WE HAVEN'T HEARD from the Pelosi perp yet — the alleged perp — but I have to say the speculation about what truly happened is a hoot, not that there's anything funny about an old guy getting hit in the head with a hammer. If Pelosi's attacker is at all coherent, it could well be that we'll have a much more complicated tale than we have heard so far. I'll bet millions of old guys are thinking about what they'd do if a portly psycho, or a psycho of any body type, broke into their house in the middle of the night. Me, as a certified old guy, I can say that I'm pretty sure I'd hit him first, maybe even go for my gat if my two-fisted thunderbolts didn't drop him in his tracks.
TRUMP called the attack on Paul Pelosi a “terrible thing.” Speaking to Spanish-language conservative network Americano Media, Trump elaborated, “With Paul Pelosi, that’s a terrible thing. Look at what’s happened to San Francisco generally. Look at what’s happening in Chicago. It's far worse than Afghanistan. This country is out of control. You look at—and they’re Democrat-run cities, almost exclusively.”
DOES it even have to be said that America's out-of-control-ness has been a bi-partisan project? San Francisco's “homeless” population is at least confined to downtown. You know why? Drug addicts don't walk uphill. Why should they when the drugs come to them? (There are zero homeless camps in the vastness of The Presidio because the federal police roust bums the minute they touch down. Also, all areas of The Presidio are pretty far from drug and alcohol re-supply.)
SHOCKING EVENTS always prompt speculation, as has the weird assault on Paul Pelosi. I think a lot of the speculation is interesting and I'm surprised — well, not really — that a lot of libs of the Democratic Party type think that Pelosi-related speculation shouldn't be heard or seen, especially if it comes from dubious, politically motivated writers of fascist leanings. I say bring it on, bring it all on, and trust your fellow Americans to distinguish truth from untruth.
MY PELOSI SPECULATION is that when it's all sorted out, the big event will be pretty much as described, that a deranged man broke into the house and attacked Paul Pelosi with a hammer. I think it's already clear that the intruder is crazy, that his unfounded ravings about Nancy Pelosi are simply more evidence that he's nuts, not that those opinions are uncommon among the Magas. Hell, we are a nation seriously, perhaps terminally, divided so we better get used to rolling with the rhetorical punches.
DRUGS are obviously on call in Mendocino County. Take this guy for handy example. When he was stopped, he had a pound of marijuana “in plain view” plus oxycodone pills “and about $300 in various cash denominations.”
Jonathan Martinez, 21, of Fort Bragg, was out of jail on an own recognizance for a prior arrest for drugs. A search of his home uncovered ”over 220 ‘M30’ fake oxycodone pills believed to be fentanyl-based, almost 13 grams of powder believed to be Fentanyl, Xanax, digital scales, and over $12,000 in cash in several denominations.”
MR. MARTINEZ seems to have been making a handsome living for himself driving around town dispensing death. Presumably, he won't be released on his own recognizance this time around, but the major drug traffickers who supply Mendocino County have probably already replaced him.
CHRIS PHILBRICK alerts us to the Ukiah Rotary Club’s event “Guitars for Troops” being held on Saturday, November 12 at 5:30 p.m. at Carl Purdy Hall in Ukiah. All the proceeds benefit veteran causes and we expect 400 people to attend. Three great bands, demonstrations by the canine corps, $15 entry and $20 for a great dinner.
AS GEORGE DORNER ASKS, “How about an address for mail-in donations?”
YES, teachers these days have a difficult job, when they are on the job, which is half the year with a lot of scam-a-rama days off as described above. Why can't we presume that teachers are “professionally developed” before they step in front of their sugar-fueled, hopelessly distracted students. The whole, entropic public ed project needs to be re-thought, and re-thought on a monastic assumption that the surrounding society is insane, actively hostile to the welfare of the young.
UKIAH HIGH SCHOOL, based on its windowless, re-circulated air architecture alone, ought to be bulldozed as a clear and present danger to anyone confined to it.
THE MENDO COUNTY edu-context was defined years ago when Mendocino College was founded. The gym, complete with a pro-level weight room, was built ahead of the library. When the library was dedicated, college president, Leroy Lowery, said that he hadn't read a book since he was in college. He wasn't joking.
JIM ARMSTRONG: I always seem to get here late in the day. More spookiness today. I love old (and new) New Yorker covers! What in the world is the last ghost of three at the haunted house gate holding in his/her hand?
BETSY CAWN to Jim Armstrong: I believe that would be called a “clacker” — a fixed board against which spring-mounted marbles or beads are propelled by the movement of the hand and wrist to create a loud annoying noise, the “trick” if no “treat” is forthcoming.
MARIE TOBIAS: I never talk about anything I don't understand completely... I had a double major at UCI of Physics and Computer Science, with a minor in Electrical Engineering in Junior College at Long Beach Community College. I have a pretty diverse and eclectic background, and I've been a voracious reader covering a wide variety of technical disciplines all my life. The fact that I correspond with people who are leaders in their particular fields and have deeply satisfying conversations with them, suggests Alan, the lack of understanding isn't on my side of the equation. But as I've already said many times before, we are all free to think and believe as we choose... Me, you, everyone.
As I mentioned, I do a lot of reading, and some of it is Science Fiction, Fantasy, or an occasional Horror Novel. Some of my reading includes classics. I also occasionally enjoy something by Tony Hillerman, Lee Childs (I like the collaborations of Lee Child and Douglas Preston), Tom Clancy, James Patterson, John Grisham, Steven King, Dean Koons, That above and beyond, about a half dozen Scientific Magazines, Journals, and NewsLetters, The Harvard Wellness Letter, and a couple periodicals about my astronomy and radio telecommunications hobbies. I have an extensive personal digital and physical library. That in spite of having lost over 1,000 books when I lost my personal storage space in 2013.
I like words. I like turns of phrases. I like colorful language, I like people who can paint with words. I find it sad, that as we become more and more attention deficit, twittering and text messaging ever tinier thought bites, unable to hold an idea more complex than “I'm right” and “You're wrong”... As civility gives way to impatient half thoughts and missing acts of kindness and consideration, I find my appreciation of words, forms, and flourishes, ever more appealing. Because they demand patience, and thought, and apprehension, and at least a modicum of playfulness. I miss etiquette, and the niceties of social consideration. They occur to me as a serious “missing.”
But I can also see how they might become another wall, a kind of elitism... I don't feel particularly elite, but in the name of successful communication, I'll try to find the lowest common denominator. I actually have a tool I use to write technical documentation. It's designed to ensure my writing is easy enough to read, that anyone can use my instructions and explanations without confusion or consternation. I'll turn it on and try to keep my writing at the suggested 8th grade level, for the sake of clarity and readability. If there's another tool to enhance brevity, I try to use it too.
SUPERVISOR DAN GJERDE has not attended a board meeting since the covid shutdowns. He mails it in, so to speak, via Zoom. Small wonder he didn't recognize deputy chief auditor-controller, Kiki DeLong, as the supervisors blame her and her boss, Chamise Cubbison, for tardy completion of basic fiscal tasks, a mess created by the supervisors when they consolidated two offices, Auditor/Controller and Treasurer/Tax Collector without consulting any of the persons with long experience in both departments and without a plan. A $100,000 "consultant" is assisting the county to get payroll done.
MS. DELONG said it plainly: “It is really painful for our office to watch these board meetings. It strikes me as somewhat hypocritical, the way you address Chamise [Cubbison] specifically with regard to wanting her to name the departments that she is asking for a little bit more support from and analysis before sending materials to her for input. Against her will, she named the CEO's office, asking that they review the materials a little more. Then you took her to task for getting personal and having a personality conflict, maybe being difficult to work with. It's really obvious to our department that the agenda here is to see her fail. You pay lipservice to trying to provide support, but she is basically being used as a scapegoat. You basically blew up our two offices by forcing this consolidation against both offices' will; Against Schari [Schapmire who retired early saying she couldn’t work with “this board” anymore] and Julie [Forrester who just quit] and Chamise and Lloyd [Weer, former Auditor Controller, now retired] and several of the community members speaking out against this. They were not just against it, they just wanted a plan to be in place — until you did a study, not just because they did it in Sonoma County which is close to the Bay Area and has access to employees. You said, We can just do it! There was no study to see if there would be any savings or efficiencies for our county. There was no action plan. You just took her to task for not having an organization chart! You need to take care of this stuff. Because you basically blew everything up and created this urgency ordinance to appoint her to clean up your mess and now you can blame her for everything that's not being done through the departments? No! That's not how it works. We all have to work together. … There is just this stonewalling of our department from the board, from the Executive office. It is getting really frustrating. We are all working very hard to try to carry the load of not having enough staff and not enough hours. And when we watch these board meetings and see the two-facedness where you seem to be wanting to support us, but then you take every opportunity to make Chamise your scapegoat. It makes us all want to just take a vacation — which I have not done. I have not used any vacation since becoming an employee of Mendocino County four years ago. Because we have always been understaffed, and it's not because the positions are not there. It's because you can't attract people to this area, this market. It takes so long to fill a position. From the time applicants apply before you get around to calling them in they have already accepted an industry position. Industry fills these positions in 21 days. Government fills the positions in two months or more. That has to change. If we need to get butts in seats and get work done, we need to be able to hire people quickly and competitively. That is not going on right now. We have a lot of empty desks and we have a lot of people trying to do two jobs. I don't like watching these board meetings. It makes me want to just quit. I stay out of respect for Chamise. But I do not feel support from the board. The board blew up our offices and now you are not happy because you are not getting things in a timely manner. Maybe you should've thought about that before your legacy went forward. You have no plan. You drove away our Treasurer Tax Collector. You drove away our Assistant Treasurer Tax Collector. And then you appointed Chamise and made her responsible for everything. She was not the previous Auditor Controller. She was brought in to take care of that job, and Schari's job and Julie's job. You did not appoint her when Lloyd left last year so she was not able to hire an Assistant Auditor Controller. She was doing Lloyd's job and her job last year. And now she doing Julie's job and Schari's job? And now you are whining about what's not being done? You created this mess. And I -- I've said my piece. I'm done.”
THE SUPREME COURT will end Affirmative Action in June. As a lib with lab tendencies, I think AF has been a good thing, but the Asians bringing the case against Harvard for discriminating against them in the application process, are correct: Harvard obviously has been limiting Asian enrollment because many more Asians meet all the academic standards than do all other ethnic groups, although some Asian ethnicities do better than others. A truly blind admissions policy would see many more Asian students admitted than are admitted now. Why? Gosh, it may have something to do with ambition and respect for education often absent among many other American ethnicities, but that's just a wild guess.
A LOT OF REPUBLICANS are denouncing the enfeebled Biden as a "tyrant" for his slurred teleprompter speech yesterday where he said this election was between democracy and autocracy. Biden also said that "democracy means the rule of the people, not the rule of monarchs or the moneyed," as if the DNC is a gang of paupers; as if the billions spent on this mid-term election were all spent by Republicans. Seems from here — Boonville — that we already have a bi-partisan autocracy funded by Very Big Money, and not much democracy beyond the county election level.
A NEWS CLIP last night described the one issue that scares hell out of millions of Americans — inflation. The news seg was about recurring food bank shortages as more and more people depend on them to feed themselves and their families. A 71-year-old woman said her fixed Social Security income was not enough to keep up with inflation, and one more reminder that it's the economy that's on most people's minds, not abstractions like democracy vs. autocracy.
• 29 million households ALREADY cannot pay bills and families are buying fewer groceries to keep the lights on — study says cold weather and rising costs will deepen the crisis
• 23 percent of households could not wholly pay an energy bill this past year
• 34 percent skipped groceries or other basics to settle their utilities
• A fifth of Americans say home temperature is 'unsafe or unhealthy' due to costs
Texas, Mississippi and West Virginia are the worst-affected states
• Americans collectively owe $16 billion in unpaid utility bills
Consumers could pay 28 percent more to heat their homes this winter.
AOC: —“Doesn't seem very free speechy to me,” she said about Twitter Twit boss Elon Musk when he “conveniently” froze her account after she "upset him" by calling him out over his new $8-a-month charge.
SPIKE LEE’S OVERRATED 2018 film “Blackkklansman,” about the Colorado Springs undercover cop who became a member of the Klan to spy on their activities comes across more as a ham-fisted and shallow black comedy instead of what the real story was: a clever undercover cop doing his job.
Zack Anderson effectively panned Lee’s movie in August of 2018: theava.com/archives/86506#5
In Lee’s barely watchable version, the Colorado Springs KKKers in the seventies were the stereotypical goofy bunch of semi-literates who blindly hate black people, and Ron Stallworth, the black cop who figures out a way to become a member, is a brave, crusading activist.
But Stallworth’s memoir “Black Klansman: Race, Hate and the Undercover Investigation of a Lifetime” upon which the film is loosely based is much more nuanced and interesting, focusing mainly on the actual undercover operation Stallworth lead.
Of course there’s a humorous novelty to the idea of a black cop becoming a member of the Klan, but that’s mostly a passing, if unusual, feature of Stallworth’s memoir.
In 1978 there was no internet and David Duke had not been Grand Poobah of the Klan for very long. But when Stallworth, then a rookie undercover cop, stumbled across a Klan recruiting ad in the local newspaper and followed up, he just wanted to keep an eye on the local Klan so that law enforcement would be aware of whatever actual illegal activities they might be up to.
Along the way we learn about the history of the KKK, the not so clear line between investigation and entrapment, the relationship between Stallworth and David Duke and his Colorado cronies, a few close calls when Stallworth narrowly avoided exposure…
The story/investigation unfolds into directions that become so absurd that they are hard to believe, but by all accounts, Stallworth’s memoir is a true story.
Lee’s film has a few predictable PC-style laughs, of course, and Lee inserts a love interest and a false ending that are irrelevant and not in Stallworth’s book. But the details of Stallworth’s unique Colorado Springs undercover operation are much more dramatic in their own right.
Reading Stallworth’s saga, one can’t help but wonder what kind of (presumably more modern) undercover operations might have been underway in the months and days leading up to January 6, 2021. If somebody like Stallworth had been involved, we doubt it would have played out the way it did.
Lee’s film is not recommended; Stallworth’s book is.
(Mark Scaramella)
BASICALLY, anyone talking sense about Ukraine in Washington is being shut down by forces within the political parties themselves working together with a compliant national media that is misrepresenting everything that is taking place on the ground. It is a formula for tragedy as the Biden administration has shown no sign of seeking diplomacy with Russia to end the conflict despite the president’s recent surprising warning that the world is now facing the highest risk of nuclear “Armageddon,” which he, of course, blames on Putin. Given all of that, in my humble opinion a government that is unable or unwilling to take reasonable steps to protect its own citizens while also avoiding a possible nuclear catastrophe that could end up engulfing the entire world is fundamentally evil and has lost all legitimacy. (Philip Giraldi)
WHEN THE VOTES COME IN on Tuesday night and some of the most rancid characters we’ve ever seen get elected and the GOP takes back both the House and Senate, remember that Pelosi and Schumer funded many of the primary campaigns of these pied piper candidates, thinking–wrongly, as ever–they’d be unelectable–just as unelectable as Trump. (Jeff St. Clair)
TALMAGE, a true story. I think the year was '88. A portly thief named Jack Ward, a kind of Fagan figure to a half-dozen sub-crooks, presided over an office of scammers and loafers as County Superintendent of Schools. The old state hospital dairy at Talmage had been converted to the headquarters of Mendocino County's lead educator. No expense had been spared. After all, it was for the kids. A major advantage of the site to the edu-experts working there was probably its distance from the actual children they purportedly served, although the monthly board meetings were heavy on slobbery rhetoric about how “dedicated” the agency was to the educational task.
Board members, not so incidentally, received a nice stipend and access to lush health care benefits, the net effect of this attractive monthly responsibility being that the board serves as an auto-Yes adjunct to whomever happens to be functioning as superintendent. That job has recently belonged to Michelle Hutchins, the first capable, honest person to hold the job since Lou Delsol. I expect the agency to revert to mercenary form when she leaves in January.
I LIKED DELSOL, and he seemed to enjoy our visits. I introduced myself by telling him I knew his brother Plaza in Ukiah, so we had him in common. We swapped pleasantries and talked about nothing in particular for an hour or so each random visit. But I couldn't help but notice that even when I dropped in on him unannounced, Delsol's desk was clear, the telephone never rang, no one popped through the door to remind him he had to be somewhere else. And I always got a weird, Moonie-like hit off the people at the Talmage headquarters — everyone seemed to be walking aimlessly around the heavily carpeted premises with their coffee cups and medicated smiles on their faces. Ever see Last Day at Marienbad? That was the vibe at Talmage.
ANYWAY I'd been covering the agency for Boonville's beloved weekly for several years, having become interested in it after seeing the “services” MCOE delivered to the Anderson Valley where the agency had hooked up with a crook based in Philo, one of many facts about the agency I'd delivered so emphatically I wound up in the County Jail for a month. So one day I was sitting in Boonville mulling over the pure indignity of all this when I decided enough was enough.
I CALLED TALMAGE. A woman answered with professional office aplomb. Yes, hello. I would like to speak with Mr. Ward. “Whom should I say is calling?” I thought about a pseudonym, but confessed the Beast of Boonville was on the line. “Please hold, Mr. Anderson. I'll see if Doctor Ward is in his office.” Put the fat bastard on immediately, I didn't say. After what seemed like whole minutes, the secretary returned. “Dr. Ward is not in his office, Mr. Anderson. Can I take a message?” Yes, thank you. Tell him I'm on my way over the hill to place him under citizen's arrest, and only wanted to make sure he'd be there before I made the trip. “Uh, I will tell him you called.” A few minutes later, an under-Sheriff named, I think, Berle Murray, long retired, called. “Hello, Bruce. What are you up to today?” I explained that I was on my way to Talmage to arrest the Superintendent of Schools. “Why?” Murray asked. I explained that Ward was the ringleader of an ongoing criminal conspiracy. “Well, Bruce,” Murray said, “I know for a fact that he isn't in the office today, so you can save yourself the trip.”
I CONSOLED myself with a vision of a bunch of pudges running for their MCOE-funded cars before I got there. But more realistically, Ward and his gang probably laughed at the threat, and went on with their primary work of signing over “surplus” school property to themselves.
REPUBLICAN QUESTION: “Seriously, can anyone name a well-run Democratic city?” Yes, Fort Bragg and Willits, and most rich suburban towns and cities surrounding American cities. (cf all of Marin County)
YOU READ IT HERE FIRST. The magas and the rest of the Republicans will be hopelessly split between DeSantis and Trump. If Trump wins out, Newsom will thump him in the general election which, of course, Trump will claim was rigged. If DeSantis gets the Republican nod, the hardcore magas won't vote. DeSantis and Newsom will run about even, but DeSantis will win. But let's take the positive view and assume there will be an election, that the nukes will still be in their silos. It's all headed so fast in an ominous direction that there's no predicting six months from now, let alone two years.
IN OCTOBER OF 1998, some 24 years ago now, then senior Deputy District Attorney Myron Sawicki wrote the following letter to the Editor of the Anderson Valley Advertiser in support of candidate Norm Vroman, who was running against incumbent DA Susan Massini. Vroman won by a small margin.
To The Members Of The Coastal Community:
The summer of 1987 is a period that very few coastal residents will ever forget. That was the time when Fort Bragg was plagued with a series of arson fires that consumed a couple of restaurants, the courthouse, and the town's only library. It was a crime that deeply impacted the local community.
The citizens rightfully demanded that the perpetrators be brought to justice. However, the case was stalled through a series of delays and was ultimately dropped. The result was no justice for these crimes. At the time the community demanded answers but none was forthcoming. The District Attorney gave a variety of excuses and blamed practically everyone except herself. She said the fault lay with the US Attorney, the federal agents, the Fort Bragg Police Department, and the County Board of Supervisors. She even tried to blame Congressman Frank Riggs when he tried to help with the situation.
The Fort Bragg Advocate newspaper very eloquently presented the community's position in its October 1989 issue that had a cartoon showing the District Attorney turning her back to a town that was burned to the ground. Along with the cartoon was an editorial stating that the DA should forget about any re-election chances with the Coast if she fails to prosecute the case.
The net result was that she dropped the ball and turned her back on the community.
I know because I was the prosecutor assigned to assist in the investigation of that case. I bear witness to what was done. For years I have declined public comment about the case because I did not agree with the DA's action, but I could not speak the truth while in her employment. I am now free to speak my conscience and let the people know how the DA has failed them.
In this election, the people have the opportunity to make a choice as to who should be the next District Attorney. My choice is Norm Vroman because I want to prevent another debacle like the Fort Bragg arsons from ever happening again.
Myron Sawicki
2,747,943: number of Palestinians living in the West Bank.
0: number of Palestinians living in the West Bank who were permitted to vote in the Israeli elections.
687: the number of houses and buildings Israel has demolished in the West Bank this year.
Thomas Friedman took to his usual pasture in the NYT to graze over the re-election of Netanyahu and concluded that the “Israel We Knew is Gone.” Who’s this “we” you’re talking about, Friedman? And what “Israel”? The Israel of Sabra and Shatila? The Israel that ran over Rachel Corrie? The Israel of phosphorus bombs in Gaza? The Israel of an Apartheid Wall? The Israel that shot Linda Abu Akleh in the head? History ain’t changed.
— Jeff St. Clair
A READER WRITES: Mendo jail flap and 'One Taste.' The same lawyer is threatening KZYX, Mendo Fever, and Kym Kemp for publishing their stories.
ON-LINE COMMENTS OF THE WEEK
[1] If nothing else, I think we all owe the Dems and the Pelosis a tip of the hat for the picture perfect, knee-slappingly funny Monday Morning Halloween story. The best fictional and satire writers out there could not have come up with something so absolutely pitch perfect for this crazy season, nor could current Dem political operatives/”fixers” have come up with a more transparently stupid and unlikely explanation for these patently weird SF shenanigans. We don’t do much right anymore in this dried up husk of a formerly great and vibrant nation, but this little episode truly lives up to the high bar of “exceptional.”
[2] We need more vigilantes like Black Bart in the world these days:
On November 3, 1883, the gentleman bandit known as Black Bart the poet—because of the poems he left behind at the scenes of two of his crimes—robbed his last stagecoach before being apprehended by the authorities. By then, Black Bart had been robbing stagecoaches in California’s gold country for eight years—unbeknownst to the many members of San Francisco high society who knew him as Charles Bolton, a courteous middle-aged mine owner who sported diamond accessories along with his cane, derby hat, and gold watch. (According to Daniel R. Seligman writing in True West Magazine, Bolton got the name “Black Bart” from the villain in William H. Rhodes’s novel The Case of Summerfield, which had been serialized in the Sacramento Daily Union in 1871.)
Black Bart was courteous too—he avoided violence (some say his shotgun was never even loaded) and declined to steal from the passengers of the stagecoaches he robbed. All he would take was the Wells Fargo express box and the mail. “During his first robbery, on July 26, 1875, near the top of Funk Hill at the head of Yaqui Gulch,” writes Seligman, “he politely requested the Wells Fargo box. When a thoroughly frightened woman passenger threw her purse out of the window, he gallantly returned it with the words, “I don’t want your money—only the express box and mail.” And also courteously . . . he left poems.
After his fourth robbery, he left behind this fine piece of verse:
I’ve labored long and hard for bread
For honor and for riches,
But on my corns too long you’ve tred
You fine-haired sons of bitches.
–Black Bart, the P o 8.
After his fifth robbery, he got a little more ambitious:
Here I lay me down to sleep
To wait the coming morrow.
Perhaps success, perhaps defeat,
And everlasting sorrow.
Let come what will, I’ll try it on,
My condition can’t be worse;
And if there’s money in that box
Tis munny in my purse.
–Black Bart, the P o 8.
It wasn’t until Black Bart’s 29th holdup that he was finally caught, after he left a handkerchief (seriously!) at the scene. He was apprehended on November 12th, and four days later, he pled guilty and was sentenced to eight years in jail. He was released after only four, for good behavior—as befits a gentleman—and soon after that, he disappeared entirely—as befits a poet.
[3] In Arcata, the Hospital pays Nurses (RN) about $32/hr.
At Providence, if you work Nights for 8-10 years, and then somehow get a better shift, the Union might get you $55-75/hr…
Working at Providence, is not for little baby nurses or is it recommended as a premium employer of any kind…
In Garberville, RN’s get about $33/hr.
Trinity Hospital pays very low, but there’s always an opening…
In San Francisco, depending on specialty, a plain old RN is in high demand, and you might see a way to make $160,000/year, or more…
Nurses come to the North State as new grads, work 6 months somewhere, and then bail to LA or the Bay Area. Most Adventist Health Employees are poached by recruiters, from somewhere else, including Providers…
Everyone, especially clowns like McGuire, seems to think that “Nursing Education” is a great answer for staffing healthcare openings, but for every RN you meet today, who is working on her BSN, and will then go for an MSN, and then, she will end up in PA School or FNP classes…
I met a woman, an ER Nurse, and a freshly minted PA, in a facility so far out in the middle of nowhere, and she wanted to become a free-range ER Provider, in Idaho, at the age of 65!
Nobody goes into Nursing so they can sit at home and watch homeless guys and drug addicts in the streets…
Nursing is 30-40 years on your feet, no dignity or respect from your employer, a constant chain of “Travelers” coming and going, and, your facility is a “Training Center” for Temps from other countries, who just got their CA License…
At least, a windowless “Old Warehouse” with no windows, in a freezing cold Industrial Park, should approximate the working conditions in a modern hospital.
Of course, there’s always those single travelers, who move from place to place looking for another husband who has a job in a hospital!
If you want a great career, become a software engineer, a UI Designer, hell a MBA! An Attorney!
Being a nurse is like a lot like being a maid, a new mother, a therapist, and sometimes, you get punched by a patient…
The paychecks are regular, the benefits are sometimes merely average, but sometimes, somebody actually thanks you!
One last thing, there’s no shortage of nurses, except in Humboldt, but there is a shortage of decent employers…
[4] SMOKING (a few on-line comments)
(a) When I was a kid, there were NO non-smoking areas. Both my parents smoked like stoves everywhere they went, including at the table in fancy restaurants. After a (brief 18-year) lifetime of choking on my folks’ smoke, I swore I would never smoke. But then I tried it out for the classic stupid reason — to look cool while perched (underage) on a barstool. And was almost instantly hooked. Smoking went from being a skill to an addiction in what seemed like days. I am so grateful I was able to quit — because of my fear of an ugly, early death.
(b) Smoking is trading oxygen for poisonous carbon monoxide gas which disarms your red blood cells, which prevents your cells from transporting the correct amounts of oxygen and nutrients to parts of your body. I quit when smokes became $3 a pack – best investment choice I ever made.
(c) Good for you… I quit in 1971 when a pack was $0.31 for a pack of coffin nails…
(d) I’ve never smoked, but I miss the ashtrays and lighters in cars. They were handy for other things.
(e) I’ve never smoked, but I miss the ashtrays and lighters in cars. They were handy for other things.
(f) I find it very strange that for so many years it’s been ” Don’t smoke cigs , they will kill you !” but now its smoke pot, legal and the cool thing to do. I don’t care what kind of smoke that’s going into your lungs, it’s not good for you. That’s why mother nature tells you not to stand downwind of the campfire.
(g) When I was a kid, EVERYONE smoked, but they were thin too…
Now nobody smokes, except for hospital employees who are so stressed out that they probably wish they would die…
My Aunt and Uncle died of COPD/Heart Disease and associated smoker’s problems, but Nancy lived to be over 80 and Victor died at 67…
In the 50’s, there were decanters to store your liquor in, and a carton of smokes was about $1.25.
I smoked, and liked beer, but quit at 35, for 25 years until I bought a pack of Shermans at the Redway Shell, and allowed myself one a day…
Quit again in 2014, and I still want to smoke…
Cigarettes ride you forever, and lots of SNF patients try to smoke themselves to death…
You can do this, and it’s really hard, but then I can lose weight…
[5] I think there are Republicans with integrity still around but they’re being drowned out or drummed out of the party because they don’t toe the Trumpian party line. That’s not to say the Democrats as a whole are even remotely competent, because most of them aren’t, but they aren’t completely batshit crazy like the Republicans.
[6] I live at 26th and Shotwell in San Francisco. This area has been entrenched with large encampments since 2016. In 2017, the city set up a 311 system and residents were able to call and ask that encampments be removed. In 2019, Jeff Kositsky, then head of HSOC, reversed that. Hot teams are now sent out to ask people to move when there is a shelter bed for them, and they don't have to move if they don't want to. The result is that now these encampments take over huge areas of public space, and they last for months and even years. There was an enormous encampment two doors down from me that was fifty feet long, covering two property lines, that lasted for four months. The residents, including me, had to put up with picking their way around an enormous amount of stuff to get into their houses. The individuals in the encampment had three dogs that were ignored because their owners were often drugged out. These dogs barked day and night. The filth was phenomenal. I had to wash up their diarrhea twice. One woman in the encampment would scream at me every time I got a little close to it which was often since they were only a couple doors down. I had acute stress symptoms like dizziness and a feeling like a lump in my chest. That is just one incident over a span of two years, and I am just one person. This story is playing out all over SF. Worse, The Homeless Coalition caused this crises with their Housing First policy that discourages building shelters so the money can go to apartments.
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