Mendocino County Today: Monday, Jan. 29, 2024

Sunny Warm | Steer | Ed Notes | Flooding Predicted | Turn-Key Supermarket | AV Matriarchs | Bureaucratic Limbo | Frog Woman Rock | Repurpose Juvie | Craft Fair | AVA Advice | Yesterday's Catch | Sarahs Single | Growth Addiction | Back-to-the-Landers | Kingsolver Book | Variety Show | Death Lottery | Tough Choice | Niners Win | Blowup Dolls | Sweetest Comeback | Great Luck | Punchbowl Turd | Solomon Speech | DNC Edict | Must Change | Satsuki | Get Out | Daffodils | Israel's Occupation | Child Post | Scottsboro Boys

DRIER WEATHER with mild temperatures are anticipated for today. An unsettled weather pattern will arrive by mid to late this week with heavy rainfall, mountain snow, and strong gusty winds. Below average temperatures are likely for the end of the week and into the weekend. (NWS)

STEPHEN DUNLAP (Fort Bragg): Summer like weather continues on the coast today with 52F under partly cloudy skies. Our looming big system is approaching from the west advertising a lot of rain & high winds mostly for Wednesday. The rain should start Tuesday evening before things calm down some going into the weekend. The forecast for next week is looking wet so far.

ED NOTES: 

FRONTRUNNER CONFESSION: I thought the Niners were done at the half on Sunday, and they would have been done if the Lions hadn't dropped some crucial passes, and if the amazing Brandon Aiyuk, the young man with the old face, hadn't miraculously caught a ball that bounced off the defender at the goal line, and the whole energy of the game went over to the Niners, and the much maligned Brock Purdy took over for the win. What a game! Next up, Taylor Swift, er, the Chiefs in the Super Bowl on February 11.

REPRESENTING Mendocino County at Saturday's Cease Fire Now demo in San Rafael yesterday were Jeff Blankfort of Ukiah and Bruce Anderson of Boonville and San Anselmo. Anderson was accompanied by his daughter, Jessica, and granddaughter, Gemma, the latter participating in her first anti-war rally with a lifetime of opposition ahead of her. AVA contributor Norman Solomon was the principal speaker. Attendees, numbering about 300, signed an open letter to Congressman Huffman demanding he support an immediate ceasefire. Huffman had earlier signed a ceasefire petition but the next day apologized for his “mistake.” Each mention of his name was greeted by hearty boos. Following the speeches on the unseasonably warm afternoon, the sedate crowd of protestors walked up 4th Street and back to the rally site, a commercial courtyard between the Bank of America building and an apartment complex. Huffman's office is in the bank building, natch.

LUCY ESPINOZA has earned the highest degree the California FFA can bestow! Only about 3% of California FFA members earn their State FFA Degree. Congratulations to Lucy Espinoza. We are proud of you! (Boonville-Anderson Valley FFA)

GOT INTO THE MIDDLE 70'S TODAY IN BOONVILLE

RECOMMENDED READING: “All Roads Lead to Comptche,” a local history by Katy Tahja, known to many of you as the friendly clerk at the Gallery Bookshop in Mendocino who used to double as the librarian at the Mendocino Middle School. Mrs. Tahja, a long time resident of Comptche, has assembled an interesting history of the crossroads hamlet, complete with old photos of some of the area’s most significant structures, including one of the original Orr Hot Springs Hotel from the 1880s I found especially interesting as a sort of architectural devolution representing, in a way, America’s descent from the dignified democratic elegance of the Gilded Age to the, ah, rather frantic nude inelegance prevalent at the ramshackle Orr Springs of today. There are also descriptions of life in pre-industrial Mendocino County as represented by workaday Comptche fleshed out with anecdotes passed down over the years by old timers. Mrs. Tahja’s useful little history is a must-read for all of us who live here.

MINOR FLOODING PREDICTED

BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY - LAYTONVILLE, CA

Geiger's Long Valley Market in Laytonville, California is a turn-key supermarket in a newer building with upgraded equipment and is the only full-service grocery store in the region located conveniently on Highway 101. Under lease through 2033 with options to extend and tenant purchase option commencing 2026. The building is 17,000 square feet built entirely new in 2005. Equipment upgrades in 2019 and operated as a supermarket, hardware, and meat and deli with kitchen, full lozier shelving and ABC 21 full-on sale liquor license - a rare value in Mendocino County. Operational assets include nose-to-tail butcher department, non-USDA cut room, meat counters, Zero Zone meat/cheese, dairy and beverage cases (all new 2019), expanded deli renovation (2023), multiple walk-in refrigeration and freezers (upgraded 2019), upgraded POS (5 registers), upgraded front-end management office (2022), new large capacity Kohler generator and much more. In business since 1945 and across the street from the local tribe's new full Las Vegas style Class 3 gaming license.

AS MOST OF US KNOW, Anderson Valley is a matriarchy. The Valley is run and managed by women, prominently among them these two, Lauren Keating and Pilar Echeverria.

WHO’S IN CHARGE?

by Jim Shields 

It’s now apparent that the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors have their necks fully bowed and have hung closed signs on their minds over the relocation of the Veteran Services Office (VSO). 

At Tuesday’s (Jan. 23) Board meeting, 3rd District Supervisor John Haschak provided the public and his colleagues with what sure looked a “done deal” report on the staff-created mess surrounding a cost-savings budget cut that has been badly botched. 

For those not familiar with the issue, here’s what happened. 

About two weeks ago, Supes Haschak and Glenn McGourty, who serve on the Board’s General Government Committee, sent out a letter providing background and activities surrounding the Vets relocation decision. Here are excerpts from their statement: 

“The move was precipitated by the Board’s directive to staff to downsize the number of county buildings and reduce costs. The Veterans Services house on Observatory Ave. in Ukiah had a homey feel. Veterans and staff felt comfortable in that setting. Yet there were some issues such as parking, public safety and space. 

“Recently, the rent being paid for Air Quality’s present building increased dramatically. The decision by staff was to get out from under the high rents. There existed unutilized space in the Public Health building which was sufficient for the Veterans Services staff but not enough for Air Quality. On that basis, the decision was made to move Air Quality and its employees to the Observatory Ave. space and move Veterans’ Services to a wing of the Public Health building.” 

“Supervisors learned about this from constituent outrage. Concerns have been raised about the move and we are trying to address these concerns as best we can. Some will say that we should just move the Veterans’ Services Office back to the house on Observatory. With the domino effect of the moves and considering that the new facility has some advantages, our perspective is that let’s make this new space the best it can be and that it be a space welcoming to veterans while fulfilling the needs of staff and veterans alike.” 

From the time the decision was made to evict the VSO from their long-standing occupancy at the Observatory Ave. site, both Veterans and the Supervisors constituents have been united in their public opposition to the move. Without a doubt, the overwhelming public response to this decision is opposition to this decision. And the Board knows it. 

Both Haschak and McGourty admit this fact in their letter when they state, “Supervisors learned about this from constituent outrage.” 

But their letter also proposes how to settle the dispute and make things right: “Some will say that we should just move the Veterans’ Services Office back to the house on Observatory.” If the Supervisors would have stopped right there at that juncture in their letter and followed the advice to “just move the Veterans’ Services Office back to the house on Observatory” they would have instantly solved the problem and eliminated all of the “constituent outrage,” and people would have applauded them for doing the right thing. 

But they didn’t do that. 

Instead, they supported the decision made by faceless bureaucrats who, by the way, didn’t even inform their alleged bosses, the Supervisors, that this stink bomb was about to be lobbed into the public arena. That’s what the Haschak-McGourty letter revealed when they stated, “Supervisors learned about this from constituent outrage.” 

Of course, that leads to another more worrisome line of inquiry into who’s truly in charge down in the County Seat. 

Here’s a quick story on who may be in charge, at least at times. From September 2021 through July 2022, I served, along with approximately six other appointees, on a committee working under the auspices of the Board of Supervisors Ad Hoc Drought Committee comprised of Supes Haschak and McGourty. 

The charge given our committee was to prepare a draft ordinance that would regulate private sector groundwater wells whose owners sell, or plan to sell water commercially, as well as individuals or entities that transport water from these commercial groundwater wells to customers. It should be noted that the impetus for developing this ordinance occurred in 2021 during extreme drought conditions when the local cannabis industry was in a record state of over-production, coupled also with record usage of both legal and illegal sources of water, some of which is transported by water trucks. 

In July of 2022, the Board voted 4-1 to approve the draft ordinance prepared by the committee, and forward it to the Planning Commission for further review. Specifically, according to the July 12, 2022 minutes, “Upon motion by Supervisor Haschak, seconded by Supervisor Gjerde, IT IS ORDERED that the Board of Supervisors accepts the draft ordinance and forwards [it] to the Planning Commission for review.” 

So you can say that it appears that we were a citizens committee that actually did its job and delivered a finished product — a draft ordinance — to the BOS. 

Since that time, the draft ordinance has sat on that dusty old shelf gathering more of that dusty old dust. 

At this week’s Board meeting, Jan. 23, Planning and Building Services (PBS) staff reported they have neither the staff nor the time to work on this now 18-month-old proposed ordinance. In fact, the Supes were informed there were a number of other approved Board actions or “directions” that fell into the same category. 

To make a long story very short and succinct, the Supes followed the recommendation to basically kiss off these items, consigning them to bureaucratic Limbo. 

And so it goes. 

(Jim Shields is the Mendocino County Observer’s editor and publisher, observer@pacific.net, the long-time district manager of the Laytonville County Water District, and is also chairman of the Laytonville Area Municipal Advisory Council. Listen to his radio program “This and That” every Saturday at 12 noon on KPFN 105.1 FM, also streamed live: http://www.kpfn.org.)

REPURPOSE JUVIE

To the Editor: 

I seem to remember that at one time there was a Board of Supervisors discussion about closing Juvenile Hall and paying another jurisdiction for juvenile detention services. If the Juvenile Hall youth detention services were contracted out, could the Juvenile Hall facility be used as a mental health facility for those unfortunates that are homeless and need mental health and substance abuse treatment? I believe this worthy budget cost saving idea should be seriously considered. 

Scott Ward

Redwood Valley

HOW TO WRITE FOR THE AVA

by Paul Modic

The Anderson Valley Advertiser is the most open, honest, intelligent, provocative, and interesting weekly newspaper around, here, there, and everywhere, and if you want to contribute a story here are some things you might consider:

When you send something to the AVA you have to trust the Editor’s (and the Major’s?) opinion that your story is worthy of publication, even in the “Geezer Gazette” (thanks Fred Gardner) which “nobody reads.” (I don’t think it’s a good idea to question the Editor, Bruce Anderson, about why a story didn’t get in, that’s why I never have, but I did ask the Major, Mark Scaramella, once and got my story about sleep into the paper paper.)

It doesn’t hurt to have a lefty viewpoint, though extreme right-wing is acceptable, at least the first time, then better add some humor, experience, or retrospection. Of course if you’re a long-time local, lovable old-timer or friend of the Editor, like the late Jerry Philbrick, you can rant in the letters-to-the-editor all you want.

Now I really have to emphasize this next point: Do Not Write About Sex, unless you’ve got your bona fides from an august publication like the “London Review of Books,” from which the Editor pulled a story last year about bestiality, probably because it made the hapless experimenter look like a silly fool. It’s always fun to laugh at and pile on clueless dolts in the AVA, in this case a guy needing medical attention after a dog, or maybe it was a horse, or a giraffe. (Once I was getting a story ready which included the word “tits,” thought better of it and changed it to “breasts,” and when the paper hit the streets they had mysteriously disappeared, the mammaries just a memory.)

The Editor is a grandfather and generally tries to keep the paper clean, though in one of his own stories last summer he threw out a stream of “motherf------” when quoting his experiences with radical blacks in the turbulent sixties. (He says it’s a “family paper” but what does that even mean? The family sits around the fire after dinner reading the AVA together, and one of the kids looks up from his paper and says, “Grampa Bruce, what does motherf----- mean?”)

Face it, the AVA is all about history: Local Anderson Valley, Mendocino, Humboldt and the Northcoast, California in the 1800’s, your family history, your history, and anything you wish to intelligently express, such as Flynn Washburne’s odes to his wild past in Albion, which were pretty entertaining. (Also welcome are any personal experiences which don’t matter but might be entertaining for a minute. For example, the latest one by Eric McMahon telling about his first job as a teenager, moving rocks around a yard. Really? Yes, I was compelled to read the whole thing, got nothing out of it, but hey, it was a moment in Eric’s life he wanted to share.)

To write for the AVA it’s a plus if you’re currently in jail or prison, as the Editor is an advocate for social justice and a vet of the local lockup. He was unjustly thrown in when he wouldn’t give up his sources in the Bear Lincoln case, or possibly because of an errant left jab to Jim Spence’s noggin, or some other incident in his colorful career. (The rumor was that Bruce immediately took over the jail law library, researched for a week straight, and when they let him out after a month he was followed, like a parade of the damned, by half the freed population, prompting the DA to say, “Yeah, and crime doubled in Ukiah overnight!”)

The AVA has been a mouthpiece for those fairly or unfairly incarcerated, like the multiple-year prison screeds from the aforementioned Flynn, who humanized the meth-head, putting out the image of a harmless and humorous nice guy who just likes to get high. (There were rumors from the deep Mendo underground that the Editor and Major sprung him from prison in Susanville out in the desert that dark and stormy night, then stashed him in a shed at Mike Koepf’s place with a Smith-Corona and a case of Hostess Twinkies. Another conspirator was supposed to be in on that outrageous breakout caper, which was even covered by “The Des Moines Register,” but he had to work overtime that night, helping DA Eyster pad his invoices from a “holiday gala,” which probably went something like this:

Eyster: Okay, that was twenty-seven hamburgers and…

Mikey G: You mean steaks, remember, I choked on that big piece of beef.

Eyster: Yeah, and I saved your life, funny when that chunk of cow flew into Angelo’s Margarita. So now I own your ass, or do you own mine? I can never keep that one straight. Okay, next, fifty-six Bud Lights, five dollars each...

Mikey G: Wait, whose were mixed drinks, about fifteen bucks each.

Eyster: It was burgers and beer! I’m the District Attorney! I am GOD! Do you want to keep your job? Okay, on to lawn-care products, that’s another five grand, at least…

Mikey G: I’m outta here!)

Once free, Flynn drifted back to his powder of choice, was no longer inspired to write for the AVA, and the editor had to sublimate his Dannie M. Martin dreams. I was worried they would throw him back in prison but hey, he’s just a harmless druggee, so…

The Editor likes to encourage the amateur writers among us but has little tolerance for whiners. Some self-deprecation is okay, just don’t complain too much, unless it’s hilarious as humor is appreciated, the Editor being a humorist himself. You could probably get away with it if you’re a longtime local or friend of the Editor or the Major. (For example, a couple summers ago a guy was complaining about his Peachland property difficulties, every issue all Summer, often on the front page, and I probably read every word, damn. Hope he got some justice and wasn’t found hanging in his barn.)

That kind of repetitive axe-grinding probably won’t happen much anymore as the Editor has called in reinforcements from the graveyard, with weekly injections of Cockburn, Caen, Hinckle, and many other fine writers who collectively make this an entertaining and educational read. (He should run some excerpts from Christopher Hitchens but the brilliant essayist fell out of favor at Fort Despair, the AVA compound, after he had a war of words with the Editor’s late comrade Alexander Cockburn, as well as turning right and supporting the Iraq war.)

Another thing to know is you can criticize anything, even the Editor and the AVA, and you can send it in anonymously, but if you accuse someone of a nefarious activity you might have to sign your name or offer some proof. Brutal criticism can be amusing, we all like to laugh at others, or maybe you just want to vent awhile? When you criticize the esteemed Editor you might proceed with caution, as he has been nicknamed “The Beast of Boonville,” It would also help if any of your attacks are backed up with facts, which Bruce asks for and never receives. (This is similar to when a friend tells me the New York Times is biased, and when I ask for just one example she’s got nothin’.)

The Editor usually welcomes criticism as the discourse makes his paper more interesting and entertaining but that doesn’t happen much anymore as people prefer that their vitriol goes out instantly online, as paper-papers continue their decline, a fact which the Editor laments and accepts, while what he calls “The Last Newspaper In America” somehow continues. (One clueless pundit sent in a story about the Editor, replete with memories of his “angry young man” days and the Editor was not amused, viciously ripping the writer’s name off the masthead within the week and replacing it with Doug Holland’s. Well, who among us would welcome our foibles and adventurous past paraded without context thirty years later? Think of the grandchildren!)

The Editor, let’s call him “God” (like God Eyster, another plenipotentiary), has had fallings out with many of his writers over the years: Gardner twice, but he won’t tell me the details, Heimann of course, never heard from again, and other ink stained wretches. (I hope they made up.) Most of the writers today are well-behaved, like Raskin, but try not to poke the God. (Yearsley can actually be digestible and interesting half the time, when he dumbs it down for the likes of me anyway, and Holland’s stories are “revered” at the AVA, making me wonder if Bruce has ever looked very deeply into Doug’s raw and sometimes addictive blog.

Which brings us to politics: interesting, boring, sarcastic, repetitive, or however it’s expressed, politics is the heart of the AVA. (Which is why Holland and I often send in quirky pieces like this one, to balance the sometimes staid “party line” with something light, though almost always unnecessary.) The Editor attacks most politicians and predicts the downfall of civilization often: “The end times are near,” he’s been contractually obligated, by his inner gods or demons, to utter monthly for the last thirty years, like a doomsday preacher seeking one more pile of filthy lucre from his flock.

One of his recurring, and probably original, sayings is “In Mendocino you are whoever you say you are and history starts over again every day.” That actually sounds pretty cool, like self-discovery and personal growth, but he meant it as a negative thing, to which I say “Names, Editor! Names!”

His “Off The Record” column of short takes, always the first section I turn to, was probably inspired by the three dot journalism of the great Herb Caen, a format I also stole for my zine Gulch Mulch back in the ‘90’s. (I put Bruce Anderson up there with Caen on Mount Write-more, countrified edition.)

Well, that’s about it so, oh wait, I forgot the most important topic to write to the AVA about: Sports! I’ve never heard the Major utter a word about them, and maybe doesn’t know the difference between a ping pong paddle and a frisbee, but the Editor grew up playing and loving sports and today will be glued to the tube, with the rest of us, cheering on the pretty damn good San Francisco 49ers against the Lions, and then on to the Superbowl, I hope.

I’m also a sports fanatic but don’t judge me (actually those who say “Don’t judge me” are usually the ones who should be judged, I’ve noticed) for I have judged myself already and viewing my fanatical obsession rationally (if that’s not a contradiction in terms) it has helped me to accept all the other fanatics who find pleasure or succor in their mindless distractions: Chem-trail conspiracists, election-deniers, television or internet addicts, religious zealots (anyone who prays or goes to church), right wing radio fans, pornography victims, fast car obsessives, or any other distractions from the slow moments in this wondrous world in which we live, being whomever we say we are and having the intellectual insight and vision to start our personal history anew each morning, to coin a phrase. (Can you really do that?)

Addendum: Let’s not forget books. If you write about books, even send in a list of your favorites, your letter or article will leap to the front of the letters section, if not the front page. The Editor loves books, as do I, and if it were a choice between having books or the internet I would choose books instantly. (I’ve gotten a story in the AVA about books, and have part two ready to go. Not sure about the Major, he might be more of a podcast guy.)

You can and should always write about what you know, like marijuana for example. Weed has been a topic for decades and there are still a few articles a year about it. (Let’s not count the boring calamity of legalization and the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors’ botched attempts at creating a workable program for local growers, probably an impossible job with plummeting prices.)

The editor has never been a fan of the good herb, the holy plant, the drug of choice for so many, though a sizable segment of his loyal readers and subscribers are/were growers and smokers of the evil/beneficient weed. Yes, weed is over but keep those historic weed stories coming, of which there were a few in the paper recently. (Also, quite a few of the regular contributors to this here Geezer Gazette freely admit to being one toke over the line.)

Anyone still with me here, after this insouciant array of words, this steaming pile of verbiage? I want to encourage all you amateurs to write in with your letters and articles, however if you can’t spull or use bad grandma your mysteaks won’t be edited out by the busy producers of this enduring passion project, this artifact called The Anderson Valley Advertiser. (I’m a professional writer myself, I know this because I have a copy of the twenty-five dollar cheque I received from the AVA twenty years ago, festooned on a cupboard door in the utility room. It was my first published story, about Julia Butterfly’s attempt to sing at Reggae on the River, its appearance probably guaranteeing I would never get laid in this town again.)

Another topic welcome at AVA headquarters is anything about Mendocino county government, thoroughly and savagely covered by Mark Scaramella and Jim Shields, and that brings us to this important question: If the AVA stops covering the board of supes does that mean the board is no longer dysfunctional, like the mythical tree falling in the forest?

The AVA’s reportage projects an image of unprofessional stagnation in county government, and so I ask the AVA braintrust this: Why couldn’t each member of the board take on or be assigned one main problem area of local government to try to solve? Each would have an area of responsibility, each concentrating and spending extra time on one of the top five county problems? (I sent a note to the Major asking what those five problems are but have not heard back, I guess it was an absurd question.)

And finally, since social media had been deemed a mental health crisis and smartphone addiction is leading to desperate people trying to abandon their phones, the AVA should step up, nationally and internationally, as an alternative to robotically staring at phones, as its hard copy has all the news and views necessary to get a robust picture of what’s going on. (I believe the noted author Jim Dodge, ‘Not Fade Away’ and ‘Stone Junction’ were great reads, is using this method.)

CATCH OF THE DAY, Sunday, January 26, 2024

ISABEL ALVARADO-NOVOA, Ukiah. Domestic abuse.

JOSE ARIZ-MENDEZ, Nice/Ukiah. DUI with priors.

ANTONIO CERVANTES, Santa Rosa/Ukiah. Kidnapping for robbery and rape.

JUN CHEN, Brooklyn, New York/Ukiah. Transportation of marijuana-conspiracy.

MICHAEL COPELAND, Ukiah. Cruelty to animals.

YAO FANG, Staten Island, New York/Ukiah. Transportation of marijuana-conspiracy.

MATTHEW FAUST, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol&drugs, vandalism. (Frequent flyer.)

CHARLES FOSTER, Willits. Battery with serious injury, probation revocation.

RUSSEL FURLONG, Lakeport/Ukiah. DUI.

ROBERT GARCIA, Ukiah. Battery.

JOHNNY HARRIS, San Francisco/Ukiah. Taking vehicle without owner’s consent, evasion, resisting.

ANTONIO LOPEZ JR., Hopland. DUI, taking vehicle without owner’s consent attempting to keep stolen property, criminal threats, resisting.

BRETT NAKAMOTO, San Francisco/Ukiah. Cannabis for sale-conspiracy and transportation-conspiracy.

DEREK NIX, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.

JACQUELINE SHEPHERD, Redwood Valley. Disorderly conduct-alcohol&drugs.

JAKE SNYDER, Ukiah. DUI.

MARCOS VASQUEZ, Ukiah. Domestic battery.

COLBY WATERLAND, San Jose/Ukiah. DUI.

SARAH SONGBIRD: 

Our next single is dropping on Feb 6th and it’s a very personal song that I am so excited to finally share! You can PRE-SAVE it on the streaming service of your choice at the link below. Please SAVE and SHARE.

https://ingrv.es/lichen-on-a-limb-ntw-m

ADDICTED TO ‘GROWTH’

Editor,

The economic turmoil we find in Mendocino both political and social is not unique to us alone, but global and its about time, finally, to come to a head. Even astute minds, I suppose subconsciously, want to treat the self-interest economic growth paradigm that has been imposed as if it is God and deserving of constant, morning-to-night obeisance. The only way to look at it is: we are addicted. As I approach the back door I find myself questioning the least costly execution of remains — not just for me but for my family.

Marbut, the great $50 to $70 thou homeless consultant, pronounced the root causes of homelessness as mental health, drug addiction, and domestic violence, ignoring that the root causes of probably every existential established crisis can be found in the hands of the pervasive economic platform bundled with human greed.

What spurs this rant from me today is the top article head in ‘The Post Most’ just delivered to my email that states, “Falling inflation, rising growth give U.S. the world’s best recovery.” Ha! What recovery? The U.S. simply possesses some of the best hucksters in the world. Constant growth is a cancer. Life in all its myriad forms requires balance — equilibrium and homeostasis — constant growth is killing us. Yes, that the world is off balance is quite evident right here in beautiful Mendocino County and we are in no way “in recovery.” Might I suggest a 12 step program for rehabilitation from our addiction? With a higher power that includes Mother Nature?

David Severn

Philo

THE LACUNA

Editor,

I just read your squib in the AVA this week in which you mention the Bonus Marchers. We are almost finished reading ‘The Lacuna’ by Barbara Kingsolver, in which they play a small but significant part, along with this country's love of Stalin in the 30s which evolved into the communist scare in the 40s and all the nastiness surrounding it. The protagonist is half American and half Mexican and the story takes place in both countries. Frida and Diego Reviera play an important role. Kingsolver is a master at writing historical fiction, much of it connecting to our surreal present. 

Nikki Auschnitt

Boonville

PS If you ever are in need of free books, we give them away when folks stop to shop at the farm. We'd love to see you and give you a box full! 

DEATH, AND HOW WE’LL PROFIT FROM IT

by Tommy Wayne Kramer

Went to a funeral in Ukiah and most attendees were leaning heavily toward 80 years old. Don’t know how many made it back home from the services, but a lot of them looked due for an appointment with the jolly reapers at Eversole Mortuary. 

It’s getting serious out there. 

Our friends are dying off faster than ever, often for no obvious reasons. Some of them (a lot of them) are younger than us, healthier than us, stronger than us and smarter than us, but we’re the ones still above ground, still eating Doritos, watching Gilligan Island reruns and drinking Old Milwaukee beer. 

It’s getting troublesome. The question arises: How can we make death less fearsome and, since this is America, perhaps a bit more humorous and a lot more profitable? Let’s consider a yearly event in which all members put $1000 into the pot, along with cards with names written on them. 

The black card, for instance, would show the name of the person you think most likely to be first to die in 2024. The pink card is your nominee for second to expire. Blue card is your third prediction. 

Winner gets half the money in the pot, and the second pick gets, say, 20% of the remainder. Etc etc etc. 

Macabre? Well, yes, but that’s why the money will go to some worthy cause or other, as determined by the winner. (NOTE: Choice of charity is subject to neither debate nor appeal.) 

It’s a game that would lead to all kinds of diabolical intrigue. Would anyone stoop so low as to have a friend, or at least acquaintance, murdered for, say, 50 grand? Well of course we would, especially if it was a relatively inoffensive homicide, like pulling a vegetable’s plug a bit prematurely. 

Other scenarios beg to be considered: The killing of a local menace to society and major criminal should result in double rewards, plus bail money. Candidates for extinction would be cleared in advance by DA Dave Eyster or County Sheriff Matt Kendall, and considered “Public Service Killings.” 

Imagine the excitement if names of those nominated for extermination were publicized and it was well known that vigilantes from Redding were here in Ukiah, hot on his trail? 

Side bets everywhere (“$500 says he gets greased in Hopland!”) plus, of course, all money earmarked for worthy charities. Talk about win-win for Mendocino County. 

Hiring co-conspirators, out of town hitmen, getaway drivers and spies willing to lend a diabolical hand in exchange for cuts of 10% or 50% or 90% of the prize money adds to the intrigue. Arrests could follow, and subpoenas issued for Eyster and Kendall. 

And variations inevitably suggest themselves. Shall we set odds of 10-5 on someone in a wheelchair with oxygen tanks and a yellow complexion being next to shuffle off to the morgue in 2024? 

Conversely: What about odds of 1 in 20 on the predicted death of a young, healthy fellow but who uses drugs and rides a motorcycle? 

See the fun? See the potential for a Netflix special “Based on True Events”? 

Is it wrong? Better yet, is it legal? Betting on someone’s mortality seems ripe for legal research. Readers might ask my next door neighbor (Page 4 of today’s and every Sunday’s paper) Frank Zotter for legal advice. Later we’ll tell the judge that Frank told us it was OK, and maybe we’ll get probation. 

News Note: Wife Trophy said her $1,000 is already in the pot, and that she’s betting on me. Such devotion. I only have $250 on her. 

Stay tuned, place your bets, and think how much more fun, complicated and profitable future “celebrations of life” will be in Ukiah. 

* * *

Crime Opportunity 

How soon before criminals start loitering at electric vehicle charging stations for easy pluckin’s among wealthy Tesla and Rivian owners? 

Electric and/or Hybrid cars are 100% owned by wealthy White people who don’t carry guns and will happily hand over purses and wallets to promote Equity and Diversity. 

The two hour wait for your Prius to get its fill of volts, watts, electrons, amps, etc., provides a nice big window for robbers and thieves who like to sleep in before sauntering off to work the night shift. 

(Wife Trophy was exhausted by Ukiah’s nonstop rain so Tom Hine talked her into returning to Los Carolinas where the temperature upon arrival was 17 degrees, and 15 the next day. TWK hasn’t taken his mink coat off since they got here.)

PRE-GAME HEADLINE, Marin Independent Journal

49ERS BEAT LIONS 34-31 WITH BOUNCE-BACK SECOND HALF TO REACH SUPER BOWL LVIII

by Eric Branch

The NFC Championship Game, the contest that has accounted for more anguish than any other in the San Francisco 49ers’ history, provided ecstasy Sunday when it seemed for two quarters that it was certain to pile on more pain.

The franchise that endured Roger Craig’s fumble, Kyle Williams’ fumbles, Richard Sherman’s pass breakup, Jaquiski Tartt’s dropped interception and Brock Purdy’s torn elbow ligament, among other calamities when they were one step from the Super Bowl, somehow avoided this: A loss to the Detroit Lions, a 7-point road underdog that hadn’t won a road playoff game since 1957.

Trailing by 17 points at halftime, the top-seeded 49ers launched the second-biggest comeback in their 63-game playoff history to pull off a what-the-heck-happened 34-31 win over the Lions in the NFC Championship Game at Levi’s Stadium.

The 49ers outscored Detroit 24-0 in a 23-minute, second-half scoring spree to escape more conference-championship game heartbreak and earn a date with the Chiefs in Super LVIII on Feb. 11 in Las Vegas.

It wasn’t quite The Catch, the legendary play that launched their 1980s dynasty, but it belongs on the list of epic playoff wins in the history of a franchise that is now one win away from winning their sixth Super Bowl and ending a 28-season title drought.

After running back Elijah Mitchell capped their 24-point flurry with a 3-yard scoring run that provided a 10-point cushion with three minutes left, the 49ers could exhale.

Their comeback meant they reached their eighth Super Bowl, tied for the most in NFL history, and avoided becoming the fifth team in league history to lose three straight conference championship games. The 49ers improved to 8-11 in conference title games. They are 6-2 in wild-card games, 19-7 in the divisional round and 5-2 in Super Bowls.

The game’s tenor changed dramatically with the 49ers trailing 24-10 with seven minutes left in the third quarter. The Lions were facing 4th-and-2 from the 49ers’ 28-yard line and head coach Dan Campbell, who had the second-most fourth down attempts in the NFL (40), eschewed a 46-yard field-goal attempt that would create a three-score lead. The result: Goff threw a contested-but-catchable pass that wide receiver Josh Reynolds couldn’t corral.

The 49ers took over. And an avalanche ensued. In the next three minutes and 54 seconds, the 49ers gained 96 yards, recovered a fumble and scored 14 points to tie the game at 24-24.

The play that kickstarted it all? It had to be seen more than once to be believed. Two plays after the failed fourth down, Purdy heaved a pass that hit cornerback Kindle Vildor in the right arm, caromed off his helmet and was plucked out of mid-air by fully outstretched wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk for a 51-yard catch at the 4-yard line.

Three plays later, Purdy tossed a 6-yard touchdown pass to Aiyuk. Lions 24, 49ers 17.

One play later, running back Jahmyr Gibbs had a fumble that was caused by free safety Tahsaun Gipson and was recovered by defensive tackle Arik Armstead at Detroit’s 24-yard line.

Four plays later: Christian McCaffrey scored on a 1-yard run. 49ers 24, Lions 24.

On the 49ers’ next possession, they took their first lead on Jake Moody’s 33-yard field goal with 9:56 left.

Before the comeback, the Lions were crushing the 49ers. They led 24-7 at halftime and had 148 rushing yards and 280 total yards.

49ERS’ WIN OVER LIONS is sweetest comeback in Bay Area sports history

by Scott Ostler

Nominations are now being accepted for Greatest Comeback Win in Bay Area Sports History.

Never mind, we have a winner.

If the San Francisco 49ers can come back from the dead as they did Sunday against the knee-biting Detroit Lions, don’t bet against Elvis showing up two Sundays hence to sing the national anthem at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.

Down 24-7 at halftime — flat, flatfooted and badly outplayed, then victorious 34-31 just 30 game-clock minutes later. Go figure.

The gritty, gutty Lions talked big and backed it up, for one half of the game. But apparently the pampered lads from the Bay Area are tougher than they look.

To be fair, for best Bay Area comeback ever, you might get an argument from the 2002 49ers, who came from 24 points down to beat the New York Giants in the wild-card round. Fantastic comeback, but those 49ers were a house-money team, gritty but not great. This version of the 49ers had so much to lose, seemingly its soul, along with its dignity, pride, credibility and hope for the future.

Sweetest comeback, it’s gotta be this one.

Oh, boy, were the Lions ready Sunday, and the 49ers so not. The Lions charged out into the bright sunshine wearing gleaming all-white uniforms, looking like a hazmat squad. It was as if they were determined to strip this game down to the hard-rock basics, like a young Mike Tyson climbing into the ring with no robe or socks. Didn’t the Lions know this game was being telecast in living color?

Their coach, Dan Campbell, barged into his first head coaching job two years ago looking almost buffoonish, a football version of John Candy’s Matt Foley character, but came to the Bay looking more like the face of Real Football. Going into the game, he touted his guys as the embodiment of the grit and soul of down-and-out Motown, and his fellas backed up their leader’s words.

For two quarters the Lions dominated both sides of the ball. All three sides of the ball, if you count special teams, where 49ers’ kicker Jake Moody boofed a field-goal attempt. This looked like a complete teamwide collapse by the 49ers.

You’ve heard of all hands on deck? This one, for the 49ers in that ghastly half, was all hands washed overboard and lost at sea.

It looked like the 49ers were going to lose their third consecutive NFC Championship Game.

This one would have been the bitterest, and most definitive. Two seasons ago they blew a fourth-quarter lead against the Rams. Last season they lost their quarterback early when Brock Purdy blew out an elbow against the Eagles. This one was different. In this one there would be no excuses, no explanations, nobody to blame but everybody.

In that brutal first half, the Lions not only bit the 49ers’ kneecaps off, to borrow a promise from Campbell, but the visitors bit the lugnuts off the 49ers’ Super Bowl bandwagon.

Then, in the blink of an eye, it all changed. The bitterest loss turned to the sweetest win. The team that supposedly had everything except the intestinal fortitude and talent to play from behind late in the game has now played its way into the Super Bowl with back-to-back comeback stunners.

Two weekends ago it was a last-drive comeback win over the Green Bay Packers. Sunday, an eye-popping, impossible comeback against the Lions.

And so the 49ers will fly to Las Vegas next weekend, and they might not even need an airplane. They will face the Kansas City Swifties in a rematch for the ages.

They will be rocking a greater-than-ever self-confidence and a renewed faith in themselves, and in their quarterback and their defense and their head coach.

They will be flying into Vegas on the wings of Sunday’s win, an instant classic, all the sweeter for the 49ers because of how they won, and what they had to lose.

Purdy, everybody’s nobody, sputtered early, clearly out of his element, then came up huge. The game-managing, remote-controlled quarterback went off script, scrambling for 51 yards on four busted plays in that second half. Made the big passes. Led the cool charge.

Shanahan, badly outcoached and out of answers in the first half, kept his guys — and himself — cool, flipped the script and engineered a comeback.

Christian McCaffrey, his superb season devalued by his first half — eight carries for 27 yards — came back to life, running 12 times for 63 yards in the second half.

The entire cast and crew, especially the defense, somehow picked itself up off the mat in that second half. Nick Bosa, sackless in the previous two playoff games, had a couple Sunday. Defensive coordinator Sideline Steve Wilks, a force since he left his perch in the press box, probably wrote his ticket to his next job, but the 49ers have him for one more game.

With the win, the 49ers regained their claim as a team of destiny, built for the task, as solid and explosive and creative and mature and motivated as any 49ers team in the post-Joe Montana era.

All it took was a little patience and a lot of faith.

"BEFORE THE GAME, a ladybug landed on my shoe. Just great luck. God was with us today."

— Brandon Aiyuk

TRUMP FOR PRESIDENT

by Mitch Clogg

I wonder if I’m a wise old man, a foolish old man or just an old man. If you think I’m a WOM, consider: I thought the chance of Trump winning in 2016 to be beneath consideration. When he won, I figured his status as President-Elect would be undone before that Christmas, but being a WOM I allowed more time. “He’ll never make it to inauguration.” As the sex-scandals emerged, dressing-room rape, Stormy Daniels, pussy-grabbing smarminess and the endless rest, I said each time, “He’s finished.” Come January 6, 2001, America’s capitol crawling with vermin, as it appeared to me at first glance, I expected his prompt arrest.

I’d say I’m a FOM instead of a WOM. Consider that as you read on.

For the first time, it looks possible to me that none of his serious prosecutions will be done by November. His dressing-room rape was not a felony, according to the WOMs. Moreover, the chance he will be compelled to pay damages will likely dissolve the instant he is elected. 

For all practical purposes, the many cases against him will dissolve upon his restoration to the presidency.

Can he do that?! we ask in disbelief. I would never have thought so, but society—American society, Western society and human society—have degraded to the point that most anything conceivable can now happen and probably will. The only sure defense against our persistent animal nature is civilized education, learning what used to be called the “humanities.” The word sounds quaint now, doesn’t it? Few could define it. For the record, the humanities are the examination of the human mind and spirit, from Year One to the present. (For much, much more, look it up.)

Can the United States of America survive a renewed Trump presidency? In name only. The USA is a good brand, and Trump loves a good brand. He’ll die before there’s serious consideration of renaming the former republic. As to being a society living under the rule of just laws, that’s never really been more than a half truth. Ask any intelligent body outside my WASP cohort. The Constitutional Convention of 1787 did a near-miraculous job, but money, greed and the other dark horsemen, rode into the Philadelphia State House (now “Independence Hall”) and did their usual dirty work. All it took was to persuade the delegates to put off the red-hot slavery question till another day. That left the splendid new constitution with a giant stinking lie right in the middle of it like a turd in a punchbowl. We’re harvesting the fruit of that right now. I groan.

MASS MURDER IN GAZA

[John Sakowicz: Here’s the gist of Norman Solomon’s speech at the January 27, 2024 protest organized by Marin DSA in downtown San Rafael, California]

Mass murder by Israel has been happening in Gaza for more than three and a half months.

We’re here to demand a single standard of human rights. We condemn what Hamas did on October 7, and we condemn what Israel has been doing ever since, with U.S. support.

City councils in Minneapolis, Detroit, Atlanta, Seattle and many other cities have called for an immediate ceasefire. But not Congressman Jared Huffman.

In the Bay Area:

The Oakland City Council has called for an immediate ceasefire. But not Congressman Huffman.

The Richmond City Council has called for an immediate ceasefire. But not Congressman Huffman.

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors has called for an immediate ceasefire. But not Congressman Huffman.

Today is International Holocaust Remembrance Day. And we say – never again for anyone. Never again for Jews, Palestinians, or anyone else.

Right now – in our names, with our tax dollars – the U.S. government is supporting and enabling Israel’s policy for extermination of Palestinian people. Mass murder of Palestinian people.

Polls in the United States are showing that 60 percent or more of the public favor a ceasefire. But not Congressman Huffman.

On January 18th, 57 members of Congress, including 12 from California, signed a letter to President Biden opposing any expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza. But not Congressman Huffman.

So many people clearly state that Israel’s actions are genocidal. But not Congressman Huffman.

Since early October, more than 25,000 people have been murdered in Gaza, including 10,000 children. So many people in the United States are doing what they can to stop the mass murder. But not Congressman Huffman.

Some in Congress have decided that they don’t want to be accomplices to ongoing mass murder. But not Congressman Huffman.

GLOBAL LEADER V GLOBAL TERRORIST

by Joan Vivaldo

President Biden said recently we are the world’s global leader. Global terrorist is more like it. Our government exists to serve a small elite.

War is profitable. That is the reason the US has been at war since WWII. For our multinational investors, winning or losing is immaterial. It is the income from the manufacture of war materiel and related activities that prevails. Our Congress people have defense contractors in their districts who provide employment opportunities for their voters. Since the products are destroyed – bullets, tanks, planes – and must be re-manufactured, the profits continue. 

The death and mutilation of innocent civilians is of no concern to the military/industrial/Congressional/elite. In my lifetime, I have seen America's failed intervention in Vietnam's civil war which revealed our government's lies. The Gulf of Tonkin incident was just what Johnson needed to ‘protect’ the oil and gas resources in Southeast Asia from the Communists. At least a million people were killed, many more injured, and land was ruined. Our deficit grew, and our military and defense contractors prospered. The men and women who went into combat did not. As with our many bank bailouts, it was a case of privatized profits and socialized losses. Those who profit from war gain; those who pay for the war via their taxes, lives and limbs lose. I have seen mutilated Cambodian musicians, playing the instruments they can with the body parts remaining, as testaments to Nixon's illegal bombings. I have seen ruined vets begging on the streets of San Francisco. Afghanistan was just a stepping stone to the Middle East. It is in worse shape than ever, thanks to our 'democracy building' efforts. The women our leaders said must be freed of restricting burkas are now six feet under.

US Middle East attacks did benefit companies, e.g., Halliburton and Blackwater. Iraq was a war based on lies for oil. Another million murdered, many more injured, and more land ruined. Oil-rich Libya is now a failed state thanks to America’s (think Hillary Clinton) 'humanitarian intervention.' Our government does not care for Iraqi women or Ukrainians or Palestinians or Israelis. It cares for dominance and money. This chatter about democracy and rules based order is BS, and only trotted out when it serves US interests. 

Transnational capitalists such as BlackRock, Vanguard Group, JP Morgan Chase, Allianz, UBS, and Bank of America are intertwined. They own stock in each other. And they have learned that perpetual war generates consistent profits. Since investors seek safe and constant returns, these enormous firms provide that via the profits that come through endless war. Efforts for world dominance have only made us hated – note 9/11. Note also the recent votes at the UN regarding affairs in Israel/Palestine. The world is against us. We have a permanent war economy – we kill and destroy in the world with impunity to enrich a tiny elite. 

News agencies are owned by big business, and the news we receive is slanted to suit imperialists. Intelligence agencies (a misnomer, again note 9/11, and J6) are corrupt. Our military (certainly the world's most expensive) has lost the majority of the wars it has entered since WWII – perhaps because the actual goal is not to win, but to generate income for global investors. Our schools are deplorable, 13 million children are “food insecure’, poverty is increasing, housing is unaffordable, mass shootings are soaring, prison populations are overflowing, drug addiction is escalating, infrastructure is in tatters, suicide is rampant, criminal behavior in Congress and SCOTUS and the Executive Branch is the norm. It is the profits that come from war desired by and caused by the elite that diverts discretionary funds from purposes that could benefit all Americans. 

Our government, controlled by the wealthy elite, cares only for themselves. Do not be fooled. They don't care much about us, but they need us to consume, work, pay taxes and fight their profitable wars. They will continue to use us as long as we permit it. As Smedley Butler said in 1935: "war is a racket for business interests." Because we are creatures with compassion, we must be tricked into going to war with humanitarian appeals (remember the Kuwaiti Ambassador’s daughter and the incubators?).

Trump had a slogan: ’take our country back.' He was pointing us to the wrong group as the enemy. Take our country back from the Pentagon (failed their 6^th audit last year), from defense contractors, from unbridled big business, from war profiteers, from profit gougers, from ‘bought’ officials, from those who spout hatred and fear of others. We will not get it back with continued attacks on other countries. Fight for controls on business, for increased wages, for the decency we surrendered to our politicians and global capitalist investors. Reform the electoral college; it is more than a century out of date. Call and write your Congresspeople. Vote for people who actually want to do good in our government. Support organizations that push for real democracy. Protest the system that makes us mass murderers for war profits. Direct your spending and investments to constructive purposes that benefit all Americans, rather than massacring innocents and overturning other countries' elected leaders. Take to the streets as the Yellow Vests did in France. Masses of people demonstrated every weekend for a year and had some success. Wake up people! Things are not good in our country. It is up to us to change it.

MORE US-DRIVEN ESCALATIONS TOWARD WAR IN THE MIDDLE EAST

by Caitlin Johnstone

Well, it finally happened. The scores of attacks on US troops in the middle east in response to Israel’s US-backed atrocities in Gaza have resulted in American deaths, just as critics of US foreign policy have been saying would happen for months. At least now we can stop bracing for it, I guess.

Antiwar’s Dave DeCamp, among those who have long warned of this eventuality, writes the following:

“Three US troops were killed by an overnight drone attack in northeastern Jordan, the first Americans to die by enemy fire in the region since President Biden threw the US’s weight behind the Israeli onslaught in Gaza.

“According to CNN, one-way attack drones hit Tower 22, a small US outpost in Jordan near the Syrian border. Over 30 troops were also wounded in the attack.

“Since mid-October, US bases in Iraq and Syria have come under attack over 150 times in response to US support for the Israeli slaughter in Gaza. The overnight drone attack in Jordan appears to be the first time Tower 22 was targeted.”

The Biden administration immediately claimed the attack was backed by Iran, with profoundly influential news agencies like AP and Reuters regurgitating this claim as established fact in their headlines immediately thereafter. As DeCamp notes in the aforementioned article, back in October a US official acknowledged to CNN that that there’s actually a “persistent intelligence gap” as to how much these Shia militias are in fact beholden to the orders of Tehran, but apparently this attack being linked to Iran is now being treated as established gospel truth anyway. 

This attribution has allowed perpetually war-horny Republican senators Lindsey Graham, Tom Cotton and John Cornyn to call on Biden to attack Iran directly. US officials actually told the press last week that Biden would consider direct strikes on Iran if and when the attacks on US troops led to American deaths, with The New York Times reporting the Biden administration knew it was “only a matter of time” before this occurred. 

In a statement on the attacks Biden said the US “will hold all those responsible to account at a time and in a manner our choosing,” meaning yet another military escalation in the middle east is on its way under this murderous administration. A full-scale war with Iran would be the absolute worst-case scenario resulting from the violence which erupted in the middle east this past October, potentially with mass deaths on a scale that would make what’s been happening in Gaza look like child’s play.

In that same statement Biden said the US troops who were killed in the “despicable and wholly unjust attack” died working “to fight terrorism”, which is of course ridiculous. People who live in the middle east have far more legitimacy attacking US troops in resistance to a US-backed genocide than US troops have in being in the middle east to begin with, and the US military presence they attacked is there to shore up geostrategic control, not to fight terror.

As Aris Roussinos explains in a new article for Unherd, the US base by the Jordan-Syria border that was struck by Iraqi forces functions as a support base for America’s al-Tanf garrison, a sprawling “deconfliction zone” (read: illegal military occupation) in Syria which the US has for years been using to disrupt Iranian activities in the region and help Israel carry out its constant airstrikes in Syria. “Fighting terrorism” is just the pretense for the US military presence in the region; as always, the real reason is to facilitate the geostrategic domination of the US empire.

Those three US military personnel didn’t die fighting terrorism. They didn’t even die advancing the interests of ordinary Americans. The real reason they died was summed up nicely by Responsible Statecraft’s Trita Parsi:

“They didn’t die defending US interests, they died defending Biden’s refusal to press Israel for a ceasefire. Their lives were put at risk by Biden to defend Israel’s ability to continue its carnage in Gaza.”

Parsi has spent months arguing that the only thing that can de-escalate the rapidly expanding hostilities in the middle east is a ceasefire in Gaza, since that’s what they all ultimately arise from. The massive increase in attacks on US troops, the Yemeni blockade in the Red Sea, the brinkmanship with Hezbollah in Lebanon and the skyrocketing tensions with Iran are all the direct result of Israel’s massacre in Gaza and the opposition thereto.

Instead of pushing for a ceasefire, the US is preparing to send Israel 50 fighter jets and 12 Apache helicopters in preparation for the next war while stepping toward the horrifying prospect of a hot war with Iran. Meanwhile Nancy Pelosi is saying there needs to be an FBI investigation into people calling for a ceasefire, because they might be Russian secret agents.

Every US military fatality in the middle east is the fault of the US government for putting them there. US troops shouldn’t be in the middle east at all, and the US has no legitimacy in retaliating against efforts to kick them out of the region by the people who live there. Iraqi militias have 100 percent legitimacy in attacking US troops in the middle east during a US-backed genocide, and the US has zero legitimacy in retaliating.

To the managers of the US empire:

Get out of the middle east. Just get the fuck out. Stop backing a genocide in Gaza, stop murdering people to shore up domination of world resources, and leave. Leave before you unleash something far worse than the nightmare you’ve already inflicted upon our species.

(caitlinjohnstone.com.au)

JEFF BLANKFORT: Over the years, there have been a number of reports in the Israeli press of Jewish survivors comparing Israel's treatment of Palestinians with how they were treated by the Nazis. That none of them were reported in the US press one might say is a tribute to the power of the Jewish Establishment over the US media in the same manner that it controls the White House and Congress and so brazenly, with its millions, goes after any member of Congress who dares challenge what amounts to Israel's occupation of the United States. It's time to call out this situation for what it is and recognize that allegations of “antisemitism” are the tool they use to maintain the status quo.

UNTIL 1920, children could be mailed through the US Postal service! 

They had to be under 50 pounds, and stamps were affixed to their clothes. It was cheaper for many people to ship children than to put them on a train, and the children rode on a train (in the mail car) anyway, being watched and fed by mail clerks. 

The record distance? Over 700 miles from Florida to Virginia for a mere 15 cents in stamps. 

It really was "A Simpler Time".

FROM A BRILLIANT ESSAY called “George” by the late Murray Kempton: 

“The Scottsboro Boys were nine itinerant Negroes who were sentenced to death in April of 1931 for the supposed rape of two white women on a Chattanooga freight train. The Communists financed their early defense. Within two months after their case began, the International Labor Defense sent to Europe the mother of two of the prisoners; as ‘Mother’ Wright she toured 28 countries and heard shouts that ‘The Scottsboro Boys shall not die’ in a score of foreign tongues. She was so successful a missionary that there were indications that the ILD had at least eight Mother Wrights appearing at once in different parts of the world. It has been estimated that the Communists collected nearly a million dollars for the Scottsboro Boys; the legitimate expenditures for their defense can hardly have exceeded sixty thousand dollars. During the course of their appeals, the Scottsboro Boys became the most famous Negroes in America; when their last appeal was lost, the ILD settled back and waited for injustice to triumph. The prisoners, after a long and painful effort, were finally rescued and set free by a committee of liberals led by the Rev. Allan Knight Chalmers, Morris Ernst, Walter White, and the late Grover Hall, of Montgomery, Alabama. ‘I think,’ Chalmers has written, ‘that the Communists would have been content to lose the case if only they could publicize their part in it and point out the weakness of American legal practice’.”