on losing your child. Did this give you the right to be a desensitized d@&$!wad ?? What if they grew up to become a victim of another tragedy? 9-10 year old children man!
Were do you get off?
—Maddog out
Asks the guy who had a restraining order against him by the County of Mendocino. 🙄
Thank you Deborah
Why Measure B became a disaster.
Jed Diamomd, formerly a Measure B commissioner, blames school shootings on “aggressive masculinty”, go figure. The Texas shooter wore eye liner and talked with a lisp.
Marmon
that’s why he was teased, this was southern Texas.
Marmon
It’s horribly sad to read of young kids and young men being teased, living a hard life at home, turning it inward, getting depressed and withdrawn, then turning mad and feeling crazy. Then– turning it all outward, getting even with the world by finally getting a plan and guns and killing lots of people. BUT WITHOUT THESE KILLING GUNS THAT CREATE MASSIVE BODILY DAMAGE AND CAN KILL MANY INNOCENTS QUICKLY, damaged people like this who are sick and need and deserve treatment, cannot become mortally dangerous to masses of little children.
Steve Kerr is right.
“Hold you’re fire”
I would offer communion to anybody who wanted a bite, but I googled it and found I’m not qualified. Forgive me. /I am/ offering dispensations via PayPal and email, in that order. Sliding scale. Support local businesses!
As far as I’m concerned, every gun worshipper and NRA member is complicit in the murder of schoolchildren at this point. This is the outcome they desire, or they would act to stop it. They do not. As evidenced by comments above, they are content with this situation and make excuses at every turn.
Gun laws are changed all the time at their behest – made more lenient in most Republican-controlled states even as the right wing pointedly refuse to fund and even cut mental health care services
This is what they prefer.
In my opinion, a giant red flag for severe mental illness is anyone who loves guns, wants guns for their birthday, collects guns, uses guns, fetishizes guns, and praises guns.
Mass shootings tripled after the national assault weapons ban expired. I will never understand why AR 15’s are widely available, especially to 18–year-olds? An 18-year-old can’t legally buy alcohol or cigarettes but can legally buy an AR-15. Explain that logic. There isn’t any. Gun nut absolutists and their subservient politicians like Ted Cruz and Greg Abbott have created a situation where the very safety of children is at risk at school of all places. You know,, those kids in Uvalde can only be identified by DNA because their bodies have been destroyed by a weapon of war. I have a child in sixth grade and neither one of us should have to worry about this type of bullshit. They don’t have to in the vast majority of the world. And what’s the solution the gun nuts come up with? More guns! Give the teachers guns! I’m at a loss.
They love guns, cherish them more than kids. They are in thrall to domination fantasies and conspiracy theories.
There is no situation for them where the answer is not more guns, despite the fact that America has more guns than people, more guns in private hands than any other country in the world. If their logic was solid we would be the safest nation in the world. We are not. In fact – just the opposite. No one is safe here, not at school, church, concerts or movie theaters, driving to a soccer game, or grocery shopping.
I’m sorry you have to worry about your child like this. It’s horrifying, and it’s wrong.