Mendocino County Today: Saturday 3/2/24

Thunderstorms | Eel Confluence | 80 Closed | Leggett Fire | Palace Limbo | Hales Grove | Inmate ODs | Donner Camp | Ed Notes | Crumb 77 | Gaza Rally | AV Athletes | Verbal Skills | Waterfall | Ukiah Construction | Navarro Workshop | Pianist Concert | Variety Show | Scam Avoidance | Rainy Day | Fire-Safe 20 | Yesterday's Catch | 4 AM | Acid/Weather | CPUC Hearings | French Cuisines | Joint Soup | Marco Radio | MAGA Supremes | Debt Deficit | Blonde Joke | Border Criminal | Trumps Lunch | Greatest Pharoah | Rural Whites | Leap Birthday | Blob News | Unfounded | Hidden Agendas | Sawyer

RAINFALL (past 24 hours): Leggett 1.92" - Willits 1.86" - Covelo 1.67" - Yorkville 1.64" - Laytonville 1.55" - Ukiah 1.49" - Boonville 1.48" - Hopland 0.60"

A STRONG WINTER STORM will continue to impact the region today into Sunday with heavy snow above 1000 to 1500 feet and small hail at lower elevations. Another storm will bring additional precipitation Monday into Tuesday with snow levels rising back above 3000 feet. (NWS)

STEPHEN DUNLAP (Fort Bragg): The brunt of this system has impacted the Sierra far more than us. Only moderate rainfall amounts & temps not a cold as advertised, so far. I have .61" under partly cloudy skies with 40F this Saturday morning on the coast. More of the same today then rain into Wednesday to follow. Next Thursday & Friday are looking dry right now then more rain after that? We'll see.

80 CLOSED: California authorities have closed a 100-mile stretch of Interstate 80 due to the season's largest snowstorm in the Sierra Nevada, warning residents of potential 10 feet of snow and winds reaching 145mph. The California Highway Patrol cited reasons for closure, including spinouts, high winds, and low visibility, with no estimated reopening time provided. The closure affected the area near Reno, Nevada, to Emigrant Gap, California. Multiple ski resorts around Lake Tahoe closed, a tornado hit central California, and Yosemite National Park visitors were told to leave as the storm triggered collisions on I-80, causing no reported serious injuries. (Daily Mail)

REPORTS out of the North County say lightning struck a tree near the Leggett Post Office and the resulting fire spread to the Post Office which has burned to the ground. The locally unprecedented event (so far as we know) occurred around 5:45pm Friday evening, March 1st.

STATE AGENCY LEAVES PALACE GRANT DECISION IN LIMBO

by Mike Geniella

A state agency on Friday left hanging a decision about the fate of a controversial $6.6 million taxpayer-funded scheme to demolish the historic Palace Hotel in Ukiah that is sought by a Mendocino County tribe and a group of private investors.

The state Department of Toxic Substances Control officially declared that the Palace decision was “To Be Determined” after announcing $41 million in special state grants for investigation, cleanup, and reuse of contaminated sites in “historically vulnerable and disadvantaged communities.” The Guidiville application was at the bottom of a list of 17 non-profits, tribes and municipalities who received grants, and it was the only one without a dollar amount specified.

While the Guidiville Rancheria’s application was approved in general, a specific grant amount “remains to be determined,” according to state spokesman Devin Hutchings.

Hutchings said the plan outlined by Guidiville, and its group of private investors, is the focus of an “ongoing review of the proposed site investigation by necessary regulatory authorities.”

“The award requires that the proposed project and plans adhere to the requirements of all appropriate regulatory bodies, including those with jurisdiction over site cleanups and historic preservation,” said Hutchings.

The North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board is the oversight agency for any state-funded investigation at the Palace Hotel site. Senior staff members made clear less than two weeks ago that they did not see demolition of a building listed on the National Register of Historic Places as necessary to do contamination studies on site. They said then they were unaware Guidiville was proposing to tear down the historic three-story brick structure as part of its grant application.

“We have never required demolition of a building to do any investigation for ground contamination,” said Heidi Bauer, senior engineering geologist for the regional water board, whose headquarters are in Santa Rosa.

The State Office of Historic Preservation also has made inquiries to Ukiah city officials about how the demolition proposal made by Guidiville fits with state regulatory guidelines surrounding historic properties.

At issue also is an enforcement order against current Palace owner Jitu Ishwar that the City of Ukiah issued in November after declaring that the hotel complex had become a “public safety hazard” under Ishwar and an earlier ownership spanning more than 30 years. The city ordered protective scaffolding to be erected around portions of the building, but nothing has been done since.

Shannon Riley, Ukiah’s Deputy City Manager, said Friday the city hopes to know a final outcome of the Guidiville grant application “soon.”

Riley did not respond to written questions about how much longer city officials will wait to attempt to enforce its public safety hazard order against Ishwar, and what steps if any might be taken next.

The Guidiville scheme for taxpayer support of demolition of the Palace emerged soon after Ishwar, a local hotel/motel operator and former president of the Greater Ukiah Chamber of Commerce, scuttled a planned sale to a Ukiah financier last summer. 

Minal Shankar had developed plans with the aid of noted San Francisco architects and designers specializing in historic preservation. The plans called for a boutique hotel, rooftop event center, restaurants and bars, and ground-level retail shops focused around an interior courtyard. 

It was later learned that Shankar’s proposal was the second serious offer in three years that Ishwar spurned in what a court-appointed receiver described as a “real estate play.” Tom Carter, a contractor who oversaw restoration of the historic Tallman Hotel and Blue Wing Saloon in neighboring Lake County, also sought to buy the Palace from Ishwar before Shankar emerged as a possible buyer.

Ishwar walked away from the Shankar proposal apparently in hopes of being made “whole” for he and his wife Paru’s $850,000 investment in 2019 for the dilapidated Palace and its prime half-block downtown site even though he has taken no steps since to stem the landmark building’s decline.

Ishwar, his attorney Steve Johnson, tribal representatives Bunny Tarin and Michael Derry, and Matt Talbert and lawyer Atilla Panczel representing the investment group did not respond to requests for comment on Friday’s state announcement, and how it might affect their pending deal.

MENDOCINO COUNTY INMATE DIES, 4 OTHERS TREATED AFTER POSSIBLE OVERDOSES

Investigators found the inmates suffering medical emergencies in different cells, officials said. One died after they were taken to a hospital.

by Colin Atagi

A Mendocino County jail inmate died and four others were treated Friday after possibly suffering drug overdoses, officials said.

The emergency occurred shortly after lunchtime and involved inmates in separate cells in one housing module at the Ukiah facility, according to the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office.

“We brought in 100% of everyone we could get our hands on to go through the entire jail,” Mendocino County Sheriff Matt Kendall told The Press Democrat.

Investigators haven’t verified whether any narcotics were discovered, but Kendall said the inmates’ behavior was comparable to side effects from opioids.

The matter is still being investigated and officials haven’t released the name of the deceased inmate.

It began around noon after an inmate called jail staff to their two-person cell.

“A corrections deputy responded and noticed one male inmate in the cell was unconscious with discoloring in the face, which suggested a life-threatening breathing problem,” officials wrote in a news release.

Officials believed he may have been choking because inmates had just returned to their cells from lunch. It became clear he wasn’t choking and officials used Narcan because he appeared to be suffering a drug overdose.

A lieutenant inspected the facility and found another unconscious inmate in another cell, according to the Sheriff’s Office. Officials treated him with Narcan.

Shortly after, the lieutenant checked a cell with three occupants and one of them “had an abnormally pale complexion and was sweating,” officials wrote in the news release.

He also was treated with Narcan before a fourth inmate was found unconscious in another cell and treated.

Afterward, the lieutenant checked another cell with three occupants and one of them appeared pale and sweaty.

“As the lieutenant interacted with the inmate, he noticed the inmate began to display an altered level of consciousness,” officials wrote.

Paramedics took the inmates to an area hospital for treatment before one of them was pronounced dead, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

No other injuries were reported, Kendall said.

(Santa Rosa Press Democrat)

* * *

FIVE Mendocino County Jail Inmates Reportedly Overdose on Fentanyl. Inmate Dies Following Rash of Suspected Fentanyl Overdoses at Mendocino County Jail

On Friday afternoon scanner transmission between dispatch and emergency personnel, indicated that five jai inmates/patients were suffering from fentanyl overdose. The patients were transported to hospital care. CPR was underway.

* * *

The Sheriff’s Office soon issued the following Press Release:

On 03-01-2024 at approximately 12:00 PM the Mendocino County Jail control board operator received an intercom call from a cell located in a module within the facility’s main jail building.

The intercom call was initiated by an inmate housed in a two-person occupied cell who asked for a Corrections Deputy to respond to the cell. 

A Corrections Deputy responded and noticed one male inmate in the cell was unconscious with discoloring in the face which suggested a life-threatening breathing problem. The floor Deputy immediately summoned the assistance of other correctional staff to include on-duty facility medical personnel.

The Deputy entered the cell and began to provide life-saving techniques for a potential choking situation as the housing unit had just concluded lunch in a group setting before returning to their assigned cells for housing purposes. 

During this process it appeared the inmate was not choking and multiple dosages of Narcan were administered due to a suspected drug overdose. As a result, the inmate began to show signs of recovery and improved health.

During this time a Corrections Lieutenant began to perform a walkthrough of the housing module to assess the health and safety of the other male inmates housed in this specific housing module.

During an inspection of a nearby cell, the Lieutenant found an unresponsive male inmate who was housed by himself. Correctional staff and personnel with the Ukiah Valley Fire Authority entered the cell and began providing medical aid to include the use of Narcan.

The Lieutenant continued the walkthrough of the housing module and inspected a nearby cell which contained three male inmates. The Lieutenant noticed one of the male inmates had an abnormally pale complexion and was sweating. Correctional and medical staff provided aid to the inmate to include the use of Narcan. These efforts resulted in an observed improvement in the inmate’s physical condition.

The Lieutenant continued the walkthrough of the housing module and inspected a nearby cell which contained one male inmate. The inmate was laying on the floor and was unconscious. Correctional staff and ambulance personnel, who had just arrived at the jail, entered the cell and provided medical aid to the inmate to include the use of Narcan.

The Lieutenant continued the walkthrough of the housing module and inspected a nearby cell which contained three male inmates. The Lieutenant noticed one of the inmates had an abnormally pale complexion and was sweating. As the Lieutenant interacted with the inmate, he noticed the inmate began to display an altered level of consciousness. Correctional and medical staff entered the cell and began to provide medical aid to include the use of Narcan on this specific inmate. As a result, the inmate began to show signs of recovery and improved health.

In total, five male inmates were provided medical aid for life-threatening suspected overdose conditions while being housed in the same housing module in the Mendocino County Jail. 

These five male inmates were alive during onsite medical aid efforts and were subsequently transported by ambulance to a local hospital for further medical treatment for their continued life-threatening medical conditions. One inmate later died after arriving at the hospital.

The identity of the deceased inmate is not available for public release at this time pending notification of their Next of Kin.

Sheriff’s Detectives and investigators with the Mendocino County District Attorney’s Office are conducting investigations in connection with the Mendocino County Fatal Incident Protocol.

ED NOTES

TO OUR READERS OF THE AVA'S PAPER-PAPER

We knew the day would come, and it has. We're old and ailing and no longer able to meet the physical and bureaucratic demands presented by the production of a paper newspaper. We will, therefore, cease production at the end of April but will live on on-line, a severe comedown for all of us who grew up with paper newspapers.

ADAM GASKA, candidate for District One supervisor: "I got my high school graduate equivalency at 16. Left home, attended Mendo Community College and worked to live at 17. Started my business at 20. Formal education has its place as does real life experience. I have more of the latter." GASKA'S experience resonated with me as a liberal arts college graduate. My four years of college prepared me for exactly nothing. Oh sure, I was real good at lying down and reading a book, but that ability wasn't exactly marketable. I think now that if I simply had been handed a reading list and told to practice until I could write clearly, I would not have wasted four years of odd job hustling to get a college diploma. 

I WENT straight from high school into the Marines, assuming at the time that college wasn't for me, which turned out to be true. With the exception of a couple of history classes, it was four years of intellectual torpor. I'd liked it in the Marines after boot camp, which in '57 was fifteen weeks of physical and mental torture that only very young guys would consider enduring, but I considered staying in the Marines simply for lack of work options. The Marines said that as a "tall sacka shit," as the sgt described me, I could probably get embassy duty, becoming one of those lean, mean fighting machines you see standing at attention in dress blues outside remote colonial American outposts. I implicitly trust the Adam Gaskas of the world, people who can do specifically useful work, much more than I trust liberal arts people, whom I trust not at all.

CONSIDERED on the short-term basis that obviously constitutes Sonoma County planning these days, it's probably true that water supply is presently adequate to more and more construction up and down the 101 corridor but what about the no rain years? 

SOCO has been slurbing steadily north from the Marin County line to Cloverdale for 40 years now, but given the givens of the Northcoast's tenuous and finite water supply, unless the supply is magically expanded, the present draw is just about all the dying Russian River, and its partial Eel River supplier, can provide. 

ON THE ISSUE of water, as on all major issues affecting the Northcoast, there is no leadership whatsoever, let alone anybody in the large-circulation media truthfully examining the false assumptions of more of everything for more and more everyones.

WHEN I HAVE a few bucks after the print bill is paid, I try to shunt them off to a handful of local high school kids who show promise but have zero advantages. If I had money for environmental causes I'd be inclined to give to groups that simply buy land to set it permanently aside, which is the only way to save things in our cash and carry society.

LIKE LOTS of lib-left people, though, I don't like the big salaries and the Democratic Party sell-out political assumptions of groups like the Save The Redwoods League and the Nature Conservancy. And even the Nature Conservancy with all its multi-bucks backing is complaining that the prices of crucial pieces of imperiled natural landscape are going up so fast that even the big endowments like them are often priced out by private developers.

I'M not a dog person. Or much of a cat person, although I prefer cats to dogs simply because cats mind their own business. The only time they become annoying is when they're hungry. Dogs are like having a four-footed human baby. They need constant attention. Still, off my one experience with an inherited dog, I understand how humans become so attached to them. But…

ONE NIGHT not long ago, before medical decrepitude had set in, I was getting in some serious aerobic pain by jogging up a steep Frisco hill. At the top, I walked around a corner and a dog jumped me. Not a real big dog, and not the kind of leaping canine assault where the beast simultaneously takes a bite, but startling all the same.

Regretting that I didn't have a club, I flailed at the thing, managing to propel its snarling form backwards when I saw that the dog was hooked to a thirty foot leash held by a medium-sized young guy with his baseball cap on backwards, a standard issue dude-bro cretin in other words. 

"Why don't you shorten your leash, buddy?" I asked. 

Dude-Bro had made no effort to pull his dog away from me. 

"My leash? he responded, seemingly puzzled. 

"Yes, your leash. It's too long. Your dog might as well be running around loose. He just attacked me. An older person might have been seriously harmed." 

"An older person might have been seriously harmed?" Dude Bro echoed.

Yes, your leash is too long. Do we need a translator here?

Dude Bro grinned at me, but he reeled in the dog, and walked off into the night, probably to troll for another unsuspecting pedestrian. 

I'd estimate for every hour I've walked around The City, even a city the size of Santa Rosa, I've seen an average of three or four instances of bad dog owners, one more sign of civic decay, and one more tiny step in the direction of social collapse.

GAZA CEASEFIRE RALLY Saturday 1 pm Town Hall, Fort Bragg/ Saturday, Come to the "Hands off Rafah Rally" at 1pm Town Hall Ft Bragg.

PETER BOUDOURES:

RE ed notes: I was speaking with Gene Waggoner after 5am basketball this morning at Pomalita [yes he still plays] and he was telling me a story about Charlie Davis. I guess Charlie lived with you as a teen and had an interesting story growing to be around 7 feet by end of high school and went on to play college ball. Sounds like he came right before the Redwood Classic champions where Gary Bates, Charlie Hiatt, Dave Pronsalino, won the whole Thing in the 80s. I didn’t know you were very involved with the youth at that time.

ED REPLY: Charlie and Gene’s great AVHS team of the late sixties beat everyone around. Charles Davis came a few years later. He was 6’11 by the time he graduated from AVHS, a physical Adonis, hated sports. I had to force him to play basketball. “I don’t wanna play. It hurts.” I told him with that body God made him for the game. During timeouts he’d be chatting with girls in the stands. Paid zero attention to the game. Drove his coaches nuts. Dan Doubiago of Mendo HS was the dominant big guy in the area at the time, circa ’73-75. I remember my first men’s league game against Gene and Charlie, Rick Cupples, Tony Summit, LeRoy Perry, et al. We had a pretty good team affiliated with my group home, but these guys were a lot better. First game, Gene comes out and glasses a 35-footer, which our side assumed was a fluke as we wondered what he was doing firing away from a Steph Curry distance. He proceeded to rip up us for forty or so. But all those guys could shoot. The Ukiah match-ups between Gene and the great Kelvin Chapman were something to see. These guys would not embarrass themselves in an NBA game. Sad that men’s leagues for softball and basketball are gone in Boonville, but all of us who enjoyed them then will always have great memories of that time.

KATY TAHJA: I don’t know if you’ll get your physical voice back but you always have a voice in the AVA. A sweet funny memory for you — the last time I have a clear memory of your speaking was in a stuffy room in the FB Library where you debated Zwerling over the use of the name Fort Bragg. It was so nice to have someone with verbal skills and common sense present that night. 

UKIAH DOWNTOWN STREETSCAPE PROJECT CONSTRUCTION UPDATE

Contractors continue to move as quickly as the weather will let them. One of the struggles lately has been that, each time they dig a trench, it fills up with water…really tough to work under those conditions. Regardless, progress continues to be made:

North Side: The new street lights are expected to be operational next week. Additionally, the landscaping subcontractor (Lonestar) is now onsite and working on the tree wells, irrigation and planter/bioswales. Planting won’t happen until spring, but you’ll start to see these areas coming together! Also, depending on the weather, work is expected to begin on the brick border of the sidewalks. Other than some small patchwork, the concrete is done in this section.

South Side: The joint trench is nearly complete on the west side of State Street (to Gobbi). Once complete on this side, work will continue along the east side, starting at Gobbi and working towards Mill. Once those contractors are out of the way on the west side, demolition of the sidewalks on that side will begin.

Work on the joint trench for electrical and communication lines between Mill and Gobbi continues; on the north side, landscape work will begin, weather permitting.

Construction hours are Monday-Friday, 7 a.m. - 6 p.m., depending on the weather.

Lots of rain is forecast for this weekend. Drive carefully out there!

Thanks,

Shannon Riley, Deputy City Manager, Email: sriley@cityofukiah.com

31ST ANNUAL PROFESSIONAL PIANIST CONCERT 

As a gift to our loyal music-lovers, Ukiah Community Concerts proudly announces the video PREMIERE of the 31st annual Professional Pianist Concert, performed at the Mendocino College Center Theatre on January 28. 

Tune in for this free video premiere on the UCCA website at 7:00 PM on Sunday, March 3. 

Experience again--or for the first time if you missed it--the flair, finesse, humor, irreverence, and the sheer joy of the talent of six accomplished musicians that has wowed audiences for over three decades.

Artists who performed on Sunday afternoon, January 28, 2:00 pm: Spencer Brewer, Wendy DeWitt, Tom Ganoung, Ben Rueb, Charlie Seltzer, Janice Timm

(UCCA premiered the video for the Saturday Professional Pianist Concert two weeks ago and you can watch it here now and forever!)

Artists who performed on Saturday evening, January 27, at 7:00 pm: Spencer Brewer, Frankie J, Elizabeth MacDougall, Barney McClure, Ed Reinhart, Elena Casanova

ANDERSON VALLEY VARIETY SHOW 2024: Next Weekend (Friday and Saturday, March 8 & 9)

Get your tix for next weekend’s Variety Show at AV Market & Lemon’s in Philo! Bring an appetite to support the food sales provided by AV Senior class! At show intermission get your AV Grange snacks, popcorn, desserts & drinks! 50/50 raffle tix on sale at the event, we take cash, checks & Venmo!

SCAM AVOIDANCE WORKSHOP

In connection with the Social Security Administration's (SSA) Consumer Protection Week, the South Ukiah Rotary Club is helping spread the word about the growing problem of financial scams in our community and nationwide.

Scammers often pretend to be from a government agency, a bank, or a company like Amazon or PG&E. Don't give out any personal information and don't click on any links or attachments from someone you don't know. If someone asks you to pay for something via a gift card, that is *always* a scam.

Many people, disproportionately elders, have lost huge sums of money to fraud. Learn more about how to protect yourself at AARP's website. For social security fraud prevention tips, visit the SSA's "Slam the Scam" website.

If you suspect you are being targeted, call AARP's Fraud Watch Network Helpline at 877-908-3360.

You can help educate others by posting #SlamtheScam memes such as the one above on your favorite social media accounts. Additional social media resources are available at https://www.ssa.gov/scam/resources.html.

MENDOCINO COUNTY FIRE SAFE COUNCIL CELEBRATES ITS 20th ANNIVERSARY

The Mendocino County Fire Safe Council (MCFSC) is 20 years old this year. Taking shape in 2003 and registered as a nonprofit in March 2004, MCFSC has responded to recent major wildfires with tremendous growth, activity and creative projects to promote wildfire preparedness and safety throughout Mendocino County. 

In 2003, CAL FIRE was planning to close its Ukiah Air Attack Base, and a number of local residents successfully organized to change that plan. Two of these were Colin Wilson, then Anderson Valley Fire Chief and President of the Mendocino County Fire Chiefs Association, and Julie Rogers, who was the effort’s volunteer coordinator and became MCFSC’s founding executive director. 

According to Chief Wilson, “I had recently worked on the Cedar Fire and was profoundly impacted by the huge losses in both lives and property. That experience made me realize that good prevention work would be of much greater value in saving lives and property than the best fire-suppression response.”

Julie Rogers adds, “Many county residents were completely relying on air tankers and fire engines to save their properties from fire, instead of taking action to prepare and defend their properties. Air tankers, though wonderfully helpful, were not always immediately available, and some remote properties were nearly an hour’s drive from the nearest fire station. So, after our success (with CAL FIRE’s Ukiah base), I asked Chief Wilson if Mendocino County had a citizen-based wildfire preparedness effort. He responded, ‘No, but I wish we did.’ 

“We agreed to stay in touch, went to a two-day Firewise training, at which we learned about the concept of fire safe councils, and began meeting with local fire chiefs toward creating such an organization for Mendocino County. Our first public meeting, in January 2004, garnered contributions of $1,200, which was our operating budget for the next year.”

With community support and involvement, the Mendocino County Fire Safe Council became a 501(c)(3) nonprofit in March 2004.

For its first few years, MCFSC operated on a shoestring budget, funded by the Allen-Heath Memorial Foundation and other sources. Realizing that more significant grants often require a Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP), MCFSC created Mendocino County’s first CWPP in 2005. That document was updated in 2015, and the County of Mendocino is currently planning a new update.

The Pine Mountain Fire Safe Council near Willits was Mendocino County’s first Neighborhood Fire Safe Council and is now also a certified Firewise Community. They received a significant early grant for chipping, mapping, signage and educational mailings. Lauren Robinson of Pine Ridge FSC/FWC acknowledges CAL FIRE Battalion Chief Mark Tolbert and BLM’s Jeff Tunnell as particularly helpful in those days. The Black Bart, Brooktrails (predecessor to Sherwood Firewise), and Robinson Creek FSCs were other early active groups. However, Robertson notes, “Before the major wildfires in this county began in 2017, there were other directors but little money or impetus for building up a strong MCFSC.”

In 2018, spurred by the October 2017 Redwood Complex Fire and other record-breaking wildfires sweeping through the state, the Mendocino County Resource Conservation District took MCFSC under its wing and took steps to reactivate it. Megan McClure, the MCRCD executive director at the time, began to revive its funding and activities, and Scott Cratty was hired as MCFSC’s executive director in January 2020.

Since then, MCFSC has become fully independent and active, gaining solid support from the County of Mendocino, the Community Foundation of Mendocino County, CAL FIRE, the State Coastal Conservancy, the California Fire Safe Council, PG&E, MCFSC members, and other supporters and funders. The number of its affiliated Neighborhood Fire Safe Councils (NFSCs) has grown from 18 in 2019 to now over 70; MCFSC’s annual budget is in the millions; it is now an employer with a staff of ten, including its own crew and equipment; and its programs continue to be expanded and created.

MCFSC’s current programs and activities include: free Community Chipper Days, Home Assessments, Defensible-Space Assistance for Income-Eligible seniors and persons with disabilities (DSAFIE); custom reflective address signs; Micro-Grants funding small, strategic wildfire-safety projects for NFSCs and fire departments; sponsorship and support of many kinds for its affiliated NFSCs; abundant home-hardening and defensible-space information, including its own series of how-to videos, available on its ever-improving website, along with a list of local contractors, some of whom offer discounts to MCFSC members; targeted mapping projects; project-planning coordination with CAL FIRE, fire chiefs, NFSCs and other groups countywide; commitment to a forest-stewardship approach in its implementation projects; outreach in many forms including new or updated publications and mailings, radio interviews, monthly newsletter, media articles, blog and Facebook posts, booths at community events; educational outreach to junior-high and high-school students; and more.

Twenty years from its founding, in a fast-changing world of environmental and other crises, a revitalized MCFSC continues to grow and strive to improve. Membership and donations to MCFSC (https://firesafemendocino.org/membership-options/) support its ongoing work in support of its mission “To inform, empower and mobilize county residents to survive and thrive in wildfire-prone environments.”

According to Nancy Armstrong-Frost, President of the Board of Directors, “MCFSC is committed to helping our community through whatever impacts severe weather and climate change may bring. The reinvigoration and growth of the MCFSC over the last five years has been tremendous. Leading our phenomenal staff, Executive Director Scott Cratty has been able to productively expand our programs and activities.”

For more information, to donate and/or contact the Mendocino County Fire Safe Council, visit firesafemendocino.org or email admin@firesafemendocino.org.

CATCH OF THE DAY: Friday, March 1, 2024

SELENA CAMPOS, Redwood Valley. Failure to appear.

MELISSA CROW, Willits. Use of offensive words in public place which are likely to provoke a violation reaction, disburing another by loud and unreasonable noise, obstruction of student/teacher, criminal threats.

HECTOR DUARTE, Ukiah. Parole violation.

JOHN IMUS JR., Ukiah. Parole violation.

JASLYN PAIGE, Santa Rosa/Ukiah. DUI.

NICOLE SANDERSON, Branscomb. Probation revocation.

PAUL SANFORD, Fort Bragg. DUI, probation revocation.

ERIK SMITH, Potter Valley. Probation revocation.

MYCHELL VEGA-AYALA, Ukiah. Protective order violation, disobeying court order.

JESSE WOLF, Ukiah. County parole violation.

BRAHMA MUHURTA 4 AM Ukiah, CA

Good morning postmodern America!  Took a walk around the parking lot at Building Bridges Homeless Resource Center, chanting chants and praying prayers under a bright half moon.  Fresh air after the rain.  Good for the lungs which need the urban congestion cleared out.  Ah, the joys of the spiritual path, as the earth turns in its syzygy.  Have a groovy weekend, and may the force be with you.

Craig Louis Stehr

AT&T APPLICATIONS Regarding Carrier of Last Resort and Eligible Telecommunications Carrier Designation

AT&T has requested to be relieved of its Carrier of Last Resort (COLR) obligations in certain areas of California. If approved, AT&T California (landline service, separate from cellular) would no longer be required to offer landline telephone service where it is currently required to offer Basic Service in those areas. Basic Service includes nine service elements such as Lifeline rates for eligible customers, free access to 9-1-1, Telephone Relay Service, and directory and operator services.…

cpuc.ca.gov/industries-and-topics/internet-and-phone/att-colr-etc-proceedings

---

CPUC PUBLIC PARTICIPATION HEARINGS

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) holds Public Forums (also called Public Participation Hearings or PPHs) to give the public a chance to learn about and express their opinions on issues before the CPUC. Each Public Forum is about a specific issue that is pending resolution at the CPUC, such as a utility’s request to change the rates that customers pay.…

cpuc.ca.gov/proceedings-and-rulemaking/cpuc-public-participation-hearings

FRANCE is in possession of four cuisines: Haute Cuisine, that of the Great Chefs, which, to be clear, is not available to all pocketbooks; Bourgeois Cuisine, the triumph of good middle-class women and our cordon bleus, creators of a simple and yet perfect cuisine; Impromptu Cuisine, that of campers and those who go on foot, which uses whatever is available, and naturally, canned foods have their place here — but French canning is perfect; and finally, Regional Cuisine, which in France achieves the Holy Alliance between tourism and gastronomy.

— Maurice Sailland, Curnonsky, 1930

MEMO OF THE AIR: Live on KNYO from Albion all night tonight!

Marco here. Usually right here I tell you what the deadline is for getting your writing on tonight's show, but last night lightning fried the very last one of my box of half-a-dozen U.S. Robotics phone modems that I've been going through for like 25 years, and I'm only momentarily able to update material now, at work, since last night. (If you have a 28.8kbps or 56kbps external phone modem taking up space in the closet, preferably U.S. Robotics, I could use it; let me know. I'm also looking into getting a way for a cell phone to work in my far-from-decent-service metal house, which would mean I can dispense with the stone-age landline and its accoutrements entirely, but one thing at a time.

For other reasons than lightning I'll be doing tonight's show not from Franklin Street, but from a new remote studio in Albion at my day-job place. I set it up, tested it. Every part of it works a little differently from the way I'm used to; there'll probably be plenty of screwups with dead air except for swearing to myself like William S. Burroughs. But I have got a burstingly overfull show's worth of odd and quirky and useful and infuriating material to read to you /all night long/ so there's time to figure it all out.

Good Night Radio is every Friday, 9pm to 5am on 107.7fm KNYO-LP Fort Bragg as well as anywhere else via KNYO.org. Also the schedule is there for KNYO's many other terrific shows. Just the first hour of the show is also on KAKX 89.3fm Student Powered Radio in Mendocino.

As always, at https://MemoOfTheAir.wordpress.com you'll find whole-brain amusements to absorb and wick away your nervous energy until showtime, or any time, such as:

Echo sax. https://myonebeautifulthing.com/2024/02/29/caleb-arrodondo/

Weird info to dispense on a first date. (Scroll down and down.) https://www.are.na/haunted-house/weird-information-to-dispense-on-a-first-date

And how we get quilted maple guitars. It makes me think of Damascus steel swords. I'm not sure why. https://tywkiwdbi.blogspot.com/2024/02/a-quilted-maple-tree.html

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

JOHN REDDING:

From today's news:

Congressional Budget Office Director Phillip Swagel warned that the growing $34 trillion national debt’s interest payments will cost more than the entire defense budget this fiscal year. "We have more debt and we have higher interest rates."

How much more foreign aid can we afford when we have this and other problems here at home? Well, our Congress will likely keep spending and borrowing while the Fed keeps creating new money to pay for it. 

The last spending bill passed in January, considered to be bipartisan, once again resulted in a big deficit. These deficits according to the CBO are projected to increase for the rest of the decade so only heaven knows how much longer we have before this debt and the interest squeezes the life out our country.

A MAN GOES INTO A BAR in Wisconsin, and noticing that the bartender and a few patrons are blonde, sits at the counter and glibly asks, “So, wanna hear a great new ‘blondes’ joke?” The bartender smiles wanly and holds up one hand. “Uh, let me just stop you right there for a second, pal. You see Vinnie, the blonde guy down there on the left? Former Navy Seal. You see Joey and Virgil, the two big blonde dudes over there? They teach Mixed Martial Arts down at the gym. Me? I’m a blonde middleweight regional boxing champ. I just thought you might want to know this, before you launch into your ‘blondes’ story”. “Hmm,” the guy says, “You’re probably right. I mean, who wants to have to explain the same joke four times?” 

AT HOME WITH THE TRUMPS

by Marilyn Davin

Donald and Melania Trump are seated at a secluded table awaiting lunch on one of Mar-a-Lago’s shaded patios. The worst of the unforgiving Florida sun is blunted through the scarlet Bougainvillea bower above the round marble table, where Melania impatiently brushes off the occasional blossom that drifts onto the fake gold-encrusted monogrammed tableware. Melania’s husband, former President Donald Trump, sinks into his heavily cushioned chair across from his wife, bringing with him a strong aura of unease and discontent. He sighs.

The Donald: Melania, I need you by my side for my re-election rallies. I will clinch the nomination this month but I still need to show that my wife is on board for another four years in the White House. (musing) I should have made this a requirement in our most recent pre-nup…You’re costing me votes by refusing to show up!

Melania: (yawns, unimpressed) Our deal was for the first time you ran for President. I have no intention of attending those tacky rallies full of bikers and rednecks again (shudders prettily). How I suffered! Those annoying reporters criticizing me at every turn – even for those adorable red Christmas tree cones I ordered one year.

The Donald: (Looking conspicuously at the opulence around them) Yea, it must be a terrible burden to sit around here all day, filling your scrapbooks in between your hair, nails, facials, and hot yoga appointments.

Melania: (snorts) You could use a little self care yourself these days so you won’t have to keep lying about your weight and bribing the doctor so he won’t list you as morbidly obese! As far as family goes why don’t Princess Ivanka and princes Don Jr. and Eric wave the family flag for you? They’ve been feeding at the company trough all their privileged lives. 

The Donald: (reddening and struggling to control his temper) Don’t start on that again! The only reason anybody knows your name is because you’re married to me! Show a little gratitude! And as far as kids go, it’s time Barron started working summers in the family business. I’m thinking the mailroom might be a good place to start.

(As Melania recoils in horror at that idea, both Trumps suddenly pause on cue to smile benevolently at Pedro, an undocumented immigrant, as he approaches with their lunches on a Trump-embossed tray.)

Trumps: (in unison) Good Afternoon, Pedro!

Pedro: (sets The Donald’s meal down on the table) For the President: Two bacon cheeseburgers, three orders of extra-crispy fries, one hot apple turnover and a double-chocolate shake, extra thick (The Donald begins to salivate). And for the first lady (setting down Melania’s plate), her favorite all-organic salad of designer lettuce, half a tomato and two steamed, peeled shrimp…no dressing…accompanied by a frosty glass of iced, unsweetened green tea. Bon appétit!

Trumps: (again in unison, smiling brightly) Thanks, Pedro! Remember to vote! (Pedro shakes his head but smiles brightly as he turns to walk back to the kitchen. When he’s out of earshot he curses as he trips over a corner of a file box labeled “Top Secret” that is mostly concealed behind a potted palm) 

Melania: (concentrating on cutting her designer lettuce into tiny squares to avoid the unattractive sight and sound of The Donald wolfing down his food, a trickle of special sauce oozing from a corner of his mouth) I can’t figure out how people think you’re so much younger and healthier than Joe Biden, who probably hasn’t eaten a bite of that disgusting junk food since he graduated junior high school! 

The Donald: (wiping his greasy mouth on his sleeve) He’s a wuss so he probably eats like a wuss, all broiled skinless chicken breasts and steamed vegetables. I’m a real man!

Melania: (rolling her eyes and standing up abruptly) Are we done here? My Pilates coach arrives in a few minutes. 

The Donald: (also stands, picking up his milkshake to take with him) I’ll expect you at my next rally! (scene fades to black.) 

MSNBC, PAUL KRUGMAN PANIC OVER "WHITE RURAL RAGE"

by Matt Taibbi

“Tom, I’ll start with you,” began Mika Brzezinski. “Why are rural white voters a threat to democracy at this point?” Fastball delivered, University of Maryland professor and co-author of just-released White Rural Rage: The Threat To American Democracy Tom Schaller took a swing. He and Mika first complained rural voters should be supporting Joe Biden, given his roots — you’d have to be pretty high to call Scranton “rural,” but whatever — then Schaller read off small town America’s charge sheet: rural whites, he said, are the most “racist,” “xenophobic,” “anti-immigrant and anti-gay,” “conspiracist,” “anti-democratic,” they “don’t believe in an independent press or free speech,” and are “most likely to accept or excuse violence,” for starters.

White Rural Rage, which I made the mistake of reading, is a vicious manifesto in the anti-populist tradition nailed by Thomas Frank in The People, No. When rural voters in the late 1800s defied New York banking interests and demanded currency reform to allow farmers an escape from one of the original “rigged games” in finance, relentless propaganda ensued.

Rural populists were depicted as dirty, bigoted, ignorant. They refused expert wisdom, represented a “frantic challenge against every feature of our civilization,” and waged a “shameful insurrection against law and national honesty.” A populist caricature in Judge magazine showed a violent, destructive idiot, a real-life Lennie from still-unwritten Of Mice and Men, standing over the defiled corpse of civilized America:

The theme is back, condescension multiplied. Despite a pandemic that just graphically demonstrated the social contributions of farmers, truckers, train operators, and other “essential workers,” the people working those jobs were demonized during the crisis as murderous horse-paste eaters and insurrectionists. Their chief crimes: protesting lockdowns and school closures that disproportionately affected them, and being consumers of supposed foreign-inspired “misinformation” that led them to refuse appropriate political choices offered them.

Nobel-winning columnist Paul Krugman of the New York Times spent the last year telling “ignorant” Middle America its negative feelings about the economy are “demonstrably false,” because despite what their bank accounts or home evaluations might say, “Bidenomics is still working very well.” When White Rural Rage came out this week he rushed to review it, the intransigent refusal of yokels to accept his wisdom being his favored current hobby horse. “The Mystery of Rural White Rage” is remarkable on multiple levels, one being that after spending so much energy talking about the health of the economy, he pulls out an economic version of Sam Kinison’s classic “Move to the Food!” routine:

The decline of small-town manufacturing is a more complicated story, and imports play a role, but it’s also mainly about technological change that favors metropolitan areas with large numbers of highly educated workers. Technology, then, has made America as a whole richer, but it has reduced economic opportunities in rural areas. So why don’t rural workers go where the jobs are?

He answers his question: “Some cities have become unaffordable — and many workers are reluctant to leave their families and communities.”

To recap: globalization and technological change have devastated small towns and made the urban keyboard warriors richer, and rural voters can’t move to the cities because they can’t afford to. However, instead of being grateful for the “huge de facto transfers of money from rich, urban states like New Jersey to poor, relatively rural states like West Virginia” in the form of federal programs paid by the taxes of luckier citizens like Krugman, small town America is unaccountably hostile.

Schaller and White Rural Rage co-author Paul Waldman make the same point, that “cities produce far more of the nation’s wealth,” and rural citizens are increasingly “subsidized by the taxes paid by higher-income metropolitans.” What gives? Why won’t they shut the fuck up?

“For so long,” complained Waldman on Morning Joe, “Democrats have been told — that in order to get rural voters — you have to go there — you have to show them that you understand — You have to put on a Carhartt jacket and go down to somebody's farm, right? Maybe milk a cow?”

“Yes!” exclaimed* Mika.

But it turns out, a sad Waldman pronounced, that you “don’t have to do any of that,” because Donald Trump didn’t. He just “gave [rural voters] a way to essentially give a big middle finger to Democrats, to people who live in cities and to the rest of the country.”

The Morning Joe set looked perplexed. Why would that work better than wearing a Carhartt jacket and milking a cow? It didn’t make sense. Educated America. We’re in good hands!

*The correct phrase is really “‘Yes,’ dipshitted Mika,” but I was afraid the usage would throw off some readers. For future reference, it may come up again

THE BLOB QUIVERS

by James Kunstler

“Russian meddling will eventually outstrip ‘Saw X’ as America’s most exhaustively-mined sequel series” — Matt Taibbi

Did the Blob get vaxxed and boosted? Does that explain the severe neurological damage it displays now as its hologram of lies about Ukraine and Russia Russia Russia flickers out in the blinding daylight of reality. First, there was the gigantic New York Times article published last Sunday blowing open the decade-long secret shadow war by the CIA in a sprawling network of underground bunkers on and around the Russian border.

The story was a direct feed from Blob Central in Langley, VA, to Times errand boys Adam Entous and Michael Schwirtz, longtime RussiaGate hoaxers, and obviously intended to get ahead of the real news that the neo-con project to turn Ukraine into a NATO forward base against Russia has collapsed. Read closely, the Times story appears to be an effort by current CIA chief William Burns to hang-out-to-dry his predecessors John Brennan, Mike Pompeo, and Gina Haspel for the failed eight-year-long operation. Why? Because it looks like Russia is fixing to shut down the war ASAP, before its March 15 presidential election.

As it happened, Russian diplomats and Ukraine President Zelensky took turns visiting with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) in Saudi Arabia this week, sparking rumors that these were peace talks with MBS playing mediator. The situation is delicate for all concerned. Ukraine itself verges on collapse with its army decimated, its ammo used up, and its coffers empty, awaiting the $60-plus-billion aid package that is stalled in Congress, meaning no salaries for Ukraine govt employees and no pensions.

It’s delicate for the US because “Joe Biden” has declared our country won’t negotiate over Ukraine, despite the fact that there is nothing else to do now, or the end of the war will be negotiated without us. And remember, not many days ago Mr. Putin told Tucker Carlson that he was ready to talk to anybody. What this will demonstrate is that America has neither the ability to continue its proxy war nor the will or sense to engage in peace talks — all due to “Joe Biden’s” abject intransigence, and not a good look for someone pretending to run for re-election.

It’s delicate for Russia because such a humiliating loss for America could provoke “JB” and his NATO allies to some reckless and foolish act, say, sending NATO members’ ground troops directly into battle or a missile strike on Russian territory, setting off nuclear war. At the very least, the situation has already prompted the US government propaganda machine to kick-start Russia Russia Russia 3.0, the threadbare narrative that has been the accelerant of Democratic Party hallucinations about Russia interfering in US elections since 2016 — when it has actually been US spooks collaborating with a motley assortment of Ukrainian stooges, plus Marc Elias’s lawfare corps, plus the Intel Blob coercing social media to work its will. The majority of the voters don’t seem receptive to a replay of this scam but the US government is at war with those voters, so anything goes in the struggle to retain power.

While we await news out of those peace talks, a political firestorm rages around illegal immigrants from all over the world swarming across the US border. Nothing about that seems even remotely comprehensible, let alone defensible, anymore, as women fall prey to rape and murder by mutts released on-purpose into the US population, and cities groan under the financial burden of housing and supporting them. And so, it looks like the person directly responsible, Alejandro Mayorkas, might be riding his House impeachment bill into a senate trial — another bad look for the Democratic Party (of Chaos) going into the heart of election season.

Speaking of bad looks, did you happen to read the transcript of Hunter Biden’s testimony to the conjoined House Committees yesterday on the matter of the Biden family’s global bribery business? It’s available at this link, all 229 pages of the hours-long session. I read over 120 pages of the dang thing in the wee hours overnight and it’s really a fabulous soap opera of First Son Hunter Biden copping a plea over his various addiction problems (boo-hoo), and repeating endlessly, against a blizzard of incriminating documentary evidence, that his “dad” had no knowledge of his business deals with Ukrainian, Chinese, Russian, Kazakh, and Romanian parties, and did not receive any money filtered through the network of Hunter’s many fake companies (multiple Rosemont Senecas and Hudson Wests) that had no other business except routing payments into Biden family bank accounts.

The DOJ arm of the Blob has worked double-overtime, of course, to keep the mighty paws of the law from mauling poor, addiction-victim Hunter, most recently last month trotting out veteran “trusted” FBI informant Alexander Smirnov, arrested as “a liar” for having purveyed info about multi-million dollar bribes to the Biden family from the Ukrainian Burisma natgas company where Hunter was a board member (at roughly a million dollars a year), supposedly to get then Veep Dad to grease the exit ramp for Ukraine Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin, who was famously investigating the company and its oligarch owner Mykola Zlochevsky.

One conclusion you can draw from all these matters is that they are not going away. Rather, they are leading to a set of gruesome showdowns not just for the ever more pathetic looking “Joe Biden,” but for his Party of Chaos heading toward a possible extinction event in November. The big question really is, will that party blow up the United States of America in the process?

FORWARD, INTO THE BREACH

The USA used 9/11 to further a hidden agenda with catastrophic results. Not only did we lose blood and treasure, we lost whatever moral high ground we once had. Israel needs to learn from our mistakes

by Dennis Kucinich

Leaders make choices in moments of crises which can either lead to enhanced security or catastrophe for their nations, with the lives of innocents often hanging in the balance.

Immediately after the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, I went to the floor of the House of Representatives and warned against the U.S. lashing out blindly in response to the devastating attacks which killed over 3,000 persons.  

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, as recounted by Bob Woodward in his book, Plan of Attack, brought forward the idea that 9/11 should be used to further a broader agenda, aimed at ousting Saddam Hussein, and laying the groundwork for the Project for A New American Century, an ideological architecture for American world dominance, with the help of the military.  

A full-scale attack on Iraq and the Iraqi people commenced.  Rumsfeld, who had a long career in government, including four terms in the U.S. House from Illinois, was instrumental in convincing President Bush to launch a “shock and awe attack” on Iraq, and upon the Iraqi people, which ultimately resulted in 1,000,000 deaths that would have otherwise not occurred.

Our leaders chose to use the most advanced weaponry against a nation that had almost zero ability to defend itself, spending less than one percent of what the U.S. spent for military purposes. 

Keep in mind that all the while the attack was being planned, Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11.  It had nothing to do with Al Queda’s role in 9/11. It had neither the intention and certainly not the capability to attack the United States.  It did not have the still undetected “Weapons of Mass Destruction,” which became the pretext for a broad attack, licensed by the fear-mongering, driven by an unquestioning media establishment.

The Iraq War wasn’t about 9/11. It was about empire. It was about controlling resources, ie, oil.  It was about the profit of war contractors.  The Watson Institute at Brown University has estimated the regime-change wars, post 9/11, cost over $8 trillion, much of it simply added to the U.S. national debt.  It cost the lives of nearly 5,000 American soldiers.  Iraqis paid dearly.  The nation, its cultural institutions, its infrastructure, its families, destroyed, based on the choices made by leaders who used 9/11 to advance a political agenda.

The choices that the Israeli government of Benjamin Netanyahu made after the October 7^th attacks, which have been likened an Israeli 9/11, also mirror the choices made by the US government after September 11, 2001. 

Hamas attacked Israel, murdering 1,200 Israelis and taking hundreds of hostages. Of course, Israel had a right to respond.  But like the U.S. after 9/11, instead of calibrating the response and not seeking to ignite a far-reaching war, the decision was made to collectively punish all Palestinians in Gaza, fully 2.2 million people.

The Netanyahu Likud party, conjoined in a critical alliance with Ben Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit has, under the pretext of “wiping out Hamas,”  used the moment to ethnically cleanse Gaza; to engage in wide-spread bombing assuring mass casualties and resulting in the killing of over 30,000 Palestinians. Over 70,000 Palestinians have been injured and entire families vaporized.  Dozens of journalists have been killed, the ultimate censorship. 

Hospitals, universities,  schools, mosques, churches, water systems, sewer systems, markets, housing, roads, cemeteries and museums have reduced to rubble with the clear intent of making Gaza uninhabitable.  The ethnic cleansing will force survivors out of Gaza and the long-held conssequential dream of establishing Greater Israel, from the river to the sea and north through Lebanon to the Litani River will come to fruition.

The United States used 9/11 to further a hidden agenda with catastrophic results for Iraq and also for the U.S.  Our nation did not just lose blood and treasure, we lost whatever moral high ground we once held.

Netanyahu is falling into the same self-constructed trap. The Netanyahu government is advancing a thinly-disguised agenda in Gaza and the West Bank. While it may have popular support for the moment, it appears to be blind to the consequences of igniting a wider war in the Middle East and how the images coming from Gaza and the West Bank are isolating it from the rest of the world, with the exception of Europe.

There are supporters of Israel, at home and abroad,  who  recognize that the government’s current policies are suicidal – possibly in the near term and certainly over the long term.

How could alienating 400 million Arabs, 1.8 billion Muslims and the entire global South advance Israel’s security interests? 

How could the murder and injury of  tens of thousands of Palestinians, as well as the destruction of an entire society not create even more radical groups than Hamas?

The U.S.’ war against Iraq was a war of choice just as the war against Gaza is the choice of Israel. 

The same kind of thinking which attempts to rationalize and justify collective punishment, and reject all principles of the laws of G-d and man, and which rejects international law and  humanitarian law is at work in the designs of leaders of both the U.S. and Israel.

During my 16 years in the United States Congress, I witnessed the unfolding of fabricated narratives which led the US into war and also in support of wars in other countries.  

I was a leader in opposing the wars in the Balkans, Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon and Libya. I worked to avoid wars against Iran and Syria, consistently speaking out on behalf of the rights of Palestinian, while at the same time supporting Israel’s right to survive and thrive.   

I have stood for peace. I have travelled throughout the world in an attempt to stop or head off conflicts, meeting not only with leaders of nations, but also with their opposition, to understand their heart-felt concerns.  The only side I  take is the side of humanity.

Leadership needs to be able to speak to everyone in order to create openings for peace and understanding.  Leadership needs to be patient, to listen to all sides in conflicts, to engage in diplomacy and to find paths to peace.

Instead, at this critical moment when the peace of the entire world is at risk and the lives of millions hang in the balance in Gaza, the U.S. leadership is preparing to add fuel and funding to the fire instead of issuing a bracing caution to our ally.

It is time for leadership to step forward, pull the emergency brake and declare a durable cease-fire, negotiate a return of hostages, and an end, at last, to the genocide.