Mendocino County Today: Saturday, Oct. 15, 2022

Warm Afternoon | JoAnn Charles | Dwarf Iris | ALRVFD Event | Open Sluice | Caregiver Sought | Backyard Sculpture | Candidate Questions | Logs Stored | County Agenda | Panthers Creamed | Line Hardening | Dam Construction | Public Records | Halloween Tarot | Laundry Search | Yesterday's Catch | Banned Books | Recent Reads | Ms Mayhem | Marco Radio | Thirds Kill | Fern Canyon | Hun Dining | Completely Nuts | Mr Hotdog | Uncovered Story | Peasant Holidays | Ronald Training | Mephisto | Authoritarian Revolution | Leaky Robot | London Stage | Ukraine | Uninvited Guest | Sane Response | This Week | Public Execution

DRY AND WARM AFTERNOON conditions are expected through the weekend across interior portions of Northwest California. Meanwhile, periods of low clouds and dense fog will continue to plague coastal areas. (NWS)

JOANN CHARLES

JoAnn Humphries Charles (affectionally known as “Mama”) passed away peacefully on October 12th at her home in Philo surrounded by loving family.

She was born on May 16, 1939, in Reno, Nevada to Jack Humphries and Jean Clow. She spent her early years living on Mare Island where her father worked as an engineer. JoAnn later moved to her family homestead in Philo where she spent most of her life, but not without several residences elsewhere.

JoAnn met the love of her life and high school sweetheart Norman Charles in Boonville who she later married in 1960 after leaving for college at San Francisco State University. The couple initially lived in Berkeley before settling in Santa Rosa where JoAnn taught elementary school and Norman ran a dry cleaner. JoAnn gave birth to three beautiful daughters Dianna, Holly and Suzy Charles who remained by her side until the very end.

Beginning in the early 1970s, her family moved “back to the land” returning to the Philo homestead living in an Army tent initially for several months while building a home and running a Christmas tree farm. ”Farm to table” was a way of life during these years during which JoAnn taught her daughters to raise animals, grow a garden, churn butter, make their own bread and as she often would say “cook up a storm.”

During the 70s and 80s the family took several adventurous road trips together including their annual migration in a van through Baja, California where they camped on the beach and bought seafood from the local fishermen. In 1985, the family moved to Healdsburg and later in 1993 to Sedona, Arizona making lifelong friendships along the way.

Norman, passed away, far too soon, in 1999. JoAnn returned to Philo to be with her daughters and while heartbroken, never lost her sense of adventure - traveling the world and eventually buying a condo south of Rosarito, Mexico looking over the ocean in 2007. While she initially planned on just vacationing at the condo, she soon realized that Mexico was her passion and lived there for most of the year while officially becoming a resident. She made close friendships in Baja that became like a second family to her while her first family visited her there often.

Besides her three daughters, Mama is survived by nine grandchildren, seven great grandchildren, brother and sister-in-law Bill and Nancy Charles and family, her favorite son-in-laws, and her beloved Mexican poodle Rosa. She was a shrewd businesswoman, gourmet cook, an avid fly fisherman, and could mix the best bloody mary in town. Playing any game, but especially a card game with Mama was always a barrel of fun during which she would often exclaim in frustration “No wild cards guys!” when looking at a bad hand.

Mama loved her family intensely, had a passion for adventure and “was a little bit country, and a little bit rock n roll” — equally content cooking at a camp site in Albion or dressing up for fine dining in the city. Your legacy and teachings live on in all of us. God bless you Mama!

Arrangements are under the direction of the Eversole Mortuary.

TODAY/SATURDAY: ALBION LITTLE-RIVER OPEN HOUSE

Reminder: The Albion-Little River Volunteer Fire Department is having an OPEN HOUSE this Saturday from 11AM to 4PM at Albion Fire Station 810 behind the Albion Grocery Store and we'd love for you to join us!

There will be information on our new proposed fire station, our Fire Safe Council will be there, information on how YOU can volunteer, and what to know about Measure P.

Our Auxiliary will be serving Tri Tip Sandwiches with chips and drink for $15 or hot dogs with chips and drink for $10 from Noon to 3PM. They will also have T-Shirts for Sale.

Don't miss it. We'll be looking for you!

SEEKING LIVE-IN CAREGIVER

My parents' current live-in caretaker has to leave, we are all very sad he has been amazing. So, to keep them out of the abysmal elder care institution system in CA, we are in the market for a new IHSS certified caregiver. It's a big job - but also very rewarding, my parents are demanding but extremely entertaining in their old age. 

Must be IHSS certified or willing to become so in a hurry. Accommodations are not luxurious - the house needs frequent attention and work, but all of us kids/grandkids are ready to make mountains move to keep things running and functional and are happy to provide support with hiring/paying/scheduling contractors & facilitating in any way possible. Pay is $16/hr, approx. 70 hrs/week (56K ish/year) & housing costs are covered. Great location up Little Lake Rd, walking distance to Mendocino village. Currently Paul has a helper who covers him two days a week. Please share this post if you know anyone that might be interested, and/or email me for more information.

Dylan Branson <dylanb76@gmail.com>

QUESTIONS FOR FORT BRAGG CITY COUNCIL CANDIDATE MICHELLE ROBERTS

Considerations: FB Council Candidate Michelle Roberts’ son Jacob Patterson

Will you go on the record that you do not condone or are complicit in your son, Jacob Patterson’s continued harassment and bullying of City workers and Council Members?

Are you aware of his hundreds of public records requests from City Hall (thousands of pages of documents)?

Do you know his intentions of using all those requested documents received?

If elected, will you recuse yourself on any matters involving your son and his records requests?

Do you support his public statement at the September 12^th City Council meeting that “election fraud occurred by Council members Albin-Smith and Peters defacing, destroying nomination papers a crime the Police Chief should look into”? 

Do you support his efforts to find the City at fault (a misperceived notion that he will eventually find some errors to use against the City with these records reviewed and retained)?

How will you mend relationships with City staff after 5 years of Jacob’s activities and bullying them?

Did you support Jacob’s legal claim against the City with a settlement of $22,000 of the taxpayers’ money?

Did you raise the rent of your son, Jacob, during the pandemic and while receiving rental assistance from the City?

These are serious questions and concerns for a candidate that may be tasked with the City’s budget and maintaining a safe workforce at City Hall.

— Will Lee, former Council Member and Mayor

COUNTY/AGENDA NOTES

by Mark Scaramella

SUPERVISOR MULHEREN: “September 19: At the Great Redwood Trail Agency Meeting in Healdsburg we received a presentation by the consultant about the Master Plan Process for the Great Redwood Trail.”

Response: But when we went to Doug Bosco’s Coastal Commission Conservancy website we found that the “master plan process”  emphasis on “process” not the actual plan — is running late.

“Key Dates:

Request for Proposals Released: 3/16/22

Proposals Due to Coastal Conservancy: 4/26/22

Reviews/Interviews/Contract Negotiation: May

Estimated Start of Work: June 1, 2022

* * *

Mulheren: “September 22 — I had the opportunity to meet and discuss what the potential options are for the Palace Hotel and the benefits to the community. I know this has been discussed before but it’s still very exciting to think about the possible benefits to the Ukiah Valley. It would great to see the sale of the building to a new owner with the vision to finally move this project forward.”

Response: Last we heard the building had already been sold to “a new owner with the vision to finally move this project forward” back in April. Has that already fallen through? The Ukiah public had its hopes up! What happened?

"Palace Hotel Buyer Has Plans"

* * *

UNBELIEVABLY, Sheriff Kendall’s Lawsuit (or whatever he calls it, an attorney request?) against the county is still pending, on appeal. The case is on the Board’s closed session agenda for next Tuesday. And: 

(From the California Association of Counties, CSAC, website, as of September 1. Note that CSAC has sided with the Supervisors without explaining why, probably a pro forma stance without much examination of the background.)

“Kendall v. Superior Court (Mendocino County Board of Supervisors) 

Pending in the First Appellate District (filed Mar. 8, 2022)(A164676) Status: Awaiting Briefing Schedule To Be Set 

“This case started as a dust up between the Sheriff and the County over a proposal to either consolidate the Sheriff’s separate information technology system into the County’s IT infrastructure, or alternatively to assume responsibility for the operation and management of the Sheriff’s IT infrastructure. The Sheriff opposed the consolidation and submitted a request to the Board of Supervisors under Government Code section 31000.6 seeking separate counsel. Ultimately the Board dropped the consolidation proposal and concluded there was no conflict of interest on the operational issues but did agree to hire counsel selected by the Board for limited purposes of helping the Sheriff craft a response to an AG’s request on the issue. The Sheriff filed an action in superior court asking the court whether there was a conflict of interest as defined by section 31000.6, and if so, to appoint counsel independently selected by the court to advise on those issues. The trial court declined to appoint counsel for the Sheriff, and the Sheriff has appealed. CSAC will file a brief in support of the Mendocino Board of Supervisors.”

* * *

MENDO’S PAYROLL PROCESSING, which was transferred from the Auditor’s office to the CEO’s office in August on grounds that the Auditor was understaffed and Supervisor Ted Williams was worried about it, will now cost the County an additional $100k for outside consulting “assistance” for the next few months (plus some other budget stuff, apparently).

Consent Item 3j: “Approval of Agreement with ClientFirst Consulting Group DBA ClientFirst Technology Consulting in the Amount of $100,000, to Assist with Payroll Processing Project Management, Provide Project Oversight for Recurring Munis Improvements, and Initiate and Plan for Munis Improvements in 2022 through 2023, Effective Upon Full Execution through June 30, 2023. 

* * *

FARMING OUT THE AG COMMISSIONER

Mendocino County has seen a parade of relatively short-term Ag Commissioners come and go after the retirement of long-time Commissioner Dave Bengston in 2009. Since then we’ve had:

Tony Linegar, a good guy who quit to take a bigger job in Sonoma County.

Chuck Morse whose departure after a few years we don’t know anything about. He apparently resigned, returned for another short period, and then resigned again. Mr. Morse also had a hand in the pot permit program for a while. He lasted several years in total.

Joe Moreo, brought in for five days with great fanfare, then quit after seeing whatever he saw, or vice-versa.

Harinder Grewal lasted a little over a year, currently suing the County for wrongful termination.

Diane Curry, who had the temerity to tell the Board the truth about some of the problems with the Cannabis Permit program in the early days of the program while it was temporarily assigned to the Ag Department. A few days later CEO Angelo asked for her resignation (i.e., fired her on the spot without notice) and had her marched out of her office by security.

And more recently Jim Donnelly who was terminated in July. “A personnel matter,” said Supervisor/Board Chair Ted Williams.

Apparently Assistant Ag Commissioner Aaron Hult (who seems qualified enough for us) either turned down the job or doesn’t have the necessary license, or wasn’t ready for promotion in someone’s opinion. It may also be a cost saving attempt. But somebody still has to run the Ukiah office. There’s no indication that SoCo Ag Commissioner Andrew Smith will ever set foot in Mendocino County. There’s been no mention of any additional hires to pick up whatever workload a part-time out-of-County Commissioner may not be able to do.

Consent Item 3m: “Approval of Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Sonoma County for Licensed Agricultural Commissioner/Sealer of Weights & Measures Services, Beginning Upon Execution Through April 18, 2023, in an Amount Not to Exceed $50,000.” 

* * *

MENDO RENTED TWO BILLBOARDS for two months recently for $16k without board approval. (No reason given, no description of message.) Does anyone remember seeing it? It had something to do with behavioral health, which sounds like a waste of $16k. Now the Supes are being asked to “approve” what was already wasted.

Consent Item 3q) “Approval of Retroactive Agreement with National Outdoor Media in the Amount of $16,106, for Use of Static Billboards on Highway 101 for an 8-Week Period, Effective May 23, 2022, Through July 17, 2022.”

* * *

MENDO to change domain name from MendocinoCounty.org to MendocinoCounty.gov.

Consent Item 3z) “Approval of Transmission of Authorization Letter Requesting Responsibility for the Domain Name of MendocinoCounty.gov.”

FROM MONICA HUETL’S recent report of the Redwood Valley Municipal Advisory Council Meeting:

“Southern California Edison has upgraded 5,000 miles of power lines with steel-reinforced, triple-insulated power lines and new enhanced circuit breakers. These are much less likely to spark a fire, and the new equipment lets the utility company know exactly where the problem is so that repair crews can quickly be sent to the correct location. The reinforced, insulated power lines are still above ground. This is actually a better solution than burying the lines, as it will require fewer trees to be removed. PG&E has only installed 800 miles of the newer power lines. Seven counties and three cities have filed lawsuits against PG&E for its wasteful, ugly, and dangerous tree-trimming technique.…”

mendofever.com/2022/10/14/dangerous-tree-trimming-sonoma-is-poaching-our-deputies-flow-kana-campus-becoming-a-fire-hazard-highlights-from-the-redwood-valley-mac/

HELP US HELP YOU?

Matthew LaFever wrote:

Hello County Staff and Administration,

I find myself navigating the first PRA subsidy request since its implementation.

The following passage is a crucial component to all parties, but needs more information and context to guide the media:

“The County has committed to providing 120 hours of administrative staff time and 40 hours of attorney or paralegal time without charge to news media requesters each calendar month. To ensure parity, each individual requester is eligible for up to 30 hours of search time and 10 hours of attorney time each month.”

Simply put, these allotted hours are not universally understood. Now that reporters are navigating these parameters, we need to better understand the number of hours required for the various types of public records requests.

For example, TransparencyCalifornia submits public records request all across the state annually to identify the salaries of county employees. How many hours of search time would that be? Attorney time?

Help us help you. We know public records request take valuable time, but right now, the actual hour conversion rate to the public records request is unclear.

Are there any best practices your staff could offer to make our requests more efficient and small in scope so less time is needed to fulfill them?

Another note of concern is these guidelines' inability to adapt to urgency and immediacy. An inquiry, research-based public records request could take up a reporter’s allotted time leaving them, unable to request records needed for any more urgent matter. Most reporters have long-form research they are conducting and also responding to the day-to-day incidents that punctuate our lives. I do not think the county wants to discourage that, but this current model does.

Another note: the NextRequest system is robust and offers the searchability of previous public records requests and the ability for others with the same inquiry to download them. Currently, Sheriff/Coroner public records requests are not available to the general public after they are fulfilled. There are multiple examples of essentially the same PRA being filed for MCSO records. Fundamentally, this is inefficient. 

I hope you hear these questions and feedback in good faith and I look forward to a response. 

Matt LaFever

Reporter for KMUD, Redheaded Blackbelt, and Founder of MendoFever

Phone:(707) 267-1799

* * *

STILL PROBLEMATIC

Thank you for bringing up these concerns, Matthew. This ordinance remains highly problematic. No one has any way of knowing how much time it will take which category of employee to fill a request. This is an impossible calculation for anyone to make in the course of researching an issue, and it should be entirely irrelevant. Public records belong to the public, media or not, and we have already paid for them.

This policy incentivizes slow-walking public records act requests, a process that already has plenty of room for extensions and exceptions. I do not believe there has been an estimate, based on any sound study, of the time and money that will theoretically be saved by this policy. I am disappointed that this has become a county ordinance, with so little serious questioning from our leadership.

It is important to point out that the documents that are already part of the public record are poorly organized, and that employees do not appear to be trained to answer basic questions about how to find them. When I was searching for records that I knew had already been requested and couldn't find them, I called the number on the public records webpage, hoping to speak with someone who could take a few minutes to point me in the right direction (rather than laboriously filling a redundant request). I spoke to two employees and left a message for a third, and neither of them had any idea what I was talking about. No one responded to my message. 

This ordinance has come into being at a time when questions are swirling about the health plan deficit, the cannabis program and its various grants, and the District Attorney's prosecutorial decisions. We need more transparency, not less. It is completely inappropriate to initiate a thoroughly non-transparent policy that makes it more difficult and complicated and costly to gain access to public records.

Please revoke this ordinance. It does not serve the public interest.

Thank you,

Sarah Reith, Reporter

KZYX/MendoFever

LIFE AT THE GOLDEN FRONT

Still Here! Right this Moment!! Typing this at 11:43AM PDT @ Ukiah, CA Public Library

Good morning postmodern America and worldwide friends,

Awoke early at the Building Bridges homeless shelter in the Mendocino county seat of Ukiah, California USA. Following morning ablutions, inquired as to where a staff member put my shorts and bright orange shirt after they were of necessity independently laundered last night. Unable to locate them, proceeded to empty all of the baskets inside of the shelter into the container barrels just outside of the entrances, and then, due to insufficient trash & recycling clothes to wear, had to leave the next step of taking the outside containers to the enclosed area to separate the trash from the recycling (includes the redeemable for money bottles and cans), for later. After picking up all of the litter in front of the building which was left last night by the roving bands of loudly cursing, beer chugging, fentanyl smoking, needle freaks, I proceeded to the Ukiah Co-op for a breakfast burrito and a cup of coffee. And then walked to the Ukiah Public Library to read the New York Times. This concludes my report insofar as being here in the Golden Present is concerned.

I wish all global Jivan Muktas to know that I am identified with that which is prior to consciousness. I am not identified with the body nor the mind; particularly the ego, which is one of the eight aspects of the mind. I am available for just about anything spiritually focused and direct action oriented on the planet earth. 

Chanting Om and non-attached, 

Craig Louis Stehr, craiglouisstehr@gmail.com

CATCH OF THE DAY, October 14, 2022

WAYNE BROWN, Fort Bragg. Disorderly conduct-alcohol, contempt of court.

BRYCE CARLILE JR., Willits. Controlled substance, failure to appear.

JEFFREY CARVER, Willits. Disorderly conduct-intoxication by drugs and alcohol.

TONY MAPLES, Ukiah. Probation revocation.

ANTHONY MCCOY, Ukiah. Suspended license for DUI, failure to appear.

ABIMAEL SERNA-CASTILLO, Ukiah. Loaded firearm in public, concealed firearm, possession of firearm while subject of restraining order, unlawful display of registration.

MANOAH WEAVER, Oakland/Ukiah. Getting credit with someone else’s ID.

DON WILTSE JR., Laytonville. Failure to register as sex offender with priors.

NEVER TOO LATE FOR BOOKS

Editor,

Hey Bruce, I know I’m late w/ this, but am finally in a position to respond - I’ve read some books in the last couple of years that I’ve really loved - yeah, I loved Gone With The Wind etc, 50 some years ago, but I want to hear about newer books - I know some of these are somewhat older, but I’ve just got to them... I love autobiographies, biographies, biographic novels, historic novels, mysteries - so here’re a few I’ve really enjoyed of late:

• The Valley Of Amazement - Amy Tan
• The Kitchen God’s Wife - Amy Tan
• Clara and Mr. Tiffany - Susan Vreeland
• Full Dark House - Christopher Fowler
• Her Fearful Symmetry - Audrey Niffenneger
• Lilac Girls - Martha Hall Kelly
• Under The Wide and Starry Sky - Nancy Horton
• Little Movies - Todd Walton
• Maya’s Notebook - Isabelle Allende
• Ripper - Isabelle Allende
• The Paris Seamstress - Natasha Lester
• She Who Rides Like A Man - Tamora Pierce
• The Thirteenth Tale - Diane Setterfield
• Killed At The Whim Of A Hat - Colin Cotterill
• Democracy In Chains - Nancy MacLean
• Pompeii - Robert Harris

Take care, 

Nancy MacLeod

Philo

MOTA: GOOD NIGHT RADIO live from Franklin St. all night Friday night!

Deadline to email your writing for tonight's (Friday night's) MOTA show is about 5:30pm. Or send it whenever it's done and I'll read it on the radio next week.

I'll be in the cluttered but clean well-lighted back room of KNYO's storefront studio at 325 N. Franklin. Usually I can put phone callers on the air there with ease, but not this time; the phone-to-air thing failed and we're still waiting for the right part to come. I suppose, if you call me on my cell I can put it on speakerphone and hold it up the mic, and a few people know my cell number, so if that's what you wanta do, that's what you're gonna do, as Alastair Crowley once said, though in the vernacular of 100 years ago and in a pentacle surrounded by candles.

Memo of the Air: Good Night Radio is every Friday, 9pm to 5am on 107.7fm KNYO-LP Fort Bragg as well as anywhere else via http://airtime.knyo.org:8040/128 

(That's the regular link to listen to KNYO in real time.) (Or just go to KNYO.org and click Listen. And the schedule is there for KNYO's many other even more terrific shows.)

Any day or night you can go to https://MemoOfTheAir.wordpress.com and hear last week's MOTA show. By Saturday night the recording of Friday night's show will also be there.

Besides all that, there you'll find a metaphorical roulette wheel of arguably educational prizes to claim before showtime, or any time, such as:

Queen of Outer Space! “Vimmen can't be heppy vithout man.” “You're so right, baby.” Featuring Zsa Zsa Gabor, Eric Fleming, and Laurie Mitchell as the mysteriously masked Queen Yllana.. (Full film, 100 min)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-sQJcEk-kI

How we get scientific names of animals.

https://laughingsquid.com/how-animals-get-scientific-names/

And Buster Keaton in /The Chemist/. I never saw this one before. It's entirely new to me. (20 min.)

https://nagonthelake.blogspot.com/2022/10/the-chemist.html

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

FERN CANYON - A Sight Worth The Four-Hour Drive & 14-Mile Hike

by Justine Frederiksen

There are already too many lists of things you should see, yet I’m going to make another: Sights that are so beautiful, they still exceed even the most hyped expectations.

First on my list is Burney Falls in Shasta County, a canyon-sized waterfall that just gets more and more magical as California gets more and more dry.

But a very close second is Fern Canyon in Humboldt County, a place I’d been wanting to see for years after seeing pictures of its towering walls covered in ferns. And despite all that time waiting and dreaming, it was even more awe-inspiring than I hoped for.

You do have to work for that awe, however. It took me so long to make the trek to Fern Canyon because it is so remote: Located in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park in very northern Humboldt County, the canyon is more than a four-hour drive from Ukiah. And with few options of places to stay nearby that don’t involve camping, I wasn’t able to make the journey until a friend offered to drive me in a camper van.

Once you drive to Orick, there are two main ways to reach the canyon. The first is to continue several miles up a windy, narrow gravel road (picture Usal Road with fewer potholes) to a medium-sized parking lot, then to walk a short distance to the opening of the canyon.

The second involves tons more walking (by tons I mean hours and hours and miles and miles of it) because it requires you to park at Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park, then hike several miles to the canyon’s loop trail. Round-trip, the hike is at least a dozen miles.

When my friend and I went to Fern Canyon last month, our only option was the marathon hike because, this year, the park instituted a reservation system for the parking lot, not allowing people past the kiosk on Davidson Road between May 1 and Sept. 30 unless they had gone online and booked a time in advance.

Another friend said he booked a time for the parking lot earlier this year because he has two young kids, and “there was no way they were hiking 14 miles.”

But if you can walk all those miles (my friend’s app said we had gone 14 miles by the time we hiked to the canyon and back) I highly recommend it, as the James Irvine Trail you use to reach Fern Canyon is another wonder worthy of a visit.

I have never hiked in so large a forest, and can’t describe the feeling of walking for miles and miles and seeing nothing but a floor of green ferns and a sky full of redwoods. It was as immersive and overwhelming as walking under skyscrapers in San Francisco, only all you hear is water running in the distance, and all you can see are towering trees for 10 miles.

Once you reach Fern Canyon, the water will be running under your feet, so be prepared. Don’t be like the man I saw wearing slacks and penny loafers, wailing as he tried in vain to keep them dry. The Fern Canyon Trail is advertised as a “one-mile loop,” but it’s neither a trail nor a loop, really. It’s mostly a meander through the canyon, climbing over logs and bridges while many others do the same.

And what’s it like to see a canyon full of ferns growing 50-feet high? I think my friend described it perfectly with a simple, “Whoa.”

If You Go…

Now that you no longer need a permit to park near the canyon, there might be even more people joining you there these days. When asked recently how crowded the parking lot is, a ranger at the park said the best plan of action would be to “come early,” because while kids are back in school, “this is the season when the retired people travel. So the parking lot could suddenly fill up on a Wednesday, you never know.”

(photos by Justine Frederiksen, Ukiah Daily Journal)

ON-LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

I’ve worked outside for 22 years and it’s getting hotter faster and longer, I think the motoring world is completely nuts, either electric or gas … but I never understood what people deny the weather is getting messed up. I never get sticking up for a terrible world of shitty stucco houses, shitty toyota camerys, and shitty strip malls, screw the Suburban man and his Lawn and polo shirt.

Anybody who doesn’t believe me come work on a Jobsite with me, or come to work in the woods ……

CORPORATE MEDIA MOSTLY IGNORING GOP PLOY to Cut Social Security and Medicare

Corporate media outlets are mostly ignoring a Republican ploy to use the debt ceiling fight to gut Social Security and Medicare if the GOP regains control of Congress — a plot that one leading watchdog on Friday called “perhaps the single most consequential story” of the midterm elections.

“Social Security and Medicare are on the ballot next month,” said Media Matters for America senior fellow Matt Gertz. “If the American public doesn't know that, it's in part because the press isn't telling them.”…

commondreams.org/news/2022/10/14/corporate-media-mostly-ignoring-gop-ploy-cut-social-security-and-medicare

A “FAT TAX” is probably on the horizon as well — an idea that worked with cigarettes.

First they taxed cigarettes to the point of cruelty. Then they pushed smokers out of their workplaces, restaurants, bars — even, in some cases, their homes. After being penalized, demonized, marginalized, herded like animals into the cold, many — like me — finally quit.

I don't want my daughter treated like that.

I say, why wait?

I don't think it's right or appropriate that we raise little girls in a world where freakishly tiny, anorexic actresses and bizarrely lanky, unhealthy models are presented as ideals of feminine beauty. No one should ever feel pressured to conform to that image.

But neither do I think it's okay to be unhealthily overweight. It is not an “alternative lifestyle choice” or “choice of body image” if you need help to get out of your car.

I think constantly about ways to “help” my daughter in her food choices — without bringing the usual pressures to bear. “Look how nice and thin that Miley Cyrus is” are not words that shall ever leave my lips, as such notions might drive a young girl to bulimia, bad boyfriends, and eventually crystal meth.

So when I read of a recent study that found that children are significantly more inclined to eat “difficult” foods like liver, spinach, broccoli — and other such hard to sell “but it's good for you” classics — when they are wrapped in comfortingly bright packages from McDonald's, I was at first appalled, and then inspired.

Rather than trying to co-opt Ronald McDonald's all-too effective credibility among children to short-term positive ends, like getting my daughter to eat the occasional serving of spinach, I could reverse engineer this! I could use the strange and terrible powers of the Golden Arches for good — not evil!

I plan to dip something decidedly unpleasant and unappetizing in an enticing chocolate coating and then wrap it carefully in McDonald's wrapping paper. Nothing dangerous, mind you, but something that a two and a half-year-old will find “yucky!” — even upsetting — in the extreme. Maybe a sponge soaked with vinegar. A tuft of hair. A Barbie head. I will then place it inside the familiar cardboard box and leave it — as if it were forgotten — somewhere for my daughter to find. I might even warn her, “If you see any of that nasty McDonald's — make sure you don't eat it!” I will say before leaving her to it. “Daddy was stupid and got some chocolate — and now he's lost it,” I might mutter audibly to myself before taking a long stroll to the laundry room.

An early traumatic Ronald-related experience can only be good for her.

— Anthony Bourdain, 'Medium Raw'

MAY, 1904. OUR POLITICAL TASKS. In his new pamphlet, Trotsky portrays me as a bargain-basement Robespierre, a bourgeois radical autocrat in a socialist bonnet. My enemies, he cries, I consign to the guillotine, My supporters I bind in shackles. I claim that necessity has decreed I alone am free. I seed local organizations across Russia and pretend they are already in fruit. Each one parrots a Leninist parody of Descarte — “I am confirmed by Lenin, therefore I am.” My policy of centralism is really “ego centralism.” And he foresees the logical result of my policies when “the organization of the party takes the place of the party itself; the Central Committee takes the place of the organization; and finally the dictator takes the place of the Central Committee.” This is what I like, the joust on the open plain, the duel in the sun. Fighting the Markovites is too much like being besieged in a fog by a horde of old women, digging away out of sight, until they undermine you so much you sink into the swamp.

So I order an immediate counter barrage against Trotsky and his ruling lancers. Such cavaliers, gents on horseback, mounted matadors, are condemned by history to fall before us new roundheads, in helmets like bullets, firing over open sites at point-blank range. While I welcome his head on charge, his own allies snipe and mutter. They think this is no way for him to behave, comrade against comrade. After all, Lenin's “on our side” against the autocrats. I light the fuse of our heaviest artillery piece. The Friedrich Engels. Let them take cover when this drops on their heads! The “General” sounding off in in a very similar situation:

“Have these gentlemen ever seen a revolution? A revolution is certainly the most authoritarian thing there is. It is an act whereby one part of the population imposes its will on the other part by means of rifles, bayonets and artillery, all of which are highly authoritarian means. And the victorious party must maintain its rule by means of the terror which its arms inspire in the reactionaries.

Lenin, as channeled by Alan Brien

CAN'T HELP MYSELF

No piece of art has ever emotionally affected me the way this robot arm piece has. It's programmed to try to contain the hydraulic fluid that’s constantly leaking out and required to keep itself running...if too much escapes, it will die so it's desperately trying to pull it back to continue to fight for another day. Saddest part is they gave the robot the ability to do these 'happy dances' to spectators. When the project was first launched it danced around spending most of its time interacting with the crowd since it could quickly pull back the small spillage. Many years later... (as you see it now in the video) it looks tired and hopeless as there isn't enough time to dance anymore.. It now only has enough time to try to keep itself alive as the amount of leaked hydraulic fluid became unmanageable as the spill grew over time. Living its last days in a never-ending cycle between sustaining life and simultaneously bleeding out... (Figuratively and literally as its hydraulic fluid was purposefully made to look like it's actual blood).

The robot arm finally ran out of hydraulic fluid in 2019, slowly came to a halt and died - And I am now tearing up over a friggin’ robot arm 

It was programmed to live out this fate and no matter what it did or how hard it tried, there was no escaping it. Spectators watched as it slowly bled out until the day that it ceased to move forever. Saying that 'this resonates' doesn't even do it justice imo. Created by Sun Yuan & Peng Yu, they named the piece, 'Can't Help Myself'. What a masterpiece. What a message.

Extended interpretations: the hydraulic fluid in relation to how we kill ourselves both mentally and physically for money just in an attempt to sustain life, how the system is set up for us to fail on purpose to essentially enslave us and to steal the best years of our lives to play the game that the richest people of the world have designed. How this robs us of our happiness, passion and our inner peace. How we are slowly drowning with more responsibilities, with more expected of us, less rewarding pay-offs and less free time to enjoy ourselves with as the years go by. How there's really no escaping the system and that we were destined at birth to follow a pretty specific path that was already laid out before us. How we can give and give and give and how easily we can be forgotten after we've gone.. How we are loved and respected when we are valuable, then one day we aren't any longer and we become a burden...and how our young, free-caring spirit gets stolen from us as we get churned out of the broken system that we are trapped inside of. Can also be seen to represent the human life cycle and the fact that none of us make it out of this world alive. But also can act as a reminder to allow yourself to heal, rest and love with all of your heart. That the endless chase for 'more' isn't necessary in finding your own inner happiness.

- James Kricked Parr

UKRAINE, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 14TH

SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk has confirmed that SpaceX will no longer fund donated Starlink internet terminals in Ukraine.

It follows a CNN report that SpaceX was pulling funding for the terminals, citing documents obtained from the Pentagon. The company is asking the U.S. government to pay for the terminals instead, according to the report.

At the same time, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow’s mobilization of reservists would end in two weeks. He added that there is no need for large new strikes on Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian forces continue to gain ground in territory occupied and illegally annexed by Russia, prompting Russian-installed authorities there to urge civilians in the southern Kherson region to evacuate.

Evacuees are to begin arriving in Russia today. Ukrainian officials say Russian authorities are not carrying out an evacuation but a “forced deportation” of Ukrainians. CNBC has not been able to verify either side’s claims.

Numerous rights groups as well as Ukrainian and Western officials have accused Russia of forcefully deporting Ukrainian civilians, including children, into Russia, which constitutes a war crime. Moscow insists the people came to Russia of their own accord.

Kyiv says it has liberated 600 settlements from Russian occupation this month, including 75 in Kherson.

Three United States agencies jointly issued an alert outlining the effect of sanctions and export control restrictions on Russia’s defense capabilities, and warned countries about the risks of supporting Russia’s military-industrial complex.

(CNBC)

TED DACE: Unfortunately we have a lot to be anxious about right now. President Biden has stated that if Putin resorts to nukes in Ukraine, the result will be Armageddon. Presumably he means that the US will counter with an equal or greater strike and that the back and forth could easily escalate into full scale nuclear war. This would of course mean the end of civilization and possibly the extinction of the human race.

If Putin does resort to a tactical nuclear strike, it will be in response to the huge amount of advanced weaponry the West is pouring into Ukraine. So the obvious resolution is to stop arming Ukraine and start talking instead. Putin has just in the last few days reiterated his desire for talks, and the Biden administration refused, perhaps thinking that a NATO-fueled Ukraine can decisively win this war. One thing we can all agree on is that Putin wants to incorporate Russian-majority areas of Ukraine into Russia. These are areas where most people speak Russian and identify as Russian and who no longer wish to be part of Ukraine. Even if it means letting the “bad guy” win, are we seriously going to risk the future of the human race over this? What about all the people around the world don’t care in the least about this conflict? Why should their lives be threatened by nuclear winter because of our obsessive need to punish the object of our hatred? And what about our own descendants? All out nuclear war kills not only the current generation but all future generations. It’s the greatest crime imaginable. For that matter, why do we even still have these horrific weapons? Not only is it imperative to negotiate an end to this crisis, but we need to get serious about destroying the nukes once and for all.

We were warned for many years by our own authorities, including renowned cold warrior George Kennan, that expanding NATO to Russia’s border with Ukraine would provoke a very nasty response from Russia. Since the 2014 coup that overturned Ukraine’s Russia-friendly government, Kiev has been not just pro-Western but contemptuous of Russian-majority regions in the east, shelling cities and killing thousands of people. According to OSCE, shelling sharply increased each day starting on February 16th, eight days before Putin invaded. Clearly this action served no purpose except to provoke Putin. Zelensky did this despite the fact that he won overwhelming support from his people by running as a peace and reconciliation candidate, promising to stop the violence in the Donbas and pledging to keep Ukraine out of NATO. Instead he betrayed his people and brought them war and death. My point is not to justify Putin’s invasion but only to make it clear that the West, which backed the 2014 coup, is complicit in this. We had a hand in creating this catastrophe, and it’s up to us to put a stop to it before it escalates to Armageddon.

Proving that we’re right and the other guy is wrong is a great way of containing and minimizing anxiety, but it’s not helping us deal constructively with the awful situation we now face.

Nuclear brinksmanship goes next level, Insider trading runs amok, the Saudis switch teams, Demented activist grrls attack “The Sunflowers,” Britain owns itself, Three finance headlines, and more

Welcome to America This Week, where with the help of journalistic professionals, you can badly misuse what may be one of your last hours on earth, at least if this week’s news is to be believed. Remember that there is a podcast version of ATW in which author Walter Kirn and I tackle the issues of the week, going deep on everything from OPEC to nuclear holocaust to Ye in a discussion you can find here. 

This was yet another week packed with world-shaking political and economic shifts. The top headlines:

U.S.-Saudi Romance On Rocks: In a standoff that threatens to fundamentally alter America’s relationship to the Middle East, Saudi Arabia issued a seething press release Wednesday hinting at willingness to walk away from nearly a century of strategic cooperation with the U.S. Essentially, the dispute is about Ukraine. The Saudi-led Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) once comprised 13 members, including Kuwait, Venezuela, and Qatar, but a new coalition called OPEC+ was formed in 2018 that added ten countries, including Mexico, Kazakhstan and, crucially, Russia. Last week, OPEC+ announced it was cutting production by 2 million barrels a day, which will push prices higher everywhere, including already-stressed Europe (“This shows the energy crisis in Europe is threatening to escalate into a global price war” wrote the German paper Handelsblatt). American officials said the move “benefitted Russia,” and Joe Biden told CNN Tuesday said there would be “consequences” for “what they’ve done with Russia.” In response, the Saudis issued a biting statement, saying it rejected “any dictates, actions, or efforts to distort its noble objectives,” notwithstanding the “solid pillars upon which the Saudi-US relationship had stood over the past eight decades.” (Note the use of the past tense). More ominously, the release outed the U.S. for proposing “postponing the OPEC+ decision for a month,” which critics both within the U.S. and in Europe blasted as a self-interested gambit to delay pain beyond midterm elections. 

Monster WSJ Exposé Nails State Officials: In a throwback example of sweeping, impactful, meticulous investigative reporting, six journalists at the Wall Street Journal outed some 2,600 officials in the executive branch for holding stock in companies “lobbying their agencies for favorable policies.” The blockbuster work may finally lead to concrete action to address a problem that’s been a source of outrage for over a decade. In 2004, a professor named Alan Ziobrowski did a study finding that members of Congress outperformed the market by an average of 12%, which in turn led to the discovery that members of both parties were scoring huge profits on suspicious trades, which led to a 60 Minutes report that motivated the passage of the so-called STOCK Act, which was thought to stop the problem by forcing disclosure. However in early 2020 multiple well-known officials, including Senators Richard Burr of North Carolina and Diane Feinstein of California, were accused of dumping stocks after learning inside info about Covid-19, and in incidents covered here, several officials at the Federal Reserve also admitted to similar activity. The WSJ uncovered problems beyond Congress, with masses of lower-profile officials in departments like Commerce and the Treasury. A byzantine and absurdly ineffective monitoring system asks executive branch employees who already have other jobs to serve as “designated agency ethics officials” or DAEOs, with the responsibility to monitor trades for people in their own departments, including superiors. Also the agency responsible for enforcement, the Office of Government Ethics, has no punitive power. “They can't make anyone do anything,” is how Craig Holman of Public Citizen, who helped draft the original STOCK Act, described it. Even before the Journal story, there was momentum for legislative efforts to effect total bans on stock trading, and such action seems likelier now, especially since, as Holman notes, polls show “roughly 70% support for this legislation among Republicans, Democrats, and Independents alike.” We’ll see, but kudos to the Journal for pulling off what apparently was a pretty difficult job of obtaining the necessary records: you made journalism proud. 

Congress Issues Trump Subpoena: The campaign to bring Donald Trump under legal heel has begun to resemble one of those old military maps, a la”Invasions of Sicily 1943,” with one bloblike territory crossed all over with red arrows of varying width representing advances of conquering forces. When will Palermo fall? While the Department of Justice leads the main force under the twin investigations of January 6th and the Mar-a-Lago records case, and New York Attorney General Letitia James mounts a pincer attack to the north via a financial fraud prosecution, Congress this week parachuted into battle by issuing a subpoena to Trump for documents and testimony. The move capped an otherwise uneventful concluding hearing of the January 6th committee, which called no witnesses but voted to take what chairman Bennie Thompson of Mississippi conceded was a “serious and extraordinary action.” The subpoena now brings into play a scenario, already seen in the case of former Trump adviser Steve Bannon, in which refusal to appear could lead to a criminal contempt of Congress charge. No one has been jailed under this statute since the Red Scare of the 1950s and infamous cases like the “Hollywood 10,” although Bannon may be sentenced on October 21. Note also: AG James in New York asked a court to allow the filing of electronic subpoenas for Trump and his son Eric, since they’ve refused to accept traditional service. Trump’s reaction to Congress was a characteristic Truth Social message, wondering “Why didn’t the Unselect Committee ask me to testify months ago?” and deeming the committee a “total BUST.” 

Russia, West Trade Insane Threats: As Russia and the U.S. continue to ratchet up nuclear tensions over Ukraine, the rest of the world’s nations, like so many cautious parents driving cars full of kids on a highway where two cokeheads in Corvettes are swerving from lane to lane at 160 m.p.h., have been reduced to clinical observation of how and when their fates will be decided. Vladimir Putin, who became famous in Russia for promising Chechen rebels that he would “whack them in an outhouse,” has become a factory producer of amphibolous verbal constructions, saying Russia has “various means of destruction” at its disposal to enforce its “territorial integrity,” adding, “it’s not a bluff.” Joe Biden agreed, first saying at a fundraiser that “[Putin] is not joking when he talks about the potential use of tactical nuclear weapons,” adding he didn’t think it was possible to use nukes “and not end up with Armageddon.” This prompted White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre to rush to tell reporters the U.S. had no intelligence that Putin planned “imminently” to launch a nuclear strike, which didn’t feel reassuring. Biden then gave an interview to CNN’s Jake Tapper, who tried politely to ask if maybe Biden didn’t regret certain word choices, because “When people hear the word Armageddon used by a U.S. President, they get scared.” At which point Biden immediately used the word again, saying Putin should stop talking about nuclear weapons, because that’s when “mistakes get made” and “it could end in Armageddon.” Meanwhile EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell declared that after any nuclear attack on Ukraine, “the Russian army will be annihilated,” because “the United States and NATO are not bluffing neither [sic].” Let’s hope a double-negative is the extent of any “mistakes” made on this front. 

Keep An Eye On

Kanye De-Banked: At first glance any story involving Kanye West, or Ye, or whatever is his current nom de célébrité curieuse, would seem automatically not important. However, JP Morgan Chase terminating its relationship with the former Kardashian accessory is a step in the direction of banks becoming behavior enforcers, which is both frightening and, here, ironic, as Chase is infamous for remaining the loyal bank of Bernie Madoff even after they caught on, allowing him to continue scamming.

First Chess, Now Fishing?: In a bizarre footnote to both the ongoing chess cheating scandal and news that basically everyone in American government is trading on inside information, two Ohio men have been charged with felony grand theft and “possessing criminal tools” for attempting to cheat the Lake Erie Walleye Trail tournament in Cleveland, by stuffing catches with weights and fish filets. A public unmasking went viral, thanks to a judge’s climactic cry: “We got weights in fish!” 

FDA Announces Crank Shortage: The Food and Drug Administration announced national shortages in Adderall and other amphetamine-based “ADHD” treatments. These controlled substances are strictly regulated, so the problem can’t be Americans aged zero to 150 using them recreationally or as a way to work double shifts, complete unfinished shed projects, or paint lots of unappealing cat portraits. “I can understand why there are shortages, because there’s an increased demand of people who are seeking these medications,” a doctor told a shocked, shocked New York Timesreporter.

* * *

International Notes 

★ In a story that brings a dramatic end to Interpol’s exhaustive years-long effort to locate the biggest assholes in the human race, two “activists” from the group “Just Stop Oil” threw two cans of Heinz tomato soup on Van Gogh’s “Sunflowers,” at London’s National Gallery. “What is worth more, art or life?” asked one of the two women. “Are you more concerned about the protection of a painting, or the protection of our planet and people?” The group claimed the glass-covered painting was unharmed, but the frame suffered “minor damage.” They then glued themselves to the wall (their shirts, unfortunately, not their backs, ears, or faces). Just Stop Oil activists have also glued themselves to Leonardo da Vinci's “The Last Supper,” Botticelli’s “Primavera,” and Picasso’s “Massacre in Korea” at the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne. The episode marks the latest prediction to come true from Orwell’s 1984, whose humorless Spies would have been proud to pull such a stunt. Authorities haven’t settled on a response yet, but the British Home Secretary is said to be considering the option of coating the activists with elk blood and tossing them in a pit full of Komodo dragons, perhaps in a live global pay-per-view event whose proceeds would go to buying oil to be publicly burned just for the fuck of it. 

★ Japan’s cabinet approved a bill ending a practice, dating back to the 19th century, which banned pregnant women from remarrying within 100 days of divorce. 

★ Senior NATO officials told The Telegraphin Britain they think French president Emmanuel Macron is a dick for hinting he would not use nuclear weapons if Russia bombed Ukraine. “Our doctrine rests on the fundamental interests of the nation,” Macron said, adding said doctrine would not come into play “if… there was a ballistic nuclear attack in Ukraine.” Senior sources told The TelegraphMacron should probably not “talk about it publicly.”

* * *

And Finally, Three Finance Headlines by Eric Salzman

Inflation Still Red Hot: The Consumer Price Index (CPI) report for September was released Thursday morning. Numbers exceeded market expectations, showing an 8.2% year-on-year gain for overall CPI and a 6.6% gain for CPI for all items less food and energy, referred to as Core CPI. Increases were broad, with the biggest rises coming from food, electricity, shelter, transportation services and medical care. Stocks crashed initially, but shockingly reversed course later in the morning and finished strong, leaving commentators and investors scratching their heads. The Biden administration was hoping for a weaker report, as it’s the last before midterms and shows inflation is still very much a thing. Biden himself has consistently blamed inflation on energy prices and appeared infuriated by the aforementioned OPEC+ decision to cut oil production. Meanwhile, when lumbersexual National Economic Council Director Brian Deese was questioned by Bloomberg’s Jonathan Ferro if it was true the administration asked the Saudis to merely delay the OPEC+ decision (“Are they telling the truth or not?” pestered Ferro), he repeatedly refused to answer, in an exchange that made for deeply uncomfortable television that would normally also have been hilarious, absent the whole threat-of-nuclear-war thing.

Brinksmanship In the U.K.: U.K Prime Minister Liz Truss and (checks watch) former Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng faced off against Bank of England (BOE) Governor Andrew Bailey in a high stakes game of financial chicken. As TK readers may recall, the previous September 23rd presentation of the Truss government’s plan to “Get Britain Moving Again” was met with horror by financial markets, as the nation’s 30-year Treasury notes (gilts) declined over 30% in price and increased over 100 basis points in yield in just a couple of days, causing an epic crisis in the nation’s pension system. The funds had a strategy called “Liability Directed Investments” which went horribly wrong when gilts lost so much value so fast. This week, JP Morgan Chase estimated that the funds lost at least £150 billion so far. The BOE stepped in with a program to buy up to £4.5 billion of gilts every day until October 14th. But because markets knew this was just a temporary solution, gilts soon began crashing again and continued going down early this week. Tuesday night Governor Bailey shocked markets by telling the funds and the banks that they had 3 days to figure it out because the program was indeed ending Friday. Kwarteng then compounded panic Wednesday by saying that any problems in the gilt market were “a matter for the Governor (Bailey).” Then, Thursday night, Kwarteng raced home from a G-7 finance meeting in Washington just in time to be sacked Friday morning. Afterward, Truss held a presser that resembled a hostage video, promising robotically to reverse course, unfreeze a scheduled corporate tax hike, and slow spending plans. The markets were not convinced and the pound sterling fell sharply again after the appearance. This crisis is sonot over.

Those Nutty Swedes: On Monday, America’s imperious, oblong-headed former Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke — a man who once wrote a book about himself with the un-ironic title The Courage to Act – was awarded the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in the memory of Alfred Nobel, by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. Bernanke became Chairman in 2006, as America entered the late innings of the housing bubble. A man with that much regulatory and supervisory responsibility might have looked under the hood of the financial services industry and forced the heads of every financial institution to explain how it was possible, for instance, to take $1 billion in garbage home loans and turn them into $800 million in AAA-rated bonds. He could have called S&P or Moodys to find out how they were rating these bonds. Instead, he went to Jackson Hole, delivered a speech on global trade, and issued no warnings. In May 2007, Bernanke proclaimed subprime to be “largely contained,” then went on to green-light a series of massive interventions in the form of Quantitative Easing whose effects are still being felt. Reaction to Bernanke’s award was swift and savage. Michael Burry, the former Scion Capital chief whose prescient bet against housing inspired The Big Short, tweeted, “Bernanke gets the Nobel Prize in Economics. Not a joke.” Another much-circulated tweet read, “Giving Bernanke the Nobel in Economics is like giving Jeffrey Dahmer the Notable Vegetarian Prize.” Even TK’s own Matt Taibbi got into the act, calling the Academy’s choice “the drunkest decision of all time” in a tweet that quickly converted into a New York Post headline. Undeserved awards are always funny — who doesn’t remember poor Harrison Ford announcing Shakespeare in Love as Best Picture? — but so decorating the man who may be more responsible than any one person on earth for a decade of widening wealth inequality is like asking for a pitchfork rebellion.

THE LAST PUBLIC EXECUTION IN AMERICA, Rainey Bethea, Owensboro, KY, 1936