Mendocino County Today: Saturday 4/13/24

Rain | Yolla Bolly | Bias Accusation | Community Notice | OSHA Requirements | Social Help | Cracked Rock | AVUSD News | Tinkler Track | Ukiah Construction | Bragg Alley | Bradd Story | Microplastic Madness | Flowering Toothwort | Fringe Festival | Soil Health | Springtime Soiree | Perp ID | Next Bend | Famous Question | Best Wishes | Print Wake | Extinction Forever | Gas Huffing | Yesterday's Catch | Final Chapter | Detroit Industry | Marco Radio | Sasquatch Sunset | Civil War | Serfs & Slaves | OJ | American Tragedy | Bada Bing | NPR Fumbles | Biden Briefs | Gaza Thoughts | Cursive | Defund Votes | Starvation Caucus | Six Months | Kunstlervision | Crystal Ball

COOL AND DAMP weekend on tap with some snow in higher elevations, then trending warmer for the work week, with strong north winds for the first half of the week, especially along the coast and over the water. (NWS)

STEPHEN DUNLAP (Fort Bragg): A rainy 47F with a breeze & .59" of rainfall this Saturday morning on the coast. Rain this morning then less rain this afternoon. More rain tomorrow morning. Next week is looking dry.

SUPERVISOR WILLIAMS ACCUSED OF BIAS IN REDWOOD VALLEY GAS STATION CONTROVERSY

by Mike Geniella

A developer’s attorney claims Mendocino County Supervisor Ted Williams is biased and should either recuse himself or be disqualified from voting May 7 at a crucial county Board of Supervisors hearing on a use permit for a hotly debated 10-pump Redwood Valley gasoline station.

“Supervisor William’s comments on the record clearly demonstrate that Faizan [the permit applicant] cannot receive the due process required under California law that the hearing be fair, that the decision-makers not be biased or committed to a certain result, and that the decision-makers do not abuse their discretion,” said Brian Momsen, who represents Haji M. Alam, Faizan corporate president.

Williams is seen as the possible majority vote to deny the permit, which has received stiff opposition from some Redwood Valley residents.

In an April 10 letter demanding Williams either recuse himself or be barred from voting at any further hearings on the application, attorney Momsen ripped multiple Williams’ statements from the March 26 hearing. 

Momsen argued that board members are to recognize the hearings as “quasi-judicial” based on California law overseeing land use decisions.

“This is not a case of the appearance of bias or potential bias. Instead, Supervisor Williams exhibited actual bias on the record,” declared Momsen. 

Williams publicly has sided with Redwood Valley residents who have rallied in opposition to the project, first approved in 2016 but delayed because of the Covid pandemic, and then revived by Alam. 

Alam’s Faizan Corp. owns numerous gasoline stations/market operations in Mendocino, Lake, Sonoma, Marin, Alameda, Contra Costa, and Yolo counties. The proposed Redwood Valley project is located on the east side of Highway 101 in a strip mall and is seen by proponents as an anchor tenant. The Redwood Valley Municipal Advisory Committee and some neighbors oppose the development, fearing its scale will create traffic issues.

The county Planning Commission denied Alam’s permit on Jan. 5, and the decision was appealed to the Board of Supervisors on March 26. 

The Board then decided to continue its review pending a county analysis of a recent traffic study, which disputed Caltrans’s belief that the new station could generate 5,300 daily trips. Based on activity at another Chevron station he owns nearby, Alam says that the daily count is likely to be under 1,000. Also at issue is Caltrans's insistence for safety reasons that if the station is permitted, Alam should pay to close the highway median north of the proposed station, a cost estimated to be $2 million.

Attorney Momsen cited numerous Williams’ comments during the March 26 hearing and blasted the supervisor’s “half-baked conclusions.” Among them were Williams’ declarations that the Board, despite deciding to review the issue further, doesn’t have an obligation “to find the reason to deny it” or “I’m not going to approve this. My vote is not to issue a use permit.”

Williams on Friday defended his comments. 

“I attended the hearing with an open mind,” said Williams.

Williams also offered a post March 26 hearing observation: “The applicant challenged their own traffic study, which they had originally submitted. At the last minute, they introduced a new study based on a sample size of just one—another station they own. I questioned their traffic study expert about whether this approach is standard practice in her professional experience, and she confirmed that it is not.”

Momsen, however, said Williams “simply does not want to hear the evidence, even further evidence on the key issue of how much traffic the project will generate. If the scientific studies show that the project will only generate ten trips per day, this evidence will not affect his decision because, in his mind, the people of Redwood Valley ‘have spoken’ against the project. He ‘knows how Redwood Valley feels’.”

“Factual findings do not matter to Supervisor Williams either. These are something that someone can ‘cobble together’ later after he has made his decision already on God only knows what basis,” complained Momsen.

Momsen said, “He even thinks he does not have to have any reason to justify denying a permit application, and apparently has no clue that he is supposed to be acting as a quasi-judicial hearing officer following well-established law and basing whatever decision he makes on substantial evidence in the record.”

Momsen, on behalf of Alam, wrote that he wants Williams “disqualified from further participation, deliberation or voting regarding this permit application or that he recuse himself.”

Momsen warned the County Board that allowing Williams to continue participating in hearings after making his “outrageous comments” on the record could lead to a legal court challenge and a decision remanding “this matter back to the board if William’s vote is the deciding vote that denies the application.”

LOCAL FIRE OFFICIALS are worried about the impact of some extensive new regs that Federal OSHA (Occupational Safety & Health Administration) is proposing on small, local volunteer fire and ambulance departments in an attempt to improve the safety and work conditions of firefighters, ambulance staffers and other first responders (like hazmat crews and search & rescue operations).

A recent memo from Elk Fire Department board member Ben Macmillan to his fellow fire officials notes that the “proposed new OSHA requirements for Emergency Response agencies … include significant changes to existing regulations affecting Fire and EMS Agencies, especially small and all volunteer departments. While the intent certainly is good, carrying out the proposed changes may be a wall too high to climb. Significant costs are certainly involved, but the additional hours required of volunteers to satisfy the requirements for training and certifications may exceed what's possible.”

And that’s just one example on one category of affected organizations. One would hope that waivers and exemptions would be included in OSHA’s regs as they move forward. Otherwise, they could lead to the decimation of already stretched-thin departments limited resources, both economically and for recruitment and staffing. 

(Mark Scaramella)

WE LOVE THE ICE CREAM SOCIAL BOOK SALE

Do You?

We need someone to step up and take the reins to manage the Ice Cream Social Book Sale or it is going away, forever. This is vital part of the success of The Ice Cream Social! We NEED YOU! Please contact Valerie valhanelt@me.com if you'd like to help.

From the Yorkville Community Benefits Association

AV UNIFIED NEWS

Dear Anderson Valley Community,

We are looking forward to celebrating our seniors at the Monday, April 22 Senior Awards Night Dinner. We had a large number of students submit local scholarship applications and we are delighted to bring the donors and the families together to celebrate the students and the organizations that believe that every student can succeed. If you are the parent of a senior or an organization making an award, please sign up with Maribel Benitez at mbenitez@avpanthers.org.

This Sunday, we also celebrate the Anderson Valley Education Foundation as they hold their fundraiser for their student programs at the Boonville Hotel. This is always a wonderful event and an organization that does such amazing great work for students.

At the elementary site, the week back from Spring break was a busy one. The new side fence will be installed next week and the State testing begins in earnest. As I related before, this is an important tool for us to see how we are delivering instruction and where we can do better. It is also an indicator of performance to our community, so we are trying to instill in our students it is okay to not know the answers, but you need to try your best. We appreciate everyone’s hard work and effort on this. 

At the elementary site, Summer School planning is under way and sign ups for families will go home in two weeks. Dental screening is also coming up. Please sign the form if you want your child screened. Next week reproductive health for 5th grade and tobacco and drug prevention for 4th grade also begins. Busy!

I want to share a little bit about discipline. It is very important for our students and families to understand that if there is a conflict with students in school and it escalates into a fight, even if that fight is off campus, it is still a school related discipline matter. There is a belief among our students that if a school conflict-related fight doesn’t happen at school, the school can’t get involved. That is not true. Consequences do apply, as well as law-enforcement charges, if the victim decides to press them. Fighting is not an option. We have many, many trusted adults who are here to work out conflicts, and we need to do so. It saddens me when I hear students say, “Well, my parents told me to fight.” There is also a misconception that whoever throws the first punch starts the fight. While in reality, we unwind the whole sequence of events to find out what verbal escalation started it. Folks, we aren’t the Wild West out here. If your kid has a conflict, keep them out of Juvenile Hall by helping us work with them to resolve issues. Our discipline incidents are far lower than many districts, but we need to work together to teach kids how to resolve conflicts, not fight them out. The issues are further complicated by the omnipresence of cell phone video. There are codes in the discipline framework by the state for cyber bullying. If those photos or videos are distributed, there could be a good cause for expulsion. Please teach your child not to video things. The consequences can be life changing.

On a celebratory note, we are delighted that Miss Kira and a group of AVHS students had a wonderful experience at the wildlife sanctuary in Point Arena. This was made possible by some generous donations and Kira’s work.

I hope you have a safe and wonderful weekend!

Sincerely yours,

Louise Simson, Superintendent

AV Unified School District

RUSS EMAL:

The Ron Tinkler Track

In the late 80s early 90s Anderson Valley had nothing that resembled a track. But what we did have was a man named Ron Tinkler. Ron had children now entering high school and he realized that there was no track nor track team. Ron himself was a past track star competing at the state of California level as well as a fullback in college playing with Daryl LaMonica. Ron decided a track must be built.

The existing oval was built with Ron’s guidance and the support of many valley residence that Ron gathered together to create what is now thought to be the track. It was successfully used for a number of years and Ron was the first Anderson Valley high school track coach.

It would be my suggestion, I feel a very appropriate one, to name our new track, the Ron Tinkler Track and Field.

UKIAH CONSTRUCTION UPDATES FOR THE WEEK OF APRIL 15

On the south side of the project, between Gobbi and Cherry, concrete crews will continue patching the sections where utility work was done. Joint trench work will continue between Mill and Gobbi along the east side of the street. There will be temporary impacts to some driveways, but crews will provide advance notification and will work to place steel plates across the driveways as quickly as possible. Demolition of sidewalks is occurring on the east side, curbs and gutters are being formed on the west side, and we will likely see the beginnings of foundations for street lights starting on the west side.

On the north side (Norton to Henry), installation of the brick band along the edge of the sidewalks will begin and work will occur at the intersection of Scott and State, including the replacement of the traffic signal at Scott Street. Remember—the signal at Norton and State will not be replaced, so drivers should be aware of changing conditions in the near future. All traffic signals in the construction area will remain on flash until the new pavement is in and the lane striping has occurred, likely late May/early June.

Work on the joint trench for electrical and communication lines between Mill and Gobbi continues, along with sidewalk demolition on the east side; on the north side, installation of the brick band in the sidewalk and work at Scott/State intersection.

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

There will be some noise associated with the south section; not much dust.

On the south side, on-street parking in the construction zone will be closed; however, on-street parking on the north side of the project is open in most areas (see above). Pedestrian access to businesses will be maintained at all times. Through traffic on State Street will be allowed in both directions. Traffic signals at Gobbi/State and Mill/State will remain on flash.

Have a great weekend!

Shannon Riley

Deputy City Manager

Email: sriley@cityofukiah.com

BILL BRADD RIP

Bill Bradd was a poet, my friend, my employee and a special human being. He will be missed by everyone who knew him and many who didn’t. After the Sea Gull fire he wrote the article at the link below: thinkinthemorning.com/sea-gull-cellar-bar-remembered

David Jones 

Navarro

MICROPLASTIC MADNESS 

The Noyo Center for Marine Science & GrassRoots Institute and its Climate Crisis Workgroup will be partnering to show this film.

At the Coast Cinemas on Saturday, April 13th at 11:00 am. It is free!

The Theater is at the corner of Madrone St. and Franklin St. in Fort Bragg.

Microplastic Madness is the story of 56 fifth graders from Public School. 15, Brooklyn - living on the frontline of the climate crisis - whose actions on plastic pollution morph into extraordinary leadership and scalable victories.

With stop-motion animation, heartfelt kid commentary, and interviews of experts and renowned scientists who are engaged in the most cutting-edge research on the harmful effects of microplastics, this alarming, yet charming narrative, conveys an urgent message in user-friendly terms.

There will be a discussion after the film. Kids are encouraged to attend.

POINT ARENA’S Almost Fringe Festival Point Arena RETURNs Saturday, April 20

Get ready to experience the quirky, the unconventional, and the utterly delightful as Almost Fringe Festival returns to Point Arena on Saturday, April 20th, from 10:00am to 7:00pm. This vibrant event promises a day filled with art, culture, music, and festivities "on the fringe", showcasing the unique spirit of Mendocino County and beyond.

Move your way through a whole day of events at the Point Arena Lighthouse, downtown Point Arena, and the Point Arena Cove.

At the iconic Point Arena Lighthouse is the Wind and Whale Celebration, featuring the Berkeley Kite Wranglers soaring their ocean creatures high above the bluff. Watch the whales above and below!

From there, hop on the shuttle downtown, where each local business has something special in store to contribute to the festivities.Indulge your senses with a balloon animal from Franny’s bakery, immerse yourself in interactive exhibits at Action Network, and savor delicious eats from the likes of the Good Food Club window, Gama, and Arena Co-Op. Connect with neighbors and new friends on the patio at New Museum Brewery, soaking in the lively atmosphere.

Downtown's Main Street will come alive with a bustling food court and craft market featuring local vendors showcasing their unique wares. Throughout the day, live music sets at Think Visual, Coast Highway Collective, and The Cove will provide the perfect atmosphere for dancing and grooving.

The festivities continue with live music at The Cove from 3:30pm-5:30pm, a ping-pong tournament at Point Arena Pizza, delectable offerings like live oysters and rockfish ceviche from Pier Place, and treats and warm drinks from Cove Coffee.

The Almost Fringe Festival runs from 10:00am to 7:00pm, culminating just in time for attendees to catch a screening of Cheech and Chong at the Arena Theater. Whether you're a visitor or a local, Almost Fringe is an amazing way to explore Point Arena and all of our one-of-a-kid offerings. Come join us and be a part of this wonderful celebration!

For more information, visit pointarena.net or follow us on Instagram @visitpointarena.

THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF MENDOCINO COUNTY'S 1920S SPRINGTIME SOIREE

Only two more weeks to get your tickets!

Transport yourself to the 1920s at our Springtime Soiree in celebration of the upcoming opening of the Held-Poage Memorial Home Museum that will be set in the 1920s. Join us at Barra of Mendocino Winery & Event Center to enjoy music from the era and a delectable dinner and desserts inspired by 1920s menus. There will be a live and silent auction filled with unforgettable Mendocino County experiences. We invite you to dress in 1920s attire, however it is not required. See you there on Saturday May 18, 2024 from 5 - 9 P.M.!

Go to the Event Page (https://www.facebook.com/events/365128799852998)

Tickets are on sale until April 26th

$100/General Admission

$1000/Table of 8 - In addition to supporting the HSMC, your table will include priority seating close to the auction stage, and special extras at your table as a thank you!

To buy tickets contact us: 707-462-6969 or info@mendocinocountyhistory.org

or click the button below to purchase online.

Buy Tickets Online (https://HSMCbenefit.eventbrite.com)

Don’t miss your chance to win these exciting Mendocino County experiences!

THE TICKET AROUND THE BEND

Editor,

As I picked up one of the last paper copies of our beloved AVA at Down Home Foods I thought, now this is getting very serious.

As most of my good friends are no longer upright and now our paper AVA on the brink of never again, there must be something that can be done about it… Just maybe Bruce….?

So how about raising the price to $2.50 or more per weekly issue and calling on volunteers, say four, once per month, to help with the distribution. I will gladly sign up now, today.

And the best for you brother in your struggle as there is a ticket waiting for us all just around the next bend in the road…

Also many thanks for the joys, tears, enlightenment and just pure enjoyment you have brought to us over all the decades …

We are with you here at Spring Grove Co-op,

Gary Moraga

Fort Bragg

A SALUTE

AVA,

I salute your paper as it is the only one I have looked forward to every week for the last few years. I can’t get enough of the different stories, thoughtful columns and especially the irreverent, witty but mostly just spot on Off The Record.

I wish The Editor the best in in his health battle. He is a great man.

Mike Gardner

Willits

AN AVA WAKE?

Editor,

Is any kind of a celebration… commiseration… remembrance… party… extravaganza planned for the release of the last print AVA edition? If so I want to come (and no, I don’t want to organize one…)

The print edition deserves one IMHO.

Katy Tahja, word scribe in Comptche

GAS THIEVES AT HARVEST FORT BRAGG

One of Jean Shepherd's hour-long monologue radio shows was about his friends' adventures in siphoning gas when he was a teenager. It's a story of labyrinthine karma, not to mention gasoline vomit.

You always get gas in your mouth, unless you have a bulb pump to start the flow with.

One of my favorite old cars I used to have was a 1963 (or 64) Rambler  Classic that I drove to Sacramento to get Earl Scheib to paint it aqua  blue. I bought the car for, I half-remember, either $200 or $300. The  paint was $75 (74.99) out the door, where your choice of the cheap  colors would have been $55 (54.99). The gas tank had a pinprick rust  leak that I noticed when I got off work cooking at Brannon's, went out  to the street and smelled gas. I raced to Surprise Valley out in  Comptche before they closed. They had one old Rambler there with the  same size tank. The bolts on the straps were rusted into knobby balls,  so they loaned me a hacksaw and I lay under it in the mud and cut it  out, paid for it ($10? $15?), took it home, siphoned what gas was left  in the bad tank into a paraffin can, put the replacement in, hooked it  up, put the gas back in, and voila.  

When I was 12 or 13 I read about people breathing gasoline to get high,  so I tried it. It was pretty horrible, like every other psychoactive  thing I ever tried in my entire life. There's a Philip Seymour Hoffman  movie about huffing gasoline that's one of those where it's a great film  and you're glad you saw it, but you'd never go back and watch it again.  

His boss gives him a lot of leeway and several months off work because  his wife died, but he can't get over it, and he starts huffing gas with  neighbor children. I don't think he's doing it because he likes it. I  think he's just trying to obliterate himself with it.  Tell me the story of the first time you got high, what it was, where you  were, what happened, and I'll read it on KNYO Friday night. I really  wish you would.  

Marco McClean, memo@mcn.org

CATCH OF THE DAY, Friday, April 12, 2024

BENJAMIN BRITTAIN, McKinleyville/Ukiah. Burglary, county parole violation.

BENJAMIN DIMMICK, Eureka. Arson, failure to appear.

VANESSA ELIZABETH, Ukiah. Probation revocation. (Frequent flyer.)

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

AMANDA FIGG-HOBLYN, Willits. DUI, suspended license for DUI, probation violation.

ESTEBAN GAETA, Fort Bragg. Probation revocation.

ANDREW GITCHEL, Willits. Failure to appear.

JENNA HINSHAW, Fort Bragg. Domestic battery.

SAUL JIMENEZ-HERNANDEZ, Santa Rosa. Failure to appear.

SHANNON JONES, Fort Bragg. Disobeying court order.

ALEXANDER LOPEZ, Probation revocation.

KEVIN ROGERS, Laytonville. Controlled substance, paraphernalia.

NCIOLE SANDERSON, Branscomb. Paraphernalia, probation revocation.

MARIO TAPIA, Santa Rosa/Ukiah. DUI, high&run with property damage, no license.

HELP FUND THE LAST CHAPTER

Important Message from Craig Louis Stehr

Awoke at noon, following a rousing evening at The Forest Club in beautiful downtown Ukiah; still digesting the chimichanga enjoyed later at Villa Del Mar. Stopped off at Safeway to purchase evening yoghurt and deli salads, then got a ride back from a Building Bridges staff person who was shopping there. Tossed down a melatonin which ensured a sound sleep. Awoke feeling excellent. The chest congestion is much less now. Have completely given myself over to the Divine Absolute, and will continue focusing on the constant spiritual reality, as the passing worldly show goes by. If you wish to contribute money to the final chapter of this earthly sojourn, please do so. Sharing is wonderful, and besides, you can’t take it with you. Relax, have a nice day, and may the force be with you. ;-))

Craig Louis Stehr

MEMO OF THE AIR: Good Night Radio is every Friday, 9pm to 5am PST on 107.7fm KNYO-LP Fort Bragg and KNYO.org. The first hour of the show is simulcast on KAKX 89.3fm Mendocino.

Soft deadline to email your writing for tonight's (Friday night's) MOTA show is 6:30 or so. If you can't make that, that's okay, send it whenever it's done and I'll read it on the radio next week.

You can always go to https://MemoOfTheAir.wordpress.com and hear last week's MOTA show. By Saturday night I'll put up the recording of tonight's show. Also there you'll find an assortment of educational-or-so amusements to occupy you until showtime, or any time, such as:

The lost and found film technology of Mary Poppins. https://misscellania.blogspot.com/2024/04/how-disney-made-mary-poppins-without.html

When they say, "Go to your calm happy place," here's where to go if you don't have one. A minute or so of a random park somewhere in the world, then a minute or so of another park, and so on forever. It might be nice to put a big cheap teevee up on a wall, like a window, and just leave this on all the time with the sound low but there. (via NagOnTheLake) https://sites.elliott.computer/one-minute-park

Speaking of which, an art installation of peaceful singing egg things. They're soft and eight to fifteen feet tall. https://www.weirduniverse.net/blog/comments/resonating_life_which_continues_to_stand

Marco McClean, memo@mcn.org, www.MemoOfTheAir.wordpress.com

SASQUATCH SUNSET: Humboldt County-made ‘Sasquatch Sunset’ brings mythical creatures to relatable life

by Bob Strauss

“Sasquatch Sunset” follows a Bigfoot family around Northern California forests as its members forage, fight, play and mate (or fail to) through four seasons. The hairy, mythical creatures often act goofy but are also quite compelling, with heartbreaking moments shown at regular intervals.

Filmed entirely in Humboldt County, the film stars an unrecognizable Riley Keough and Jesse Eisenberg as the younger adults, the 4-foot-4-inch Christophe Zajac-Denek as a juvenile and Nathan Zellner as the cranky old alpha male. Zellner also co-directed with his brother David, who wrote the wordless script.

No CGI or other visual effects were employed. The actors wore full-body foam latex hair suits and appliances no more than three-sixteenths of an inch thick over their entire faces — anything thicker would negate expressions, according to makeup department head Steve Newburn. What they get across has its alien qualities, but there’s rarely any doubt what the humanoids are feeling.

“You have to move your face a lot more to get it to register, and sometimes you’d make expressions that didn’t look the way you thought they would,” Keough told the Chronicle from London. “I looked at myself in the mirror early on to get a clearer idea of how to move my face to make it look certain ways. That was certainly a challenge because it wasn’t super straightforward. You had to mess around with it.”

Keough, star of “Daisy Jones & the Six” and Hulu’s forthcoming miniseries “Under the Bridge” that starts April 17, said she used her eyes, grunts and chirps to evoke a range of maternal feelings, curiosity, grief and disinterest with unwanted male attention — as well as body language, of course. The latter was informed by bingeing primate videos as well as a behavioral boot camp conducted for a week in Eureka by Lorin Eric Salm, a movement coach who’d trained Eisenberg in mime for the 2020 Marcel Marceau biopic, “Resistance.”

“He had us reaching for things and grabbing and using our hands the way an ape would,” Keough explained, adding that they used the famous Sasquatch image from the Patterson-Gimlin footage of a purportedly live yeti as inspiration for the way they should walk. “We didn’t have a real prototype, so we could create how humanlike or apelike these creatures were,” Keough continued. “It was trying to find a place that felt a little more emotionally evolved than an animal is. … But we also had different ideas for our characters. I think Jesse felt like he was maybe the biggest thinker of the bunch and, maybe, my character was the most intuitive. We each had our strengths.”

That was all well and good, until they were out in the redwoods in Sasquatch costumes.

“The suits are stunning and incredibly made, but they’re really difficult to move in,” Keough acknowledged. “Walking a few feet was hard, and lifting your arm up felt like lifting a weight. It was really hard to do simple things in the suit. It was one of the most physically difficult things I’ve ever done in my life.”

Multiply the difficulty factor several times for trying to shoot a limited-budget indie film in remote locations during late autumn in Northern California. The production’s one big piece of equipment, its makeup trailer, had to be hauled to places it was never intended to go. Torrential rains and snow flurries wreaked havoc on the costumes, so a sauna was rented where they could dry out overnight.

But the Zellners felt it was worth it.

While Eureka and Arcata were their base hubs, David Zellner said “we went pretty much in every direction” to film on private land as well as state and national park locales. “It’s one of the most beautiful places on Earth, and we really wanted the film to have epic landscapes,” he said over Zoom with his brother from New York. “From the start we knew we wanted to shoot in those primordial, old-growth redwood forests.”

Still, “it was very difficult,” David confirmed. “That’s why not many people shoot up there. It’s hard to get to, and to get on location. Just navigating the woods is a challenge on its own, but then you’re adding a whole crew, people in costume, makeup effects and those sort of things. But that was important because we really wanted to ground this world we’re creating with a sense of naturalism. That’s why we didn’t want to shoot on a soundstage.” 

Having made films with David since they were kids, the larger-framed Nathan Zellner has played Sasquatch and other creatures before in their short films, and both brothers acted in their previous features “Damsel” (2018) and “Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter” (2014). But while Nathan is used to directing in costume, doing so after two hours daily in the “Sasquatch Sunset” makeup chair took a little more adjusting. His experience, however, coupled with the brothers’ longtime love for all things Bigfoot, added to the whole project’s persuasiveness.

“Some aspects of our Sasquatches’ behavior is based on theories or sightings that people have posted online and written about,” Nathan said. “Tree-knocking is one of the main theories of how they connect with each other over distances. Nest-building every night is another one; that’s something primatologists tell us bonobos do. There are interesting parallels between the cryptic research of Bigfoot and research from scientists.”

So do they think Bigfoot exists? At least one person came away from this experience convinced.

“Oh, yeah,” Keough said, “I’m a believer.” 

(Redheaded Blackbelt, KymKemp.com)

ON-LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

I paid off my mortgage a few years ago and live debt free other than a small debt on a vehicle I needed to purchase. Still, even though I have paid off my debt on my property I still owe the County it’s annual rental payment for me to live on my property.

If I don’t pay that tax the County puts a lien on my property. If I still don’t pay the tax the County will sell the lien to an investor who will then harrass me until I reimburse them the back taxes as well as any interest on the lien. They may even be able to foreclose on property that I “own” free and clear.

We own nothing in America. We are serfs in a feudal system where the elites in our Government own everything.

It’s a nice feeling when one finally awakens and realizes the awful situation we are truly living in. We are slaves. Slaves to a system we had no involvement in creating.

O.J. & THE MONSTER JEALOUSY

by Maureen Dowd

On Thursday, I went over to South Bundy Drive in Brentwood, where the double murder happened. O.J. Simpson was dead at 76. And that famous scene of violence was eerily quiet on a shimmering spring day in Los Angeles.

I wrote nearly 30 years ago about the barbaric slayings of Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman at her condo and the infamous trial that drilled into the most sensitive parts of the national psyche, exposing conflicting views about race and policing and celebrity and legal equality.

There were farcical elements of O.J. Simpson’s “trial of the century,” from the witness Kato Kaelin, the houseguest with the frosted shag who had starred in the comedy “Beach Fever,” to Judge Lance Ito, who was such a narcissistic camera hog that he became known as Judge Itomaniac.

But I always thought of it as a great American tragedy. It had echoes of “Othello,” the most trenchant work ever written on the fatal flaw of jealousy.

Othello was a hero, a Black man beloved for his exploits on the field, a man who conquered racial setbacks and beguiled his fans and soared to great heights.

He was married to a beautiful younger woman. But, thanks to Iago — a deputy to the general who was jealous himself because he was passed over for a promotion in favor of another aide-de-camp — Othello was poisoned with jealousy, unable to cope with the demons in his head.

Desdemona, his wife, was confused, because Othello was spun up over false information. Her servant, Emilia, explained that jealous people “are not ever jealous for the cause, but jealous for they’re jealous. It is a monster, begot upon itself, born on itself.”

Othello murdered Desdemona while still loving her.

A year after O.J.’s murder trial, I stood in line behind the football legend’s lawyer Johnnie “If the glove don’t fit, you must acquit” Cochran at Bill Clinton’s second inaugural. Cochran, who acted as though the Simpson case were a civil rights struggle akin to Brown v. Board of Education, would soon have his own show on Court TV.

A stream of men and women excitedly approached Cochran, wanting to have their pictures taken with the lawyer who got O.J. off.

Celebrity trumps all. Or almost all.

O.J. escaped in his criminal trial but not in his civil trial, though he never paid the penalty or expressed any penance.

He did not, however, escape the opprobrium of many in America who felt that he got away with murder.

In 1995, as an acquitted O.J. plotted to rehabilitate himself, I felt that the victims had gotten lost in the circus.

I drove an hour outside Los Angeles to the Ascension cemetery in Lake Forest. There were bougainvilleas, carnations, sunflowers and daisies heaped on the plain dark marble marker at Nicole Brown Simpson’s grave. People had left teddy bears and rosaries.

One little boy wrote a note promising he would never be mean to a woman when he grew up. A mother wrote a note assuring Nicole that her two kids would be OK: “Your children’s guardian angels will take care of them.”

I talked to a woman named Teresa Myers, who stood staring at the grave for a long time. “Maybe she’s better off now because she’s at peace,” Myers told me. “But maybe she’s not because she knows now that nobody can touch him.”

When I left South Bundy on Thursday, I said a little prayer for the victims and their families. Fred Goldman, Ron’s father, said upon hearing of O.J.’s death, “No great loss.”

I feel the same.

ORWELL WATCH: NPR AND THE DEATH OF FAIRNESS

by Matt Taibbi

Earlier this week on The Free Press, Uri Berliner dropped a bomb on the public media world with “I’ve Been at NPR for 25 Years. Here’s How We Lost America’s Trust.” As discussed on the new America This Week, the longtime senior editor described how NPR fumbled three stories: Covid, the Hunter Biden laptop affair, and the Trump-Russia scandal. Regarding the latter:

At NPR, we hitched our wagon to Trump’s most visible antagonist, Representative Adam Schiff… Schiff, who was the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, became NPR’s guiding hand, its ever-present muse. By my count, NPR hosts interviewed Schiff 25 times about Trump and Russia. During many of those conversations, Schiff alluded to purported evidence of collusion. The Schiff talking points became the drumbeat of NPR news reports.

But when the Mueller report found no credible evidence of collusion, NPR’s coverage was notably sparse. Russiagate quietly faded from our programming… It is one thing to swing and miss on a major story. Unfortunately, it happens… What’s worse is to pretend it never happened, to move on with no mea culpas, no self-reflection.

Berliner’s piece was immediately swallowed, mangled, and regurgitated as new propaganda. CNN media writer Oliver Darcy wrote “NPR faces right-wing revolt and calls for defunding after editor claims left-wing bias," establishing the format that this was not about factual impropriety, but about a “right-wing revolt” against claimed “left-wing bias.” The New York Times did much the same thing, saying “NPR is in Turmoil After It is Accused of Left-Wing Bias,” adding that Berliner’s piece generated a “firestorm… especially among conservatives.” On cue, human error-vane Jonathan Chait chimed in to insist “The Media Did Not Make Up Trump’s Russia Scandal.”

But this wasn’t about “bias.” It was about ethics, or a lack of them. But this has been going on for so long, most people have forgotten what ethics look like. Audiences have been trained to think that a station or person that doesn’t make overtly political coverage decisions is just hiding its real biases, which must be either right-wing, corrupt, or both. So someone like Berliner, when he talks about feeling “obliged” to cover even Donald Trump fairly, is actually just concealing a form of unfairness, or inspiring another tribe of unfair actors. Fair equals unfair. It’s impressive propaganda, actually. His story brought back bad memories:...

racket.news/p/orwell-watch-npr-and-the-death-of

SEMBLANCE OF A CIVILIZED MODERN HUMAN HABITATION

by John Arteaga 

Boy, it’s becoming hard to get a good night’s sleep these days, trying to forget about the million or two of my fellow human beings trying to sleep on the desert sand by the Rafah Crossing to Egypt after being dispossessed of what generations of their families have cobbled together out of nothing, creating some semblance of a civilized modern human habitation, even though they’re living in an open air prison. 

Likewise, I’m finding it more and more difficult to enjoy a nice meal without thinking about those same millions of Gazan men, women and children, forcibly displaced by their crazed Zionist oppressors, forced to spend their time trying to locate the fundaments of nutrition and hydration after being expelled from their homes. 

Let’s look at this October 7 massacre in Israel; I recently heard the passionate and eloquent voice of Palestinians, Ali Abunima, who runs an informative website by the name of Electronic Intifada. He pointed out the fact that in the aftermath of that massacre and war crime, that there were whole blocks of buildings completely destroyed, and that the Hamas invaders, armed with small arms and perhaps a few grenades, could not possibly have perpetrated the enormous destruction in the area around the attack. Going out on a limb here, knowing what I know about past Israeli incursions into their neighbor’s land, it seems more than likely that not that not only did Israel provide (perhaps with a deniable cut out) the equipment used in the October 7 massacre, but that it had the ever-ready IDF intentionally stand down for hours to allow maximum loss of life (hey, those liberals at that music Festival were muy expendable to the ultra-Orthodox nut cases running the country, as well as the criminal Netanyahu, who could use a good war to distract attention from his legal problems). 

The most obvious explanation of this shocking level of destruction is that when the cavalry did finally come over the hill, they erred on the side of obliterating any building where hostages may have been taken. They have some biblical name for it in the IDF; killing hostages as well as captors rather than having to negotiate with them. 

At this point, clearly Israel has out-Nazied the Nazis as well as the worst war crimes committed by the Allies. While the Warsaw ghetto, the third Reich’s open air prison for Jews, may not have been a very pleasant place to reside, I don’t remember ever hearing about Hitler’s forces dropping thousands of 1 ton dumb bombs on it, destroying its water, sewage and power infrastructure, as Israel seems to have done in Gaza in response to what MUST have been at least a somewhat false flag attack. 

Dresden is a synonym for remorseless and over-the-top death and destruction meted upon a defenseless population as kind of a mean-spirited kick in the teeth after one is down; the US, after victory in Europe was already in hand, chose to obliterate this German city just because we could. To punish them. Something like 60 percent of the habitable structures there were destroyed. Well, the Israeli apartheid regime has done us one better with an absolutely appalling blitzkrieg on the huddled millions of refugees from the first Nakba (catastrophe), where they had been driven out of their age old family homes during the founding of Israel. 

Apparently, with the sniveling, unconditional acceptance of whatever atrocities Israel commits, along with the uninterrupted pipeline of Weapons of Mass Destruction for their ‘defense’, we US taxpayers have become partners with them in the destruction of fully 80 percent of the buildings in Gaza, not that the remaining 20 percent might still have any kind of connection to water, sewer, gas etc. infrastructure to remain viable places to live. 

For those of us who live outside of the normal media bubble, listening to the news has become kind of a whiplash experience; while the ‘respectable’ media report whatever nonsensical lies and propaganda put forth by the Israeli lobby about each day’s horrifying genocide, we hear about things like; the intentional murder of hundreds of journalists who are just trying to bring the truth to us, often obliterating their whole families. 

Or the deliberate and thorough destruction of the hundreds of universities in Gaza (Palestinians, like their Semitic brethren, put a high price on higher education), the almost complete eradication of hospitals and healthcare in Gaza, coupled with an absolute ban on drugs and medical supplies, resulting in the horrifying reality of surgeons having to amputate limbs on children without anesthesia. The thousands of relief trucks that are being held off by the evil Israeli border guards, turning away trucks for having scissors in the first-aid kits they’re attempting to bring in, and just the other day, the horrifying murder of seven volunteer chefs with that Kitchens International, or whatever the charity is called, where these brave and selfless souls cook millions of desperately needed meals for people who would otherwise starve. 

This inhuman cruelty, accomplished by cowardly drone warfare, first blew up one car, clearly marked, and in what they thought was cooperation with the IDF, then a second car after the survivors of the first were being rescued, then a third, after survivors of the second car got into another, finally killing all seven of these brave, caring international volunteers. The fact that they even reported Israel’s non-apology, halfhearted excuse for this sickening war crime makes me ill; why do we have to be subjected to whatever lies the Israelis want to spew on their captive benefactors? 

Israel has destroyed it’s legitimacy, and threatens to take down Biden’s chances for a second term unless he can somehow muster the gumption to stand up to the Israeli genocide billionaire funding stream, instead of endlessly enabling it. Tell those goddamned Israeli Rafah crossing guards to just let the damn relief trucks through or we’ll drone them! For the sake of the survival of our democracy! People will not vote for this partnership with genocide! 

For this and previous articles; https://inarationalworld2.blogspot.com/2024/04/boy-its-becoming-hard-to-get-good.html

JARED HUFFMAN AMONG 23 HOUSE DEMS WHO VOTED TO DEFUND UNRWA (United National Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East). 

THE U.S. GOVERNMENT will defund the United Nations agency that aids Palestinians through next year — even as 1.1 million people in Gaza face threats of famine in coming months — on the basis of flimsy allegations by Israel against a tiny minority of the agency’s staff that have yet to be proven.…

Bernie Sanders: “Sadly, tragically, many members of Congress seem to be happy to be part of this starvation caucus, happy to cut funding to UNRWA and make it harder to get aid to Palestinians in the midst of this crisis.”…

theintercept.com/2024/03/22/gaza-unrwa-funding-congress

THE BEAUTY PARLOR’S FULL OF SAILORS AND THE CIRCUS IS IN TOWN

by James Kunstler

“They have tried to solve a wide range of insoluble problems, from the weather to poverty to viruses, and now they will attempt to solve us.” —Eugyppius

This is that part of the movie where the hero — you — tumbles off the cliff on Kong Island in a lightning storm with a canyon full of tarantulas down below where you’ll soon be landing. I know, not a pretty picture. The cliff is our country’s financial quandary; the lightning is us getting sucked directly into war; and the tarantula pit below is the emerging peril of Covid vaccine injury and death coming on hard, like your landing.

Gold and silver are vaulting up suddenly like nobody’s business (literally). This may be fun to see if you are sitting on a pile, even a small pile of the stuff. But to everybody else it’s a signal that something is messed up in the complex engine of the economy. You know, of course, that our money is debt. So, debt is the fuel that drives that engine. Debt is a promise to pay back money with interest to take advantage of the time-value of money. The time-value of money means it’s better to have the money now (to keep the engine running) than to wait until your work produces money (if it even can).

The trouble is, debt loses its credibility if there is no plausible way of paying it back, or even just to keep paying the interest. That’s exactly what is happening now. Everybody can see that the US government can’t pay the interest on its debt, which is Treasury bonds, notes, and bills (from long duration to short). That debt is running at well over $1-trillion a year. That’s a thousand billion, which is a thousand million, altogether a million million. See, it’s impossible to grok how more than a trillion dollars gets produced in an economy based on selling fried chicken nuggets and streamed movies to people with no jobs.

When the Treasury holds an auction on a new issue of bonds (needed to pay off the interest on old bonds) and nobody shows up to buy because they doubt its ability to pay interest on the new paper, our country’s debt becomes worthless. As a last resort, the Federal Reserve swoops in and buys that worthless paper by creating “money” on its computer. That “money” goes out into the economy. The Fed pretends to get paid interest. It’s all fakery, a swindle. It’s like putting water in the gas tank of your engine. You know that the engine is going to throw a rod. When it does, it’ll be such a shock that the vehicle it’s running in is liable to hit a bridge abutment or something else hard. That’s what tumbling off the cliff is like.

The dopes running US foreign policy are so foolishly obsessed with taunting Russia (“poking the bear”), that they can’t give up their sponsorship of the war in Ukraine, which Ukraine is losing because they never had the mojo for the fight. That should have been obvious, but for some reason our “best-and-brightest” overlooked that. No amount of free weaponry and ammo can make up for the fact that Ukraine has run out of young men to pointlessly get shredded by Russian artillery. Russia is unwilling to get rolled by NATO and the US in a part of the world Russia has controlled for centuries. Yet, “Joe Biden” keeps hinting about sending America’s tranny army there, and even gearing up the military draft for the nose-ring and blue hair generation. Good luck with that.

Nor does “JB” exercise any control over what Israel does over in the Bible Lands. Bibi gonna do what Bibi gonna do. Israel can’t be persuaded that the current war is not a struggle for its existence. As Scott Adams points out, Israel has decided to pawn off its Holocaust cred in order to treat its enemies as harshly as possible, so as not to get wiped off the map. Israel has treated the Palestinians very harshly. (The October 7 Hamas raid was pretty darn harsh, too.) In any case, world opinion went all rancid on Israel. That hasn’t stopped them. Now Israel faces its ultimate foe, Persia, a.k.a. Iran, these days. Persia has a big army and a lot of weapons, and all sorts of wing-men in the neighborhood. . . as a practical matter, most of Islam right now. This week, Persia made noises about an imminent attack on Israel. Didn’t happen so far.

Let’s get real on Islam. Its core principle is to exterminate the humans on this planet who are not of Islam. Islam has been pissed-off at Western Civ since the Crusades, its animus renewed in 1683, when Islam’s advance into Europe was halted at the gates of Vienna, and then again in modern times when Islam got pushed around because Western Civ wanted its oil. Islam is overrunning Europe again and penetrating the USA through our southern border. Islam means business. It wants to wreck us, kill us, and take our stuff. And it dearly, sorely, wants to deep-six Israel, which Islam contemptuously refer to as “the Zionist entity,” as if it were some crypto-insectile space alien.

America (and Europe, too) wants to play this both ways: to grudgingly help Israel survive while at the same time pretending not to notice Islam’s true aims. Looks like Israel has decided to go for broke on this one whether we ride to rescue or not. Israel may have to go “Mad Dog” in its neighborhood. They may lose this thing anyway. The rest of the world will affect to hate them for it no matter how it ends. Meanwhile, all over Europe the Islamic birth-rate way outpaces the Euro peoples’ birth rate. And how many angry, determined “sleepers” has Islam snuck into the USA the past several years across “Joe Biden’s” open border. It’s a bit disturbing to contemplate. Also, never under-estimate the damage that can be wreaked with small arms against “a pitiful, helpless, giant,” as Dick Nixon once described our country in an earlier time of distress. There’s your lightning storm.

At the bottom of the cliff is the vaxxed-up population of the world waiting for their spike protein infested bodies and dysregulated immune systems to enter fatal break down. Many already have injured organs, hearts, brains, blood, ovaries, etc. Many others will get in trouble when a more efficient Covid-19 mutation goes lethal on them. The public health authorities are desperately trying to conceal the damage. Some organized groups of people are clamoring for the data on vaccine injury and death from places like the CDC, only to discover that the public health agencies not only won’t disclose it but probably avoided even collecting it over fear of what it would show. Horror creeps on little tarantula feet.

This is how the movie is going as of April. Spring is hardly fledged. Portent looms at every compass point. You’re in a tight spot. (We all are.) In modern times — and I mean going back to the first twinges of the Enlightenment — faith in the people running things has never been lower. It’s still an election year, har har! It makes you wonder if this movie is actually a comedy.