Mendocino County Today: Wednesday 4/24/24

Cooling | Contrail | Armed Robbery | Val's Back | Budgeting Basics | AV Volunteers | Wasting Disease | Chef Housing | Quince Blossoms | AV Scholarships | Fragrant Urine | Ted Talk | Full Moon | Ed Notes | Beer Time | Museum Trip | Redwood Sorrel | Road Safety | Wildflower Show | Beer Fest | Water Tower | Rhododendron Show | Logger Sandals | Homeless Seats | Yesterday's Catch | Saunter | Joke Setup | Spiritual Biden | Kafka Delusion | Schwartz Roar | Still Trump | Prince Folly | Holiday Audition | Army Recipe | Rowling Story | Carry Laws | Crybaby Drones | Ceasefire Now

MAINLY DRY WEATHER is expected today with a few showers possible over the interior. A cold front will bring below normal temperatures, widespread rain, and high mountain snow to the area Thursday and into Friday. Additional showers and below normal temperatures are expected through the weekend and into early next week. (NWS)

STEPHEN DUNLAP (Fort Bragg): I did not see the sun yesterday, did you? A cloudy 53F this Wednesday morning on the coast. Today we have a mix of fog & clouds at different levels of the atmosphere. We might see some sun, I'll go with a maybe? Our incoming rain is looking like a Thursday night event. No significant warming is in sight currently.

ARMED ROBBERY IN HOPLAND; SUSPECTS AT LARGE

On Sunday, April 21, 2024 at 10:30 P.M., Mendocino County Sheriff's Office (MCSO) Deputies were dispatched to an armed robbery involving a firearm in the 700 block of Highway 175 in Hopland.

MCSO Dispatch advised two subjects dressed in all black and wearing masks had robbed several subjects — two women and two men, ages 62, 41, 39, and 33 respectively — at gunpoint, assaulted the victims, and fled the area on foot. Deputies arrived at the scene and began their investigation into the incident.

The deputies contacted four victims at the scene. The victims indicated they were returning to their vehicle when two masked subjects approached them and produced a firearm. The victims were ordered to the ground by the subjects and had their valuables taken. The victims were also physically assaulted by the subjects during the incident.

All four of the victims suffered injuries during the incident and two of the victims were transported by ambulance to a local hospital as a result of their injuries.

This case is still being actively investigated by the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office. Anyone with information that could assist with this investigation is urged to contact the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office Dispatch Center at 707-463-4086 or the non-emergency anonymous tip-line at 707-234-2100.

VAL'S BACK! Queen Democrat Returns To Her Castle

‘WE WERE CRITICIZED’

by Mark Scaramella

Mendocino County CEO Darcie Antle used this title phrase in answer to Supervisor Williams to explain why she and her well-paid staff don’t provide ordinary budget versus actual reports to the Supervisors. She went on to say that the problem has to do with revenues that don’t come in on a regular basis, but expenses do, supposedly producing an apparent overrun her financially challenged public when there is none.

With this, Antle, like her predecessor, Carmel Angelo, demonstrated her fundamental ignorance of basic budgeting. (Before Ms. Antle was promoted to the exalted title of CEO she was Carmel Angelo’s “budget specialist.”)

In an ordinary budget report you track actual expenses against projected expenses, not against revenue. Revenue has its own budget and is tracked against its own projections. If revenues vary from budgeted (and, as in Mendo, nobody takes action to fix it), then budget revisions are made mid-year. This is basic Budgeting 101.

So saying that revenue variations are the reason for not producing budget reports is more proof that the person claiming that should not be allowed near any budgets. 

To repeat, you track actual expenses against budgeted expenses; you track actual revenue against budgeted revenue. It’s quite simple. It’s pathetic that anyone in a responsible budgeting position would claim different.

As far as CEO Antle’s “we were criticized” remark… That’s dumb too. 

Antle doesn’t say who allegedly criticized her or her staff (“we”), but since yours truly is the only person in the County who criticizes the County about anything (with the relatively recent addition of former Supes candidate Carrie Shattuck), we can safely assume who and what she’s talking about.

But what does criticism have to do with anything about budget reporting? Is the possibility of criticism a reason for not doing ordinary budget reports? Who even thinks like that?

Back in July of 2021 the CEO’s office provided the Board with the only departmental budget to actual report in recent history. We quickly sent in a few ordinary questions to then-CEO Carmel Angelo asking about the variations. In the introduction to her reply Ms. Angelo said:

“The very nature of your questions is the reason the County budget team has been hesitant to present a ‘budget to actual.’ County Government is dependent on State, Federal, and grant revenue funding, which typically is billed quarterly or annually, and reimbursement is not received until at least 30 days after billing. This cycle of billing and reimbursement causes a delay in posting revenue, which impacts ‘budget to actual’ reports produced on a monthly basis.”

This is the origin of Antle’s irrelevant revenue variation excuse that she continues to parrot.

For the record, here’s the July 2021 item with our questions and the CEO’s reply: theava.com/archives/158387#9

All we did was post the CEO’s answers, uncommented-on, so readers could judge for themselves how incomplete the answers were.

Note that there is nothing remotely “critical” in these questions. We simply and politely asked for explanations for the variances — and we only did that because none of the Supervisors did. Nor did we criticize the oh-so criticizable response. (Of course, we have since criticized the CEO’s position that asking questions of the ultra-thin-skinned CEO about the budget is “criticism.”) But our questions were clearly NOT criticism — unless you’re an imperious CEO and you arrogantly don’t want anyone asking pesky questions about what you consider to be your own personal budget. 

Since that one budget vs. actual report in 2021 — which by the way proves at minimum that they can generate such reports — and our questions, there has never been another departmental budget vs. actual report. 

Why not? “We were criticized.” 

* * *

We would be remiss if we didn’t include Carrie Shattuck’s comments about Tuesday’s rambling budget discussion:

Shattuck: “I am not trying to be facetious here. But this budget conversation is the same conversation I heard last year. We don't have reports, we don't have updates, Supervisor Williams can't get his numbers, 2022-23 is not closed. Ms. Cubbison was ousted six months ago. Who are we blaming now for not having updated information and reports? It's just the same thing, back and forth. And the Opengov [the County's fancy financial system] — I've been talking about this for more than a year. It's still from 2021-22. We say we are being more transparent and accountable and we cannot even update this opengov system to show where our current budget is? It's really frustrating from a citizen’s perspective.”

* * *

When the Board reconvened in the afternoon after closed session, Chair Mulheren quickly announced that “Item 4d has been pulled by staff,” conveniently neglecting to mention what Item 4d was, hoping that no one would notice. We looked it up. Item 4d was the appointment of CEO Antle’s roommate and significant other, Dr. Theron Chan as County Public Health Officer. Mulheren didn’t offer any explanation.

* * *

An amusing moment arose early in the morning when Supervisor Williams tried to abstain on the Master Fee Schedule approval vote. The vote was 4-0 for some mild decreases in some fees with Williams abstaining “by the button” which conveniently includes an “abstain” column right up there on the big board. 

Supervisor John Haschak immediately objected — the mild-mannered Haschak seems inceasingly perturbed at what he sees as grandstanding by Supervisor Williams — saying that the Board rules don’t permit abstentions, except when a Supervisor recuses him or herself. 

It didn’t work. Williams replied that if he recused himself he wouldn’t be in the room to vote, so why is there a button for abstention? (Maybe they should go full woo-woo and add another button for “absent” that nobody ever presses. After all… Oh, never mind.)

Chair Mulheren asked Interim County Counsel James Ross for “clarification,” but Mr. Ross could only fumble through some documents and say he wasn’t prepared to answer. So Mulheren took a break to give Ross some time to look into the Board’s own rules. 

In fact, the rules state: “As a matter of public policy, all members of the Board shall take a position and a vote on all issues brought before them. Any member who abstains shall state the reason why, either before or immediately following any abstention.”

So, after the break, Williams dutifully explained that he didn’t have enough substantiating info to vote on the various fee adjustments. And that was the end of it.

RONNIE JAMES ON DEER:

Deer--what you should know but it's kept pretty quiet.

I've gotten notices for years from Fish & Wildlife and Public Health that Chronic Wasting Disease is present in deer here in California. It is a disease caused by a prion similar (or possibly the same) as Mad Cow Disease or Scrapie in sheep which affects the nervous system of ruminants and possibly some mammals. I've seen it in deer locally when I was doing wildlife rehab. Fish & Wildlife has had a regulation in place for those that hunt deer out of state prohibiting them from bringing skeletal and the nervous systems of deer or elk into California, but muscle meat is allowed. They were hoping to prevent the disease from getting into the state, but it's has been here for many years, so that regulation may not still be active. The disease is also present in Elk, and other wild ruminant populations. Do a little research, Chronic Wasting Disease or CWD, and its cause: prions.

MOLLEY GREEN: Hiya neighbors! We are soon re-opening the Company Kitchen space in Philo and we are looking for housing for our chef. He is a single guy with no pets. He is responsible and hardworking. Let us know if you have a space and thank you so much. We look forward to feeding all of you come summer!

AV HIGH SENIOR AWARDS

When you turn on the TV and see the world going crazy with violence and hatred, it can only make the appreciation for a night like Monday even sweeter. Nowhere else in the world does a community come together and support a graduating class of seniors with hundreds of thousands of dollars in scholarships except in a gym, in a tiny little school district, in a tiny little town, filled with people with amazingly big hearts.

The donations flowed in a two-hour ceremony that began with a tasty barbecue dinner prepared by Steve and Terri Rhoades. Once our bellies were happy and full, organization after organization came forward and gave away check after check to allow students to continue their education without the burden of onerous college debt. The presenter's stories were touching. Lilah Shapiro, granddaughter of Michael L. Shapiro, a mere 13-year-old girl, was eloquent, sharing her love of her grandfather, and presenting scholarships to students just a few years older than herself. Other scholarships honored beloved community members or their family members. Civic organizations honored students with attributes valued in their charters. The list went on and on with the Anderson Valley Education Foundation providing $65,000 in scholarships and Robert Anderson presented more than $300,000 in scholarships from the Robert Mailer Anderson and Nicola Miner Foundation along with a keepsake book—a legacy of generosity from an alumni that attended Anderson Valley 26 years ago.

The immensity of this event and impact was plain to see with one of our young ladies trembling and speechless at the end of the evening because she was realizing in her head that in two hours her community had just paid for her college degree. It doesn’t happen anywhere else.

We Are Grateful…

Asparagus harvest from a few days ago. It's free range asparagus that grows back the road from us on marginal land near the Russian River. My understanding is that someone planted a garden back there, maybe 60 years ago. It's long since been abandoned but the asparagus has prospered and spread. I usually gather it about once a week, mid-March through mid-May. Tastes great. Makes your pee smell funny. Does anybody know any other food that makes your pee smell funny? Inquiring minds . . . &c., &c.

TOWN HALL MEETING WITH SUPERVISOR TED WILLIAMS this Thursday, April 25

All are welcome to have a discussion with Ted Williams, Mendocino County Supervisor, District 5 on the County on issues that concern you. Submit questions and take part in the discussion. Subjects such as the financial and management woes of the County, trends in tourism and ways to a better infrastructure and services among other issues. Help find a path to a better future. Sponsored by Rotary Mendocino at Preston Hall on Main Street this Thursday, 12 noon-1:30. All are welcome.

ED NOTES

RANDOM MEMORIES: When I bought the AVA in January of 1984, I assessed my prospects as iffy. How to publish an honest newspaper? By honest I mean a newspaper that reflected the Mendo reality as it reflected itself and as I perceived it, a newspaper that possessed an integrity of opinion. “This is what I think. You're welcome to argue with it but there it is.” I wanted a newspaper I myself could read without cringing, a newspaper as free of bullshit as possible in a county and a country that runs on bullshit.

THE FIRST ADVERTISER to flee was Mendo Mill. By Spring, almost all advertisers had fled, which I had anticipated. I knew to survive I would have to depend on subscriptions and stand sales, and to do that I would have to produce a paper that appealed to a much wider demographic than a few old beatniks tucked away in the Mendo vastness. The idea was to go both hyper-local — school board meetings and whatever else in the way of interest had occurred that week in the Anderson Valley — and stories and opinion from wherever by whomever, and the talent came rushing in, often in hilarious letters to the editor and riveting articles from non-professional writers liberated by a prose venue offering them safe harbor.

OF COURSE more people than not didn't like the combativeness on weekly display, but according to the experts, the AVA quickly enjoyed “total market penetration” in the Anderson Valley, a statistic reached by concluding one paper sold for every mailbox. And very soon we had established outlets from Arcata to San Francisco, some of our most lucrative outlets being liquor stores. 

BACK TO MENDO MILL. Not to single them out, but whoever it was who called me back in the winter of '84 has irritated me ever since because of the smug implications of the caller, a manager, I suppose, that he could enjoy his imagined power as a fifty dollar a week advertiser by enjoying my pain at losing his business.

“Is this Mr. Anderson?'”

Yup.

“THIS is Jim Bubba from Mendo Mill. I'm cancelling my ad.”

Ok.

“Well?”

Well what?

“I just said I'm cancelling my ad.”

I heard you the first time. You can go now.

“Are you going to cancel my ad?”

Why wouldn't I?

“You sound like you don't care.”

I don't. There was a long pause before he hung up.

ANOTHER OF UKIAH'S titans of free enterprise cancelled his ad by telegram, apparently not realizing that telegrams to Boonville were delivered by mail. 

AND so it went as I consoled myself with that famous observation by George Orwell that 

“Advertising is the rattling of a stick inside a swill bucket.”

A DAY AT THE DE YOUNG--Bus trip May 25

On Saturday, May 25, the Grace Hudson Museum will organize a bus trip to the de Young Museum in San Francisco, to view three special exhibitions as well as the core galleries. The exhibits include:

"Fashioning San Francisco: A Century of Style." This major show is the first presentation of the de Young’s clothing collection in over 35 years. From high fashion and haute couture to avant garde, the designs on view reflect San Francisco’s long-standing tradition of self-expression through fashion.

"Irving Penn" showcases the fashion, portraiture, and documentary photography of one of America’s most important photographers. As Vogue’s longest-standing contributor, Penn revolutionized fashion photography during the course of his 70-year career. A special section of images from San Francisco’s Summer of Love and other Northern California images are featured.

"Japanese Prints in Transition: From the Floating World to the Modern World" marks the shift in society and culture during the Meiji era (1868-1912). It features the printwork of Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, whose distinctive, sometimes eccentric, images serve as a link between the era of feudal military rule and that of modernization.

Tickets are $100 and include round-trip transportation from Ukiah and de Young Museum admission fees. Participants can bring a lunch, or dine in the de Young's excellent cafe. Comfortable walking shoes are highly recommended. To purchase tickets, go to the Museum's website at www.gracehudsonmuseum.org and to the Events page to find a registration link, or call the Museum at (707) 467-2836. Please note that no refunds are allowed after May 9, unless there is a waiting list.

LOCAL ROAD SAFETY/ACTION PLAN UPDATES FOR MENDOCINO COUNTY & CITIES

The Mendocino Council of Governments (MCOG) has hired a consultant to update Local Road Safety/Action Plans for the County of Mendocino, and the cities of Fort Bragg, Point Arena, Ukiah, and Willits. These updated safety plans will enable local jurisdictions to enhance safety for all modes of transportation for all ages and abilities and will aid in seeking state and federal grant funding to implement priority safety projects.

MCOG invites the public to a virtual public workshop on Thursday, April 25, 2024 (6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.) to hear a presentation on the project and offer input. The presentation will cover Local Road Safety/Action Plan goals, preliminary collision analysis findings, high injury networks, and the project’s online outreach platform.

For Zoom meeting access and additional information, visit the project website at https://www.mendoroadsafetyplan.com/. This project is funded with State grant funds provided by Caltrans.

Contact MCOG project manager Loretta Ellard at lellard@dbcteam.net or 707-234-3434 with any questions.

THE BOONVILLE BEER FEST

The Brewery list for the legendary Boonville Beer Fest 2024

Our R2 unit has picked up a faint transmission from a galaxy far, far away. It’s a list of some of the best craft breweries you’ll find from here to Tatooine. And they’re all coming to AVBC for the Legendary Boonville Beer Festival on May the Fourth.

See who is pouring at this year’s Festival, and make sure to get your tickets soon!

Brewery List

Save when you buy tickets in advance.

Waiting to buy tickets at the gate? We find your lack of faith disturbing. But hey, didn’t you realize that you’ll also save $10 if you buy your BBF tickets in advance? Get them now and save your cash for that weird 3-D holographic chess game they play at the Cantina.

Buy tickets

THE LARGEST RHODODENDRON SHOW IN CALIFORNIA

45th Annual Rhododendron Show - May 4 and 5, on the Mendocino Coast

Each year, the Noyo Chapter of the American Rhododendron Society partners with Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens to showcase some of the best rhododendron specimens on the West Coast. The 45th annual John Druecker Memorial Rhododendron Show will be held at the Gardens on Saturday, May 4 and Sunday, May 5. This juried show is the largest in California with a typical show displaying more than 800 entries, filling the exhibition tent with cascades of colors and fragrance.

Everyone is welcome to enter their rhododendrons and azaleas in the show! You may have noticed that rhododendrons have a stunning growth habit featuring a cluster of flowers at the end of a branch, this bouquet-like gathering of flowers that is called a truss. We want you to bring your best trusses to the big tent to the south end of the Gardens’ main parking lot on Thursday, May 2 between 3PM - 7PM and Friday, May 3, between 9AM - 12PM. Ribbons and trophies will be awarded to top entries in a wide range of categories. We are excited to announce that this year marks the inaugural year for two new trophies! Announcing the Noyo Chapter Youth Trophy for entrants ages 18 and under in hopes we can foster some young rhodie lovers. The Ted Steinhardt Memorial Trophy honors a beloved member of the Noyo ARS and gives you a chance to compete for "Best Foliage". Check www.noyochapterars.org for more information on entering.

The Rhododendron Show is free to view and open to the public from 9AM to 5PM on Saturday and 10AM to 4PM on Sunday. A large selection of rhododendrons and other plants will be available for purchase. Local growers and Noyo Chapter ARS members will be on hand to answer questions and discuss the best plants for your garden.

Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens will also be open to visitors during the Rhododendron Show, regular admission rates apply. The Gardens is home to one of the nation’s largest collections of rhododendrons—many hybridized on the Mendocino Coast—and they promise to fill the formal gardens and woodlands with riotous color. The Gardens’ Rhododendron Collection includes over 124 species and 315 taxa. More than 1,000 rhododendrons can be seen blooming throughout the Gardens from early spring until June!

Join us at the Gardens as we celebrate spring and the annual Rhododendron Show. Please visit www.gardenbythesea.org for more information.

Roxanne Perkins MCBG Director of Communications 707-964-4352 Ext. 22 18220 N Highway 1 . Fort Bragg, CA www.gardenbythesea.org 

WANNA PRESIDE OVER THE HANDING OUT OF MILLIONS TO YOUR FRIENDS?

Mendocino County Homeless Services Continuum of Care Accepting Nominations for Governing Board Seats

Mendocino County - The Mendocino County Homeless Services Continuum of Care (MCHSCoC) has redesigned its Governing Board Seat configuration and is accepting nominations for available seats now through May 15, 2024. A Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Continuum of Care is a collaboration of individuals and agencies committed to the goal of ending homelessness in our community. This group is instrumental in bringing federal and State funding into our community to assist families and individuals experiencing or at risk of homelessness to gain access to stable housing. MCHSCoC focuses on developing solutions to homelessness that also positively impact the larger community. 

Open seats include one (1) dedicated Board Seat for a Tribal Government/Entity, one (1) dedicated Board Seat for a Housing Authority, and seven (7) Representative Group Seats. To be eligible for MCHSCoC Board Seat nomination, organizations or individuals must operate or reside within Mendocino County and be a General Member of the MCHSCoC. To place membership with the MCHSCoC, please complete a membership application form accessible at https://mendocinococ.org/s/General-Member-Welcome-Letter-and-Application-Fill-In-7-10-2023.pdf, and return it to hometeam@mendocinocounty.org or 747 S. State St, Ukiah, CA 95482, ATTN: HCU. 

To submit a nomination, please complete the MCHSCoC Governing Board Seat Nomination Form available at https://forms.gle/LfGpLxCTjmXNSJCeA. The MCHSCoC will vote on its new Governing Board members at its May 20, 2024, membership meeting that begins at 1:30 pm. For meeting location and details, please visit https://mendocinococ.org/meetings/2022/8/15/board-meeting-9eawr-4rczs-rl9x5-x55th-3xbpe-dr9br-zze6j-724yz-esgp7-sbx6y For questions or to request additional information, please contact Veronica Wilson at wilsonv@mendocinocounty.org or (707) 468-7071.

CATCH OF THE DAY, Tuesday, April 23, 2024

JOSHUA GENSAW-CRUM, Eureka/Laytonville. DUI causing bodily injury.

BRIAN REID, San Francisco/Ukiah. Taking vehicle without owner’s permission, stolen property, false info to peace officer, resisting.

EVELINE STONE, Discovery Bay/Ukiah. Failure to appear.

MYCHELL VEGA-AYALA, Ukiah. Disobeying court order, failure to appear.

Hiking - "I don't like either the word or the thing. People ought to saunter in the mountains - not hike! Do you know the origin of that word 'saunter?' It's a beautiful word. Away back in the Middle Ages people used to go on pilgrimages to the Holy Land, and when people in the villages through which they passed asked where they were going, they would reply, 'A la sainte terre,' 'To the Holy Land.' And so they became known as sainte-terre-ers or saunterers. Now these mountains are our Holy Land, and we ought to saunter through them reverently, not 'hike' through them."

— John Muir

NEW BIDEN TOTES SPIRITUALITY

Dear Editor, 

Yesterday I was trying to find something to watch on the flat screen technology and on a news channel President Joe Biden Quoted (yikes) not recall which President who spoke about a new spirituality. To me this is oddness. Is there a paradox in today’s political atmosphere that has to align with which country that sells Arms to stop a war? Aside from this cloudscape is cool and breezy.

Sincerely Yours, 

Greg Crawford

Fort Bragg

SHE WILL ALWAYS BE STEVE TO ME

Independence Day Is Coming!

Greetings

This is a one-time email. First, to LW: autogynephilia is real and is the topic of my new book.

I am creating a new list. It will be limited to the happy few I consider sophisticated enough to handle matters of sexuality that are considered about as novel in My City as a petrified dinosaur turd in the Mojave. This... Surrealism 1: Eroticization of a City | The Surrealist Movement (1924-1991) has, on its centenary, returned to the forefront of global media. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/28/arts/design/surrealism-centennial-pompidou-brussels.html

I was the last American admitted to the Paris group, i ...is a sample of the content "masa" -- like tortilla dough -- for my new book project.

Projected title: In Defense Of J.K. Rowling.

Elaborated in cooperation with Adam Bellow, the literal Son Of God. Try not to be shocked. Please do not try to advise me on the propriety of the forum in which this was posted or any other aspect of this. If you are outraged I'll drop you from further emails of this nature.

I am a woman. Legally. In ways I never expected and about which I was never informed. Consent was neither solicited nor granted. To be transgender is to live in a twilight zone between heaven and hell. Heaven: after seven very full years I live in a condition where my body is 95% new to me. In a development that appears rarÃsima, my body is completely female except for details of the plumbing. I can never have children, but I am 75 and I Am Not Sarah. Women of my age don't get pregnant. 

In appearance I am about 60. Hormone treatments do that. Plus never being addicted to cigarettes.

I am undergoing a Second Puberty. In an outcome I never anticipated, and about which there is no body of clinical discussion, I wake every morning feeling energized beyond imagining.

My body and my wardrobe interact in a manner I am only beginning to grasp. They are integrated. I am whole now. I don't just wear clothes, I feel them. Intensely. 

I am permanently intoxicated by this derangement of the senses. Still, I am not rendered incapable of staying sane and safe.

I am reborn as I was about age 25. I am writing 10 hours per day. My therapist and prescriber are monitoring my sleep. But my style, my literary wit, my understanding of language, are heightened. My body remains slender now, and I follow a model's diet.

Sample: today, a breakfast of cold pulled chicken with a pear, and later, an indulgence in supernachos, as a reward to myself. Plus one dose of coffee in the form of a chocolate caffeine tablet, one dose of THC in edible form, a few sips of hard liquor -- Fireball, rum, or mezcal -- and lots of water. Plus protein supplements.

Transgenderism is psychedelic. Am I in a manic state? Not according to the professionals.

On the other hand, safety. San Francisco is the LGBTQIA capital of the world but transwomen are not safe here. I have been orally and physically assaulted re battered me sexually fled to Oregon after a police inquiry. A man I knew for 60 years raped me with words. A man I pulled out of the gutter, and supported as an artist, had a total breakdown, thinks I am his wife, and stalks me violently. A supposed female colleague in journalism, while drunk, assaulted me orally such that police were called. I am very different now. I do something I would never have done before: I get those who torment me, and who I can identify, fired from their jobs. I am cool with getting them evicted from their housing. I need haters to fear me. 

Because, ladies and gentlemen, it's war, and as Daddy Shermy said, war is hell. My current theme song: https://youtu.be/sTgcY0mnkGs?si=w-NhWr_tEAeFwdkC

Men I wish I could https://youtu.be/KBowND4qACI?si=n6F_wICnIvYK5oV7

I'm a warrior woman now. No alternative.

But this is the world I desire to create: https://youtu.be/9I3UTG1dSTc?si=JQG99wbLo47ws6Iz

Perhaps I'm merely nostalgic: https://youtu.be/YsX2FhBf9nY?si=2vC6HR2uXo3ky5Mq

An old acid head gone crazy. I was there the first time Gracie sang this: Jefferson Airplane - Somebody to Love (Official Audio) | Enough for now.

The Schwartz

ON-LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

I will still be voting for Trump and the Republicans this November because I believe that this regime needs to face consequences of some kind for what it has been promoting and trying to promote socially and politically. But now that Trump is on the Ukraine-train, and make no mistake, his influence was instrumental in getting this cataclysmic boondoggle of an “aid-package” passed, I’m more convinced than ever that our real problems don’t have political solutions, or at least none that our current clown-show of a political class would be willing or able to enact.

BUT THE PRINCES, putting the words of their wise men to naught, thought each to himself: If I but strike quickly enough, and in secret, I shall destroy those others in their sleep, and there will be none to fight back; the earth shall be mine. Such was the folly of princes, and there followed the Flame Deluge.

— Walter Miller, A Canticle for Liebowitz

In 1932, desperate for money, Holiday—then just 16 years old—decided to pound the pavement in Harlem to scare up some quick cash. “One day we were so hungry we could barely breathe,” she once recalled. “It was cold as all-hell and I walked from 145th to 133rd [Street] … going in every joint trying to find work … I stopped in the Log Cabin Club run by Jerry Preston [and] told him I was a dancer. He said to dance. I tried it. He said I stunk. I told him I could sing. He said sing. Over in the corner was an old guy playing the piano. He struck ‘Trav'lin’ and I sang. The customers stopped drinking. They turned around and watched. The pianist swung into ‘Body and Soul.’ Jeez, you should have seen those people—all of them started crying. Preston came over, shook his head and said, ‘Kid, you win.’”

US ARMY SOS

1 lb ground beef

2 Tablespoon butter 

1/4 cup flour 

1 cube beef bouillon

3/4 teaspoon salt

pepper to taste 

2 1/4 cups milk

1/4 teaspoon worcestershire sauce

Brown beef in a large skillet over medium-high heat, breaking up the meat as it cooks. Drain excess fat and set beef aside.

Melt butter in skillet over medium heat.

Slowly add the flour, stirring constantly, to form a brown roux.

Add the bouillon.

Gradually stir in the milk and Worcestershire sauce, mixing well.

Add the cooked ground beef, salt, and pepper.

Bring all to a simmer, stirring constantly. Serve hot over buttered toast.

At age 17, she was rejected from college.

At age 25, her mother died from disease.

At age 26, she suffered a miscarriage.

At age 27, she got married. Her husband abused her. Despite this, her daughter was born.

At age 28, she got divorced and was diagnosed with severe depression.

At age 29, she was a single mother living on welfare.

At age 30, she didn't want to be on this earth. But, she directed all her passion into doing the one thing she could do better than anyone else. And that was writing.

At age 31, she finally published her first book.

At age 35, she had released four books, and was named Author of the Year. 

At age 42, she sold 11 million copies of her new book, on the first day of release.

This woman is J.K. Rowling. Remember how she considered suicide at age 30?

Today, Harry Potter is a global brand worth more than $15 billion dollars.

IN GAZA THE SNIPER DRONES ARE CRYING LIKE BABIES

by Caitlin Johnstone

They’re hunting civilians with armed quadcopters in Gaza.

The drones play recordings of crying babies and women screaming in distress in order to lure people out into the open, and then shoot them. 

This is reportedly happening at the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, where people live in total darkness at night and have no connection to the outside world.

Other times the drones play the sounds of explosions and gunshots and rolling tanks, and sometimes songs in Hebrew or Arabic, all to terrorize these refugees hiding in the darkness afraid for their lives.

This is the sort of report that a critical thinker would normally dismiss as absurd atrocity propaganda if it was being made about any other military power, but this is the IDF we’re talking about, and this specific allegation is pretty well-supported now. 

When the destruction of Gaza first began I used to read the jarring claims about the horrific things the IDF were doing and often think, “No, no way. That can’t be the whole story. It’s too cartoonishly evil. There must be some information missing.” Then a few days or weeks later confirmation would come out, showing it’s even worse than I thought before.

I don’t experience that kind of dubiousness when reading such stories anymore. There are only so many atrocities you can see documented, so many videos of IDF troops recording themselves gleefully behaving like monsters, so many hospitals you can see attacked, so many journalists you can see assassinated, before you read a new report about new unfathomable acts of depravity and find yourself saying “Yeah, that sounds about right.”

This baby-crying-sniper-drone story is something else, though. It’s like something out of a weird post-apocalyptic horror movie or something. It’s the kind of information that makes you sort of re-evaluate your previous assumptions about humanity, the world, and the kind of reality we’re experiencing here.

It is really astonishing, how cruel people can be. How cruel a whole nation of people can be made to be, if they’re indoctrinated just right. You spend your whole childhood being indoctrinated into the belief that one group of people are inferior to your own and don’t deserve the same rights and treatment your group receives, and before you know it you’re blockading aid trucks from bringing that group food, and playing recordings of crying babies on an assassination drone in order to murder civilians at a refugee camp.

That’s how Nazi Germany happened, it’s how the genocidal apartheid state of Israel has happened, and it’s how the murderous US-centralized empire has happened. It turns out it’s not all that hard to manipulate a population into supporting shocking abuses at mass scale with modern propaganda and indoctrination from early childhood. It turns out the human mind is a lot more hackable than we’d like to believe it is, and that this can be used to unleash living nightmares upon our world a lot more easily than we’re comfortable acknowledging.

This is how the entire western world has been manipulated into accepting nonstop war, militarism, nuclear brinkmanship, imperialism and exploitation as fine and normal, and into assuming that a better world isn’t possible. As long as the powerful are able to manipulate the way a sufficiently large percentage of the population thinks, speaks, acts and votes, we’re going to be stuck in this horrifying dystopia where the sky rains fire upon the innocent, where war profiteers reap vast fortunes from machines which rip apart human bodies, and where sniper drones cry like babies.

We can help weaken the empire’s propaganda machine by spreading awareness of what it’s doing and how it operates, because propaganda only works if you don’t know it’s happening to you. Help people to see the ways in which the mass media are deceiving them, point out all the signs that we live under an empire of lies, and help spread awareness of what’s really true and what’s really possible.

All positive changes in human behavior of any scale are always preceded by an expansion of consciousness. Spreading awareness is the first step toward a healthy world, and we can each do that in our own small way every single day.

(caitlinjohnstone.com.au)