Mendocino County Today: Saturday, August 5, 2023

Warm Weekend | Smoky | Audit Request | Falling Crew | Water Test | Not Healthy | Busy Realtor | Fair Cow | AVUSD News | Roses | Ed Notes | X-Rated Haiku | Opioid County | Silhouette | Weather Stations | PG&E Policy | Goat Munch | Lackadaisical Supes | Ukiah Construction | Strike Vote | Featured Artist | Garth Fundraiser | Muscle Beach | Code Enforcement | Weed EIR | Palms | Pre-Bidders | Exciting | LR Museum | Planning Agenda | Yesterday's Catch | Fully Subsidized | The Mick | Marco Radio | Trader Joe | Debt Repudiation | Lazy Tennis | Party Makeovers | That Stupid | Trump Indictment | Slackerman | Ukraine | Tiny Williamson | Biden's Quagmire | Denial Persistence

LOCALLY HOT CONDITIONS will occur across interior valleys this weekend, followed by slightly cooler conditions during much of the upcoming work week. Otherwise, isolated thunderstorm development is expected across northeast Trinity County this afternoon, with mainly dry conditions occurring across the region thereafter. (NWS)

STEPHEN DUNLAP (Fort Bragg): A warm 56F in foggy conditions this Saturday morning on the coast. Our forecast is for mostly clear but I am again skeptical. It will get windy Sunday night for a couple days.

UNION CALLS FOR STATE AUDIT OF MENDOCINO COUNTY

SEIU 1021 Vice President Requests State Controller Audit of Mendocino County

UKIAH, CA — On Friday, August 4, 2023, SEIU 1021 Vice President Mary Sandberg made an official request to California State Controller Malia Cohen’s Office to conduct an audit and review of Mendocino County’s financial condition. A copy of the official letter can be found here.

Dear Controller Cohen:

We are writing on behalf of our Mendocino County members and concerned community members to ask your office to conduct an audit of county finances and a review of the county’s recent grant seeking efforts, particularly in the area of securing available federal and state support to defray the cost of medical insurance for county employees working primarily on grant-funded programs.

Mendocino has a troubling recent history of fiscal mismanagement. Both Mendocino County’s former chief executive Carmel Angelo and its former tax collector Shari Shapmire say the current Board of Supervisors is unprepared to properly evaluate the county’s financial position.

Supervisor Ted Williams said during a public meeting last September that the county “has three sets of books,” and asked why he and other supervisors “haven’t been able to get a credible financial report.”

Mendocino County CEO Darcie Antle admitted to members of the Board of Supervisors that half of the deficit in the county’s health care plan is due to coverage for county employees working wholly or mostly on programs funded by state and federal grants, whose health care costs should have been reimbursed by these programs. She admitted that the county had not properly applied for reimbursement and was unable to obtain it retroactively.

We would encourage your auditors to review the following local media coverage of Mendocino County’s recent financial dysfunction and lack of transparency:

The Mystery of Mendocino County’s Multi-Million Dollar Health Plan Deficit — MendoFever

Board of Supervisors Discuss Timely Financial Reporting Practices Claims To Address Budgetary Fuss — MendoFever

Mendocino County Employees Demand Cost of Living Raise and Push Back on Claims of Budget Shortfalls — MendoFever

“We Really Want to Assess the Financial Stability of the County at This Time’,” CEO Antle on Mendo’s Budget Showdown — MendoFever

Mendocino County Supervisors, Chief Accounting Officer Discuss County Finances — The Mendocino Voice

Mendocino County Risks Losing its Credit Rating from Top Agency Due to Lack of SufficientI Information — MendoFever

In short, frontline workers in Mendocino County who provide vital county health, human services and public works programs are concerned about the viability of the services they provide and their own livelihoods. They lack confidence in the ability of their elected and appointed officials to properly track and analyze county finances, maximize revenue collection and accurately report the county’s fiscal condition.

We are taking the unprecedented step of formally requesting an audit and review by your office as a result of our grave concerns about the county’s actual financial condition and current reserves and our lack of confidence in the ability of the county to provide accurate and truthful information in a timely manner to either the public or to our union at the bargaining table.

Sincerely,

Mary Sandberg

SEIU 1021 Vice President, Region B (North Coast)

THE POISONING OF THE NAVARRO, a reader writes:

I would like to see water tests done on summer samples from the mouth of the Navarro River. In my nearly 50 years of living here I have watched the closed off mouth of the river go from a clean swimming hole to a sewer like holding pond full of ugly moss. This has coincided with the development of the grape fields in Anderson Valley and is clearly a consequence of nitrogen runoff. Some years ago while driving through the valley late at night I witnessed a man on a brightly lit tractor in one or those white, plastic, protective suits spraying the vines with an insecticide. Spraying is the wrong term since the toxic liquid was gushing out the nozzle and saturating the vines and ground. Obviously being done at night when few would see it. Test the river and trace the problems back to the source. Also if vines are planted on steep hills they should be required to be grown organically and dry farmed. This is how the Frey winery in Redwood Valley does it and I would encourage others to join me in only buying their wines.

ADDICTION MENDO, an on-line comment: 

If you never feel like you matter in the first place what’s it matter? You just keep sliding. A great portion of our Mendo addicts and homeless are homegrown. Children that aged out of Foster Care. Aged out without a high school diploma or any plans for adulthood. Systems without accountability. The laws as far as 5150 and mandated timeframes build the failed foundations. The results wandering the streets. The zombies gathered by the Building Bridges project near Talmage struggle, have for years. The use of the Obama phones when you think about that what does it do? it allows people to sell drugs, do drugs talk about all kinds of crazy stuff nobody’s going to track them. Then when you’re done with that phone you can just get a new one so no matter. No reason to take care of it who cares disposable. NEXT and a new number. Then no one can track you, no services, no other people you’re engaged with because your phone number changes with each Obama phone. This really adds to the issue. Adventist health is not healthy. Rather unhealthy, judgey, rude, deny care to medi-cal patients, dump homeless after the funding medicare runs out, no discharge planning that is effective for these populations. Mendo has a problem. Dumping money on it without plans or accountability for the long term is driving the issue.

PROMINENT UKIAH VALLEY REALTOR ACCUSED OF SEX CRIMES Could Face a Jury This Month

by Matt LaFever

It has been two years since David Charles Ryan, a prominent local realtor, was arrested by the Ukiah Police Department and charged with felony sexual penetration with a foreign object with force and felony burglary.

After numerous delays, he could face a Mendocino County jury within a matter of weeks with the Superior Court scheduling the trial to begin on August 14, 2023.

The specifics of the incident that led to his 2021 arrest are vague. A press release from the Ukiah Police Department published in August 2021 states Ryan was arrested at his home for felony residential burglary, penetration with a foreign object, and sexual battery. One misdemeanor was also listed for child endangerment.

David C. Ryan is a prominent name in the Mendocino County realty scene, according to his LinkedIn profile. In his “About” section on LinkedIn, Ryan states he has been selling homes in Mendocino County since 1988 and grew to sell multi-residential and commercial properties. Ryan, as of late, had been working as a Realtor at Windermere Platinum Real Estate Services.

Though the nature of accusations he could be tried for is vague, the accusations of four women from nearly 25 years ago could offer some insight.

An article written by Ukiah Daily Journal’s Glenda Anderson published on May 1, 1998 provides an overview of four women’s alleged experiences with Ryan claiming a litany of untoward sexual advances.

One woman alleged Ryan entered her home “in the middle of the night” three separate times when her roommate was gone. On two of those occasions, she awoke to find Ryan had “entered her bedroom.”

The woman alleged to be diligent about locking her door and surmised Ryan had a key to the residence.

Anderson reported that Ryan told Ukiah Police he was there on only two occasions, each time to visit the woman’s roommate. He denied having a key.

As a result of these claims, Ryan faced trespassing charges in connection with the incident.

Another woman alleged Ryan harassed her for nearly three years. She came to know Ryan when he sold her home in 1994. Following the sale of her home, she alleged Ryan would regularly arrive on her doorstep between 1 a.m. and 3 a.m., “pound on her door then barge in when she opened it and ask her for sex.” The woman told investigators she was initially “flattered by the attention” but became “nervous as he became progressively pushy and the incidents became more frequent, almost weekly.”

Yet another woman who knew Ryan through her boyfriend claimed the realtor made unannounced visits to her home several times.

The first time Ryan arrived, he was allegedly “intoxicated and asked to use her bathroom.” The woman heard Ryan make his way into her bedroom and upon investigating located him lying on her bed. She told him to leave, pulled back the covers, and “discovered he was naked.”

He quickly dressed, but moments later, in the woman’s kitchen, allegedly made a sexual advance.

Once again, the woman insisted he leave but Ryan allegedly told her that he was “too drunk to drive and she let him sleep on her couch for a couple of hours before waking him and sending him on his way.”

The woman claimed Ryan returned to her home another time once again asking to use the bathroom. During the visit, he allegedly made comments of a sexual nature. The woman told her boyfriend about the circumstances, who called Ryan and, after that, Ryan never returned.

A fourth woman claimed Ryan “made continual sexual comments” while he was “representing the woman and her husband when they were selling their home in the fall of 1997.

At one point, Ryan is said to have called the woman and invited her to “come over and talk about the sale.” She declined “because she had to pick up her children from school.” Next thing she knew, Ryan showed up at her child’s school “making comments about having an affair.”

Aside from these incidents, Ryan has a history of run-ins with law enforcement. A booking log published by the Ukiah Daily Journal on June 1, 2011, indicates Ryan, then 46-years-old, was arrested by the California Highway Patrol and subsequently booked into the county jail for driving under the influence.

Unfortunately, the Mendocino County Superior Court Information Portal does not provide any information about the resolution of these claims nor does our review of newspaper archives.

Aside from accusations of the four women in 1998, Ryan has had multiple run-ins with law enforcement.

In both April 2010 and July 2011, Ryan was arrested for driving under the influence. He pled guilty and sentenced to sixty months of probation.

In April 2012, Ryan was arrested “on suspicion of grand theft” and violation of his probation.

The Mendocino County Superior Court Information Portal indicates he would end up pleading guilty to “petty theft” and was sentenced to a year of probation.

On August 10, 2023, Mendocino County Deputy District Attorney Heidi Larson will meet with Justin Petersen, Ryan’s defense attorney, in the chambers of Judge Keith Faulder with a jury trial slated to begin four days later, August 14.

We reached out to both prosecution and defense for an opportunity to comment on the criminal case against David Charles Ryan. Petersen declined to comment while the case was still in litigation and Larson never responded.

With due respect to the potential victim of the circumstances described, it must be stated that the charges have not been proven in a court of law. In accordance with the legal principle of the presumption of innocence, any individual described should be presumed innocent until proven guilty.

(mendofever.com)

AV UNIFIED UPDATE

My Heart Is Happy!

I checked the reservation list for the Sports Kick Off Dinner at the Junior/Senior High School and 225 people are attending. Anderson Valley community involvement is back. This is stellar!

What it looks like: 

First of all, Terri and Steve Rhoades will cook up a storm. Pick up your dinner in the cafeteria and eat in the gym. AV Cheer, under the expert direction of Yesenia Pena, will lead us in some cheers! Athletic Director, John Toohey, will outline requirements for sports play. I’ll be honest, those requirements are tough. We expect our athletes to lead the pack. Av pride is back.

Each sport, and Service Learning Team, will have their own table. Plus, we need drivers. Our fingerprinting company will be on site to register any parent that wants to be a parent volunteer to drive to our games free of charge right then. Help us give your kids play time. If we don’t have enough drivers, we go to a smaller travel team and that is not good. That is not what is optimal, but it is reality. We just bought two new vans, who can step up to help kids get where they need to go?

In other news, on a personal note, my beloved new dog, Walter, was bit by a rattlesnake in my driveway and is very, very sick. Please be mindful of your kids and pets. If he doesn’t make it, I only hope that the awareness that I can create, wilL help someone else. I also have to tell you, the amazingly strong ladies of Anderson Valley Unified gave me a personal demonstration of how to kill a rattlesnake with a shovel. I went to Friedman’s and I am ready. I will say folks, you have some super strong energy in this Valley!

Shout outs are numerous and I always miss someone, but let me start with Marcia and Manuel who took an early drive with me to Napa to pick up two new vans for our district. So good to spend time with these dedicated folks.

To Wynne, Guy, and Dennis for getting the new announcement and bell system installed at the high school while at the same time completing a plumbing repair at the elementary.

To the site secretaries Mari, Celeste, Belma, Kathy, and Mimi, doing everything they can to create a seamless reentry for your kids. To the tireless custodial staff of Antonia, Erika, Martin, and Amalia for making a clean and safe place for kids to go to school.

To Miss Swehla for the fair experience for our kids. I will be blunt. If your kid isn’t in ffa, enroll today. She creates winners because she has high expectations and doesn’t put up with $#$#@$@#. These kids will be successful in school and beyond. Makes me cry to see the investment that is poured in.

The septic project at the elementary school is rolling. The classroom water replacement starts tomorrow. Miguel has painted almost every modular in the main elementary campus. Plans are in final comment for DSA for the high school. Do you feel it? It is happening…

How can you help? Sign up to volunteer. Come to committee meetings. At the junior/senior high, support the no cell phone policy. Our kids (and me too) are addicted. Let’s get back into the present.

So grateful for your partnership.

I know I am a pain in the @#@# , but I see all that your kids can become. We need to hold the expectation.

PS. Don't Forget! Orientation is next week!

Grade 7/8- Monday, Aug 7th from 11-3

Grade 9/10- Tuesday, Aug 8th from 11-3

Grade 11/12- Wednesday, Aug 9th from 11-3

If you have students in different grades, you can come on the day of your older student's orientation. 

First Day of school is Monday Aug 14th,

Don't forget that there is a Mandatory Athlete Dinner on Monday, August 7th at 5 pm. 

We are looking forward to seen you next week!!

PPS. SNAKE EXTERMINATOR WANTED.

I am looking for a snake wrangler to come to my property to look for a six foot rattlesnake that bit my dog. If you are interested in learning more, please call me at 650-996-3290.

Take care,

Louise Simson, Superintendent

Anderson Valley Unified School District

ED NOTES

SUPERVISOR WILLIAMS: “$27M aggregate of public money should require performance review. Why hasn’t there been one?”

THE SUPERVISOR was referring to Redwood Community Services, aka Redwood Quality Management Company, aka Anchor Health, an ever-expanding social services network presided over by Camille Schraeder, who distributes an annual $27 million tax dollars filtered through Mendocino County to a variety of services allegedly of help to dependent children and adults. Ms. Schraeder has threatened her critics to return her entire apparatus to the County if the County is unhappy with her management.

HOW EFFECTIVE is her management? How effective are her shape-shifting programs? Nobody knows because the County doesn't ask.

IN DEFENSE of Schraeder, a resident of Potter Valley who worked her way up to her present eminence from the late Trinity School of Ukiah, having arrived in the County with the Back to the Land wave of counterculture settlers, dependent persons everywhere in our crumbling country present both a huge pot of money and an unsolvable problem short of institutional care, which barely exists, as the streets of Ukiah bear daily witness.

BUT SUPERVISOR WILLIAMS is correct. Even by the loosest civic standards $27 unexamined million is a lotta public dough to sail out the annual fiscal door on the assurance of one person that major good is being done.

MOST OF THE MONEY, natch, is paid out to the helping professionals, who help themselves to a nice income while doing good. How much good is the question.

MR. MARBUT was paid $60 thou by the Supervisors for advice on how to handle the homeless. His advice was to treat and house Mendo's home-grown intractables, give the transient mooches a sandwich or two then kick them in the ass outtahere. 

THE HELPING PROS came roaring out in a mass meeting to denounce Marbut as cruel and heartless, and his commonsense suggestions were shelved (except in Fort Bragg where the cops run the homeless services), and here we are.

THERE ARE SO MANY helping pros in Mendocino County, especially when you factor in their fellow delusionals who manage not to see the work product of the helping pros as it shuffles up and down State Street and in and out of the County Jail, that one quickly sees how the helping pros have created what amounts to a national homeless crisis. 

MENDO OVERDOSE DEATH RATE HIGHEST IN STATE; OPIOID SETTLEMENT FUNDS USED FOR BUDGET BALANCING

by Sara Reith

Mendocino County has the highest per capita number of overdose deaths in the state, with 54.7 per 100,000 in 2021. And there’s not always enough treatment, according to Clover Martin, the Treatment Services Director at the Ford Street Project in Ukiah. This week, she said, “We do not have any female beds available. Probably the next available female bed is three weeks away. So if you can imagine being a mother or a grandmother or a father and calling to try and get your family member in and you have to be told no, or I don’t know when the bed is going to be available or we need to put you on a wait list, that’s tough. And our male status for beds, we have two.”

Since November of last year, the county has received $1.4 million from opioid settlement agreements. This week, Aneri Pattani of the Kaiser Family Foundation reported that last year the Board of Supervisors approved the use of over $63,000 of settlement money to balance the county’s budget. That includes backfilling a portion of the multi-million dollar hole in the health care plan.

Erica Valdovinos is an ER doctor at Adventist Health Ukiah Valley. She also works for California Bridge, an organization dedicated to using evidence-based treatments for patients with substance use disorder. “As a physician who takes care of patients with opioid use disorder every day,” including people who have overdosed, she said, “I am very eager to find out what is going to become of the opioid settlement funds in this county. In fact, I have been trying for months to learn more about the process by which these funds are going to be distributed. And I haven’t gotten any answers. So I was alarmed to see that reporting yesterday that seems to indicate that the county is going to use a portion of those funds to plug a hole in the budget.”

Supervisor Glenn McGourty, chair of the Board of Supervisors, wrote in a statement that, “The $63,000 referenced in the December 2022 budget status report, was a portion of the Plaintiff Subdivision Fund, and appropriately approved for offsetting healthcare expenses, given the County has incurred damages for past harms including increased healthcare costs as a result of the opioid crisis.”

He wrote that $1,125,000 of the settlement funds received so far have been set aside in an abatement fund, “to address future remediation such as treatment programs for our community.” The other $275,000 is in the subdivision fund, which political subdivisions like cities and counties can use for purposes other than direct opioid remediation. McGourty wrote that this portion of the settlement, “provides for our direct damages, such as reimbursing past County incurred opioid related expenses and costs of bringing the litigation” against the manufacturers and distributors of opioids.

It’s not the first time money from a public health crisis has gone into the health care plan deficit.

Last year, over $4.5 million of the county’s allotment from the American Rescue Plan Act, or ARPA, went towards backfilling the shortfall. The Executive Office estimated it would have been over $10 million without the infusion. Another $370,000 from the same covid relief fund went towards remodeling the Board of Supervisors chambers, including a mechanical podium where members of the public stand to address the Board. The podium moves up and down to accommodate speakers of various heights.

ARPA guidelines were loose. And according to data compiled by Christine Minhee of OpioidsettlementTracker.com, only thirteen states have declared in writing that they’ll report 100% of their opioid settlement expenditures to the public.

California is not one of them. Minhee’s analysis, first shared with Kaiser Health News, shows that while many states have not committed to reporting any of their settlement expenditures, California has only committed to reporting 15%.

The state is participating in seven settlements with distributors, drug makers, and individual pharmacies. Two years ago, opioid manufacturer Janssen Pharmaceuticals and three distributors, McKesson, AmericsourceBergen, and Cardinal Health, settled over 3,000 lawsuits for $26 billion. California will get regular payments from a little over $2 billion from those settlements through the year 2038. Settlements with five other drugmakers and pharmacies are pending.

Some addiction treatment providers in Mendocino County are frustrated by the lack of transparency about how the local funds are going to be distributed. Jacque Williams is the Executive Director of the Ford Street Project, which offers residential and outpatient treatment as well as state-licensed detox therapy. She’s gotten a state grant to expand, and is applying for $4.1 million in Measure B funds to increase her offerings. She wants to understand what the strategy is going to be for community input. “Is there going to be an oversight of decision-making body or an oversight committee that ensures the implementation or approval of requests?” she asked. “This deserves a structured approach because there are several opportunities for investment of that money. And that's going to require people who understand the broad impact within our community. I’d love to see some first responders, people from the ER’s, just educators, be our thinkers about how we get after this going forward.”

Though the opioid litigation has been wending through the courts for years, many municipalities, including Mendocino County, have not yet formulated a plan for how to distribute the funds. McGourty wrote that, “Dr. Jenine Miller, the Director of Behavioral Health and Recovery Services, and member of the National Association of Counties Opioid Solutions Leadership Network, will be working with the Board of Supervisors in the near future to determine the highest and best use of the Abatement Funds for opioid remediation activities in our County.”

Valdovinos said that, while she is “just an emergency doctor,” who doesn’t know what the details of the of a transparent process will be, “I am really looking forward to seeing what the county has planned to address this epidemic in our community, and I remain standing by to support with any guidance or feedback that they might like. I also have plenty of colleagues who also have lots of experience taking care of patients in our community with substance use disorder, and all of us are here and willing to help.”

(MendoFever.com)

* * *

Opioid Settlement Funding

(County Press Release)

Mendocino County, in conjunction with several other California counties, sued manufacturers and distributors of opioids for the direct damages caused to our government by the opioid crisis. The opioid crisis directly impacted Mendocino County’s departments resulting in many financial and programmatic damages such as higher healthcare related expenses, lost productivity, increased crime, and additional burdens on departments that serve and protect our community - Social Services, Behavioral Health, Child Welfare, Public Health and law enforcement agencies such as the Sheriff, District Attorney and Probation. Our litigation was joined with multiple national lawsuits alleging similar claims. 

The first settlement reached with one of the opioid manufacturers and the big three distributors nationwide, has resulted in funds beginning to be distributed to the County. The funds Mendocino County receives from all opioid settlements fall into two categories, meant to achieve different purposes. The majority of the funds (70% of the overall settlement) are distributed directly to counties through the “Abatement Fund,” which will be used for opioid remediation (i.e., care, treatment and other programs and expenditures designed to address the misuse and abuse of opioid products, to treat or mitigate opioid use and related disorders, and/or to mitigate other alleged effects of the opioid epidemic). An additional (significantly smaller) portion of the settlement funds (15% overall) is distributed directly to the named government subdivision plaintiffs, like Mendocino County, for initiating the litigation. This is referred to as the “Plaintiff Subdivision Fund”, and provides for our direct damages, such as reimbursing past County incurred opioid related expenses and costs associated with bringing the litigation. Only the select California counties and cities which filed suit will benefit from this additional fund. The remaining 15% of the overall settlement is distributed to the State of California, i.e., “California State Fund” for future opioid remediation activities.

Thus far, the County has received a small portion of the initial settlement, $1,400,000, of which $275,000 is attributed to the Plaintiff Subdivision Fund and will serve to reimburse the County’s direct costs, including, but not limited to, offsetting increased opioid related healthcare expenses. $1,125,000 of the initial settlement distribution is earmarked for the Abatement Fund and has been set aside into a separate fund to address future remediation such as treatment programs for our community. Dr. Jenine Miller, the Director of Behavioral Health and Recovery Services, and member of the National Association of Counties Opioid Solutions Leadership Network, will be working with the Board of Supervisors in the near future to determine the highest and best use of the Abatement Funds for opioid remediation activities in our County. 

The $63,000 referenced in the December 2022 budget status report, was a portion of the Plaintiff Subdivision Fund, and appropriately approved for offsetting healthcare expenses, given the County has incurred damages for past harms including increased health care costs as a result of the opioid crisis. 

WEATHER ONE AND TWO

[1] I use Weather Underground to get a daily weather report and forecast, and select one of the local weather stations near my home. I am interested to know if these local devices store weather history and if there is anyway to access it publicly. Weather underground provides weather history for Santa Rosa and Ukiah, but I have not found it for Fort Bragg or the local stations. Also, I am interested in getting a weather station myself, and wondering if they all have a history feature, and what brand current users might recommend. Off list is fine. Thank you.

[2] The devices themselves do not store weather history. Weather Underground stores weather history from personal weather stations that are set up to report to them.

I have an Acu-Rite Iris 5-in-1 personal weather station that reports to Weather Underground.

You can access the station data at wunderground.com/dashboard/pws/KCALITTL10

If you scroll down the page you'll come to a Weather history section. The interface is a bit clunky, but you can view data from a past date, week or month.

You can find Acu-Rite stations like mine on Amazon starting at about $114. Other brands with similar offerings include Ambient Weather, Logia, and Sainlogic.

Nick Wilson

SUPERVISOR WILLIAMS: After tree trimming declared ineffective, PG&E adopts new wildfire mitigation strategy

"PG&E Corp. is axing its enhanced tree-trimming program aimed at reducing wildfire risk after deeming it largely ineffective."

sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article277936838.html

COUNTY SUPERVISORS LACKADAISICAL

To the Editor:

Transparency and accountability are core values of government that our elected officials must work vigorously to uphold. In Mendocino County, we are faced with a test of that value, as critical public reports outlining county finances are months behind schedule.

Annual Comprehensive Financial Reports (ACRFs) are essential documents that show members of the public and elected leaders the current state of an agency’s finances. State law requires counties, cities, and school districts to release these reports in the six months following the close of the fiscal year in June.

The last ACFR released for Mendocino County covered the fiscal year running from July 2020 to June 2021, which means we have no audited reporting of county finances covering the last two years of operations. This delay in reporting not only makes accountability and governance incredibly difficult, it is also likely illegal.

Up the coast, our neighbors in Humboldt County faced a similar financial reporting delinquency issue just last year. Their former Auditor-Controller, Karen Paz Dominguez, failed to file different financial reports, resulting in the California Attorney General sending a demand letter threatening litigation and financial penalties. Paz Dominguez took an adversarial position, shifting blame onto other elected officials and county staff.

The difference between the situation in Humboldt and our situation here in Mendocino is that Paz Dominguez faced a Board of Supervisors committed to ensuring accountability and demanding a resolution to the issue. The Board passed votes of no-confidence, approved third-party investigations, and eventually approved a settlement deal to get the Auditor-Controller out of office and bring someone in who could actually do the job. Here in Mendocino County, there has been a lackadaisical attitude from the Board, enabling these serious issues to go unanswered and fly under the radar.

Adding to this issue is action by the Board in 2021 to merge the Auditor-Controller and Treasurer-Tax Collector positions, creating a chaotic situation in which the duties of both offices have suffered as the attention is divided amongst competing obligations.

The Mendocino County Board of Supervisors must make fiscal transparency, accountability, and responsibility a core value of county government. They have a responsibility to constituents to demand accurate, independent financial reporting from our Auditor-Controller. Mendocino County residents deserve no less.

Madeline Cline

Redwood Valley

UKIAH CONSTRUCTION UPDATES FOR THE WEEK OF AUGUST 7TH

Next week, work continues to install water laterals (from the main line to the buildings) and connect new fire hydrants. Because the main line is already installed, no driveway closures are anticipated. However, Norton between State and Main is likely to be closed on Monday to complete work in the manhole in the intersection, and Scott between State and School will be closed on Tuesday. Residents will be allowed through, and pedestrian access to businesses will be maintained at all times. 

No disruptions to utilities are anticipated next week. The connections for the new water service are tentatively scheduled to begin roughly August 25^th, and those will require some water shut-offs for several hours. More detailed advance notice will be provided as we get a little closer to that work. 

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me directly. Otherwise, I hope you have a great weekend!

Fun fact: Underground utility pipes are color coded.

Blue: Water line

Green: Sewer line

Purple: Recycled water line (no “purple pipe” in this project, but we ARE expanding our recycled water system, starting later this year.

Thanks,

Shannon Riley, Deputy City Manager, City of Ukiah

COUNTY STRIKE VOTE

by Jim Shields

County Employees OK Strike Vote

The union representing about 700 county employees approved a strike vote this past Friday. Here’s the report.

On Friday July 28, Mendocino County workers represented by SEIU Local 1021 voted to authorize their bargaining team to call a strike, should a strike become necessary. The strike authorization vote passed overwhelmingly, with 92.4% voting yes.

Despite total revenue for Mendocino County having increased 44.8% since 2019-2020, the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors has continued to bargain in bad faith with its public health nurses, children’s social workers, road crews, and other employees. In repeated negotiation meetings, the County has insisted that its employees pay more for their healthcare and retirement – an overall pay cut. This effective pay cut will only exacerbate the current staffing crisis by pushing even more County workers to opt for better-paid positions in neighboring counties, cities, and the private sector.

“Our members are frustrated with the lack of leadership from this administration,” said SEIU 1021 Mendocino County Chapter President Julie Beardsley, a senior public health analyst for the county.

“Mendocino County has amazing people, natural resources, and the spirit to move forward. This strike authorization is a clear indication that things need to change.” Mendocino County has a countywide vacancy rate of 29%. Among the critical staffing shortages jeopardizing the health, safety, and wellbeing of county residents, including the most vulnerable, are:

• A nearly 40% vacancy rate in Family & Children’s Services — putting at-risk kids in danger;

• A 44% vacancy rate in Department of Transportation road crews, meaning our roads don’t get paved or repaired in a timely manner; and

• A 70% vacancy rate for mental health clinicians.

— Jim Shields

ARTISTS' COLLECTIVE IN ELK is featuring Rachel Lahn in August

“My paintings and dimensional constructions are about movement flowing into shapes of color and light. They are reflections of my feelings, travels, and countless transitions.

I like my work to speak for itself... not too many words. I build abstract relief constructions out of canvas, plaster, wire and wood with mixed media. I paint them with acrylic paint. Once started they take on a life of their own, one form inspiring the next. When I need shape and color inspiration for a piece, I go outside and absorb the life and light in the plants, Redwood trees, mountains, ocean and sunlight that surround me. I paint and draw the energies and shapes of nature.”

Rachel has been painting since her childhood. She has a BFA in Painting and Printmaking and an MAT from the Rhode Island School of Design, Providence RI.

This show will include Giclee prints, sculptures, two dimensional paintings and greeting cards.

There will be a reception for the artist on 2nd Sat., Aug.12, from 1 to 3 pm.

Lahn’s work can also be seen at the Prentice Gallery in Mendocino, and her studio (by appointment) in Anderson Valley.

www.abstractartmendocino.com

The Artists' Collective in Elk is located at 6031 S. Hwy 1, in greater downtown Elk, and is open daily from 10:00am-5:00 pm.

PARTY ON, GARTH!

The Federal Department of Painfully Dated Pop Culture References dictated the name of my fundraising event; I had no choice in the matter.

Here's the scoop:

Party On, Garth!

A fundraiser supporting Garth Hagerman's recovery from Acute Myeloid Leukemia

Friday, August 25

Doors open at 6pm, music starts at 6:30, party until 10 at the Caspar Community Center, 15051 Caspar Rd, Caspar Featuring two great bands:

Caspar Kings and West of Nowhere

Plus, no host beer & wine bar and yummy tacos by Cucina di Rosa

Admission is $20 at the door

More info online at https://mendocino.rocks

A great time is guaranteed for all.

We could also use a few more volunteers for set-up, clean-up, and postering. If you're interested contact me by email or call 707-941-0231

Garth Hagerman

Fort Bragg

DIRECTED ENFORCEMENT ON ILLEGAL CANNABIS CULTIVATION IN REDWOOD VALLEY

(County presser)

During the July 25^th, 2023, Board of Supervisors meeting, a Redwood Valley Cannabis Prohibition District was considered. Although the Board denied establishment of the Prohibition District, unanimous direction was provided to the Mendocino County Code Enforcement Division to assign all of its available resources to address illegal cannabis cultivation within the Redwood Valley area. The purpose of this direction was to address cannabis-related nuisances in the area as demonstrated by numerous constituent complaints of nuisance odor and activities.

As a result of the Board’s direction, the Code Enforcement Division has proceeded with identifying multiple properties within Redwood Valley as potential non-permitted cultivation sites, including but not limited to the use of aerial imagery. Code Enforcement will be completing thorough investigations to assess for illegal cannabis cultivation and its related infrastructure. While in the field, Code Enforcement officers will also be actively seeking to identify additional unpermitted cultivation sites to include in this directed effort.

Code Enforcement is seeking voluntary compliance by responsible parties to abate all illegal cannabis cultivation in violation of Mendocino County Code (MCC) Chapter 10A.17 and obtain appropriate building permits to address non-permitted infrastructure associated with cannabis cultivation. If voluntary compliance is not achieved, Code Enforcement will elevate enforcement action on non-compliant sites.

It should be noted that many properties located with Redwood Valley are zoned RR (Rural Residential) 1 (RR1) and do not qualify for cultivation beyond the personal adult use exemption. However, it should also be noted that for the adult use exemption, the use must also be in compliance of MCC section 10A.17.040 to meet all required setbacks.

A copy of the 10A.17 Ordinance can be located at: https://library.municode.com/ca/mendocino_county/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=MECOCO_TIT10AAG_CH10A.17MECACUOR_S10A.17.040GELICUCA

The Mendocino County community is highly encouraged to review the above noted ordinance to ensure their properties are in compliance.

For any questions or concerns, community members can reach out to the Code Enforcement Division at: (707) 234-6669 or email at: codeenforcement@mendocinocounty.org

CANNA NOTE: EIR UPDATE (08/04/2023)

Dear Community Members,

The Cannabis Department is reaching out to provide an update regarding the Environmental Impact Report (EIR). The Department of Cannabis Control (DCC) has confirmed that they are planning to release a Notice of Preparation (NOP) for the EIR.

To stay informed and review the relevant information, please find the links to the Notice of Preparation (NOP) below:

EIR - Overview

EIR - Notice of Preparation

We encourage you to share this information with fellow community members and any other stakeholders who may be interested in staying updated on this important matter.

As we continue to prioritize transparency and open communication, we will also make these links available in Canna Notes and on the MCD website. Our aim is to ensure that everyone has access to relevant information related to the EIR project.

If you have any questions or need further clarification, please do not hesitate to contact us. 

Thank you for your continued support and participation.

2023 HOMELESS HOUSING, ASSISTANCE, & PREVENTION (HHAP) PROGRAM

Request for Proposals No. 040-23: 

Pre-Bidders Meeting Scheduled for 08/14/2023 at 1:30 pm PST

The Mendocino County Department of Social Services will be holding its Pre-Bidders Meeting for Request for Proposals (RFP) No. 040-23: 2023 Homeless Housing, Assistance, and Prevention Program on 08/14/2023 at 1:30 pm PST. The purpose of this meeting is to give interested parties an opportunity to receive clarification on the eligible activities and the procurement procedure. This meeting will be held virtually on Zoom and Interested Parties are welcome to access the meeting using the access information listed below.

County of Mendocino RFP 040-23 Pre-Bidders Meeting

Time: Aug 14, 2023, 01:30 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting

https://mendocinocounty.zoom.us/j/81306789079

Meeting ID: 813 0678 9079

One tap mobile

+16699009128,,81306789079# US (San Jose)

+16694449171,,81306789079# US

Dial by your location

• +1 669 900 9128 US (San Jose)

• +1 669 444 9171 US

Meeting ID: 813 0678 9079

For more information on this meeting or RFP No. 040-23, please contact Veronica Wilson, Program Administrator, at wilsonv@mendocinocounty.org or (707) 468-7071.

LITTLE RIVER MUSEUM--TRAINS & FLAPPER GIRLS

Little River Museum is open Saturdays and Sundays this summer from 11 to 4. Our feature exhibit this summer is Antique Toys and Trains. The museum is FREE and has a variety of exhibits about Little River, Albion and the coast. See and handle the native wildlife exhibit, new this week “1930 Flapper Girls” clothing exhibit, Free Pomo map of local trails, find relatives or tour the Little River Pioneer Cemetery using our map and genealogy information. Discover the Good Templar secret the modest exterior hides. We are in the little white cottage just north of Van Damme beach, 8185 Highway One. Parking in front or across the street.

Ronnie James <ronnie@mcn.org>

THERE'S A PLAN. REALLY.

Planning Commission Agenda & Staff Report for 8-17-23 Meeting

The Staff Report(s) and Agenda for the August 17, 2023, Planning Commission meeting is now available on the department website at: mendocinocounty.org/government/planning-building-services/meeting-agendas/planning-commission

Please contact staff if there are any questions,

Thank you

CATCH OF THE DAY, Friday, August 3, 2023

JOHN BOLTON IV, Willits. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.

LUCAS CASE, Fort Jones/Ukiah. Parole violation.

STACY EZELL, Clearlake/Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-under influence, failure to appear.

DARWIN LARA-CALDERON, Covelo. Domestic battery.

HUGO MACIAS, Lakeport/Ukiah. DUI.

AARON MANTLE, Philo. DUI-alcohol&drugs, controlled substance without prescription.

ROBERT MCCANN, Willits. Controlled substance, paraphernalia, failure to appear.

JAYCEE MCLEAN, Dos Rios. Toluene-like substance.

CODY MENDEZ, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-under influence, trespassing, paraphernalia.

RAYMOND RHODES, Fort Bragg. Controlled substance, paraphernalia, failure to appear, probation revocation.

FRANKLIN ROCKWELL, Eureka/Ukiah. Narcotics for sale, paraphernalia, conspiracy.

DAMIAN ROSALES-REYES, Cloverdale. Probation revocation.

SAMUEL SANCHEZ, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alchol&drugs, controlled substance, protective order violation, resisting. (Frequent flyer.)

ROBERT SEARS, Yreka/Ukiah. Narcotics for sale, paraphernalia, conspiracy.

CHARLES WAGONER, Willits. Under influence. 

MAINTAINING THE MAMMAL

Dear Insanely Confused Postmodern America

Hello to everyone immersed in the insane confusion of postmodern America,

Awoke this morning well rested at the Building Bridges Homeless Resource Center in sunny Ukiah, California. Following morning ablutions, walked south to the Plowshares Peace & Justice Center, picking up litter. Enjoyed a sumptuous meal courtesy of the dedicated Catholic Workers, and then boarded an air conditioned MTA bus, deboarding at the Ukiah Public Library. Am this instant...here...now...on computer #1, tap, tap tapping away.

Since being put out of the place I was residing at in nearby Redwood Valley by the marijuana trimmers, because we lacked any important commonality, have had the profoundly unique experience of two heart procedures, complete dental upkeep, pulmonary healthcare, and a new pair of eye glasses, all covered by the appropriate health insurance plans. Additionally, have a federal housing voucher, and am being shown vacancies by the B2 Housing Navigator at this time. It would be wonderful to receive a fully subsidized apartment for seniors in central Ukiah, where I could set up shop, purchase a new computer, and use the $850 social security money plus food stamps to "maintain the mammal". 

Meanwhile, am available for spiritually sourced direct action, and am advocating the performance of spiritual rituals to destroy the demonic and return this completely out of whack world to righteousness. If you are basically sane enough to appreciate this message, please contact me.

Craig Louis Stehr, craiglouisstehr@gmail.com

MEMO OF THE AIR Live on KNYO from Franklin St. all night Friday night!

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

For this show I'll be in the clean, well-lighted back room of KNYO's 325 N. Franklin studio. To call and read your work in your own voice, the number is 707-962-3022. If you want to come in and perform in person, that's okay, but bring a mask to put on.

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 KNYO.org. Also the schedule is there for KNYO's many other terrific shows.

As always, at https://MemoOfTheAir.wordpress.com you'll find plenty of educational doodads to educate yourself with until showtime, or any time such as:

Examples of 20 types of fiddle tunes in 14 minutes.

https://27thstreet.me/2023/07/29/just-how-many-types-of-fiddle-tunes-are-there-anyway/

Highlights of a whistling contest.

https://www.weirduniverse.net/blog/comments/annual_whistling_contest

And the scale of the universe.

https://www.neatorama.com/2023/08/03/Visualizing-the-Scale-of-the-Milky-Way/

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

IT WOULDN’T BE HARD to start a debt repudiation movement. In every town you’d have a big truck going by and you’d tell everyone to put their credit card bill on it and drive the trucks to Washington and park them outside Joe Biden’s house. Joe Biden, as the creature of the banks in Delaware, was the person who literally wrote the laws to compel people into bankruptcy. He denied them the merciful relief of Chapter 10, instead keeping them in hock for the rest of their days. There are still some laws, even now, despite Joe Biden’s best efforts, that would put those usurious bankers in jail if you really pushed it. 

— Alexander Cockburn, 2010, GritTV

A READER WRITES: Pickleball? Tennis for lazy people.

ON-LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

Trump has re-made the party into a right-wing populist party. it is Trump’s party now. Shedding the old party is ongoing. That process finished for the Democrats a while back … the ‘working man’s’ party, turned into the ‘wokeing man’s’ party. I supported Democrats for > 40 years, but in 2016, it was clear to me what had happened.

THE ELECTRIC KOOL-AID TRUMP INDICTMENT

Special prosecutor Jack Smith's January 6th case is a surreal mix of conventional law and authoritarian lunacy

by Matt Taibbi

The United States of America v. Donald J. Trump may be the trippiest read since Cat’s Cradle, and not in a good way.

Special Counsel Jack Smith’s indictment is a case within a case, a prosecutorial enchilada filled with things for people of all political persuasions to hate. The outside is a shell of a conventional conspiracy prosecution, and these parts are genuinely damaging for Donald Trump. Inside, it’s a deranged authoritarian fantasy, at times reading more like a 45-page Louise Mensch tweet than an indictment.

This radical core is somehow scarier than the allegations against Trump and co-conspirators like Rudy Giuliani, John Eastment, Sidney Powell, Jeffrey Clark, and Kenneth Cheeseboro. Despite early criticism describing the case as entirely about protected speech, Special Prosecutor Jack Smith’s case does focus on some overt acts, and these sections are buttressed by witnesses who could be convincing across the spectrum.

Former Arizona Speaker of the House and onetime Trump supporter Rusty Bowers will describe being asked not to certify the results by, among others, Trump and Giuliani. Ronna McDaniel, chair of the RNC, will say she was told votes by so-called “fraudulent electors” would only be deployed if election litigation was successful. Former Vice President Mike Pence, who is rumored to be running for president and took instant advantage of indictment news Tuesday (see below), will testify Trump told him, “You’re too honest,” in response to prods to refuse to certify the outcome.

If Smith simply focused on those damaging episodes in states like Arizona, Michigan, and Georgia, or on Trump’s interactions with Pence, this prosecution would be an easier sell to the general population. Instead, Smith has tried to pen a Unified Field Theory of insurrection that would massively expand the meaning of concepts like incitement to include false statements, tweets, and other forms of protected speech, down to classic Trumpisms like “I don’t care about a link… I have a much better link,” and “I have a lot of friends in Detroit… Detroit is totally corrupt.”

In fact, if rumors are true and the four counts filed by Smith this week are later complemented by a superseding indictment, this document may end up expanding the definition of “seditious conspiracy” to include those things as well. As Adam Kinzinger said this week, he hoped additional counts will hold Trump “accountable” for all the actions of January 6th.

It’s not hard to read this and see the framework of an argument that Trump’s ideas, tweets and “knowingly false statements” were elements of the same conspiracy to “violently disrupt” the election for which people like Oath Keepers Elmer Stewart Rhodes and Kelly Meggs have already been convicted and sentenced to 18 and 12 years in prison, respectively. A successful prosecution would fold space and time to make legal speech felony violence.

If the “falsifying business records” case in Manhattan involving a payoff to porn star Stormy Daniels felt like one “offense” stretched to 34 counts, Smith’s January 6th indictment seems like 20-30 discrete scenes rolled out as a single conspiracy. In no particular order, here are three bizarre elements of Smith’s vision:

The mood police. 

Conspiracy to “create… mistrust and anger.”
In the opening passages of the indictment Smith rails against Trump’s “knowingly false statements,” saying they created an “intense national atmosphere of mistrust and anger,” intended to “erode public faith in the administration of the election.” I thought I was having an acid flashback when I read this passage. Instead of focusing on overt acts in the individual states, episodes which clearly make even some Trump supporters nervous, the prosecutors are after bigger game. They want to argue that by spreading “lies” Trump created an “atmosphere of mistrust and anger” that, by the end, they will argue led to the “violent” “attack” on the Capitol. This argument brings in fairly anodyne Trump tweets, like “Big protest in D.C. on January 6th. Be there, will be wild!”, or “Our country has had enough, they won’t take it anymore!”, and ties it to the crowd’s “Send it Back!” chants, its “steady, violent advancement” toward Capitol doors, and scenes of crowd members “violently attacking law enforcement.”

The Supreme Court in 1969 heard a landmark case, Brandenburg v. Ohio, that set an extremely high bar for government intervention in speech cases, making the standard “likely to incite or produce… imminent lawless action.” A tweeting campaign that begins in November and produces a general “atmosphere of mistrust and anger” that by January works a protesting crowd into a lather is exactly the kind of behavior Brandenburg says is not illegal. In fact, Brandenburg goes further and says “mere advocacy” of the use of force, even advocacy of the forcible overthrow of government, is not illegal. The speech has to be likely to produce “imminent” lawless action to be considered illegal. But Smith wants to criminalize the creation of the “atmosphere of mistrust,” and/or the intent to “erode public faith” in officialdom.

The definition of “knowingly false.” 

“Best positioned to know the facts.”
In the relentless, redundant style of an MSNBC broadcast or a Washington Post editorial — Smith’s prose in places definitely reads more like moral-clarity-era journalism than law — the prosecutor repeatedly mentions “knowingly false claims.” From a language standpoint alone, it’s wild stuff, like an exercise in how many times one can say the same thing in a handful of lines. In the second paragraph for instance Smith describes how Trump “spread lies” that were “false, and [Trump] knew they were false,” and repeated them even though they were “knowingly false claims.”

Smith in other words makes Trump’s state of mind central to the indictment. Even the New York Times markup of the document notes that “proving Mr. Trump’s mindset may be a key element to all the charges.” Therefore the craziest part of this document is the section beginning on page 6, called “The Defendant’s Knowledge of the Falsity of His Election Fraud Claims.”

One would expect that proof Trump was “knowingly” lying and didn’t really believe the election had been stolen from him would be something like an email to Giuliani saying, “I know this is bull, but let’s try it anyway!”, or testimony from a confederate that Trump admitted in private that he knew he lost. There are bits and pieces of this kind of argument in the text, but Smith leads with a different argument: that Trump had been “notified repeatedly” by people who were “best positioned to know the facts” yet “deliberately disregarded” what he’d been told.

Smith then goes on to list these “best positioned” people: Pence, “senior leaders of the Justice Department,” the Director of National Intelligence, the “Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency” (CISA), “senior White House attorneys,” and others.
Smith is going to try to define “knowingly false” as a statement made in defiance of what one has been told by people “best positioned” to know the facts. Once you’ve been told X by the right people, going on to insist Y anyway will be defined as a “knowing” falsehood.

This concept is deployed over and over. In another section, Trump cites the infamous “State Farm Arena” video, which his team insisted showed evidence of vote fraud in Atlanta. However, Smith says, “Justice Officials specifically refuted” the video, telling them what they were looking at was “benign.” Which may be true, but this is how Smith is trying to prove state of mind: your claim has been “specifically refuted,” you persisted in saying it, therefore it’s a knowing falsehood. Unless I’m missing something, they’re aiming to prove intent without introducing evidence of Trump’s thoughts, which seems bananas. 

Trial by “harm.” 

“As a result… threats.”
After Trump “maligned a Philadelphia City Commissioner” for stating there was no evidence of fraud, Smith noted that “as a result, the Philadelphia City Commissioner and his family received death threats.” There are two of these passages, and Smith seemingly doesn’t feel the need to prove causation in either, using this “Trump said things and as a result threats happened” without listing how the one affected the other, or showing that Trump knew his speech would result in threats, etc.

This goes back to the first problem, redefining incitement as something generalized and broad. Again, in Brandenburg, the court specifically ruled that lines like “Bury the n—” couldn’t be construed as incitement, yet here’s Smith arguing that Trump mean-tweeting former Philadelphia City Commissioner Al Schmidt by saying he was “being used big time by the fake news media” was an element of a crime because threats resulted.

This is very similar to the logic we saw in the Twitter Files, when executives at the company formerly known as Twitter decided that while individual Trump tweets on January 6th weren’t violative, they could be struck under a new definition of incitement that included the so-called “context surrounding.” Bari Weiss showed that executives using this theory could look at the entire history of Trump statements, the reactions to the same, and conclude that phrases like “American Patriots” or “They will not be disrespected” could be understood as “coded incitement to violence.” 

How Twitter made Trump’s tweets “violative.”
Smith is doing the same thing. He’s taking statements that weren’t even against Twitter’s terms of service and arguing they’re part of a criminal conspiracy, using the same thinking that Twitter deployed in creating “coded incitement.” Instead of drawing the most specific, clearest of lines to describe incitement — “Go hit that dude with a rock” — this crop of prosecutors wants to create the broadest definition possible, holding Trump responsible for an “atmosphere” of “anger” that at best arguably inspires violent crowd behavior weeks or months later.

A future superseding indictment could link Trump’s felony case to the seditious conspiracy convictions already handed down. Those cases, if you go back and look, introduced as evidence that the Oath Keepers used “encrypted communications applications like Signal.” So false statements, private gatherings, and words that “erode” trust in government could end up defined as elements of felony conspiracy, maybe even sedition. That’s a concept that would make John Adams or Mitchell Palmer blush.

This prosecution puts Americans in the same conundrum they’ve been in since the beginning of the Trump years: forced once again to choose between a serial line-crosser and more or less open gangster on one hand, and a gang of never-Trump lawfare aficionados who’d like to revive the Alien and Sedition Acts on the other. As Woody Allen put it, “Let us pray we have the wisdom to choose correctly.” Are you excited yet?

UKRAINE, FRIDAY, 4TH AUGUST

Ukrainian security sources have told news agencies that an attack on the Moscow port of Novorossiysk was “successful” after hitting a Russian naval ship.

Ukraine’s SBU security service accuses Russia of preparing a “false flag” attack at the Mozyr Oil Refinery in Belarus in an effort to draw Minsk into the war.

Lithuania declares more than 1,000 citizens of Russia and Belarus living in the country to be threats to national security after a survey on their thoughts on the war in Ukraine.

At least 13 Ukrainian drones were downed over the Crimean Peninsula, Russia said.

ATLANTA'S TINY WILLIAMSON is believed to be the first high-level puller to weigh more than 400 lbs. At 6'5" and typically competing at a weight of about 425 lbs, he was quite the impressive figure. 

Tiny was first exposed to the sport when he lived in Virginia and attended a powerlifting meet in 1969. He was challenged to an armwrestling match by a puller who weighed 160 lbs. He lost the match, but immediately became fascinated by how someone so much smaller than him could defeat him.

When he moved to Georgia a few years later he helped build the armwrestling scene and travelled all over to compete. Between 1975 and 1980 he managed to win a USA Armwrestling title and made it to the podium at various national and world championships (AAA, WWC, WAWF).

BIDEN’S UKRAINE QUAGMIRE

by Robert Wright

This week a widely followed Twitter account called War Mapper quantified the amount of terrain Ukrainian forces have retaken since the beginning of their counter-offensive two months ago. The net gain is a bit over 100 square miles. So the fraction of Ukrainian territory occupied by Russia has dropped from 17.54 percent to 17.49 percent.

This gain has come at massive cost: untold thousands of dead Ukrainians, untold thousands of maimed Ukrainians, and lots of destroyed weapons and armored vehicles.

At this rate of battlefield progress, it will be six decades before Ukraine has expelled Russian troops from all its territory—the point before which, President Zelensky has said, peace talks are unthinkable. And at this rate of human loss, Ukraine will run out of soldiers long before then—and long before Russia does.

In short: Recent trend lines point to a day when Ukraine is vulnerable to complete conquest by Russia. For that matter, the counter-offensive has already made Ukraine more vulnerable to a Russian breakthrough in the north, where Ukrainian defensive lines were thinned out for the sake of the offensive in the south. Russia has been gaining ground in the north incrementally, and a big breakthrough would let it retake parts of Kharkiv province that it lost last September.

Of course, a breakthrough by Ukraine in the south could also lead to big gains. But there are multiple Russian defensive lines to breach before achieving the offensive’s goal of severing the Crimean “land bridge.” And the chances of doing that before the autumn muddy season gives Russia a chance to regroup are looking slim.

So what is Ukraine’s long term plan? A clue comes from another widely followed Twitter account, Tatarigami_UA. It’s run by an astute Ukrainian reserve officer—someone who seems roughly as knowledgeable as people in Ukraine’s defense establishment but speaks with more candor than they can afford.

In a thread posted earlier this week, Tatarigami spent several tweets establishing, via satellite images, that the Russians have more ample reserves of armor than many believe—so “statements insinuating that they are almost depleted of equipment are not accurate.” Which raises the question: If Russia doesn’t face a near-term armor shortage, and its munitions factories have moved to a wartime footing, and its human resources vastly exceed Ukraine’s, where does hope lie for the complete Ukrainian victory that Kyiv continues to insist on?

Here is Tatarigami’s answer: “Considering Russian political instability, exemplified by the Wagner mutiny, I am inclined to think that a potential power collapse and internal struggle among elites, driven by military defeats, will let us liberate all occupied territories.” But since “predicting the number of defeats needed for the regime's collapse is nearly impossible, we must simply concentrate on continuous military defeats of Russians.”

The resolve is admirable. But have things really come to this? We’re throwing Ukrainian men into a meat grinder week after week in hopes that maybe Putin’s regime will collapse, and maybe this will be good for Ukraine? Even though regime collapse could well bring to power a more intensely nationalist leader who would mobilize hundreds of thousands or even a million fresh Russian troops? And even though regime collapse could also lead to civil conflict and chaos within Russia, a nation full of nuclear weapons? And even though the prelude to collapse could find Putin desperate for battlefield gains to stave off domestic pressure from the right, and maybe even pondering the use of tactical nuclear weapons?

If President Biden welcomes the prospect of regime collapse in Moscow, he lacks the prudence a president should have. Nor should he welcome Ukraine’s other main hope for evicting Russian troops from its territory: getting NATO involved in the war—something that Zelensky understandably hopes for, and something that grows more likely as the war continues, but something that could lead to a regional conflagration or even nuclear war.  

So maybe it’s time for Biden to push Zelensky toward peace talks? Apparently not. According to the Wall Street Journal, “western officials” say that the meager results of Ukraine’s counteroffensive are “dimming hopes” for negotiations, because Biden had planned to “negotiate with Russia from a position of strength” after the offensive, and that’s not the position Ukraine seems headed for. 

Yet back when Ukraine was in a position of strength—after last year’s battlefield successes in Kharkiv and Kherson—suggestions that Biden talk peace (made by Joint Chiefs Chairman Mark Milley among others) were widely dismissed on grounds that you shouldn’t negotiate when things are going well on the battlefield—when “the wind is at our back” (which, predictably, the wind turned out not to be for very long).  

In short: We can’t talk peace from a position of strength or of weakness, or from points in between. So we’ll wait for the Putin regime’s collapse or for NATO to enter the war—and hope that neither of those brings the regional if not global catastrophe that either could well bring.

Does that summarize Biden’s current thinking? If not, could somebody explain what he is thinking? What is his plan? How does he intend to explain to Americans in six months, nine months, a year, why he’s still spending billions of their tax dollars to sustain a bloodbath that seems to be accomplishing nothing except the destruction of Ukraine?  

Donald Trump says that if he wins the 2024 election he will push Ukraine toward a peace deal and threaten Putin with intensified support of Ukraine if Moscow doesn’t accept the deal. That’s easier said than done, but at least it shows an understanding of America’s leverage with both Ukraine and Moscow—an understanding Biden either lacks or is for some reason reluctant to evince.

The latest New York Times presidential election poll shows Trump tied with Biden at 43 percent. It’s not inconceivable that in 14 months the Ukraine war could put Trump, who spent the waning months of his presidency trying to subvert the US constitution, back in the White House. In which case the man who performed the great service of evicting Trump from the White House will be partly to blame.

(nonzero.substack.com)