Mendocino County Today: Saturday, August 12, 2023

ABOVE NORMAL TEMPERATURES will return this weekend and continue into the middle of next week. Isolated, mostly dry thunderstorms are possible across portions of the interior this weekend and into early next week, with the best chances on Monday and Tuesday. (NWS)

STEPHEN DUNLAP (Fort Bragg): On the coast this Saturday morning yep another foggy 54F. Our fog forecast is more of the same for the weekend then maybe less fog next week, we'll see.

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WELCOME BACK PANTHERS!

Dear Panthers, 

Welcome back!  We are excited to see you on Monday!  We will all meet in the gym for a quick rally and say hello and receive our schedules.  The cheerleaders have a special performance planned!

Congratulations to all of our athletes.  WE HAVE LARGE teams for Football, Volleyball, Cheer, and Soccer. We bought two new vans.  A majority of athletes ALREADY have their paperwork in.  Well done! Just a reminder, no practice or play without all of the required information and the physical (that’s not my rule, it’s the insurance company’s.)

If you are in 9th-12th grade, take advantage of the student lounge, The Zen Den, located in Miss Cook’s old room. Miss Cook moved to the dome. The Zen Den is a place to socialize, relax, play games and chill. It is open to high school students during break and lunch and is supervised.

Just a reminder, all grades are pouching the phones 7th-12th.  I know that is hard.  That is at the request of your teachers.  In return, your teachers have worked REALLY HARD to create some project based learning opportunities related to the Redwood Classic.  I get it, it feels weird. I have two phones.  We can do it. If you are tardy first period, please come directly to the office.

Thank you to the many high school students in Mr. Tooheys’ summer school class that moved items around as needed on the campus.  Much appreciated.  (Did you know Mr. Toohey wrote a book on eight-man football in Anderson Valley?)

Ms. Cook, Mr. Folz, and Ms. Swehla are planning spectacular trips this year! I believe Mr. Ballantine is cooking up something too!

The library will be available to any student throughout the day that needs academic support.  If you have an F or D and want to be eligible for support, ask one of your elective teachers to get in the library  for help before it gets worse.

Ms. Marcy is running two sections of leadership.  We are excited for the rallies and events to come.  She is in Ms. Patterson’s former room.

Just a reminder, please do not park at school or on the tennis courts, if you do not have a license.  That is against our insurance policy. If you already have a permit and need behind the wheel training, come see Celeste, and we pay that $500 cost with our local company, Miss Kirk that supports you during school.

Ms. Ewing  and Mr. Crisman have a schedule for computer distribution that will take a few days.  Hang in there.

Club sign ups are in the hallway:

College FOR CREDIT on Tuesdays with transportation and teacher support proved for Auto Mechanics, Baking, and Costume Construction.

Mr. Lane is running a high school after school program.  Talk to him about it!  Mrs. Johnson is running the Junior High Program.

The girls’ restroom is open.

Looking forward to seeing you and a great year ahead!

Take care,

Louise Simson

Superintendent

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SPAGHETTI DINNER AT THE GRANGE TONIGHT

There's a lot going on in our area!  And every event you go to costs something.  So much so that it's important to pick and choose where to spend your hard earned dollars.  But you don't have to spend a fortune on dinner - no sir!  Tonight Whitesboro Grange is hosting its bi-monthly Spaghetti Dinner Night and you can feed two adults a whole dinner and dessert for just $20!

Our Spaghetti Night dinners feature all you can eat spaghetti (either meat or vegetarian), salad, garlic bread, beverage and dessert all for just $10 per adult, $5 for kids 6-12 and FREE for children under 6!  We're serving from 4:00 to 7:00 PM on Saturday, August 12, and in case you need to grab and go to another event because you saved so much on dinner - we offer carry out!

Whitesboro Grange is located at 32510 Navarro Ridge Rd. in Albion and is a member of the National Grange, officially known as the National Grange of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry - a social organization in the United States that encourages families to band together to promote the economic and political well-being of the community and agriculture.

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JEFF GOLL: Don't forget to check out the Perseid meteor shower this weekend.  In 1993 the peak rate was 300 meteors per hour.  After midnight is the best viewing.

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WHO KILLED BOONVILLE’S WHITE EUCALYPTUS?

Letter to the Editor

I’m a coastal resident who drives through Boonville often enough to have fallen in love with the two, gorgeous white eucalyptus trees gracing the Main Street.

On August 9th, to my horror, I saw that one tree nearest the road had been cut, nearly to the ground. I saw the beautiful, white, and perfectly healthy rounds stacked alongside the the destroyed tree. 

I was shocked!!

Apparently, PG&E took it upon themselves to do this.

Have they never heard of “trimming” a branch or two?!

That would have been the kind and responsible thing to do.

I pray that the remaining white eucalyptus tree is safe, and kept that way.

Loraine Toth

Albion

ED NOTE: I'm not sure the slaughter was at the behest of PG&E, and I doubt the owner of the property, Tom Cronquist, would have wanted the trees down. Tom's in the VA Hospital in San Francisco where he's being treated for Parkinson's. As it happens, I remember when he planted those trees because the AVA was located on his premises. I also remember laughing with Tom when an old timer declared, “Them trees will never grow there.” Boonville needs all the trees it can get. I'll try to find out why these two beauts were taken down.

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THE BEAST OF BOONVILLE VS THE GREEN HAIRS

Dear Voter Readers, 

The League of Women Voters has not taken a position on this issue, but the following event may be of interest to you:

Change Our Name Fort Bragg will sponsor a public debate on a possible name change between Bruce Anderson, Editor of the Anderson Valley Advertiser, and Philip Zwerling, Board President of Change Our Name, on Tuesday, August 22, at 7:30 p.m. in the Community Room at the Fort Bragg Library. Jane Person has agreed to moderate. (This program is, of course, neither sponsored by nor affiliated with the Mendocino County Library/Museum.) The program is free and open to the public.

Voter editor,

Jary Stavely, Fort Bragg

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MATTHEW GRIFFEN:

I wish people would put this much energy into figuring out the housing crisis, the addiction and mental health problems, or the slow destruction of private local businesses... Yeah, Fort Bragg is a shitty name when you consider its history but there are so many other more pressing and urgent issues that deserve an equal if not greater amount of attention. But I guess a name change is much easier and requires little effort on the part of those who wish for easy recognition in the strange world of virtue signaling.

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ED NOTES

“BE AWESOME TODAY,” read the bumpersticker, reminding me that I'm for fair play for superlatives — that “awesome” should be reserved for the truly awesome like Niner's running backs Christian McCaffrey and Deebo Samuels, not just promiscuously applied to everything from cheeseburgers to substitutes for “thank you.” Besides which the obvious insincerity of a person who'd advertise their good wishes for their fellow creatures on a bumpersticker is one more vulgar instance of virtue signalling.

DON'T ASK ME how I know, but the late Richard Johnson, aka The One True Green, is buried deep in the east hills of Redwood Valley, and I'm assuming the old boy's funereal wrappings were bio-degradable.

JOHNSON was one of many Dickensian-quality characters who've called Mendocino County home. He existed on the margins of the newspaper business via his haphazardly-published ‘Mendocino Country Environmentalist’ and, it is fair to say, singlehandedly destroyed this county's tenuous, organized Green presence.

I SYMPATHIZED, kinda, with OTG's publishing struggles. It's a tough, dying business, but was not yet terminal when OTG drove over the hill to Boonville to propose that we become “partners,” having noted the seeming efficiency of the AVA's production process — Diane Herring typesetting; Ling Anderson doing the paste-up; Major Mark Scaramella, USAF ret on the Address-o-Graph. Me? Uh, my function remains vague, but one duty was to fend off supplicants, of which Johnson was one of many but among the most memorable because he hated me and hated the AVA. He nevertheless faked approval long enough to ask if he could use our premises, our labor, our post office privileges and, I gasped as he said, “And maybe fifty dollars a week for me.”

AND you would do what, Mr. Johnson?

WELL, as you know I'm a writer and an organizer, he said. (Mendo was then teeming with organizers, editors and “healers,” although the only organizer ever in the unorganized history of the county was Judi Bari, who bludgeoned an amorphous mass of hippies, dingbats, old and new commies, and a few genuine enviros to get the whole mob shuffling as one in the general direction of corporate timber. Bari was brutal with OTG, as she was with everyone, relegating him to serve only as a foot soldier.)

AS OTG made his pitch to climb aboard the SS AVA, Ling and The Major were shooting me frantically negative hand and arm signals. I'll think it over, Richard, I said, as our interface veered into total improbability.

YOU know what's wrong with you, Bruce? he said.

LOTS and lots, Richard. You behold a man with no illusions.

IRONY being lost on the guy, he continued. You're too uptight, too judgemental.

WHAT do I owe you for your personality assessment?

He finally got the sarcasm. I have to get back over the hill, Bruce. Leave a message for me at the MEC . (Mendocino Environment Center, Ukiah, a combination out-patient clinic and deadbeat welcome wagon.)

THE NEXT TIME I saw the OTG he was chairing a Boonville meeting of the fledgling Mendo Green Party where OTG appointed an elfin pal of his as “vibes watcher,” and declared that only people in possession of a battered fern were “empowered” to speak. I never got to offer my opinions even though I tried to wrestle the fern away from the tenacious hippie next to me who droned on and on to this captive audience of loons, me included for being there. I've voted Green a few times in protest of the national duopoly, but wild horses couldn't have dragged me to another session of the Mendo Greens.

JOHNSON bounced from printer to printer, Healdsburg refusing to deal with him at all and Willits Printing demanding cash up front before the presses would roll. Money first was and is a common practice at the lower levels of the publishing world, and we also pay our killer of a print bill every week as per prevailing practices.

JOHNSON was an aging flower child who never quite got over the mesmerizing splendors of the Summer of Love. He was always close to the county’s abundant population of time capsule hippies for whom he produced a guide to the dubious services of the county’s over-large consignment of uncredentialed therapists, healers, tarot tossers, and massagers — all that and a guide to the county’s innumerable boogie and music venues. He eked out this kind of marginal living for years. 

AND the guy did do some important reporting. He revealed unsafe working conditions at the old Retech plant between Hopland and Ukiah, and he deserved high marks for persistence, simply hanging on for years as a newspaper despite managing to pick up several DUI's, one of them for bicycling drunk. 

OTG was finally carried off by a series of heart attacks, but he left an indelible impression among all of us who knew him. Mendo seems way blanded down these days. The great characters are gone. 

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A READER WRITES: I am sick of the debate over the Supervisors’ salaries. The solution is obvious. Reward them for merit and longevity, just like all other government employees are compensated. Don’t give them high salaries until they prove themselves. How about this? Start a new supervisor at $40,000/yr. If she does a good enough job to be reelected, the salary goes up to $50,000. A good enough job to be reelected a third time $60,000, etc, or whatever scale you choose to adopt. I don’t think the public should give away all its leverage with new supervisors until they have proved themselves, and it is clearly in Mendocino’s interest to provide a carrot for good performance.

MARK SCARAMELLA REPLIES: That’s a perfectly nice idea in the abstract. Unfortunately being re-elected bears no relation to a Supervisor’s performance in office. For example, when applied to the Fifth District, say, Mendo would end up giving raises to the likes of David Colfax and Dan Hamburg for being re-elected despite doing absolutely nothing for three terms (in Colfax’s case) or two terms (in Hamburg’s case). They got re-elected because they managed to hornswaggle the credulous CoastLibs that they were on their side. But CoastLib never followed what they actually did (or more accurately did NOT do) as Supervisors. (Kinda like now, actually.) Colfax never lost an election (although the one year AV resident David Severn ran against him, Severn easily outpolled Colfax in relately small Anderson Valley where many people knew and couldn’t stand Colfax), but lost to the larger CoastLib vote. Hamburg quit before his term was up claiming some kind of vague mental health problem that was buttressed by his conspicuously bringing a therapy chihuahua to Board meetings. Otherwise he would still be Fifth District Supervisor. On hindsight, that was probably some kind of health care or pension scam.

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THAT WAS COOL - WHO IS THE BEST FIRST BOSS TO HAVE? SOMEONE WHO LOVES THEIR JOB

by Justine Frederiksen

Before the Ukiah Costco opened for business in 2018, I talked with then-General Manager Michael Wiederholt as his employees were running around getting the store ready for customers.

When one of those employees, 18-year-old Ashtyn Howe, stopped briefly to tell me this was her first job after graduating from Ukiah High School that year, Wiederholt thrust out his hand to give her a high-five and exclaim: “Costco was my first job, too!”

That was cool.

Because I can’t think of a better first boss for a teenager than someone who loves their job and is proud of the work they do.

First and foremost, the teen learns that a job is something to

be respected and done to the best of your abilities.

Second, they learn that taking pride in your work makes any job more pleasant and productive for those around you. Even if you don’t enjoy what you do, a co-worker who does their best with every task can inspire you to do the same.

But perhaps the most important lesson a boss who loves their job can teach teenagers is that such a feeling is even possible. And hopefully they will be inspired to find one they can love, yet while still appreciating every job they get during their search.

Because acting like an entry-level position is beneath you does not convince employers you are destined for bigger and better things. In fact, I think it shows them quite the opposite.

Performing well at the job you have doesn’t mean you’ve resigned yourself to it forever. But it does mean you are far more likely to land the job you really want.

Providing proof of the inspiration Wiederholt gave his employees is 2018 Ukiah High graduate John Gonzalez, who worked at the Ukiah Costco warehouse for two-and-a-half years. And while Wiederholt was only his boss there for about a year, Gonzalez said he left a lasting impression on him.

“Full disclosure, I was still a teenager when I started working for him and there were times when I wanted to put his picture up and throw darts at it! But now looking back, I realize what he was doing and what made him such a good leader,” said Gonzalez, recalling that Wiederholt led by instilling good practices, not by being a friend to his employees.

Gonzalez now works as a District Sales Manager for a beverage company in Pismo and said he is often thinking back to the lessons Wiederholt taught him, and deploying some of his techniques on both himself and the employees he manages.

“Michael would always ask us, ‘What are your passions? What are your career goals, and where do you want to be working?’” Gonzalez said, explaining that thinking of where he wanted to be and what he wanted to be doing definitely helped him focus on doing the best job he could at Costco.

It also helped, Gonzalez said, that Wiederholt gave him the freedom to do a good job — meaning that at first his boss checked in constantly, but then once Gonzalez demonstrated that he could do a good job, Wiederholt would step back and let him perform well on his own.

“He showed me how to be a good leader by letting me do good work and by doing good work himself,” said Gonzalez, recalling how Wiederholt balanced his office work with plenty of time “on the floor” of the store, often stocking shelves or doing other tasks as needed.

In fact, during stressful times like lengthy power outages, Gonzalez recalls seeing Wiederholt helping directing traffic at the gas station before the warehouse opened, then coming inside and helping with the long lines of people buying generators.

When asked what his work aspirations are now five years later at age 23, Gonzalez answered in true Wiederholt-form: “To focus on where I am now, and do the best job here that I can.”

(Ukiah Daily Journal)

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I TOLD YOU SO

By John Arteaga

I hate to say “I told you so”, but in my column a year or so ago, when Minal Shankar, the Wall Street whiz kid who was then expressing an interest in taking on the Sisyphean task of revitalizing the old ruin of the Palace Hotel, I predicted that, however great her enthusiasm and efforts may be, that they would come to naught.

I was surprised though, at what exactly brought the no doubt great efforts of she and her crack team of architects, historic preservation experts, engineers, etc. to a halt; that one Jitu Ishwar, the local head of an investment group that apparently owns most if not all of the local large hotel/motels, who became the most recent owner of the Palace when he bought up the debts of the much ballyhooed “public receiver,” rejected her offer to purchase the property.

It is an enduring mystery to me why any sensible person capable of the most rudimentary due diligence would offer ANYTHING for the Palace ruins; after decades (I’ve lost track of how many exactly) of complete neglect, with its enormous leaking roof promoting rot and mold inside, the Palace property is no longer an asset, but strictly a liability to whatever entity is burdened with it on its balance sheet.

In that last column on the subject (it seems like I have been writing letters to the editor and opinion columns about it for almost as long as it has been abandoned), I suggested that Ms. Shankar do some simple, back-of-the-envelope calculations about how much it would cost to bring her renovation dream to fruition, compared to how much rental income she could reasonably expect to see from the project.

Ukiah presently, and for many years now, has had a large number of vacant commercial rentals in the downtown core, so clearly there would be a fairly modest limit to what one could expect to rent the newly remodeled commercial space for.

In light of these facts, while I’m sure that Ms Shankar is disappointed about having her offer rejected (IMHO, one dollar would be an overly generous offer for this tar baby of a project), I would suggest that it may be a blessing in disguise; whatever stranded assets she has got to now write off on this abortive endeavor, they’re just a tiny taste of the much greater losses she could expect were she to fund the entire dreamt-of transformation of the property. She’s better off and still has that money that she would have squandered to perhaps put toward another project that might have some chance of yielding a return on investment.

I have said for years that if you were to offer me the Palace Hotel property along with a bank account with half a million dollars in it, I would not hesitate to turn down the deal; without a demolition permit in hand, ownership of this ill-starred property is nothing but a ticket to endless expenses involved in maintaining and paying taxes on it, without the slightest hope of it ever generating any kind of income.

I’ll bet that Mr. Ishwar will, sometime in the future, rue the day that he turned down Ms Shankar’s offer, once his new crop of naïve potential investors figure out that the property is literally worth less than nothing.

It may be too late to even consider such a thing, after millions have already been spent on infrastructure for the vast new ‘courtrooms only’ courthouse down by the railroad tracks, but the only feasible owner of the Palace property is the state or county, where cost-effectiveness is not an issue, and where there are bottomless deep pockets to deal with something like surprise buried fuel tanks, should reason ever prevail and the lot is cleared; It could have been the ideal new courthouse location; right in downtown, where it would generate foot traffic for local businesses.

If the whole site were excavated, they could created a large amount of underground parking, and if it were tall enough and they chose to preserve part of the old courthouse for the many other agencies currently housed there who have no space at the new courthouse down Perkins Street, they could even have secure third floor walkway from there to the old courthouse, instead of expecting all these lawyers and various bureaucrats to somehow schlep all their papers the several long blocks to the new courthouse in summer heat or winter rain.

Of course any of these rational considerations are simply anathema to the local planning and zoning agencies, which seem to be based strictly on which side of the bed the local bureaucrats got up on that morning. A typical example of the arbitrary and capricious nature of the city’s planning and zoning occurred recently after a local Savings and Loan put a great deal of time, money and energy into a plan to build a branch where the old Dragon’s Lair gift shop is soon to be demolished.

Reasonably enough, since the new courthouse will have no room for the many other agencies who currently make their homes in the old courthouse, it would make a lot of sense to build larger office buildings along that stretch of Perkins Street, between the old and the new courthouse, but wouldn’t it have been nice if they had promulgated this idea to potential developers, so that we would not have ended up with situations like this, where a good local business is allowed to spend who knows how much money on their development plan before having it shot down, even though it may have complied completely with all the applicable current planning and zoning regs?

No wonder California has developed such a bad reputation for maddening over-regulation!

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NO BIDS FOR REDWOOD VALLEY ELEMENTARY

Ukiah Unified Trustees unanimously voted to approve Resolution 30 2022-23 at their meeting on June 13, 2023, declaring their intent to sell the Redwood Valley Elementary School (RVES) property. Approval of this resolution put the property up for sale through a two-phased bidding process, with a minimum bid of at least $900,000. Sealed bids were to be submitted prior to the Board's regularly-scheduled meeting on Thursday, August 10, 2023, but no bids were received before or during the meeting.

Ukiah Unified Trustees will consider their next steps in the coming months. Board Meeting Agendas can be found here: https://simbli.eboardsolutions.com/SB_Meetings/SB_MeetingListing.aspx?S=36030479

The RVES property totals approximately 12.4 acres and is located at 700 E. School Way, which is in an unincorporated area of Mendocino County, Assessor’s Parcel Numbers 163-060-15 and 163-060-35. Read more about the property and the process here: https://www.uusd.net/apps/news/article/1777318

For more information, contact Debbie Ornelas at 707.472.5002 or dornelas@uusd.net.

(Ukiah Unified School District Presser)

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RENEE LEE: I never get tired of this view of Tarwater/Octopus Hill. It’s always the beacon welcoming me home after a long trip.

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KELLEY HOUSE MUSEUM:

On this day in Mendocino history…

August 11, 1913 - John Deromeri, a Mendocino Mill worker who lived in a cabin on Big River Flat, survived being run over by an automobile at the corner of Lansing and Main Streets. Cars were still a relatively new invention, and the Beacon reported that John had little use for autos. “He don’t like their looks, he don’t like their speed, and in fact he hates the cussed things like blazes.”

John had been saying goodnight to some friends just as Chester Barry was slowly driving down Lansing Street in his mother’s car. As Chester turned the corner onto Main Street, John stepped directly into the car’s path. The next thing John knew “his face was jammed into Main street, he was swallowing a mouthful of dust, and the front wheel of the car was slowly, very slowly, passing over his body. Before the rear wheel reached the prostrate man, the car was stopped and Deromeri hopped up, none the worse for the accident. That is he hadn't suffered any physical mishap. But mad! My, but he was mad!”

John directed his anger towards the offending vehicle, unleashing a stream of curses in Italian. “After kicking the wheel to his heart's content and giving it a good cussing, he straightened up and walked away, grumbling under his breath.”

“Meanwhile in the car, confusion reigned. Horror-stricken, the occupants of the car had seen the man walk directly into the path of the car which threw him to the ground and came to rest with the body between the front and rear wheels. Amazed, they saw the man spring to his feet and commence his furious assault upon the wheel.”

Chester, pale-faced and trembling, asked Clyde Jackson, one of his passengers, to drive the car home.

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UKIAH CONSTRUCTION UPDATES FOR THE WEEK OF AUGUST 14

Next week will look a lot like this week did; 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. When work is occurring in the manholes at the intersections of State/Norton and State/Scott, there may be limited street closures on Norton and Scott. 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. 

The impacts of this phase of the project (Phase 2) are a little different than Phase 1. In the core of downtown, most businesses don’t have private parking lots or driveways…for businesses, that means that their customers weren’t necessarily accustomed to parking right in front. That’s not the case where we’re working now, and we appreciate how challenging this is for these businesses. We’ll continue to do everything we can to get in and out as quickly as possible when we’re working in front of those spaces, as will work to open up parking options where we can. For the rest of the community reading this, please help support these businesses by being willing to access their business from a different street or walking an extra few steps to get there. 

Where will the work occur? 

Water laterals and fire hydrant work will occur throughout the project area, beginning at Norton and moving toward Henry.

What are the construction days/hours? 

Construction hours will be Monday-Friday, 7 a.m. - 6 p.m.

Will there be dust and noise? 

Yes. There will be some dust and fairly significant noise while trenching and breaking up concrete.

Will there be any disruptions to parking access or streets?

Yes. On-street parking in the construction zone will be closed. Pedestrian access to businesses will be maintained at all times. Through traffic on State Street will be allowed in both directions.

Please contact us directly if you have any questions or concerns. Otherwise, have a great weekend!

Shannon Riley, Deputy City Manager, City of Ukiah

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REDUCTION IN CANNABIS BUSINESS TAX for Cultivation and Nursery Operations for Tax Years 2023 and 2024 effective April 28, 2023

Per revisions recently adopted to Mendocino County Cannabis Business Tax, Chapter 6.32, Section 6.32.050 effective April 28, 2023, cannabis cultivators and nursery operators engaged in business in the unincorporated area of the County shall pay a reduced cannabis business tax of one and one quarter percent (1.25%) for tax years 2023 and 2024. 

Please be advised, this tax reduction pertains to quarters one (1) through four (4) and/or true-up minimum tax due for tax years 2023 and 2024 for Nursery and Cultivation Operations ONLY. 

All other cannabis commercial business operations tax is stayed at a flat rate of two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500.00) per calendar year for Distributor, Manufacturer, Processor, Testing Laboratory and Transporter and five percent (5%) for Cannabis Dispensaries. 

The included quarterly return has been modified to reflect this reduced tax percentage. 

Any payment made at the counter prior to the effective date will be held to be applied to the appropriate quarter after April 27, 2023. 

For more information, please contact the Tax Collector at 707-234-6848.

(Mendocino Cannabis Department Presser)

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100+ WOMEN STRONG PRESENTS LATEST CHECK TO HOSPICE OF UKIAH

Another successful 100+ Women Strong for Inland Mendocino County event took place at Barra of Mendocino in Redwood Valley. Hospice of Ukiah was the winner of more than thirteen thousand dollars, edging out two other local charities--Laytonville Healthy Start and Ukiah Valley Association for Habilitation.

"It is truly heartening for Hospice of Ukiah to know that we are recognized for the work we have been doing for 42 years, supported entirely by the community we serve." says Janet Denninger, Executive Director. She adds, "The generosity of the donation will go a long way to helping us continue our mission."

At the event in which more than one hundred women each donated a hundred dollars before a vote was taken to decide the winner, the three nonprofits made presentations. Attendees were feted to a buffet of organic appetizers provided by Caring Kitchen of Mendocino and Visit Mendocino.

All funding for the Hospice of Ukiah is by donations and the proceeds from their Thrift Store on State Street in Ukiah. The volunteer fueled nonprofit was initially instigated in 1980 by the leadership of Bob Alton of Mendocino College and Dr. William Lamers, Medical Director of the Hospice of Marin. Thirty years ago, Hospice of Ukiah was given the choice to become a "certified Medicare Hospice" but declined because Medicare rules limited the population that could be served.

Hospice of Ukiah cares for terminally ill patients who choose to fight their disease with chemotherapy, radiation, dialysis, and other avenues. They have since added "Palliative Care", which gives support to patients and their families who are not terminally ill, for such conditions as old age debility, dementia, emphysema, renal disease, cardio pulmonary disease, and others.

According to Denninger, "Our fund for expanding our service into Anderson Valley is growing nicely and we are working on training Respite Volunteers in that area of our county. The need for Hospice will only increase as our population ages. Forty years after our birth, we are supporting and caring for more community members than ever, helping patients to live as well as possible and to die in comfort and dignity, surrounded by family and friends."

100+ Women Strong is an inclusive all-volunteer group. Anyone interested in volunteering to help or attend the gathering and hear from three nonprofits doing indispensable work in our community is welcome. It is also customary for many attendees at the 100+ Women Strong events to also make out checks to the two other nonprofits. 100+ Women of Inland Mendocino has distributed more than $185,000 since its founding in 2019.

The next 100+ Women Strong for Inland Mendocino County event takes place at Campovida in Hopland on November 2. To register, each attendee pledges a hundred dollars on the 100+ Mendocino Women Grapevine website via https://100strongmendo.com.

Click the "Become a Member" button.

To find out more about Hospice of Ukiah and to become a volunteer for Hospice or the Thrift Shop, visit their website hospiceofukiah.com

Heidi Dickerson

Redwood Valley

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CATCH OF THE DAY, Friday, August 11, 2023

PONCIANO AMBROSIO-RAMIREZ, Ukiah. DUI, probation revocation.

CRISTIAN AYALA-FARIAS, Patterson/Ukiah. Pot cultivation.

CORINNA FAHEY, Ukiah. Criminal threats.

JOHN FRANCIS, Ukiah. DUI, suspended license for DUI.

MICHAEL GALLEGOS, Point Arena. Domestic abuse, victim over 70 years of age, probation revocation.

JAVIER GREGORIO, Covelo. Probation revocation.

TYLOR HAKE, Willits. Burglary tools.

CHRISTOPHER HEANEY, Ukiah. Protective order violation.

KIMBERLY JONES, Ukiah. Failure to appear.

KMBERLY LIVINGSTON, Fort Bragg. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.

TIMOTHY MCILAVIN, Hopland. Assault with deadly weapon not a gun.

SHANE MILLER JR., Ukiah. Mandatory supervision violation.

JEROME MURPHY, Ukiah. Taking vehicle without owner’s consent.

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SUCCESS STORY: 

I am 11 years clean off meth today. It doesn't embarrass me to say that to all of you because I've worked hard AF on myself and my life. I just want to be an inspiration to those who are still struggling. I never thought I would have everything I have today. When people look at me now, they would never guess I was a tweeker 11 years ago yesterday and that's the ultimate compliment to my determination and self-worth. Have a wonderful Friday my friends!

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WORST CHOICE EVER

Editor: 

Our country has survived living under a basically two-party system since its inception. We may not make it much longer. I find it truly disappointing that both parties are preparing to ask us to vote for their prospective candidates, Joe Biden and Donald Trump, both of whom are completely unacceptable and unqualified to lead our nation.

Biden is a tottering old man who displays all of the attributes of old age, Trump is a self-centered grandstander who only listens to himself and would probably spend, if elected, four years getting even with all of his opponents.

We need a young, smart, hardworking and dedicated person for our next president. Both parties have people that match these needs, but because of politics we may be forced to pick between two people who are the least qualified.

If there was ever a time for a third party, it is now. I will not vote for Trump or Biden. I will vote for almost anyone else if they show any signs of the qualities needed to be president.

Rex Schimmer

Fulton

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JIM DODGE NOTES:

Letter to Editor

Dropping yr gun at the mere acknowledgment of yr sexual orientation may qualify you for a seat on the Dead Pecker Bench, a place dedicated to old guys and their unheeded wisdom in front of any rural general store. Just drop yr application in the apple barrel. 

Jim Dodge

Manila

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 S.F. FLYING BOAT DIVES INTO SEA; 6 FEARED DEAD: PLANE CRASHES OFF POINT ARENA ON SEARCH FOR FISHING CRAFT

“A giant, twin-engined (PBY) Coast Guard plane crashed into the sea and exploded one mile north of the Point Arena Lifesaving Station yesterday. Its entire crew of six men was believed lost. Two bodies were recovered by lifeboats soon after the plane dived into the ocean.

“Army and Navy planes took up the search for possible survivors immediately but were forced to quit because of darkness. Lifeboats from the station searched the crash scene, three fourths of a mile off the coast, during the night.

“The plane’s crew was on a mercy errand when tragedy over took it, conducting a hunt for a fishing boat reported overdue The plane took off from San Francisco airport. It crashed at 2:33 p.m. some 140 miles north of San Francisco.

“Eyewitness—

“William Owens, lighthouse keeper at Point Arena, saw the flying boat plunge into the sea. He told this story: ‘I saw the plane just as it fell about three hundred (300) yards offshore. As it hit the water, it exploded, and there was a great ball of flame. I heard a loud roar.

“‘I directed men from the life station to the scene. They found one body near the scene, and I found another one that had floated onto the beach. “

“‘It was still strapped into the seat and appeared to be the body of a youth about 17 years old.

“‘The plane sank within five minutes after it crashed.’

“Raft Sighted—

“Owens reported he saw a life raft floating near the spot where the plane sank. ‘It may have had a body in it, but it was getting dark and we couldn't tell,’ he said.

“Names of the six men aboard were being withheld until the next of kin had been notified.”

San Francisco Examiner, August 8, 1946, p. 1, col. 5.

(2) “3 of Plane Dead From Bay Area

“Three Bay area residents were among the six men who perished Wednesday when a Coast Guard seaplane crashed into the sea off Point Arena, it was disclosed yesterday.

“Coast Guard headquarters in San Francisco listed the three as:

“Lt. (jg) Ralph William Butler, 126 Independence Street, South San Francisco;

“Lt. (jg) Charles L. Coler, 5 Hillcrest, Millbrae; and

“George Roland Spaulding, AMNl/c, 110 Clarendon Road, Burlingame.

“Names of the other three victims were being withheld pending notification of relatives in the East.

“Late yesterday, only two of the six bodies had been recovered. One was identified as that of Spaulding.

“The Coast Guard, which has launched an investigation into the accident, reported that the twin-engined (PBY) seaplane took off from Its South San Francisco base at 9 a.m. Wednesday to search for a fishing boat which had been reported by Seattle headquarters of the Coast Guard as being overdue. Ironically, the boat later was found to have arrived in San Francisco the previous day, according to R. Adm. William K. Scammell, commander of the Coast Guard district here.

“At 2:38 p.m. the plane crashed into the sea and exploded just north of the Point Arena Lifesaving Station, about one hundred (100) miles north of San Francisco.”

San Francisco Examiner, August 9, 1946, p. 3, col. 6.

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A READER WRITES: My brother in law from near Point Arena once asked me about airplanes in the ocean north of the lighthouse. He had been flying his Cessna 172 over the bay there in about 1960 on a day when the ocean was calm and flat. He and his passenger saw the clear outlines of a large airplane lying on the sandy bottom in what they guessed as 50 or 60 feet of water. He described it being broken into large pieces in similar manner to the famous “Lady Be Good” crash in Libya. At the time he asked me I was not familiar with this crash.

A P-38 also crashed into the ocean just about four miles north of this place in 1944.

So here is a US Coast Guard PBY at San Francisco airport. this is not the one that crashed but pretty much identical to it.

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ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

(All captured on video)

Kathy Griffin olds up a picture of Trump’s severed head.

Madonna, “I’ve dreamed of burning down the Whitehouse.”

Robert Deniro, “I’m going to punch Trump in the face.”

Johnny Depp, “He needs help and there are a lot of wonderful dark, dark places he could go.”

Craig D. Robertson disabled 75 YO air force vet posts some obscure social media crap.

“I hear Biden is coming to Utah. Digging out my old ghille suit and cleaning the dust off the m24 sniper rifle. Welcome, buffoon-in-chief!”

FBI shoots him dead.

And then Kathy Griffin goes on to complain and whine that she has lasting PTSD from the backlash from doing that.

This is what it’s come to.

What a f-ing clown world.

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YESTERDAY I had a letter from a young woman who is living alone, a film maker of some reputation. She wants to do a film on people who live alone, and will come next week to talk about her plans. I gather she has some doubts about the solitary life. I told her that I feel it is not for the young (she is only thirty-three). I did not begin to live alone till I was forty-five, and had “lived” in the sense of passionate friendships and love affairs very richly for twenty-five years. I had a huge amount of life to think about and to digest, and, above all, I was a person by then and knew what I wanted of my life. The people we love are built into us. Every day I am suddenly aware of something someone taught me long ago — or just yesterday — of some certainty and self-awareness that grew out of conflict with someone I loved enough to try to encompass, however painful that effort may have been. 

— May Sarton

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A POEM

Like water

I flow

Over, under & around

The rough and ragged

Ground

Beyond the pebbles & boulders

Scattered along my path

I move through each hurdle

Unincumbered by the task

Fluidity is my power

Smoothe as glass

Yet

Forceful & bold to enter the cracks

Flexible like a straw

As delicate as a flower

I cheerfully drift through life

Like water

— Mazie Malone

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A READER WRITES: 

Did you see this story out of Marion, Kansas? Raid by the cops on the Marion County Record newspaper (the're publishing volume 154, mind you) - on their offices and two homes. 

https://kansasreflector.com/2023/08/11/police-stage-chilling-raid-on-marion-county-newspaper-seizing-computers-records-and-cellphones/

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AND DID YOU HEAR about this? I just saw it on Bruce Brugmann's Facebook page today. Former Phoenix New Times publisher, Jim Larkin, shot himself dead on August 31, rather than face a re-trial starting this week on those facilitating prostitution, money laundering, etc. charges re: the sex ads on the BackPage website. Damn. 

I'd forgotten those charges had been filed. All the alt weeklies had those "massage" ads, although allegedly, as I have heard before, backpage.com was a whole lot worse than the print weeklies were. 

Here's the New Times story on his suicide

https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/jim-larkin-pioneering-co-founder-of-phoenix-new-times-dead-at-74-16810276

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THE COUNTRY HAS COME APART. Rural America has a cure. 

by Dana Milbank

Since buying an old farm in the Virginia countryside last year, I have learned many things from the local weekly, the Rappahannock News. Among them:

Chuck and Diane Moore just celebrated their 43rd wedding anniversary.

Mae Racer makes the best rice pudding.

A new bench at the corner of Main and Porter streets memorializes Chuck Hunter.

Ploy Goodnight did the decorations for the Child Care and Learning Center luncheon.

And Doug and Beverly Exline enjoyed a relaxing week on vacation in North Carolina.

I freely admit that I don’t know any of these people. Yet, I am enthralled.…

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/08/11/rural-america-lessons-local-news/

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"F-BOMB THIS": The Biden Administration's Brutal Censorship Faceplant

An awkward moment in the Missouri v. Biden case highlighted how the administration sure didn't like Internet censorship, when they were on the business end of it

by Matt Taibbi

One of the more brutal legal self-owns you’ll see took place in yesterday’s hearing in the Missouri v. BidenInternet censorship case, in the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans. For more about the hearing generally, click here, but one moment stood out.

Administration lawyer Daniel Bentele Hahs Tenny was under fire all day from judges who appeared unconvinced — or at least in a mood to debate the point — that statements from White House officials about content like, “[I’m] wondering if we can get moving on the process of having it removed ASAP” do notconstitute coercion. At one point Tenny was among other things saying the state couldn’t be coercing social media companies if, for instance, the FBI only succeeded in getting material taken down 50% of the time. “The idea that social media companies had to bend to the FBI’s will, when half the time they didn’t, just doesn’t support those theories.” 

This inspired the following exchange between Tenny and Judge Don Willett:

WILLETT: Does coercion necessarily entail a threat, either overt or covert? Isn’t a directive itself enough to constitute unconstitutional coercion, absent an “or else” consequence?

TENNY: I guess I’m not sure what a directive means without a threat like—

WILLETT: “Do this, why haven’t you done this? Get this done. F-bomb do this.”

Willet was referring to a series of emails that included a July 15, 2021 communication from White House official Rob Flaherty reading, “Are you guys fucking serious? I want an answer on what happened here and I want it today”:

Tenny tried to defuse Willett’s question quickly. “I mean, so the, the f-bomb thing, to be clear, is not about content moderation at all… No, I don’t think that’s coercion.” 

Judge Jennifer Elrod frowned. “It wasn’t about taking something down?”

“No,” said Tenny. “It was about the president’s Instagram account and something that, um, happened to it.”

Elrod kept frowning. Tenny was fortunate no one pressed him about what exactly “happened” to Joe Biden’s Instagram account. It was about censorship — of Joe Biden, whose administration indirectly asked for the treatment!

In the spring of 2021, officials from a variety of federal agencies began reaching out to firms like Facebook, asking them to explain their content moderation policies with respect to, among other things, Covid-19. Facebook responded by proposing a series of algorithmic fixes. One ended up being a review tool that de-amplified accounts that posted too much about vaccine-related topics. 

This is the subtext of the “F-bomb” sequence. The POTUS Instagram account was experiencing slow growth. Administration officials wrote demanding to know why. They were told that “from what we understand it was a technical issue that we can’t get into but it’s now resolved.” At this point Flaherty wrote the “Are you fucking serious?” email, which led to a response from Facebook that the problem was a “bug in our recommendation surface.” Further queries led to a Facebook official whose name has been redacted writing to explain.

As you know, we take aggressive steps to reduce the spread of vaccine hesitancy and vaccine misinformation on our platform, and we deploy technology to do so… For two weeks in April… this measure was impacted by over-enforcement on a signal we used - accounts that were posting far above normal vaccine-related content.

This episode showed one of the insanities of “anti-disinformtion.” In designing its Covid algorithm, Facebook identified posts with “risks,” and listed several categories, including reports of health care workers refusing the vaccine, posts about alleged vaccine-related deaths, and news and reports of severe vaccine side effects. In correspondence from Facebook to the CDC just days after Biden’s inauguration, Facebook explained that such posts included some news of bad side effects, but also included “some content meant to educate the public (including from the CDC).”

On a different level, Biden would go on to be among the country’s most prominent sources of ouright vaccine misinformation, with quotes like “If you’re vaccinated, you’re not going to be hospitalized… and you’re not going to die.” 

But the early exchange with Facebook/Instagram that resulted in the “F-bomb” exchange was a self-inflicted wound, in which pressure led to “over-enforcement” of a “signal” the company offered to use, i.e. de-amplifying accounts that simply posted too much about the wrong topic, even if the material was true, or even educational. 

It’s notable that just a day after Flaherty’s “F-bomb” quote Biden went public with his claim about how platforms are “killing people.” Just a few days after that, communications director Kate Bedingfield suggested the administration may need to check into legal liability for misinformation spread, as well as review the platforms’ section 230 exemption, saying these firms perhaps “should be held accountable.”

Funny, isn’t it, how quickly the administration deems “content moderation” an outrage when they’re the ones being moderated? But it’s okay for everyone else, of course.

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In Landmark Censorship Case, Judges Grill the Feds

The federal government's pro-censorship arguments seemed to take a hit in a contentious, fascinating hearing in New Orleans

New Orleans, LA — On a scorching 98-degree day yesterday, just before a key hearing in the landmark Missouri v. Biden Internet censorship case, a transient grumbled about insufficient shade under a tree canopy in this city’s gorgeous little park bordering the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. 

“No escape in this motherfucker today,” he groused. 

Inside, for the federal government, it seemed like much the same story. 

Early in the afternoon, a three-judge panel met to decide whether or not to revoke a stay of Judge Terry Doughty’s sweeping July 4th order barring a battery of government agencies from contacting social media companies about content moderation. Biden administration counsel Daniel Bentele Hahs Tenny was under fire from the jump.

It was hard not to feel for Tenny. Sitting across from him was a packed table of anxious plaintiffs’ attorneys, including Missouri’s garrulous, tornado-like former Solicitor General John Sauer — the driving force behind the Missouri v. Bidenlegislation — as well as the current officeholder, a lean, plain-spoken lawyer with Jimmy Stewart vibes named Josh Devine. Tenny, an ashen, slouching figure, was alone. In a case of major historical import, likely headed to the Supreme Court, the federal government hadn’t even sent another lawyer to keep him company. Staring down at his table, he looked like Napoleon Dynamite at lunch. 

Called first, Tenny read a speech. He made it through the first thirty seconds well enough, arguing that Doughty’s July 4th order would leave the government “powerless” to discourage social media companies from disseminating “untrue” statements in the event of a natural disaster. Then, almost right away, he stepped in it. 

“To take another example,” Tenny went on. “If… a government official were to conclude that it was likely, although not certain, that posts on social media were part of a criminal conspiracy, for example regarding human trafficking… the government official would be powerless to bring those posts to the social media company's attention.”

Judges Edith Brown Clement, Jennifer Walker Elrod and Don Willett listened sleepily at first, but all three snapped awake at the words “criminal conspiracy.” Doughty’s July 4th order specifically exempted communications about “criminal activity or criminal conspiracies,” posts that “threaten the public safety,” and communications about things that are “not protected free speech.” Tenny’s remarks more or less immediately drove into this wall of exceptions.

“So you do not believe that either of those are covered by the exception or exclusion specifically contained in the injunction?” asked Elrod. 

From that moment, the proceeding couldn’t have gone worse for the administration. The feds’ lawyer was there to try to keep the emergency stay of Doughty’s order in place, and his best shot was to keep discussion away from the ugly tales of Internet censorship already introduced in the case, and refocus judges on standing questions and other legalistic concerns. A secondary goal had to be stifling judicial curiosity about a just-filed amicus brief from Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan and other House members containing “Facebook Files” documents. 

Both those dreams went up in smoke fast. All three judges seemed very interested in Internet censorship, and more ominously seemed to have both read and been irritated by exhibits in the case. Seven minutes in, Tenny was trying to argue that communications to Internet platforms by the myriad federal defendants — Joe Biden, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the CDC, DHS, FBI, HHS, and others — didn’t rise to the level of coercion. That, he said, would be “sending a letter and sort of threatening prosecution if you don’t, you know, comply with what the government wants—” 

Willett cut him off. “Are the recent findings and disclosures from recent US congressional proceedings properly before us to consider?”

So much for any hope that the “Facebook Files” would go unmentioned. 

“I, I — I take it you're talking about materials that were attached to an amicus brief,” Tenny stammered. “Um, those are not part of the record, weren’t before the district court. Um, you know, weren’t, there’s been no effort to enter those into the record in this case…”

Again judges leaned forward. “So we can’t take judicial notice of findings by Congress?” prodded Elrod.

“I mean,” Tenny said, “you could take…”

Before long judges were rattling off greatest hits of both the Missouri v. Bidenevidence and Facebook Files material, the worst possible scenario. Elrod within minutes was referencing posts by officials like the White House’s Rob Flaherty expressing frustration that content like Tucker Carlson videos or Alex Berenson articles hadn’t been removed. 

“What appears to be in the record are these irate messages from time to time from high ranking government officials that say, you didn’t do this yet,” she said. “It’s like ‘Jump!’ and ‘How High?’”

Tenny tried to reorient Elrod to the question of whether or not this constituted overt coercion. If you were coercing, he said, “You wouldn’t say, ‘I’m really mad.’ You would just say, ‘Do this or else,’ and the or else would be clear.”

Elrod, not buying it, launched into an extraordinary counter-argument, comparing the federal government to the mob: 

If you’ll excuse me, it’s like if somebody is in these movies that we see with the mob or something. They don’t say and spell out things, but they have these ongoing relationships, and they never actually say, “Go do this or else you are going to have this consequence.” But everybody just knows… 

I’m certainly not equating the federal government with anybody in illegal organized crime. But… there are certain relationships where people know things without always saying the or else.

Willett put the mob analogy in even plainer language, saying the government’s behavior was a “fairly unsubtle kind of strong-arming,” as in, “That’s a really nice social media platform you got there. It’d be a shame if something happened to it.”

In the court gallery a few clerks winced at one another at certain points of Tenny’s address, the way people do at boxing matches when someone walks into a face shot. The effect got worse when Tenny walked off and a furious Sauer addressed the judges. While Tenny rambled and spoke in generalities, the loquacious, bespectacled Sauer — who appears descended from some ancient God of rage — tore into the government’s arguments with ferocity and specificity. Judges tried at various points to challenge him, but he kept hurling cites back so fast the queries got lost.

“I would direct the court’s attention to pages 70 to 75 and 80 to 86 of the District court’s opinion,” he’d say, “where he makes specific findings resulting in the conclusion that CISA and the Election Integrity Partnership were, quote, ‘completely intertwined…’”

Missouri v. Bidenis fast becoming the vehicle through which a diverse series of recent disclosures about government censorship, including the Twitter Files reports, is likely to be litigated at a national level. What was pooh-poohed as conspiracy theory even a year ago is now a cat-hair away from being addressed and potentially proscribed by the country’s highest court. For the issue to get there at all would in itself represent an incredible journey, but signs continue to accumulate that a rare major judicial reprimand of the intelligence and enforcement communities could actually happen, and soon, too. 

It would be a mistake to read too much into hearings like yesterday’s. One never knows how judges will rule, even when they appear to show emotion and inclination in court. Sometimes, they’re playing devil’s advocate. The appellate panel, charged with deciding whether or not to reinstate Doughty’s sweeping order, could easily surprise those who attended and rule against the plaintiffs. Either way, an answer is expected soon. Attorneys present gave estimates ranging from a few weeks to two months for the panel to rule on yesterday’s issue. 

A crucial fact of this case, however, is that Doughty’s July 4th order has created a motivation for both sides to push forward to the Supreme Court as soon as possibl. Doughty’s ruling, which described the current Internet censorship regime as “arguably… the most massive attack against free speech in United States’ history,” essentially said that the damage from current government-influenced content moderation schemes may be so extreme that they must be completely enjoined until courts can determine how bad they are. That ruling was a major victory for the plaintiffs, and if the July 14th stay by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals remains in place, the plaintiffs will almost certainly appeal right away to a higher court in hopes of restoring their big win. 

If the plaintiffs prevail, on the other hand, Doughty’s order will go back in force and the government will essentially be barred from meddling in the speech landscape. The administration has already argued on paper that this can’t be tolerated for any length of time, as any inability to pursue these “initiatives to prevent grave harm to the American people and our democratic processes,” causes the state “irreparable harm.” A more cynical interpretation might be that the “irreparable harm” is the prospect of the administration going without nuclear opinion-managing tools heading into an election year. Either way, a loss on the stay question will similarly motivate the administrationto push for immediate Supreme Court consideration. 

Since subscribers to this site have indirectly played a part in this affair — material both from the Twitter Files and from site articles have been cited in case docs — Racketwill follow this case to the end. Wouldn’t it be something if that ending was a Supreme Court ruling?

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AUGUST PSYCHODRAMA

by James Kunstler

“The idea that our Justice Department can indict someone, especially the sitting president’s main political rival, over speech that’s protected by the First Amendment is simply insane … Simply put, this indictment is nothing more than a declaration of war against American voters and their constitutional right to free speech.” — Alistair Crooke

In August, the head-shrinkers notoriously abandon their posh clientele among the managerial elites, who are left to flounder in the flotsam of their disordered lives while their shrinks go off to body-surf and drink mojitos. And so, a month that ought to be a pleasant break from routine business leaves the managers of all that routine business awash in a rising tide of their own personal misery — the job-haters, the sexually tortured, the self-subverters, the hopeless obsessive-compulsives, the cringing masochists, the unloved and unlovable, the projectionists of animus, rancor, and loathing….

Among these are The People of the Blob, the folks infesting the high ranks of our government’s permanent bureaucracy, which has turned so viciously against the governed. Do you doubt any longer that this demographic in the USA is mentally ill? This malady of self-destructive bad faith and enmity afflicting especially the Democratic Party shoves us inch-by-inch and day-by-day toward something that looks like national suicide. Must we all follow?

Could this sick polity be better personified than by the tragi-comic figure at the head of it: “Joe Biden” along with the Biden family? The scope of this clan’s derangements is almost Shakespearean, lacking only that decorum of personal presentation on view in all the Bard’s plays. King Lear, tormented as he was, would never face-plant after a speech. His daughters had a lot to worry about, but as far as we know, they were not subjected to showering with the big guy. And, there were no known recordings of the Earl of Gloucester smoking crack with naked, under-age girls.

Yet, in the real-life of our nation, “JB’s” troubles mount as each day peels off the calendar. Only the most pathologically credulous might fail to notice the slime trail of bribery lately uncovered by congressional sleuths. “JB” obviously put himself in the service of interests outside the United States, and how is that working out now, notably in Ukraine, where he has levered us into the most perilously half-assed war imaginable — the losing of which will dash what’s left of America’s standing in the world?

One thing that has become clear in this cabbage soup of perfidy, is just how blobbed-up Volodymyr Zelensky was when President Donald Trump made that fateful phone call to him in August of 2019 inquiring about “JB’s” curious doings in Kiev over the years. Did Z follow-up that call immediately with one to Alexander Vindman in the National Security Counsel… who then called Eric Ciaramella of the NSC and CIA? Because, voilà, there was something supernatural about how fast we were off to Impeachment Number One!

And now the not-insane cohort of Americans is prompted to ask whether this war in Ukraine was provoked in any part to cover-up all the nefarious blobbery that preceded it — and not just Hunter and “Joe Biden’s” capers, but the machinations, too, of State Department blobette Victoria Nuland and her retinue in the Kiev embassy, Marie Yovanovitch, George Kent, and many others of the Blob persuasion. A review of all this suggests that “Joe Biden” is what has driven the Democratic Party insane. And now, of course, they can’t seem to get rid of him, like a demon riding them through an endless nightmare.

Instead, they have bent every last effort to get rid of “JB’s” supposed rival, Donald Trump, who has been inducted into a Lawfare-engineered chamber of horrors designed to slice-and-dice him into a million pieces and strew the shreds into the Potomac for the blue crabs to feed on. One can’t imagine a lamer case than the charges Special Counsel Jack Smith has cooked up against Mr. Trump for verbally expressing doubt about the probity of election 2020. Will Mr. Smith be able to prove any of this, assuming that it is now against the law in America to believe something and say so?

Logically, Mr. Trump’s defense might present reasons why he believed the election was rife with fraud, by introducing evidence of said fraud, of which there is actually an impressive amount now, despite whatever mendacious bullshit you see in The New York Times and on MSNBC. Do you suppose Judge Tanya Chutkan would do anything but allow that evidence to be introduced? And if she disallows it, is that not instantly grounds for a mistrial, since it would prove beyond a reasonable doubt there were good reasons, after all, for Mr. Trump to express what he believed?

Things are getting durned interesting. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FLA) offered a charming plan this week to counter this deceitful DOJ crusade. Here’s how it would work. First, the House Judiciary Committee calls Special Counsel Jack Smith to give transcribed testimony in the next fifteen days regarding the weaponization of the First Amendment. If he refuses, subpoena him. If he ignores the subpoena, the Committee holds him in criminal contempt of Congress, and issues a formal referral to Attorney General Merrick Garland. If Mr. Garland ignores the referral, impeach the SOB forthwith. At the same time, invite Mr. Trump to give testimony to the Committee as a whistleblower, conferring congressional immunity to him among the usual whistleblower protections as stated in law (under 18 U.S. Code 6002 and 6005).

Impeaching Mr. Garland would surely have a salutary influence on America’s current troubled mental state. And it would be a grand prelude to the more consequential impeachment of “Joe Biden” for selling out his country, a kind of political electroshock therapy for the Democratic Party, leaving them finally clear-headed enough to nominate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., in the coming election of 2024.

(kunstler.com)

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UKRAINE, SATURDAY, 11TH AUGUST

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has announced that the heads of all of Ukraine’s regional military recruitment centres are to be dismissed from their jobs amid concerns about corruption.

A Russian missile attack has crashed into the grounds of a house in the western Ukrainian region of Ivano-Frankivsk, killing an eight-year-old boy, according to local authorities.

Explosions have been reported in Kyiv after authorities declared a nationwide air-raid alert.

Moscow claims to have “thwarted” a Ukrainian drone attack on the capital city.

— Al Jazeera

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