Mendocino County Today: Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2022

Dry Air | Moon | Thistle Invitational | Rice Portrait | Trailer Sought | Westport Mill | Dream Center | Family Reunion | Park Grammar | Ceramic Classes | Still Life | Ed Notes | Nathaniel Kent | Tree Mortality | 1957 Mendocino | District 5 | 810 AM | Comptche Hunters | Windfall Tax | Toy Run | Hudson Museum | Lumber Teepees | Favorite Books | Yesterday's Catch | Ghost Boat | Long End | Empty Chair | Tulsi Quits | Getting Older | Diner Reactions | Indigenous Day | Gas Gouging | Bear Trap | Ukraine | Cab Co. | Missile Barrage | Cirque D'Hiver | Nuclear War | 1924 Series | Clown World | Prey Chances | Ominous Statement | Moonlit Canal

DRY AND WARM afternoon conditions are expected during the next seven days across interior portions of Northwest California. Meanwhile near the coast, low clouds and fog may experience a clearing trend during the next day or two as dry interior air spreads west toward the ocean. (NWS)

FIGHT THE THISTLE!

Navarro Point Preserve thistle removing this Thursday, 10am-noon 

Mendocino Land Trust staffer Ed Welter and I invite you to join us and other volunteers as we remove the ever-dwindling stock of thistles at beautiful Navarro Point this Thursday, 10/13, from 10am til noon. We hope to see you there! Tom Wodetzki 

Navarro Point Stewards 

Navarro Point Preserve, 1 & 3/4 miles south of Albion village on Hwy 1, is owned and managed by Mendocino Land Trust. We rely on volunteer stewardship workdays to maintain our network of public access trails and beaches. Volunteers spend 2 hours removing invasive plant species, picking up trash, maintaining the trail, and taking in the beautiful scenery. Stewardship workdays are scheduled for the 2nd Thursday of each month and are open to all ages and experience levels. Bring a space and hand clippers if you can. 

When: 2nd Thursday of each month

Time: 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon

Where: Navarro Point mendocinolandtrust.org/trails/central-coastal-trails/navarro-point-trail/

MILITARY VET NEEDS A NEW HOME

Good afternoon. I have a dear friend I have been blessed with since middle school. She has served our country overseas and is now on reserve working full time in Fort Bragg. In her down time she has been looking for a trailer or home to call her own. She has helped many in their time of need and now it's my turn to help her stay home and not move out of state. PLEASE help me find her a trailer 2005 or newer. I would love to finish raising my daughter around her Godmother.

Any leads will help!

Leanne Cauckwell

Hippitrippi234@gmail.com

MENDO COLLEGE DREAM CENTER

The mission of the Mendocino College Dream Center is to assist undocumented/AB540 students and students from mixed-status families achieve their academic goal. The Dream Center provides services, resources and support to address the unique barriers students face in their pursuit of higher education.

A collaborative effort between the California Community Colleges, the Foundation for California Community Colleges, the California State University (CSU), and the California Department of Social Services (CDSS), the Higher Education Legal Services Project is connecting immigrant students at California community colleges and CSUs with trusted legal services providers.

To serve the estimated 70,000 undocumented students enrolled in the California Community Colleges system — by far the largest population of undocumented students in the nation — CDSS has funded the expansion of this project to provide invaluable services to students, faculty, and staff which help them navigate their immigration journey and continue to excel in their education.

Under the Higher Education Legal Services Project, all immigrant students regardless of immigration status will be eligible for free legal services including, but not limited to: immigration consultations, eligibility screenings, support with DACA renewals and citizenship/naturalization requests, and individual case management.

In booking a consultation, students can also have questions about immigration status, rights, options, cases, and petitions answered by a legal practitioner.

Other benefits of this project include:

• Assistance covering $495 DACA application fee

• Easy scheduling by booking appointments with legal practitioners by visiting findyourally.com

• Extension of eligibility and access to services to students’ immediate family members including parents, siblings, and/or students’ children

• Convenient meeting options to provide private spaces to meet practitioners both in person or online

These services come at a crucial time for immigrant students amid the uncertainty of DACA’s future and the barriers immigration complications can cause towards degree completion. It is critical to ensure students are aware and can easily access and utilize these free services to eliminate barriers and uncertainties and reaffirm their chances at a successful higher education.

NORM CLOW: A nice happy Clow-Valenti-Berry family photo on Greenwood Ridge at the reception following the service in Ukiah for Ruth’s Aunt Alice yesterday afternoon.

L-R: Austin, Ruth’s sister Jackie, my cousin Marilyn Berry Pronsolino from the Ridge, granddaughter of the venerable Crystal Clow and John Berry, Miss Ruth from the Valenti branch via her step-father, and Andrea Moore, Ruth’s and Austin’s cousin on the Valenti-and-Berry by-marriage side. I know, I know. It took me years. Austin and Marilyn became close buddies when she was the cheerleading coach at Anderson Valley H.S. in the early-oughts and Austin was the captain and yell-leader (which got him an uncredited sideline role in the movie Friday Night Lights in 2004 after we moved to the Houston area). She and I used to team-play Carole King songs on the piano. The same piano. At the same time.

The site was the former Tony and Leitha Fashauer ranch, now owned by Alice’s daughter Ann, their niece, who developed the vineyard and now owns North Country Real Estate in Boonville where I worked for Mike Shapiro between Guam and Texas. Oddly enough, or maybe not, it’s also the one-time homestead of my family’s Greenwood Ridge division in the 1890s. There were once stage stops at both the Clow homestead and the Valenti Ranch, now known as the Berry Ranch. OK, then. It gets curiouser and curiouser, to quote another Alice.

THREE CERAMICS CLASSES (Handbuilding, Wheel Throwing, Youth Ceramics)

45200 Little Lake Street at Kasten Street, Mendocino, 707.937.5818, https://www.mendocinoartcenter.org

ED NOTES

MIKE GENIELLA: Putting aside the apparent fact that baby face Noble has a long tangled history with women (let's not forget Amanda Carley among others), what's up with months of so-called investigation into an alleged assault? Why does it take DA Dave weeks to review the Sonoma County investigation, and determine whether the woman was assaulted (a rape test reportedly was done)? Is it because the alleged victim is a pal of former Sheriff Tom Allman, and gulp, even the DA? Damn, this seems messy. To cast Noble as Mr. Innocent given his turbulent history with women, and his party-going supervision of Sgt. Murray, is perhaps bullshit.

ED REPLY: Beyond age ten — maybe younger these dissolute days — nobody's innocent, but I think these domestic dramas should be left to the participants to sort out, not the police unless a formal complaint has been made. Did Noble's girlfriend file on him? It doesn't seem so, so why was he summarily fired, and why the investigation by Sonoma County cops? He certainly isn't a Murray-quality predator. I think Noble has a wrongful termination beef here.

USED TO BE that neighborhood cranks were isolated. It was a simple matter of avoiding them. But with the internet, they've massed-up and even elected their own president. Locally, and globally, the technology makes it easy for all kinds of nuts to register their unsupported, often lunatic views, but here at the AVA we try to keep a close watch on opinion's drawbridge. Whenever certain people try to weasel their way onto our comment line with straight-up lies, racist or anti-Semitic slurs, or merely egregious stupidity, we propel them back into cyber-space where their tiny wrongnesses about big subjects will whirl forever, lost in the vastness of cosmic idiocy.

“BUT you censor me because you're afraid of the facts,” whines one screwball race man who tries to slip past us and on into comments. “The Facts.” That's a hot one, especially coming from a guy so limited he can't tell the diff between fact and opinion, but he keeps coming back with his copy of “the facts,” the one copy he alone possesses. 

BETSY CAWN:

About the dying trees, comments by Ernie Pardini, George Hollister, and Marshall Newman, my reply, and the report referred to in those comments (attached).

The County of Lake Board of Supervisors on May 10, 2022, declared a state of emergency due to tree mortality -- documented by CalFire and the UC Davis Agricultural Extension Service forestry advisor Dr. Michael Jones in an aerial survey completed at the end of 2021 (sent to AVA Editoria via email today). Stretching from the southern reaches of the Mendocino National Forest in Mendocino to the mountainous terrain in northern Napa County, the ravaged conifer species that populate Lake County's steeply sloped higher elevations have added another layer of complexity to already burdensome fire prevention work that Cobbites took on after the 2015 Valley Fire devastation, but the epidemic of failing vascular systems in the ubiquitous pines that bark beetles take advantage of is visible on the hillsides of Mount Konocti and the Northshore communities in the Mendocino National Forest's "wildland-urban interface."

Cobb Area (District 5) Supervisor Jessica Pyska and Middletown Area (District 1) Supervisor Moke Simon conducted a public "town hall" on March 4, 2022, to explain the scope of the problem to county residents and property owners, described in this "media release" from the County's Public Information Officer, Matthew Rothstein: http://www.lakecountyca.gov/Government/PressReleases/20220304.htm

An archived report from the California State Association of Counties (undated, but citing a declaration of emergency made by then Governor Brown) describes the extent of the losses in Fresno, Madera, Mariposa, Tulare, Tuolumne, Calaveras, Amador, El Dorado, and Placer counties, at which time the Governor "earmarked $161 million in the state budget for forest health and to help deal with tree mortality." 

https://www.counties.org/post/tree-mortality-continues-spread-california

With the ongoing drought conditions (said, by some, to be decades or even centuries old) we can expect this "climate change" impact to increase the levels of wildfire hazards for our counties -- and the continuing battles with PG&E over prevention responsibilities and cost recovery -- for decades to come, while both of our county governments continue to ignore their public health and safety priorities (under the California Constitution, Article XIII) by short-changing the absolutely critical services of underfunded Fire Protection Districts. The mystery of why these vital service providers are nearly abused by our elected officials is far more impenetrable than the question of what is causing the profound loss of ecosystem functions -- given than forests are the primary source of potable water supplies that the US Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management are charged with "managing."

Since our watersheds in Lake County supply fresh (i.e., potable) water to six major surrounding counties, but no monitoring of their productivity occurred prior to the last 7 years of disastrous wildfires, calculating the possible reduction of available rainfall runoff will only be done by the slow and agonizing process of recognizing failed groundwater basins and wells as the future unfolds. As it is, both Lake Mendocino and Clear Lake are perilously low and the lives and livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of people are at further risk, while -- in Lake County, anyway -- permits for additional OPTIONAL activities that are known to consume significant volumes of finite groundwater are granted by a Planning Commission that cannot find any reason to deny them, and the county's "leadership" seems blind to the deleterious effects of uncontrolled "industry" operations (deemed non-agricultural, but based on the cultivation of plant material that requires considerable volumes of irrigation water).

After several years of courtship by owners of "commercial cannabis" operations, the county's Community Development Department has finally proposed the rescinding of its deeply flawed "Early Activation" permitting process, which is on the agenda for our Board of Supervisors on October 18. Remodeling the county's ordinances governing "commercial cannabis" (non-agricultural?) operation has been under way for several months, with our Board of Supervisors having formed a new (but this time compliant with the Ralph M. Brown Act) "task force" that meets next tomorrow, October 11, at 1 pm, in the county courthouse and on Zoom. Contact Andrew.Amelung@lakecountyca.gov for agenda and virtual attendance information.

RD BEACON: Why is it the District 5 facebook page uses the beach at Mendocino as their insignia for the page? I don't believe the district is wrapped around the town of Mendocino in spite of the fact that the newcomers like to think they are the center of the district. Must I remind you there are other communities that are part of it and it would be a little more fair if every week a different part of the district would appear on the page.

THE SPREAD

The 810 frequency on the AM radio dial — where, for decades, Bay Area residents tuned in to KGO for talk about the news of the day — on Monday began a new era: coverage of gambling on sports.

After station owner Cumulus Media on Thursday abruptly shut down KGO’s programming and hinted at a future involving betting and money with on-air promos, it unveiled the new station Monday, with 810 AM now called “The Spread” in reference to a common gambling term.

“The new station brings sports and sports betting news, information, and insights to the burgeoning and underserved sports betting audience in San Francisco,” Cumulus said in a news release Monday. The station is the Bay Area’s first devoted to sports gambling, according to Cumulus.

Kevin Graham, program director for The Spread, said weekday programming would “feature a lineup of expert personalities that deliver unique sports talk and sports betting insights that entertain, inform, and engage.”

— Ethan Baron

WAY PAST TIME FOR WINDFALL TAX ON OIL COMPANIES

by Jim Shields

You could say it’s about time but Gov. Gav Newsom finally on Friday, Sept. 30, called for a windfall tax on oil companies who’ve been ripping off Californians for decades, but especially in the past year.

Newsom’s plan requires that the tax would go directly back to taxpayers.

Here’s what you need to know: While crude oil prices are down, oil companies have increased gas prices in California by a record 84 cents per gallon in just the last 10 days. At the end of August, crude oil prices were roughly $100 per barrel, and the average gas price in California was $5.06; now, even though the price of oil has decreased to $85 per barrel, the average gas price at the pump has surged to $6.29.

Petroleum industry analysts point out that oil priced at $60 per barrel delivers very healthy profits for oil companies.

Notwitstanding that fact, this past Wednesday, the OPEC alliance of oil-exporting countries, decided to sharply reduce production, a move that may well play hell with struggling economies everywhere.

Meanwhile, oil companies have soaked Californians for nearly $100 billion in the last three months alone. As always, the heaviest burden of unfair economic practices falls on workers and the middle class whose backs are already against the wall.

Oil companies have failed to provide an explanation for the unprecedented divergence between prices in California compared to the national average.

“Crude oil prices are down but oil and gas companies have jacked up prices at the pump in California. This doesn’t add up,” said Newsom. “We’re not going to stand by while greedy oil companies fleece Californians. Instead, I’m calling for a windfall tax to ensure excess oil profits go back to help millions of Californians who are getting ripped off.”

Newsom also ordered the California Air Resources Board (CARB) to make an early transition to winter-blend gasoline, and CARB took prompt action. This change is expected to immediately increase oil supplies by 5-10% and drop gas prices. When California did this in 2012, gas prices dropped by 25 cents within two weeks.

Also, starting next week, millions of Californians should get upwards of $1,050 in their bank accounts from the earlier promised budget surplus payments due to rising consumer costs and related inflation.

“As the cost of living continues to rise, California families have been forced to cut back on spending and rethink their budgets,” said California Attorney General Rob Bonta. “Earlier this year, my office warned refineries against taking advantage of ongoing market disruptions, and I want to again be clear: Market manipulation is illegal. My office is monitoring the market closely, and we will not hesitate to take action if we find evidence that the law is being violated.”

Bonta should spring into action right now and drag the oil company gougers into court.

This past summer, the state Assembly launched a select committee to investigate rising gas prices, which only held only two hearings before the Legislature adjourned for the year.

Economists told the committee that name-brand gas stations were charging higher prices at an average of about 30 cents more per gallon than their unbranded competitors. Experts suggested lawmakers look into why the state doesn’t have as many non-brand gas stations.

Just prior to Newsom announcing his windfall tax proposal, Consumer Watchdog asked him to call a special session of the California legislature to address the unprecedented, nearly $2 per gallon extra Californians are paying at the pump compared to other states.

The consumer group pointed out that California’s environmental regulation and extra taxes add only about 60 cents to the price at the pump. The US Energy Information Administration data just released shows Californians paying $5.61 per gallon and US drivers paying $3.71 per gallon.

Newsom signed a new law, SB 1322, that will require oil refiners to post their monthly profits per gallon starting in January. Consumer Watchdog said the Governor and legislature should not wait until the data is available to enact a windfall profits tax

The group pointed to second quarter profits reports provided to oil refiner investors showing the companies are making unprecedented profits of more than $1 per gallon in the Western region off Californians’ pain at the pump.

“The oil industry has declared war on the state of California and is raising prices unreasonably to punish the public and lawmakers for enacting tough new laws,” said Jamie Court, president of Consumer Watchdog. “The state must fight back with a new law to take back windfall profits that the companies are almost certainly making from their $2 per gallon surcharge on California drivers. The oil refiners don’t have added production costs. They are simply charging more because they can and want to. That’s gouging.”

The oil industry is unhappy with new environmental laws and is currently challenging via referendum a new law requiring that there be no new wells within 3,200 feet of communities. These laws have no impact on the price at the pump. Oil refiners, however, seem to be making a statement about their discontent by charging Californians two bucks more per gallon as punishment, Consumer Watchdog said.

“Oil refiners are trying to rake in as much profits as they can now before SB 1322 takes effect and they have to report their per gallon profits publicly in January,” said Court. “The legislature shouldn’t wait until January to enact a law that holds the refiners accountable for ill-gotten gain. The Governor should call the legislature into special session to decide whether to enact a windfall profits tax that takes back excessive profits for the state immediately. They need to send a message that this level of pig-at-the-trough price gouging is simply unacceptable.”

It’s not only unacceptable but it’s illegal, and the law needs to be fully enforced. As in back-breaking fines and jail.

(Jim Shields is the Mendocino County Observer’s editor and publisher, observer@pacific.net, the long-time district manager of the Laytonville County Water District, and is also chairman of the Laytonville Area Municipal Advisory Council. Listen to his radio program “This and That” every Saturday at noon on KPFN 105.1 FM, also streamed live: http://www.kpfn.org.)

WITH ART

by Mike Geniella

Gaye LeBaron, the noted North Coast history writer, recalled the time she sat down in a booth at the Palace Hotel restaurant with Barbara Eversole and committee to listen to their plans for a museum to honor artist Grace Hudson.

Hudson’s reputation as a talented painter in the Western Art world was firmly established, and the fact that the proposed Ukiah museum would be one of the few honoring a woman artist in the U.S. was compelling.

“But I wondered when I left that lunch whether these good people understood the hard work and dedication it would take to make a museum happen,” said LeBaron.

LeBaron in her role as the leading newspaper columnist on the North Coast supported the Eversole endeavor from the beginning, writing several columns about Hudson, her pioneer family’s history, and her unique approach to capturing the native Pomo culture. Eversole by 1985 had tapped into widespread community support and raised $1 million locally to build the Grace Hudson Museum adjacent to the historic Sun House, the craftsman-style residence Hudson and her husband, Dr. John Hudson, constructed in 1911. A Sonoma State University inventory of Hudson paintings, Pomo baskets, and family history artifacts would reveal a treasure trove.

LeBaron said she believes the Grace Hudson Museum has evolved after 36 years into “the most complete museum between San Francisco and Portland.”

LeBaron made her observations last week at a formal dedication of the Evert Person Courtyard at the Hudson museum.

 “I enjoy visiting the museum. It is one of my happy places,” said the retired columnist for The Press Democrat.

LeBaron accompanied Sonoma County philanthropist Norma Person to a formal dedication on Thursday of the Evert Person Courtyard, named in honor of her husband the late newspaper publisher.

The Persons over time have become the single largest benefactors to the Hudson Museum.

Evert Person acquired artist Hudson’s first numbered oil painting, ‘National Thorn,’ and donated it to the museum where it is a centerpiece in the largest collection of Hudson paintings in the U.S. Later, the Persons contributed to the museum’s expansion, and underwrote the cost of the Person Gallery highlighting the family histories of Hudson and her husband. After Evert Person’s passing, Norma Person made a generous contribution to the courtyard/garden project in his honor.

Norma Person last week was personally thanked for her continuing contributions by Museum Director David Burton and Ukiah City Manager Sage Sangiacomo, and members of the Hudson Museum’s Endowment Board and the Sun House Guild. Ed Eversole, grandson of Barbara Eversole, is the new chairman of the Endowment Board.

Sherrie Smith-Ferri, former Hudson museum director and a national recognized Pomo scholar, presented Norma Person and LeBaron with tins of pepperwood nut balls, and small jars of ground manzanita-based herb made from plants growing in the museum’s Wild Gardens. 

Also honored at the courtyard dedication was Mendocino Redwood Co. for donating high quality redwood for a new fence that now encircles the Person Courtyard. Other contributors to the courtyard project included Ross Liberty and Factory Pipe, Nor Cal Powder Coating, Sebastopol architect Don Alameida, contractor Rick Cupples, and local landscape designer Vicki Sangiacomo. 

The courtyard dedication capped recent major events at the museum.

On Sept. 2, the museum’s newest exhibition ‘Gathering Time’ opened. It is the first exhibit at the museum to highlight contemporary Pomo art, including paintings, basketry, and regalia. The exhibit will run through Jan. 15.

The museum and the Sun House Guild staged the return of the annual onsite gala returned after a two-year absence because of the pandemic. It is the museum’s major fundraising event of the year.

FAVORITE BOOKS

Editor,

Here is my list of books. Asking your readers for a books list is a terrific idea. 

1. Adventurous in Marxism by Marshall Berman

2. Collected Works by Isaac Babel, especially The Red Calvary and the Odessa stories. Babel is one of the greatest writers of the 20th Century.

3. The Way We Live Now and He Knew He Was Right by Anthony Trollope. The latter is a very dark novel about obsession.

4. Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell. And you thought your job was demanding.

5. Lenin’s Political Thought by Neil Harding. An excellent analysis of Lenin’s political process.

6. The Ethnic Cleaning of Palestine by Ilan Pappe. As Hitchins said, “Religion poisons everything.”

7. History of the Paris Commune of 1871 by Prosper Olivier Lissagaray. An eyewitness account by a reporter on the scene.

8. Desolation Angels by Jack Kerouac.

9. The Western Lands by William Burroughs.

10. The Ridley series by Patricia Highsmith. Five novels about Tom Ridley. Gives real meaning to the word amoral.

Michael Wiest

Berkeley

CATCH OF THE DAY, October 10, 2022

TERI BARRETT, Willits. Domestic battery, witness intimidation.

GABRIEL CAMPOS, Ukiah. Parole violation.

STEVEN KING, Ukiah. Probation revocation.

FREDERICK KLEIN, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.

THE SHASTA LAKE GHOST BOAT

Last fall this boat appeared during the low water levels of Shasta Lake. The mystery begins with the painted numbers found on the ramp when the boat was moved. It is marked ’31-17′. This confirms it as a boat assigned to the Attack Transport USS Monrovia. This ship was Patton’s HQ during the invasion of Sicily. Eisenhower also was on this ship at that time, and it went on to a further 6 D-Day invasions in the Pacific.

Reportedly it was used in the invasion of Tarawa. It names the crew and states that it sank in shallow water during that invasion (later salvaged).

This boat is referred to as ‘The Ghost Boat.’ It really is quite remarkable how it emerged from the lake with so many stories to tell. Any ‘restoration’ will be done to preserve as much of the integrity of the boat as possible and will hopefully preserve it in a weathered ‘combat fatigue’ look, and that is how it is intended to be displayed at a museum in Nebraska.

There is more to discover of its history and obviously its time on Shasta Lake, and still the circumstance of its sinking remains a mystery.

EACH OF US expects to be finished off by injuries or by the years, whereas it would be so simple to put an end to all that. Individuals, like empires, favor a long, shameful end.”

— Emil Cioran

TULSI GABBARD QUITS THE DEMOCRATS: The ex-representative for Hawaii's 2nd district and United States Army Reserve officer accused the party of demonizing the police, protecting criminals, believing in open borders and 'dragging us even closer to nuclear war'. She also urged those who agreed with her to leave with just a month until the crucial midterm elections. 'I can no longer remain in today's Democratic Party that is now under the complete control of an elitist cabal of warmongers driven by cowardly wokeness, who divide us by racializing every issue & stoke anti-white racism, actively work to undermine our God-given freedoms, are hostile to people of faith & spirituality, demonize the police & protect criminals at the expense of law-abiding Americans, believe in open borders, weaponize the national security state to go after political opponents, and above all, dragging us ever closer to nuclear war, ' she wrote in a lengthy tweet posted with a video. (Daily Mail)

I can no longer remain in today’s Democratic Party that is now under the complete control of an elitist cabal of warmongers driven by cowardly wokeness, who divide us by racializing every issue & stoke anti-white racism, actively work to undermine our God-given freedoms, are… pic.twitter.com/oAuTnxZldf

— Tulsi Gabbard 🌺 (@TulsiGabbard) October 11, 2022

WHAT IS IT that saying about getting older? Yeah, I don’t remember either.

— George Burns

ANOTHER SIGN THE APOCALYPSE IS UPON US

UPDATE: The news of a restaurant for dogs opening in San Francisco was met with impassioned reaction from both critics and enthusiasts.

(1) Yes, excess and opulence are behavioral qualities classically associated with pre-collapse societies.

(2) Sounds like the last days of ancient Rome.

(3) My dog prefers to dine near the garbage cans near the back of the restaurant.

(4) $75 tasting menu... This is fairly sickening. I wonder how many poor kids would love to have a spare $75 to spend on a week's worth of food.

(5) Yup, that's where I tapped out. If it were a couple dog dishes for $20 as a treat, sure, especially if I could have a human cappuccino and dessert while my dogs ate, but I avoid $75 tasting menus for MYSELF. Carmel by the Sea has a better way: Dogs are allowed on restaurant patios and get water good treatment.

(6) I can't figure out if this is supposed to be ironic, cynical, or an interactive performance art piece... or some mixture of all three.

(7) In a world where millions of people live with less that $1 per day and millions of humans don’t have enough to eat, clean water, or access to health or basic services, this is another example of our idiocy. A reflection of first world privilege where it is seen as ok to feed dogs better than humans

(8) I read this after reading about the tragic murder of two young men at the Airbnb "party" and this frankly, was stomach-turning. Oh, I'm so relieved that "Massarweh worked with an integrative, holistic veterinarian to develop dog-safe food." (/sarcasm) Some people have too much money 

(9) People are treating dogs this way because so many have been failed by the humans in their lives. Loneliness is epidemic, and it has physical and psychological negative effects. If a dog makes them feel better, or connect with other dog owners, what's the harm in that?

(10) For that money, it better be gluten free

(11) This is something evocative of Charles Dickens's "A Tale of Two Cities," with its limning of the decadence of French aristocrats that helped a reader understand the anger and rage of the lower classes that was an engine driving the French revolution.

(12) This is so depressing

GOVERNOR CALLS FOR SPECIAL SESSION TO IMPOSE WINDFALL TAX ON OIL PROFITS AS GAS PRICES SOAR

by Dan Bacher

(Meanwhile, Newsom administration has approved nearly 12,000 new oil drilling permits since 2019.)

At a news conference on October 7, Governor Gavin Newsom called for a special session of the California Legislature in December to investigate oil companies for gouging at the gas pumps and to impose a windfall tax on oil profits.

The gap between gasoline prices in the U.S. and California has now reached $2.60 per gallon at a time when inflation is hammering California residents and oil industry profits soar.

Newsom said the special session will begin Dec. 5 after all the votes have been counted from the November elections and newly elected lawmakers are sworn in.

“Oil refinery costs and profits rose 240% from August to September, costing you more,” said Newsom in a statement. “On Friday, we asked oil companies: as crude oil is down, why are their profits up and why does CA have skyrocketing gas prices? It doesn’t add up. Some were evasive, most didn’t respond at all.”

Details remain scarce on the proposed legislation, other than Newsom wants the Legislature to develop a framework for the new tax on oil companies.

“Every single one of us should be outraged and disgusted by these folks,” Newsom said, referring to the oil companies. “They’re taking advantage of you and they’re fleecing you for billions and billions of dollars.”

In response to Newsom’s call for a special session, Senate President pro Tempore Toni G. Atkins (D-San Diego) and Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Lakewood) said they “look forward to examining the Governor’s detailed proposal when we receive it.”

“The gas rebates that are beginning to roll out today to Californians were a huge step in helping ease the brunt of rising fuel costs, and we will continue to examine all other options to help consumers,” they said in a joint statement. “As stated last week, a solution that takes excessive profits out of the hands of oil corporations and puts money back into the hands of consumers deserves strong consideration by the Legislature.”

Consumer and public interest groups praised the Governor for calling for the special session.

“Governor Newsom is rightly standing up for Californians who are being taken advantage of at the gas pump by a cartel of oil refiners who are making windfall profits at their expense,” said Jamie Court, President of Consumer Watchdog. “Now it’s time for the legislature to answer the Governor’s call with a windfall profits tax that takes back the outrageous profits oil refiners have been making off Californians’ pain at the pump.”

On September 27, facing a huge gap between California and US gas prices, Consumer Watchdog asked the Governor to call a special legislative session to deal with the issue. The gap with US prices is now $2.60 per gallon.

Then on Thursday, Consumer Watchdog issued a report explaining why California needed a windfall profits tax and how to implement it.

According to the Consumer Watchdog report, “Second quarter 2022 profits reported by Chevron, Marathon Petroleum, PBF Energy, Phillips 66, and Valero showed that they made more than $1 per gallon--three to ten times more in profits per gallon on the West Coast over the second quarter last year. Profits from West Coast operations also registered the highest among each refiner’s reported regions across the U.S. and the world.”

“Five refiners -- Chevron, Marathon Petroleum, PBF Energy, Phillips 66 and Valero -- make 97% of the state’s gasoline. They are in a position to restrict gasoline supply to drive up gas prices. They have consistently restricted supply and artificially driven up their prices significantly in excess of their costs,” the report revealed.

The group said five oil refiners raked in $26 billion in the second quarter - $14 billion more than their profits a year earlier: Read the report.

 “When oil refiners are making more than $1 per gallon off every gallon sold, it’s time to take back the extra profits and give them back to California drivers,” said Court. “The Governor is taking a strong stand for the people of California and their wallets.”

Food and Water Watch also lauded the Governor for calling for the special session, while urging Newsom to stop granting fossil fuel permits immediately.

“We’re relieved to see Governor Newsom holding Big Oil executives accountable for price-gouging Californians, but the fact remains that the only way to truly end the fossil fuel industry’s extractive hold on our climate and communities is to get rid of fossil fuels entirely,” said Food & Water Watch’s California Director Chirag G. Bhakta. “The strongest stance Newsom can take after this first step is to stop granting fossil fuel permits immediately and start a transition to equitable, clean energy.”

Since Newsom came to office in January 2019, the number of new and reworked oil drilling permits issued by CalGEM, the state’s oil and gas regulator, comes to nearly 12,000.

On the other hand, the Western States Petroleum Association and Republican lawmakers condemned Newsom’s call for an emergency session as a “political stunt.”

“It was just over a month ago that the Governor and the legislature got together and imposed a series of mandates and regulations that will cost Californians a record $54 billion dollars,” said Catherine Reheis-Boyd-Boyd, President of the Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA) and former Chair of the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative Blue Ribbon Task Force to create “marine protected areas” on the South Coast. “These are the types of actions that can drive consumer costs way up. A better use of the special session would be to take a hard look at decades of California energy policy and what they mean to consumers and our economy.”

“If this was anything other than a political stunt, the Governor wouldn’t wait two months and would call the special session now, before the election. This industry is ready right now to work on real solutions to energy costs and reliability if that is what the Governor is truly interested in,” the WSPA President added.

WSPA, the largest and most powerful corporate lobbying group in Sacramento, has spent over $17.5 million lobbying the California Legislature and other state officials over the past three years.

In 2021, WSPA spent $4,397,004 lobbying legislators and state officials to serve Big Oil's agenda, according to data filed with California Secretary of State’s Office.

Newsom called for the special session as California continues to issue thousands of oil and gas drilling permits every year. Second quarter permit approvals pushed the overall number of oil drilling permits approved since Newsom came to office in January 2019 to 11,669, according to an analysis by Consumer Watchdog and Fractracker Alliance. The permits are posted on a map at www.newsomwellwatch.com

In the first two quarters of 2022, the California Geologic Energy Management Division (CalGEM) issued 1,326 total permits, including 216 new well permits and 1,110 oil well rework permits.

The groups revealed that State approvals for permits to fix or deepen existing oil wells skyrocketed in the second quarter by 124% over the same time last year. “Some of the permit approvals by CalGEM are for idle wells and wells that barely produce, and both types can leak deadly methane and other harmful pollutants,” they concluded.

UKRAINE, MONDAY, 10 OCTOBER

Russia launched 84 cruise missiles at Ukraine on Monday, according to Ukrainian officials, who said critical infrastructure facilities, mainly handling the energy supply, were struck, leaving several regions without power.

At least 11 people died and 64 were injured in the attacks, the officials said.

Infrastructure impacted: At least four regions — Lviv, Poltava, Sumy and Ternopil — had no electricity supply. Authorities requested Lviv residents who may have access to electricity to only use it for “urgent needs.” Kyiv briefly suspended its subway operations. The region of Khmelnytskyi, which lies west of Kyiv, has “no electricity supply, electric transport does not work, water supply is suspended, traffic lights do not work,” according to the region’s head.

Ukraine will keep fighting: Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Ukraine will continue to liberate territories despite the attacks on Monday. Last week, Russian forces had begun to intensify their strikes, launching missile attacks on residential buildings in the southern city of Zaporizhzhia that killed at least 43 civilians over a period of a week, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Putin blames Ukraine for attack on Crimean bridge: Ukraine has not claimed responsibility for the Crimean bridge blast, but Russian President Vladimir Putin has accused Ukrainian special services of the weekend attack. He said Monday’s strikes were in response, but Ukrainian intelligence says the attacks had been planned since early last week.

International support: President Joe Biden said Russian missile strikes are a display of Putin's "utter brutality" and that the attacks "only further reinforce our commitment to stand with the people of Ukraine for as long as it takes." European Parliament President Roberta Metsola called for the EU to provide Ukraine with more military equipment, specifically tanks.

War crime investigations: Karim Ahmad Khan, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, said he believes that there will be justice for war crimes committed during Russia’s war in Ukraine. He said he is “extremely concerned” by the civilian deaths following numerous Russian strikes Monday and said that the ICC would be conducting a criminal investigation.

IAN BIRRELL: This was the Monday morning rush hour from hell as Vladimir Putin unleashed a furious barrage of missiles that rained down on cars, homes, offices and stations across Ukraine. Launched from aircraft, drones and naval vessels, the lethal strikes exploded in a hail of terror as commuters headed to work in cities from Lviv in the west through to the second city of Kharkiv, 600 miles east beside the Russian border. A second wave was fired later in the day as the Kremlin continued its diabolical slaughter, leaving sirens wailing and fearful citizens rushing back down to basements. Medical workers were seen running past burning cars on a day where Ukraine claimed 84 missiles were launched. Desperate Ukrainians watched on and embraced each other as buildings were obliterated in front of their eyes. Meanwhile emergency workers were in charge of rescuing both people and animals. The skyline of Kyiv had become plumes of smoke as flames erupted across the nation. 

DON’T JUST WORRY ABOUT NUCLEAR WAR -- DO SOMETHING TO HELP PREVENT IT

by Norman Solomon

This is an emergency.

Right now, we’re closer to a cataclysmic nuclear war than at any other time since the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. One assessment after another has said the current situation is even more dangerous.

Yet few members of Congress are advocating for any steps that the U.S. government could take to decrease the dangers of a nuclear conflagration. The silences and muted statements on Capitol Hill are evading the reality of what’s hanging in the balance -- the destruction of almost all human life on Earth. —The end of civilization.

Constituent passivity is helping elected officials to sleepwalk toward unfathomable catastrophe for all of humanity. If senators and representatives are to be roused out of their timid refusal to urgently address -- and work to reduce -- the present high risks of nuclear war, they need to be confronted. Nonviolently and emphatically.

Russian president Vladimir Putin has made thinly veiled, extremely reckless statements about possibly using nuclear weapons in the Ukraine war. At the same time, some of the U.S. government’s policies make nuclear war more likely. Changing them is imperative.

For the last few months, I’ve been working with people in many states who aren’t just worried about the spiking dangers of nuclear war -- they’re also determined to take action to help prevent it. That resolve has resulted in organizing more than 35 picket lines that will happen on Friday, October 14, at local offices of Senate and House members around the country. (If you want to organize such picketing in your area, go here <https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe0kB2TzIIOCKvKOzohyxv-mRGbszL15Hc1-fvsUi6GYEWNaQ/viewform>.)

What could the U.S. government do to lessen the chances of global nuclear annihilation? The Defuse Nuclear War campaign, which is coordinating those picket lines, has identified key needed actions <https://defusenuclearwar.org/learn/>. Such as:

Rejoin nuclear-weapons treaties the U.S. has pulled out of. 

President George W. Bush withdrew the United States from the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty in 2002. Under Donald Trump, the U.S. withdrew from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty in 2019. Both pacts significantly reduced the chances of nuclear war.

Take U.S. nuclear weapons off hair-trigger alert.

Four hundred intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) are armed and ready for launch from underground silos in five states. Because they’re land-based, those missiles are vulnerable to attack and thus are on hair-trigger alert -- allowing only minutes to determine whether indications of an incoming attack are real or a false alarm.

End the policy of first use.

Like Russia, the United States has refused to pledge not to be the first to use nuclear weapons.

Support congressional action to avert nuclear war.

In the House, H.Res. 1185 includes a call for the United States to —lead a global effort to prevent nuclear war.

An overarching need is for senators and representatives to insist that U.S. participation in nuclear brinkmanship is unacceptable. As our Defuse Nuclear War team says, —Grassroots activism will be essential to pressure members of Congress to publicly acknowledge the dangers of nuclear war and strongly advocate specific steps for reducing them.

Is that really too much to ask? Or even demand?

(Norman Solomon is the national director of RootsAction.org and the executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy. He is the author of a dozen books including War Made Easy. His next book, War Made Invisible: How America Hides the Human Toll of Its Military Machine, will be published in Spring 2023 by The New Press.)

ON-LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

In clown world we currently have sky high gas prices, supply chain issues, record inflation, rampant crime, crumbling infrastructure, 20k illegals swarming across our southern border daily, a government printing money out it’s ass & handing it out to to foreign countries and welfare leeches, career politicians who aren’t even trying to hide their corruption, violent homeless drug addicts clogging up our cities, insane levels of “gun violence”, over 100k a year dying of drug overdoses, children who don’t know their gender & parents who let them mutilate themselves for life, and a senile president (his puppet masters) itching to start a nuclear war with another nuclear super power… yet renaming a military base is what the cross dressers who run our military are concerned about.

ANTHONY BLINKEN RAISES THE PUCKER FACTOR ON DISSENT

by Matt Taibbi 

After posting “On John Lennon's Birthday, a Few Words About War “ yesterday, old friend and former Moscow Times editor Matt Bivens* and I discovered we’d written on the same topic. 

He notes a big thing I missed. A series of ominous statements was buried in Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s recent joint press conference with Canadian Foreign Minister Malanie Joly, trumpeting the “tremendous opportunity” the Nord Stream blasts afforded to remove “the dependence on Russian energy.” A few public figures questioned those comments, but Blinken said something else that was worse. The relevant passage:

I also made clear that when Russia made this move, the United States and our allies and partners would impose swift and severe costs on individuals and entities — inside and outside of Russia — that provide political or economic support to illegal attempts to change the status of Ukrainian territory.

We will hold to account any individual, entity, or country that provides political or economic support for President Putin’s illegal attempts to change the status of Ukrainian territory. In support of this commitment, the Departments of the Treasury and Commerce are releasing new guidance on heightened sanctions and export control risks for entities and individuals inside and outside of Russia that support in any way the Kremlin’s sham referenda, purported annexation, and occupation of parts of Ukraine.

There’s no way to know what a State Department official might believe meets the definitions of “political support,” support “in any way,” the “Kremlin’s sham referenda,” or any of a half-dozen phrases in that passage. This is why the negative precedent of government watch lists after the Patriot Act was important. By making lists, officials can seriously impacting your life without notice or right of appeal. Even if courts later strike down the activity, it may take nearly 20 years to get there, and that’s assuming a) the state discloses enough to make a court challenge possible and b) they abide by any judicial rulings.

From Google and Twitter to the Departments of Justice and State, we’ve become a blacklisting society, and it’s beginning to look like the excesses of the Bush years were just a warmup.

*As editor of the Moscow Times, Matt led an investigation of the 2000 Russian presidential elections that resulted in an eight-page expose detailing extensive ballot-stuffing and misreporting of vote results in favor of Vladimir Putin. In one case, for instance, the Times found authorities reported 88,000 more votes for Putin than had actually been collected from certain polling stations in Dagestan. “Fraud and abuse of state power appear to have been decisive,” the paper wrote. Meanwhile, this is from the prepared statement to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Aril 12, 2000 of Stephen Sestanovich, at the time our ambassador-at-large to the former Soviet Union. Sestanovich told the Senate he had six major observations about the election of Vladimir Putin, the second of which was that “voters showed even less interest than 4 years ago in returning the Communists to power.” His main “headline”:

We witnessed a constitutional process, with multiple candidates, very high turnout, and — according to the many international observers on the scene — few procedural improprieties. I recall the confident forecast of a distinguished Russian analyst after the 1996 election, that Russian voters would never again have the chance to pick their president at the polls. In the past decade, elections have become the only legitimate way to select Russia’s leaders.

The State Department boasted about Putin’s election as both legitimate and the fruit of a long, U.S.-aided effort to build democratic infrastructure in Russia. They described an event heralding a pluralistic future. I leave it to the reader to decide if that constitutes “support in any way.”