Mendocino County Today: Saturday, Oct. 28, 2023

Frosty Morning | Printing Error | Boonfog | Rent/Work | Edie 115 | Crash Victims | Dan Gaffney | Fixing Problems | Cabrillo Parking | Measure B | Native Arts | Flawed Process | Albion Bridge | CEO Directive | Bad Timing | Wellness Circle | Hiring Freeze | Elmo McEntire | Ukiah Construction | Tannahill Weavers | Ed Notes | Remain Ignorant | Uncle Arthur | Moores Hearing | Golling | Goby | Love Bites | BC | Climate Corners | Forest Ghoul | Good Party | Pioneer Women | Hedgehog Closing | Candle Making | Bozeman 42 | Circle Dance | Beer/Candy Pairing | Timeless Jazz | Yesterday's Catch | Marco Radio | Madden 24 | Maine Killer | Gun Love | Stress Institute | Tragic Business | Frida & Diego | Genocide Defined | American Magazine | High-Tech Massacre | Cat Shirt | Gaza | First Karen | Sounds Brutal | Large Crowds

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE:

Yet another frosty morning will give way to dry and warming conditions. Valleys will return to the 70s with the coast in the 60s. Gusty east wind will gradually increase today peaking tonight at high elevations.

Frost Advisory remains in effect until 10 am this morning...

Critical Fire Weather Conditions Expected This Weekend: An exceptionally dry airmass will spread south across Northern California this weekend. In addition, east-northeast winds gusting from 30 to 50 mph are forecast to develop across the ridges of Northwest California. The dry air and strong winds will yield a critical fire weather threat tomorrow morning through Sunday afternoon, particularly from southern Trinity County south across eastern Mendocino and Lake Counties.

STEPHEN DUNLAP reporting from Fort Bragg: Mostly clear skies & 40F this Saturday morning on the coast. A quiet forecast thru Wednesday with moderate warming is about it. Rain returns later next week.

NOTICE TO COUNTY TAXPAYERS

It has come to our attention, taxpayers with more than one notice, could see errors on the tax bills, due to a printing error with the contracted vendor.

The corrected tax bills will be prepared and sent to you as soon as possible. To avoid any confusion, we kindly request you use the reprinted bill when sending in your payment.

We understand that errors like these can be inconvenient, and we sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.

If you have any questions or require further assistance, please do not hesitate to reach out to our Tax Collector's office at (707) 234-6875.

BILL KIMBERLIN: Driving down to Boonville for coffee this morning I tried to capture the fog lifting in the Valley. Sometimes there is nothing more dramatic than nature itself.

ANDREA LUM:

My husband can't do all the chores at our place off Nash Mill Rd in Philo this year as he is recovering from a kidney transplant last year. He is doing well (Phew!) but we do need some help at our place. In return for helping maintain the property, we are hoping someone (one person ideally) in the valley would be interested in living on the property in a rent/work arrangement. Rent would be negotiable and based on the seasonal chores and ability to help with some projects we have coming this year.

Detached, private cabin suitable for 1 person is 95% fully furnished, including the kitchen. You would just supply your own bed.

- very quiet site with private driveway and lockable gate off a maintained, dirt road 

- PG&E Electricity, furnace and wood stove. 

- AT&T will re-hook up the landline.

- NO cell or Internet. 

NOTE!! Our cabin is in a valley on a creek. There is Verizon signal to other parts of the property. If you need the Internet and can't live without the DING of your phone, this is not the opportunity for you. 

Other residents on the property, besides us, include one bear mom and one cub this year, deer, fox, turkey, skunk, slugs, sometimes fish in the creek and similar forest critters. If this is you or you know someone suitable, please contact me at (510) 684-0400 or send a private message. Available now. Thank you!

AT 115 AND COUNTING, EDIE CECCARELLI OF WILLITS Keeps Racking Up Honors For The Ages

by Chris Smith

Edie Ceccarelli of Willits keeps setting fantastic records, simply by waking each morning, eating, breathing and looking about at the world into which she was born in 1908.

At age 115, Edie is officially the oldest person in America, the third oldest on Earth. And just days ago, she established a new record as the oldest confirmed Californian — ever.

That distinction was held by Christian Mortensen, who died in San Rafael in 1998 at the age of 115 years and 252 days.

As of Saturday, Edie will be 115 years and 265 days old.

She lives in a small care home in Willits, her birthplace. Though her memory and awareness have largely slipped away, she enjoys her meals and being nicely dressed and groomed.

On Thursday, researchers with the Los Angeles-based Gerontology Research Group, Natalie Coles and Robert Young, visited Edie. They drew blood for a bio-bank that researchers hope will reveal insights into why a relative few people live to 110 and beyond — and to assist in advancements to allow others to live and remain vital longer.

(pressdemocrat.com)

COVELO PLANE CRASH CLAIMS LIVES OF JETBLUE PILOT AND PARTNER: Young Families Seek Support Through Gofundme Campaigns

Last Friday, on October 20, a Beechcraft A-36 plane crashed west of Covelo killing two individuals. The victims of this tragic incident have been identified as Utah residents, JetBlue pilot Vaughn Porter, 54, and his girlfriend, Jamie Redford Rust, 52. Families of both the victims have now posted GoFundMe campaigns to help cover the expenses arising from the deaths of their loved ones.…

kymkemp.com/2023/10/27/covelo-plane-crash-claims-lives-of-jetblue-pilot-and-partner-young-families-seek-support-through-gofundme-campaigns/

JODIE BUSCHMAN: Today's email delivered the Legacy.com remembrance of Dan Gaffney. I believe that Mr Gaffney was one of, if not, the most well respected teacher and coach that taught at AVHS. Students that knew Mr Gaffney probably have a memory, maybe a cherished memory even. In the classroom, or on the field or court, his dedication to the task was obvious; although sometimes not until later in some of our lives. Two memories come to mind; Mr Gaffney was the one to share in my 9th grade English class of the death of JFK and it hit pretty hard it seemed. And on the field or court, if he wanted you over to him, he would with one hand point his index finger with thumb high in the air like a pistol, point at you and cock his thumb back towards himself, there was no doubt that friendly but firm advice was coming. I smile when I think of Mr Gaffney.

FIXING PROBLEMS, STARTING WITH THE CUBBISON AFFAIR

by Jim Shields

Before getting down to the business at-hand today, I want to let you know that all politics aside, I am personally embarrassed to live and work in a county that is as dysfunctional as this one appears to be.

Our elected representatives and their staff far too often flummox themselves and disrupt the orderliness of the governing process by creating problems seemingly out of thin air. Many cases on point, but we’ll just talk about one today.

At the last BOS meeting on Oct. 17, the county’s ever-escalating fiscal dilemma was propelled even further into chaos when the Supes unanimously suspended, without pay or benefits, Chamise Cubbison, the elected Treasurer-Tax Collector/Auditor-Controller. Both Cubbison, and Paula June Kennedy, the county’s former payroll manager, are facing charges they allegedly misappropriated $68,106 in public funds beginning in 2019. In fact, on the same day of the BOS meeting, Cubbison and Kennedy were in court awaiting their arraignment. However, the arraignment was postponed until Oct. 31 to provide Ms Kennedy the opportunity to arrange representation by the Public Defender’s Office.

What I said last week was the Board should have postponed taking any action against Cubbison pending the completion of the preliminary hearing. That way they would have had the opportunity to review what kind of evidence the D.A. was relying on, and whether the judge found it sufficient to proceed to trial. Who knows, the judge may have found the D.A. had insufficient evidence to hold Cubbison over for trial.

Additionally, Ms. Cubbison has both substantive and procedural rights that were denied her by the BOS. At minimum, she was entitled to the opportunity to appear before the Board and respond to the proposed action prior to the vote being consummated by the Supes. Cubbison was never put on proper notice that the Board was planning to take action by suspending her from office. In fact, that very action item was only placed on the agenda subsequent to the Board opening the meeting on the morning of the Oct. 17 meeting. The Board had an affirmative obligation to notify Cubbison that her tenure in an elected position was in imminent peril.

The Supervisors took on the role of a constitutional wrecking crew in their rush to judgment on Cubbison.

Evidently, their pricey San Francisco-based law firm, pinch-hitting for the nine lawyers in the Mendocino County Counsel’s Office, re-advised the Supervisors that the very same advice that I offered them (at no charge, of course), was the required remedial action to clean up the constitutional walloping occurring at the Oct. 17 meeting.

So at the upcoming Board meeting this Tuesday, Oct. 31, the Supes will attempt to cure ill-advised, illegal action taken at the earlier meeting.

Here’s the proposed corrective action to be taken at the meeting:

“4e) Discussion and Possible Action Regarding Auditor-Controller Treasurer Tax Collector’s Suspension: Board of Supervisors will Provide Opportunity for Auditor-Controller Treasurer Tax Collector to Present Any Information in Response to Suspension Pursuant to Government Code Section 27120, and May Take Action in Response to Presentation.”

I shall now very briefly offer another piece of free legal advice to the Supervisors.

The legal advice offered by the Bay Area law is at best the most elastic of stretches. There is no relevant case law to support reliance on Government Code Section 27120 for the action taken in the Cubbison affair.

Section 27120 reads as follows: “Whenever an action based upon official misconduct is commenced against the county treasurer, the board of supervisors may suspend him from office until the suit is determined. The board may appoint some person to fill the vacancy, who shall qualify and give such bond as the board determines.”

Dispensing with all of the deep weeds growing around the legislative history of Sec. 27120, it is an antiquated provision found in the 1879 California Constitution that appears to have been mistakenly carried forward when the State Legislature in 1943, acting upon a 1942 statewide initiative, “modernized” and updated the 1879 California Constitution. That provision reflected on a county government structure and organization that no longer existed in 1943.

A new Government Code was created in 1943, and one of its provisions, Section 1770, addresses one aspect of the Cubbison affair:

“Division 4. Public officers and employees [1000 – 3599]; (Division 4 enacted by Stats. 1943, Ch. 134. )l Gov. Code Section 1770. An office becomes vacant on the happening of any of the following events before the expiration of the term:

(h) His or her conviction of a felony or of any offense involving a violation of his or her official duties. An officer shall be deemed to have been convicted under this subdivision when trial court judgment is entered. For purposes of this subdivision, ‘trial court judgment’ means a judgment by the trial court either sentencing the officer or otherwise upholding and implementing the plea, verdict, or finding.”

Another option for Mendocino County centers on the suspension from office issue. Currently, the County has no ordinance or resolution covering this type of authority.

Again without a deep dive into muddling waters over a county’s status as a general law or charter county, I believe Mendocino has the authority to establish a local provision addressing the suspension from office issue.

Here’s an example of such a provision established by Alameda County:

“Sec. 20.5:The Board of Supervisors shall have the authority to suspend an elected county officer who has been charged by information or indictment with a felony related to misconduct in office, pending the trial of such charges. Such authority to suspend shall be exercised by the adoption by resolution of the Board of Supervisors of a declaration of intention to suspend such official, which declaration shall set forth the grounds upon which such action is proposed to be taken and specify the time and place of the meeting at which the Board of Supervisors will meet to consider such action, which hearing shall be held not less than 5 days after the adoption of such resolution. The Clerk of the Board of Supervisors shall immediately furnish a copy of such resolution to such officer by delivering it to him personally, or by mailing a copy thereof by registered mail to his official business address and to his residence address. If the charges are sustained by not less than a majority of the members of the Board of Supervisors, such officer shall be suspended forthwith without compensation pending the trial of such charges, and the Board of Supervisors shall appoint a qualified person to discharge the duties of the office during the period of such suspension, and require the person so appointed to furnish an official bond in an amount to be fixed by the Board of Supervisors. (Amendment ratified June 7, 1966. In effect February 27, 1967.)”

Hopefully, county officials will accept this advice in the spirit it is given. That is, it’s time to stop causing problems and start solving them.

MEASURE B FUND STATUS: INCOMPLETE STAFF WORK AGAIN

by Mark Scaramella

Item 4c on Tuesday’s Board agenda: 

“Discussion and Possible Action Including Acceptance of Ad Hoc Report; and Possible Direction to Staff Regarding Measure B Funds for Substance Use Services Request for Proposal #018-23 for Innovative Continuum of Care Programs for Youth and /or Adults to Help Clients Achieve and Maintain Sobriety and Mendocino County Jail Behavioral Health Wing (Sponsors: Supervisor Mulheren and Supervisor Haschak)”

This item was requested at the last Board meeting when the Board directed staff to look at the actual cost of Ford Street expansion project proposal, determine the balance of Measure B funds, and see what portion could be used to finish the new jail wing, if any. An opinion on the legality of using Measure B money for the new jail wing was also requested.

Attached to Tuesday’s agenda item is a powerpoint presenation that purports to be responsive to that request. But it’s not. 

Specifically, the presentation simply says that there is $6,366,639 (down to the dollar) in “Unallocated Capital Facility Funds.” But there’s no breakdown of how they arrived at that number. A proper presentation would have shown how much Measure B sales tax money has been received, how much has already been spent, how much is allocated and for what, and how much is allocated for services. (The text of Measure B specifically says that not less than 25% of the money is to be spent on services, not facilities.) It was also supposed to include state grant funds and opioid settlement funds.

The presentation says that over $25 million is allocated for the Psychiatric Health Facility (PHF), and that an almost $9.4 million state grant has been awarded for the PHF but there’s an important note: “grant dollars are not guaranteed” and they “are not paid up front” but only reimbursed after they’re spent). They don’t specify how much in total money is available. There’s no mention of how much has already been spent on the minimally used Redwood Valley Training Facility and the Crisis Residential Treatment facility on Orchard Avenue in Ukiah. (Probably around $6 million.) Supervisor Mulheren had also asked back on October 17 that opioid settlement funds be included in the rundown. They are not. 

Most of the rest of the presentation is a detailed breakdown of the Ford Street facilities project — an obvious attempt to sell the Board on the benefits of the project and the value of handing over several million Measure B dollars. (But none of it would go to services.)

A proper presentation would begin with the available funds (Measure B plus the state grant of $9.4 million and the already borrowed $10 million, plus the opiod settlement money whatever that is.) Then itemized deductions would be listed for admin costs (spent and not yet spent but allocated), the Training Facility, the (overpriced) Crisis Residential Treatment Facility, the overpriced PHF, the Ford Street expansion project, and the 25% reserved for services. (Measure B specifically called for an annual audit to be overseen by the (nearly defunct) “oversight committee.” But there has never been an audit, despite lip-service that one should be have been done.)

What will probably happen, however, is that the Board will jump on the ill-defined unallocated funds estimate of about $6.4 million and declare that a big chunk of it will be shifted to the new jail wing because they are all convinced that they can’t pay for the ever-increasing jail expansion any other way. Legalities will be glossed over. The requirement that 25% of the money be spent on services will be ignored. Ideas like Adam Gaska’s suggestion that they “borrow” Measure B money and pay it back later will not even come up. Nor will anyone point out that there’s no need for a 16-bed PHF(eight beds should be plenty for Mendo cases) other than Behavioral Health Director Jenine Miller’s insistance that the only way to pay for staffing its subsquent operation is to build it at 16 beds and rent more than half of it to out-of-county paying patients. 

As usual, despite their recent $150k “Strategic Plan,” Mendo isn’t capable of any kind of comprehensive planning, much less a comprehensive, responsive report on Measure B funds. As we have pointed out before, all they do is react haphazardly to edicts from the state, contort their own rules to fit whatever is in front of them at any given time, flaunt the voter approved measures, and try to repair their own self-created mistakes after they arise month after month. 

As Measure B committee member Shannon Riley noted at the last Measure B committee meeting, they have not spent “one nickel” on services. At the rate they’re going now it’s unlikely that they ever will.

A FLAWED PROCESS

Letter to the Editor,

I was present at the October 17th BOS meeting and watched how the board handled Item 4D, the Behavioral Health and Recovery Services (BHRS) recommendation to move forward working with Ford Street Project’s Substance Use Services Request for Proposal to financially support the Ukiah Recovery Expansion Project. Ford Street has already secured $3 million for the first phase of the $7.1 million project and is looking for $4.1 million to complete the project. 

Instead of deciding to approve or deny the request from BHRS and the Mental Health Treatment Act Citizens’ Oversight Committee, aka the Measure B Committee, some of the supervisors attacked Ford Street’s director, Jackie Williams, over a lack of a budget; they questioned the cost estimate of the project, and the funding requested. Then the BOS promoted their own proposal to use the Measure B funds to help fund a behavioral health wing of the new jail expansion. County Counsel is researching whether Measure B funds can even be used to fund the jail. 

I understand that we need a new jail. Our old jail has outlived its engineered lifespan and a new jail is necessary for the health and safety of inmates and officers. The estimated construction cost of the new jail has increased beyond the original $26 million estimate but the $25 million funding commitment from the State has not. The County will ultimately pay the difference unless additional funding is secured. I don’t dispute any of this. 

What I dispute is the process. Measure B was passed to fund mental health services including building new facilities. The Measure B committee is supposed to oversee the funds generated from our taxes, vet project proposals, and bring projects deemed worthy of funding to the board for final approval. During the BOS meeting, it looked as though the board was looking to usurp the role of the Measure B committee. This doesn’t sit well with me. 

I watched the Measure B committee meeting Wednesday and saw the effort to work around the process codified in the Mental Health Treatment Act continue. There was a request for Support from the Measure B Committee for construction of the Behavioral Health Wing of the Mendocino County Jail on the agenda. Agenda items are supposed to be within the purview of the board or committee. There is no proposal before the committee to use Measure B funds to fund a portion of the new jail. The request for support was more than a symbolic gesture. It was an attempt to pressure the Measure B committee to fund a portion of the cost of the new jail without going through the proper procedures set forth to secure funding for projects. Regardless of the merits of the project, it should follow the same process that Ford Street has and that process should not be unduly undermined by the BOS which effectively circumvents the responsibility and authority of the Measure B committee. I want to thank committee members Shannon Riley and Sherrie Ebyam for asserting the duty of the committee to follow due process. 

In our democracy, there are reasons we have checks and balances. They ensure fairness, reduce mistakes, and decrease the risk of the consolidation of power. The merit of Ford Street’s project should continue to be vetted through the Measure B committee. If the jail project wants to seek funding, it should bring a proposal to the Measure B committee. The BOS should be patient and not interfere or intervene on behalf of other projects before they go through the Measure B committee. 

Adam Gaska

Candidate for 1st District Supervisor

MEMO OF THE WEEK

October 31, 2023 

To: The Board of Supervisors Re: Directive #23-04 

During the June 20, 2023, Board of Supervisors meeting, the CEO was directed by General Consensus Of The Board to direct staff to 1.) publish a progress indicator on how many parcels have been assessed, 2.) total dollar amount assessed, and 3.) staffing levels of appraisers in each Edition of the CEO Report, with a goal of closing the gap and reaching 85 percent (currently at or around 70 percent) over the next 24 months. 

1.) No information or data was provided from the department.

2.) No information or data was provided from the department.

3.) Below are the Staffing Levels from June 25, 2023 through October 14, 2023. 

The Executive Office has contacted the Assessor-Clerk-Recorder-Registrar of Voters to request an update. The Assessor-Clerk-Recorder-Registrar of Voters will provide a verbal update during the Board of Supervisors meeting. 

Sincerely, 

Darcie Antle

Chief Executive Officer County of Mendocino 

BAD TIMING, AGAIN

Editor,

Have you noticed that the agenda for the Board of Supervisors meeting that begins at 9:00 AM next Tuesday the 31st includes Item 4e: “... Board of Supervisors will Provide Opportunity for Auditor-Controller Treasurer Tax Collector to Present Any Information in Response to Suspension ...”, sponsored by “Chair McGourty.” 

Uhhh, is the Board somehow not aware that the court hearing for the same Auditor-Controller Treasurer Tax Collector to plea on the charge by the DA of misappropriation of public funds has been scheduled since over a week ago for ... 9:00 AM on Tuesday the 31st also? 

I thought the public should know (and have the opportunity to attend the latter, Courtroom A. See you there.) 

Stephen Scalmanini 

Ukiah 

SUPERVISOR WILLIAMS: 

Mendocino BOS - Oct 31 - item 4F

Discussion and Possible Action Regarding Direction to Human Resources to Enact a Hiring Freeze Except for Core Mandated Services in Public Safety Departments and Other Exceptions on a Case-by-Case Need Supported by Data, and Removal of Allocated Positions; Direct Departments to Take Action to Reduce the Number of Management Positions in Departments where the Management-to-Staff Ratio is Less than One-to-Six and Other Reductions in Staffing and Overtime Is Not to Be Authorized Except for Core Mandated Services and Provide Authority to the County of Mendocino’s Chief Executive Officer to Initiate Departmental Structural Changes to Increase Efficiencies and Cost Savings

(Sponsor: Supervisor Williams)

Recommended Action/Motion:

Approve direction to Human Resources to enact a hiring freeze except for core mandated services in Public Safety Departments and other exceptions on a case-by-case need supported by data, and removal of allocated positions; direct departments to take action to reduce the number of management positions in departments where the management-to-staff ratio is less than one-to-six; other reductions in staffing and overtime is not to be authorized except for core mandated services and provide authority to the County of Mendocino’s Chief Executive Officer to initiate departmental structural changes to increase efficiencies and cost savings.

Mendocino County cannot address low wages, Public Safety needs, roads, infrastructure, and preparation for the next recession while our staff size continues to increase. Exceptions to a hiring freeze can be requested for core mandated services in non-public safety departments on a case-by-case basis as necessary. Take action to reduce the number of management positions in departments where the management-to-staff ratio is less than one-to-six. Overtime should not be authorized except for core mandated services. Natural attrition combined with modernization of processes will increase sustainability during the next economic downturn, increase budget for infrastructure upgrades, and encourage modernization.

UKIAH CONSTRUCTION UPDATES FOR THE WEEK OF OCTOBER 30:

Note: The construction in the area of Bush/Low Gap is for the expansion of the recycled water system. 

On the south side (Mill to Gobbi), crews are working to install new storm drains along the west side of the street and replace the sewer main; work will progress from south (Gobbi) to the north (near Mill). No interruptions to utility service are anticipated.

Looking ahead a little further, we’ll start to see the project extend south toward Cherry Street. Beginning mid-November, work will begin to replace the sewer lines, which are located roughly in the center of State Street. Both directions of travel will remain open, and driveways are not expected to be impacted.

On the north side (Norton to Henry), lots of work is happening on the sidewalks. The entire east side has been demolished, and new curbs and gutters are being framed. Sidewalk demolition has also begun on the west side, with base rock being installed immediately after demo for pedestrian access. Following that, electric lines, irrigation lines, and pouring the concrete curbs and gutters…and finally new sidewalks. This work is progressing much more quickly than it did in Phase One, as there are fewer intersections to contend with. There are four separate crews, all mobilized at the same time. It’s a race against the weather now…as concrete work cannot be done when it’s too cold and wet.

Wishing you all a great weekend and a happy Halloween!

ED NOTES

I LIKED it so much as an example of why print newspapers have died I’ve kept a copy of Pete Golis’ column in a long ago Sunday Press Democrat. Pete’s think piece was called, “Why I Like High School Kids, and memorably begins, “Fifteen million Americans attend high school every day. Two weeks ago, two of them committed a horrific crime, and the other 14,999,998 did not.” (Only because of the metal detectors at the door of the little red school house, Pete.) Golis goes on “to introduce you to the 130 Sonoma County high school seniors who came together 10 days ago for this newspaper’s annual Youth Service Awards ceremony.” 

RECOMMENDED reading or listening: “I Married A Communist” by Philip Roth. Roth’s wonderful (and very funny) novel provides a better assessment of the 1950’s political hysteria in 450 pages than the thousands of non-fiction books on the subject. The audio version is terrific too.

WAYNE McGIMSEY. I was thinking about Wayne the other day because his passing was one more link to a vanished Anderson Valley. A kind and gentle man, Mr. McGimpsey was among The Valley’s most knowledgeable historians and perhaps its most precise geographer. “Wayne,” as he preferred to be called, knew every spring, creek, Indian village site, every old trail in Anderson Valley and seemed to have a story about each of them. He had worked at a wide variety of jobs in purely local industries which have either disappeared — such as tan bark harvesting — or are no longer done the way Wayne learned them. The lean, perpetually amused descendent of pioneer settlers, Wayne carried his work history in his hands, which were as large and gnarly as old catcher’s mitts. Wayne had worked as a faller when there were still old trees to be taken down; he’d herded cattle through the middle of Boonville to the Cloverdale train station; he’d run sheep in the days ranchers camped in the hills with their flocks and had bred famous lines of the amazing dogs that worked the sheep; he’d hunted bear not far from the Yorkville Post Office; and he’d fished in the not quite mythical days when the salmon ran in Anderson Valley’s streams “so thick you could walk across them to the other side.” And he was still cutting his own firewood and rolling his own Bugle cigarettes until his last housebound months. Many artifacts of the old days now on exhibit at the Boonville Fairgrounds (directly across the street from his house) were donated to the community by the old outdoorsman who’d spent many hours of his life roaming The Valley collecting everything from Indian spear heads to old logging tools. Wayne was as generous with his time as he was with his marvellous collections of local history’s tangibles. His passing is mourned by people throughout Mendocino County who knew him as one of the last true old timers, born, raised and buried in Anderson Valley.

THE MERE RUMOR that DA Eyster might run for superior court judge against Clay Brennan has inspired such terror in Mendolib they've gone full high school in what they probably think is an effective pre-emptive strike at the fearsome district attorney, publishing a veritable Who's Who of "progressive" Mendocino County.

THE PROB with public lists of supporters is that they inspire counter-terror in many more people who spot one or more names among Brennan supporters and say to themselves, "If that bastard is supporting him, I'm voting for Eyster," which was my impulse probably fifty times as I scrolled through the roster of Team Brennan.

OF COURSE if Eyster dared name his supporters it would be even more terrifying than the softy-wofties Mendolib has amassed on short notice, as Eyster, like most DAs, garners auto-support from the local forces of fear and guns. Mendolib thinks Democrats are the way forward while the rest of us believe the evidence of our senses that things have gone terribly awry in our land of souring milk and chemically fouled honey. And Democrats are half the problem. (I'm voting for Cornel West, having cast my last Democrat vote for George McGovern.)

COULD EYSTER beat Brennan? Probably. Judge elections are county-wide, and beyond the Mendocino Coast and the Westside of Ukiah nobody has heard of Judge Brennan, who presides in far away Fort Bragg.

THE DA'S pursuit of Chamise Cubbison has seriously derailed him, and has probably killed whatever hope he may have had for a superior court sinecure.

A FINE HISTORIAN’S LIFE’S WORK

Dear Mark Scaramella,

I have read your praises of my uncle Arthur’s work several times and passed on some of those references to my four cousins. It means so much to them as they lost their father much too early in their lives when he died of rare brain cancer in Berkeley in 1997.

My aunt Barney has offered to send me more copies of his works as she is moving and I wanted to share them with any interested readers.

I can be reached by email.

Sincerely,

Andrea Hadik

Fort Bragg

BILL MOORES’ IRISH BEACH PERMIT REVOCATION HEARING on November 9, 2023

A reader writes: This is a hearing that was postponed from September at the request of Moores’ attorney.

Public Hearing Notice Of Pending Action Revocation Of Standard Coastal Development Permit

mendocinocounty.org/home/showpublisheddocument/61164

mendocinocounty.org/home/showpublisheddocument/60191/638285566400570000?fbclid=IwAR2aej-x2W7oT-6yR-cCCqHZR2Ddd8qv3bMkB4zY316-GJS1st9anAfLdmU

mendocinocounty.org/home/showpublisheddocument/60456/638301027804630000?fbclid=IwAR3Vv8zrUgBT-iMUCzBBnmwiPq6Jrh8R9aAnDngDiyyNxVEl5BHADZwtxiA

mendocinocounty.org/home/showpublisheddocument/60490/638302771452000000?fbclid=IwAR3Z_ySsg5DCZgvrlzjt5Uz16GhbGY2xiGqkJXWrRtli1TY_zZ23XO7QWTA

JEFF GOLL: Good to see Matt Taibbi riled up about Sen Amy Klob(Blob)ucher's letter to Jeff Bezos asking for "proactive measures" to suppress sites like Substack or Rumble. With Legacy Media losing altitude, censorship would be their next course. Speaking of censorship, the Palestinian Telecommunications Company confirmed today "cessation of all communications and internet services" within the Gaza Strip. Cease fire? What cease fire?

BEWARE THE BETTER LIFE

Hello,

Thanks to Mazie Malone for the positive words about my plight. What Mr. Dorner said about me is completely false. I never brutalized his daughter or the cats. To clear things up, I was charged with domestic assault on his daughter Brianna Haley Dorner five years ago. Yes. But I was acquitted of all charges because the judge found me not the primary aggressor.

The situation where I supposedly brutalized Haley was after me and her dad had argument shortly after I moved in over her insecurity with me thinking just because I still talk to my daughter's mother who at the time lived in New York which in her mind meant I was cheating on her. She started throwing my things out the upstairs window. So I stepped in her way and stood in the doorway of the closet. She then began to beat on my chest. I then grabbed her wrists to get her to stop hitting me. She proceeded to bite me on my chest on my left side. I finally got her mouth off my chest but she removed a 3.5 inch piece of flesh. I managed to spin her around and put her in a four-point restraint hold. That's what George is referring to as my brutality. This was early in the relationship between her and me. It lasted close to five years after that incident.

As far as the cats, let me tell you Shade Cloud Walker Beck and Magick Bear originally started out as mine. It was me who found both of them and brought them home and took care of them. Mr. Dorner only paid for them to get fixed which was against my wishes. He stole my best friends when he finally convinced Haley to kick me out for good. I can't lie. George did help me by allowing me to stay with them but I know he never liked me because every night I would hear him talking trash on me. I'm sure it was because he was afraid I would take his daughter away from him. George has two daughters, one is Haley and one will be left unnamed. Both daughters he had abandoned for years so he is not without his faults. He has no right to judge me or say I'm a vandal. I am only facing vandalism charges because I chose not to be a snitch and tell who really did it.

Mr. Dorner's daughter Haley has been screwing my life up in many ways. I lost my job as an anger management counselor at Manzanita Services over her vendetta with me. Now Haley works at Building Bridges homeless shelter, the only shelter in Ukiah, and yet again because of her I am homeless because of another lie told to the managers of the shelter. I was kicked out and put on an indefinite denial of services. That means I can't get a bed, do laundry, take a shower, use the bathroom or clinic services. I can't even be on the property. She told the director she didn't feel safe with me talking about our past which I find to be total BS. I think she actually is either just embarrassed or ashamed to admit that we were together and that she alone is responsible for the situation I am currently in. I also know she is responsible for another resident losing his bed because of her unprofessionalism and unfaithfulness in her marriage to her husband who is dying from cancer. But I'm not writing a smear campaign letter. I am simply trying to clear my name that George so blatantly tried to slander and to explain to the readers why I'm in this situation I'm currently in.

Screw you George for trying to lie and slander me thinking I would not try to clear the air. Please keep your old ass mouth shut about things you don't know the actual or whole truth about because you might come to realize that what you say about people could either get them severely hurt or just make you end up looking like an ignorant retarded old fool.

I meant what I said in my last article letter. I really do want to make a better life for myself and my kids and will accept any and all help any one of you kind-hearted folks could offer me.

Thanks again and God bless.

Sincerely,

Warren Beck

Mendocino County Jail

Ukiah

* * *

GEORGE DORNER RESPONDS: I can appreciate how the Good Samaritan would have felt, if after rescuing the ill, starving beggar from the ditch, the rescued vagrant had turned around and punched him in the face. My original post was intended as a heads up warning for the feminine gender. His rage-filled ranting reply above shows you who he is. Beware.

DEBUT OF CLIMATE CORNERS AT LIBRARY BRANCHES

County of Mendocino and Sonoma Clean Power Launch Climate Awareness Campaign

In 2021, the County of Mendocino made a monumental commitment to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions. The Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a Net Zero Carbon Resolution which dedicates $2 million towards lowering carbon emissions from County government operations.

In 2022, one of Mendocino County’s first actions was to upgrade its facilities, including all eligible library branches, to Sonoma Clean Power’s 100% renewable and locally generated 24/7 EverGreen service. By using local solar energy during the day and geothermal energy at night, the county has reduced its carbon emissions by over 75,000 pounds of CO2 so far.

To inspire the public to reduce their own carbon footprint, the Mendocino County Library and Sonoma Clean Power have partnered to launch "Climate Corners," a climate change awareness campaign highlighting ways to take climate action and save energy at home.

The displays in each library branch offer climate-related books for all ages and Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Energy and Water Saving Toolkits which are available for checkout. The catalog of climate books has been expanded at every branch with funding from Sonoma Clean Power. Each DIY toolkit comes with free supplies, including LED lightbulbs, weather stripping, and low-flow showerheads, as well as tools to help measure energy and water use in your home, including a Kill-a-Watt meter and flow rate bag.

“Our county’s commitment to reducing our environmental impact and improving our long-term sustainability stems further than just our own facilities. We want our community to be part of this movement too,” says Supervisor Dan Gjerde.

“The Climate Corners at our local libraries are a reminder that we cannot ignore the climate crisis, and they are also a place for people to get informed and empowered to take action,” Gjerde added.

In addition to the library Climate Corners and the upgrade to EverGreen, the County intends to electrify its vehicle fleet, improve the energy-efficiency of its facilities, expand access to public electric vehicle charging, and simplify the permitting process for solar panel systems.

For more information about the Climate Corners, visit www.mendolibrary.org or contact the Mendocino County Cultural Services Agency at 234-2873.

THE GOOD PARTY, THE BAD PARTY, & THE UGLY PARTY

Dear Editor

I greatly enjoyed your collection of hot air from supervisor candidate Trevor Mockel. I'm guessing I'll stop laughing about the plenitude of his platitudes when I meet the man. I imagine your outrage may be rightly in reaction to all five supervisors endorsing him, which seems way outside what they should have done. It looks bad when any elected board tries to control any election, much less one to pick a new member of their own ruling group! Lawdy! It's very uncommon and inappropriate for any supervisor or councilperson outside of the retiring one to try to control who they will work with like this. It even looks bad for the departing supervisor to do this, but nothing compared to all five!

Based solely on the entertaining list of blather you published from him, Sako's one word letter to the editor said it best. “Vapid.”

On that front I was bombarded with Facebook ads recently for something called “The Good Party.” John will need to go back to the lexicon for a big brother word to Vapid for this outfit. I asked three questions on their Facebook page, full of jolly endorsements from people or bots thrilled with whatever the Good Party is doing. My questions:. 

1. Who is funding The Good Party? 

2. Can you name me one person who is involved with running The Good Party? 

3. Can you give me one policy position?

Posting that got me banned from their page with no explanation. So I went to their web page, goodparty.org, which seems to boost some sort of apologetic liberalism, although it could be remorseful conservatism, I can't tell from the storm of cliches, platitudes and other twaddle.

Web searching for articles did no good. There are thousands of "Good Party" references on the web, especially about the right wing party of Turkey, which translates to "Good Party" in English. There is also a Good Party in South Africa and unrelated catering companies by that unfortunate name in Toronto, Chicago and Mobile, Alabama. There is also a song by that name authored by an aspiring singer who goes by the name "Jack."

I still want to know the who, what, when, where and especially Why? Who exactly sets out to change the world and says, what would be a good name? I have got it!! "Good Party." The name would be more interesting and credible if they lost one of the O's.

I am reminded of a trick of old mobsters with long last names. Change their name to John Smith or Bob Johnson. This made searching out their work harder for police or journalists.

At goodparty.org, this tragically rhyming message screams under the "About" tab.

Good Party is not a political party! We're building tools to change the rules and a movement of people to disrupt the corrupt!

Their slogan is "The movement to make people matter more than money."

I think they trump Trump or your candidate in the realms of the vapid.

I would have ignored them if they had not banned my post on Facebook for asking who was funding this, who was running it and can you please give me one specific? Irritated minds want to know: What the heck?

Frank Hartzell

Cleone

HER SIDE OF THE STORY: 

Tales of California Pioneer Women will show at the Mendocino County Museum from October 28, to December 23, 2023. The traveling exhibit features 30 first-person accounts collected from women who traveled by land or sea to settle throughout California prior to January 1, 1854.

For more information visit: mendocinocounty.org/departments/cultural-services-agency/museum/exhibits

HEDGEHOG CLOSING SALE

Dear Friends of Hedgehog Books.

As you likely know by now, Hedgehog Books will not re-open, primarily due to a projected long recovery after my surgery 6 months ago. I wanted to let you know that we are having the first of a couple of sales this Friday - Sunday, roughly 11am to 3pm, or as long as the sign is out and the weather holds.

The books are stellar, and the bargains are fantastic! Books outside on the deck are 50 cents each or $5 per bag. Inside books are 1/2 price - most used books will be $1.50, and new books will be 50% off the cover price. If you still have shop credit, even better! Come on in and use it up! Or come on by to say farewell to the hedgehogs. I have loved every moment of the past 5 years of Hedgehog Books, and I'm so sad to say goodbye.

I will keep my hand in the book business by continuing to procure books for folks, so if you have any special orders, feel free to drop me an email, and I will be happy to find what you're looking for.

Wishing you all the best. With gratitude for your support and book-ish enthusiasm,

Dawn Emery Ballantine Hedgehog Books <hedgehogboonville@gmail.com>

AVHS CANDLE MAKING

Holiday Fun: Sunday November 5th and Sunday November 26th, 2023 1-4p:

Welcome the Holiday Season with Candle Making festivities. Bring your family and create a festive candle for your holidays. Cookies and Cider will add to the fun on these winter afternoons. Little Red Schoolhouse museum, 12340 Highway 128, Boonville FREE

CIRCLE UP!

Circle dance this Sunday in Mendocino: All welcome!

Greetings! Join us for Circle Dancing this Sunday (10/29), 3-to-5pm at the Mendocino Community Center. $5 donation is encouraged. We will be dancing near Halloween and the Day of the Dead, so bring thoughts and mentos from your beloved dead to add to the center if you would like.

Re Covid safety, we are aiming for that elusive living-with-Covid balance of safety and comfort. So, masking in our circle is strongly recommended (we have many dancers over 65 or who care for the vulnerable), but if you feel discomfort wearing a mask, there is this alternative: use an antigen (home 15 minute) test the day of Circle Dance. If you test negative you are very very unlikely to be contagious and safe enough to dance mask free. (Gwen will have a few tests on site in case you do not have one at home)

No previous experience or partners necessary! All dances are taught before each one.

Dance is one of the oldest ways in which people celebrate community and togetherness, and the circle is the oldest dance formation. Circle Dance mixes traditional folk dances with new choreography's set to a variety of music both ancient and modern. Dances can be slow and meditative or lively and energetic.

Circle Dance groups are a grass roots phenomenon, with hundreds of dance circles in the US, England, and throughout the world. The Mendocino group has been dancing every month for over 30 years. As one dancer put it, “We are doing what people have been doing for millennia, on beaches, in forest glens, around campfires-- dancing together in circles to express joy, passion, solidarity, pain and faith.”

For more information on Sacred Circle Dance go to http://www.CircleDancing.com 

For local info contact Devora Rossman at drossman@mcn.org

BOO(NT)!

Celebrate Halloween with our beer-candy pairing guide

Brews & Sweets Pairing Guide We asked our Brewmaster Fal Allen if he had any recommendations for pairing Halloween candy with AVBC beers. And of course he had some thoughts! From the best beer to bring out the salty sweet crunch of a Snickers to what exactly should be paired with Twizzlers, here is your guide on how to eat all of your kids Halloween candy.

Huge Arker Day

After twelve long months spent barrel aging and acquiring the superhuman strength of 15.5% ABV, Huge Arker Day welcomes back the Huge Arker on November 4th. Mark your calendars and get ready for Huge Arker!

The Origins Of Barkley

Barkley has been our mascot for as long as we can remember, but we still get asked about where exactly the “Boonville Beer” originated from. We dug into the archives to bring you everything we know... One thing we know for sure is that Halloween is their favorite holiday!

Read More: https://avbc.com/lore-of-the-legendary-boonville-beer/

AN EVENING OF TIMELESS JAZZ IN UKIAH: David Post, Barney McClure, and Pierre Archain Perform Live!

Prepare to be swept away by the enchanting melodies of jazz as singer David Post, pianist Barney McClure, and bassist Pierre Archain come together for an unforgettable evening of music. Hosted on November 24th, 2023, from 7 pm to 9 pm, at Mama's Medicinals Gallery, located at 328 N. State St., Ukiah, CA 95482, this event promises to be a captivating experience for all ages. It's big-city jazz in our quaint lil' ole town! Tickets at the door or reserve online at Eventbrite.

Event Details:

Date: November 24th, 2023

Time: 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm

Location: 328 N. State St., Ukiah, CA, 95482

Admission: $10 (Includes viewing of lovely art work by Tim Poma, a glass of wine and hors d'oeuvres) available at the door or reserve at Eventbrite: www. tinyurl.com/4thh5scx

David Post's mesmerizing vocals, accompanied by Barney McClure's masterful piano skills and Pierre Archain's rhythmic bass, will transport you to the golden era of jazz. Their renditions of timeless jazz standards promise to create an evening filled with soulful harmonies and heartwarming rhythms.

Don't miss your chance to experience this musical journey. Grab your tickets now on Eventbrite and join us for an evening of jazz, fine wine, and delectable hors d'oeuvres.

Here are the artists' websites:

For media inquiries or further information, please contact: David Post at 415-314-1404 or david@thevocalogist.com

CATCH OF THE DAY, Friday, October 27, 2023

ANGEL MARRON, Yorkville. Burglary.

JAVIER MENDEZ, Ukiah. Controlled substance, probation revocation.

KRISTO OUSEY, Ukiah. Parole violation.

RONALD VALENTINE JR., Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-drugs&alcohol, failure to appear. (Frequent flyer.)

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

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

I'm in town for this show. I'll be in the cluttered but well-lighted back room of KNYO's 325 N. Franklin studio. To call and read your work in your own voice tonight, the number is 707-962-3022. If you want to come in and perform in person; bring a mask to put on, and of course stay away if you have a tickly throat. But if you're in perfect health, fine, why not, and bring your PVC-tube tuned drum or Montgomery-Ward-kit balsa-wood hurdy-gurdy or whatever. I expect that Sebastian Iturralde of RelatoCorto.com might call from Ecuador. I'm really hoping, and looking forward to that.

Memo of the Air: Good Night Radio is every Friday, 9pm to 5am on 107.7fm KNYO-LP Fort Bragg as well as anywhere else via KNYO.org. Also the schedule is there for KNYO's many other terrific shows.

As always, at https://MemoOfTheAir.wordpress.com you'll find a metaphorical lava lamp of blobs of nontoxic knowledge to splash around in until showtime (paraffin, mostly, and vegetable oil and a few drops of color and flavor), or any time, such as:

The moon is cosmic plasma, not solid rock, therefore it will be impossible for an astronaut to land on it. He's warning you. Don't try it, you will be swallowed up into another dimension and lost forever, along with your astronaut diapers, packets of Tang, the photograph of your wife and child taped to the control stick, plus the control stick, and your whole rocket. And for what? The man's voice is perfect for this. It's the same tone and accent and cadence of the fateful words in An American Werewolf in London: "Mark my words, boys, stay off the moor when the moon is full." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhIwZuPGfss

The Ladies On Records project. https://www.ladiesonrecords.com/

And a porkstacle course. (via Everlasting Blort) https://www.facebook.com/watch/?mibextid=zDhOQc&v=681147500648633

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

JUST IN: MAINE KILLER DEAD. Maine mass shooting suspect Robert Card was found dead of apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound after two-day manhunt two days after he gunned down 18 people at a bowling alley and bar, officials said Friday.

MASS SHOOTINGS: WE’RE OUT OF THINGS TO SAY

by Stephen King

There is no solution to the gun problem, and little more to write, because Americans are addicted to firearms.

Representative Jared Golden, from Maine’s Second Congressional District, has reversed course and says he will now support outlawing military-style semiautomatic rifles like the one used in the killing of 18 people in Lewiston this week. But neither the House nor the Senate is likely to pass such a law, and if Congress actually did, the Supreme Court, as it now exists, would almost certainly rule it unconstitutional.

Every mass shooting is a gut-punch; with every one, unimaginative people say, “I never thought it could happen here,” but such things can and will happen anywhere and everywhere in this locked-and-loaded country. The guns are available and the targets are soft.

When rapid-fire guns are difficult to get, things improve, but I see no such improvement in the future. Americans love guns, and appear willing to pay the price in blood.

CHOMP, CHOMP, GULP, GULP

by James Kunstler

Of course, you realize that if this tragic business in the Middle East gets out of hand millions of people might die, maybe even you and me. Any way you cut it, looks like Islam wants to rumble. Basic problem: the little slab of land on the Mediterranean at issue is in the possession of one group of people and another group of people wants to drive them out. There is no “two state solution” because there is only one place in that place.

The world has already forgotten the butchery of October 7. Islam won’t even go so far as to acknowledge that something happened there, or that it matters. This is a quandary for Western Civ which operates lately on the ethos that anything goes and nothing matters. Face it: that’s a luxury belief. A society in collapse learns painfully that the first thing to go is luxury, Louis Vuitton bags and foolish Woke thinking. Western Civ may not be able to pretend any longer that nothing matters.

The reason Israel is where it is is because Western Civ treated the Jews abominably in the 1930s and 40s. The result, establishing a state of Israel in its historic location, was a power move, of course, by the powers who won the Second World War, but it had the imprimatur of a sacred duty. We’ve forgotten the impact, even to regular grunt US soldiers who liberated the extermination camps of Europe, of the unspeakable barbarism they encountered. It maimed the psyche of Western Civ to discover what savagery its best educated member nation turned out to be capable of. Is there any question that Germany lost its mind in those years?

Western Civ has been busy losing its mind for about seven years now. It’s so tormented that it has been flirting with suicide, for instance, allowing its borders to be overwhelmed with swarms of declared antagonists to Western culture. The European Union guilt-tripped themselves into letting that happen. The process in the USA appears more sinister and calculated, a sheer political ploy. In any case, nobody is lifting a finger to stop it.

Israel is a full-fledged member of that lunatic asylum. Israel is engaged in as much of a civil war between Left and Right as its godfathers in Europe and North America are enduring. On top of that, Israel decided to become the poster-child for Covid-19 vaccination “uptake.” It seemed like a valiant stand in the first flush of the Covid “crisis,” but now it looks more like they poisoned more than 90-percent of their population. You don’t hear much about it these days, but it’s lurking there, just like the massive vaccine damage that Europe and America have by stealth sustained lurks in the background of rising war fever and disintegrating economies.

It looks like the Islamic nations that surround Israel like a child in an alligator pit have made the calculation that now is the time to gobble up the little interloper. Trouble is, that child is armed to the teeth. It also looks like the alligators don’t care. It happens that they have small alligator brains, not that good for gaming out clashes of civilizations. All they care about is chomp chomp and gulp gulp. One question they fail to ask: Would the Middle East actually be a better place without an Israel? I bet this hasn’t occurred to any of them. Once it’s gone, they’ll be chomping and gulping each other, I assure you.

Our nation, under the leadership of “Joe Biden” (…iden…iden…iden…iden…), has deployed our mighty warships in the waters all around and amongst Israel’s adversaries. Hard to see how that couldn’t happen, our sacred duty and all. If called upon, they can probably do a lot of damage — though there is plenty of reason to believe that Iran has enough anti-ship cruise missiles to create a big problem for us. Heck, Iran has enough long range conventional guided missiles to turn Haifa and Tel Aviv into ashtrays. But then, five minutes later, the same would be true for Teheran and Damascus, only they’d be radioactive. And who knows what those swarms of moiling migrants in the US and Euroland might be inspired to do, when it comes to that?

Jihad is in the offing. Too many are itching to set it off. Now they’re just waiting for an excuse, a reason to ignite the fuses. The obvious excuse would be an Israeli military incursion into Gaza. That would git’er done, I’m sure. The Israelis must realize this. Despite prior expectations, though, and even given the thirst for vengeance, they might realize it’s unnecessary. They’ve done enough bombing in Gaza. They could neutralize the command network of Hamas pretty much the same way they got the Black September ringleaders of the Munich Olympics massacre, 1972 — a methodical hunt over years, decades. They don’t have to shout from the rooftops, either. Everyone will know.

There is the fate of the Gaza hostages to consider. It doesn’t look good. Given enough time, of course, they can be shuttled around geographically here, there, and everywhere and concealed for years. They have value. World opinion will turn on the hostage-takers, though you might argue that no longer matters. I rather expect that rescue operations are well-planned and some may be carried out. But, overall, many of these poor pawns are apt to be lost. Tragic is tragic.

If we manage to avoid World War Three, America has its own grave problem to consider, which is comprehensive collapse — of economic activity, the financial scaffold for it, and of civil order in a society under deadly stress. Most of this damage has been induced by our own political leaders. Now that the House of Representatives has been put in order, it’s time for that body to act expeditiously and relieve “Joe Biden” of his responsibilities… and then Ms. Harris… and then Messrs. Garland, Mayorkas, and Wray. Out with them, post haste, and begin the project to save our own country.

(kunstler.com)

UNITED NATIONS DEFINITIONS

Genocide

Crimes Against Humanity

War Crimes

Ethnic Cleansing

Genocide

Background

The word “genocide” was first coined by Polish lawyer Raphäel Lemkin in 1944 in his book Axis Rule in Occupied Europe. It consists of the Greek prefix genos, meaning race or tribe, and the Latin suffix cide, meaning killing. Lemkin developed the term partly in response to the Nazi policies of systematic murder of Jewish people during the Holocaust, but also in response to previous instances in history of targeted actions aimed at the destruction of particular groups of people. Later on, Raphäel Lemkin led the campaign to have genocide recognised and codified as an international crime.

Genocide was first recognised as a crime under international law in 1946 by the United Nations General Assembly (A/RES/96-I). It was codified as an independent crime in the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (the Genocide Convention). The Convention has been ratified by 153 States (as of April 2022). The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has repeatedly stated that the Convention embodies principles that are part of general customary international law. This means that whether or not States have ratified the Genocide Convention, they are all bound as a matter of law by the principle that genocide is a crime prohibited under international law. The ICJ has also stated that the prohibition of genocide is a peremptory norm of international law (or ius cogens) and consequently, no derogation from it is allowed.

The definition of the crime of genocide as contained in Article II of the Genocide Convention was the result of a negotiating process and reflects the compromise reached among United Nations Member States in 1948 at the time of drafting the Convention. Genocide is defined in the same terms as in the Genocide Convention in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (Article 6), as well as in the statutes of other international and hybrid jurisdictions. Many States have also criminalized genocide in their domestic law; others have yet to do so.

Definition

Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide

Article II

In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:

Killing members of the group;

Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;

Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;

Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;

Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

Elements of the crime

The Genocide Convention establishes in Article I that the crime of genocide may take place in the context of an armed conflict, international or non-international, but also in the context of a peaceful situation. The latter is less common but still possible. The same article establishes the obligation of the contracting parties to prevent and to punish the crime of genocide.

The popular understanding of what constitutes genocide tends to be broader than the content of the norm under international law. Article II of the Genocide Convention contains a narrow definition of the crime of genocide, which includes two main elements:

A mental element: the "intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such"; and

A physical element, which includes the following five acts, enumerated exhaustively:

Killing members of the group

Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group

Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part

Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group

Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group

The intent is the most difficult element to determine. To constitute genocide, there must be a proven intent on the part of perpetrators to physically destroy a national, ethnical, racial or religious group. Cultural destruction does not suffice, nor does an intention to simply disperse a group. It is this special intent, or dolus specialis, that makes the crime of genocide so unique. In addition, case law has associated intent with the existence of a State or organizational plan or policy, even if the definition of genocide in international law does not include that element.

Importantly, the victims of genocide are deliberately targeted - not randomly – because of their real or perceived membership of one of the four groups protected under the Convention (which excludes political groups, for example). This means that the target of destruction must be the group, as such, and not its members as individuals. Genocide can also be committed against only a part of the group, as long as that part is identifiable (including within a geographically limited area) and “substantial.”

ISRAEL IS NO LONGER FIGHTING OCT 7 WAR but waging fourth post-2006 "high-tech massacre" operation

by Andrew Caffrey

In case you haven't figured it out yet, we no longer have TV news networks anymore. I can assure you that, as an academically trained student of sciences and history, when it comes to the climate crisis (a term I was the first person to coin), and the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, that CNN and MSNBC have gone full Cold War/Military Industrial Complex Propaganda. Nothing can be taken from them as authoritatively factual anymore.

So for me, I've just begun educating myself—almost from scratch—from academic and activist media sources, to learn the historic and geopolitical contexts for what we are seeing now in Ukraine and Gaza.

No source is perfect. But here is a good 40-minute summary of the history of Gaza since the birth of the terrorist theocratic state of Israel. I think Finkelsstein is a reliable and sober source. But check out many sources.

He's a bit spacey, or tired, in this talk, so you may want to increase the playback speed when you watch the video.

What is truly horrifying, is that we can see that what Israel is doing now in Gaza is not fighting the Oct. 7 Hamas-Israel war (there have been no invasions of Israel since Oct. 7), but actually waging the fourth and largest (and by far the most horrific) Israeli high-tech massacre “operation” against Gazan’s since 2008, glommed onto the one-day war to make it look like it is all a defensive reaction to Hamas's invasion of Israel.

In 2006, Israel, the US, and the European Union strongly encouraged blockaded Gazans to vote in the Palestinian election. Hamas won the Gazan election. Israel's tools in the Palestinian Authority lost. Jimmy Carter was monitoring it on the ground and called it "completely honest and fair elections." But Hillary Clinton said, "We made a big mistake by not rigging the elections."

Israel and Egypt, supported by the US and the EU, immediately started the permanent blockade of Gaza that lasts to this day.

British Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron called blockaded Gaza an "open air prison." Israeli sociologist Baruch Kimmerling of Hebrew University called it "the world's largest concentration camp...Ever.”

Israeli launches "high-tech massacre" “Operations:"

* * *

2008-2009 Operation Cast Lead =

1,400 Gazans murdered (coincidentally? the same number as the Israelis murdered by Hamas on Oct. 7. Also, 1,500 Hamas invaders were killed by the IDF on Oct. 7.)

6,000 homes destroyed

The UN report concluded that the Israeli assault on Gaza constituted "a deliberately disproportionate attack designed to punish, humiliate and terrorize a civilian population, radically diminish its local economic capacity both to work and to provide for itself, and to force upon it an ever increasing sense of dependency and vulnerability."

The ratio of Palestinian to Israeli deaths was more than 100 to 1 and dwellings destroyed more than 6,000 to 1.

* * *

2012 Operation Pillar Of Defense =

6 Israelis killed (4 civilians & 2 soldiers) 174 Palestinians murdered (107 civilians) 124 homes destroyed, 2050 homes damaged wikipedia: "In just one week, the Israeli army destroyed numerous public and private premises, including 52 places of worship, 25 non-governmental organizations (NGOs), 97 schools, 15 health institutions, 14 journalist premises, 8 police stations, 16 government buildings, and 11 political sites. Fifteen factories and 192 trade shops were damaged or destroyed. Twelve water wells as well as agricultural lands were destroyed."

* * *

2014 Operation Protective Edge =

2,310 Gazans murdered (70% civilians) 550 children murdered 18,000 homes destroyed

Peter Mauer, head of the International Red Cross said about his visit in the aftermath, "In all of my life, I have never witnessed destruction on the scale that I've now observed in Gaza."

2023 Netanyahu "Response" to Hamas invasion of Israel and capture of 229 mostly Israeli hostages =

Over 7,326 Gazans murdered (so far) to 1,405 Israelis murdered Over 3,038 Gazan children murdered At least 5,431 Israelis injured and 18,967 Gazans injured 108 more Palestinians in the West Bank murdered by Israel

Some of this information is not in the video, but taken from Finkelstein's excellent short book, Method and Madness: The Hidden Story of Israel’s Assaults on Gaza, and wikipedia. The latest casualty numbers were taken today from Al Jazeera's page that is tracking casualties. That page states: "The figures have been reported by the Palestinian health ministry, Palestine Red Crescent Society and Israeli Medical Services.”

GAZA

Israeli forces were still on the ground in Gaza at least 12 hours after entering the territory, the military said on Saturday, in what would be their most extensive ground operation in the enclave since the Hamas attack on Israel that killed more than 1,400 civilians and soldiers.

On Friday evening, Israel made incursions into the Gaza Strip after launching an intense bombardment, with artillery and airstrikes, military officials said. They did not describe the presence of troops in Gaza as a full-scale invasion, which Israel has been threatening to launch for weeks.

For two days, Israeli forces and tanks had made small forays into Gaza, but previous land incursions have lasted only a few hours.

Telecommunications and internet networks went down overnight, and most people in Gaza could not be reached by phone. The widespread blackout sparked fear and panic in Gaza, according to those residents who were able to reach the outside world, as people struggled to get information or reach one another to check on family and friends amid the bombardment.

“We lived the worst night in the history of Gaza,” Motasem Mortaja, a Gazan who has been documenting the war on social media and managed to find a spotty connection on Saturday morning, wrote on Instagram.

The head of the World Health Organization said on X that the blackout was “making it impossible for ambulances to reach the injured,” and international aid agencies said they had lost contact with their staff there.

The Israeli military said in a statement on Saturday that its forces had hit tunnels, underground command posts and other infrastructure. It said that several Hamas fighters had been killed in the strikes. There was no immediate confirmation from Hamas.

Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, Israel’s chief military spokesman, told reporters on Friday that Israeli ground forces were “expanding” their activity in the Gaza Strip, without providing details.

Here’s what else to know:

• The U.N. General Assembly in New York voted overwhelmingly on Friday in favor of a nonbinding resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire in the war. The resolution was presented by a group of Arab nations led by Jordan and sponsored by more than 45 countries.
• Groups including the World Health Organization, Doctors Without Borders, UNICEF and the Palestinian Red Crescent said they had lost contact with staff members inside the Gaza Strip and expressed concern for their ability to continue providing critical aid.
• The humanitarian crisis for Gaza’s population of more than two million is worsening under Israeli bombardment. Supplies of fuel, food and water are running out. On Thursday, the United Nations said that its aid agency operating in Gaza had “almost exhausted its fuel reserves” and had begun to significantly reduce its operations.
• The U.S. Treasury announced new sanctions aimed at cutting off financing for Hamas, targeting its investment fund and Iranians who funnel money and support to the group. The United States estimates that Hamas controls $500 million worth of assets that it uses to finance terrorism.

As Israel unleashed an intense bombardment on the Gaza Strip overnight, husband and wife Helmi Mousa and Basma Attia huddled together in their ninth-floor Gaza City apartment.

“We heard the reverberations,” Mr. Mousa, who was among the few residents to have a cellphone connection on Saturday morning amid a widespread blackout, said in an interview. “Our building was shaking, swaying back and forth. We could hear the booms, the airplanes, the strikes. They were very, very, very close to us.”

(nytimes.com)

ON-LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

Since WWII the West lost the ability to understand violence. There is no targeted or precision strikes and winning of hearts and minds. There is only killing and destruction on whatever scale needed to make the other side surrender due to fear and exhaustion. Then spending years hunting and killing anyone with fight left in them. Sounds brutal but works every time tried. Otherwise stay home with your sword in the closet.

LARGE CROWDS have gathered in central London for a demonstration in support of the Palestinian people, with tens of thousands expected to take to the streets. A pro-Palestinian rally in London last week drew an estimated 100,000 people, and similar numbers are expected today. Demonstrations are also planned today in Manchester, England, and in Glasgow.

— Megan Specia, Reporting from London (nytimes.com)