Mendocino County Today: Friday, June 10, 2020

By AVA News Service on June 10, 2022

HOT TEMPERATURES will crest today with interior valleys generally in the 90s. Even the coast will likely reach the low 70s. Cooler weather will return this weekend with light rain along the North Coast Saturday into Sunday. (NWS)

BALLOTS LEFT TO BE COUNTED, JUNE 7, 2022 STATEWIDE PRIMARY ELECTION

Mendocino County Assessor-County Clerk-Recorder Katrina Bartolomie announced that as with every election, there are ballots left to be processed as part of the official canvass. Mendocino County has 17,602 Vote By Mail ballots to process and count, and 347 Provisional / Conditional ballots to review, process and count. By law, any ballot that is postmarked by Election Day (June 7) we are required to accept thru Tuesday, June 14, 2022, which may increase the ballots to process.

Of the outstanding ballots left to count, the 3rd District Supervisor race has 3,097; the 5th District Supervisor race has 4,389; and Measure M in Anderson Valley Unified School District has 605 ballots remaining to process and count.

We do plan to update our count (unofficial results) on our website within 2 weeks. Per State law, we have 30 days to complete the canvass and certify the election. The Statement of Vote, which breaks down results by precinct, will be available at that time.

If you have any additional questions, please call our office at (707) 234-6819.

Katrina Bartolomie, Mendocino County Clerk-Recorder-Assessor

ANGELO PRONSOLINO TURNS 100

We will be celebrating Angelo Pronsolino's 100 birthday June 15. Angelo moved to Signal Ridge Road in 1922 where his parents established a ranch and home. Angelo has never left, other than his service in the U.S. Army during WW2. I thought you may want to know about this momentous event.

Thank You,

George Owens

Angelo Pronsolino, [unidentified], John Childers, Donald Pardini, George Wilcox

ERNIE PARDINI: "Happy birthday Angelo [Pronsolino, left]. An inspiration to us all. By the way, that's my dad, 2nd from right. Played center field."

MENDOCINO COUNTY WORKERS RALLY AT BOARD OF SUPERVISORS MEETING TO DEMAND ACTION ON STAFFING CRISIS

The county is operating with a nearly 27% vacancy rate, slowing down services for residents and accelerating burnout and attrition of remaining staff

Overworked child protective service workers unable to follow up on reports of abuse and neglect in a timely manner. Public works employees unable to keep up with important infrastructural work like filling potholes. Eligibility workers too short-staffed to keep pace with the volume of applications for food stamps and other safety net services desperately needed in a county with a poverty rate of over 14%. These are the costs to the residents of Mendocino County of the County's staffing crisis.

Wednesday, county workers rallied outside the board of supervisors meeting at noon to demand action to start ameliorating the crisis.

In a tight labor market like the one we are in now, the County must take concrete steps to make these jobs competitive, both to keep current employees from leaving and to recruit new employees from both within and outside the county. Wage cuts from years past have never been fully restored, and certainly have not kept pace with skyrocketing inflation and housing costs, which have impeded the County's ability to recruit new employees from outside the county and retain staff, especially those who do not already own property in the county. This week, county administration proposed a zero percent cost-of-living adjustment for employees, despite the fact that the County is currently losing employees faster than it is hiring replacements.

"Mendocino County's most valuable asset is its employees," said Julie Beardsley, SEIU Local 1021 Mendocino County chapter president and senior public health analyst for the county. "The past two and a half years have been especially stressful and difficult for our county workers, but they continued to provide services and work long hours, often causing personal hardship. SEIU wants to work with the County to find cost savings and collaborate on ways to allocate resources to provide our employees with a fair wage for serving our community so that they will stay and continue their careers with the County."

SEIU Local 1021 represents nearly 60,000 employees in local governments, non-profit agencies, health care programs, and schools throughout Northern California, including seven private colleges and numerous community colleges. SEIU Local 1021 is a diverse, member-driven organization with members who work to make our cities, schools, colleges, counties, and special districts safe and healthy places to live and raise our families.

Contact: Jennie Smith-Camejo, jennie.smith-camejo@seiu1021.org, (510) 710-0201 or Patrick Hickey, patrick.hickey@seiu1021.org, (707) 386-8457

AV SCHOOL NEWS

Dear Anderson Valley Community,

The Anderson Valley Junior High School 8th Grade was promoted to High School in ceremonies conducted on Wednesday evening. Congratulations to the following students that were honored by Principal James Snyder and the teaching staff:

Erik Alcantar, Eduardo Alvarez Plancarte, Aster Arbanovella, Tamara Arguelles, Guadalupe Arias-Peña, Violet Baird-Green, Jesus Angel Balandran, Sol Castañeda, Zoey Crisman, Monica Delgado, Marvel Donahue, Damian Eligio-Diaz, Pablo Escobar-Gutierrez, Samantha Espinoza, Giovani Ferreyra, Samantha Flores-Bailon, Arturo Garcia Flores, Ciomary Garcia-Parra, Nayely Garibay-Espinoza, Wyatt Gatlin, Cristal Guerra Nunez, Dorian Guerrero-Jimenez, Hailey Guillen-Rubio, Jack Irvin, Briana Jimenez-Sanchez, Guy Kephart, Maria Lara-Evans, Ariana Malfavon, Karen Mata, Clayton Matson, Ananda Mayne, Samuel Mejia, Alan Mendoza, Angelina Mendoza, Ethan Mendoza-Mendoza, Oscar Novoa, Mareli Orozco Hernandez, Joanna Perez-Media, Marisol Ramirez, Viridiana Ramos-Reynoso, Yaritza Rivera-Ortiz, Madison Snyder, Elliot Sutherland, Carlos Valdivia, Sulma Vargas.

The students are still in school on Thursday, but we were delighted to celebrate their achievement with their family and friends on Wednesday evening!

Congratulations to the promoted students and their families!

Sincerely yours,

Louise Simson, Superintendent, Anderson Valley Unified

SUMMER READING KICK-OFF at the Downtown Ukiah Summer Block Party

Come visit the Ukiah Branch Library’s table on Saturday, June 18th from 12 – 3 PM during the Downtown Ukiah Summer Block Party and sign-up for our Summer Reading Challenge! We will be providing several game & activity stations, access to our Mobile Pop-Up Library, and summer–reading sign-ups! This event is free & open to the Public. Our Summer Reading Challenge, Off the Beaten Path, is open to all ages and kicks off on June 18th. Sign-up in person or online at mendolibrary.beanstack.org and earn prizes by reading and completing activities this summer.

Don’t forget to stop by the library to pick up your reading log! For more information, please contact the Ukiah Branch Library at 707-463-4490.

ENVIRONMENTAL POTLUCK PICNIC

June 12 - Environmental Partnership Potluck 1:00 PM - 4:00 PM at Greenwood Community Center, Elk

For many years, coast-based environmental organizations (California Native Plant Society, Dorothy King Young Chapter; Mendocino Land Trust; MendoParks; and Mendocino Coast Audubon Society) have taken turns hosting an annual meeting and potluck dinner. This event has traditionally been held indoors in March, but this year it was delayed due to concerns about COVID and moved to an outdoor setting.

The Mendocino Coast Audubon is hosting this year's event, and the Noyo Marine Science Center has been invited to join us. We will meet at the Greenwood Community Center (6129 S Highway 1 Elk, CA 95432) in Elk for an outdoor potluck picnic next to the community bread oven. If the weather is unfavorable, we can move inside. Bring a dish to share with the other participants and whatever you wish to drink. Please also bring your own plates and utensils. There is no charge for this event.

After lunch, the meeting will begin with brief presentations from each organization summarizing their goals and achievements for the year. Additional presentations may be made to describe major projects that the participating organizations are involved with. After that, we will present the Matt Coleman Environmental Service Award to a recipient whose efforts have made a difference to our community. This year's recipient is someone well known to many, so I hope you will join us for a great party in celebration.

LEE EDMUNDSON asks: What's with the red-boxed "Hydrogen Peroxide Kills Covid" ad on your webpage? It's highly dangerous disinformation. Can I buy an ad that says, "Injecting bleach kills covid"?

ED NOTES

PAST COUPLA days a posse of homophobes has paused in Mendocino and Fort Bragg to shout abuse at and about same-sexers. No ID yet. Speculation, ranges from a splinter “Christian” group unclear on JC's message, or, simply a neighborhood band of Mendo yobbos. That the phobes have limited themselves to sneak attacks rather than risk the wrath of pre-alerted, Mendolib doesn't say much about their cojones…

NOW we get a prime time week of Democrat posturing about how they “saved democracy” from Trump and are still saving democracy from Trump, all of it, produced by a showbiz production guy. First off, the Jan 6 event was a, riot, not an insurrection. (The insurrection is coming up when Trump loses, again in 2024.) An insurrection is characterized by armed teams who have a tactical plan. The Jan 6 was a mob of blowhards blown into life by America's all-time blowhard who, typical of blowhards, whipped up the mob, before ducking into the impregnable safety of the White House. But if Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell are all that stands between US democracy and the looming fat boy fascism…

NEWSPAPERS get a lot of hit pieces, most of them anonymous. The SF Chron, when Herb Caen was a daily must-read, carried a large deductible out of which the libeled were paid off, and often without the paper contesting their claim because it was simpler and cheaper to pay people to go away than litigate their claims. (Mendo taxpayers will be pleased to learn that our County Counsel's office routinely pays out for false claims against the County on the same weak-kneed principle that it's cheaper than going to court.) But the late, great Caen, like everyone else in the print media, was absolutely scrupulous about distinguishing truth from untruth, as is the Boonville weekly.

ER, CHECK THAT. I've been libeled by the Press Democrat and other newspapers several times over the years, and when I wrote in to set the record straight, they held my letter of complaint so long that by the time it appeared people had no idea what I was whining about. All media are less scrupulous, of course, about opinion, and it's always surprised me that so many people can't tell the diff.

LATELY, we've received a lengthy denunciation of a couple of Fort Bragg teachers unknown to me, and another lengthy denunciation of Jacob Patterson, the Fort Bragg attorney, and his mom, both of whom would qualify as public persons if they tried to sue for defamation. I speak here as the proud owner of around forty lawyer demand letters, as in “Immediately retract the enumerated false statements or...”

MAKING AN ERROR of fact in print has always terrified me. When I've committed that worst of all newspaper sins I rushed out a retraction as fast and as broadly as I could, including written apologies to the wronged parties. Fortunately, I haven't had to do that too often. But I've always welcomed demand letters from lawyers as an opportunity for more fun. Some sap of a client has paid the legal eagle to demand satisfaction despite, probably, the legal eagle trying to dissuade the client from wasting his money. In all of the cases where I was threatened with legal action, I was secure in my possession of the true facts which, thanks to the duped lawyer, I was again able to re-print the original offense alleged along with the comic addition of the demand letter.

AS A RULE, however, I'm not going to print unsigned accusations. If you present your verifiable identify to me, I probably will. I understand we live in an angry time, and if all the unhappiness out there could be converted to fuel, gasoline would be 11 cents a gallon, but please think twice about trying to get your enemies via unsigned allegations about their sins, real or imagined.

DEPARTMENT of unintentional hilarity: In the lede story by Bryan Cebulski in last week's Independent Coast Observer about the withdrawal of three logging plans at Jackson State Forest, this false statement occurs: “…This is a pretty big deal,” said Naomi Wagner, nonviolence trainer and media coordinator for the Redwood Nation Earth First!”

ACCORDING to their website, the Redwood Nation hasn't been active in the tree saving business since 2019. Of course you can send money to the no-longer-in-existence one-person organization and get yourself non-violently trained, too, for a few more bucks.

EARTH FIRST! was always heavy on scammers, and federal agents too, for that matter. In its origins with Dave Foreman, EF! stood for, well, putting the earth first. And then Foreman was driven out of the idea he'd given life to by Judi Bari, who falsely accused him of sexism and a lack of ideological purity generally. Then Bari's ex-husband blew her up with a car bomb and the Bari phenomenon — Earth First! with it — segued into a lucrative federal lawsuit aimed at enriching Bari and Darryl Cherney. If they won the suit, they said, they'd plant whole forests of trees, and the money rolled in from dupes across the land with nary a tree planted when the ultimate scam prevailed as the federal government and Bari-Cherney co-wrote their case to exclude all mention of who dunnit. And what we have thirty years later is a pile of lies guarded by the ”free speech” bastions at KMUD; KZYX; and KPFA. The bomber, incidentally, lives in comfortable exile in New Zealand after a lucrative career as Mendocino County's lead trash bureaucrat, no questions asked, natch, in the county where you are whatever you say you are and history starts all over again every morning.

MRS. DRAYMOND GREEN: “Tough loss tonight BUT in NO WAY, shape or form should fans be allowed to chant obscenities at players!,” Renee wrote, adding that the couple’s young children heard fans yelling “ F–k you Draymond” and calling their dad a “b–ch,” among other things. Are they not human? Is someone standing at your job saying off the wall things to you? The NBA has the audacity to have a whole code of conduct card at every seat about fans and their behavior and how they could be ejected from a game or banned but a whole crowd/section numbers people get to chant (cq) F–K YOU DRAYMOND or call him a B–ch or MF?!” And nothing?? Like that’s ok??,” Renee wrote, tagging Green and the NBA in her post.

CELTICS FANS, with that shameful exhibition last night, have won themselves Worst Ever. The refs should have issued a warning to stop the chants, and if the chants didn't stop, have the Warriors start shooting T's. And where's the NBA? They should make a rule against this kind of thing with real teeth in it. I've seen lots of obnoxious sports fans over the years, but they were individual yobs, not a whole auditorium screaming in unison. Add one more sign of the apocalypse.

TRENT JAMES, Wednesday: “Hey everyone, I’ve been having a lot of people ask me about a timeline for the election results. I was informed it should take approximately 2-3 weeks to get the final count. So, don’t get discouraged, for those of you that did vote for me. Win or lose I appreciate all the support I’ve received and am thankful for those who have gone out of their way to help me with the campaign. Also, don’t read too much into certain biased “news” articles, pertaining to me, or the campaign. We will see what happens.”

IT’S HISTORY NOW, of course, but we couldn’t help notice that on his facebook post for June 5, 2022, Sheriff Candidate Trent James complained that he had been misquoted in his interview with Matt LaFever concerning his position on “defunding the police.”

It looks like James is correct. Mr. LaFever’s poor phrasing clearly leaves the impression that James was for defunding the police when he was actually trying to say that mental health crisis services should be funded — but not with Law Enforcement funds.

LaFever: “Addressing the Defunding the Police movement and the call to redirect some funding to mental health services, James was all for it. He asserted law enforcement should not be in the business of psychiatry or counseling. ‘We’re peacekeepers and we enforce the laws’.”

JAMES MADE IT QUITE CLEAR on his facebook video that he is steadfastly opposed to any kind of law enforcement defunding. “Defunding has been proven to not work in metropolitan areas,” said James. “When the George Floyd thing happened they just got rid of half their dudes and all of a sudden it got wierd, the crime rate went through the roof and now they’re begging to get people back. But they say, No, we’re not coming back. So they have to recruit from out of the area.”

* * *

SUPERVISOR WILLIAMS (apparently on Twitter Thursday): “Mendocino BOS 2022-06-08 $4.5M Reserve spending, only $10.2M reserve remaining, sign of the times economically speaking…”

HMMM. Just a few months ago former CEO Carmel Angelo bragged that she was leaving the County with a $20 million reserve which the Albion solon thought was worthy of praise. So that leaves us wondering where the other $5.5 million went? Not to worry though, we’re sure Supervisor Williams will get to the bottom of it.

(Mark Scaramella)

WHO’S DRIVING THIS TRAIN?! It’s our beautiful, talented, compassionate and diplomatic dear Sarah Songbird. She’s a hell of a friend to have in your corner. We love you Songbird! Today, on your birthday, we hope all your dreams come true. This band wouldn’t be Real without you.

NOYO BRIDGE JUMP SUICIDE

On June 7th, at approximately 11:03 a.m., Officers were dispatched to the Noyo Bridge for the report of a male subject who was standing on the outside of the pedestrian bridge railing. The first Officer arrived on scene within minutes and made contact with the subject.

For approximately 30 minutes, the Officer on scene spent time communicating with the adult male victim desperately attempting to convince him to come back over the railing. Unfortunately, as a Crisis Worker arrived on scene to assist, the victim chose to jump to his death.

The Officer who was in contact with the victim was able to travel on foot down the steep terrain to the south of the Noyo Bridge and locate the victim on the ground below. It was apparent the victim was deceased and medical personnel were notified. The victim’s next of kin have been notified however we will not be releasing the victim’s name out of respect for the family.

The Fort Bragg Police Department sends their heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of the victim. We would also like to remind the public of the local 24/7 crisis line available at 1-855-838-0404. Family members or friends of individuals suffering from crisis or mental health issues may reach out to the crisis line or the Fort Bragg Police Department at 707-964-0200 to learn about available resources.

The Fort Bragg Police Department would like to thank the multiple agencies who arrived to assist with this incident. State Parks provided traffic control and a lifeguard in case the incident turned into a water rescue. Adventist Health Mendocino Coast supplied two ambulances at either side of the Noyo Bridge to expedite medical care should it be needed. The United States Coast Guard provided a boat to assist with a potential water rescue, and then used the boat to provide privacy for the victim’s body while it was recovered. Finally, The Fort Bragg Fire Department provided the shallow water boat intended to transport medical personnel to the inaccessible beach and ultimately to transport the victim’s body to the awaiting mortuary vehicle. A personal thanks is extended to the Redwood Community Services Crisis Worker who came to scene voluntarily to try and assist.

Wellness resources have been made available to the Officers present that day. Questions regarding this press release may be directed to Captain O’Neal at toneal@fortbragg.com or at 707-961-2800 ext. 120.

(Fort Bragg PD Presser)

C.O. Packard and Grandchildren, 1917, Mendocino

MENDOCINO COUNTY WATER NEWS: June 8, 2022

PG&E Requests Variance From FERC For Lake Pillsbury Diversions

As the state enters its third year of severe drought and what water officials say is the state's driest year on record, Russian River water users are now preparing for the possibility of a significantly reduced diversion from Lake Pillsbury. In a request to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) [3], PG&E, which owns and operates the Potter Valley Project under an annual license, wants to release five cubic feet of water per second from Lake Pillsbury into the East Branch of the Russian River, which flows into Lake Mendocino. This is a variance from the 75 cubic feet per second required this time of year under normal conditions.

By the end of the water year last year, the utility aimed to have 12,000-acre feet of water in Lake Pillsbury. This year, after consulting with the Round Valley Indian Tribes and state and federal regulators, PG&E wants to maintain at least 30,000-acre feet in the reservoir. In a letter to FERC [4], PG&E states that “due to current drought conditions and operating restrictions, the storage in Lake Pillsbury is severely depleted and is expected to reach critical levels later in the summer, whereby bank sloughing in the vicinity of the outlet works and impaired flow releases may occur. Therefore, in order to conserve water and ensure project operability, PG&E is proposing to reduce minimum flow releases to the East Russian River from the current dry water year requirement of 25 cubic feet per second (cfs) to a critically dry water year requirement of 5 cfs.”

According to Elizabeth Salomone, general manager of the Russian River Flood Control and Water Conservation Improvement District [5], although variances last year were the same, water managers expected five times more this year. This assumption was based on the water levels in Lake Pillsbury, which filled during winter storms, as well as the Potter Valley Project license terms. “In other words, the request for five cfs is a significant change from the current license,” she asserted. “And I believe there will be questions. What is the justification for that great change, from the expected 25, based on conditions, and the five they've asked for?”

FERC has also received a letter from The Potter Valley Irrigation District [6] complaining that PG&E has not consulted with a full range of stakeholders before requesting the variance, noting that the new minimum storage target of 30,000 acres is “not supported by any definitive studies or modeling of prior year conditions and is clearly outside the existing license requirements.” PG&E written that it plans to re-convene the drought working group, but that if the full group cannot agree on flow adjustments, it will be decided by the Round Valley Indian Tribes, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, and the National Marine Fisheries Service.

State Adopts New Drought Regulations

On May 24, the State Water Resources Control Board adopted an emergency water conservation regulation [9] aimed at reducing water use across the state. According to the press release, “the new regulation bans irrigating turf at commercial, industrial, and institutional properties, such as grass in front of or next to large industrial or commercial buildings. The ban does not include watering turf that is used for recreation or other community purposes, water used at residences or water to maintain trees. The regulation also requires all urban water suppliers to implement conservation actions under Level 2 of their Water Shortage Contingency Plans.

The approved regulation will be submitted to the Office of Administrative Law (OAL) for approval, which typically occurs within 10 calendar days. The ban on non-functional turf becomes effective upon OAL approval and the Level 2 requirements for urban water suppliers are proposed to take effect on June 10, 2022.

The regulation will give suppliers new options to reduce water waste if they choose to use them. A violation of the non-functional turf irrigation provision, for example, would be an infraction and subject to a fine of up to $500. People who see water waste should report it at savewater.ca.gov.”

State Water Board Approves Voluntary Water Sharing Agreement For Russian River

With ongoing drought conditions straining water supplies and creating uncertainty throughout California, the State Water Resources Control Board today approved a unique agreement that allows right holders in the Upper Russian River watershed to voluntarily reduce water use and share their available water.

Agricultural, municipal, tribal and other stakeholders in the region have worked together for many months to craft a community-focused approach for allocating scarce water supplies. The collaborative, community-first approach, negotiated over many months, is the first of its kind to try to bring balance to the allocation of water supplies in a state governed by what one board member called an “inherently inequitable” water rights system. In lieu of the century-plus-old “first in time, first in right” system, where junior water rights can be fully curtailed while senior rights remain unaffected, the voluntary framework approved Tuesday allows neighbors to support each other through hard times.

Under the 2022 Upper Russian River Voluntary Sharing Agreement program, participants who still possess water under their water rights can share it with those who do not, serving as a viable alternative to curtailments.

There may still be some water available to those who might be curtailed under the water sharing agreement. Still, the success of the program depends on a sufficient number of people and institutions enrolling, including enough with senior water rights to contribute enough water for junior rights holders to use. Enrollment [12] is open through June 20. Calculations made in the days to follow will determine if the program is viable for this year. Curtailments could go into effect a few days before that determination is made.

Sonoma County Petitions State for Critical Water Condition for Russian River

On Wednesday, May 25 Sonoma Water (Sonoma County Water Agency) filed Temporary Urgency Change Petitions (TUCP) with the State Water Resources Control Board [16] to establish a Critical water supply condition for both the upper and lower Russian River as the drought continues. Under Critical water supply conditions, the Russian River would have minimum instream flow requirements of 25 cfs and 35 cfs in the upper and lower river, respectively. If approved, this change will allow Sonoma Water to continue the minimum instream flows that the river is currently operating under and preserve water supply in both Lake Mendocino and Lake Sonoma.

The current petitions also commit Sonoma Water and its retail customers to a (the cities of Cotati, Petaluma, Rohnert Park, Santa Rosa and Sonoma; the town of Windsor; and Valley of the Moon and North Marin water districts) to a 20-percent reduction in total diversions from the Russian River between July 1 and October 31 compared to the same period in 2020.

The current hydrologic index in Sonoma Water's water rights permits sets minimum instream flow requirements that are out-of-date and based on inflow into Lake Pillsbury (in the Eel River watershed).The index is not based on Russian River watershed conditions, which are extremely dry. With no significant rain for the last three years, Lake Mendocino and Lake Sonoma water supply levels are at historical low levels.

To read the TUCP and learn more about the drought, please visit www.sonomawater.org/tucp

Free Harmony Day Event June 18

Free Harmony Day Event June 18, 10 AM to 2 PM at Hardwood Hall in Laytonville! Come learn about forest and grassland health, water conservation, erosion control and riparian restoration. Doors open at 9 am with free coffee and bagels and a lunch at 12:30. Co-sponsored by the Eel River Recovery Project [18], Ten Mile Creek Watershed Council [19], Resource Conservation District of Mendocino County [20] and Northern Mendocino Ecosystem Recovery Alliance [21]. For more information, call 707-223-7200 or go to https://mcrcd.org/mcrcd-news/free-harmony-day-event-june-18.

Funding Opportunity: USDA to Provide $6 Billion to Commodity and Specialty Crop Producers Impacted by 2020-2021 Natural Disasters

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) today announced that commodity and specialty crop producers impacted by natural disaster events in 2020 and 2021 will soon begin receiving emergency relief payments totaling approximately $6 billion through the Farm Service Agency's (FSA) new Emergency Relief Program (ERP) [23] to offset crop yield and value losses.

On September 30, 2021, President Biden signed into law the Extending Government Funding and Delivering Emergency Assistance Act_ (P.L. 117-43), which includes $10 billion in assistance to agricultural producers impacted by wildfires, droughts, winter storms, and other eligible disasters experienced during calendar years 2020 and 2021.

For impacted producers, existing Federal Crop Insurance [24] or Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program [25] (NAP) data is the basis for calculating initial payments. USDA estimates that phase one ERP benefits will reach more than 220,000 producers who received indemnities for losses covered by federal crop insurance and more than 4,000 producers who obtained NAP coverage for 2020 and 2021 crop losses.

To streamline and simplify the delivery of ERP phase one benefits, FSA will send pre-filled application forms to producers where crop insurance and NAP data are already on file. This form includes eligibility requirements, outlines the application process and provides ERP payment calculations. Producers will receive a separate application form for each program year in which an eligible loss occurred. Receipt of a pre-filled application is not confirmation that a producer is eligible to receive an ERP phase one payment.

For crops covered by crop insurance, the ERP phase one payment calculation for a crop and unit will depend on the type and level of coverage obtained by the producer. Each calculation will use an ERP factor based on the producer's level of crop insurance or NAP coverage.

* Crop Insurance - the ERP factor is 75% to 95% depending on the level of coverage ranging from catastrophic to at least 80% coverage. * NAP - the ERP factor is 75% to 95% depending on the level of coverage ranging from catastrophic to 65% coverage.

Full ERP payment calculation factor tables are available on the emergency relief website and in the program fact sheet [26].

MORE INFORMATION

Drought Resources: Water Footprint Calculator

When it comes to saving water, small changes can make a big impact. But before we can make meaningful changes to our personal water habits and help save water during California's drought, we must identify and understand how much water we are using. A water calculator will help you take the first step toward identifying your water-use patterns and where you can improve.

What is a Water Footprint Calculator? A water footprint calculator measures in gallons the direct and indirect freshwater used by an individual or business. The amount of water you use while showering or washing dishes is an example of direct water use. Indirect (or virtual) water use refers to the unseen water used to produce the goods and services we consume, like the amount of water used to make pet food. Accounting for your direct and indirect personal water use requires complex measurements, but with this online water footprint calculator [28] (from waterfootprintcalculator.org), it's as easy as answering a series of simple questions about your household size and daily routines. This water footprint calculator offers helpful water-saving tips throughout the questionnaire portion and shines a light on the amount of water used in manufacturing and producing our goods--a factor often overlooked when gauging water use. By understanding our personal water use patterns we can identify the areas where improvement is necessary to conserve more water and reduce our water footprints.

Groundwater Sustainability Agency Meets With New Administrator

The Ukiah Valley Basin Groundwater Sustainability Agency [29] (GSA) Board of Directors and Technical Advisory Committee hosted a workshop/meeting [30] with the new Administrator, West Yost's Erik Cadaret, on May 18th. The workshop covered Governor Newsom's Executive Order N-7-22 [31] and how it relates to current drought conditions and well permits, the implementation of the Groundwater Sustainability Plan's Project and Management Actions (PMAs) for FY 2022/2023, the solicitation of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act Grant Program's Implementation Round 2 funding for potential projects, and more. The next TAC meeting will be on June 22nd from 1:00 - 3:00 PM [32] and the next Board meeting will be on June 23rd from 1:30 - 3:00 PM [33].

Countywide Drought Ad Hoc Committee

Upcoming Meetings: June 16 [34] at 4:00-5:30 PM [35]

THE FUN BUNCH INVITES YOU....

Join Mendo Coast BIPOC and Change Our Name Fort Bragg to screen the film The Neutral Ground on Thursday, June 9th from 6-8p.

The Neutral Ground documents the City of New Orleans' fight over monuments and America's troubled romance with the Lost Cause. In 2015, director CJ Hunt was filming the New Orleans City Council's vote to remove four confederate monuments. But when that removal is halted by death threats, CJ sets out to understand why a losing army from 1865 still holds so much power in America.”

We aim to raise awareness and get folks in our community having conversations about racism.

Film screening 6:05-7:25p; Discussion 7:30-8p

Official trailer (aired on PBS June 2021) – https://youtu.be/hoDaHOii5o4

For more information, follow us at…

https://www.instagram.com/mendocoastbipoc/
https://linktr.ee/MendoCoast_BIPOC
https://www.changeournamefortbragg.com/

Kah-la-deh-mun Change our Name!

JUST IN

नंदलाल मुरलिया वाले गोपाल मुरलिया वाले

In the here and now, at Building Bridges homeless shelter in the Mendocino county seat of Ukiah, making myself useful taking out the trash and recycling for over 60 individuals who are active hereabout 'round the clock. This is an industrial situation. Period. Meanwhile, am awaiting dental appointments at two clinics on June 21st and 24th. I don't have anything else to report. ☺

Craig Louis Stehr

NARCAN SAVE AT UKIAH'S BUSIEST DOPE ADDRESS

On Friday, June 3, 2022 at approximately 4:32 P.M., Mendocino County Sheriff's Deputies were dispatched to reports of an unresponsive adult male in the 1300 block of North State Street in Ukiah.

Upon arrival, Deputies observed an unresponsive adult male. Deputies assessed the adult male and located a faint pulse on the subject. Deputies determined the subject was barely breathing and he eventually stopped breathing while Sheriff's personnel were on scene. A bystander advised Deputies the subject had used fentanyl and eventually became unresponsive.

A Deputy immediately administered one 4mg dose of Narcan to the adult male and was met with negative results. A few moments later the Deputy administered a second 4mg dose of Narcan and the subject became responsive and started breathing. Medical personnel arrived a short time later and took over care of the adult male, who ultimately refused further medical treatment.

In April 2019 the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office (MCSO) began to issue NARCAN® (Naloxone HCI) nasal spray dosage units to its employees as part of their assigned personal protective equipment. MCSO's goal is in protecting the public and officers from opioid overdoses. Access to naloxone is now considered vital in the U.S. The Center for Disease Control. At that time, the California Opioid Overdose Surveillance Dashboard reported Mendocino County ranking, per capita, 3rd in all opioid overdose deaths.

Refer to dashboard for current updated ranking information. Narcan nasal spray units are widely known to reverse opioid overdose situations in adults and children. Each nasal spray device contains a four milligram dose, according to the manufacturer. Naloxone Hydrochloride, more commonly known by the brand name NARCAN®, blocks the life-threatening effects of opioid overdose (both medications and narcotics) including extreme drowsiness, slowed breathing, or loss of consciousness.

The antidote can reverse the effects of an overdose for up to an hour, but anyone who administers the overdose reversal medication in a non-medical setting is advised to seek emergency medical help right away. The spray units can also be used by Public Safety Professionals who are unknowingly or accidentally exposed to potentially fatal amounts of fentanyl from skin absorption or inhalation.

The issuance of the Narcan nasal units, thus far, have been to employees assigned to the Field Services Division and the Mendocino County Jail medical staff. Employees are required to attend user training prior to being issued the medication.

Sheriff Matthew C. Kendall would like to thank Mendocino County HHSA Public Health for providing the Narcan nasal units to the Sheriff's Office free of charge as part of the Free Narcan Grant from the California Department of Public Health.

Since the April 2019 issuance, there have now been (13) thirteen separate situations wherein Mendocino County Sheriff's Office Patrol Sergeants/Deputies have administered NARCAN and saved the lives of (13) thirteen people in need of the life saving antidote medication.

In October 2021 the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office received a grant from the California Naloxone Distribution Project through the Department of Health Care Services to help maintain an inventory of the live saving antidote.

The 192 dosage units have been distributed to the Field Services Division and Corrections Division as current inventories from Mendocino County HHSA Public Health are being exhausted.

Sheriff Matthew C. Kendall would like to thank the California Naloxone Distribution Project through the Department of Health Care Services for awarding the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office with the Naloxone grant to better help protect his employees and the public.

A LITTLE WHITE WINE, MY LOVE, AND…

On Monday, June 6, 2022 at 8:35 P.M., Mendocino County Sheriff's Deputies were dispatched to the 3300 block of Holmes Ranch Road in Philo to investigate a domestic violence incident. Upon their arrival, Deputies met with fire and medical personnel. The Deputies contacted Margaret Farley, 48, who displayed objective signs of alcohol intoxication and was uncooperative with their investigation.

The Deputies were able to locate an adult male, 51 years of age, with a wound to his eye. The Deputies began their investigation and developed probable cause to believe Farley and the adult male were drinking alcohol together. At one point they began arguing and Farley punched the adult male in the eye, causing a visible injury. The Deputies observed the adult male displayed objective signs of alcohol intoxication as well.

The Deputies completed their investigation and arrested Farley for Felony Domestic Battery. Farley was transported to the Mendocino County Jail where she was held in lieu of $25,000 bail.

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WE CHECKED HIS HOUSE, AND…

On Wednesday, June 8, 2022 at 10:16 P.M., Mendocino County Sheriff's Deputies learned there was an active felony arrest warrant for Michael Mertle, a 51 year-old male from Ukiah.

The Deputies searched for Mertle and located him in the 1300 block of Sirah Court in Ukiah, CA. The Deputies arrested Mertle for the arrest warrant and transported him to the Mendocino County Jail where he was held in lieu of $15,000 bail.

ADVENTIST HEALTH EXPANDS HOSPICE SERVICES ON THE MENDOCINO COAST

Adventist Health in Mendocino County is pleased to announce an expansion of its hospice services to include Fort Bragg and the coastal community. Expanding these much-needed services enables Medicare-benefit hospice patients access to essential services.

“I’m thrilled that these hospice services will be available to the community for the first time in 25 years,” said Junice Wilson, Home Health Administrative Director for Adventist Health Mendocino Coast. “Expanding our existing range of services out of Willits to the coast will provide continuity of care for both locations and will provide much-needed support to the community.”

Adventist Health Home Care Services cares for patients who have a disability, chronic illness, acute illness, or terminal illness, or who may be in recovery from major surgery or injury. Home care services available in Fort Bragg include home nurses, physical and occupational therapists, medical social workers, and home health aides. Hospice services will also include a chaplain, a bereavement director, and a medical director.

“Expanding hospice care to the coast reflects our goal to provide compassionate healthcare locally,” said Judson Howe, president of Adventist Health North Coast Network. “We’re excited to be able to scale our services to best meet the healthcare needs of our coastal community residents.”

Hospice care focuses on the quality of life for people and their caregivers who are experiencing an advanced, life-limiting illness. It is helpful when a disease, such as advanced cancer, gets to the point when treatment can no longer cure or control it.

“Formalizing and extending our hospice services to the Mendocino Coast further deepens our commitment to the community’s well-being,” said Judy Leach, administrator of Adventist Health Mendocino Coast. “We’re very grateful to be able to provide professional, compassionate home and hospice care locally to our neighbors, friends, and loved ones. Extending access to care for our community is a crucial part of our work and we are so appreciative to be here to do so, in the place we call home.”

To learn more about Home Care and Hospice services through Adventist Health Mendocino Coast, please visit: https://www.adventisthealth.org/home-care-services/locations/mendocino-county or call (707) 961-4651.

(Adventists Presser)

CATCH OF THE DAY, June 9, 2022

JOHNNY AZBILL, Santa Rosa/Ukiah. Failure to appear.

DAVID BROWN, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.

ERIK BURGESS, Ukiah. Failure to registered as transient.

BRIAN CANTUA, Willits. Stolen property.

MARGARET FARLEY, Philo. Domestic battery.

NORMAN FAZENBAKER JR., Fort Bragg. Arson, trespassing.

RODOLFO GONZALEZ-ALVAREZ, Willits. Suspended license, failure to appear, probation revocation.

JOAQUINA JOAQUIN, Covelo. Proceedings.

NOLAN LAMONT, Willits. Grand theft. (Photo not available.)

SHAWN MCNEELY, DUI, suspended license for DUI, probation revocation.

MICHAEL MERTLE, Ukiah. Failure to appear.

NATHAN MOORE, Fort Bragg. Protective order violation.

JAKE SCHULER, Ukiah. Suspended license, ammo possession by prohibited person, parole violation.

DAVID SHERMAN, Ukiah. Refuse disposal in state waters, trespassing, no license.

EDWARD STEELE, Ukiah. County parole violation.

ALY SY, Ukiah. Assault, trespassing.

JOHN WAHLSTROM, Fort Bragg. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.

THOMAS WILLIAMS JR., Willits. Probation revocation.

UKRAINE, THURSDAY, 9 JUNE

As Thursday drew to a close in Kyiv and in Moscow, here are the key developments of the day:

Russian forces control most of the city of Sievierodonetsk in eastern Ukraine, with Ukrainians holding ground in its industrial zone, the governor of Luhansk said on social media. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the battle as the epicenter and key to the fate of the Donbas region. Both sides are believed to be suffering heavy losses in the urban fighting but are keeping casualty figures quiet. Western intelligence agencies say that a Russian victory in Sievierodonetsk would allow Russia to continue pushing farther into parts of eastern Ukraine.

Radiation detectors at the defunct Chernobyl nuclear power plant are back online. The International Atomic Energy Agency says the detectors have found normal radiation levels at Chernobyl, the site of one of the world's worst nuclear disasters in 1986. Russia seized the plant on the first day of its invasion in February. Russia's actions in the area raised international concerns they could cause radiation to spike in the exclusion zone around the plant. Ukraine retook control of the area in late March.

Two British citizens and a Moroccan received death sentences for fighting for Ukraine, in a court in the pro-Russian separatist Donetsk region. Russia's RIA Novosti reported that Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner of the United Kingdom and Saaudun Brahim from Morocco are accused of being mercenaries, who surrendered in Mariupol, Ukraine, in April. They have a month to appeal the sentence, the state news agency said. The British foreign secretary condemned the ruling as “a sham judgement with absolutely no legitimacy.”

A Ukrainian court upheld a ban on a political party with ties to Russia.President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a law last month banning pro-Russian parties from government. The law allows the justice ministry to seize the assets of any party that “glorifies or justifies any armed aggression” against Ukraine. Before Russia's invasion, the only pro-Russian party in parliament held about one-tenth of seats. After the invasion, the party disbanded, rebranded and came back with an anti-war stance. But officials ordered the party to liquidate. Now there's no official pro-Russian position in Ukraine's government for the first time since independence 30 years ago.

At least 4.8 million refugees from Ukraine are in Europe, according to the United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR. The updated figure is based on data from national authorities and reflects Ukrainians' movements into different countries, as well as those returning home, since the Russian invasion. As of Tuesday, the agency recorded 7.3 million border crossings from Ukraine and another 2.3 million crossings back into the country.

— NPR

IF THE CALIFORNIA WINE INDUSTRY WANTS TO SURVIVE, IT MUST USE LESS WATER

by Esther Mobley

On Tuesday I moderated a panel at Napa Thrives, a wine-industry conference focused on climate change. The subject of my panel was one that's been on many Californians' minds lately: water.

Notwithstanding the 2 inches of rain the North Bay got last weekend, we are still in a severe drought. A lack of water affects all of our lives here; California just ordered cities including San Francisco to stop pumping water from rivers and creeks. But it presents existential questions for California agriculture, including wine, as climate change intensifies our state's drought cycle. If wine is to have a future here, it has to figure out how to reduce its water consumption.

None of this is news. But the conversation during Tuesday's panel — especially some context provided by panelist Peter Gleick, a leading climate scientist who studies water at Oakland's Pacific Institute — helped me see the situation in a new light.

The most shocking figure, to me, that Gleick shared was that 80% of California's water goes to agriculture. Maybe that shouldn't be surprising given how much of the country's food and drink we produce here. But it underscores the fact that water issues have to be handled on an industry-wide basis, not simply by asking laypeople to stop watering their lawns.

Vineyards gulp a lot of water, but the wine production process uses considerable amounts of water at other stages too, largely to clean the production facility. Compared with other forms of beverage production, winemaking does not look very water-efficient: Coca-Cola used 1.84 liters of water for every liter of Coke produced in 2020, while wineries use about 7 to 16 liters of water per liter of wine, according to the journal Water Science & Technology.

Gleick reminded us that we have three options when it comes to climate change: mitigation (trying to lessen the effects of climate change), adaptation (changing our behavior to accommodate the changing climate) and suffering (exactly what it sounds like).

When it comes to wine, the “suffering” scenario might entail producing lower-quality wine or making less of it — which, for a $40 billion statewide industry, matters.

We're already seeing some of these effects. Last year's crop was severely diminished, volume-wise, by the drought, which essentially weakens grapevines and causes them to yield fewer grapes. Gleick described the situation as “peak water”: We're reaching the limit of what we can do with the amount of water we currently have.

The narrative about these types of climate-change effects tends to focus on our collective helplessness — and indeed, no winemaker could have caused the sky to rain more last year. But that sentiment obscures the opportunity that human beings have to mitigate the situation.

“We can grow more grapes with less water,” Gleick said.

The question is: How? For one thing, grape farmers should be investing in widely available technologies that allow them to precisely monitor their soil moisture on a micro-level, so that they can irrigate only in the spots that absolutely need water, rather than watering an entire vineyard indiscriminately.

Recycled wastewater, Gleick suggested, will also be key to the solution. Many larger estate wineries in the Bay Area already have wastewater treatment plants onsite, and others have built pipelines to municipal facilities that provide recycled water. Another panelist, Nathalie Jure, the director of viticulture at Opus One, spoke about her company's use of recycled wastewater. To the extent that there's a negative perception associated with the idea of this reused runoff, it may be important that high-profile, reputable wineries like Opus One speak publicly about their embrace of it.

Additional technologies are becoming available that can help. We heard on the panel from Alex Farren, who runs a company called BlueMorph that uses UV light to sanitize winery tanks, replacing the standard process of cleaning with caustic chemicals and lots of water. Most wine drinkers probably aren't attuned to the details of winery sanitation, but eliminating excessive water use at every stage of the production process counts.

The good news: Wine is doing better than many other forms of agriculture. Of all the water used by California agriculture, wine accounts for only about 3%, Gleick said. But there's still a long way to go.

The Napa Thrives conference will continue with five more events throughout June, and Thursday's program, focused on energy efficiency, is moderated by former Chronicle newsletter editor Taylor Kate Brown.

I hope events like these can continue to catalyze meaningful action in the wine industry and in all of our lives. In the meantime, please, everyone, stop watering your lawns!

(sfchronicle.com)

HOW THEY MADE CHESA BOUDIN SF’S FALL GUY

by Jonah Raskin

Call him the man on the street, or better yet the man on the bus. In San Francisco, it was June 8th, the day after Election Day. The banner headline in the Examiner screamed, “Boudin Ousted in Crushing Recall Defeat.” The man on the bus looked over my shoulder, read the words and shook his head. “Oh, no,” he moaned. “This is terrible news.” It was disappointing to me. I had followed the campaign and Boudin for months and thought he had a chance to beat the recall. But that was not to be.

60,000 voters had cast ballots demanding that the controversial DA leave office. 40,000 wanted him to keep his job and continue to do what he started, which was to reform a criminal injustice system that favored the wealthy and punished the impoverished. San Franciscans were proud that their local story made the national news, though they seemed to be more focused on the Warriors than the recall.

On the afternoon of Election Day I worked the phones at Boudin’s headquarters on Noe Street off Market. I wanted to contribute to the cause and I saw myself as a participant journalist operating on the inside, not the outside. A couple of photographers took pictures, but there were no journalists around to observe and ask questions. Cellphones and laptops dotted tables. Flyers filled brown paper bags. The floors needed to be swept and mopped, though no one besides me seemed to notice. And no one besides me observed that Boudin’s headquarters was reminiscent of the SDS national headquarters in Chicago where I spent part of a summer writing New Left propaganda about George Jackson and Huey Newton, whom Eldridge Cleaver described as “the baddest motherfucker ever to step inside history.”

The volunteers on Noe Street looked like the SDS members I met long ago. They had more or less the same spirit of defiance and eagerness to do something that would make a difference. Six young Chinese men and women sat closely together in a small room and made phone calls to Chinese voters, using a prompt in Chinese written by Dixon, their supervisor, with all the appropriate talking points. When I asked Dixon, “Which way will the Asian vote go, for or against Boudin?,” he replied, “That’s the $4 million dollar question.” In fact he had no answers, only questions of his own and the resolve to keep on campaigning until the last possible moment before the polls closed.

On the phone for a few hours I talked to voters who were known supporters of Boudin to make sure they had actually cast a ballot for their candidate. No surprise. Most of them had, though many hung up before I could talk to them, and more than a few said, “Don’t bother me.” One man eager to chat said, “I can’t see how San Francisco voters could be so stupid as to want to recall Boudin. He’s doing what we elected him to do.” Maybe the eager talker was right. Maybe voters were stupid. Tens of thousands of them had bought into the big lie that branded Boudin as soft on crime and a criminal’s best friend. Not true. That data showed that crime had not soared under Boudin’s command. It was yet another example that the perception carries more weight than the reality, the tail wagging the dog.

SF citizens were angry with whatever: the world, the pandemic, homelessness, corruption in high places, drug addicts in the streets and more. Chesa Boudin was the fall guy. He had to take the rap, though when he spoke to his supporters at 9 p.m., when the votes were all counted, he didn’t sound like a defeated candidate, but rather like an organizer embarking on yet another campaign and setting a fire under the troops. It might have been ’68 or ‘69, though unlike most of the SDS rebels from that era, Chesa had opted for a career in the law, ran for public office and aimed to use wisely whatever power he had in his hands.

In the packed crowd, standing a few feet from where I was standing and writing in my notebook, I saw Chesa’s biological father, David Gilbert, who had recently been released from prison. I couldn’t read the expression on his face. Was he proud or stunned or some of both? Also in the crowd: Bernardine Dohrn and Bill Ayers who had raised Chesa, along with their two sons, Malik and Zayd. The veterans of the 60s, 70s and beyond didn’t come to the microphone or make their presence known. They seemed content to remain anonymous and unrecognized, though voters knew all about them. They were yet another strike against the DA. The occasion belonged to Chesa who climbed on top of a beer keg, held the microphone in his right hand and said, “This is not a moment in time. This is the beginning of a movement.” He sounded like he believed his own words. The crowd chanted, “Chesa, Chesa, Chesa.” Their voices rose into the night sky.

Miss Clara Brady and her Chair, Caspar, 1912

UVALDE PEDIATRICIAN TESTIMONY THURSDAY

My name is Doctor Roy Guerrero. I am a board certified Pediatrician and I was present at Uvalde Memorial Hospital the day of the massacre on May 24th, 2022 at Robb Elementary school.

I was called here today as a witness. But I showed up because I am a doctor.

Because years ago I swore an oath. An oath to do no harm.

After witnessing first hand the carnage in my hometown of Uvalde, to stay silent would have betrayed that oath. Inaction is harm. Passivity is harm. Delay is harm.

So here I am.

Not to plead, or to beg or to convince you of anything. But to do my job. And hope that by doing so it inspires the members of this house to do theirs.

I have lived in Uvalde my whole life. In fact I attended Robb Elementary school myself as a kid. As is often the case with us grown ups we remember a lot of the good and not so much of the bad. So I don’t recall homework or spelling bees, I remember how much I loved going to school, and what a joyful time it was. Back then we were able to run between classrooms with ease to visit our friends. And I remember the way the cafeteria smelled on Hamburger Thursdays. I guess those burgers must have been good because I can still smell them today as if they’re cooking in my own kitchen. And maybe they still are - it’s been a while since I visited Robb.

It was right around lunchtime on a Tuesday that a gunman entered the school through the main door without restriction, massacred 19 students and 2 teachers and changed the way every student at Robb and their families will remember that school, forever. I doubt they’ll remember the smell of the cafeteria or the laughter ringing in the hallways. Instead they’ll be haunted by the memory of screams and bloodshed, panic and chaos. Police shouting, parents wailing. I know I will never forget what I saw that day.

For me the day started like any typical Tuesday at our Pediatric clinic - moms calling for coughs, boogers and sports physicals before the summer rush. School was out in two days then summer camps would guarantee some grazes and ankle sprains. Injuries that could be patched up and fixed with a Mickey mouse sticker as a reward.

Then at 12.30 business as usual stopped and with it my heart. A colleague from a San Antonio trauma center texted me a message: “ Why are the pediatric surgeons and anesthesiologists on call for a mass shooting in Uvalde?”

I raced to the hospital to find parents outside yelling children’s names in desperation and sobbing as they begged for any news related to their child. Those mother’s cries I will never get out of my head.

As I entered the chaos of the ER the first casualty I came across was Miah Cerrillo. She was sitting in the hallway. Her face was still, she was clearly in shock, but her whole body was shaking from the adrenaline coursing through it. The white Lilo and Stitch shirt she wore was covered in blood and her shoulder was bleeding from a shrapnel injury. Sweet Miah. I’ve known her her whole life. As a baby she survived major liver surgeries against all odds. And once again she’s here. As a survivor. Inspiring us with her bravery in telling her story. Thank you Miah.

When I saw Miah sitting there I remembered having seen her parents outside. So after quickly examining two other patients of mine also in the hallway with minor injuries, I raced outside to let them know Miah was alive. I wasn’t ready for their next urgent and desperate question: “ Where's Elena” ??! Elena is Miah’s 8 year old sister who was also at Robb at the time of the shooting. I had heard from some nurses that there were “two dead children” who had been moved to the surgical area of the hospital. As I made my way there I prayed I wouldn’t find her. I didn’t find Elena, but what I did find was something no prayer will ever relieve...

Two children, whose bodies had been so pulverized by the bullets fired at them, over and over again, whose flesh had been so ripped apart, that the only clue as to their identities were the blood spattered cartoon clothes still clinging to them. Clinging for life and finding none.

I could only hope these two bodies were the tragic exception to the list of survivors. But as I waited there with my fellow Uvalde doctors, nurses, first responders and hospital staff for the other casualties we hoped to save, they NEVER arrived. All that remained was the bodies of 17 more children and the two teachers who cared so much for them, who dedicated their careers to nurturing and respecting the awesome potential of every single one.

I’ll tell you why I became a Pediatrician. Because I knew that children were the best patients. I wanted to be able to treat people who would deal only in facts. I love that with my job, a child who comes in is typically better in a few days. Their bodies are flexible but most importantly their minds are open. They accept the situation as it’s explained to them, they follow the treatment and in most cases they learn from the experience. Whether it's wearing their seatbelt or what to do next time they feel they have a fever. You don’t have to coax them into changing their lifestyles in order to get better or plead with them to modify their behavior as you do with adults. No matter how hard you try to help an adult, their path to healing is always determined by how willing they are to take action. Adults are stubborn. We’re resistant to change even when the change will make things better for ourselves. But especially when we think we’re immune to the fallout.

Why else would there have been such little progress made in Congress to stop gun violence? Innocent children all over the country today are dead because laws and policy allows people to buy weapons BEFORE they’re legally even old enough to buy a pack of beer. They are dead because restrictions have been allowed to lapse. They’re dead because there are no rules about where guns are kept. Because no one is paying attention to who is buying them.

The thing I can’t figure out is whether our politicians are failing us out of stubbornness or passivity or both. I said before that as grown ups we have a convenient habit of remembering the good and forgetting the bad. Nevermore so than when it comes to our guns. Once the blood is rinsed away from the bodies of our loved ones, and scrubbed off the floors or the schools and supermarkets and churches, the carnage from each scene is erased from our collective conscience and we return once again to nostalgia. To the rose tinted view of our second amendment as a perfect instrument of American life, no matter how many lives are lost.

I chose to be a pediatrician. I chose to take care of children. Keeping them safe from preventable diseases I can do. Keeping them safe from bacteria and brittle bones I can do. But making sure our children are safe from guns, that’s the job of our politicians and leaders. In this case, you are the doctors and our country is the patient. We are lying on the operating table, riddled with bullets like the children of Robb Elementary and so many other schools. We are bleeding out and you are not there. You are sitting in your office filling out the paperwork so you can get paid.

My oath as a doctor means that I signed up to save lives. I do my job. I guess it turns out that I am here to plead. To beg. To please, please do yours.

YOU CAN LEARN MORE ABOUT US FOREIGN POLICY from a casual glance at a list of the world's largest proven oil reserves than you can from a lifetime of consuming mainstream news media.

— Caitlin Johnstone

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

Been off coffee for awhile now. The acid just ate me up and I got so I couldn’t stand the taste. Switched up to 5 Hour Energy in bubbly water and I like that much better. 5 Hour has a bad rap in some quarters, but it’s actually all good stuff. No Guarana or any of that dicey stuff. Still have to watch the amounts though. No more than two a day. And gotta shop for the generic (Kroger for me), as the real stuff is off the charts expensive.

I think my little incident was Sunday was mostly alcohol provoked, as I’ve long had a problem with racing heart after alcohol, especially when I get locked into the maniacal caffeine during the day, alcohol at night routine. Combine that with a little dehydration (goes hand in hand with alcohol use) and some ill-advised really hard workouts to “compensate” for my hangovers and there ya go. REALLY, REALLY stupid juvenile behavior at the tender age of 65.

But I’m back to my fire-breathing self again now. BP 105/60, HR 66 this morning. Slept 9 perfect hours, and workouts are back to full strength and duration. Thinking “meta:” I actually think I do these things to myself on purpose in order to set boundaries. I’ve always been a hard-headed sum’ bitch, who when told I can’t or shouldn’t do something, am pretty much guaranteed to violate that rule just to test its validity. Still a punk at 65 – LOL! Who’d a thunk?

ADVENTURES WITH RITE-AID

I'm trying to get a prescription filled. I phoned Rite-Aid to get it done. Rite-Aid is not EASY cause you get a central phone answering system which tells you what days they are open, what hours they are open, & where to call if you want info about Covid before they give you a chance to click into a particular extension. And usually if you're calling the pharmacy, it rings seven times, then reverts to the central answering system, then you click the extension number, it rings another seven times, then reverts again to the central system, you click the extension, it rings seven times, reverts to the system, you click the extension & it rings Six times & finally someone answers! You ask if the prescription you ordered is ready for pick up & they tell you the doctor's office hasn't replied to their request. They tell you to call the doctor's office.

You ring the doctor's office & get a long message about days & hours & Covid info, then they finally answer & you ask about a prescription & they tell you to call the pharmacy. You tell them you've CALLED the pharmacy, but the pharmacy tells you the doctor's office hasn't called back with an okay.

TODAY: I've done ALL this, & I've ended up calling Rite-Aid twice, cause the doctor's office says they sent an okay six days ago. I tell that to Rite-Aid & they tell me yes, that's true, but they had to send the doctor's office a DWI to fill out & return, but the doctor's office has never sent it back! So you call the DOCTOR'S office AGAIN, & go through this story AGAIN. They say to wait a moment, & go off to look up something, While I wait for them, I listen to a recorded message three times, & finally the doctor's office comes back on the line & says, “What's your phone number; we'll have to call you back,” & I give that to them & hang up.

So here's where I am! I'm waiting for what the doctor's office's story is. So since I originally asked for the prescription, SEVEN DAYS have gone by. WTF. Some days it seems like NOTHING IS WORKING ANY MORE. I will share with you the fact that the prescription I'm talking about is for diabetic test strips, so it is NOT a matter of something I need to take every day & I'm OUT of it, but it COULD be, that's the scary thing. And I don't know who to blame, they all have their own story. What would YOU do?

Ellie Green <ellieg@mcn.org>

Fort Bragg

TODAY IN MUSIC HISTORY -- On today’s date 125 years ago, Thursday, June 3, 1897, influential American Blues guitarist, vocalist, & songwriter Lizzie Douglas (1897-1973), better-known as Memphis Minnie, was born in the Algiers neighborhood of New Orleans, Louisiana.

Douglas learned to play the banjo by the age of 10 & the guitar by the age of 11. In 1910, at the age of 13, she ran away from home to live on Beale Street in Memphis, Tennessee where she played on street corners for most of her teenage years. Her sidewalk performances led to a four-year tour of the South with the Ringling Brothers Circus from 1916 to 1920. Eventually she came back to Beale Street & became involved in the Blues scene there.

Lizzie Douglas became known as Memphis Minnie around 1929 after she went to New York City for her first recording sessions. Her recording career lasted from the 1920s to the 1950s. She recorded around 200 songs, becoming well-known in a genre dominated mostly by men. Bluesman Big Bill Broonzy (1893-1958) once said that Minnie could “pick a guitar & sing as good as any man I’ve ever heard.”

Memphis Minnie has been described as “the most popular female Country-Blues singer of all time,” & she was on later singers such as Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton (1926-1984) & Jo Ann Kelly (1944-1990).

On August 6, 1973, Memphis Minnie died of a stroke at the age of 76 in Memphis, Tennessee.

In 1980, Memphis Minnie was inducted into the Blues Foundation’s Hall of Fame.

The photograph depicts a rendering of the visage of Memphis Minnie in a 1980 illustration from one of a set of trading cards entitled “Heroes of the Blues” by noted American underground cartoonist, Old-Time musician, & avid phonograph-record collector Robert Crumb (born 1943).

NONE OF THE WORLD'S WORST PEOPLE ARE IN PRISON. Most of them are fabulously wealthy and widely esteemed. Our systems are not set up to reward beneficial action and punish wrongdoing; at the scale that really matters, they are set up to do the exact opposite.

— Caitlin Johnstone

WHAT AR'S DO

Editor:

As a trauma surgeon for 30 years, seven in the military, I have operated on dozens of gunshot victims. Most survived — because they made it to the hospital. Victims of AR-15 shootings don’t make it to the hospital. The AR-15 is so deadly because the ammunition is high velocity. Not because it is semi-automatic; the majority of guns are semi-automatic, which refers to a mechanism moving the next bullet into the chamber.

Mass shootings are enabled by ammunition magazines holding huge numbers of bullets.

Banning guns is impossible. Banning semi-automatics is the same. The law simply should ban high-velocity military weapons, such as AR-15s and others in that class. Also, ammunition magazines holding more than 10 bullets and certain types of ammo should be banned.

The other thing I know about death by gun is that mental health is the cause in the vast majority of cases. Does anyone have any suggestions in that regard?

Dr. Roger Delgado

Santa Rosa

THE PROGRESSIVE DEMOCRAT STRATEGY of slowly changing the system from within only makes sense if you (A) pretend you've got several centuries to gradually push for drastic revolutionary changes that are urgently needed right now and (B) pretend the system isn't expressly rigged against change.

— Caitlin Johnstone

ON UKRAINE, 'PROGRESSIVE' PROXY WARRIORS SPELL DISASTER

Urging leftists to support the Ukraine proxy war, Bernie Sanders aide Matt Duss whitewashes the US role, attacks dissenting voices, and advocates the dangerous militarism that he claims to oppose.

by Aaron Maté

Even putting aside US complicity in the Ukraine proxy war and its dangers for the planet, progressives like Duss might wish to consider the likely political consequences. One obvious guide is the election of 2016, when Donald Trump won over a significant portion of voters by claiming to oppose the military interventionism that Duss is now urging progressives to embrace. Having seemingly learned nothing from 2016, Democrats in 2022 are again ceding anti-war sentiment to Republicans, 68 of whom voted against the $40 billion Ukraine bill in the House and Senate (versus zero Democrats).

...Continuing his mealy mouthed approach, Duss both claims to support diplomacy while simultaneously declaring it to be unattainable. The US, he says, “should certainly be actively engaged in finding a diplomatic path to end the war, and avoid committing to maximalist aims that could foreclose one.” But yet, according to Duss, “for the moment that path is unclear.”

If the path toward peace for Ukraine is unclear to Duss, then that can only be because he has chosen to erase the factual background and the diplomatic solutions on offer, thereby reinforcing the “maximalist aims” that he claims to oppose. Duss's proxy war apologia will certainly win him a warm reception in establishment DC circles. For the US progressive movement, Ukraine, and the rest of the planet, it only spells disaster.…

mate.substack.com/p/on-ukraine-progressive-proxy-warriors

ROYAL FAMILIES are just the descendents of whoever was murderous enough to take the throne from whoever had it before.

— Caitlin Johnstone

MEET THE CENSORED: KARA DANSKY

The feminist author of The Abolition of Sex has become the ultimate example of a new propaganda phenomenon, which denounces leftists as right-wing when they say unpopular things

by Matt Taibbi

Two years ago, in February of 2020, the Washington Post published a piece called “Conservatives find unlikely ally in fighting transgender rights: Radical feminists.” The essence of the article was to describe groups like the Women’s Liberation Front, or WoLF, full of people with decades-long track records as leftists or feminists, as not merely in temporary agreement with conservatives on trans issues, but actual converts to the entire conservative cause.

The piece described WoLF as “fringe activists” who “argue that advancements in transgender rights will come at the expense of women’s rights” and have been “shunned” by modern progressives, who call them “a discriminatory, right-wing group disguised as feminist.”

The piece was one of countless examples in which leftist or independent critics of mainstream fixations — from Russiagate to the campaign of Joe Biden to war in Ukraine — are reclassified as right-wingers and Trump supporters. The far left, libertarians, Greens, and other assorted malcontents used to be just ignored by popular media, but now they don’t even enjoy that privilege. The new instinct has a clear and effective purpose, to create the illusion that there is no intramural debate on one side of the aisle, that disagreers are actually enemies in disguise.

Kara Dansky, a WoLF board member and the author of The Abolition of Sex, may be the most outspoken feminist in America when it comes to criticizing popular current beliefs about gender identity. A former ACLU public defender, she’s focused heavily on the presence of biological men in women’s jails, and for her troubles has been essentially booted out of mainstream progressive politics.

As I noted in a review of Matt Walsh’s What is a Woman?, I originally sat on this interview in an effort to avoid dealing with blowback from trans activists. I apologized to Dansky this week and also asked her thoughts about the film, which are included below.

Dansky is an intense, sharp interview, and also a fluid and purposeful author. Ages ago, as a dumb young jock, I picked up Andrea Dworkin’s 1974 Woman Hating as a joke, and found myself engrossed and reading to the end. Dansky’s book, The Abolition of Sex, isn’t written in the same kind of fulminating, entertainingly rageful prose, but it is a persuasive exercise in no-bullshit argumentation. I recommend it even to people who are inclined to disagree with her. In these passages she talks about the corruption of language:

The entire English language is being manipulated and twisted in order to obscure the reality of sex. In June 2021, the Biden administration replaced the word “mothers” with the words “birthing people” in a section of a budget proposal regarding infant mortality. In a guide on “Safer Sex for Trans Bodies,” the Human Rights Campaign urges readers to refer to a vagina as a “front hole” and to a penis as a “strapless…”

That our language has changed so dramatically as to make the natural, material reality of sex nearly invisible, with so little public debate, is astounding… If we cannot talk about sex, we cannot talk about sexism. If we cannot talk about sexism, we cannot fight back against it.

I asked Dansky about these and other questions in an interview earlier this year. At the time, she had just done an interview with Tucker Carlson, so I asked her about blowback:

Matt Taibbi: You wrote for The Federalist and you just went on Tucker, and it’s clear that you’re uncomfortable about this to a degree. If you had a choice, would you be using these outlets?

Kara Dansky: It’s really interesting, because my choice would be to go on more mainstream, left-leaning outlets. Absolutely. I would love to have a conversation with The New York Times, with The Washington Post, with MSNBC, CNN. I would love to do that. They are not, seemingly, willing to even have a conversation about this, so I go on conservative media because conservative media will have me.

It turns out that there is actually an advantage to doing that, which is that even though it’s my party, the Democratic Party, that is driving the rush to abolish sex in law and society, my view is that Republicans are not doing enough to stand up to it. By going on conservative media, even though that is not my preference, it’s actually an opportunity to inform conservatives about how important it is and how dire the consequences are for women and girls of abolishing sex in law, because I think a lot of conservatives think that this is just a crazy lefty issue, and they don’t really appreciate how important it is.

Matt Taibbi: Could you talk about the difference between sex and gender for people who don’t understand that?

Kara Dansky: Sex is grounded in material biology. It’s what we all learned in school. All human beings are sexually dimorphic mammals. We are part of the family of mammals, and so all of us are female or male. Females have a chromosomal makeup of XX. Males have a chromosomal makeup of XY. Females produce large gametes called ova. Males produce small gametes called sperm. This is all very basic biology. That’s what sex is.

Gender, on the other hand, although the terms are very frequently used interchangeably, is more about sex stereotypes. Women stereotypically like pink. Men stereotypically like blue. Women stereotypically are nurturing. Men stereotypically are aggressive. These are stereotypes that we all have in our minds about what boys and girls are supposed to like, what men and women are supposed to like, and how we’re all supposed to act, but they have nothing to do with our biology.

Matt Taibbi: I’ve known some people who identified as trans or as women in my life, who wanted to be called she. As somebody who’s grown up with a liberal sensibility, my first thought is, “Well, if that’s the way they feel, I respect that,” and so I go along with it. I always felt like that was the right moral thing to do. Is it not?

Kara Dansky: Yeah, a couple things. I really think the use of so-called preferred pronouns, I think it messes with our head. Just as you were saying that, I noticed you kind of struggling with it, because I know that you want to use she to describe your male friends who identify as women to be kind, but it’s not easy. There’s a conflict in your own mind about that. I think that’s very deliberate, not by your friend. I think it’s a deliberate move by this whole gender identity movement to get us to be confused and to question our own understanding of the truth.

The other thing on the topic of kindness and compassion, I honestly think the kindest and most compassionate thing we can do for anyone who is genuinely confused about their biological sex is encourage them to accept themselves as they are.

Matt Taibbi: Part of the reason that middle America became accepting of the idea of gay rights was that they were persuaded that there was some biology behind that, that people are born that way. Yet now there seems to be a different or almost opposite theory, that biology is not absolutely determinative. Do you connect transgenderism to something like sexual preference, or is it a different kind of idea to you?

Kara Dansky: It’s a whole different thing. Sexual orientation is grounded in the material reality of sex. Straight people are attracted to the opposite sex. Gay people are attracted to the same sex. Bisexual people are attracted to people of either sex. That’s all grounded in attraction to others.

This whole identity thing has to do with one’s own feeling about one’s self. It has nothing to do with sexuality. The inclusion of T in the acronym LGB was an ingenious political strategy, because it persuaded Americans across the political spectrum to think that there is a coherent category of people called transgender for whom sex is irrelevant.

I think you’re absolutely right that part of the reason the gay rights movement was so successful, was by persuading people, middle America, that it’s innate. That’s a very controversial topic. There are a lot of lesbians who will say that they felt compelled by society to be in relationships with men, and then they made a political decision to stop being in relationships with men and only be in relationships with women, that that’s a political choice. That’s a controversial stance. I don’t know if you want to get into that, but FYI, it’s very controversial.

But adding that T, I think it was an absolutely ingenious political strategy, because this whole thing is an effort to persuade ordinary Americans that biological sex doesn’t exist. If the proponents of this ideology had simply said, “Biological sex doesn’t exist,” ordinary Americans would say, “What are you talking about? Everybody knows how babies are made.” So they made up the T, they made up the word, and then they got it attached to what was a very legitimate and very successful civil rights movement.

Matt Taibbi: Can you remember the first time that you had a dispute with a colleague about this issue? When was the first time that you first noticed that you might have a conflict with people who, until that point, had been friends or allies?

Kara Dansky: I didn’t get involved in this issue until 2014. At that point in my life, I had been doing criminal justice reform work for about 15 years. Then I kept doing criminal justice reform work as an independent consultant, working on drug policy and immigration policy and mass incarceration. I was doing research and writing and all sorts of things like that, but I kept my radical feminist activism out of it, because they’re different topics.

Then one day I had a client who called me up. This would’ve been 2017 or ‘18, and this client called me up. I was involved in a project at that time, as an independent consultant, working on a project at the border. It involved encouraging immigrant rights activists and federal public defenders to be more in communication with each other, so that the criminal defense could be informed by the knowledge that immigration rights advocates had, and that immigrant rights advocates could be better informed about the criminal justice system.

Basically, she called me up and she said, “I have to have a very difficult conversation with you.” She said, “One of our partner organizations thinks that your involvement with this project is toxic because of things that you have said about sex and gender, so I have to take you off the project,” and she canceled the contract. She said, “I don’t want to have to do this, because even if I disagree with you on sex and gender, I really like working with you. I value your work. I think you’re really smart, and you’re a great writer. I don’t want to do this, but I have to, because other partner organizations are threatening to pull out if I keep you on the project.”

Matt Taibbi: Did you have any problems getting anything published at this time? I know you’ve written a book, and you’ve got a publisher. But did you have issues with that, or having things removed from the internet?

Kara Dansky: No. For several years, my life ran in two parallel, unrelated universes. Over here, I’m happily going along, doing my criminal justice stuff. I published in the Harvard Law Review. Of course, I was the primary author on the ACLU’s police militarization report. I had a lot of speaking engagements. I spoke before, it wasn’t a congressional panel, but it was a Hill event. I was speaking in one of the hearing rooms on the Hill. I think I mentioned before, I was talking with Amy Goodman about police militarization.

So I was over here doing my criminal justice stuff professionally, and at the same time, on this other track, I was doing this radical feminist stuff on a volunteer basis. But the people who I was working with on the criminal justice side didn’t necessarily know what I was doing on the radical feminist side. It didn’t cause a problem until I started speaking out more publicly, and then it became a problem.

By that point, I had stopped trying to publish on criminal justice stuff. I was sort of done with that part. Then the universes stopped being parallel. My involvement in criminal justice no longer exists because I can’t get work in the so-called progressive criminal justice reform movement.

Matt Taibbi: What happened with The Washington Post? There’s a little bit of an Omerta not only about the issue, but about who’s talking about the issue, correct?

Kara Dansky: Yeah. In February 2020, I went to Seattle to join a panel that was being hosted by the Women’s Liberation Front, and it was called Fighting the New Misogyny: A Feminist Critique of Gender Identity. Two of us on the panel were registered Democrats; two of us on the panel were not Americans, but leftists where they live.

Samantha Schmidt at The Washington Post covered it, to her credit, but she framed us as being right wing and advancing a right-wing agenda. That piece in the Post was out sometime in February 2020, and in it, she referenced a Heritage panel event from 2019. In that, she puts “feminist” in scare quotes. I don’t know why. She doesn’t suggest that there’s anything to undermine our feminist credentials.

Matt Taibbi: There’s an interesting passage in The Abolition of Sex where you talk about how feminists are used to getting this treatment from the right, not so used to getting it from the left. What’s happening there?

Kara Dansky: I think a lot of people are very confused, and I think that’s completely understandable because our media has confused them. I think people really don’t know what’s going on. There’s a bill I don’t think we’ve talked about, called the Equality Act… It was originally introduced in 2015 by Senator Merkley. If you read about it in mainstream papers, it’ll say that it’s meant to protect LGBTQ people, but what it does is it completely redefines the word sex to include so-called gender identity. It does that explicitly. It says “sex (including gender identity).”

Mainstream liberals have no idea what the consequences of that are. For example, in California today, there is a public accommodation state law that defines sex in the most ridiculous, garbled, meaningless way, but one thing it does is it includes gender identity. It was on that basis that a man was permitted to enter the women’s section of the nude spa and expose himself, basically. The Equality Act would do what California already does in public accommodations all over the country. Any man can enter any space that is supposed to be designated for women whenever he wants to, on the basis of his so-called gender identity.

Matt Taibbi: Critics will say, “So what?” What’s the real consequence? Why shouldn’t we just get over it and change our thinking, as was done with other movements?

Kara Dansky: We’re literally dealing with a situation today where female prisoners are being housed in prisons with male rapists and murderers. That is actually happening. That’s not theoretical. I really think that that needs to be a national scandal, and I don’t understand... When a local Seattle station picks up a story in March of 2021 about male prisoners and rapists being housed in the women’s prison, and not a single national outlet picks it up, I just think that’s astonishing. That’s very real. It’s literally happening today, right now.

Matt Taibbi: Here’s the disconnect for me. There’s so much attention and sensitivity to the issue of violence against women in all other arenas — except this one. Do you have an explanation for that?

Kara Dansky: It is astonishing. Well, I don’t really get to ask that question to people on the left or media. When I ask that question to conservatives, they’re blown away. They agree with the question, and they don’t understand it either. But you’re right. If a man exposes himself on a bus, he will be charged with a crime, rightfully so. The victim of that crime is going to say, “This is an example of Me Too.” But if a man exposes himself in the naked section of a women’s spa, under California law, he gets to be validated as stunning and brave.

The reason you’re having a disconnect is that it doesn’t make sense. Often, I forget. I reached the point a long time ago that I just had to accept that this doesn’t make sense. It doesn’t make sense in terms of logic, and it doesn’t make sense in terms of politics. That’s just the situation we’re dealing with.

Matt Taibbi: Matt Walsh of The Daily Wire just came out with a movie called “What is a Woman?” I’ve talked to some critics on the left who liked the movie but were a little frustrated, essentially because they were there first but were ignored. Did you see it, and what’s your reaction?

Kara Dansky: Of course feminists are angry that Matt and others like him are being hailed as leaders in this fight. Feminists have been doing this work for decades and we hardly ever get a platform for sharing our leftist feminist critique of “gender identity.” But I have an even bigger problem with conservative men like them, which is that they are being politically naive. If our society is going to be able to shift this narrative, it cannot be a story about the big bad religious right against a poor marginalized community. The right is going to lose that particular battle.

I appreciate a lot that’s in the film, but approximately zero Democrats are going to be persuaded by a Daily Wire production featuring a Christian conservative traditionalist. They need us. But they ignore us because they either don’t realize this (or they do and they just don’t care), and because it would not advance their traditionalist conservative agenda to credit feminists with having accomplished anything positive.

Matt Taibbi: Lastly: I grew up in the ‘70s, ‘80s, ‘90s. A liberal was the person who was willing to talk about anything, had a sense of humor, was willing to entertain far-out ideas, didn’t get offended easily, and would’ve had a theoretical discussion about anything. Then all of a sudden, it feels like in the last five years this dynamic has just been turned on its head, and this issue is probably Exhibit A as to that phenomenon. Do you have any thoughts about why?

Kara Dansky: No, I grew up in the same time frame. You mentioned that I say in the book that we expected this kind of misogyny from the right; we didn’t expect it from the left. That’s true. My friend at the Seattle event in 2020 that I mentioned, she made the additional point that we expected authoritarianism from the right; we did not expect authoritarianism from the left. But that’s where we are.

As to why, I don’t know. As to why on this particular issue, I don’t know. It’s mystifying to me. It’s just mystifying, why can’t we talk about things. There’s just no study or nuance.

THE FRONTMAN OF EMPIRE: HOW BONO’S “ACTIVISM” SERVES THE POWERFUL

Bono is again in the news for his political activism. At the behest of Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, the Irish rockstar and frontman of U2 traveled to Kiev, where he performed a few songs with Ukrainian soldiers inside the Khreshchatyk metro station to a crowd of around 100 people – most of whom were journalists. After the concert was over, Bono addressed the Ukrainian people through the media, stating, “Your president leads the world in the cause of freedom right now; …the people of Ukraine are not just fighting for your own freedom, you’re fighting for all of us who love freedom,” while also calling for regime change in Russia.…

mintpressnews.com/frontman-empire-bono-activism-serves-powerful/281017/

LIBERALS ARE FASCISTIC TYRANTS and conservatives are whiny little bitches who run around looking for excuses to get offended.

— Caitlin Johnstone

45 Comments

Marmon June 10, 2022

RE: FROM TRUTH SOCIAL THIS MORNING

Trump Slams House Committee ‘Hacks’ for Jan. 6 Spin

“So the Unselect Committee of political HACKS refuses to play any of the many positive witnesses and statements, refuses to talk of the Election Fraud and Irregularities that took place on a massive scale, and decided to use a documentary maker from Fake News ABC to spin only negative footage. Our Country is in such trouble!”

“I NEVER said, or even thought of saying, ‘Hang Mike Pence.’ This is either a made up story by somebody looking to become a star, or FAKE NEWS!”

“The so-called ‘Rush on the Capitol’ was not caused by me, it was caused by a Rigged and Stolen Election!”

“The Unselect Committee didn’t spend one minute studying the reason that people went to Washington, D.C., in massive numbers, far greater than the Fake News Media is willing to report or that the Unselects are willing to even mention, because January 6th was not simply a protest, it represented the greatest movement in the history of our Country to Make America Great Again.”

“It was about an Election that was Rigged and Stolen, and a Country that was about to go to HELL..& look at our Country now!”

Marmon

Reply
- Bruce Anderson June 10, 2022
  
  There was no election fraud, James. Trump was/is the fraud, succeeded, of course, by the Biden fraud. What we all face here is a corrupt political class at the control levers as things spiral out of control.
  
  Reply
  - Marmon June 10, 2022
    
    Evidently you haven’t see the documentary 2000 Mules yet. Open you mind Bruce, the truth will set you free.
    
    https://2000mules.com
    
    Marmon
    
    Reply
    - Eric Sunswheat June 10, 2022
      
      The election fraud is that money is free speech, and that corporations are persons, and perhaps lack of rank choice voting option.
      
      Reply
      - Stephen Rosenthal June 10, 2022
        
        Exactly
        
        Reply
        
        Bruce McEwen June 10, 2022
        
        Seven percent turnout — that’s how it went in the novel Seeing where everybody recovered from their Blindness and quit voting altogether which scared the daylights out of the government and sent them (all the elected officials) into exile… from where the frightened dogs sent in terrorists and assassins to disrupt the peace and prosperity that ensued when people stopped voting.
        
        These books were written by the winner of the Nobel Prize, not some crackpot.
        
        Reply
        
        Mike J June 10, 2022
        
        This might still be an Agitation Zone because that 7% isn’t a final number if 20,949 ballots here are yet to be counted. Unofficial Results
        Registered Voters
        3864 of 52602 = 7.35%
        Precincts Reporting
        280 of 280 = 100.00%
        Turnout around 45%, pretty high for an election with no real hot election battles inspiring us….though maybe the all mail in system just makes it easy. I had to rely on the AVA agitating me in various ways, causing me to vote for Williams, Kendall, and Hutchins. So, I aligned with 2 of AVA endorsements and not with their non endorsement of the BOS 5 race.
        As the good book, ie The Tao TE Ching, noted that there would be nearly non existent government when the population is mature, I wonder if no voting turnout would reflect the establishment of widespread maturity?
        I suspect voting turnout will go and stay high for awhile as the last election broke all records with 81 million voting to literally save democracy here. Alot of people seem on alert now. With stupidity and fascism on the rise, the story includes many unsettled factors determining whether we survive here or not.
        
        Reply
        
        Bruce McEwen June 10, 2022
        
        “Democracy: rule by the lowest common denominator.”
        —Caitlin Johnstone
        
        Reply
        
        Mike J June 10, 2022
        
        Grandpa more credible than her.
        
        Bruce McEwen June 10, 2022
        
        O the epigrams of Martial were some mighty fine lines; and Oscar Wilde’s were witty and sublime, but none of ‘em were quite as succinct and sensible as mine.”
        —Grandpa McQ&
        
        George Hollister June 10, 2022
        
        Excellent point, a good reason to minimize the power of the federal government.
        
        Bruce McEwen June 10, 2022
        
        Summertime & the bigmouth bass are snappin’ (emoji me some phishing bait), by George, me mum was right: there’s a fool born every minute; just when I was worried Ms Johnstone might not get the joke and sue for libel, good old George cones
        In like a troop of Texas Rangers to rescue me from any misinterpretation…thanx pal
        
        Harvey Reading June 10, 2022
        
        Source?
  - George Hollister June 10, 2022
    
    There is likely election fraud in every county in the USA. The question is does election fraud influence the outcome of an election? In the last federal election there is no substantiated indication that election fraud changed the results. But we do have a problem with the credibility of our election process.
    
    How come one person can be registered to vote in two states? How can there be more people registered to vote in a city than the population of the city? (I keep hearing this.) How good is signature verification on a mail in ballot? How come it takes so long for the vote count? How does the county registrar verify ones citizenship? Why are we not using voter ID? Why isn’t deliberate voter fraud severely punished? Etc.
    
    The credibility of the voting process is essential, and fundamental to a democratic process. There are currently questions about the credibility of the vote, and for good reason. There didn’t used to be.
    
    Reply
    - Bruce Anderson June 10, 2022
      
      I’m surprised you’d say that, George, given there has never been an episode of voter fraud in Mendocino County, and few episodes nationally (in modern history) because honest versions of our stellar election boss, Ms. Bartolomei, preside everywhere. An honest vote is one thing seldom dishonest in our free enterprise paradise.
      
      Reply
      - George Hollister June 10, 2022
        
        If one does not look, one does not find. I am aware of voter fraud, people have confessed it to me. Did it matter? No. Is this fraud organized? Not that I know of. Does this sort of thing happen all over, hard to believe it doesn’t.
        
        There are too many ways to easily commit voter fraud. One example is ballot harvesting, which is legal in California.
        
        https://www.cato.org/blog/trouble-ballot-harvesting
        
        BTW, this is a bipartisan problem.
        
        Reply
    - Harvey Reading June 10, 2022
      
      Hoolister, you’re talking voter fraud, and with no evidence but hearsay. You have produced no hard evidence of anything except the fact you’re a hick with some degree of imagination. By the way, you should wipe the drool that is dripping from your chin.
      
      Reply
  - Cotdbigun June 10, 2022
    
    I sure enjoyed the spiral a lot more when gas cost half as much and we were actually exporting energy. The bad orangeman made one of my dollars worth as much as a $1.38 today. On the bright side, canceling a few thousand square miles of oil and gas leases should fix it.
    2000 mules ?
    
    Reply
    - Marmon June 10, 2022
      
      They want you to talk about January 6, 2021 so you won’t talk about June 10, 2022.
      
      Marmon
      
      Reply
- Chuck Dunbar June 10, 2022
  
  Will keep my reply short and simple: BILL BARR.
  
  Reply
  - Marmon June 10, 2022
    
    The only new thing that has been shown so far is video of a deposition of former Attorney General Bill Barr basically saying what he has said publicly, so no bombshells yet.
    
    Marmon
    
    Reply
    - Chuck Dunbar June 10, 2022
      
      But it remains the bombshell it was then, that he, a Trump guy for sure, knew there had been no stolen election. We don’t really need new bombshells, as you put it, as the FACTS are already IN about the election, including especially the 70 or so court cases about the election, none of which revealed significant fraud.
      
      FACTS MATTER
      
      Reply
      - Marmon June 10, 2022
        
        Watch 2000 Mules
        
        Marmon
        
        Reply
        
        Mike J June 10, 2022
        
        https://www.reuters.com/article/factcheck-usa-mules-idUSL2N2XJ0OQ
        
        Reply
  - Marmon June 10, 2022
    
    “Ivanka Trump was not involved in looking at, or studying, Election results. She had long since checked out and was, in my opinion, only trying to be respectful to Bill Barr and his position as Attorney General (he sucked!),” Trump posted on Truth Social, the social media platform he helped found.
    
    Marmon
    
    Reply
    - Mike Williams June 10, 2022
      
      History will not be kind to Mr Trump or his sycophants, including Mr Marmon.
      
      Reply
      - Harvey Reading June 10, 2022
        
        Marmon is too common to be on the radar screen of anyone outside of Lake County, and precious few there.
        
        Reply
George Hollister June 10, 2022

Need you ask?:

Jonah Raskin

““Which way will the Asian vote go, for or against Boudin?,” he replied, “That’s the $4 million dollar question.””

Reply
Chuck Dunbar June 10, 2022

UVALDE PEDIATRICIAN TESTIMONY THURSDAY

How can we not totally ban these weapons of war that utterly destroy bodies? Ban the selling of them, ban ownership of them, get them out of our homes, get them out of the hands of all citizens. All the other half-ass measures are not enough. BAN THEM!

Reply
Stephen Rosenthal June 10, 2022

Raskin couldn’t be more wrong. District Attorneys (including San Francisco’s) are elected to be public prosecutors, not public defenders or social justice warriors. The DAs job is to bring the bad guys to trial and put them in jail. Boudin failed on both counts. The San Francisco Public Defender’s office has a large stable of attorneys but maybe they have room for another. I hear Boudin is looking for work.

Reply
- Harvey Reading June 10, 2022
  
  You mean the “bad” guys according to the cops?
  
  Reply
Marmon June 10, 2022

“PEACEFULLY and patriotically make your voices heard.”

-President Trump, Jan. 6, 2021

Marmon

Reply
- Chuck Wilcher June 10, 2022
  
  You post seven words of “cover-my-ass” language and ignore a year’s worth of incitement diatribes?
  
  https://www.justsecurity.org/74138/incitement-timeline-year-of-trumps-actions-leading-to-the-attack-on-the-capitol/
  
  Reply
- Marshall Newman June 10, 2022
  
  Nice job of cherry picking, Marmon.
  
  Reply
Gary Smith June 10, 2022

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2000_Mules

Mind opened, now set free

Reply
Dave Smith June 10, 2022

To: Lee Edmonsun regarding Hydrogen Peroxide Kills Covid

Do your research, Lee, and let us know what is not true about the statement.

https://citinewsroom.com/2021/01/covid-19-hydrogen-peroxide-provides-immediate-protection-article/

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- Lazarus June 10, 2022
  
  My dentist has his patient flush their mouth with Hydrogen Peroxide.
  I ain’t seen nobody dead yet…
  Be well,
  LAZ
  
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  - Lazarus June 10, 2022
    
    Don’s taste bad either…a little like chicken.
    Laz
    
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Eric Sunswheat June 10, 2022

Does Sheriff Kendall continue to play Mendocino County as fools on fentanyl, or is he merely distracted with false information from trusted sources?
Also interesting to note the neglect to inform where the public can receive overdose prevention antidote for free in advance of possible life saving need.

RE: The spray units can also be used by Public Safety Professionals who are unknowingly or accidentally exposed to potentially fatal amounts of fentanyl from skin absorption or inhalation…

Sheriff Matthew C. Kendall would like to thank the California Naloxone Distribution Project through the Department of Health Care Services for awarding the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office with the Naloxone grant to better help protect his employees and the public. (Sheriff Matthew C. Kendall)

-> May 21, 2022
Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) issued a warning to police officers in 2016 that “fentanyl exposure kills.” The agency cited the risk of overdose by skin absorption — a path of exposure that scientists have deemed impossible. It has since removed this notice from its website.

“It’s so laughingly wrong, that it’s kind of scary,” said Jon Zibbell, PhD, a public health analyst.. One of the officers in the video developed dizziness and blurry vision. “At this point, I think he is overdosing,” another officer said in the video…

Ryan Marino, MD, an emergency physician who specializes in medical toxicology at University Hospitals in Cleveland, stated that as published in the ACMT/AACT statement, “nonspecific symptoms like lightheadedness, dizziness, tingling, etc., are not symptoms of opioid exposure or toxicity, and specifically would not be expected from fentanyl.”…

While fentanyl exposure is possible through mucous membrane contact or inhalation, Zibbell said, these exposure pathways are unlikely to cause toxic effects for law enforcement officers if they take appropriate precautions, such as wearing gloves and not touching their face….

But in situations where emergency responders or even researchers are exposed to fentanyl, the evidence that these exposures are low-risk is overwhelming, he added…

Inhalation is also highly unlikely, as fentanyl and other similar synthetic drugs do not aerosolize easily, Marino said. “You’d literally have to be blowing the powder into the air, which again, just isn’t something that would happen, and wouldn’t happen in sufficient quantities.”

The ACMT/AACT statement said that at the “highest airborne concentration encountered by workers, an unprotected individual would require nearly 200 minutes of exposure to reach a dose of 100 mcg of fentanyl.”

In the unlikely event of an exposure, the organizations said that naloxone should be administered to those with “objective signs of hypoventilation or a depressed level of consciousness, and not for vague concerns such as dizziness or anxiety.”…

Del Pozo added that officers believe they are at risk of overdose because trusted voices – including NIOSH, the DEA, the Department of Justice, police associations, and others – have communicated this information to them.
https://www.medpagetoday.com/special-reports/exclusives/98821

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George Dorner June 10, 2022

There has not been one iota of hard proof proving the existence of eight million imaginary votes in 2020. The Republican Party now believes in dictatorship instead of democracy.

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Mike J June 10, 2022

Time for Breaking News banner and music…Huffman just reported the coal train to Eureka effort is dead, details to follow
https://twitter.com/JaredHuffman/status/1535384006346166272?s=20&t=FnuLxXcOusgH_7bV4JppiQ

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- Lazarus June 11, 2022
  
  “Huffman just reported the coal train to Eureka effort is dead”
  Wow! Another student of the obvious…
  Laz
  
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Marmon June 10, 2022

I stopped for gas in Clearlake this morning, the gas station was packed, the conversations at the pump were not about Jan 6. I always try to strike up a conversation wherever I’m at, it doesn’t matter with who or where.

I’m thinking about hanging out at gas stations, spreading the word,

Marmon

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- Marshall Newman June 11, 2022
  
  How about you drink from the pump?
  
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Harvey Reading June 10, 2022

NPR? LOL. One of the major cheerleaders for the Ukrainian nazis…kinda scrapin’ the bottom of the barrel, aincha?

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Mendocino County Today: Friday, June 10, 2020

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