Mendocino County Today: Monday 5/6/24

Brisk | Rain Puddle | Dakota Stafslien | Stormy Sky | AVUSD Phones | Meth House | Boomers Auction | County Notes | Cartoonist | Insurance Disaster | PGreed&E | Touring MendoCo | Chinese Cabbage | Bittersweet | AVA Haiku | Willits Hills | Tree Faller | Winning Bouquet | Pacific Enterprises | SNWMF Lineup | Yesterday's Catch | Take Out | Trying ZYN | Rooster Boy | Vietnam/Gaza | Jews/Zionists | Evacuate Rafah | Ben-Gurion Quote | Gonzo Gourmand | Frail As | Silver Lining | Storm Survivor | Bluebells

A WEAK FRONT will bring light rain showers across the region today. Building high pressure will increase northerly to northeasterly winds Tuesday through Thursday while temperatures trend much higher. (NWS)

STEPHEN DUNLAP (Fort Bragg): Mostly clear skies & another brisk 41F on the coast this Monday morning. A little breezy the next few days but dry skies are forecast this week. That was quite the wet weekend, no?

FATAL HIT & RUN NEAR PIERCY

On May 4, 2024, at approximately 2:45 am, Humboldt Communications Center (CHP Dispatch) received a 9-1-1 call of a pedestrian lying down in the lanes of northbound US 101, near Piercy, CA. The California Highway Patrol’s Garberville Area officers responded to the scene. Upon their arrival, officers located a pedestrian who had been struck by a vehicle. The pedestrian was pronounced deceased at the scene and the involved vehicle(s) did not stop or call 9-1-1 to report the incident.

The decedent, Dakota Stafslien, 28-years-old, resided in the Garberville/Redway area. The California Highway Patrol’s Garberville Area is investigating the incident. The investigators are requesting assistance from the public. If you know anything regarding the involved vehicle(s) or person(s) who may have been involved, we are asking you to contact the California Highway Patrol, Garberville Area, at (707) 932-6100 during normal business hours (Monday – Friday 8am – 5pm) or Humboldt Communications Center (707) 268-2000 outside of normal business hours.

AV UNIFIED NEWS

Dear AVUSD Community,

Please remember that Monday, May 6 the entire district phone system is being switched over to new hardware and software and we anticipate there will be some delays during the switch from AT&T. Your patience is appreciated.

Your best bet is to email the office staff for any issues:

Junior Senior High: cecheverria@avpanthers.org, mbentiez@avpanthers.org

Elementary School: kcortez@avpanthers.org, brhoades@avpanther.org

In an extreme emergency, contact my cell number at 707-684-1017.

Sincerely yours,

Louise Simson, Superintendent, AV Unified School District

ANONYMOUS TIP LEADS TO THE ARREST OF FIVE ON DRUG SALES CHARGES 

05/04/2024 

On May 2, 2024 at approximately 4:40 PM, a Fort Bragg Police Officer received an anonymous tip regarding possible drug sales at a local motel. Units responded to the area to follow up on the information provided and contacted five subjects inside of a motel room in the 1200 block of S Main St. 

Upon contacting all five subjects inside of the room, Officers immediately noticed narcotics and narcotic paraphernalia inside of the room. 

One of the subjects, Daniel Sanchez, 34 of Fort Bragg, was recognized as being on Post Release Community Supervision (PRCS) and having an active felony warrant. 

Officers conducted a protective sweep and located additional narcotics and narcotic sales paraphernalia inside. A search of the room revealed 41.83 grams of methamphetamine, packaging materials, two digital scales, a large amount of United States currency, narcotic paraphernalia, and a working two-way radio that had been programmed to operate on law enforcement channels. It was believed when officers knocked on the door, the subjects attempted to destroy evidence by throwing suspected methamphetamine on the floor in the bathroom. 

Sanchez was arrested and transported to County Jail for PRCS violation, Possession of Methamphetamine for Sales, Conspiracy to Commit a Crime, Utilizing a Police Scanner in the Commission of a Crime, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, Destroying Evidence, and the felony warrant. 

Stefani Smith, 32 of Fort Bragg, was arrested and transported to Mendocino County Jail for Possession of Methamphetamine for Sales, Conspiracy to Commit a Crime, Utilizing a Police Scanner in the Commission of a Crime, and Destroying Evidence. Smith, who originally provided a name belonging to another individual during the investigation, later provided her real name and it was determined she had two citable warrants issued for her arrest. She was also arrested for False Impersonation of Another, and two warrants. 

Brittany Smith, 28 of Fort Bragg, Kole Parker, 22 of Fort Bragg, and Johan Espinosa, 40 of Ukiah, were all arrested and transported to Mendocino County Jail for Possession of Methamphetamine for Sales, Conspiracy to Commit a Crime, and Utilizing a Police Scanner in the Commission of a Crime. 

It was learned Parker was released from jail approximately two-months ago for a previous possession of methamphetamine for sales case. 

A bail enhancement was obtained for $50,000 for each individual. 

Anyone with information on this incident is encouraged to contact Ofc Frank of the Fort Bragg Police Department at (707)961-2800 ext. 223. 

This information is being released by Chief Neil Cervenka. All media inquiries should contact him at ncervenka@fortbragg.com. 

TOM ALLMAN: So, on May 3rd, Boomers in Laytonville had its official closing party. Boomers has been part of the Northern Mendocino history for 6 decades. On Sunday, May 19th, you could own historic memorabilia as we will be auctioning off dozens of signs, stools and fun stuff. If you have ever been to Boomers, plan on being at the auction to hear stories, see old friends and maybe go home with some history.

COUNTY NOTES: SOME GOOD NEWS, MORE BAD NEWS

by Mark Scaramella

Fortunately, nobody took me up on my 100-1 odds against that next Tuesday’s Supervisors Agenda would include a report on “discoveries” — properties added to the tax rolls by the Assessor’s office going out and finding them. 

I would have lost because there is one, albeit brief and underwhelming.

Unfortunately, the numbers are too low to make much difference. 

County Clerk-Recorder-Assessor Katrina Bartolomie reports:

“Discoveries – So far, we have sent out 78 Discovery letters. 51 have been forwarded to the appraisers and assessed. The appraisers found that 30 of the 51 sent to them were already being assessed, so no action was taken on those. So far we have been able to add $2.8 million [in assessed value] to the [tax] roll. The discoveries have ranged in assessed value of $1,500 to $294,000. Our Appraiser Techs work on discoveries between projects. The Assessor’s office assesses many unpermitted structures throughout the entire County.”

Put another way, that’s 27 letters not yet assessed, and 21 new assessments representing about $2.8 million for properties ranging from $1,500 to $294,000 in value. We do not know what period of time Ms. Bartolomie is referring to as “so far,” but elsewhere in her report she refers to September of 2023, so that would be maybe two or three new or discovered assessments per month. Nor do we know what “many unpermitted structures” means. If the 21 new assessments add up to $2.8 million, that’s an average of about $130k per assessment. It also means that the properties being discovered are not among the more well-off property owners. And, if these are the proverbial “low-hanging fruit,” then the whatever is left unassessed is going to take longer. 

Using Supervisor Gjerde’s estimate that about 30% of property taxes collected go to the County, that’s 30% of the 1% tax rate on $2.8 million of assessed value, or about $8,400 worth of potential new taxes, if the property owner doesn’t dispute the assessed value and if the tax is collected. 

At this rate, Mendo’s not likely to close any budget gaps anytime soon. 

Ms. Bartolomie also reports that:

“On April 15 we mailed out Notice of Supplementals on 220 completed appraisals, with $18 million in assessed value. Since September 2023 we have completed 1801 appraisals for an assessed value of $228,759,806. These have been reported on a monthly basis since then.”

Using that same 30% Gjerde formula, the $18 million in Supplementals (presumably new structures or property sales transactions with new assessments), that’s 30% of 1% of $18 million of assessed value, or $54,000 in potential new taxes per year. Again, not much, not even coming close to covering the cost of the new appraisers in the Assessor’s office. 

As for the 1801 completed appraisals, that translates to an average assessed value of about $127k (which seems suspiciously low). 30% of 1% of about $229 million is about $700k in property tax revenue per year. 

What about Supervisor Haschak’s permit amnesty program that was supposed to add some new structures when people come in for permits on unpermitted structures because penalties were waived? Also underwhelming.

Ms. Bartolomie: “Amnesty Program - The appraisers have tracked 41 Amnesty Applications from Planning & Building. So far only 1 Hoophouse was not assessed; we knew about and are watching 4 parcels with new construction and 2 parcels with open transfers, the other structures being reported through the Amnesty Program were already being assessed. We are working with Planning & Building to receive a monthly report on the Amnesty Applications.”

Very weak tea.

Considering that the General Fund where most of the property tax revenue goes is about $85 million, that $700k of assessed value is less than 1% of the County’s total discretionary revenue — i.e., mainly the revenue from property taxes, sales taxes, bed taxes and miscellaneous fees. 

According to the County’s latest budget, property taxes were expected to bring in around $43 million to the General Fund. So these new assessments don’t add up to much.

It’s a step forward to finally have this report of a few “discoveries.” And it’s a step forward to have a little potential new revenue in the system for possible collection. But the corresponding potential revenues to be gained from all this are so small that it is not likely that Hans Brinker’s little assessment fingers will keep the dam from breaking.

* * *

Remember that complaint from a Coast resident a month or so ago about the Skunk Train’s new visitor serving facility not being on the tax rolls?

Ms. Bartolomie explains:

“Mendocino Railway. The State assesses all rail property whether the property is publicly or privately owned. The State is assessing the Mendocino Railway properties, including the barn structure (also known as the Glen Blair Bar) that was mentioned a few weeks ago. The State Appraiser will be in our area sometime towards the end of May, we will be meeting with them at that time.”

For reference, the original complaint was from Coast Resident Peter McNamee who said that the Skunk Train had built a large new visitor serving facility near his home outside Fort Bragg apparently without a permit and therefore it has not been assessed or taxed. Supervisor Williams replied that if they built such a facility they would have had to have gone through planning and building and environmental health and therefore it must be on the tax rolls. 

* * *

BODY CAMS FOR MENDO CORRECTIONS OFFICERS

Consent Calendar Item 3y on next Tuesday’s agenda: 

“Approval of Agreement with Axon Enterprise, Inc. in the Amount of $413,178.30 Covering a Three-Year Period to Provide Body-Worn Cameras, Related Equipment, and Licensing for Sheriff’s Office Corrections Division Staff. Effective July 1, 2024, through June 30, 2027 

source of funding: 2510-862230 (Sheriff’s Budget Unit)

“Budget Clarification: Annual contract costs will be included in the 2510 budget submissions for each fiscal year through FY26/27. Annual costs are $137,726.11 in FY24/25 and FY25/26 and $137,726.08 in FY26/27.”

* * *

COUNTY MANAGEMENT UNION TO GET 1% PAY RAISE.

“Effective the first full pay period following ratification and Board of Supervisors approval, all bargaining unit employees shall receive a 1% COLA.”

IS CALIFORNIA UNLIVABLE?

Editor,

Home insurance in CA has finally become a disaster. Reading that article confirmed why we left the state in 2021. In 2007 we built our “forever home” on 172 acres in the hills on the east side of Ukiah. We were 1.5 miles behind a locked gate on a private road. We were required by Calfire to improve the road before our house could be finaled. Our contractor imported roughly 3000 tons of compacted gravel and built turnouts every 400 feet. Luckily we shared this cost with a neighbor who lived farther up the mountain.

Around 2018 we started to hear about people getting dropped by their insurance companies. I personally know a fellow up Vichy Springs road in the bottom of the canyon who received a non-renewal letter from Grange insurance. This was our wake up call. As our house was in a much more fire danger area, we figured our letter would be coming soon.

Since moving in in 2008, I spent much of my time limbing up oak trees and clearing brush in a 30 yard perimeter. Every late spring I would spend about 3 days weedeating and removing fuel around our house.

As I was approaching retirement, it was becoming clear that we would never be able to live in California. Our $8000/year property taxes was just one reason. If/when our insurance was cancelled would be the other. Luckily the buyer for our property was able to secure insurance and the sale went through.

We now live in north east Arizona where the overall cost of living is more beneficial.

One more thing: I know a fellow who has a property similar to the one we built and sold. Custom home on hilly acreage. His insurance went from $10K/year to $16K last year. Is it any wonder California is losing its tax paying base?

Casey Hartlip

Arizona

(Eat Your Heart Out, Visit Mendocino)

MENDOCINO

by William J. Hughes

Mendocino and a dose of scenic/sensational Highway I were not on my agenda. Boonville was, and maybe a stay at their hotel or straight/curving out to the coast for one night above the Nordic ocean. 

Highway 128 into, up to Boonville through wine country/continent, all the bigger shots, too expensive, opulent, just lookin' at all of them, Napa's and Sonoma's wine trains and the Castle of the Culinary Institute of America. Had an impossible to describe meal at the New York Hyde Park CIA above the Colonial Hudson River. 

But enough boasting, the wineries shrinking in number and opulence, almost always there though, wines slanting up to atop the neon green hills, strip mining of the land, all too comfort green to complain, the twisted valley oaks like Merlin composed, the new vines rough, looking like, if you'll excuse, “crucified thieves” to steal a Warren Zevon line, poppies poppin' Creamsickle orange, quiet California, some sheep, god’s Redwoods, rain, rain upon forest, moss hangin' like Quixote's goatee, the road twisting and turning, me behaving as the locals and the deliverers speed by, coming into Boonville, exactly as I remember it, compact and casual comfortable, no bull, a former trip up to thank the editors of the Anderson Valley Advertiser who publish my work. Get a rental. Get out of homeless helpless Sacramento. 

The AVA has moved, still a house, a home, a residence just off the town's American main street, the AVA HQ and office. 

Good thanks and good talk, appreciative of my work as I am of their commitment to their work. Before the sun sets, out to the coast with the sun in my face, but first, turn left for Point Arena or head straight with curving out to the coast at Little River? 

Left turn for Point Arena for just the name attracts. Should have and shouldn't have, narrow, roller coaster, lonely, 30 miles of the forest primed and spiritual, no wine, Redwoods towering, encompassing, green forested valleys, rugged, tiring, now ocean layers of fog and the coast is near. Point Arena 4 miles to the left. The left it is, Point Arena about the size of an arena, a hotel and liquor store combo with some shady characters on the sidewalk. Nice motel Willow or Pelican something for $165 and breakfast served. Too much, and still not on the coast. 

Sun going, gray sky, need a motel, now willing to go up, the scenic Highway 1 undulating, curving, Point Arena Lighthouse 2 miles in, but night comes on, stopping at some really swanky places with SPA attached leaves me out in the dark, the big tough ocean washing up, white waves against the green cliffs, passing Mendocino, heading to more ordinary Fort Bragg with a nothing to brag about Super 8 and McDonald's dinner. 

Breakfast at McDonald’s, come on now, don't be complete with café-Mendocino just down the road. So, of course. 

I'm in love with Mendocino because of James Dean and East of Eden here, now though, rather slowly, easily I'm in love with it as itself and yet I see James Dean and Jo Van Fleet on its still then streets, turn of the Century and yet elite, tales of elite, reputation of elite, but not as I drive a few streets, the wooden white church steeple, all the worn wooden, the Cape Cod gray wooden water towers all lend to a suspended in a time of Jack London and deep sea fishing fleets, local chic galleries for sure with serious trinkets of all types with a real morning café, I can't remember the name of because it's packed with obvious home grown and international visitors. I'd seen something on Main Street next to their wild western hotel, wooden et al. 

Sure enough, above a closed shop below in this wooden building, FLOW Cafe/restaurant up two flights of almost shipboard planks and Viola! Holy bacon and eggs! Empty but for one other couple, mom and pop shop, clean, normal, windows all around, two flights up view of the vast Pacific and parts enough of the simple city. Eureka! I have found it! The best breakfast I've ever, with a young server looking like Liz Taylor meets Cher. She tells me FLOW means Food Local Organic Wholesome and she knows of Dean being here. A reward for my yes to Mendocino. 

More reward at the very local grocery store, a fella in line right out of Woodstock, Godspell meets Gypsy meets Mayan meets Mendocino, a carnival-clad gadfly of a guy maybe old enough to have been here when Dean and Co. were. I've been looking around for such a soul. He's kind of insulted that I'd place his age there but he puts me on to the Little River Inn where Dean and Julie Harris stayed during East of Eden. I'd passed it by, big and white and rambling up on its overlook. $300 a night. Right on by. 

The hotel here in town in 1878, movie saloon and gilded age interior. Could see Teddy Roosevelt checking in. Off to the Little River Inn. 

Big and white, lengthy, could be Vancouver or any resort above any New England lake, or one of the greater lakes. Sweet young ladies at the short front desk. Sure enough, even they know that Dean and Harris stayed here. I could tell you of my James Dean connection but it would take up too much ink to do so.

So, all in all, when you hit the road, an unknown plan unfolds. The unexpected can be, should be expected. 

OLIVIA ALLEN: Ahhhhhhh, it sure is bittersweet! I love the AVA despite all its quirks, Mark and Bruce are such gems. I first became acquainted with Bruce after he wrote a little editorial cheering Jack and I on for streaking in 2009, and it forged an enduring friendship. The AVA will forever be a cornerstone of our small-town uniqueness, and it will be sorely missed! I actually didn't know Renee Lee was the one putting it together the last decade. That's amazing; thank you Renee!

HAIKU FOR AVA

The Advertiser

Extinct like a Dinosaur

The Trees are Laughing

— Steve Derwinski

USAL, JEFF BURROUGHS REMEMBERS:

I almost died at Usal. I was just 7 years of age but I was considered by many to be the best tree climber in Boonville. Therefore I felt it my obligation, my duty, to reinforce the belief that I was indeed the very best tree climber. It just so happened that such an opportunity presented itself on a bright July afternoon while camping with the family at the old mill site at Wolf Creek. For anyone who has been to Usal, you know the place I'm talking about. The place is a mass of old jagged metal and weathered concrete, an absolute kid's paradise for adventure. I'm not sure what words were spoken exactly but the implications were quite obvious to a 7 year old boy. A challenge was made by one of the other kids from a nearby campsite and a tall tree was selected. With the point of a finger from the biggest kid in the group I stepped up, chin held high I made my way to the base of the huge tree. A spit in both hands, and I was off to the races. About a quarter of the way up one of the branches I was standing on snapped, I didnt even flinch. I was really moving now, higher and higher I climbed, reaching way out and grabbing branches like a monkey. I came to hush all doubters. It was somewhere in that moment of arrogance I let my concentration stray and I missed the next branch, then another and another. The next thing I knew I was in free fall, unable to regain control.

I woke up the next day in the Fort Bragg hospital. Apparently I had fallen all the way to the ground and landed just inches from one if the concrete slabs. My poor parents had to drive that 1 hour long, Usal dirt road with their son draped over his mother's lap, bloody and unresponsive. Needless to say I recovered but I never climbed another tree until I was a teenager. I fell out of that tree too, but that's a story for another day.

TWO PACIFIC ENTERPRISES?

Dear Katy Tahja,

Re: ‘Shipwrecks on the Mendocino Coast,’ (AVA, April 3, 2024) ninth paragraph. The British ship Pacific Enterprise: Were there two ships that wrecked that carried the name ‘Pacific Enterprise’? 

I know only of the British freighter ‘Pacific Enterprise’ that sunk off Point Arena Lighthouse in 1949. Father was stationed at the Point Arena Lifeboat Station-Point Arena Cove and was assigned to bring the crew and captain ashore.

Could there have been two Pacific Enterprises? Your article gave the year as 1927.

Best regards,

Carol Eastwood

Point Arena

SIERRA NEVADA WORLD MUSIC FESTIVAL

A Summer Solstice & Peace Celebration

Epiphany Artists is pleased to welcome these highly anticipated acts to SNWMF 2024! 

Ranking Joe

Eli-Mac

The Aggrolites

Boostive

Bayonics

Kingston A Go-Go

Dub siren hi-fi ft. Mello Banton

Out Of Many One Nyabinghi

Danny Cuervo 

What makes SNWMF so special? This festival spreads the positive messages of peace, love and music. It has a vibe unlike any other! Join us! Three days of the best Reggae and World Music, with camping, arts, crafts and food and a beautiful family-friendly atmosphere! FREE ADMISSION for Kids 12 and under! Fun and activities for the whole family!

June 21-23, 2024 in Boonville, CA at the beautiful Mendocino County Fairgrounds.

CATCH OF THE DAY, Sunday, May 5, 2024

MARKUS BRATCHER, Carnesville, Georgia/Ukiah. Domestic abuse, false imprisonment, violation of domestic violence court order.

SHANNAH GRIFFITH, Ukiah. Failure to appear, resisting.

ADRIAN MANRIQUEZ, Ukiah. Selling and/or converting to a machine gun.

SHAREEN MARRUFO, Covelo. Controlled substance, failure to appear.

OSCAR MARTINEZ, Covelo. Paraphernalia, failure to appear, probation revocation.

RONALD VALDOVINOS JR., Bakersfield/Ukiah. Failure to appear.

TOBACCO TAKES SERIES AGAINST ME, 2-0

by Tommy Wayne Kramer

In a lifetime filled with exciting adventures and thrilling escapades, only two have involved nicotine.

Both these tobacco-related encounters were also thrilling and exciting, but with an added component of nauseating. And most memorably by my first experience. 

Sixty two years ago my older brother, at that point in his career employed as batboy for the Cleveland Indians, came home from work late one afternoon with half a pouch of Beechnut chewing tobacco, just like the big leaguers use. 

You betcha I tried it, eagerly! And I enjoyed every single second of that experience, which lasted about 10. (Seconds.) 

The long version is that I wound up swallowing a pint or so of saliva-infused tobacco juice most of which I deposited in, or at least near, the bathroom toilet. Short version: Hella sick the rest of that afternoon and well beyond the dinner hour, which I happily skipped. The euphemism “hella sick” does little to describe my robust, nonstop vomiting, and for a surprisingly long time. 

My stomach turned upside-down and popped out my ears. I was throwing up from my toenails to my teeth, and went from weeping to praying to promising never to swallow raw tobacco forever and ever. (And, honestly, it was a promise that was easy to keep. In fact I’ve wondered about people who say it’s so verry harrrd to stop smoking; I think it’s the easiest thing I’ve ever done.) 

But that was six decades ago, and my fat plug of chewing tobacco gave me a lifetime vaccine against nicotine. I’m immune to tobacco’s seductive advertising and I’m comfy in smoke-filled bars. Most of my roommates, many of my girlfriends and all of my wives have been smokers, and so what? Some wore plaid underwear, and who cares? 

And yet I wonder. Why are so many people determined to smoke cigarettes despite the health warnings, the ever-increasing price of a pack, and the public shunning of all who inhale dried vegetable fumes? What’s so great about nicotine? 

My sister says if the world was scheduled to end in a week the first thing she’d do is buy a carton of cigarettes. A friend who lives in Mendocino has tried every drug (and it’s a long long list) known to earthlings says her favorite, by far, is tobacco. 

So nicotine seems intriguing and mysterious. Have you heard about the hottest craze since Cap’n Crunch cereal? It’s ZYN, a new, sneaky nicotine delivery system hoping to cash in before Democrats A) outlaw it, then B) find out what it is. Chuck Schumer has already promised to make it illegal but still tax it; A.O.C. and Tucker Carlson are enthusiastic ZYNsters. 

ZYN arrives from Sweden in white plastic Skoal-like containers in flavors like peppermint, cocoa bubblegum and lots of others that appeal to kids. I’m waiting for new tastes like applesauce, whirled peas and strained banana to be released and labeled with the Gerber Seal of Approval. 

Mindful of my earlier tobacco pukefest I decided to tip a timid toe into the world of ZYN. I bought a disc of the stuff at a gas station (where else?) choosing what I hoped would be a tolerable wintergreen with subtle notes of oak, vanilla and fentanyl. And I picked the mildest dosage, 3 mg, which is FDA-recommended for toddlers through preschool. 

Each teeny pillow-like pellet gets inserted betwixt upper gum and lip, to remain in place one hour. I stuck the little white wad in place, checked the time (1:46 p.m.). And Awaay We Go! 

And that, truly, was about as far as we got. A few minutes later, feeling vaguely sickish and a tad nauseous, I spit the warm, saliva-soaked pellet into my hand and tossed it. I checked a wrist, home to my Timex, and saw I’d gone four minutes before succumbing to my nicotinie-wienie hypochondria. 

Four measly minutes. What a loser. It was my paranoia from an experience back when JFK was President that had me rattled. 

I had half-expected to be writing about my heart wildly tap dancing on my ribs, hallucinations looking forward to 28 days in rehab. But it just wasn’t so. My earlier encounter with Big Tobacco sapped my will, drained my courage and made me sad myself “Why the hell am I doing this, anyway?” 

It was mildly inconvenient. Reporting much beyond that might get Tucker Carlson and A.O.C. mad at me. 

I’ve got an extra 29 pellets and may dip into a few, one at a time, to see what happens. If you hear nothing more it means ZYN killed me. Tell Chuck Schumer. 

Dog, wife and me drove over to the Atlantic coast to spend a few days walking the beaches, eating boiled seagull sandwiches and worrying ourselves sick over the fate of the Palace Hotel. TWK got car sick once about 60 years ago and begged to stay home.

LEE EDMUNDSON:

Hello? Did I hear my name being called? OK.

Differences between the Viet Nam and Israel/Hamas wars… Where to begin?

From the other side, both are wars for liberation and independence. The Vietnamese war for liberation — the first one — began in the 19th century after France colonized Indochina. This was went through several incarnations, first against the French, then against the occupying Japanese during WWII, then again against France after it reestablished themselves after the defeat of the Japanese. Then, after the Viet Minh (the Vietnamese freedom fighters) defeated the French militarily at Dien Bien Phu, the Geneva Accords of 1954 partitioned Viet Nam into two sectors: Viet Minh sympathizers were to go to the north, French sympathizers were to go to the south. There was to be a referendum held in 1956 to reunify the country.

I should note that in the war for liberation against the French after WWII the United States was underwriting 80% of France’s war effort. In the days before Dien Bien Phu fell, certain American war-mongers were urging (then) President Eisenhower to drop nukes in order to save the French garrison there. Eisenhower demurred. Whew!

The reunification elections scheduled for 1956 were never held, sabotaged by the United States, which installed a Catholic figurehead — Diem — as South Viet Nam’s President. The US sent military “advisors” to help train South Vietnamese troops. President Kennedy — having inherited this slow-moving fiasco from Eisenhower — met with General Douglas MacArthur, who advised him to “avoid a major land war in Asia.” The lesson took, and Kennedy, about a month before his assassination, ordered a reduction of military advisors by 1000. The big idea on Kennedy’s part, was that after his re-election in 1964, he would withdraw all American military forces from Viet Nam. Alas.

Instead, Lyndon Johnson was elected President in 1964, running on a platform of No Wider War in Viet Nam. He notably said during his campaign that, “I’m not sending American boys 10,000 miles from home to fight in a war the Vietnamese should be fighting themselves.” Then, he almost immediately began the war’s escalation, much to the chagrin (and outrage) of many (most?) of the American people.

The anti Viet Nam War movement centered around bringing American troops home. Ending the American part of the war. There was a highly unpopular military draft which conscripted civilians boys and young men into the military, many of whom being sent to Virt Nam as “cannon fodder.” Many (most?) folks saw this as an outrage. Many considered the carpet bombing occurring there as an abomination. Many (most?) viewed to execution of the war as an insult and effrontery to humanity, if not (as many did) a crime against humanity. We protested to end the war and bring the boys home. We were labeled Anti-American, Communist.

President Johnson fell because of his knuckle-headed pursuit of the war. In March of 1968, when he said on national television that he, “Would not seek, and will not accept the nomination of my party for another term as your President.” we all cheered after breathing a rejoicing sigh of relief.

At the subsequent Democratic National Convention in August 1968, we no longer had much faith in Democratic politics. Martin Luther King had been assassinated in April, Bobby Kennedy assassinated in June. The good-ole-boys of the Democratic Party backed Hubert Humphrey — Johnson’s Vice-President — in a closed convention. Chaos ensued. I mean, real, genuine and dangerous chaos.

Richard Nixon ran and was elected on a platform to end the war in Viet Nam. Boy, did he ever! He escalated the bombing and managed to prolong the war for another seven (7) years. It was only after the American Congress voted to cut off all funding for the war that it was brought to an end. Did we protesters play a role in that? Yes, though not a definitive one.

As for Gaza… totally different beast. The history is similar though not the same. After WWII, the western powers — chiefly the United States and Great Britain — backed the creation of a Jewish State in Palestine. This had been called for by European and American Zionists since the 19th Century and the institutional guilt resulting from the Holocaust led to the creation of the Jewish state of Israel. It should be noted that Jews and Palestinians had for centuries lived in peace in a relatively prosperous Palestine. Sure, occasional conflicts occurred between them, but nothing organized, planned. Until 1948.

In 1948, organized Jewish militias — ones that had been terrorizing the British troops there (Britain had a “mandate” from the first World War to govern Palestine) began terrorizing their Palestinian neighbors. All this in anticipation of the creation of a Jewish State: Israel. The Grand Mufti — supreme leader/spokesperson for the Palestinian Arab Muslims — called upon Palestinians to flee, to vacate their homes and lands to avoid being killed by the Jewish militias. Palestinians were killed, towns and villages razed. The Palestinians fled for their lives. This period is known by Palestinians as the Nakbah — the catastrophe.

Israel was created by the United Nations as a Jewish State. At the same time, the United Nations called for the creation of a Palestinian State, which — for reasons begging understanding — never happened.

Surrounding Arab states — Egypt, Jordan et alia — attacked Israel. Israel won. 1948, 1967, the 1970s. Israel’s existence was assured. Maybe.

But what about the Palestinian state?

Some of the chronology here gets lost in the “foggy ruins of time” — Bob Dylan, but there were the Camp David Accords, the Oslo Accords…other accords, that tried to undo the Gordian Knot of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. To little or no avail.

The Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) morphed into the Palestinian Authority, which governed both the West Bank and Gaza. In 2005 elections were held in the Gaza strip, and Hamas defeated the Palestinian Authority. The Prime Minister of Israel, Bibi Netanyahu, made a tactical decision to back Hamas, knowing that Hamas would never agree to a two-state solution. Bibi supported the transfer of monies from Qatar to Hamas. And so it went for almost 20 years. Then a segment of Hamas attacked Israelis on October 7, 2023. Mayhem and brutal behavior. Disgusting. Atrocious.

Israel dropped their hammer on Gaza. Over 34,000 dead — overwhelmingly women and children. 50 to 70% of all structures — homes, hospitals, universities, schools, infrastructure, farms, orchards…the list goes on and on — destroyed.

Most of this devastation accomplished with American made, American supplied weaponry.

And there is no end in sight.

So, what are the similarities and differences between the anti Viet Nam War protesters and the anti Hamas/Israeli War protesters? 

To begin with, American protesters have no skin in the Hamas/Israeli war. It ain’t our boys killing and dying over there. Anti Viet Nam protesters knew friends and/or family who were over there, wounded and died there. Not so in Gaza. Hence, the intensity of the protests is much more low key.

Protesters today are more compliant. Almost docile as a consequence. The Gaza war is more abstract for them.

The time frame is different. In Viet Nam, we had decades of this war to deal with. In Gaza, it’s been only months. The true effects of the Gaza war long-term have yet to be seen.

The outrages of the Viet Nam war went on for decades. One might argue that the Israeli/Palestinian war has similarly been going on for decades, but that is not this present conflict.

Whereas the Viet Nam war conflated being Anti-American with Communist, the Gazan war has brought to fore a much more pernicious conflation: Anti-Semitic conflated with Anti-War with Anti-Zionist with Anti-Netanyahu. This is dangerous, very dangerous. One can oppose the Gaza War and the Likud government and the Greater Israel movement without being Anti-Semitic. Yet these differences/distinctions are conflated in the press.

The phrase, “From the River to the Sea” is attributed to the notion that Arab extremists want to eradicate Israel from the face of the earth. Yet the same phrase, “From the River to the Sea” also expresses the aims of the Greater Israel movement: to eradicate Palestinians from Palestine.

One can oppose this war without being anti-semitic. In fact, most people opposing it are not anti-semitic. Just anti-war.

Likud and Netanyahu are opposed to any semblance of a two-state solution. So… where does it go from here?

Starvation and famine as an operation of war. Wanton massacre of civilians. Devastation of infrastructure. What does the “Day After” look like?

OK, can I go now? My brain is full.

ISRAELI MILITARY WARNS MORE THAN 100,000 PEOPLE IN RAFAH TO EVACUATE

Here’s what we know:

Israel wants to “move people out of harm’s way,” a military official said, a sign that it may be inching closer to invading the Gazan city in defiance of international pressure.

• The Israeli military tells civilians in eastern Rafah to leave the city.
• Netanyahu asserts Israel’s right to fight its enemies in a defiant speech.
• Cease-fire talks are again said to be at an impasse.
• Media experts condemn Israel’s move against Al Jazeera.

The Israeli military on Monday said it was asking about 110,000 Gazans sheltering in eastern Rafah to temporarily evacuate to what it described as a humanitarian zone, a sign that Israel was inching closer to invading the city in defiance of international pressure.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel on Sunday rejected international pressure to rein in its military campaign in Gaza and, speaking at a Holocaust memorial, asserted Israel’s right to fight its “genocidal enemies.”

Nearly seven months into the war, Mr. Netanyahu has been steadfast in his goal of destroying Hamas. This, and Mr. Netanyahu’s insistence on sending troops into Rafah, the southernmost city in the Gaza Strip, has complicated efforts to end the fighting and raised concerns about the future of the hostages held by Hamas.

The latest round of negotiations between Israel and Hamas hit an impasse on Sunday as mediators struggled to bridge remaining gaps and a Hamas delegation departed the talks in Cairo, according to two senior Hamas officials and two other officials familiar with the talks. An Israeli official also confirmed the negotiations had stalled and described them as being in “crisis.”

For months, the negotiations aimed at achieving a cease-fire and a release of hostages have made little progress, but signs the two sides were coming closer to an agreement appeared over the last week. Israel backed off some of its long-held demands and a top Hamas official said the group was studying the latest Israeli offer with a “positive spirit.”

The Israeli government’s decision to shut down Al Jazeera’s operations in that country and block its reports there was condemned by American media and free speech experts as a troubling precedent and further evidence that Israel was engaging in a harsh wartime crackdown on democratic freedoms.

The experts noted that it was rare for a democratic government like Israel’s to close down a foreign news outlet. The government described its move as a national security necessity.

(nytimes.com)

ASSASSINATION QUOTE FALSELY ATTRIBUTED TO EX-ISRAELI PM

by David Williams

It is being claimed that Israel’s first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, said terror and assassination must be used to steal the land of the Arab population in the country.

The claim is false. The quote is not recorded in a biography of Ben-Gurion as claimed, and experts on Jewish history say it is not consistent with his ideas and actions.…

aap.com.au/factcheck/assassination-quote-falsely-attributed-to-ex-israeli-pm

GLOBAL GONZO GOURMAND

Review by Erik S. McMahon

Executive chef Anthony Bourdain — as the many who relished Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly already know — is half-crazed, food-obsessed, frequently drug-addled, and very funny.

His earlier memoir was a riotous dissection of the restaurant trade, and an unexpected hit. To hear the street-smart, wise-ass author tell it, he'd managed to “put down a very nice score with an obnoxious and over-testosteroned account of my life,” toiling behind multiple burners (always turned up high). 

After Confidential started to sell, Bourdain was obliged to spend several months “traveling the English-speaking world, flogging my book, giving the same witless three-minute interview over and over and over again.” As a result, he was “no longer a useful factor in the day-to-day operations of my kitchen” — Manhattan's upscale brasserie, Les Halles. 

Next question for the newly-famed chef and his editor became what to do as an encore.

Bourdain ventured a proposal: “I travel around the world, doing whatever I want. I stay in fine hotels and I stay in hovels. I eat scary, exotic, wonderful food, doing cool stuff like I've seen in movies, and looking for the perfect meal. How's that sound?” 

Remarkably, it sounded pretty good. This surprised Bourdain most of all. Much later, reclining on a North African sand-dune, while Berber tribesmen orchestrated a Sahara-style whole roast lamb, he wondered “how a miserable, manic-depressive, overage, undeserving hustler like myself — a utility chef from New York City with no particular distinction to be found in his long and egregiously checkered career,” could find himself “living the dream.” 

Truth be told, especially for a gonzo gourmand like Bourdain, it represented an ideal gig. Substitute Anthony for Hunter S. Thompson, and food for drugs, to get the idea. There was, of course, a catch.

Cooking shows have swelled quicker than soufflés on cable television. Tony's publisher thought it a masterful marketing ploy to have the celebrity chef's global pilgrimage recorded by, and broadcast on, the Food Network.

Bourdain reluctantly assented, but the artificiality created by the relentless lenses left him “deeply conflicted — even ashamed.” Always his own most frequent target, he equates himself with porn actors: “There is no halfway. You don’t, it turns out, sell out a little bit. Maybe you thought you were just going to show a little ankle — okay, maybe a little calf, too — but in the end, you're taking on the whole front line of the Pittsburgh Steelers on a dirty shag carpet.”

Could be he overstates the sacrifice, intrusion, and compromise. Though some episodes are necessarily partially-staged and Bourdain inserts refrains titled “Why You Don't Want to Be on Television” — our man still gets a global meal-ticket, stopovers on which include high living and delectable dining with berserk Basques, renegade Russians, and venerable Vietnamese. 

An aspect of A Cook's Tour that stands out is its elemental connection to the source. Bourdain evocatively describes the (for him grotesque; for the participants routine) slaughter of farm animals, then raves about the freshness of their meat. He relates a method used for paralyzing live fish in a Tokyo market, integral to the preparation of his “perfect” sushi feast.

If there is an epiphany for this battle-scarred, oven-seared veteran, it surrounds the preparatory tactics and terrors leading up to delivery of “ingredients.” Even a jaded, Big Apple boulevardier can be astounded by the casual approach to brutality and execution among his far-flung, less-well-heeled colleagues and contemporaries .

Bourdain's books are by no means aimed only at those referred to, in Northern California, as “foodies.” The chapter '”How to Drink Vodka,” for example, set in St. Petersburg, features a birch-branch flogging courtesy of a robust Russian sauna hostess, followed up with immersion in an icy lake: ”a punch to the chest from God's fist.” 

There generally is a good deal of spirit consumption, before or after such punishment; no shortage of ensuing hangovers and self-loathing, as well.

In light of video-cams and set-ups, A Cook's Tour, issued so soon after Kitchen Confidential, risked looking like knockoff exploitation. Thankfully, it's the opposite. Confidential held one willing prisoner behind domestic swinging doors. Tour provides opened-up, overseas room for a wild, bombastic sensibility, two courses or three past inquisitive and unflappable.

The journey, whether touching down in the Mekong Delta, Napa Valley, or Moroccan desert, broadens Bourdain's focus and distinguishes him — sneakily, incidentally — as a travel writer. Lacerating, inward-directed diatribes suggest we needn't worry about his getting a swelled head.

What's that? The food? You'll be served plenty of it, from kefta to pata negra to ba la lop to tête de veau. Some menu items you'll no doubt wish had been left undescribed.

One thing about Bourdain, and readers will find this either tantalizing or repugnant, is that he's not likely to turn out yet another paean to Provence or testimonial to Tuscany. Those have been done.

If your hankerings tilt toward obscure, never-before-sampled organs, adrenaline-infused undertakings to get at them, and dependably-clumsy, ultimately-successful attempts to mingle with the locals, then take a trip with Tony. 

I can't quite bring myself to say “Bon Appetit.” 

I can promise, however, at least one déjà vu, as the quintessential New York attitude of Bourdain struggles with smoking restrictions in San Francisco, and regional pretentiousness at Thomas Keller's French Laundry in Yountville.

Even well out of water in wine country, though, Tony’s deeply-buried sunny nature surfaces, and he finds reason to admire Keller’s shunning of “I, me, and my,” his opting instead for terms such as “respect, hope, institution, future.” These “big words and concepts,” Bourdain concludes, can help part the clouds of grease, offering a view beyond “the next busy Saturday night.” 

(A Cook's Tour: In Search of the Perfect Meal, by Anthony Bourdain. Bloomsbury; 278 pp.; $25.95)

My wife is gone, my girl is gone, 

my books are loaned, my clothes 

are worn, I gave away a car; and 

all that happened years ago. 

Mind & matter, love & space 

are frail as foam on beer.

— Gary Snyder

“AND ONCE the storm is over, you won’t remember how you made it through, how you managed to survive. You won’t even be sure, whether the storm is really over. But one thing is certain. When you come out of the storm, you won’t be the same person who walked in. That’s what this storm’s all about.”

― Haruki Murakami, Kafka on the Shore