Mendocino County Today: Wednesday, August 23, 2023

Warming | Siri Ranch | Fishing Closure | Willits Cowboy | Insurance Cancelled | Kenny-Boyle | County Run | Art Show | Snowy Plovers | Shoreline | Ed Notes | Biden Fireman | Resilience Meetings | Westport Landing | Gold Standard | Bridge Time | Training Opportunities | Yesterday's Catch | Woodstock Gig | Hastings Saved | JW Convention | Knocker Contract | Extreme Weather | Swallowed Up | Child Development | Old Waterpark | Lacks Guts | Attaboys | Richmond Tune | Great Humans | Dear MAGA | Real Stupidity | Irish Laborer | Hopkins Sentenced | Spot Cafe

TEMPERATURES WILL HEAT UP to above average Wednesday through Thursday with building high pressure. An extended troughing pattern then develops, knocking down temperatures, and bringing a chance for thunderstorms Thursday afternoon into Thursday night. (NWS)

STEPHEN DUNLAP (Fort Bragg): A cooler 54F under clear skies this Wednesday morning on the coast. I think the tropical influence has moved on. The big fog is down south leaving some thinner fog behind, hence our forecast is for mostly clear skies with overnight light fog. Haze is in the forecast again but we did not have any yesterday?

FISH AND WILDLIFE CLOSES NEARSHORE GROUNDFISH FISHERY in Mendocino, SF & Central areas

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) announced that as of 12:01 a.m. Friday, Sept. 1, 2023, the 50-fathom Rockfish Conservation Area (RCA) boundary line for the Mendocino Groundfish Management Area (GMA) (Cape Mendocino to Point Arena), San Francisco GMA (Point Arena to Pigeon Point) and Central GMA (Pigeon Point to Point Conception), will take effect.

In these GMAs, recreational boat-based groundfish fishing will be ‘offshore only’ and allowed only seaward (away from land) of the 50-fathom boundary line, defined by straight lines connecting waypoints (50 CFR Part 660, Subpart G). Shelf rockfish, slope rockfish and lingcod may be taken seaward of the 50-fathom boundary line, while it will be unlawful to take or possess nearshore rockfish as defined in Title 14, Section 1.91(a)(1), cabezon or greenlings at any depth. In the Southern GMA from Pt. Conception to the U.S.-Mexico border, these same ‘offshore only’ rules will take effect as originally planned on Sept. 16.

During the ‘offshore only’ fishery, fishing gear shall not be deployed shoreward of the 50-fathom RCA boundary line when shelf rockfish, slope rockfish or lingcod are possessed onboard the vessel, however vessels may transit shoreward of the 50-fathom RCA boundary line with these species in possession if no gear is deployed. Additionally, vessels fishing in the adjacent Southern GMA and transiting back to the Central GMA must adhere to the ‘offshore only’ provisions effective in the Central GMA and shall not return with nearshore species aboard. These changes do not apply to shore-based anglers or divers.

CDFW is carefully monitoring the harvest of quillback rockfish from both the recreational and commercial fisheries throughout the state and has taken a series of steps in an effort to reduce quillback rockfish mortality. On Aug. 7, retention of quillback rockfish was prohibited statewide, followed by closure of the recreational nearshore fishery in the Northern GMA, on Aug. 21. Newly available recreational data from the Mendocino, San Francisco and Central GMAs for the second week of August showed double the estimated recreational take and indicated the 2023 quillback rockfish harvest limit specified in federal regulations has been exceeded. This additional in-season action authorized by Title 14, Section 27.20 (e) to adjust the fishing depth is necessary to prevent further overage.

CDFW urges anglers to use best fishing practices to reduce impacts to quillback rockfish and other prohibited groundfish species. These include reducing mortality when releasing fish by utilizing a descending device and relocating to different fishing grounds or switching targets if quillback rockfish or other prohibited species are encountered. CDFW recommends reviewing the Summary of Recreational Groundfish Fishing Regulations page before each trip to ensure anglers are up to date on the most recent groundfish regulations, including a complete list of authorized species.

For details regarding the quillback population estimates and how these changes were developed, please see CDFW’s Quillback Rockfish In-Season Informational Briefing. For information on all groundfish regulations visit CDFW’s Marine Region Groundfish page.

Pursuant to California Code of Regulations Title 14, section 27.20(e), when federal harvest limits are exceeded or projected to be exceeded, CDFW has authority to make in-season changes, including adjustments to bag and sub-bag limits, seasons and depths.

MATT BARNES: Home Owner’s Policy Cancelled… We got the dreaded policy cancellation notice last night from our Farmers Insurance subsidiary Foremost Insurance, who we’ve had as our policy holder since I bought my home here 20 years ago. I’m wondering if anyone has any references for a local Insurance company who is still writing policies. We’ve never filed a claim, and we’ve invested heavily in fire hardening our property. Thanks in advance.

ON THIS DAY IN MENDOCINO HISTORY…

August 21, 1911 - Mary Brien Boyle Kenny died at the age of 69. She had been in poor health for some time, and the previous week, she had fallen and broken her arm at the elbow. The Beacon attributed the shock of that injury as a contributing cause of her death.

Mary was born in New Brunswick in 1842, and when she was young, she emigrated with her parents to Maine, where she grew up and met her first husband. She married Thomas Boyle in Bangor, Maine when she was 18 years old. In 1863, Thomas went to California, and Mary and their infant son John followed a year later. The Boyles settled in Albion and later moved to Greenwood (Elk) and the south coast.

Mary and Thomas had 8 children together, and Mary was pregnant with their youngest daughter when Thomas died suddenly from a heart attack in 1878 at the age of 42. Mary remarried in 1881. The Beacon described her as “a woman of great moral courage, strong character, and loving disposition.”

Mary’s funeral was held at the Catholic Church, with Rev. Father Edwards officiating. Following the service, she was buried in Hillcrest Cemetery. Survivors included her second husband, Thomas Kenny; sons, Edward, William, and Charles Boyle; daughters, Mrs. George W. Burke, Mrs. A. J. Jennings, and Mrs. G. W. Fairbanks; sisters, Mrs. John Conway and Mrs. Jerome Rafter; and brothers, Charles, John, and Albert Brien.

(kelleyhousemuseum.org)

ROBERT SITES: Mendocino mental health was more efficient and effective when it was county run. Then the out sourcing disaster to Ortner and now Redwood. Just talk to a mental health worker who experienced all three. Unfortunately our supervisors don’t value or respect the employees of our county that we rely on for services.

NOYO CENTER TALKS SCIENCE

Hiding in Plain Sight: The Western Snowy Plover

Guest Presenter: Alison Cebula

Wednesday, August 23, 6PM on Zoom

You’ve probably heard of them, but have you actually seen a western snowy plover? They are masters of disguise. With their sand-colored feathers, speckled eggs and chicks they blend in perfectly to their beach and dune environment. Despite this clever camouflage, snowy plovers are a threatened species due to habitat loss, predation, and human-caused disturbance.

Join local State Park biologist Alison Cebula for a presentation on the lives of these remarkable little shorebirds and the challenges they face. Learn not only how to tell a plover from a sanderling, but also how you can help protect one of our most charming wild neighbors.

Alison grew up in Fort Bragg and studied coastal ecology and natural history with Teresa Sholars and Greg Grantham at College of the Redwoods. Her adventures in field biology include habitat restoration at the Grand Canyon, reintroduction of Aplomado falcons in Texas with the Peregrine Fund, raptor migration counts and nest surveys for HawkWatch International, ecosystem monitoring with the Great Salt Lake Ecosystem Project, and volunteering for the Winter Wolf Study at Yellowstone National Park.

For the past 12 years her passion for conservation has focused on snowy plovers. She currently coordinates the Western Snowy Plover Management Program for California State Parks Mendocino Sector.

noyocenter.org/calendar/6bsdysokdzhgp31g7npefei4ekbhra-g96pt-tdptz-sykdp-fh8pd-77ld2-e3zyt

ED NOTES

CHRON PROSE “Many San Franciscans have come to believe their city is in crisis.”

ANY EDITORS left at the Chron? Is there room for objective comment? How about starting with recognizing the obvious: San Francisco is in crisis, evidenced by fleeing businesses, conventions, tourists, and residents; and by the inhumane conditions on the streets in mid-Market, Civic Center, the Tenderloin, south of Market, many tourist areas, and on public transit; and by rising crime; and insane public school policy. SF “residents” are concerned because the tax base is evaporating before their eyes.

COMPARE AND CONTRAST, CLASS. Both passages describe Biden's visit to Maui:

(1) THE NEW YORK TIMES: “President Biden toured the scorched remains of Lahaina, a coastal town on the Hawaiian island of Maui, on Monday in his first visit since devastating wildfires killed more than 100 people and left behind scenes of twisted metal and hollowed-out homes. Mr. Biden, who broke away from his summer vacation on Lake Tahoe in Nevada, met with survivors of the fires and with emergency workers and state and local officials. The president hugged Gov. Josh Green, a Democrat, and walked arm in arm with him to Marine One for a 20-minute aerial tour of the wreckage. Sporting a green and yellow lei, he told community members, “the entire country is here for you.”

‘The devastation is overwhelming,’ Mr. Biden said as he stood near a 150-year-old banyan tree, a cherished landmark in Lahaina. He said the tree symbolized the resilience of the Maui community.

The president, who was joined by Jill Biden, the first lady, also sought to assure residents of Maui that they would be involved in the recovery process. ‘We will be respectful of the sacred grounds and the traditions,’ he said, ‘and rebuild the way the people of Maui want to build, not the way others want to build’.” And respectfully on...

(2) THE RIGHTWING BRIT TABLOID DAILY MAIL: “The President's motorcade was met with screams of ‘fuck you’ after he finally arrived in Maui — two weeks after the inferno which left 850 people missing and destroyed the historic city of Lahaina. Biden compounded the anger in a garbled, meandering speech about the deaths of his wife and daughter in 1972, before comparing the horrific blaze to a kitchen fire at his Delaware home in 2004. The 80-year-old capped off his disastrous five-hour tour by asking a rescue team whether their boots were reinforced, noting the ‘hot ground’ beneath their feet in a tone-deaf attempt at humor. Hawaiian residents and politicians have unleashed a torrent of criticism over Biden's failure to visit the island sooner and a paltry $700 offered to each affected family.”

WHAT WE HAVE HERE is a failure to communicate. I read a transcript of Biden’s remarks in Maui and they were, objectively, the verbal wanderings of a man deep in his senescence, The liberal media, — Maddow; MSNBC; NPR, the NYT, etc., in Democrat lockstep on all issues, most notably Biden’s functioning, pretends Biden is all there. The fascist media, of course, gleefully seizes on Biden’s every stumble. No, the truth doesn’t lie somewhere in between, Mr. and Mrs. Purple Pants-Seminar. Biden is out of it.

AND RIGHT HERE let’s dispose of the left-right construct. It no longer serves. Reality these days has outstripped the old ways of shorthand political assessments. 

I GOT a comment from a woman today who said I should get off my admiration for the Confederacy! I had to wonder if she reads my newspaper. Another guy declared I’d gone MAGA. 

ONE MORE TIME: I, me, myself am about three clicks (at least) to the left of Bernie Sanders. I think both political parties and all their candidates, to me, are irremediably contemptible. I will be voting third party in ’24 as I have since McGovern.

BUT ON THE ISSUE of Biden’s functioning, the rightwing is obviously correct, the lib media is lying by omission. Left, right or the eunuch middle, our president is not present. 

HUH?

County Of Mendocino Hosting Community Resilience Public Outreach And Listening Sessions

The County is hosting resilience meetings in census tracts designated as demonstrating high-hazard exposure and social vulnerability that will offer the public an opportunity to communicate their resilience goals. The input provided will be used to help determine resilience projects for which to pursue grant funding. Discussion topics to include: Emergency Preparedness, Community Planning and Capacity Building, Infrastructure Systems, Economic Resiliency and Sustainability, Health and Social Services, Housing, and Natural Systems and Cultural Resources.

For meeting information, please contact Disaster Recovery at: (707) 234-6303 or disasterrecovery@mendocinocounty.gov

(County Presser)

A TALE OF TWO ECONOMIES

Dear AVA,

One economy is the one of business and trade and the other is government distribution and confiscation. How did we ever get along without big brother? 100 years ago we had gold and silver money and paper backed by a stable currency. Now we have inflation. Who benefits from inflation? Do you think you who own your house benefit? Because the value of your house keeps going up, also your assessment is going up. So you will be paying more taxes or rather rent to the government because you really never own your own house, you are a tenant. How can you overcome this treadmill situation where you seem to be paying more and more of this devalued currency that buys less things? Who benefits the most in this game? Are the political elite getting poorer? They hope to overcome this morass by becoming filthy rich. If you can get rich enough you will always stay ahead of inflation. For example, as they raise interest rates right now to 5%, if you have $1 billion, 5% of $1 billion is $50 million risk-free, tax-free in municipal bonds which would be a favored way of benefiting. Those who are the architects and stakeholders of this inflationary taxation distribution system.

So you are on the road to having that magic $1 billion and that free $50 million in interest compounded over time. The problem is by the time you get your magic $1 billion most other people will have also have $1 billion or $2 or $3 billion and there will be trillionaires by that time. Most of them will be government employees living in gated communities and large estates with bodyguards, etc. like they do now.

The big problem is the whole world suffers from inflation. One big Third World where currency is created from nothing to aid in food distribution for the masses and keep the economy going for the little people and the big guys.

Either you produce something and sell it or you are part of the cancer economy. People don't like talking about it, but the last time I read in the paper there were 77% of the people working for the government and 23% producing stuff and that number is shrinking. By government I mean federal, state, county, city, municipalities, etc. the growth of government is a real problem. Inflation is the junk food of runaway government. 

In 1972 the top 10 employers in Mendocino County were #1 Southern Pacific, #2 Masonite Corporation, #3 Louisiana Pacific, #4 Georgia-Pacific, then PG&E, AT&T, and county, state, city, federal. What do you suppose this list looks like today? That's right, government holds all the top positions along with lawyers and bail bondsmen. You don't believe me? Get a phone book from 1972 and look at the Yellow Pages then and now.

We are heading in a very depressing direction. Where did we go wrong? Was it the 30s? One day gold was money, the next day you are getting confiscated and going to jail. It's very strange. Who was president in the 30s? Oh yes, Franklin Roosevelt. You can't say anything bad about him. He is a big hero. Within the same year of 1933, Roosevelt, Hitler, Stalin, the Queen of England, all outlawed goal for their subjects. This paved the way for future inflation. Inflation is highly addictive especially for bureaucrats and Third World dictators. So whenever you are contemplating the doomsday machine in all its parts, don't forget inflation. Think Zimbabwe.

Tom Madden

Comptche

YOUR TAX DOLLAR AT WORK, OR DEPARTMENT OF SELF-SATIRIZATION

Upcoming Training Opportunities Provided by Redwood Community Services

Register Today! Call: (707) 467-2010

• Removing the Shame & Stigma of Substance Use Disorder (SUD):Monday, August 21, 2023, 2:00pm - 4:00pm
• Ensuring Youth Safety by Understanding Mandated Reporting: Tuesday, August 22, 2023, 3:30pm - 5:00pm
• Parenting Children with Exposure to Trauma: Wednesday, August 23, 2023, 1:00pm - 3:00pm
• Supporting Native American Youth in Care: Wednesday, August 23, 2023, 1:00pm - 3:30pm
• Foster Youth Bill of Rights & Prudent Parent Standard: Thursday, August 24, 2023, 3:30pm - 5:00pm
• Motivational Interviewing: Friday, August 25, 2023, 9:00am - 11:00am
• Compassion Fatigue & Vicarious Trauma: Friday, August 25, 2023, 3:30pm - 5:00pm
• Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (CSEC): Friday, August 25, 2023, 2:00pm - 3:30pm
• Tactile Activities to Improve Child & Adolescent Behavior: Tuesday, August 29, 2023, 10:00am - 12:00pm
• Foster Youth Reproductive & Sexual Wellness: Tuesday, August 29, 2023, 3:30pm - 5:00pm
• Trauma Effects on the Student in the Classroom: Tuesday, August 29, 2023, 0:00am - 12:00pm
• All Brains Are Beautiful: Supporting Children with ADHD, Autism, & More: Wednesday, August 30, 2023, 9:00am - 12:00pm
• Trauma Informed Care: Wednesday, August 30, 2023, 1:00pm - 3:00pm
• Developmental Trauma: Wednesday, August 30, 2023, 3:00pm - 5:00pm
• Ensuring Youth Safety by Understanding Mandated Reporting: Friday, September 1, 2023, 10:30am - 12:00pm
• Parenting Children with Exposure to Trauma: Friday, September 1, 2023, 1:00pm - 3:00pm
• In-Person Training Opportunity, Compassion Fatigue & Vicarious Trauma Workshop: Thursday, September 7, 2023, 9:00am - 2:00pm

To learn more, email trainingdept@redwoodcommunityservices.org

CATCH OF THE DAY, Tuesday, August 22, 2023

SEAN AMBROSE, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol&drugs, resisting, probation revocation.

JOSEPH BUCKINGHAM, Ukiah. Failure to appear, probation revocation.

ARLEN CORDOVA-DALSON, Covelo. Reckless driving, registration tampering, evasion.

HENRY GONZALEZ, Ukiah. Ammo possession by prohibited person, probation revocation.

RAESHELE MAYFIELD, Redwood Valley. Controlled substance for sale, conspiracy.

PABLO MORA, Ukiah. Dumping commercial quantities. (Frequent flyer.)

LUIS ORTIZ, Ukiah. Controlled substance for sale, conspiracy, county parole violation.

DANIEL PEREZ, Manchester. DUI with priors, suspended license for DUI, battery on peace officer.

LATOYA RENICK, Ukiah. Suspended license for DUI, probation revocation.

JOAN REYNOSA-ORELLANA, Ukiah. DUI.

ROY TURNER, Fort Bragg. Disorderly conduct-alcohol, prohibited park hours.

DANIEL WYSE, Ukiah. Failure to appear.

SAVED

To the Editor,

I am the living son of the devil, God saved.

Based on years past and what you all saw since my youth from Fort Bragg to Willits then back home again to Fort Bragg. I have homies in both towns. Everything I've endured since that day growing up watching cruel morbid bad things I was taunted and tricked by the devil of 666, the sons of disobedience, demons lurking, I remained faithful to God, County, traveling for Columbia Helicopters, falling timber in three different states. I never gave up.

Staying strong to my nation, my people of kind and most importantly Jehovah God, his son the Christ. I saw that his angels came forth in 2016. I was saved from Babylon the great Christendom. I stopped attending Calvary Chapel. God didn't want me involved there. False religion can involve demonism, sects, divisions, tarot, fortune telling. Things of the world of this nature can cause a deception and added grief. However, as I continued to remain loyal to Jehovah I saw that these things had come to pass. The past was the past and always remains something I no longer thought about. Until certain idiots forced me to document facts about my past on facebook, it didn't bother me any watching God destroying Nazi torture not just of our cities, towns, countries and states, but of the whole world. You all watched Satan and his demons. His rule over mankind was crumbled around wherever I walked right before your eyes. I showed you all that Jehovah God it was god of the living. In many of my actions as the devil and his demons left me in 2016. Just remaining humble and faithful and being appreciative that Jehovah God used me to give you all hope. It would be very wise of you, many of you, to let go of your past and of your negative feelings. 

This has been a simple warning sent by World Judge Hastings of the Republic!

Rex Hastings

Mendocino County Jail

Ukiah

PS. Goodnight my followers of sorts, from your chaplain of honors of Navy Department stock. Rest easy tonight.

JEHOVAH’S WITNESS CONVENTION RETURNING TO FAIRFIELD 

Fairfield Assembly Hall to Host First Large Conventions of Jehovah’s Witnesses Since 2019 

After a three-year pandemic pause, one of the largest convention organizations in the world has once again chosen Fairfield to host its global three-day event, the 2023 “Exercise Patience”! Convention. 

Prior to 2020, summers in Fairfield were marked by Jehovah’s Witnesses filling hotels and restaurants as they attended their annual conventions at their Fairfield Assembly Hall, which they built in 2004. In 2020, the pandemic interrupted that tradition in Fairfield when the Witnesses canceled their in-person events throughout the world and held their convention programs as virtual events in more than 500 languages. In May, the Witnesses brought the tradition back to Fairfield. They will once again host the three-day program on the weekend of August 25-27, 2023. 

“The return to in-person conventions is so exciting. We will be able to rekindle old friendships and make new ones with fellow attendees from various parts of the Bay Area,” said Ty Petersen, local spokesman for Jehovah’s Witnesses. “My family and I look forward to experiencing the excitement, joy, and love that characterize our conventions, especially after a three-year pandemic pause.” 

Some 6,000 conventions will be held worldwide as part of the 2023 “Exercise Patience”! Convention series. In the United States alone, more than 700 conventions will be held in 144 host cities. From Friday through Sunday, six convention sessions will explore the quality of patience, highlighting its modern-day relevance through Scriptural examples. A live baptism will be performed following the Saturday morning session and a prerecorded drama will be featured in two parts during the Saturday and Sunday afternoon sessions. 

“The convention theme is very timely. While impatience can lead to stress, strained relationships, and even tragedy, patience can help us endure life’s challenges successfully,” said Petersen. “We are excited to learn from the Bible, as well as from creation, how to be more patient in our everyday lives.” 

Jehovah’s Witnesses have been holding public conventions in stadiums, arenas, convention centers, and theaters around the world for more than 100 years. After resuming smaller in-person meetings and their public ministry during 2022, the summer of 2023 marks the first time they will gather at much larger regional events around the world since the lifting of pandemic restrictions. 

The convention is open to the public and no collection is taken. For more information on the program or to find other convention locations and dates, please go to jw.org and navigate to the “About Us” tab.

EXTREME AUGUST ARRIVES WITH A WARNING: EXPECT MORE

A mix of devastating wildfires, tropical storms, mudslides and heat waves foreshadows a future of intensified extremes as the world warms.

by Somini Sengupta

July was the hottest month in modern times. Now, August is shaping up to be a month of extremes.

In the United States alone, a tropical storm swept across the Southwest, another struck Texas, Maui burned, and a blistering heat dome sat atop the middle of the country. In India, torrential rains triggered deadly landslides, Morocco and Japan hit new heat records, and southern Europe braced for another scorching heat wave.

Those extremes have also brought high-stakes tests for public officials: Where public alerts and education worked, death and destruction were minimized. Where they didn’t, the results were catastrophic. Maui has so far recorded more than 100 deaths from the blaze that started Aug. 8, and that number is projected to rise.

Not all of the extreme weather events can be immediately attributed to climate change. But they reflect the hazards that much of the world needs to prepare for as El Niño, a natural weather pattern that can play out over several years, aggravates the weather extremes fueled by the burning of fossil fuels.

Compared with the start of the industrial age 150 years ago, the average global temperature is at least 1.2 degrees higher, and rising still, as the world continues to burn more fossil fuels, the principal cause of global warming. Scientists have repeatedly warned of more heat, wildfires, droughts and intense rainfall with every degree of future warming. For local communities and their government officials, that means having to adapt to sometimes unpredictable hazards and making hard choices about where and how to rebuild after disaster strikes.

The Union of Concerned Scientists said that 103.7 million Americans live in areas that are under extreme weather alerts on Tuesday.

“Twenty years from now, a summer like this is going to feel like a mild summer,” said Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at the University of California Los Angeles, in an online briefing Monday afternoon. “In terms of incredibly frenetic pace of global extremes we are seeing this summer, in terms of temperatures and precipitation, that’s only going to get worse as the climate continues to warm.”

Weather records have been broken all summer long around the world. Southern Europe saw record hot days in July, so much so that one Italian newspaper likened it to a “tongue of fire.” Beijing recorded more extreme-heat days this year than ever before since record-keeping began. The fires that raged across the breadth of Canada in July eclipsed annual fire records. In the Florida Keys, sea-surface water temperatures were the hottest on record, climbing into the 90s.

Then, on Sunday came Hurricane Hilary. It dropped a record 13 inches of rain in 24 hours on the Mexican state of Baja California Sur before turning into a tropical storm, barreling up the bathwater-hot Gulf of California and bringing record rainfall to Southern California.

Tropical storms are rare for this part of the world. But in a hotter climate, scientists said, California can expect to get more extreme rains. Southern California got a taste of that earlier this year, with a parade of powerful storms that drenched the region.

“Regardless of the source of the rain, we need to prepare for a lot more of it, even in our drought-prone state,” said Morgan E. O’Neill, an assistant professor of atmospheric science at Stanford University.

By and large, the two biggest cities in the region, Los Angeles and San Diego, escaped deaths and major damage, according to local and state officials Monday. It will take several days to thoroughly assess the effects on smaller towns and rural communities in desert and mountain areas in Southern California. Homes flooded in and around Palm Springs, parts of Riverside County were knee-high in mud and Death Valley National Park was closed, its 3.4 million acres of desert wilderness littered with debris from flash floods.

Speaking at a news conference in Los Angeles Monday morning, Paul Krekorian, the City Council President, urged city residents to look ahead and get ready for the next disaster. “Use this as your opportunity to consider what can you and your family do better to prepare for the next incident,” he said. “Because we know there will be one,”

The contrast with Maui is striking.

The wildfires centered around the historic town of Lahaina are one of the country’s deadliest disasters. Local officials are under mounting scrutiny for failing to activate the island’s network of emergency sirens.

A spokesman for the state’s emergency management agency said other alert systems were activated, including on cellphones, but many residents said they didn’t receive warnings. Damage to cellphone and electric lines played a role. Ten days after the fire, Maui’s emergency management director resigned.

Maui’s fire risks have been steadily growing.

Hawaii overall has been getting less rainfall over the past 30 years. More than a third of Maui county has been classified as severe or moderate drought this summer. Invasive grasses, left unmanaged, have become ready fuel for fires. Average temperatures have risen, as they have worldwide, drying out vegetation even faster. In short, Hawaii is more flammable.

Maui County cited those growing wildfire risks when it sued oil companies for what it called a “coordinated, multifront effort” to conceal that the burning of their products fuels climate extremes. A spokesman for the American Petroleum Institute, a trade group, has called the litigation “meritless.” The case is pending.

(NY Times)

LIFE WILL BREAK YOU. Nobody can protect you from that, and being alone won't either, for solitude will also break you with its yearning. You have to love. You have to feel. It is the reason you are here on earth. You have to risk your heart. You are here to be swallowed up. And when it happens that you are broken, or betrayed, or left, or hurt, or death brushes too near, let yourself sit by an apple tree and listen to the apples falling all around you in heaps, wasting their sweetness. Tell yourself that you tasted as many as you could.

— Louise Erdrich

ON-LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

Telling a child that he or she is in the “wrong” body — in other words, that he or she is a “mistake” or some sort of joke on God’s or Mother Nature’s part — is the absolute epitome of cruelty.

And introducing children under the age of 10 to sexual material is a form of psychosocial child abuse. The ONLY purpose it serves is to groom children for predators. It is rape of their psyches and murder of their innocence.

Anyone who says otherwise doesn’t know a damn thing about child development. Read Piaget, for the love of God!

MEGAN McCAIN: A presidential candidate should be more than a stringy, blond bouffant and an ego. The debates are the best format for showcasing candidates' competency, health and ability to win. Trump is 77 years old and not immune to the issues that dog sleepy, stumbly Joe. Is Trump still up for this job? Frankly, we don't know. I, for one, would like to see him in action if he is to face off against Biden again. Don't forget that even tongue-tied Joe absolutely trounced Trump in their first presidential debate in 2020. And if Biden drops out of the 2024 race, which I'd say is about 50/50 at this point, how would Trump do against California's slick and savvy Gavin Newsom? Not well, I'd guess. Governor Chris Christie says Trump lacks “the guts to show up.” He's right. A debate exposes weakness.

HOW ‘RICH MEN NORTH OF RICHMOND’ REACHED THE TOP OF THE CHARTS

A song by the previously unknown Oliver Anthony struck a chord with conservative pundits. Its quick trip to No. 1 relied on tactics that help pop stars go viral.

by Joe Coscarelli & Marc Tracy

The unadorned video suddenly appeared on social media earlier this month: a young man with a bushy red beard and a guitar in a backwoods locale, dogs at his feet and bugs buzzing in the background. In an impassioned drawl, he sings a country-folk anthem about selling his soul “working all day,” and being kept in his place by inflation, high taxes and the elites he holds responsible: “Rich Men North of Richmond.”

Boosted early on by influential conservative pundits and media figures like Jack Posobiec and Jason Whitlock, Mr. Anthony’s “Rich Men North of Richmond” was praised for its stripped-down sound and workingman relatability. “The main reason this song resonates with so many people isn’t political,” Matt Walsh, a podcast host and columnist for the conservative Daily Wire, wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. “We are suffocated by artificiality.” On Instagram, the mega-podcaster Joe Rogan added, “You can’t fake authentic.”

The song’s populism unmistakably leans rightward, resulting in an original track perfectly primed for a hyperpolarized moment when conservatives perceive themselves as embattled and politics unrelentingly washes into every other aspect of culture, be it sports, movies or pop music.

“People are just angry over the way that I would say the woke universe has taken over so much of content,” said Clay Travis, the talk-radio host and author of “American Playbook: A Guide to Winning Back the Country From the Democrats.” “And I think what you’re seeing is a backlash and a rebellion.”

Mr. Travis also cited the conservative activism against Bud Light earlier this year, in which boycotts following the beer brand’s promotional collaboration with Dylan Mulvaney, a transgender influencer, were followed by decreased sales and marketing executives going on leave. “What we’re seeing,” he added, “is a lot of people exercising their purchasing power.”

Scrutiny over the song’s origins, ideological intent and disaffected lyrics, which include references to welfare cheats and pedophile politicians, stoked interest from all sides, pushing “Rich Men North of Richmond” toward the center of the zeitgeist and the top of the charts.

It’s a pattern that has played out repeatedly across popular culture this summer. “Sound of Freedom,” a feature film about fighting child trafficking, was championed by conservative politicians, including Donald J. Trump, while its star sometimes promoted QAnon conspiracy theories. Its nearly $180 million in domestic box office receipts have already made it one of history’s most successful independent films.

The veteran country singer Jason Aldean rode a wave of controversy to commercial success with “Try That in a Small Town.” Following a backlash against its lyrics, which critics said promoted racist vigilantism, and after Country Music Television pulled the song’s music video, which was filmed in part at a courthouse in Tennessee that was once the site of a lynching, the languishing track catapulted to No. 1 on Billboard.

But the stunning success of Mr. Anthony, whose real name is Christopher Anthony Lunsford, testifies not only to the potency of confrontational works that cater to an audience that believes it is underserved, but also to something else: the increasing savvy of promoters and fans — including conservative ones — who have mastered digital platforms and guerrilla marketing tactics to dominate the very culture industries that they say have marginalized them.

Interest in “Rich Men North of Richmond,” which was streamed 17.5 million times on services like Spotify and Apple Music in its first week of release, partly grew in the manner of a typical viral track, according to the service Luminate, whose data fuels the Billboard charts.

Polarizing lyrics also ginned up the discourse. Mr. Anthony gives voice to the longstanding conservative critique of public assistance — he sings of “the obese milkin’ welfare” and adds, “Well, God, if you’re 5-foot-3 and you’re 300 pounds/taxes ought not to pay for your bags of fudge rounds” — and links politicians to “minors on an island somewhere.”

Conversation flared on social media — “That’s a big reason why Oliver Anthony went viral,” said The Daily Wire’s Mr. Walsh — but there was a more targeted digital savviness at play, too. Much of the consumer activity that drove the track to No. 1 came via 99-cent digital downloads from outlets like the iTunes Store — an outdated format that is declining in popularity faster than CDs.

Despite streaming now accounting for more than 80 percent of music consumption overall, paid downloads are weighted more on the charts, a quirk exploited regularly by pop superfans devoted to acts like Ms. Swift or the South Korean group BTS. In often coordinated efforts, they use downloads to show support and earn chart milestones that are celebrated like wins in sports or political elections.

Jaime Brooks, a musician and cultural commentator, said that since most listeners spend about $10 per month for unlimited access to everything on services like Spotify, those who purchase downloads are overpaying with purpose.

“You do that out of a sentimental attachment to an old way of listening, or because you’re getting something else out of it,” Ms. Brooks said. One such thing, she added, could be “representation for their favorite artists on the charts, which means something to them. And now you’ve got these people with an obvious stated interest in using the charts to give the impression that their niche beliefs or views are popular.”

“Rich Men North of Richmond” sold 147,000 downloads in its first week, more than 10 times the sales of Mr. Combs’s “Fast Car,” the No. 2 song on the overall singles chart. Mr. Aldean’s “Try That in a Small Town” benefited from a similar surge last month, with just 822 downloads the week before its music video became a culture war battleground, according to Luminate. Following the backlash, the track sold 228,000 copies.

Mr. Anthony, who did not respond to requests for comment, has attempted to float above the political fray. “I sit pretty dead center down the aisle on politics and always have,” he said in an introductory video posted to YouTube earlier this month.

He described himself as “just some idiot and his guitar,” a high-school dropout who has struggled with depression and alcohol abuse. But he added that he had recently found religion and a passion for calling out the “atrocities” of human trafficking and child abuse, which he said were “becoming normalized.”

“Just like those once wandering in the desert, we have lost our way from God and have let false idols distract us and divide us,” he wrote on Facebook last week.

Social media and the increasing reach of low-barrier platforms like podcasts enabled both “Sound of Freedom” and “Rich Men North of Richmond” to communicate directly with their target audiences in a manner unthinkable just a short while ago, said Neal Harmon, the co-founder of the movie’s distributor, Angel Studios.

“Wrote a great song, and the audience loved it,” Mr. Harmon said of Mr. Anthony, adding, “The key moment is that people can stand up and do it themselves instead of answering to those who have traditionally been the ones to say what should succeed or what should fail.”

The writer and musician Winston Marshall, formerly of the chart-topping group Mumford & Sons, said Mr. Anthony and “Sound of Freedom” succeeded “without the creative industry’s institutional support.”

This underdog mentality among conservatives in creative fields has long been a talking point and consumer motivator in book publishing, where right-wing titles by the likes of Mark Levin and Dinesh D’Souza routinely ascend sales lists.

Such books exploit concentrated promotion on one television channel — Fox News — and the power of a specific yet deep appeal above sales across the ideological spectrum, according to Eric Nelson, the editorial director of the conservative imprint Broadside. (Broadside and Fox News are both owned by companies led by Rupert Murdoch.)

“The less something is in mainstream media, the better it will be for the best-seller list,” said Mr. Nelson.

Similarly — and like activist pop-music supporters across the ideological spectrum — many of those pushing “Rich Men North of Richmond,” “Try That in a Small Town” and “Sound of Freedom” have encouraged a self-awareness in which financial support for a cultural artifact is part of being a good fan. “Sound of Freedom” even encouraged fans to purchase tickets for other filmgoers.

“This whole thing came out of resentment for the music industry,” said Tom MacDonald, a Canadian rap provocateur who has made digital download campaigns for songs like “Fake Woke” and “American Flags” a key part of his appeal and relationship to listeners.

Achieving chart success with savvy grass roots support was the ultimate repudiation of mainstream gatekeepers, Mr. MacDonald said. “I feel like we’re standing in a room right now where we’re not supposed to be standing, so let’s go,” he added. “That’s turned into a culture of its own.”

(NY Times)

SONNY ROLLINS: 

“I try to envision the eternity of the universe, I guess that’s bigger than thinking of coming back as a musician again, maybe next time around just playing a little better. I think it’s that this life made me think more about what it means to be a human being, a good person. I was taught the golden rule as a boy: do unto others what you would want them to do unto you.

“I didn’t always do that when I was young. In the jazz world back then, Charlie Parker was into drugs – and a lot of people that were following him started to use drugs because he did. That was the worst thing that Charlie Parker felt about himself; it was what destroyed him. He was so torn up by all the young guys that were following him into using drugs. I know that, because I experienced it from him.

“But I think, while a lot of us did stupid things, once you’re playing music, there’s something special you’ve been given by the gods above, or whatever it is.” Like Rollins on that bridge, his peers also were playing to the sky. “I’ve heard people saying: ‘No, he’s not a good human being,’ about some of the musicians I’ve known, but I never found that. Every one of them – Monk, Miles, Coltrane – was good to me, and I realised that they were all spiritual people and great human beings.”

IF THIS IS ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, LET’S GO WITH REAL STUPIDITY

by Norman Solomon

At first, I admit, I was a bit flattered to learn that online entrepreneurs are selling study guides for my new book. I thought of CliffsNotes from long ago, helping fellow students who were short on time or interest to grasp the basics of notable works. Curiosity quickly won. I pulled out my credit card, paid $9.99 plus tax for one of the offerings, and awaited its arrival in the mail.

The thin booklet got off to a reasonable enough start, explaining with its first sentence, “The U.S. media coverage that makes it easier to sell wars to the public, as well as the often-hidden cost of civilian casualties from errant U.S. attacks, are all harshly criticized by journalist Solomon.” That wasn’t a bad sum-up of my book.

But the study guide’s second sentence was not nearly as good: “He guarantees that when Russia designated Ukrainian communities during the new attack, the U.S. media was everyone available and jumping into action with compassionate, piercing revealing.” Rereading that sentence a few times didn’t improve it, and I began to worry.

To the extent that meaning could be grasped, the next pages seemed to include some praise: My book “constructs a convincing case that an excessive number of mysteries are being kept from people in general.” What’s more, “the creator presents a sharp and provocative outline of the outcomes of the media’s horrifying disappointments in spreading the word.”

But the study guide also included mild criticism amid the odd wording: “Solomon might have offered a fairly more profound examination of why American newscasting neglects to satisfy its beliefs in covering war and the justifications for why political pioneers could feel a sense of urgency to deal with misdirection while tending to people in general.”

The computer-programmed assaults on the English language escalated. And so, the “war on terror” became the “battle on dread.” A key source of meticulous research that I cited in my book, the Costs of War project at Brown University, became “the Expenses of War project at Earthy Colored College.”

At one point, my book’s actual title -- “War Made Invisible” -- shifted to “War Caused Imperceptible.” But the laughable malapropisms provided by artificial intelligence became more serious matters when I saw several dozen words forming badly mangled phrases -- all attributed to me -- inside quotation marks. I could imagine bleary-eyed students cramming on the night before a test or a term-paper deadline, reading the ostensible quotes and thinking that the author of my book must be an idiot.

Likewise, any would-be scholars seeking to glean the gist of the book’s themes in exchange for their $9.99 purchase will surely come away mystified at best after reading sentences like: “It’s totally unsuitable for writers to toe the conflict line for a really long time, and afterward, at last report, essentially, it tends to be informed years past the point of no return.”

I’m not among the authors who claim to never read reviews of their books. In fact, I remember them. So, I could recognize the uber-clumsy efforts of artificial intelligence that sifted through nearly a dozen reviews of “War Made Invisible,” lifting bits and pieces while weirdly substituting supposed synonyms to steer clear of plagiarism lawsuits.

So, let’s hear it for digital “free enterprise.” Or maybe that’s “unshackled business.” Nice AI work if you can get it.

Which brings us to a vastly more substantive matter. Artificial so-called intelligence is hardly immune to a dynamic that computer experts long ago dubbed “GIGO” -- garbage in, garbage out. With AI, no matter how sophisticated it might seem, the consequences in war are apt to be horrific. Six decades after Martin Luther King Jr. warned of “guided missiles and misguided men,” the missiles are even more terrible, the people ordering launches are no less misguided, and the mentalities bent on war are eager to twist AI technology for their own lethal purposes.

A couple of weeks ago, the Department of Defense announced “the establishment of a generative artificial intelligence task force, an initiative that reflects the DoD’s commitment to harnessing the power of artificial intelligence in a responsible and strategic manner.”

If they were still alive, the 4.5 million people who have died as direct and indirect results of U.S. wars since 9/11 might doubt how “responsible” the Defense Department’s manner has been.

Let’s hope that the people running the Pentagon’s task force for artificial intelligence didn’t graduate from Earthy Colored College.

AN IRISH LABORER ON THE PUBLIC WORKS in 1845-52 by Danny Howes

Accounts describe workers spending their final moments crawling along the roadside in the direction of their homes. Far from having their wants relieved, thousands of laborers had been effectively worked to death and the health of tens of thousands gravely affected. 

— ‘The Truth Behind The Irish Famine’: 72 paintings, 472 eyewitness quotes 

MADNESS: American Satirist C.J. Hopkins Sentenced in German Speech Case

by Matt Taibbi

Just when you may have thought things couldn’t get any crazier: American playwright and humorist C.J. Hopkins, profiled in this space on numerous occasions, has been sent a “punishment order” by a German judge, offering him a Sophie’s Choice of 60 days in jail or 3,600 euros. His crime? Essentially, insulting the German health minister in a tweet, and using a scarcely-visible image of a Swastika on a mask in a book critical of the global pandemic response, The Rise of the New Normal Reich. He was first accused of this “crime” in June, shortly after Roger Waters was placed under investigation for wearing his clearly satirical “Pink” costume in a stage performance in Berlin. As I wrote when C.J. was charged weeks later, authorities claim that through the use of the mask image, C.J. was “disseminating propaganda, the contents of which are intended to further the aims of a former National Socialist organization.”

The judge in C.J.’s case has already heard free-speech argumentation from his lawyer, and this technically being a non-jury misdemeanor offense, has already ruled against those arguments. C.J. will apparently have a chance to argue for mitigation, but the decree has already been handed down:

As noted previously, here are some images currently on sale in Germany that have not been made the subjects of hate speech prosecutions: No amount of drugs exist that if consumed would allow a rational person to conclude that the writing of C.J. Hopkins furthers “the aims of a former National Socialist Organization.” Agree with him or not, and I increasingly do, he used his imagery to compare the sweeping declarations of emergency power that were common around the world during the pandemic (and were particularly authoritarian in Germany) to Nazi tactics. He compared, for instance, the 2020 “Infection Protection Act” to the “Enabling Act of 1933,” which announced that to “remedy the distress of the people,” the “laws enacted by the government of the Reich may deviate from the constitution.”

C.J.’s real offense seems to be a response to a tweet by Die Welt, quoting German health minister Karl Lauterbach. Portrayed in full Sprockets-style smart-glasses glory, Lauterbach is shown saying, “The masks always send out a signal”:

C.J. retweeted the quote, adding the image from his book cover. That’s it, that’s the offense. No matter how you feel about that exchange, that is not “intended to further the aims of a former National Socialist organization.” That is using the negative connotations of Nazism to criticize a currently serving government official. I defy any American reporter to justify incarceration for this type of criticism of a still-serving politician. We’d have to build a separate Supermax just for people who used Hitler analogies during the Trump years, or published gleeful headlines like, “Lawsuit Reveals Trump Can’t Stand Being Compared to Hitler.”

The use of speech laws in this way recalls the way drug laws are applied in the U.S. We let stockbrokers blow as much coke as they want, out of the navels of exotic dancers if they like, but make possession a real crime in other contexts, effectively giving authorities a way to use an “offense” committed by many to selectively criminalize membership in certain groups, residency in certain neighborhoods, etc. As C.J. points out, the real problem is not so much with his case (although he’s certainly worried), but the now-open way in which such laws are being applied, from the prosecution of Julian Assange to the suppression of Covid speech and even the extra counts addressing “false statements” in tweets by Donald Trump.

We’ve already decided that Racket will help with C.J.’s fine if and when this matter is finally adjudicated, and we’ll keep you updated on the progress of the case, and on the progress of the many laws being considered to allow more prosecutions of this type in more parts of the world. Until then, some words from C.J., whom I reached this morning:

Matt Taibbi: What the fuck?

C.J. Hopkins: I’m relatively okay in that I just got the latest update from my lawyer yesterday, I guess.

Matt Taibbi: This is the same case? I’m not confusing this with something else?

C.J. Hopkins: You’re not. It’s the same case. It’s the weirdest thing. I’m just drafting a new thing about it. I think I wrote you, described the process a little bit, but yeah, this is just the next stage of the same case.

Matt Taibbi: So this essentially is about the use of the image on the cover, right?

C.J. Hopkins: It’s about the tweet… It’s the cover art from the book and it’s me going after the mask thing, like the one tweet I think, not exactly verbatim but pretty close, says the masks are nothing but ideological conformity symbols, and that’s all they’ve ever been. Stop pretending like they’re anything else or get used to wearing them. That’s one tweet. Then the other tweet was going after Karl Lauterbach, our health minister here. He tweeted his own tweet and his quote was, “The masks always send out a signal,” and so I just quoted it back to him and stuck the image from the book on the front as well. That’s it. It’s basically, I insulted the health minister of Germany and put a picture of a barely visible swastika online.

Matt Taibbi: You need an electron microscope to see it!

C.J. Hopkins: I’ve said it, I don’t know how many fucking times, it’s not illegal. Yes, if you’re a Nazi, it’s illegal to spread swastikas around in Germany. But if you’re doing art, if you’re commenting on history, if you’re selling a book, there are a whole slew of reasons for exceptions where people can and do use swastikas, which you put in your piece, you put examples of the book covers. My lawyer has made all these arguments to the prosecutor.

Matt Taibbi: And those arguments were rejected?

C.J. Hopkins: Not even addressed, really. It’s just we had a chance to respond first and then we asked them for the tweets. That’s when we got the tweets. Then my lawyer wrote an even longer and more detailed response citing the terms of law and explaining who I am and my whole history of published work that anybody could fucking look at and figure out who I am, and what my intentions are. And nothing. The next thing we got was called an Order of Punishment.

Matt Taibbi: Oh, my goodness.

C.J. Hopkins: We got it yesterday. Basically, the story is this judge has already decided what my punishment is, which is either 3,600 euros or 60 days in jail.

It’s so fucking Kafka-esque. So now the next step is that we go to “trial.” We go to trial where my lawyer will argue the exact same stuff that he’s already argued in written pleadings. He’ll argue that before the same judge that has already found me guilty and handed down this Order of Punishment.

Matt Taibbi: So this is sort of analogous to the process of being sentenced in the United States and asking for mitigation in sentencing?

C.J. Hopkins: I guess. I mean, I’m used to a trial where you go and you argue first and then they find you guilty. I guess the written argument was that was sufficient and so now I’m guilty. And yeah, I think that’s it. Because my lawyer is also talking about just getting the fine reduced.

Matt Taibbi: Is it going to affect your immigration status or your ability to live there?

C.J. Hopkins: I’m going to be a convicted fucking criminal, a hate criminal. I don’t think it can affect my ability to live here. I’ve got a permanent residence visa. Not that I want to stay. I spent the better part of yesterday standing on a bridge with my wife, talking about when and how I’m going to get the hell out of here. I don’t know, Matt, I don’t think that it can affect my residency status. I’ve got permanent residency. Who knows? Who knows at this point?

Matt Taibbi: Has there been any interest from media there or here?

C.J. Hopkins: Not major media… There’s a German journalist, Dirk Pohlmann, who was in the mainstream media here for many, many years. He runs his own independent thing now, and wrote up a piece on it. There’s another independent German journalist who writes for a mainstream Swiss paper. He lives in Switzerland. He wrote up something just on his Substack. It didn’t appear in his paper. I was grateful as hell for Europeans, because I didn’t expect a ton of stuff from the US. I thought that I might get some action here in Germany and it’s killing me. This country is fucking breaking my heart.

Matt Taibbi: Absent some kind of mitigation, you’re going to have to make a decision about paying or serving. Are you thinking about doing the time?

C.J. Hopkins: No. I thought about it originally and I thought, okay, I’ll make a statement. I’m going to be 62 years old in a couple of days. Life is too short to spend two months in an extremely overcrowded jail in Berlin.

Let me say one more thing before you go. My case is my case, but really the story here is this is happening all over. This is just this naked crushing of dissent and opposition. Look at what they’re doing to Trump in the States. Look at what they’re doing to Assange, to people much bigger than me. I think that’s the real story here, just this naked crushing of dissent and opposition.

Matt Taibbi: We’ll obviously want to keep tabs on your situation. Good luck and sorry you’re going through this. Hang in there.

C.J. Hopkins: Thanks.