Mendocino County Today: Friday, Jan. 12, 2024

Flood Watch | Navarro River | Vets Mobilizing | Angelo Pronsolino | Fawn Cafeteria | Haschak Report | Gull Watch | BOS Speculations | Watercolor Show | Ukiah Signs | Winegrower Roundtable | Western Flyer | Forks Cafe | Black Light | Soup Making | Ed Notes | Hendy Meadow | Doghole Schooners | Yesterday's Catch | Six Feet | Pea Soup | Yakity Yak | 4,500 Cougars | The Fugs | New Fee | Old Rockers | Austin AWOL | Asparagus Age | Political Realities | Big Wind | Funding Deviants | Yemen Escalation | Wisdom & Folly | Emiliano Zapata | Unlivable Hellscape | Bundle B | Favorite Fiction | Famous Mugs

FLOOD WATCH in effect from this evening through late Saturday night.…Light showers will continue across Del Norte and Humboldt counties this morning. The next storm system will bring stratiform rain spreading south through the afternoon. Heavy rain is expected tonight and Saturday along with strong winds. Heavy snow is possible in northeastern Trinity county. Drier weather is expected Sunday and Monday with additional systems possible by mid week. (NWS)

STEPHEN DUNLAP (Fort Bragg): A cloudy 42F on the coast this Friday morning. A chance of showers today leading to a BIG system arriving this evening & tomorrow. Lots of rain but not much wind. Clear skies Sunday & Monday then more rain to follow.

COUNTY VETS are mobilizing in opposition to an ill-advised decision by county staff to relocate the Veteran Services Office from its long-time offices on Observatory Way in Ukiah to a much smaller space at the old Dept. of Public Health. Among other objections, Vets allege the County failed to provide a clear and reasonable justification for the move and did not address the concerns and objections the Veterans and their advocates raised. Hopefully, the Supes will put the issue on the agenda at their next meeting and get it resolved by reversing the staff decision.

Hasta Luego,

ANGELO PRONSOLINO 

Angelo Ugo Pronsolino, a respected member of his community, passed away on December 22, 2023, in Ukiah. Born on June 15, 1922, in San Francisco, California, Angelo's life was filled with remarkable accomplishments and cherished moments.

After graduating from Anderson Valley High School, Angelo embarked on a career in the timber industry and later worked for Caltrans. His dedication and hard work were evident in every task he undertook. Angelo's commitment to his work was greatly admired by his colleagues and earned him the respect of all those who had the pleasure of knowing him professionally.

Not only was Angelo an accomplished professional, but he also had a strong sense of duty towards his country. He bravely served in the Army in the 130th Infantry Company C IL. His service included active participation as a foot soldier in the liberation of the Philippines during World War II. Angelo's bravery and dedication earned him both the prestigious Bronze Star and the Combat Infantry Badge (CIB) awards. He later became part of the occupation force in Japan.

Angelo's love for his family was at the heart of everything he did. He was a devoted husband to his beloved wife Eileen Pronsolino, whom he married on July 9, 1949. Their union was one built on love, respect, and mutual support. Angelo is also survived by his loving daughter Angela Owens and her husband George, his son David Pronsolino and his wife Marilyn, as well as his son Gary Pronsolino and wife Cindy.

Family meant the world to Angelo, and he took great pride in being involved in community sports. In addition to spending time with loved ones, Angelo enjoyed pursuing hobbies such as hunting, fishing, and tending to his sheep ranch. These passions brought him immense joy throughout his life.

Among Angelo's proudest accomplishments was becoming an American Legion Charter Member of the Anderson Valley American Legion. His dedication to serving his community and fellow veterans was unwavering, and he found immense fulfillment in his involvement with this esteemed organization.

While Angelo's passing leaves a void in the hearts of all who knew him, his memory will continue to live on through his nine grandchildren, fifteen great-grandchildren, and four great-great-grandchildren. Angelo's legacy of love, strength, and resilience will forever be cherished by those he leaves behind.

In addition to his surviving family members, Angelo is preceded in death by his sisters Josephine, Albina, and Marie, as well as his brother Guido. Their memories will be forever intertwined with Angelo's own journey, and the bonds they shared will always be treasured.

Angelo Ugo Pronsolino was a man of integrity, honor, and compassion. He was dedicated to both his work and his family. His bravery in the face of adversity serves as an inspiration for all who knew him. May we find solace in the memories we shared with Angelo as we celebrate a life well-lived and bid farewell to a remarkable soul.

The family prefers memorial donations to Anderson Valley Clinic, American Legion or Anderson Valley Senior Center.

A memorial will be held at a later date.

Arrangements are under the direction of the Eversole Mortuary.

THIRD DISTRICT SUPERVISOR REPORT 

by John Haschak

As we enter the New Year, how does the County help its residents to thrive?

A $12 million grant for a second access route for Sherwood Road was received. This is a Local Transportation Climate Adaptation Program grant recognizing the changing climate and risks that one way in, one way out communities present. This is the first round of funding which will be for environmental analysis and design. The County’s Department of Transportation will be managing the grant. This is a once in a generation opportunity to deal with these situations. A second grant was also received which will be for second access for the Redemeyer Road in the east hills of Ukiah. More money is needed to complete these projects but this is a huge first step.

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and SB1 will also provide most of $51.4 million for roadway, guardrail, and sign improvements on Route 162 from U.S. 101 to east of Poonkinney Road near Covelo Negotiations have been settled for SEIU 1021, the Deputy Sheriffs’ Association, and Law Enforcement Management. These deals will bring the employees to market rate as compared with other surrounding counties and jurisdictions within the next three years. To make this work, organizational restructuring will have to happen. This will mean greater efficiencies, elimination of some positions and even departmental restructuring.

The General Government Standing Committee will consider changes to the 2024 legislative platform on January 24. This reflects the County’s priorities for legislative advocacy at state and federal levels. If you have ideas for what the County should advocate, please let me know. I will be the Chair again this year of the committee.

Talk with the Supervisor is the 2nd Thursday of the month at 10:00 at the Brickhouse Coffee in Willits. I am available by email haschakj@mendocinocounty.org or phone 707-972-4214.

SUPES GOT THE AUDITOR THEY WANT — FOR NOW

Editor,

Is the plan for their Department of Finance really stalled? They put Sara Pierce from the CEOs office in the position as interim. Appears to me its aligning exactly the way they wanted. There’s three years left in Cubbison’s term before they have to let the voters decide if we should have a “hire and fire” Department of Finance. That’s three years without our independently elected Auditor. The Board’s plan is already in place, for now.

It does make one wonder: How many of the Board’s reimbursement claims have been denied?

Carrie Shattuck

Ukiah

NANCY COLLINS NEW SHOW at Cloud Nine Art Gallery

Be sure to check out the amazing watercolor paintings in Nancy’s new show. We’re located at 320 N. Franklin Street in Fort Bragg. We’re open Wednesday through Sunday from 12-5.

Margaret Paul <mpaul@mcn.org>

UKIAH GATEWAY SIGNS BLENDING IN AS PLANNED

by Justine Frederiksen

If you haven’t noticed the new signs along Highway 101 welcoming drivers to the city of Ukiah, you’re not alone. In fact, if they haven’t exactly demanded your attention, that means they are “blending into the landscape” as designed.

The two rust-colored and U-shaped signs were put up in late May of 2023 — one on Frost Pauli’s property on the north end of town and one on Rivino’s property at the south end — after the older “Welcome to Ukiah” signs were taken down. 

According to Deputy City Manager Shannon Riley, the new signs “were developed and installed with 100-percent Visit Ukiah funds (transient occupancy taxes, specifically collected and used for the promotion of Ukiah), not to be confused with the city’s General Fund.” 

However, the city of Ukiah did previously administer the Visit Ukiah program, and Riley said at that time, “one of our goals was to redo the gateway signs on Highway 101. Knowing that the project would cost more than the Visit Ukiah program could afford to spend in any given year, we set aside funds each year to save for it. Then, when we facilitated the merger between Visit Ukiah, the Chamber of Commerce and the Ukiah Main Street Program (now known collectively as three branches of the Greater Ukiah Business and Tourism Alliance), we ensured that those funds, which would be transferred over to the new entity, would continue to be reserved for that project. My recollection is that it was around $100,000.” 

Katrina Kessen, executive director of GUBTA, said the design of the new signs combine the new Visit Ukiah motto of “Just be U” with features of an oak tree, and came from a committee made up of locals she described as having “big” ideas about how Ukiah should be represented. 

“I really enjoyed the process (of creating the design),” said Kessen, recalling that one of the main takeaways she took from the discussions was that while some people have expressed admiration for the city of Healdsburg’s gateway sign, the group deciding on the new signs felt strongly that “we are not Healdsburg, and we don’t want to be Healdsburg.” 

Kessen said the U signs are “digital print decorated aluminum sign panels,” created by architects Steven Ratley and Kali Gordon of Ren/Alexander Design, and installed by Paramount Signs. 

A quick poll of about a dozen random Ukiah Valley residents revealed that most did not have strong feelings either way about the new gateway signs: “They’re not bad. They neither excite nor disgust. They’re OK.” 

And the two respondents who did have strong feelings? They were evenly split, one not liking them at all and the other finding them a perfect representation of the community. 

“They’re an honest and welcoming introduction to Ukiah, a place that combines all of the conveniences of city life with the relaxed and casual quality of a small town,” said Alyssum Wier, executive director of the Mendocino Arts Council, noting that she also liked “the way they combine the simple, elegant composition of the ‘U’ for Ukiah with the rustic, bucolic quality of the materials.” 

The most common complaint about the signs was that “the lights don’t work,” and Kessen explained that the lights are solar-powered and only illuminate the signs for “about four hours,” noting that having the lights powered by batteries quickly got “too expensive.” 

When asked how much the signs cost, Kessen declined to give an exact amount, describing it as between $50,000 and $60,000. When asked to confirm if the budget set aside for the signs was $100,000 as Riley recalled, Kessen said she needed to research the original allocation, but that “I know that we made our money go as far as possible. I remember that much, very clearly!” 

As for next steps, Kessen said that Visit Ukiah “will be designing smaller ‘U’ signs which businesses and organizations can ‘host.’ Picture a ‘U’ at Slam Dunk Pizza with a slice of pizza instead of the oak tree. They will create a ‘Trail of U’ which will include an interactive component where people will find the U locations, take a selfie, engage with the host business, participate in scavenger hunts, etc. It is similar to what the town of Windsor and Santa Rosa does with the Charles Schultz characters and what SF does with the hearts around town.” 

“The city is exceptionally proud of the work GUBTA has done to evolve the branding of the Visit Ukiah program, including bringing a California Welcome Center to Ukiah, dramatically increasing the social media exposure for our area, and building strong partnerships with partner agencies, including Visit California,” Riley noted. “The new gateway signs represent this evolution, but hold true to our valley’s rustic roots.”

(Ukiah Daily Journal)

COUNTY’S GRAPE GROWERS GET BOOST FROM MWI

Calpella, CA – Mendocino Winegrowers, Inc. (MWI) kicked off 2024 with its first of four Grower Roundtables for the year. Held at Club Calpella on January 10 and sponsored by Cold Creek Compost, 20 growers from around the county came to hear a presentation on funds they may be eligible to receive through various government programs.

One of the most popular is the Healthy Soils Incentive Program through the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA), in which the state reimburses farmers 85% of the cost to purchase compost and spread it at a density of 6-8 tons per acre to help with soil biodiversity, water retention, and carbon sequestration.

Other programs discussed at the Grower Roundtable included the State Water Efficiency and Enhancement Program (SWEEP)—also managed by CDFA—to help pay for efficient irrigation systems, and the Tree Assistance Program (TAP) which provides financial assistance to replant or rehabilitate eligible trees, bushes, and vines impacted by natural disasters. TAP is administered by the Farm Service Agency.

MWI board member Lorenzo Pacini—who is also the vice president of Pacini Wines and a grape grower at Pacini Vineyards in Talmage—has led these roundtables since they started in 2021. “We knew there were opportunities our local growers weren’t taking advantage of,” explains Pacini of the impetus behind starting the Grower Roundtables. “They’ve been really popular.” In 2023, over 150 grape growers from around the county participated in one or more roundtables, and there has been a significant increase in county growers applying for and receiving funds from state programs designed specifically to help them. In many cases, agency staff are available to help growers fill out the applications. 

Mendocino county has long faced an uphill battle against its famous grape growing neighbors, Napa and Sonoma County, which get more attention and command higher prices. MWI works to even the playing field, communicating the unique and desirable features of Mendocino county wines and helping members find markets for their grapes and wine. 

Owner and Winemaker Maria Testa Martinson of Testa Vineyards, which has been an MWI member since 2010, was in attendance on Wednesday. She spoke about the importance of MWI, both its services and its work to bring growers and wineries together in a tightly-knit community. In short, says Martinson, “MWI is helping to keep agriculture alive in the county.” 

At a time when the wine industry is in flux due to changing consumer trends, the growing impacts of climate change, and a major increase in global wine production over the last several decades, groups like MWI will play an increasingly pivotal role in the success of small and large grape growers and wineries alike. And that impact is wide-reaching. Says Martinson, “It’s not just about us. It’s about the local businesses we work with, the people we employ. Grapes do a lot for our county.”

It’s no secret that vineyards and wineries are facing challenges, but Pacini takes the long view: “We know the market is soft right now. But this is a marathon, not a sprint.” 

The other 2024 MWI roundtable topics are crop insurance, pest and fungus management, and fertilizer and nutrients. These roundtables are only open to MWI members, which has a sliding scale membership fee based on acreage or case production. To learn more, visit mendowine.com. 

WESTERN FLYER RESTORED

In 1940, writer John Steinbeck and biologist Ed Ricketts chartered the fishing vessel Western Flyer for a six-week exploration of Mexico's Gulf of California, chronicled in their landmark work, Sea of Cortez: A Leisurely Journal of Travel and Research (1941). The boat returned to fishing for decades, sank, and was in severe disrepair when marine geologist John Gregg purchased it in 2015.

Inspired by childhood memories of the book, Gregg launched the Western Flyer Foundation to restore the iconic boat and continue Steinbeck and Ricketts’s legacy of research and education. Today, after seven years of award-winning labor by the shipwrights and craftspeople in Port Townsend, Washington, the Flyer is poised to return to Monterey Bay as a floating classroom and lab equipped with state-of-the-art technology. Once in Monterey, it will embark on its next exciting chapter, taking students and scientists on the water to observe, learn, reflect, and create.

Noyo Center is looking forward to having the Western Flyer visit our area so that students can visit the ship to learn more about oceanography and marine science.

STEP INTO THE LIGHT

Craft Beer flavor in a light beer, that's Black Light

Step Into the Light Introducing the Black Light Ale, a magical unicorn of a beer: a low calorie beer with the full flavor of a craft ale. No, really. Our brewers/alchemists cracked the code and created a dark and delicious craft beer with only 95 calories and just 7 carbs. The multiverse will never be the same.

How did we do this? Who cares? The important thing is that light beer can actually (finally!) taste awesome, so we're not asking any questions.

We aren't the only ones dancing in the dark, either. Black Light just won a silver medal at the 2023 Brussels Beer Challenge. That's some heavy metal for a light beer!

On shelves at select California retailers in January. Available nationwide in February.

AVBC Beer Finder (https://avbc.com/find-our-beer)

Learn more (https://avbc.com/blacklight-beer)

SOUP MAKING WITH LAUREN KEATING

AV Village gatherings are open to Everyone, but we recommend staying current on your vaccinations. Thank you! More info & to RSVP: Anderson Valley Village: (707) 684-9829, andersonvalleyvillage@gmail.com, www.andersonvalleyvillage.org

ED NOTES

HOW LOCAL HISTORY (KZYX) gets re-written. In a long, sob-filled letter headed NOT FOR PUBLICATION, a local person says, among other dramatic untruths, “Furthermore, our little discourse in the parking lot of your office was no more disruptive than on October 12th, 1993 when you and 20-odd others stormed the station’s control room, howling like coyotes and demanding the airways. If you recall, I was the only one who stood up to you all then, and kept from putting a bunch of yelling protesters on the air, as was demanded. I resisted hostility then, and I can resist it again.”

IN FACT, there were 40-odd people led by the late Judi Bari, me among them, none of us howling, several of us perhaps occasionally howlingly insane. I was there doing my job, which was to report on the event, not that I disapproved of the takeover of the station that hilarious afternoon.

THE ONLY PERSON I recall resisting the takeover was Gordy Black, who memorably went head-to-head with the Diva of Dissent, she yelling “Fuck you fuck you fuck you” repeatedly in Gordy’s face while he chanted “fascist fascist fascist” back at her. (Point, set, match, Gordy.)

THE LATE Nicole Sawaya, then station manager, wisely gave the mob immediate air time, co-opting Bulgarian waltz music or whatever soma playing at the time. The purpose of the demo was to protest the station’s dismissal of Beth Bosk, a long-time talk show person famous for inserting sex in the subject under discussion no matter what the subject under discussion. Nicole handled the mob just right, as various local loons babbled into the mike for an hour or so. 

KZYX handled the Bari invasion by giving Bari her own show in place of Bosk! Which Bari grabbed! And still grabs from the grave, in a manner of speaking, via her various surrogates. 

THE ABOVE PHOTO of Fisherman’s Grotto Number Nine was accompanied by this caption: “In times long gone, the art of dressing for dinner was a mark of refinement and tradition. Gentlemen would meticulously don (sic) coats, often tailored to perfection, embodying a sophisticated charm. Women would grace the dinner setting in formal wear, donning exquisite dresses that accentuated grace and femininity. This was that time.”

TEN YEARS before the national implosion of '67, I took my highschool girlfriend, head majorette of the school's marching band, a beauty named Judy Scott, to dinner at Grotto #9. Ms. Scott, much in demand, maintained several other relationships, not that I recall any mental upset at her romantic treachery because I kept a few babes in reserve myself.

I THOUGHT I'd impress the lass by taking her to a place where I thought I was known because I played on the baseball team sponsored by Grotto #9. We were high school all-stars, famous only among ourselves, who played year-round, one summer even traveling all the way north to play a three-game series against the Loggers of Fort Bragg. We were kids, Fort Bragg fielded a team laden with ex-pros but, as I recall, we held our own before large crowds. Baseball was big in Fort Bragg at the time. 

I BORROWED a sport jacket and a clip-on tie, and off we went, she, always a dazzler, in a prom dress and corsage I bought on the street from the Gypsies ubiquitous in those days in the tourist areas of the city. My date would surely be wowed when the maitre 'd instantly recognized me as he escorted us to our table at a view window, delivering some chummy remarks about what an awesome ballplayer I was and how lucky the Grotto was to have me on its team. 

SO I SAID to the dapper Italiano of a maitre 'd, “I play ball for you guys.” He seemed not to hear me as he led us briskly to a table directly at the busy, noisy door to the kitchen. The waitress was nice, though. She knew we were just kids and seemed to go out of her way to be indulgent, even after I somehow managed to shoot a line of lemon juice into Judy's eye. “God damn!” she yelled. “Watch it!” The place went quiet, the maitre 'd glowered, the waitress hurried over to console the vic. 

I STILL cringe a little at the memory. But the majorette continued our relationship until high school ended, and the day after graduation I flew off to San Diego where the boot camp sadists from the Marine Corps were laying in wait. 

MR. TURNER & HIS DOGHOLE SCHOONERS

by Katy Tahja

What the heck is a Doghole Schooner and what does it have to do with Mendocino County history? Let me explain. It’s your local history lesson for the day.

Once, 130 years ago, there were more than 30 shipping ports along the coast. They were so small that the mental image used was of a dog turning around to settle down on the floor. These ports were so tight it was joked a dog would have trouble turning around, hence dog holes. Very tiny short wharves or cable loading systems got lumber on to the boats.

And with tight space small sailing ships with two masts were created to haul finished lumber from sawmills to bigger marketplaces. Later converted to steam they also brought merchandise to the coast. And the best place to get a Doghole schooner? Buy one from Mr. Matt Turner’s shipyard in San Francisco.

Born in 1825 Turner learned his ship building skills on the Great Lakes. He earned enough money mining during the Gold Rush to purchase his first ship on a trip back east, and sailed it around the Horn and South America to begin hauling lumber on the coast.

He developed the habit of going back east and bringing a new ship west every four years. He took one brig and sailed north and fished Pacific Cod which he sold at a profit. He bought 25 tons of salt to cure the fish, sailed to the North Pacific and caught 20 tons of fish and turned them into Salt Cod and made $6,000.

Finally by 1875 he amassed enough money to open a shipyard and focus on building 56 vessels designed for coastal shipping that were exceptionally ship worthy. Then he moved his shipyard to Benicia in 1883 and built another 145 vessels before retiring in 1902 at age 77. He died while building his own steam yacht in 1909.

While he developed a speciality in building yachts he also built brigs and schooners. He built ships for the Hawaiian sugar trade and the Tahitian packet trade and a boat for missionaries spreading the word of God in the South Pacific.

Among the schooners he built to serve the Mendocino lumber trade perhaps the most famous had a great tale. The “J.C.Ford” was built for the Mendocino Lumber Company in 1882. While on a trip, 300 miles east of Hawaii, a falling meteor blasted the main mast and staysail and caught everything on fire. The deck coverings, masts and sails were thrown in the ocean to put the flames out, then rescued.The pieces of them meteor were said to resemble burning lava.The “J.C.Ford” sailed afterward and met its end in 1883 near Grays Harbor WA the cargo of lime it was hauling caught fire, igniting by water seeping into the hold and it sank.

Turner’s Doghole schooners were 80’ to 90’ long with two or three masts before they were converted to steam engines. After careers aa lumber transporters many, like the “Antelope,” were remodeled into fish canneries for salmon. The “Newark,” which used to load firewood at Russian Gulch on the coast for sale to San Francisco households, became a sardine reduction plant. His “Seven Sisters” stopped often in Point Arena but was crushed by ice in Alaskan waters in 1906.

If history fans would like to know more about this topic Francis Jackson self-published a book in 1969 called “Doghole Schooners”. The author explored the designs, the men who built them, the captains who sailed them, ports of call, ownership and wrecks of almost 300 ships. As an example 22 ships are listed as having pulled into the Whitesboro/Salmon Creek shipping point and you can read details about every ship. The book can be found in reference collections in libraries and in museum archives and you can read it in those locations if you love ships and Doghole ports.

CATCH OF THE DAY, Thursday, January 11, 2024

BRETT ADAME, Ukiah. Paraphernalia, resisting.

RAMON ALCAZAR, Ukiah. Petty theft, failure to appear.

VANESSA ELIZABETH, Ukiah. Probation revocation.

LISA ELLIS, Potter Valley. DUI.

ASHLEIGH ESTES, Garberville/Ukiah. Probation revocation.

GUADALUPE GUTIERREZ, Ukiah. Paraphernalia, failure to appear.

SHANNON KIDD, Ukiah. Parole violation.

JOSHUA MALCOLM, Miramonte/Ukiah. Probation revocation.

JENETTE ORTIZ, Ukiah. DUI.

ERNESTO TOSCANO, Fort Bragg. Battery with serious injury, criminal threats, under influence, controlled substance, paraphernalia, resisting, probation revocation.

CHAD TURLEY, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol, probation violation.

JOHN REDDING:

Remember six-feet of social distancing? Yeah, it was one of the crucial ways to prevent the spread of Covid. As a result of this restriction schools and restaurants were closed and then slowly re-opened to full capacity bit by bit. 

According to the WSJ St. Fauci -- remember those holy cards of him that people would put on their Facebook accounts? -- testified to Congress “that guidelines to keep six feet of separation — ostensibly to limit the spread of COVID-19 — ”sort of just appeared” without scientific input.

Fauci, 83, revealed to the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic that the “six feet apart” recommendation championed by him and other US public health officials was “likely not based on scientific data,” according to Chairman Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio), who is also a physician.”

Other than that, Fauci recalled little of his behavior during Covid.

R.D. BEACON:

I noticed in the news that Pea Soup Andersen’s had closed down in Buellton California, I could remember my father talking to me about this place when I was a little kid back in the 40s, he said the first time he went there was about 1927, and made it a regular stop going to and from, Southern California, he said he got to know the owners very well, and it was one of the favorite places he would stop for dinner, and sometimes lunch, he said in the old days to find a place to stay in Buellton, but ED all his meals over the split peas soup place, I can remember remember vaguely when I was about four years old, in the 40s stopping off at Andersen's piece, soup restaurant, in those days, you get a bowl of soup on some crackers or bread, and your beverage, and they would keep filling it up no extra charge, it is sad after 100 years, here the original spotted closing down, although over the years I've gone to the grocery store, and bought their canned soup, and on a cold winter day brought back memories of going to the, place in Buellton, but I want, the last time I was there, was in the 1970s, with them moving the freeway, it was no longer convenient, for people to get off the road, they just grow bonbon, not knowing what a rare treasure, and how good the food really was, but I know by ancient history, that in the old days people savored good home-cooked meals, and today it's a burger and fries and out the door, and as we look around, a lot of people are overweight, and have extreme health issues, from all the garbage to consuming, fast food, and a fast lifestyle, as I've noticed other fine restaurants like Willie Byrd in Santa Rosa where you used to be able to get it real nice turkey dinner, it went away as well, hardly anybody, today was to sit down in a classy restaurant, and have a good meal, because it takes too long, but hardly anybody really enjoys a meal anymore, like stoking the burners in a machine, fill it up and it takes off again, burger and fries, not good food, along the major freeways over the years, I've seen many fine restaurants go out of business, due to the fact that people would prefer something fast they can eat in the car, don't have to stop, as to the original building in Buellton maybe they should turn it into a museum, and they can still sell P soup and it can, or have a smaller restaurant attached to the inn, a smaller venue with breakfast lunch and dinner scale down, as we noticed about everywhere the days of the large chain restaurants, that were part of America's history from the East Coast to the West, are all disappearing, and it is a sad part, American history much like the Native Americans, and so many of the sayings, that are pushed into the dust and into the distant memories, of those that helped, participated, in the early years family memories, like a box of photographs set on the shelf, and eventually forgotten about, we can only hope that Anderson's continues to put their famous P soup in a can, were brought back fond memories of yesteryear and stopping at the famous restaurant, taking time out to enjoy a meal and not be in a hurry, some of the best food around, we offer good luck to the Dynasty family that are run at so many years, and find new locations, so they can continue to sell the famous split peas soup by Anderson's.

CALIFORNIA RECOUNTS ITS MOUNTAIN LIONS

by Clare Fonstein

For the first time in 40 years, researchers estimated California’s total mountain lion population and, while the numbers are high, experts are still concerned about their future. 

Data shows there are about 4,500 mountain lions statewide, according to Justin Dellinger, the leader of UC Davis’ California Mountain Lion Project. Areas closer to the coast, including the Bay Area, and the northwest part of the state generally found higher densities of mountain lions, he said.

“What has been the status quo of understanding if a population is healthy or not is just how many are out there,” Dellinger said. “What we’re really starting to learn is that it’s a lot more complex than that.” 

He said while the numbers are good, there is evidence that many populations of mountain lions are at risk of going locally extinct. One of these at-risk populations is in the Santa Cruz Mountains. There are an adequate number of mountain lions, but roads isolate them, leading to inbreeding, Dellinger said. If inbreeding worsens, the impacted populations have a very slim chance of surviving, according to Tiffany Yap, senior scientist at the Center for Biological Diversity.

“Roads and development have really caused a lot of habitat loss and fragmentation which has caused these genetically isolated subpopulations to form,” Yap said.

Dellinger suspected mountain lions in the East Bay may face the same inbreeding issue — though there is not enough data yet to know for sure. 

Yap said there are other threats to mountain lion populations, including exposure to rat poison and being killed for protection of livestock. 

The findings — produced by a collaboration of multiple organizations including UC Davis, UC Santa Cruz and the National Park Service — were not what Dellinger expected when he began working on the project. 

“I would have thought going into it that (in) areas where we know there are genetic concerns we would see lower numbers and we didn’t,” he said.

Dellinger said these population numbers indicate there is still time to help the mountain lions before inbreeding causes their numbers to shrink. 

The last mountain lion population estimate was done in the 1980s — conducted by the California Department of Fish and Game, now called the Department of Fish and Wildlife. There were believed to be about 4,000 to 6,000 mountain lions in California at that time. The process used for the estimation was less robust and data-intensive as the methods used in Dellinger’s recent study, he said. 

Given that there is not a high quality historical record of California mountain lion populations, Dellinger said, it is hard to deduce population trends. 

(SFgate.com)

CALIFORNIA’S NEW REFUNDABLE FEE ON WINE & LIQUOR

by Esther Mobley

Starting this month, Californians will pay a little bit more for wine and spirits. The new fee is refundable — but only if they bring their empty bottles to a recycling center, which can be difficult to access. 

Just like soda bottles and beer cans, wine and liquor containers are now subject to California Refund Value, thanks to a state law that took effect Jan. 1. That means that when you purchase a bottle of wine, you’ll pay a deposit on it, which you can recover if you return it empty. The deposit is 10 cents for a standard 750-milliliter bottle of wine or liquor, 5 cents for a glass bottle of 24 ounces or less and 25 cents for a non-glass container such as bag-in-box or Tetra Pak.

Californians can enter their ZIP code on the CalRecycle website to find the nearest redemption center. There are 1,250 throughout the state, but even in urban areas they can be inconvenient. CalRecycle identifies 20 recycling centers within the city of San Francisco, but many of those are open only a few hours per week. The website lists three in Oakland and one in Berkeley.

The new bill, SB1013, aims to improve that accessibility. Previously, any grocer that didn’t have a recycling center within 1 mile had to redeem any returned beverage containers itself, or else pay a $100-per-day fee to CalRecycle. SB1013, which Gov. Gavin Newsom approved in 2022, phases out the option to pay that daily fee by 2025. Instead, retailers will either have to redeem the containers themselves or join a “dealer cooperative,” a group that will work together to create local opportunities for redemption. For example, CalRecycle director Rachel Machi Wagoner said, a group of grocers in a rural area might jointly employ a mobile recycling center that moves to a different location each day of the week.

The expanded program could bring 1 billion additional beverage containers into the state’s recycling system per year, said Wagoner. Currently, only about 30% of wine and spirits containers are recycled, according to the nonprofit Californians Against Waste, as opposed to 70% of beverage containers that are already incorporated in the program. 

A glass bottle can be recycled up to 80 times, according to CalRecycle, but it has a lower chance of making it that long if it’s recycled in the blue bins that people leave out on their curbs. With blue bins, “there’s a lot of opportunity for breakage and contamination,” said Wagoner. Bringing bottles to redemption centers, on the other hand, helps ensure that the empty bottles will make it back into the supply chain.

California’s wine industry supports the bill, even though it adds significant costs and logistical burdens to wineries, and raises the cost of their products in the checkout line.

“A lot of our consumers are very cost conscious,” said Lindsay Moorhead, who leads sustainability for Delicato Family Wines, which owns the popular bag-in-box brand Bota Box. “They don’t necessarily anticipate paying an additional 25 cents per container.”

Still, Delicato — the fourth-largest wine company in the U.S., according to Wine Business Monthly — is in favor of the new rule, and Moorhead hopes it will drive innovation in bag-in-box recycling. A product like Bota Box includes both a cardboard box (easy to recycle) and a plastic bag (currently not recyclable). 

“This program is really going to help push California to figure out how to better handle these materials,” Moorhead said. “Longer term, once we develop a recycling solution, those bags would hopefully make it back to Delicato.”

In addition to adding the deposit to the wine purchase, wineries must also pay a nonrefundable processing fee to CalRecycle for every bottle sold within California, amounting to under 7 cents for a 12-bottle case. That adds up, acknowledged Caine Thompson, head of sustainability for O’Neill Vintners and Distillers, which produces 1.2 million cases of wine annually, according to Wine Business Monthly. (About 17% of its output is sold within California, Thompson said.) 

But in Thompson’s view, “that processing fee is really to fund the recycling centers that are in decline,” a necessary step toward improving the wine industry’s ecological footprint. “To encourage recycling, it’s the right thing to do.”

Producers must also add a note about the California Refund Value to bottles’ back labels. Changing a wine label can be a burdensome process, since all label designs must be approved by the federal government. The labeling requirement doesn’t take effect until mid-2025.

As wineries are increasingly trying to market themselves as ecologically friendly, improving their recycling rates of glass bottles is a no-brainer.

”Glass is one of the largest pieces of the carbon footprint within a wine operation,” said Thompson.

(SF Chronicle)

AUSTIN AWOL

To the Editor:

For four days, Defense Secretary Llyod Austin was AWOL. Four friggin' days! North Korea could have launched a nuke. Or Russia could have nuked Ukraine. Or Israel could have attacked Iran. Or China could have attacked Taiwan.

Any other member of the military would have been charged with desertion. Or dereliction of duty. But not the guy at the top. Not Defense Secretary Austin.

Why not?

Identity Politics. In other words, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI). 

Valuing diversity, equity and inclusion without regard to the immutable characteristics of merit is wrong. It's unethical. And it should be illegal. DEI seeks to increase the representation of some groups through discrimination against members of other groups. And discrimination is illegal. 

Besides, the actual efficacy of many DEI interventions is lower than many practitioners make it out to be, and, in fact, it can be disastrous.

What's next?

The Pentagon inspector general announced in a statement it will review "the roles, processes, and actions" related to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin's hospitalization, which was kept hidden even from the White House for four days.

The review will examine whether the Defense Department's policies and procedures for notifying when the defense secretary has transferred authorities are appropriate and timely. 

In the past week, Austin and senior leaders at the Pentagon have faced criticism for not disclosing his hospitalization for four days — even to the deputy secretary of defense who took over Austin's duties — including the period of time Austin was anesthetized and unconscious in surgery and semi-conscious while in post-op in the intensive care unit. 

I said it once and I'll say it again: If your boss doesn't notice you were missing for four days during wartime, you might be a Diversity Hire. 

John Sakowicz 

Ukiah 

MAGICAL THINKING ABOUT BIDEN 2024 PAVES THE WAY FOR ANOTHER TRUMP PRESIDENCY

by Jeff Cohen & Norman Solomon

An avalanche of polling shows Joe Biden with abysmal approval ratings and grim re-election prospects, but Democratic leaders keep spinning away in dreamland. Even before the Israeli war on Gaza began three months ago, party loyalists were in denial about Biden’s unpopularity with key Democratic-leaning constituencies. Now the situation has worsened, with Biden’s standing in free-fall among young people as well as Arab and Muslim Americans, while support among people of color has seriously eroded.

In a passionate letter posted last week, an anonymous group of Biden 2024 campaign staffers urged Biden to reverse himself and work for “an immediate, permanent ceasefire” in Gaza. The letter from 17 current staff members said: “Biden for President staff have seen volunteers quit in droves, and people who have voted blue for decades feel uncertain about doing so for the first time ever.”

That letter echoed an appeal to Biden two months earlier — not anonymous — signed by 500 “former 2020 Biden for President and Democratic Party staff.” The two unprecedented letters — and other upheaval among seasoned Democrats — have failed to snap the Democratic leadership out of their wishful, magical thinking about Biden.

Defenders of sticking with Biden glibly dismiss negative poll numbers while noting that polls in January can’t tell us where persuadable voters will end up in November. But there’s a serious problem beyond just polls. It’s the disaffection of activists — pivotal because thousands of talented, hard-working activists are needed to help persuade voters on the fence, and to get-out-the-vote of traditional Democrats who are only “occasional voters.”

During the Covid-haunted election of 2020, thousands of grassroots activists and groups — including many who were Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren supporters — devoted months of their lives to defeat Donald Trump after Biden became the Democratic nominee. Overall, many progressive groups went all in for Biden when it came down to him or Trump in the fall of 2020.

But in 2024, many of these experienced activists are disaffected from Biden if not outraged at him, over issues from Gaza to voting rights to climate to student debt.

In 2020, Arab and Muslim American communities mobilized against the detested, Islamophobic Trump. Today, leading activists in key swing have been sending a clear message to Biden in public forums: “No Ceasefire, No Votes.”

In 2020, climate activists mobilized to eject the climate-denying “drill baby drill” incumbent. Today, as a result of Biden’s reversals on climate policy — like his broken promise on drilling in Alaska — there is much disgust among activists.

Five hundred people who were campaign or party staff members in 2020 — recalling that they “fought tirelessly to organize millions of Americans to cast their votes” for Biden — have now signed a well-informed letter Biden not only to work for a Gaza ceasefire, but also to “end unconditional military aid to Israel” and “take concrete steps to end the conditions of apartheid, occupation, and ethnic cleansing that are the root causes of this devastation.”

Will there be enough diligent volunteers to get-out-the-vote for Biden in 2024? Not according to current Biden for President staffers who say volunteers have “quit in droves” over Biden’s handling of the Gaza war — adding: “It is not enough to merely be the alternative to Donald Trump.”

For more than a year, we’ve been part of the RootsAction team that launched the Don’t Run Joe (now Step Aside Joe campaign immediately after the 2022 midterm elections — urging progressives to insist on clearing the path for an open primary process that could lead to a dynamic progressive candidate capable of soundly defeating Trump. Now, the awful specter of a Biden vs. Trump contest is causing enormous distress and eagerness to develop an appropriate response. That’s why hundreds of people have already chosen to sign up for a livestream panel discussion on Jan. 16, “What Should Progressives Do About Biden?”

While establishment Democrats are intent on whistling past the Biden graveyard, there’s a different kind of magical thinking among some who consider themselves to be on the left — a fantastical pretense that it doesn’t really matter whether Trump becomes president again. People who think that Trump and his leadership team are not fascistic, or that a Trumpite return to the presidency wouldn’t be much worse than abhorrent Bidenism, are out of touch with political reality.

(Jeff Cohen is co-founder of RootsAction.org, a retired journalism professor at Ithaca College, and author of Cable News Confidential: My Misadventures in Corporate Media. In 1986, he founded the media watch group FAIR. Norman Solomon is national director of RootsAction.org and executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy. He is the author of many books including War Made Easy. His latest book, War Made Invisible: How America Hides the Human Toll of Its Military Machine, was published in 2023 by The New Press.)

ON-LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

When I think that I have been paying taxes for this shit for forty plus years, I get nauseous. Funding some deviants who never gave a damn about me or anybody or anything getting rich off the backs of the people of this country. They are not smarter than me or you, they are just at the front of the line so they can tell you they are fresh out. They manipulate the markets, so you pay more for stocks, real estate, education, health care, everything. And your savings, investments and retirement are used to fund them also, because they or their family members are at the head of those funds, banks, drug companies, MSM, ect. I am beginning to see, if we don’t get rid of central banks and the military industrial complex, I might as well go tell my grandkids to practice picking cotton.

FURIOUS HOUTHI FORCES have vowed to retaliate to a scale 'beyond the imagination' of the West after heavy UK and US air strikes pounded targets across rebel-held areas of Yemen overnight. British and American fighter jets and warships launched more than 100 precision missiles at over 60 targets in Houthi-held territory in Yemen, with the strikes hitting an airbase, an airport, and military camp in a dramatic escalation of the war in the Middle East. The Iranian-backed Houthi rebels have now vowed to respond to the attacks they claim have killed at least five fighters, with leaders saying the UK and US must 'prepare to pay a heavy price' for their 'blatant aggression'. Responding to the strikes, the group's spokesperson Mohammed al-Bukhaiti said the US and Britain had 'made a mistake launching the war in Yemen'. He added: 'Soon they will realise that the direct aggression against Yemen was the greatest folly in their history'. Ali al-Qahoum, a high-ranking Houthi official, went further and said: 'The battle will be bigger... and beyond the imagination and expectation of the Americans and the British.' Hussein al-Ezzi, a Houthi official in their Foreign Ministry, vowed: 'America and Britain will undoubtedly have to prepare to pay a heavy price and bear all the dire consequences of this blatant aggression'. Russia also waded into the row, condemning the strikes as a 'violation of international law aimed at an escalation in the region to attain their destructive objectives'. Britain and America launched strikes from the sea and air in response to months of disruptive attacks on merchant ships in the Red Sea by the Houthis, with a coalition of nations including the UK and US forced to deploy warships to protect them.

— Daily Mail

“WISDOM” AND “FOLLY” are like meats that are wholesome, and unwholesome. Courtly or simple words are like town-made, or rustic vessels. Both kinds of meat may be served, in either kind of dish.

— St Augustine of Hippo, CE 400; from ‘Confessions’

EMILIANO ZAPATA 1879-1919, posing in Cuernavaca in 1911, with a rifle and sword, and a ceremonial sash across his chest. (Archivo General de la Nación, Mexico City. Archivo Fotográfico Díaz, Delgado y García).

Emiliano Zapata was a Mexican revolutionary. He was a leading figure in the Mexican Revolution of 1910–1920, the main leader of the people's revolution in the Mexican state of Morelos, and the inspiration of the agrarian movement called Zapatismo.

MAKING GAZA UNLIVABLE

Or How to Create an Unlivable Hellscape on One Strip of Land

by Joshua Frank

On a picturesque beach in central Gaza, a mile north of the now-flattened Al-Shati refugee camp, long black pipes snake through hills of white sand before disappearing underground. An image released by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) shows dozens of soldiers laying pipelines and what appear to be mobile pumping stations that are to take water from the Mediterranean Sea and hose it into underground tunnels. The plan, according to various reports, is to flood the vast network of underground shafts and tunnels Hamas has reportedly built and used to carry out its operations. 

“I won’t talk about specifics, but they include explosives to destroy and other means to prevent Hamas operatives from using the tunnels to harm our soldiers,” said IDF Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi. “[Any] means which give us an advantage over the enemy that [uses the tunnels], deprives it of this asset, is a means that we are evaluating using. This is a good idea…”

While Israel is already test-running its flood strategy, it’s not the first time Hamas’s tunnels have been subjected to sabotage by seawater. In 2013, neighboring Egypt began flooding Hamas-controlled tunnels that were allegedly being used to smuggle goods between the country’s Sinai Peninsula and the Gaza Strip. For more than two years, water from the Mediterranean was flushed into the tunnel system, wreaking havoc on Gaza’s environment. Groundwater supplies were quickly polluted with salt brine and, as a result, the dirt became saturated and unstable, causing the ground to collapse and killing numerous people. Once fertile agricultural fields were transformed into salinated pits of mud, and clean drinking water, already in short supply in Gaza, was further degraded.

Israel’s current strategy to drown Hamas’s tunnels will no doubt cause similar, irreparable damage. “It is important to keep in mind,” warns Juliane Schillinger, a researcher at the University of Twente in the Netherlands, “that we are not just talking about water with a high salt content here — seawater along the Mediterranean coast is also polluted with untreated wastewater, which is continuously discharged into the Mediterranean from Gaza’s dysfunctional sewage system.”

This, of course, appears to be part of a broader Israeli objective — not just to dismantle Hamas’s military capabilities but to further degrade and destroy Gaza’s imperiled aquifers (already polluted with sewage that’s leaked from dilapidated pipes). Israeli officials have openly admitted their goal is to ensure that Gaza will be an unlivable place once they end their merciless military campaign.

“We are fighting human animals, and we are acting accordingly,” Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said shortly after the Hamas attack of October 7th. “We will eliminate everything — they will regret it.”

And Israel is now keeping its promise.

As if its indiscriminate bombing, which has already damaged or destroyed up to 70% of all homes in Gaza, weren’t enough, filling those tunnels with polluted water will ensure that some of the remaining residential buildings will suffer structural problems, too. And if the ground is weak and insecure, Palestinians will have trouble rebuilding.

Flooding tunnels with polluted groundwater “will cause an accumulation of salt and the collapse of the soil, leading to the demolition of thousands of Palestinian homes in the densely populated strip,” says Abdel-Rahman al-Tamimi, director of the Palestinian Hydrologists Group, the largest NGO monitoring pollution in the Palestinian territories. His conclusion couldn’t be more stunning: “The Gaza Strip will become a depopulated area, and it will take about 100 years to get rid of the environmental effects of this war.”

In other words, as al-Tamimi points out, Israel is now “killing the environment.” And in many ways, it all started with the destruction of Palestine’s lush olive groves.

Olives No More

During an average year, Gaza once produced more than 5,000 tons of olive oil from more than 40,000 trees. The fall harvest in October and November was long a celebratory season for thousands of Palestinians. Families and friends sang, shared meals, and gathered in the groves to celebrate under ancient trees, which symbolized “peace, hope, and sustenance.” It was an important tradition, a deep connection both to the land and to a vital economic resource. Last year, olive crops accounted for more than 10% of the Gazan economy, a total of $30 million.

Of course, since October 7th, harvesting has ceased. Israel’s scorched earth tactics have instead ensured the destruction of countless olive groves. Satellite images released in early December affirm that 22% of Gaza’s agricultural land, including countless olive orchards, has been completely destroyed.

“We are heartbroken over our crops, which we cannot reach,” explains Ahmed Qudeih, a farmer from Khuza, a town in the Southern Gaza Strip. “We can’t irrigate or observe our land or take care of it. After every devastating war, we pay thousands of shekels to ensure the quality of our crops and to make our soil suitable again for agriculture.”

Israel’s relentless military thrashing of Gaza has taken an unfathomable toll on human life (more than 22,000 dead, including significant numbers of women and children, and thousands more bodies believed to be buried under the rubble and so uncountable). And consider this latest round of horror just a particularly grim continuation of a 75-year campaign to eviscerate the Palestinian cultural heritage. Since 1967, Israel has uprooted more than 800,000 native Palestinian olive trees, sometimes to make way for new illegal Jewish settlements in the West Bank; in other instances, out of alleged security concerns, or from pure, visceral Zionist rage.

Wild groves of olive trees have been harvested by inhabitants of the region for thousands of years, dating back to the Chalcolithic period in the Levant (4,300-3,300 BCE), and the razing of such groves has had calamitous environmental consequences. “[The] removal of trees is directly linked to irreversible climate change, soil erosion, and a reduction in crops,” according to a 2023 Yale Review of International Studies report. “The perennial, woody bark acts as a carbon sink … [an] olive tree absorbs 11 kg of CO2 per liter of olive oil produced.”

Besides providing a harvestable crop and cultural value, olive groves are vital to Palestine’s ecosystem. Numerous bird species, including the Eurasian Jay, Green Finch, Hooded Crow, Masked Shrike, Palestine Sunbird, and Sardinian Warbler rely on the biodiversity provided by Palestine’s wild trees, six species of which are often found in native olive groves: the Aleppo pine, almond, olive, Palestine buckhorn, piny hawthorne, and fig.

As Simon Awad and Omar Attum wrote in a 2017 issue of the Jordan Journal of Natural History:

“[Olive] groves in Palestine could be considered cultural landscapes or be designated as globally important agricultural systems because of the combination of their biodiversity, cultural, and economic values. The biodiversity value of historic olive groves has been recognized in other parts of the Mediterranean, with some proposing these areas should receive protection because they are habitat used by some rare and threatened species and are important in maintaining regional biodiversity.”

An ancient, native olive tree should be considered a testament to the very existence of Palestinians and their struggle for freedom. With its thick spiraling trunk, the olive tree stands as a cautionary tale to Israel, not because of the fruit it bears, but because of the stories its roots hold of a scarred landscape and a battered people that have been callously and relentlessly besieged for more than 75 years.

White Phosphorus and Bombs, Bombs, and More Bombs

While contaminating aquifers and uprooting olive groves, Israel is now also poisoning Gaza from above. Numerous videos analyzed by Amnesty International and confirmed by the Washington Post display footage of flares and plumes of white phosphorus raining down on densely populated urban areas. First used on World War I battlefields to provide cover for troop movements, white phosphorus is known to be toxic and dangerous to human health. Dropping it on urban environments is now considered illegal under international law, and Gaza is one of the most densely populated places on earth. “Any time that white phosphorus is used in crowded civilian areas, it poses a high risk of excruciating burns and lifelong suffering,” says Lama Fakih, director for the Middle East and North Africa at Human Rights Watch (HRW).

While white phosphorus is highly toxic to humans, significant concentrations of it also have deleterious effects on plants and animals. It can disrupt soil composition, making it too acidic to grow crops. And that’s just one part of the mountain of munitions Israel has fired at Gaza over the past three months. The war (if you can call such an asymmetrical assault a “war”) has been the deadliest and most destructive in recent memory, by some estimates at least as bad as the Allied bombing of Germany during World War II, which annihilated 60 German cities and killed an estimated half-million people.

Like the Allied forces of World War II, Israel is killing indiscriminately. Of the 29,000 air-to-surface munitions fired, 40% have been unguided bombs dropped on crowded residential areas. The U.N. estimates that, as of late December, 70% of all schools in Gaza, many of which served as shelters for Palestinians fleeing Israel’s onslaught, had been severely damaged. Hundreds of mosques and churches have also been struck and 70% of Gaza’s 36 hospitals have been hit and are no longer functioning.

A War That Exceeds All Predictions

“Gaza is one of the most intense civilian punishment campaigns in history,” claims Robert Pape, a historian at the University of Chicago. “It now sits comfortably in the top quartile of the most devastating bombing campaigns ever.”

It’s still difficult to grasp the toll being inflicted, day by day, week by week, not just on Gaza’s infrastructure and civilian life but on its environment as well. Each building that explodes leaves a lingering cloud of toxic dust and climate-warming vapors. “In conflict-affected areas, the detonation of explosives can release significant amounts of greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, and particulate matter,” says Dr. Erum Zahir, a chemistry professor at the University of Karachi.

Dust from the collapsed World Trade Center towers on 9/11 ravaged first responders. A 2020 study found that rescuers were “41 percent more likely to develop leukemia than other individuals.” Some 10,000 New Yorkers suffered short-term health ailments following the attack, and it took a year for air quality in Lower Manhattan to return to pre-9/11 levels.

While it’s impossible to analyze all of the impacts of Israel’s nonstop bombing, it’s safe to assume that the ongoing leveling of Gaza will have far worse effects than 9/11 had on New York City. Nasreen Tamimi, head of the Palestinian Environmental Quality Authority, believes that an environmental assessment of Gaza now would “exceed all predictions.”

Central to the dilemma that faced Palestinians in Gaza, even before October 7th, was access to clean drinking water and it’s only been horrifically exacerbated by Israel’s nonstop bombardment. A 2019 report by UNICEF noted that “96 percent of water from Gaza’s sole aquifer is unfit for human consumption.”

Intermittent electricity, a direct result of Israel’s blockade, has also damaged Gaza’s sanitation facilities, leading to increased groundwater contamination, which has, in turn, led to various infections and massive outbreaks of preventable waterborne diseases. According to HRW, Israel is using a lack of food and drinking water as a tool of warfare, which many international observers argue is a form of collective punishment — a war crime of the first order. Israeli forces have intentionally destroyed farmland and bombed water and sanitation facilities in what certainly seems like an effort to make Gaza all too literally unlivable.

“I have to walk three kilometers to get one gallon [of water],” 30-year-old Marwan told HRW. Along with hundreds of thousands of other Gazans, Marwan fled to the south with his pregnant wife and two children in early November. “And there is no food. If we are able to find food, it is canned food. Not all of us are eating well.”

In the south of Gaza, near the overcrowded city of Khan Younis, raw sewage flows through the streets as sanitation services have ceased operation. In the southern town of Rafah, where so many Gazans have fled, conditions are beyond dire. Makeshift U.N. hospitals are overwhelmed, food and water are in short supply, and starvation is significantly on the rise. In late December, the World Health Organization (WHO) documented more than 100,000 cases of diarrhea and 150,000 respiratory infections in a Gazan population of about 2.3 million. And those numbers are likely massive undercounts and will undoubtedly increase as Israel’s offensive drags on, having already displaced 1.9 million people, or more than 85% of the population, half of whom are now facing starvation, according to the U.N.

“For over two months, Israel has been depriving Gaza’s population of food and water, a policy spurred on or endorsed by high-ranking Israeli officials and reflecting an intent to starve civilians as a method of warfare,” reports Omar Shakir of Human Rights Watch.

Rarely, if ever, have the perpetrators of mass murder (reportedly now afraid of South Africa’s filing at the International Court of Justice in the Hague, accusing Israel of genocide) so plainly laid out their cruel intentions. As Israeli President Isaac Herzog put it in a callous attempt to justify the atrocities now being faced by Palestinian civilians, “It’s an entire nation out there that is responsible [for October 7th]. This rhetoric about civilians not aware, not involved, it’s absolutely not true. They could’ve risen up, they could have fought against that evil regime.”

The violence inflicted on Palestinians by an Israel backed so strikingly by President Biden and his foreign policy team is unlike anything we had previously witnessed in more or less real-time in the media and on social media. Gaza, its people, and the lands that have sustained them for centuries are being desecrated and transformed into an all too unlivable hellscape, the impact of which will be felt — it’s a guarantee — for generations to come.

(Joshua Frank, is an award-winning California-based journalist and co-editor of CounterPunch. He is the author of the new book Atomic Days: The Untold Story of the Most Toxic Place in America (Haymarket Books).

ALEXANDER COCKBURN’S FAVORITE FICTION (2007)

Books-writ-in-English I'd throw in the car to read on the way to somewhere? 20th century novels I truly love? Start with P.G. Wodehouse. Two of his best, written in the late 1930s or early 40s, ‘The Code of the Woosters’ and ‘Jeeves in the Morning.’ Up there with Shakespeare's best comedies. And talking of Shakespeare, try to find Hugh Kingsmill's ‘Return of William Shakespeare,’ a first person account of his life and work by the Swan of A. Now move over to Virginia Woolf's ‘Orlando.’ Close out with a little surrealist classic, written as a series for the old English Lilliput, Maurice Richardson's ‘Exploits of Engelbrecht the Dwarf.’

Adventure? Stanley Weyman's ‘Under the Red Robe,’ tighter than Dumas, set in Richelieu's France, with its terrific first line, “Marked cards!” Now for Arthur Ransome's children's classic ‘We Didn't Mean to Go To Sea,’ and then in a natural aquatic progression, to that Irish revolutionary, ‘Erskine Childer and his ‘Riddle of the Sands,’ then to John Buchan's ‘Greenmantle,’ chock with all the ingredients of today's headlines about Islam, terror, Osama, the Great Game, only written 70 years ago.

Now to Eric Ambler's ‘Mask of Dimitrios,’ then head east from Istanbul to India and John Masters' haunting thriller ‘The Deceivers,’ about stranglers (“The Thugs”) in the service of Kali. Don't forget to pack Patricia Highsmith's ‘The Talented Mr Ripley,’ made into that great movie ‘Plein Soleil.’ Pack at least one of C.S. Forester's Hornblower books, maybe ‘Flying Colors,’ where the austere commander has that torrid fling with the Comptesse Marie de Gracay. Not enough women in this list? How about Jean Rhys' ‘Wide Sargasso Sea’ and Rebecca West's ‘The Thinking Reed,’ with its playboy who “even when he was peering down a woman's blouse managed to look as though he was thinking about India.”

Pick up my father Claud Cockburn’s ‘Beat the Devil,’ so much better than the movie Huston made from it. Then on to Patrick Hamilton's London-set ‘Slaves of Solitude,’ noirer than noir. Something short, though still noir-ish? Evelyn Waugh's ‘Ordeal of Gilbert Pinfold,’ so superior to the pompous war trilogy. Now settle down with two by Joseph Conrad, both brilliant about terrorism, ‘Under Western Eyes’ and ‘The Secret Agent.’ Close out with Flann O'Brien's ‘At Swim Two Birds’ and my one concession to heft, James Joyce's ‘Ulysses.’ Throw in Henry Miller's ‘Tropic of Cancer.’ 

You forgot to pack Mann, Musil, Broch? Lucky you. Another summer safe from attack by Joseph and His Brothers, The Man Without Qualities, not to mention the Death of Virgil. Next year, you promise.