Mendocino County Today: Friday, Oct. 21, 2022

Cooling | Coccora | Reviewing Waidelich | AV Library | Wildlife Release | Vaccine Clinic | Senior Trip | Starr Halloween | Party Endorsements | Cedric Hollingsworth | Duck Funding | O & P | Art Walk | Filigreen Farm | Indoor Mini-Golf | Yesterday's Catch | Media Confidence | Whaling Protest | Oil Profit | Phyllis Cormack | Dodge Darting | 50 Years | Smoky NW | Crossing Hype | My Books | Willits Depot | $20 Burger | Griz Wrestling | Downward Momentum | Today's World | Niner Trade | SF Chaos | Duckless | Midterm Rhetoric | Urban Assault | Growing Stupid | Dealmaking | Ukraine's Destruction | Rain Cover

SLIGHTLY COOLER weather is expected today, followed by sharply cooler weather during the weekend. In addition, north-northwest winds gusting from 20 to 40 mph across exposed terrain are forecast to occur in the wake of a cold front Saturday and Sunday. Light rain is also expected this evening into Saturday, mainly over Humboldt and Del Norte Counties. Slightly drier weather may occur Sunday into Tuesday, followed by another round of rain during middle to late portions of next week. (NWS)

STATE AG TO REVIEW WAIDELICH CASE

by Mike Geniella

The state Attorney General’s Office confirmed Thursday that it is assessing whether Mendocino County District Attorney David Eyster is free of potential conflicts in deciding the fate of a criminal assault complaint against former Ukiah Police Chief Noble Waidelich.

The state move comes weeks after Eyster received results of an outside investigation by Sonoma County authorities into the assault claims. Eyster has kept the conclusions secret. He recently asked for the state AG’s review after questions about possible conflicts in deciding the former police chief’s fate were raised.

“We can confirm we're reviewing the District Attorney's request. Beyond that, no updates on our end at this point in time,” according to a statement issued Thursday by the AG’s Press Office.

The DA continues to refuse to publicly comment on any aspect of the months old Waidelich case, including whether he has decided if prosecution of Waidelich is warranted or not. 

In fact, the high-profile Waidelich case continues to be surrounded by a wall of silence, with no one locally connected willing to comment publicly about any details.

Besides Eyster, Waidelich’s attorney former Superior Court Judge James King refuses to comment. Sonoma County authorities also are not talking and will only confirm that on Sept. 1 they turned over to Eyster the results of their investigation. City Manager Sage Sangiacomo, who fired Waidelich, will only state that the former police chief was in violation of police department policy “separate and apart from the accusation and ongoing investigation of criminal conduct.”

Waidelich too did not respond to requests this week for comments on the Attorney General’s review.

Eyster’s possible conflict in deciding the outcome of the Waidelich accusation stems from his ties not only to a close past working relationship with Waidelich, and the Ukiah Police Department in general, but also the fact that the District Attorney was named in 2017 as a defendant in civil litigation connected to an earlier domestic violence case involving the police chief. 

Former county probation officer Amanda Carley alleged Waidelich abused her when they lived together, and she eventually reported the case in 2015 to the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office. Eyster, however, refused to prosecute Carley’s case, and he in fact took the extraordinary step of publicly casting doubt on Carley’s professional abilities by placing her on a so-called list of unreliable witnesses. As a result, probation officials stripped Carley of her duties. She eventually left town to find work as a criminal investigator in Southern California.

A subsequent civil lawsuit filed by Carley seeking damages from Waidelich, and the county remains active, although Eyster eventually was dropped as a defendant because he enjoys special state protections for decisions he made as DA. 

A mandatory settlement conference in the Carley civil lawsuit is scheduled for next Wednesday in Mendocino County Superior Court.

The state review of whether prosecution conflicts exist could take weeks, if not months, and further delay any decision on whether Waidelich will face criminal prosecution. The assault complaint was made by a woman who was a friend of Waidelich, and other top law enforcement officials in the county. She declined through an intermediary this week a request to be interviewed about her experience with Waidelich even with a promise of anonymity.

Waidelich’s sudden firing was a stomach-churning end to the career of a personable local guy who less than a year ago was touted as someone who might lead the 18-officer department out of a troubled stretch. ‘Nobey’ was a local boy from Potter Valley who started his law enforcement career in 2005 with Ukiah police and rose through the ranks before being named Police Chief a year ago. He was earning $187,000 per year. 

Waidelich’s firing in mid-June stunned supporters and underscored how tarnished the sterling reputation the Ukiah Police Department once enjoyed. A formal city recruitment effort is under way to find a successor. 

In the meantime, veteran Police Capt. Cedric Cook is serving as interim police chief.

Waidelich was a former supervisor of disgraced police Sgt. Kevin Murray, whose criminal case earlier this year embroiled the department and the DA’s office in controversy because of a “sweetheart” plea deal that saw serious assault charges dismissed against the officer in return for no contest pleas to lesser charges. Instead of jail time, as recommended, Murray was placed on probation. In total, three women – one a former Ukiah police trainee who filed a still pending civil lawsuit – accused Murray of assaulting them over a 10-year period.

The disputed outcome of the Murray case immediately raised questions about whether Eyster should decide the fate of Waidelich because of potential conflicts.

California’s Attorney General Office has constitutional power to supervise county prosecutors, and it may assume control over local criminal cases in a process known as “supersession.”

In reality, however, supervisory power is exercised “softly and rarely,” according to a 2019 analysis by the California Constitution Center at Berkeley Law and the Hastings Law Journal.

“For example, in 2017, the attorney general responded to only 66 recusal motions statewide, and 85 in 2018,” researchers found.

They concluded, “By contrast a district attorney’s decision whether to initiate criminal proceedings is a classic example of discretionary act over which for an attorney general has little direct control.”

RONNIE JAMES ON THE RACOON RELEASE

Raccoon Resolution--Community help request. 

I've been in contact with Sonoma Wildlife regarding the raccoon release that happened at the Pudding Creek area earlier this week. The raccoons are reported to have disbursed and none were seen dead on the highway or beach. The reason this happened was that state law requires all rehabbed wildlife be released where it was found. Sonoma Wildlife and the volunteers they sent had no idea what the habitat was there, as they've never been here before. So let's move forward....

I have contacted and received a commitment from Sonoma Wildlife to work with us to create a list of appropriate places to release wildlife they have received from our area.

So now i need the community's help to create a list.

I'll approach Jackson State Forest and State Parks as we have worked with them many times in the past, but we also need private ranch- or farm-type sites that would be willing to accept a release. We need places from Westport to Point Arena.

Animals from rehab will be juveniles and have been raised as wild as possible. The best places would be away from neighborhoods, maybe back onto Jackson or a state park, and have a water source (creek, river, pond), and away from free-running dogs. The animals available for release would be raccoons, opossums (eat lots of snails, snakes, lizards, carion, etc.), owls, hawks, geese and water birds. Private property owners would always have the option to choose the species they would allow. Email WoodlandsWildlife@mcn.org. Include your phone number so I can contact you please.

They have fewer than 3-4 releases in our area annually, so signing up as a release site won't guarantee a release for you, but it sure would be a good way to support local wildlife.

Ronnie James <ronnie@mcn.org>

FLU AND COVID VACCINES AVAILABLE, including updated boosters. Ages 12+

Mendocino County Public Health Office, 1120 S Dora St, Ukiah, Saturday, Oct 29th, 9am - 2pm

Visit MyTurn to make an appointment. Walk-ups welcome.

SENIOR TRIP FUNDRAISING

Hello,

My name is Willow Douglass-Thomas, and I am the Anderson Valley High School senior class of 2023’s treasurer. We have been fundraising for the annual senior trip since our freshman year, and our journey has not been easy. Spring of 2020, our class was severely affected by the COVID pandemic. We lost two extremely critical years that could have been used to fundraise for our trip. We have been working hard to reach our goal of $15,000-$20,000. This quota encompasses the cost of transportation, accommodations, food, and events. To state it plainly: we simply do not have the funds to send all of the students that wish to attend the trip. On behalf of the senior class, we are asking for your help to reach our goal. We have yet to decide our destination, but any donation is greatly appreciated and helpful. 

To donate or for more information people can contact the high school at (707) 895-3496 or drop in at the High School Office, 18200 Mountain View Road, Boonville, CA 95415

Thank you for your time and consideration,

Willow Douglass-Thomas

Feel free to contact me with any questions @wdouglassthomas@gmail.com or call/text @ (707)513-3757 keep in mind I am a student and might not be able to respond during school hours

PARTY ENDORSEMENTS

It has just been brought to our attention a party endorsement was inadvertently left out of our Mendocino County Sample Ballot booklet for the 2022 General Election. The endorsement was made by the California Democratic Party for: U S Senate (Full Term) for Alex Padilla; and U S Senate (Partial Term) for Alex Padilla. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. The complete Party Endorsements are listed below.

If there are any questions please contact the Elections / County Clerk’s Office by calling 707 234-6819. Again, we sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.

(County Elections Clerk Presser)

MIKE KALANTARIAN WRITES [regarding the $28.40 expense for tiny rubber ducks as humorous stress relievers for the local volunteer emergency responders]:

The more I think about those rubber ducks the less I like them. Unless you're a toddler, a stressful situation will not be cured by a rubber duckie. The more adult response would be to try and address the conditions creating the stress. A moment's amusement may result from such a gift, but that quickly disappears and the cheap trinket — an oil product, btw, likely barged from China at great carbon expense — will probably become landfill before long. The fact that this was funded by our property tax is the real insult. I agree with Mr. Scaramella: someone should pay for this frivolity out of pocket and retain public funds for more serious purpose.

THE MENDOCINO COUNTY LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS FORUM on Measures O & P can be viewed here: 

WILLITS ART WALK, October 29

Our downtown is brimming with talented artists and creative activity. Plan to spend the evening exploring art, history, music, and dance. Many local venues are involved, showing art exhibits and displays, and providing food and drinks. These include Art on the Plaza (99 S Main St), Willits Center for the Arts (71 E Commercial St), Re-Evolution (15 W Mendocino Ave), Shanachie Pub (50B S Main St) , Scoops (110 N Main St), BACE (101 N Main St), Kemmy’s Pies (299 E Commercial St), and the city library and museum. For more info visit willitscenterforthearts.org.

VELMA'S FARM STAND AT FILIGREEN FARM

We are open Friday 2-5pm and Saturday 11am-4pm. The farm stand will be stocked this week with: winter squash (kabocha and delicata), apples, pears, table grapes, tomatoes, eggplant, sweet peppers, shishito peppers, potatoes, cucumbers, chard, kale, broccoli, chicories, turnips, napa cabbage, onions, shallots, garlic, herbs (cilantro, dill, basil), dried fruit (prunes, apples, raisins, peaches), olive oil, quince apple butter, and everlasting flower bouquets/wreaths as well as some single variety bunches of flowers (dahlias, zinnias, lisianthus)! 

Multiple flavors of Wilder Kombucha available as well. All produce is certified biodynamic and organic. Follow us on Instagram for updates @filigreenfarm or email Annie at farmstand@filigreenfarm.com with any questions. We accept cash, credit card, check, and EBT/SNAP (with Market Match)!

T-UP UKIAH - MINI-GOLF COURSE PERMIT APPROVED - INDOOR BUSINESS OK’D FOR LONG-VACANT BUILDING

by Justine Frederiksen

During the latest meeting of the city of Ukiah’s Zoning Administrator this week, Community Development Director Craig Schlatter approved a permit for an indoor mini-golf course to operate next to CVS on South Orchard Avenue.

While the proposal was discussed during a public hearing on Monday, much of the conversation centered around Schlatter’s concerns regarding the business’ potential impact on the area, particularly in regard to parking and traffic should the course become popular.

“If we have a huge amount of customers, is the parking still going to be adequate?” Schlatter asked, and Planning Manager Jesse Davis said the opinion of planning staff was that the parking lot surrounding the site at 125 S. Orchard Ave., which has about 440 spaces, would be adequate.

Davis noted that during two site visits, the parking available was only “minimally utilized, and approximately 75 percent of the lot was vacant.” Davis also noted that many of the hours that the golf course was open would not conflict with the other businesses, such as Redwood Credit Union and CVS.

The owner of the property where T-Up Ukiah is preparing to operate is listed as Shami Enterprise, LLC, and the agent for the applicant is listed as Essence Roberson, who spoke Monday during the public hearing.

“We definitely hope this will become a major attraction,” Roberson said, referring to herself and her partner. “We’ve been putting our hearts and souls into this, working tirelessly to convert what was once a Sears warehouse where people are used to rolling out refrigerators out the back, or, kind of stepping over, you know, the garbage of whomever has been congregating around there, to a place where both grandparents and grandkids, people of all ages can come and enjoy an activity together.”

“This storefront has been vacant for some time, and there are a lot of challenges with vacant storefronts,” said Davis, referring to the fact that the building has been vacant since Sears closed in August of 2011. “When we have vacant storefronts here, there is a lot of degradation that occurs, in part because that space is seen as under-utilized, or appropriate for congregation and other activities. As a result, this particular request to utilize this building is very appropriate, because it brings those individuals’ eyes back to the storefront.”

Davis also noted the much-stated need for activities which are both family-friendly and indoors, to provide relief from heat and smoky air.

“After the departure of the bowling alley of North State Street, staff has increasingly heard about the need for commercial recreation or indoor activities for not only families, but for people seeking escape from an increasing number of excessive heat days, as well as days that are poor in air quality, which are also increasing,” he said.

Roberson said she heard that as well, explaining that before she and her partner embarked on the project, they sent out a survey that “received over 1,000 overwhelming responses stating that this is an activity that is needed and wanted.”

Schlatter approved the permit, but noted that he wanted to have the discussion regarding parking and traffic impacts during the hearing so it would be on the record if the permit parameters needed to be addressed later.

(Ukiah Daily Journal)

CATCH OF THE DAY, Thursday, October 20, 2022

HEATHER BECK, Willits. Controlled substance for sale/transportation, paraphernalia.

EDUARDO FELIX-TREJO, Redwood Valley. Rape-unlawful intercourse with person under 18, stalking and threatening bodily injury, violation of restraining order, possession of obscene matter of minor in sexual act, ammo possession by prohibited person, probation revocation.

DEVIN KESTER-TYLER, Ukiah. Shoplifting, criminal threats, county parole violation.

RAMON MACIEL, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol. (Frequent flyer.)

MATTHEW MATUSHENKO, Ukiah. Resisting, probation revocation.

CODY MENDEZ, Ukiah. Petty theft, minor with alcohol, controlled substance, resisting, probation revocation.

JOHN RYDER, Manila/Ukiah. DUI-drugs&alcohol.

ALLEN SCHROEDER, Willits. Assault with deadly weapon not a gun.

PATRICK SCHUETZ, Ukiah. County parole violation, probation violation.

BRIAN SCHWARM, Ukiah. Blank checks with intent to defraud, false ID, forgery.

RUSSELL SHOCKLEE, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.

CHAUNCEY SMITH, Santa Rosa/Ukiah. Probation revocation.

SCOTT TIREVOLD, Eureka/Laytonville. DUI.

KEVIN TYRRELL, Willits. Loaded firearm in public, concealed weapon in vehicle, armed with firearm in commission of felony, resisting, unspecified offense.

THE AVA, HOWEVER, IS RUNNING A STRONG 20%

Americans' confidence in two facets of the news media — newspapers and television news — has fallen to all-time low points. Just 16% of U.S. adults now say they have “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in newspapers and 11% in television news. Both readings are down five percentage points since last year.…

news.gallup.com/poll/394817/media-confidence-ratings-record-lows.aspx

EXPORTING OIL WHILE…

Editor: 

Oil prices are at all-time highs, as are oil company profits. And the greatest burden is felt by those who commute to jobs far from their homes. What seems to be missing from media coverage of this issue? An honest assessment of how oil travels the world looking for the highest prices.

According to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the U.S. imported 8.47 million barrels of oil a day in 2021. The U.S. also exported 8.54 million barrels of oil per day. That makes us a net exporter of oil. Any talk of rising gas prices has nothing to do with our access to oil. It is because U.S. oil companies remove oil from our country is search of higher profits.

While we need to reduce our dependency on oil for humanitarian reasons related to climate disruption, we can stabilize own market by forbidding exports of U.S. oil. Shouldn’t taxpayers see some benefit from the $16 billion tax-funded subsidy the government gives to the oil industry every year?

Peter Dekramer

Petaluma

MEDITATIONS ON THE DODGE DART

by Doug Loranger

For a period of 32 years, from 1988 to 2020, I owned a grand total of two automobiles. Both were Dodge Darts that had rolled off the Chrysler assembly line in the early 1970s. The first was a 1974 Custom 4-door in two-tone green with a vinyl roof I purchased in 1988 for $650 from a woman in Nyack, NY, a town on the steep western banks of the Hudson River. While she was not the original owner, the woman from whom she had purchased it was, and fit the profile of the ideal Dodge Dart owner from a prospective buyer’s perspective: an elderly woman who had driven the car once a week to pick up her prescriptions at the corner drugstore. Hence the 58,000 original miles on the 14-year-old car. 

I purchased the Dart because I needed a way to transport myself and my belongings to Iowa City, where I had enrolled in the graduate film program at the University of Iowa. The $650 sticker price was less than the one-way drop-off charge levied by the Hertz Corporation had I instead rented a car, but truth be told, at the time I had no idea whether the automobile I had just purchased would make it across the George Washington Bridge, let alone halfway across the country and the Mississippi River to my new abode. As it turned out, the car not only made it to Iowa in 2 days without incident, it continued to run for another 9 years until the salted winter roads of the Midwest rusted the frame and rendered it unsafe to drive. 

By the time of its demise, I had driven it further west (including an unscheduled 2-day stopover at a Motel 6 in Truckee during a snowstorm at Donner Summit – “Chains? What do you mean ‘chains’?”) and relocated to San Francisco. Based on my track record with the Dart, I decided to trade it in for an older model, a 1970 Swinger 2-door in metallic green with a white vinyl roof. The owner was a 79-year-old man in San Jose who was parting with the car only because the California DMV had declared him legally blind. 

“He loved that car,” his wife said, as we met in his kitchen to transact the sale. 

The price was $950. The car had 69,000 original miles on it. He had installed an additional horn that he said had been a big hit in the rodeo parades in which he had participated. As I left his house with the title and keys, his last words to me were, “Take good care of Lilly Belle.” 

I was initiated into the mysteries of the Dodge Dart during the summer of 1987. In June, I flew from New York to Seattle to visit my friend Bob, who was attending graduate school at the University of Washington. He drove a 1972 two-door Dart which, he informed me, was run by an engine called a “Slant-6.” Apparently, either a Slant-6 or a V-8 was the standard engine that powered Dodge Darts and Plymouth Valiants (essentially the same car under different names) during the 1960s until the mid-1970s. 

Bob had acquired the car after he had responded to an ad on a bulletin board in a Seattle bar for a room in a house. The house’s owners were the Holloway Brothers, both of whom, fittingly enough for the Pacific Northwest, were imposing lumberjack types well over 6 feet tall. But the Holloway Brothers’s consanguinity ended with their physical resemblance: One was a tree-hugging environmentalist; the other a right-wing U.S. Navy veteran. During Bob’s sojourn with the Holloways the brothers would engage in non-stop arguments over every imaginable topic. There was only one subject on which they were in complete agreement: the Slant-6 was the greatest automobile engine ever manufactured in North America. 

Back in New York in July, I experienced my second serendipitous encounter with the Dodge Dart. My friend Paul, with whom I had canvased door-to-door in neighborhoods in Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island for the consumer and environmental group NYPIRG, drove us in his 1969 4-door Dodge Dart to the house my immigrant grandparents had retired to from the Bronx on Eastern Long Island. Paul took up where Bob had left off, extolling the virtues of the Slant-6 engine and its seemingly indestructible endurance and prowess. Years later, when I inquired by phone about a Dodge Dart offered for sale in California, the owner, a man with a British accent, said of his own daily driver, “My Valiant has 500,000 miles on it.” 

As a child, Paul had developed bone cancer and one arm had been amputated. At NYPIRG, in addition to canvasing, I drove the van to and from the Manhattan office and whatever neighborhood we were to work in that evening. Paul said he had been impressed by my driving ability and asked me to drive the Dart on our return trip. As I drove west down the Long Island Expressway, the car began to violently rattle. I pulled over onto the shoulder and we began to inspect the tires in a counter-clockwise movement beginning with the left rear. When we reached the right front tire, we discovered a nail had punctured it. Paul and I removed the jack and a spare tire from the trunk, installed it, and drove off. About 15 minutes later, the car again began to violently shake. Again, I pulled over. It turned out the left front tire, which we had never got around to inspecting, also had run over a nail. 

“It’s a good thing I always carry two spare tires,” Paul said. 

If you drive a Dodge Dart across the U.S., you discover that you have unwittingly enrolled in a vocal and non-exclusive club whose members may be found in vastly different walks of life and regions of the country. (There is an actual Slant-6 Club of America, but you have to formally join that one; I never did.) The Iowa singer/songwriter Greg Brown has a song about visiting his grandfather that begins, “Hop in my Valiant, hit Highway One/Head on down to Hacklebarney, have me some fun” and an album entitled “Slant-6 Mind.” At a Stop sign in San Francisco’s Laurel Village, a man in an expensive automobile pulled up alongside me, rolled down his window, and said, “That’s the best car that was ever made. And no one knows about it.” 

You also learn of the benefits that accompany this membership. As an owner of a Dodge Dart, your car invariably starts with at most two turns of the ignition key, regardless of the weather (e.g., after sitting for four days in 15° temperatures in the parking lot of the Cedar Rapids airport over a Thanksgiving weekend). If the master cylinder or other part needs replacement, that part is always the cheapest one available at the auto parts store. Once, when driving with a fellow student from Iowa to Michigan in March, 1993 during a blizzard to attend the Ann Arbor Film Festival, at about midnight the alternator died and my headlights slowly began to fade in the reflective snow. With barely enough power to make it to my friend Fred’s house in Ann Arbor, the following day we opened the hood, unbolted the alternator, and brought it to the auto parts store in Fred’s Mazda RX7. The astonished clerk at the store exclaimed, “That’s the original alternator!” Back at Fred’s, in about 15 minutes we had bolted in its replacement, which had cost in the neighborhood of $35. 

“When I need to replace the alternator on my Mazda,” Fred said, “at the garage they have to remove the entire engine to access it.” 

The last time I drove across the U.S. was in October, 2020, but this time it was in a 2018 Toyota Camry. Following my father’s death in 2019, the sale of my parents’ house of 52 years in New York, and moving my mother with her advanced dementia into an assisted living facility, I took over the lease of my father’s Toyota and headed back to California. 

It was a month before the 2020 Presidential election and the height of the Covid pandemic. Driving across the Midwest, one encountered people both masked and unmasked and ran a gauntlet of Trump/Pence signs along Interstate 80, the bitter fruit of decades of devastation of family farms by debt foreclosure, globalization of the economy, and neglect by the federal government. One sign on a farm in western Iowa read: “Trump. God. And Country” (in that order). 

“I used to say never turn down a chance to have sex or appear on television, but that was before AIDS and Fox News,” Gore Vidal famously remarked. 

I used to say that while Iowa was the birthplace of John Wayne, it was also the birthplace of Henry Wallace. When I moved to Iowa, the farm crisis had been underway for the better part of a decade. I ended up staying for 7 years, which included a season working on a small, family-owned organic vegetable farm that survives to this day, the fortunate exception to the unfortunate rule. The journalist John Gunther reported in his 1947 magnum opus Inside U.S.A. that Iowa had the highest literacy rate in the then-48 states, a fact that came as no surprise to me having spent much of my time there teaching young Iowans, many from small-town farming communities, in their introductory college classes in Rhetoric. Unlike the horror stories one read of high school students woefully unprepared for college-level work, not one of my students was incapable of putting ideas to paper in an intelligible and intelligent way. 

Like countless others before me, I had been driven out of San Francisco in 2016 by a combination of health and cost-of-living issues. When I arrived back in Walnut Creek in November, 2020, I put my 1970 Dodge Dart up for sale. Over the years, I had had the transmission and front end rebuilt and a new radiator installed, among other improvements. So I asked for $3,000. A woman from Rancho Cordova purchased it. She had owned and loved a Dodge Dart when she was in high school. With her husband trailing behind in the car in which she had arrived, she happily drove the Dart out of the parking lot of my housing complex accompanied by her young son. 

I think of the car responsible for transporting me out of my native New York into the plains of the Midwest and later the hills of California. I think of the country that was capable of producing a Slant-6, but also made it the fortunate exception to the unfortunate rule. And I think of the environmental cost of our love affair with the automobile, another unpayable debt now due. 

THICK SMOKE IN WESTERN WASHINGTON AND OREGON TO SOON CLEAR

A haze of smoke covering parts of western Washington and Oregon is expected to clear before the week’s end, but only after the region reached a dubious distinction: Seattle and Portland briefly topped a list of large cities with the worst air quality in the world. 

The smoke comes from several wildfires burning in Washington and Oregon, and several days without rain allowed it to linger and thicken. A new weather pattern was expected to hit the region on Friday, according to a National Weather Service forecast, bringing multiple rounds of rain that will help scrub the air of pollutants.

On Thursday morning, Seattle was listed as the worst city in the world for air quality and pollution and Portland ranked third, according to IQAir, a company that gathers air quality information from around the world.…

apnews.com/article/wildfires-seattle-oregon-air-quality-pollution-4cde2d2ba74b46c17d9f66b1290ef25b

I’VE HAD THIS DREAM, more than once, of stepping inside a bookshop, one I’d never been to before, and there finding all my books for sale. Who could have done this?, I ask myself in the dream. Who could have sold them from under me? Panic seizes me. Somehow, between my leaving home earlier that day and arriving here, the owner of this bookshop has gone to my home, and, whether by theft of by trickery, got hold of my books, priced them, and then shelved them, just in time for my arrival. Suddenly I twig: I’m a ghost. Somehow, I missed the dying bit although does one ever really die in one’s dreams? And so, ghosts being ghosts and not terribly good at mechanicals, I am unable in the dream to pull any of these books from the shelves and look inside them to see whether certain titles are inscribed to me. Yet I know they are mine, and not some magical replication of my library at home. The books are beyond my command, irretrievable, soon to be wed to other existences. At this point I wake up. I see before me in the darkness the silhouetted rows of my Robert Louis Stevenson books, their covers as dark as the dark they inhabit. Wouldn’t it be strange if one day some of them end up with a fiddle player from Milwaukee. As I keep saying, it’s remarkable the journeys books make. I shuffle about a little, then go back to bed where I hope the dream will not resume. I have been granted, my books too, a stay of execution. 

—Marius Kociejowski, 2022; from ‘A Factotum in the Book Trade’

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

So here I am at Foxwoods Casino in Connecticut. My wife and I went out to eat at a restaurant there, called The Sugar Factory. It’s actually a nice place with good food. When I looked at the menu, I saw a veggie burger. Looked good, but it cost $20. I thought, $20 for a fucking burger? I wanted to get up and leave, but my wife said,”We can afford it. We’re away for a few days to have a good time. Life is short. Enjoy yourself.” The result was that we ate there, and the meal was delicious. When we walked out, I grumbled about a $20 burger. Something about a $20 burger bugged me. I’m not cheap, but a burger is a basic meal that almost everybody eats. How many people could afford that price? 

This got me to thinking about the near future. It’s a clear sign that bad things are about to happen. Pretty soon, relatively speaking, people in America are going to starve. I already knew it, but tonight it was brought into focus, and it scared me. The restaurant was new, flashy, and loud, and it’s obviously designed for young people. But it’s not an upscale place with high prices. What’s going to happen is that a McDonald burger will cost at least $20.

All I can say to people is prepare for a food crisis. Learn a little about nutrition – you need adequate calories or you’ll waste away. You need protein and fats, too. Study up on it if you haven’t yet. The 2022 crop is turning out to be a disaster, but we’re still eating food grown in 2021, so I think the starving will begin in earnest next summer. Of course, food prices are very high, but the food is there. But next summer… Mass starvation will solve many problems and issues for us. A well fed person has many problems and issues. A starving person has only one problem. All the other problems, phobias etc. and all the personal soap opera drama will fade away into total irrelevance.

INCREDIBLE FIGHT FOR SURVIVAL BETWEEN two college wrestlers and a grizzly! Kendell Cummings and Brady Lowry, who are sophomores at Northwest College in Powell, Wyoming, were antler hunting west of the Bobcat Houlihan Trail on Saturday afternoon when they had a “sudden, surprise encounter with a grizzly bear” at close range, the @wygameandfish said in a statement Monday.

They were carrying bear spray but the attack unfolded so quickly they were unable to deploy it and ended up going hand to hand with the bear, with Kendall jumping on the bear’s back and ripping at its ears in an attempt to get him to release @lowry_10 . 

“I could hear when his teeth would hit my skull, I could feel when he’d bite down on my bones and they’d kind of crunch” 

Absolute goats both of these dudes! Had a chance to talk to ’em today. Just got outta the hospital.

KIDS TODAY, an on-line comment: 

I’m 55 y/o and remember a “bomb threat” being phoned in to what was then (roughly 43 yrs ago) known as Rio Dell Elementary School. I was in 6th grade. I remember thinking that it had to be some kid who was absent from school & bored at home that day. Much to my surprise, it was an adult who perpetrated the scare. 

Now, I’m a grandmother. I never would’ve considered doing anything like that – not even as a child! My parents would’ve kicked my butt … AFTER my teacher, the principal, and God only knows who else had their turn at me. 

As a society, we’ve become incredibly lackadaisical. When did making terroristic threats, starting fires, hoarding weapons, Stealing from anyone & everyone, injuring peers, etc. become “No big deal?”

I’m not saying we should beat our children or assault them just because they are kids, but something has got to change! My parents didn’t abuse me in any way, but I knew there was a line I didn’t dare cross with them. There were lines I also observed in any social interaction. If I broke the rules, I faced the music. Our youth today need a healthy fear of God – so to speak. I believe that and simple respect would go a long way toward slowing the downward momentum we are facing as a country. At least, it’s a place to start. 

49ERS ACQUIRE PANTHERS’ ALL-PRO RB CHRISTIAN MCCAFFREY IN BLOCKBUSTER TRADE

In a stunning move, the 49ers traded four draft picks to the Panthers for Christian McCaffrey, 26, a former All-American at Stanford they considered selecting in the 2017 draft, a league source said. The 49ers, who don’t have a 2023 first-round pick, traded three 2023 selections (second, third and fourth) and a 2024 fifth-round pick.

McCaffrey, a dynamic rusher and receiver, figures to provide an immediate boost to the NFL’s 18th-ranked offense. McCaffrey entered Week 7 ranked second among running backs in receptions (33) and third in yards from scrimmage (670) after missing 23 of 33 games due to injury the previous two seasons.…

sfchronicle.com/sports/49ers/article/In-a-stunning-move-the-49ers-traded-four-draft-17524000.php

S.F. STORE OWNER’S VIRAL MESSAGE after a year of constant retail theft: ‘Something has to change’

by Rachel Swan

The CEO of a popular clothing chain announced he shuttered its store in San Francisco’s Hayes Valley shopping district on Tuesday, saying it’s beset by organized retail thefts, and that the perpetrators have apparently outwitted all his security measures.

“It’s sad, but San Francisco appears to have descended into a city of chaos,” Cotopaxi founder and CEO Davis Smith wrote in a blistering and instantly viral LinkedIn post — the latest illustration of crime running unchecked in the city’s core retail areas.

Smith went on to describe how thieves repeatedly shattered the windows of the store he opened a year ago in an upscale neighborhood separated by a hill from the Painted Ladies and Alamo Square Park. Cotopaxi sells outdoor apparel and gear, setting aside a portion of annual revenues for a foundation that supports nonprofits fighting global poverty.

After gaining entry, these flash-mob-style theft crews grabbed thousands of dollars of merchandise and fled, only to return days later, Smith wrote.

Cotopaxi was the second store to close in Hayes Valley this week because of rampant smash-and-grabs, according to Lloyd Silverstein, president of the Hayes Valley Merchants Association. He said that after the pandemic devastated this hub of cafes and small boutiques, merchants who were trying to resuscitate their businesses noticed a new problem: cars circling the blocks, until a bunch of passengers jump out to swarm a store.

“This is tragic for me,” Silverstein said, noting that businesses are now in the uncomfortable position of hiring security guards or locking their doors during store hours — a “terrible customer experience” that seems to do little to stop thieves.

Smith was among the business owners who tried tightening security, first by covering the broken window at Cotopaxi with plywood, then by installing a metal security gate, and then by only opening the door for customers.

Yet nothing seemed to work. Groups would send someone to knock on the door as a decoy and then rush inside when it opened, he wrote. Despite heightened attempts to fortify the shop, he said his employees fell victim to the same caper several times a week.

“Our team is terrified,” Smith wrote. “They feel unsafe. Security guards don’t help because theft rings know that security guards won’t/can’t stop them.”

He went on to criticize San Francisco leaders for reducing police patrols downtown, saying the city had let down taxpaying businesses. Smith then listed various quality-of-life issues — including car break-ins and open-air drug use — that keep welling up on San Francisco retail corridors, fueling social media memes about lawlessness and a fraying city.

A representative for the San Francisco Police Department said its burglary unit is investigating recent incidents on the 500 block of Hayes Street, where Cotopaxi sits alongside other apparel stores, restaurants, bars and a canopied parklet.

The Police Department encourages victims to file reports to help officers launch investigations and identify hot spots, spokesperson Allison Maxie said.

This week alone, surveillance footage showing two separate burglaries — one of an antique shop in the Richmond District, the other of a dim sum restaurant in Ghirardelli Square — ricocheted on Twitter, sowing fear among merchants and residents.

“Something has to change in San Francisco,” Smith concluded.

Last year, Mayor London Breed boosted funding for police overtime to ramp up patrols in the Tenderloin. But people in other neighborhoods have seen a depletion of officers as the department’s ranks grow thinner.

In March, San Francisco Police Department published an analysis that showed it employed 1,830 sworn officers and 421 civilians as of September 2021, 500 fewer personnel than it needed to fulfill its duties, according to the report. But San Francisco still had more than 21 sworn officers for every 10,000 residents exceeding the staffing levels that other law enforcement agencies reported in 2019.

“Addressing public safety is our top priority and a vital part of the city’s economic recovery,” a spokesperson for Breed wrote in a statement Wednesday, indicating that the mayor shares her constituents’ frustrations, which is why she allocated money in the current budget to fill 200 vacant police officer positions.

Additionally, the spokesperson said, Breed successfully pushed for legislation to crack down on illegal street vending and fencing operations and to give police more access to surveillance camera footage.

It was unclear how long the closure of the Hayes Valley store would last. A statement from a company spokesperson invoked Smith’s points about crime and theft as the primary reason for the closure, but signaled that it may only be temporary.

“As Cotopaxi’s first and highest priority is its employees, their safety and well-being is at the forefront of the decision,” the statement read.

“The humanitarian-focused brand is engaging with local businesses to address the issue with local law enforcement, as the safety of the community and personnel is of the utmost importance, before re-opening the store,” it continued. “Cotopaxi thanks the Hayes Valley community for its commitment and support of the impact-driven brand, with the hope that the store will reopen in the near future.”

Smith did not respond to a voicemail and text Wednesday morning.

'GET ARMED WHILE YOU CAN': FAR-RIGHT MIDTERM RHETORIC HAS EXPERTS ALARMED

by Tess Owen/VICE

Conspiracy theories about election fraud, some being pushed by influential Republicans, have experts worried about the possibility of political violence.

Adangerous narrative is brewing online, particularly in corners where “Big Lie” conspiracies about the 2020 election remain gospel. Those communities have seized on some recent polls forecasting GOP wins in the November midterms to assert that a “red wave” is all but inevitable. And some have made vague threats about “taking action” — including “taking up arms” if things don’t go their way.

“God will take care of our midterms as promised,” one user on former President Donald Trump’s platform Truth Social wrote.

“A massive, absolutely overwhelming Truth Tsunami of Continental proportions that will wash away the stench of rot and corruption from the world,” another wrote. “Nothing can stop what is coming.”

This narrative is coupled with the presumption that the only way Democrats could win in hotly contested races or maintain control of the House and Senate is if they commit election fraud — baseless claims that are being amplified by influential MAGA figures. And the prospect of yet another election being “stolen” is fueling threats of violence from the right.

Extremism watchdogs have been warning about the potential for political violence in the coming weeks.

SITE Intel, which tracks international terrorist activity, recently put out a memo warning that “ultranationalist users on Telegram” were hinting at violent action if Democrats “steal votes again.” “I’ll vote and also build local groups of like minds to move from OBSERVERS to PATRIOTS taking Action,” one person wrote on Telegram, according to posts documented by SITE.

The Soufan Center, which tracks extremism around the world, published an intelligence bulletinlast week identifying “widespread calls for civil war, echoing some of the most violent rhetoric that accompanied the lead-up to the January 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection,” on platforms like Reddit, Parler, Telegram, Gab, and Truth Social.

The Soufan Center also noted that election workers in some places are undergoing active-shooter training, and election offices are in the process of bolstering security, hiring guards, installing bulletproof and bomb-resistant glass. For example, an election office in Flagstaff, Arizona, has had a barricade of bulletproof glass installed, and anyone wishing to enter will have to ring a buzzer. The walls of an election office in Tallahassee, Florida, have been fortifiedwith Kevlar, a material used in bulletproof vests. Other election offices are paying for armed security guards for the busiest weeks close to the election.

And last year, the Justice Department even launched the Election Threats Task Force in response to threats of violence against election workers.

“These measures are necessary to keep people safe,” said Colin Clarke, director of Policy and Research at the Soufan Group. “It’s crept up on us, this creeping normalization of political violence that’s now going to be with us every election for the foreseeable future. I don’t see any signs that we’re going back to normal.”

Black Americans, in particular, have expressed concern about encountering “displays of violence” or threats at their polling places. A recent poll by Grid-Harris found that 35% of Black Americans believe violence is likely or very likely at their polling place in November, compared to 22% of white respondents. And 40% of Black American adults who were polled said that they fear the results of the midterm elections will spark violence in their area.

 It’s not just online chatter on fringe sites that’s driving these fears. Influential right-wing figures with large platforms, like former Trump adviser Steve Bannon, are stoking the flames, telling their supporters that the stakes couldn’t be higher this midterms and that Democrats will do anything they can to steal the election. Bannon, on his War Room podcast, has described the upcoming election as the “most important midterm election since 1862” (which took place during the Civil War).

And guests on Bannon’s show are priming listeners to expect the election to be rigged.

“I just know that they're going to engage in massive election fraud,” Infowars’ Alex Jones said on an episode this week. “They [Democrats] know there’s a landslide that you’ve been predicting that we see all the evidence from. They’ve done the math. They’re desperate. They know they’re losing.”

(Far from a “landslide” win, recent polling from the New York Times found that 49% of voters were backing the Republican congressional candidate in their district, compared to 45% supporting the Democrat candidate (last month, the same poll found that Democrats had the edge by just 1%).

Some current and former members of Congress have been painting a dire picture of what could happen after Nov. 8.

“If our election systems continue to be rigged and continue to be stolen, then it’s going to lead to one place — and it’s bloodshed,” said ex-Congressman Madison Cawthorn at a GOP event in North Carolina this summer. “And I will tell you as much as I’m willing to defend our liberty at all costs. There’s nothing that I dread doing more than having to pick up arms against a fellow American.” And Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene seized on an incident in North Dakota where a man intentionally hit and killed a teenager (because he falsely believed he was part of a right-wing extremist group) to stoke fears around impending political violence from Democrats.

“I’m not going to mince words with you all,” Greene said at a campaign event for Trump earlier this month. “Democrats want Republicans dead, and they’ve already started the killings.”

The latest wave of violent rhetoric and calls for civil war began in early August, after the FBI raided Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence. QAnon, MAGA, and other far-right online communities went wild, claiming that the raid was a political attack against Trump by the Biden administration. After that raid, and amid a torrent of threats online directed toward the FBI, a 42-year-old Trump supporter — who regularly posted on Truth Social — wearing body armor and armed with an AR-15-style rifle and nail gun attempted to breach the Bureau’s field office in Ohio. He fled the scene after being confronted, and was ultimately shot dead following a lengthy standoff with police.

The temperature has remained high ever since, with angry rhetoric aimed at anything considered evidence of political corruption from Democrats.

For example, when GOP Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake was removed from her Democrat opponent’s town hall event earlier this month, MAGAworld pounced on the incident and said it was just further evidence of some widespread political crackdown and censorship.

“It’s called communism,” one person on Truth Social remarked. “We’re already there.” “Civil war,” someone else replied bluntly. “I’m ready to die.” “Better get armed while you can,” another user added.

There’s also been a lot of national interest in Pennsylvania’s elections, where Christian nationalist Doug Mastriano is vying for governor. The Pennsylvania State Department recently said it anticipates “several days’ worth of work” to tally all the election results following the election itself (many counties are currently barred from opening or scanning mail-in ballots received prior to 7 a.m. on Election Day). After the 2020 election, Trump and his allies targeted Pennsylvania's drawn-out vote-counting process to make unsubstantiated claims of nefarious activity.

“State races have captured national attention and gained cross-state support,” said Clarke. “The temperature is rising to such a degree that, let’s say Herschel Walker losing to Warnock, it could prompt violence in a state nowhere near Georgia.”

Many of the most hotly contested races in the midterms are taking place in states that were heavily scrutinized by election deniers since 2020, including Georgia, Wisconsin, Arizona, and Pennsylvania.

In addition to threats of violence over potential fraud, there’s also violent fantasies online about how the right hopes to hold Democrats “accountable” once they regain control of the House and Senate.

“We need a lot of new rope,” one Truth Social user replied to an article about recent polling giving GOP candidates the edge. Another responded with a meme showing dozens of nooses and the words “Government Repair Kit.”

MARIE TOBIAS:

I have a hard time coping with the growing stupidity in the world... 

I don't know exactly when the movie Idiocracy moved from comedy to documentary... but as it did, I could feel a deep swell of pity for humanity that I still haven't fully come to terms with. 

I remember some time back reading an article called “How Stupid Can We Get?” where the author recounted as a youth doing something deeply asinine, and his Father commenting “How can you be that stupid and still live???” and he took some comfort in the fact that stupid wasn't an automatic death sentence... And then glanced into one of his Wife's Magazines, only to read a question by a woman who wanted to know if it was safe to use her hair dryer in the shower. In his words “Here was a woman on the great coordinate plane of life, whose mortality curve and IQ line were coming shockingly close.” Which naturally progressed to talking about how such behavior led to fault protection power plugs in the house, and tort law, rewarding imbeciles for being imbeciles... Like the guy who picked up his lawn mower and tried to use it to trim his hedges, but only succeeded in chopping his own hands off, and won a huge settlement, because there was no warning not to do that. It also failed to warn people not to use it as a beard trimmer, and that should be an interesting trial. His assertion was that we were preventing Darwin from claiming his due, but these days it seems more like we're actively making people stupid. 

I dunno. The shallow end of the gene pool's been begging for a little chlorine for some time now. Without going all Nazi Death Camp on the socially brain dead, it seems there should be a way to give them such great busy lives, that they simply forget to breed... Just a thought. Eugenics through targeted entertainment???... And suddenly Disney+ gives me a shiver I hadn't noticed before. 

WE SHOULD PROBABLY TALK MORE about the fact that the US empire is loudly promoting the goal of achieving peace in Ukraine by defeating Russia while quietly acknowledging that this goal is impossible. This is like accelerating toward a brick wall and pretending it's an open road.

The narrative that Russia can be defeated by escalating against it makes sense if you believe Russia can be defeated, but the US empire does not believe that Russia can be defeated. It knows these escalations are only going to exponentially ramp up death and devastation.

"Beat Putin's ass and make him withdraw" sounds cool and is egoically gratifying, and it's become the mainstream answer to the problem of the war in Ukraine. But nobody promoting that answer can address the fact that the ones driving this proxy war believe it's impossible. In fact, all evidence we're seeing suggests that the US is not trying to deliver Putin a crushing defeat in Ukraine and force him to withdraw, but is rather trying to create another long and costly military quagmire for Moscow, as cold warriors have done repeatedly in instances like Afghanistan and Syria.

Wanting to weaken Russia and wanting to save lives and establish peace in Ukraine are two completely different goals, so different that in practice they wind up being largely contradictory. Drawing Moscow into a bloody quagmire means many more people dying in a war that lasts years.

The US does not want peace in Ukraine, it wants to overextend Russia, shore up military and energy dominance over Europe, expand its war machine and enrich the military-industrial complex. It's posing as Ukraine's savior while being clearly invested in Ukraine's destruction.

It is not legitimate to support this proxy war without squarely addressing this massive contradiction using hard facts and robust argumentation. Nobody ever has.

— Caitlin Johnstone

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