Mendocino County Today: Monday 5/13/24

Partly Sunny | Motorboat | Boontling Classic | Hopland Market | Hand Shot | Little Library | Mulheren Snippets | Zonko | Weed Era | Ed Notes | Red Rose | Sheridan's Voice | Redwood Highway | Cuffey's Cove | AV Grange | Yesterday's Catch | Liminal Spaces | Gas Prices | We're Wonderful | Plumbers | Electricity Costs | Stork | Tax Measure | Brownies Ready | Glomar Explorer | Nice Feeling | Familiar Villians | Sun Dance | Despised Yankees | Nancy Green | Crazy Arms | Evil Tycoon | Gaza Update | Thumbs Up | Rafah Disaster | Best Wishes

AFTER THE PASSAGE of a trough, temperatures will begin trending higher today and then through late in the week as a strong ridge of high pressure builds back in. Temperatures along the coast will continue to be suppressed by persistent stratus through today. Strengthening northerly winds will create breezy conditions this week. (NWS)

STEPHEN DUNLAP (Fort Bragg): A foggy 50F on the coast this Monday morning. We are forecast for some clearing today, we'll see. The fog remains just along the coast so I am hopeful. This fog - sun pattern can be expected until further notice.

39TH ANNUAL BOONTLING CLASSIC

The 39th Annual Boontling Classic 5K Footrace took place on Sunday, May 5, at the Anderson Valley Elementary School on a beautiful spring morning. Leading the incredible turnout of 167 runners and walkers — one of the largest Boontling Classics in the history of the event — was Harrison Frankl of Santa Rosa, with the fastest overall time of 16:47. Peggy Prendergast of San Carlos led the woman with a time of 23:23. First place ribbons were awarded to the following runners in each of their respective age divisions: Kaimana Ibrahim, Pele Esserman-Melville, Adolfo Vazquez, Harrison Frankl, Kenny Smith, Nathan Hill, Bernie Norvell, Tom Shaver, Rodger Schwartz, Ad Dawood, Ailyn Velasco, Leela Nasser-Gammet, Delancy Kidd, Shannon Foley, Sara Hill, Katy Zaugg, Peggy Prendergast, Rebecca McLean, and Gail Leland.

After the run, participants enjoyed the post-race drawing with prizes generously donated by local businesses. Special thanks to the following sponsors: Bee Hunter Wine, Anderson Valley Brewing Company, The Apple Farm, The Boonville Hotel, Paysanne Ice-Cream Parlor, Offspring Pizza, Navarro Store, Maggy Hawk Winery, Farmhouse Mercantile, Navarro Vineyards, Wickson Restaurant, Jan Wax & Chris Bing, Pennyroyal Farm, The Bohemian Chemist, Sun & Cricket, Lemon's Market, John Hanes Fine Art Gallery, Handley Cellars, Witching Stick Wines, Gowan's Heirloom Cider, Boonville General Store, Long Meadow Ranch, Disco Ranch, Brashley Vineyards, Filigreen Farm, Foursight Wines, Breggo Cellars, Lula Cellars, The Boonville Distillery, Philo Ridge Wines, Toulouse Vineyards, Meyer Family Cellars, Yorkville Cellars, Panthea Winery, Husch Vineyards, Mosswood Market, Anderson Valley Market, The Redwood Drive-in, Rossi's Hardware, Boontberry Farm, The Rock Stop, The Pot Shop, Scharffenberger Cellars, Domain Anderson, Roederer Estate, Twomey Wines, Lichen Estate, and Greenwood Ridge Vineyards. The AV Skatepark Project from the Anderson Valley High School printed the awesome t-shirts, and the paletas were supplied by Paleteria Corazón Purépecha in Ukiah!

Thank you to everyone who volunteered their Sunday morning to help make the race a success, especially Brenda Smith, Tatiana Bertsch, and Oscar Bautista. Special thanks goes to Flick and Jan for continuing to help make this race such a great community event.

This race was sponsored by North Coast Striders and we are grateful for additional resources and support provided by the Anderson Valley Lion's Club, Principal Thomas-Swett and the Anderson Valley Elementary School, and the Anderson Valley Historical Society.

See you at the Race next year!

2 ARRESTED IN MENDOCINO COUNTY ON SUSPICION OF ATTEMPTED MURDER, ROBBERY

Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office found the suspects at a home in Willits, some 45 miles south of where investigators believe the pair broke into a home with intent to steal from the owners.

by Paulina Pineda

Deputies with the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office arrested a man and a woman suspected of attempted murder and robbery early Saturday in connection with a reported break-in in Leggett the prior night.

Amanda Dee Chapman, 42, of Ukiah, and Gregory Mark Cox, 59, of Vallejo were booked into the Mendocino County Jail on various charges after a short vehicle pursuit and foot chase in the area of Willits.

The pair are believed to be connected to an incident that occurred late Friday in Leggett, about 45 miles north of Willits, the Sheriff’s Office said in a news release Sunday.

Deputies responded to a report of a man with a gunshot wound to his hand around 10 p.m. Friday in the 51400 block of North Highway 101.

Deputies learned the victim and his girlfriend came home to find Chapman and Cox, who investigators believe went to the home with the intent to steal from the residents.

An argument ensued and Chapman pulled a gun on the victim, authorities said.

The two then wrestled for the gun and it went off, the bullet hit the victim in the hand, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

The victim was able to take the gun away from Chapman, who then fled with Cox, officials added.

The victim and his girlfriend reportedly barricaded themselves indoors unsure if the pair remained on the property and called for help.

The couple told investigators they saw a dark-colored pickup truck near the entrance gate to the property. They told investigators it likely belonged to Chapman and Cox.

However, once sheriff’s deputies arrived on scene they could not find Chapman, Cox or the pickup, officials said.

Around 7 a.m. Saturday, a Mendocino County Sheriff’s deputy responding to a non-emergency call north of Willits spotted a pickup truck that matched the description of Chapman’s and Cox’s vehicle. The Sheriff’s Office had issued a notice to law enforcement agencies across the region to be on alert for the suspects.

The deputy followed the truck and noticed the driver was gaining distance and then later turned into a residential neighborhood. The deputy reported that it appeared the driver was attempting to get away, the Sheriff’s Office said.

The deputy lost sight of the truck but soon found it again a short distance away.

While waiting for backup, the deputy watched as a woman who matched Chapman’s description made multiple trips from the pickup into a nearby home.

When additional law enforcement arrived at the scene, deputies reported that Chapman attempted to flee, climbing over a fence. She was apprehended on the other side.

Cox, who was hiding inside the home, eventually surrendered to authorities, officials said.

Deputies searched the home and pickup truck and found additional evidence related to the initial call for service in Leggett. Authorities did not provide details about what they found.

Chapman was booked into the Mendocino County jail on suspicion of attempted murder, attempted second-degree robbery and committing a felony while armed with a firearm. Cox was arrested for second degree robbery and conspiracy.

(pressdemocrat.com)

NEWS FROM SUPERVISOR MULHEREN (via facebook):

“Mendocino County is desperately seeking a Public Health Officer. Please share this job announcement on Social Media, with your friends, with your cousins College roommate, at the coffee shop, at the park…”

Mark Scaramella notes: The reposted agenda item on last Tuesday’s Supervisors meeting to appoint Dr. Theron Chan, CEO Antle’s roommate, was again withdrawn at the last minute, just as it had been two weeks earlier. Now it appears the Board is looking for someone else.

* * *

“Looks like the Air Quality lease went through and they will be moving out of the Observatory House mid-June making room for the VSO to return. I recognize this has taken longer than some would like and just want to say thanks for your patience. I look forward to increased communication and more support of our local Veterans from the community as well as the County.”

Mark Scaramella notes: This is progress, albeit at a snail’s pace. Supervisor Mulheren doesn’t say how soon the VSO (Veterans Service Office) will move back into their original Observatory House, nor does she say how much this all cost or how much it will cost.

FIRE SEASON APPROACHES, FEDERAL CANNABIS LAWS ARE CHANGING, THE GAS STATION IS IN LIMBO—Insights from the Redwood Valley Mac Meeting

by Monica Huettl

The Redwood Valley Municipal Advisory Council met on May 8, 2024, to discuss important community issues ahead of the upcoming fire season. Key topics included valuable insights from the Firesafe Council on wildfire preparedness tips. Sheriff Matt Kendall also addressed updates related to crime and cannabis laws. Additionally, the council deliberated on the status of the Faizan Gas Station permit, which remains pending as Caltrans and the County Department of Transportation review traffic study findings.…

mendofever.com/2024/05/13/fire-season-approaches-federal-cannabis-laws-are-changing-the-gas-station-is-in-limbo-insights-from-the-redwood-valley-mac-meeting

ED NOTES

SPORTS NOTE: Fort Bragg mayor and 4th District supervisor-elect Bernie Norvell, finished 7th overall in the recent Boontling Classic, covering the 5k course in a highly respectable 21 minutes, 54 seconds, establishing the mayor as the fastest, best conditioned person ever to hold public office in Mendocino County. The Classic, an out and back on Anderson Valley Way starting and finishing at the Anderson Valley Elementary School, was held on Saturday, May 5th, and was organized by the third generation of the Colfax family, the event's founders. (Greg Sims, 90, started and finished the race, quite a feat in itself given his years.)

FOR SEVERAL YEARS, I read the Times Sunday book review section until I belatedly figured out, after buying some unreadable fiction based on their reviewer's recommendations, that a lot of the reviews were simply log rolling and that I'd been burned as probably the only guy in the country who didn't know that.

THE AUTHOR of ‘The Times: How the Newspaper of Record Survived Scandal, Scorn, and the Transformation of Journalism’ is heavy on the superlatives for Times staffers. They're “brilliant and accomplished” who eat at brilliant and accomplished restaurants, which he invariably names, especially if they're expensive. (Product placement?) The most interesting sections of the book are the Jason Blair plagiarism scandal and how Judith Miller singlehandedly kicked off the War On Iraq as Bush-Cheney cheerleader. Blair, a drunk, drug head and more or less functioning psycho, was an affirmative action hire who the army of Times editors was reluctant to crack down on because he was black and the paper was light on minority writers. Miller should have been checked early on by the same army of editors, assistant editors, and assistants to the assistant editors who failed to see that Blair was either faking a lot of his copy or stealing it from distant papers he assumed the army of editors in New York wouldn't catch and that Miller, as crazy as Blair in her own way, bought the totally implausible fantasy that “Saddam has weapons of mass destruction” fed to her by Dick Cheney.

ALSO INTERESTING is how the Times, after expensive misfires, made a go of its on-line edition, a huge transition for all of us paper-paper people when the cyber-deluge threatened to kill us all, and has killed most of us. The Times made it pay, the AVA is hoping to make it pay, and so far the on-line AVA , the only Mendo publication behind a paywall, is paying its way because local people want to read about the place where they live and will pay for it.

I'VE had some direct experience with the NYT, the Boonville weekly having been the subject of its lofty attentions a few times. Newspaper people are always interested in other newspapers and newspaper people. Back in '84 the NYT's famous editor, Abe Rosenthal, stopped in at the Boonville Hotel where, as newspaper people will do, picked up a copy of the local paper, which he liked and sent us a note saying so. I don't know if that appreciation appeared in the mother ship but we were buoyed by it. Years later, another major Times figure, R.W. ‘Johnny’ Apple, stopped by our editorial offices. We talked for an hour or so during which he said he'd been offered the job of editor-publisher of the Santa Rosa Press Democrat when the paper was owned by the NYT. “I turned it down because I would have had to fire everybody,” he laughed. He was startled to learn that the Times' lead science writer, Gina Kolata, was the sister of Judi Bari. “Our Gina Kolata?” Restraining myself from launching into a monomaniacal rant about the Bari Bombing scam, I suggested he get Gina to look into her sister's sad fate. I asked Mrs. Apple to come inside with her husband but she stayed in the car, and this was before cell phones. Maybe she had a book. 

ANOTHER MEDIA NOTE: I ask you, is the following “Corrections Dept” item from the current edition of Marin's Pacific Sun weekly a joke?

“In the article titled ‘Everybody Welcome’ (April 24, 2024) we mischaracterized Emily Hope Parker as an ‘advocate for the disabled’ instead of an ‘advocate for inclusion.’ We apologize for the use of ‘disabled persons’ instead of the preferred term ‘people with disabilities’ as advocated by Parker. It’s important to note Parker did not say the quoted statements attributed to her in the article. Alchemia was inaccurately portrayed as a non-profit partner to the Inclusion Festival, when in fact Inclusive Compass holds that role. We apologize to Parker, Inclusive Compass, Alchemia and our readers.”

FINALLY, this provocation from today's Press Democrat: “Golis: More than ever, we need the wisdom of moms.” (Pete Golis’ cold, dead prose hand has scrawled weapons grade tedium at the Rose City Daily for years.)

AS A MATTER of grim historical fact, Moms have been co-conspirators in every mass slaughter and human error since the beginning of time, and are no wiser than their hubbykins.

“Nervous about public speaking, he wrote down what he hoped to say, but when the time came, he discarded his notes and spoke from the heart. He talked about her enthusiasm for life and all that he learned from her example. Here was a woman who devoted a career to nursing the sick while also making sure her family remained healthy and strong. She is more than a memory, he said, because her love for life goes with him every day. His tribute was a loving reminder of the quiet influence of mothers. Not politicians, not celebrities, but moms make the world go around. Which makes this a good time to say: Happy Mother’s Day to moms everywhere. Please know we need your wisdom now more than ever. When we look around the world today, we see too many politicians pounding their chests and pretending to be tough guys. Their bombast will get us all killed if we aren’t careful. Too many people are already dying, and we face the risk of wider and even more destructive wars. Better than most, mothers understand that anger and violence can only lead to more anger and violence. It’s a lesson they teach their children in grade school. On this Mother’s Day, let’s celebrate how the roles of women have changed since Mother’s Day was established.”

AS TOMMY WAYNE KRAMER famously said a few years ago: “If oatmeal could write, Pete Golis would be out of a job.”

THE MANY VOICES OF SHERIDAN MALONE

by Tommy Wayne Kramer

The most shocking jolt I’ve ever experienced at an onstage performance came in the 1980s at the Ukiah Playhouse. 

Daughter Emily and I were happily engrossed in ‘Oliver Twist,’ a kid-friendly play with plenty of sympathetic characters along with more than enough thugs, bullies and mean purveyors of Dirty Deeds, Done Dirt Cheap. The worst of the nasties was Bill Sykes, a dark-hearted brute of such low breeding not even Charles Dickens could find a redeeming quality.

Sykes brought harsh terror into every room he entered, and most of the rooms were filled with children. Nice, innocent kids no different in age or sentiment than those in the audience, including of course dear daughter Emily. It was a perfect setup, and the Ukiah Players executed it perfectly.

Halfway through the evening, the crowd had finally been granted relief from Bill Sykes’ scowls and threats. He’d at long last stomped offstage amid snarls, growls, glares and waving fists, but promised to return and bring a heavy dose of mayhem when he did.

Whew! Nothing made the playhouse theater kinder, gentler, lighter and safer than Bill Sykes departing it, hopefully forever. The play resumed, the kids regrouped, the plot grew a shade more intricate.

The children in ‘Oliver Twist’ are a balanced blend of rough teens and naive youngsters; their plight draws us in, we empathize with their misfortunes and we yearn for the better world they deserve.

They knew the adult tormentors would grant no relief, and sought ways to evade their ruthless tyrants. Especially, they whispered, Bill Sykes.

“DEFY ME WILL YOU!?!” came a roaring bellow just inches, it seemed, from Emily and my ears, as if Bill Sykes had grabbed us by the collars and shouted a threat heard through all of Ukiah. My heart seized and froze, Emily’s eyes popped open big as quarters, we both gasped, looked straight up, and…

… and Bill Sykes Himself! He was standing no more than 10 feet above us! Nearly invisible in the lightless theater, he stomped toward the stage on a narrow metal catwalk suspended from the playhouse ceiling. Timbers shook, the dial hit 11 on the audience Shock-O-Meter, and I was grateful not to have wet myself. 

Bill Sykes was a moving mountain of terror. His heavy boots pounded through the building. Young audience voices shrieked as he approached and loomed above the stage.

Whatever else I remember from that play I’ve long forgotten.

Sheridan Malone played Bill Sykes that night and for him to utterly inhabit and bring to dreadful life such a creature is a huge tribute to his talents. I’ve seen a number of New York productions, and Angela Lansbury could have been a potted plant in Sweeney Todd; whoever played Hamlet on Broadway left no impression. 

Next time I saw Sheridan he was behind the counter at the auto parts store, an affable, friendly and helpful fellow utterly out of synch with his ‘Oliver Twist’ onstage transformation. Which makes me wonder what room in the house wife Linda kept Sheridan during the weeks he lived the Bill Sykes role.

Years later, at an early spring pickup softball game played on the diamond behind juvenile hall, we jogged to position, ready for Play Ball! But before the first pitch Sheridan Malone took command. He stood on home plate and unleashed a powerful performance of the National Anthem. 

Malone’s voice is a surprisingly supple instrument, giving it the strength to project all the way into Deerwood Estates, far across the freeway and perhaps into Lake County. Hope they liked the “rockets red glare” part.

The singing that bellowed so effectively in ‘Oliver Twist,’ and cascaded across the valley on the National Anthem, could also go soft and lilting. One morning at the Ukiah Farmer’s Market I heard a voice like suede and velvet accompanied by a strumming guitar. 

I looked about and saw Sheridan Malone crooning and caressing some wonderful old country songs in complete fealty to their beloved owners, authors and ancestors: Hank Williams (Sr., of course), George Jones, Sons of the Pioneers, Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan, Merle Haggard. Sheridan Malone is a citywide treasure.

Months after seeing ‘Oliver Twist’ I spotted Sheridan in downtown Ukiah, and I told my daughter I wanted to introduce them. We took a few steps forward and I mentioned this was the man who played Bill Sykes at the playhouse; we then took a few steps backward.

Emily was silent, wide-eyed and ashen. I picked her up to level out the height disparity, told Sheridan about our prior encounter, and he smiled and quietly apologized for any lingering animosity. 

It must have been difficult for Emily to reconcile the two beings: the harsh and terrifying Bill Sykes with the gentle and soft-spoken Sheridan Malone. 

When I see her next, I’ll ask if she’s still vaguely rattled, because I’m sure she still remembers.

CHOOSE ONE, OR THE OTHER, OR BOTH 

by Alexander Wood

The Kelley House Museum’s current exhibit, Nathaniel Smith: Mendocino’s First African American Resident, was funded by a grant from California Humanities. The grant supported research by Alexander Wood into the life of Nathaniel Smith. Below is an excerpt from Wood’s paper on Smith’s arrival in, and the naming of, Cuffey’s Cove.

Smith’s arrival on the Mendocino coast on a whaling ship with a Sausalito crew is based at least partly on legend. More accurately, those at the scene embroidered the story as they aged. All accounts begin with the group landing or settling about 15 miles south of Mendocino at a bay just north of today’s Elk referred to as Cuffey’s Cove. Lyman Palmer’s 1880 History of Mendocino County reports two possible origins for the cove's name, both stemming from the groups’ arrival.

The first origin story says that “cuffey” was a word used to describe a bear. Grizzly bears were prevalent in the area at the time, as were black bears. The first version of the cove’s naming is recalled by Charles Fletcher’s granddaughter, Elsie Farnsworth, who told the story in a 1975 interview, over a century after Fletcher, Smith, and the rest of the Sausalito crew reached Mendocino. Farnsworth stated that her grandfather “sailed in close along the Mendocino Coast. He went close to what is now Cuffey's Cove. There the crew said, "Oh, Captain! A big cuffey! A big cuffey!" That was a bear, it was climbing up the bank. And so Cuffey's Cove got its name from the bear.” Skiffington tells almost the same story, but in his account, the group found ten or twelve grizzly bears on the coast. He recalls being told that Fletcher, “called a bear a Cuffy. He said to the others: ‘This is a regular cuffy’s cove.’ So the place was named Cuffey’s Cove.”

Other accounts include a bear attack as a part of the story. For example, Smith’s obituary in the San Francisco Chronicle states that he and Francisco Faria named Cuffey’s Cove “on account of a fight which they had with a grizzly bear in which Frank was nearly chewed to death before he could kill the brute with his hunting knife.” The obituary further states, "the bear was named ‘Old Cuffey,’ from the peculiar manner with which he used his paws in fighting.” Dorothy Bear and Beth Stebbins also report that Faria “was attacked and badly mauled by a wounded bear that left him with a deformed arm.” Faria’s obituary tells a similar account, stating that near Cuffey’s Cove, Faria was attacked and bitten by a bear.

Thompson reports that Faria “once told the story of his mauling by the bear to young Jim Skiffington,” but Smith warned Skiffington that, “Portuguese Frank was the biggest liar in the world, but because he was such a little man and talked so much and so long, at least half of what he said had to be true.”

However, the other possible origins of the term “cuffey” should be considered, and both of them focus on Nathaniel Smith. Subsequent settlers used “cuffey” as a racial slur that referred to Smith’s residence near the cove. Cuffee, Cuffey, or Coffey is a first name and surname in African-American culture, believed to be derived from the Akan language. According to Junius Rodriguez. this was one of the most common male names of West African origin that was retained by some American slaves.

Historian John W. Blassingame confirms that “cuffee” was used as a derogatory term by whites to refer to African Americans. No less a personage than Jefferson Davis, then a U.S. senator from Mississippi who later became the President of the Confederate States, said that the discussion of slavery in the Dred Scott v. Sandford case was merely a question of "whether Cuffee should be kept in his normal condition or not.”

Jonathon Green’s Dictionary of Slang includes three definitions for “cuffy”—a derogatory term for a black person, a bear, or a gullible person. Palmer first considered that “cuffey” referred to a bear, but that “the other legend…is to the effect that the early settlers found a negro here when they came to the place, whom they donned with the title of Cuffey.” Palmer likely is referring to Smith, the first known African American settler in the county.

THE ANDERSON VALLEY GRANGE

by Gregory Sims

Smokey Blattner sat down beside me many, many years (decades) ago. He seemed to have something on his mind, and a piece of paper in his hand.  At that time, I didn't know him well, but well enough to hear one of his vintage (sometimes slightly off color stories). But this was not an occasion for me to hear another one.  He wanted me to apply for membership in the Anderson Valley Grange number 669. I had heard about their cheaper car insurance, and thought of checking it out, but the thought of being black balled (one negative vote and you were rejected) told me not to pursue that path, and I told him so. But he assured me that wouldn't be a problem. So we applied and joined as a family nearly fifty years ago.

Earlier today at the Grange Breakfast after most of a crowd of almost a hundred folks were fed, I was done with my job as a "Plate Hawk" (saying to people "may I take your plate") when they finished their meal. Anyway, a long prelude here, those of us who put the event on sat down to eat, and Fred Wooley, a popular KZYX programmer (Sunday afternoon music at 90.7fm) sat down next to me. And as we enjoyed our meal he began asking me about the history of our local grange - which made me happy to share with him as the Grange has become a significant part of my life and our families lives.

But there have been periods of times (sometimes years) where nothing was happening, the old grange burnt down and young and old folks came together with little money, but a great deal of ingenuity and built the sturdy, impressive and large building with a dance hall and community center in which we gather for all kinds of events. We participate in the Mendocino Fair and other community activities and yet sometimes we falter. There was a period of some years wherein Rainbow, (our current overseer which some call a vice president) Charmaine (Smokey's wife) and I were the only ones meeting.  There were so many keys out in the community that people could come and go without authorization, and not participate as grange members. So as Overseer I had the locks changed - but never did get a key for myself.

And after that time which seems very long ago, we started getting on our feet and again became active, but then a split between the conservative national Grange and the California Grange (a less traditional group) brought about a sea of conflict that soured peoples' interest in us.  For much of that time I took little interest in any aspect of the Grange and I and my family moved away.  But there was an occasion that brought me to The Valley - and I came by myself and happened in on a Grange Dinner and folks asked me to stay and I did. I looked around the room and saw so many familiar faces, I also realized the Grange had come alive again though many who were there at that time are no longer with us. But on that occasion it was a revelation that the Grange meant more to me than I had realized. And I discovered how refreshing it was to come home. So I came back and stayed, until I bought a house in Ukiah and shared it with my sons and daughters, Prairie, Tenaya, Lisanne, Lori and Clarissa and Clarissa and I came back.

So, this narrative does have a point and an ending for which we need to return to chatting with Fred Wooley who asked me about the Grange.  After every one left except those of us who were cleaning things up: We were talking about the size of the Mother's Day celebrants  and all the other folks who came. Then someone mentioned something about the people. I don't think it's a secret, but nobody talks about it - which is a good thing. Month after month, year after year the people infants, toddlers, teens, musicians - the whole gang is a wonderful group that is very much alive and fun to be with. One last thought.

I keep repeating this comment I've heard so often. When people come to visit, it seems to many that we are truly "out in the sticks" and it is so hard to get here, and that's why we're here!

CATCH OF THE DAY, Sunday, May 12, 2024

CHRISTOPHER ASHURST, Ukiah. Controlled substance, probation revocation.

RICO ESTRADA, Cloverdale/Ukiah. Failure to appear.

AUSTREBERTO GOMEZ-ROMERO, Ukiah. DUI, cruelty to child-infliction of injury, probation revocation.

GARRICK HALL, Indianapolis/Ukiah. Failure to appear.

BENJAMIN KNIGHT, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol&drugs.

CODY MENDEZ, Ukiah. Controlled substance, paraphernalia, bad check, mail theft, failure to appear.

FRANK POMILIA IV, Redwood Valley. DUI, misdemeanor hit&run, false report of crime.

DAMON REICHARDT, Ukiah. Under influence, probation violation.

KEVIN ROGERS, Laytonville. Controlled substance, paraphernalia, theft of firearm.

JUAN SANCHEZ-MONTIEL, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.

CARLOS SANIC, Petaluma/Ukiah. Marijuana sales.

AGUSTIN VILLASENOR, Ukiah. DUI, resisting.

KRISTOPHER WHITE, Fort Bragg. Under influence.

KRYSTAL WILLIAMS, Willits. Felony warrant, misdemeanor warrant.

ON-LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

Have you ever wondered why suburban neighborhoods and empty parking lots feel creepy and uncomfortable? Why does America look the same everywhere? Images of suburbs are often used as Liminal spaces which are in-between or transitional space between two places. They’re designed exclusively for cars and not for people. As a result, everything becomes a thoroughfare rather than a destination. Everywhere becomes a place to drive through and not a place to drive to.

NOT FOOLING ANYBODY

Editor: 

How long are PG&E’s TV ads going to tell us how wonderful they are for starting to put their lines underground while, of course, charging us for the privilege?

Thirty years ago at least, we started requesting that they put their lines underground both for safety and aesthetics. No, it would cost too much. How much have houses destroyed by the fires cost? How do you measure the cost of lives lost, careers destroyed, hope shattered? Please stop telling us how wonderful you are.

Jennifer Nichols

Sebastopol

WILL YOUR PG&E BILL GO UP OR DOWN UNDER CALIFORNIA’S NEW INCOME-BASED PLAN?

by Kathleen Pender

California’s newly approved plan to convert part of consumers’ electricity bills to a flat rate based on their income doesn’t go into effect until 2026 for Pacific Gas and Electric Co. customers, but it has already raised plenty of questions.

Among them: What are the income brackets? How will the utilities know how much a customer makes? And whose electricity bills will be higher — or lower?

Here are answers to some of those questions.

How will the rate structure work?

Today, residential electricity bills are based on the customer’s usage. Under the new plan, approved Thursday by the California Public Utilities Commission, the state’s three large investor-owned utilities (including PG&E) will change the way they charge residential customers for some of their fixed infrastructure costs, “such as maintaining power lines and equipment,” the PUC says.

In the future, these costs will be broken out as a separate line item, and customers will pay a fixed monthly charge based on their income. 

The rest of their bill will still be based on usage. As part of the deal, the utilities will cut their “volumetric” or usage rates by 5 to 7 cents per kilowatt-hour.

These rates vary based on time of day and other factors. PG&E’s average bundled residential rates for most customers (excluding those enrolled in its CARE plan for low-income customers) is around 46 cents per kilowatt-hour.

For all three utilities, “the estimated 5 to 7 cent per kilowatt-hour reduction represents an 11.3% to 11.9% reduction of the average non-discounted residential rate. It is a reduction of 8% to 9.8% of the summer peak period rate,” the PUC said via email.

When will this take effect?

The change is scheduled to take effect in late 2025 for customers of San Diego Gas & Electric and Southern California Edison and early 2026 for PG&E.

What are the new fixed charges?

They are $6, $12, or $24.15 per month, depending on income. 

Will PG&E have access to my tax returns?

No. The new plan implements AB205, which required the PUC to establish a fixed charge for residential customers “on an income-graduated basis with no fewer than three income thresholds so that a low-income ratepayer … would realize a lower average monthly bill without making any changes in usage.” 

State law, however, prohibits the Franchise Tax Board from sharing a taxpayer’s income information or confirming self-reported income information without a taxpayer’s written consent. Plus, many low-income taxpayers don’t file a return.

“A key constraint for designing income-graduated fixed charges is the feasibility of verifying the incomes of moderate- or high-income customers,” Administrative Law Judge Stephanie Wang pointed out in a proposed decision on the plan in March.

The solution: Utilities will provide the two lowest fixed charges to customers who qualify for two existing income-based discount programs.

The decades-old California Alternate Rates for Energy or CARE program provides discounts of 30% to 35% on electricity and 20% on natural gas. Participants must meet income guidelines (that go up with household size) or be enrolled in certain public assistance programs such as Medicaid/Medi-Cal or food stamps/SNAP.

These gross-income limits are based on federal poverty level guidelines. Currently, households with one or two people can earn up to $39,440 a year to qualify for CARE; a family of five can earn up to $70,280.

About 27% of the big three utilities’ customers are enrolled in CARE.

Households with at least three people who earn slightly more than the CARE limits might qualify for the smaller Family Electric Rate Assistance, or FERA, program, which offers an 18% discount on electric rates. To qualify, a three-person household can earn between $49,721 and $62,150 while a five-person one can earn up to $87,850. 

(These income limits will be updated effective June 1.)

Both programs are self-attestation, meaning applicants simply state that they meet the income requirements. Every year, a subset of customers are required to provide income documents showing they qualify.

Under the new plan, consumers enrolled in CARE will pay a fixed charge of $6 per month.

Those enrolled in FERA, and those living in deed-restricted affordable rental housing with incomes no higher than 80% of the area median, will pay $12 per month. 

Everyone else will pay $24.15 per month.

CARE and FERA customers will still get their current discounts on usage on the new, lower rates.

The PUC said its decision “does not require any customer to verify their income.”

Will I pay more or less for electricity?

That’s hard to say and the subject of intense debate.

In general, many people who use a lot of electricity, especially those in the two low-income tiers, are likely to pay less because the volumetric-rate cut will more than offset the fixed charge. This could include people living in hot inland areas, people in large homes and people with electric vehicles.

The PUC says the plan “lowers overall electricity bills on average for lower-income households and those living in regions most impacted by extreme weather events.” It predicts that an average customer in Fresno would save $33 a month in the summer.

“The basic idea is, they don’t have control over how much electricity they need, especially in the summertime. When it’s 110 degrees, you have to have some air conditioning,” said Mark Toney, executive director of The Utility Reform Network, which supported the PUC’s decision. 

People who use less electricity than average will pay more if their new fixed charge outweighs the rate cut. This could include people in small homes or apartments, cool coastal areas and those with rooftop solar.

Today, most solar customers pay PG&E a minimum payment of $10 a month. Energy charges beyond that minimum payment can be offset with credits from their solar generation. Starting last year, new solar customers pay a fixed charge of $15 a month. Under the new plan, all solar customers will pay the same fixed charge as all other customers, including discounts for low-income customers.

“Right now (consumers with solar) are not paying their share of the grid cost. They use it on a daily basis. At night, they need the grid. This makes it a little more fair,” Toney said.

Non-discount customers who are low-usage are the most likely to see bill increases, but they will be small, averaging $1.50 to $3 per month across all utilities, Toney said. 

Others disagree. Stop the Big Utility Tax, a coalition of groups that opposed the plan, said that people on the CARE or FERA programs “will see little to no decrease in their monthly bill” and that “middle-class consumers would actually see their electricity bills go up considerably.”

Do the changes affect natural gas rates?

No, the plan applies to electricity only.

Will the utilities make money off this?

The PUC and proponents say the new structure will be revenue neutral. “Under the fixed charge proposal, utilities would receive the same total amount as they receive today for CPUC-approved investments into the electric grid,” said Cynthia Martinez, a spokesperson for the Predictable Power Coalition, whose members include the big three utilities.

She added that the fixed charge “will lead to more bill predictability.”

Does this plan limit future increases in rates or fixed charges?

No, it does not, although an increase would need PUC approval.

“We have been pushing the commission to adopt a limit on rate increases to be no more than inflation,” Toney said. So far that hasn’t happened.

(SF Chronicle)

WILL VOTERS DECIDE TAX LIMITS IN NOVEMBER? - THAT’S UP TO THE SUPREME COURT

by Alexei Koseff

The California Supreme Court will decide in the coming weeks whether to remove a sweeping anti-tax measure from the November ballot, blocking an effort to increase the requirements for implementing taxes, fees and other government charges in the state before voters have a chance to weigh in.

Gov. Gavin Newsom, the Legislature and others sued last fall to stop the business community-sponsored initiative, arguing that it amounts to an illegal attempt to revise the California Constitution and would impair essential government functions. 

With a June 27 deadline to set the ballot for the November election, the court must rule soon about whether to allow the proposed measure, formally known as the Taxpayer Protection and Government Accountability Act, to proceed. The proposed act even has a retroactive provision that would undo all local tax measures passed in recent years and require them to be expensively reproposed and re-voted on under the more restrictive rules.

At an hour-long hearing this morning in San Francisco, the justices grappled extensively with a provision that would require the Legislature to seek approval from the voters for any new or higher state tax. Currently, lawmakers can raise taxes by a two-thirds vote of both chambers. 

“From the founding of the state, the Legislature has had the supreme power of taxation,” Margaret Prinzing, an attorney representing the state, told the court. “This measure would revoke that power for the first time in the history of California and instead put it in the hands of the voters.” 

Prinzing argued that, rather than simply amending tax law in the state constitution, this would fundamentally restructure how government operates — a more substantial change that can only be proposed by a two-thirds vote of the Legislature or through a constitutional convention. 

Justice Goodwin Liu pressed the lawyer for the initiative’s proponent, the California Business Roundtable, about that idea repeatedly during the hour-long hearing. He asked at one point whether giving voters authority over state taxes would create a fourth branch of government. 

“Doesn’t this measure essentially shift us from a republican form of government far more strongly towards a direct democracy, given how fundamental the taxing power is?” Liu said. 

Thomas Hiltachk, the lawyer representing the business group, asserted that the power of the legislative branch is shared with the public and thus the Legislature has no unilateral power to impose taxes. 

“Our constitution, since its inception, has stated that all political power is inherent in the people. It has stated that the people have the power to reform and alter their government whenever they decide it needs reform,” Hiltachk said, adding later, “The people have the last word.” 

The proposed initiative would broadly make it more challenging to raise taxes in California, including by also increasing the margin to pass a voter-initiated special tax at the local level, to two-thirds from a simple majority. 

Other consequential provisions — which could upend the operation of California government at every level — would restrict how officials can calculate the cost of fees that fund public services and programs and reclassify some of those charges as taxes. That would prohibit administrative agencies from setting these levies, requiring the Legislature or local governments to turn to the voters to adjust them. 

Proponents say their initiative is a necessary crackdown on loopholes created by legislators and court rulings that weakened previous voter-approved tax accountability measures and allowed an unelected administrative bureaucracy to flourish. It has been heavily supported by the real estate industry and a private ambulance company, which frequently battle local governments over taxes, fees and assessments to fund public services. 

But since it secured its eligibility more than a year ago, Democratic politicians, organized labor and other opponents have worked feverishly to undermine the initiative and toss it from the ballot. 

In addition to the lawsuit, legislators voted in the final weeks of session last summer to put a competing measure on the ballot that would flip the California Business Roundtable initiative’s own higher standards against it, requiring that changes to the threshold for approving state and local taxes pass by that same margin. That would mean it needed to secure two-thirds support from the electorate, rather than a simple majority, a high hurdle for a statewide measure. 

At Wednesday morning’s hearing, attorney Prinzing argued that the proposed overhaul to how governments can raise revenue would hinder their ability to respond quickly to fiscal emergencies and might change the nature of what taxes are even possible in California, by transferring those decisions away from experts who can consider them within the full context of budgets and spending priorities. 

“The voters simply don’t have the capacity to do that,” she said. 

Hiltachk responded that the state has faced emergencies in the past and recovered from most of them without ever choosing to raise taxes. 

“If the Legislature believes it needs a more long-term solution, it can certainly ask the voters,” he said. 

The justices appeared sympathetic to the state’s arguments about the practicality of the initiative. Liu in particular noted how “vast” its impact would be, potentially affecting everything from traffic tickets to library fines. 

“If you wanted a measure that spoke to the concerns that you raised, that would be a different measure,” Liu told Hiltachk. 

But several justices expressed uncertainty about the appropriateness of deciding the legality of the initiative prior to the election, as well the state’s request to strike down the entire measure rather than considering each provision on its own merits. 

Hiltachk urged the court not to thrust itself into a political judgment and allow the voters to have their say. 

“This tug-of-war over taxation has been going on for over 100 years,” he said.

(CalMatters.org)

HOWARD HUGHES, THE CIA AND A MYSTERIOUS SHIP IN THE BAY AREA

by Bill Van Niekerkan

International secrecy. A Soviet submarine. Howard Hughes. The CIA. This story wasn’t short on intrigue.

The Glomar Explorer was a giant vessel ostensibly built by the reclusive Hughes that was shrouded in mystery and speculation in the mid-1970s. I still remember being on a sailboat in San Francisco Bay and seeing the Glomar on the horizon, its immense mass apparent long before it reached the Golden Gate. With this memory in mind, I headed to The Chronicle’s archive to search for Glomar stories and photos.

This story of intrigue seemed to start innocently enough. The Chronicle ran a story on Nov. 21, 1972, announcing that Hughes had established a research base in Redwood City in preparation for a “highly imaginative assault on the mineral-rich ocean floor.”

That story, it turns out, was a complete fabrication. The CIA had masterminded a fantastical backstory figuratively as large as the Explorer and its barge. The public was riveted.

On Jan. 7, 1974, The Chronicle reported on the departure of the Glomar. The destination? That was a secret.

“I can tell you one thing, it’s heavily guarded,” said tugboat pilot Bill Hildreth. “Surveillance cameras follow anyone who approaches the barge, and guards with big pistols walk beside you on board.” The tugboat pilot was tight-lipped on details, however: “You’ll have to call Howard Hughes for the rest,” he said.

A year later, on March 19, 1975, the true mission of the Glomar Explorer and its barge would be revealed to the public. The CIA spent $500 million to finance Project Azorian, the construction of vessels for a mission to salvage a Soviet nuclear-equipped submarine that had sunk in 1968 off the coast of Hawaii. The sub had exploded under mysterious circumstances and sank to the floor more than 3 miles below the ocean’s surface.

The Glomar lifted the submarine, but the sub broke to pieces during the mission. The section that was lifted onto the ship contained nuclear torpedoes and the bodies of Soviet sailors, but much of the military bounty was lost to the waves.

After this top-secret mission, the Glomar Explorer would spend a few years as part of the Mothball Fleet in Suisun Bay, until 1978, when the ship got a million-dollar retrofit by Lockheed Missiles & Space Co. of Sunnyvale, to be used for underwater mining.

In 1981, current Chronicle Science Editor David Perlman got a tour of the ship and reported on its conversion to a floating drilling platform. It would be able to lower equipment through 13,000 feet of water and drill an additional 20,000 feet into the Earth’s crust.

At the end of the drilling mission, the Glomar returned to the Bay Area Mothball Fleet until 1996, when Astoria Metal Corp. spent $150 million to convert it into a new floating oil drilling platform. Its last known post was in China.

The Glomar’s barge remains in the Bay Area, with Bay Ship & Yacht Co. of Alameda having converted it to the only dry dock on the West Coast to be fully enclosed by a retractable roof.

After 30 years of stonewalling, the CIA released documents in 2010 that confirmed Project Azorian. Still, much of the Glomar mission remains a mystery.

(SF Chronicle)

“People wonder how I can be so nice to people who are not nice to me. Why be nasty? We're just passing through here. One day it's going to be my turn and l'll be gone. If can make somebody happy, that's a nice feeling. I like fighting. I love what boxing does for me. This is the first time in my life I was ever something. I like to make people happy and I like to be happy myself.”

— Gerry Cooney

MORE REPUBLICANS BETRAY CAUSES THEY SUPPORTED TEN MINUTES AGO

The Great Bipartisan Constitution-shredding project of 2024 continues at breakneck speed

by Matt Taibbi

Whispers about familiar villains preparing new versions of the election censorship programs that animated the Twitter Files grew louder last week, when Virginia Senator Mark Warner let slip at a conference that the FBI and DHS have renewed “voluntary” communications with Internet platforms. 

Republicans who objected to the last programs on First Amendment grounds are now rushing to out-censor the censors. Between renewal of FISA surveillance, the depressingly bipartisan Antisemitism Awareness Act, and now a proposed No Fly List for campus protesters, most all of congress apart from a few libertarian holdouts is signed up for the project of turning War on Terror machinery inward. Not exactly the surprise of the century, but still, sheesh...

https://www.racket.news/p/more-republicans-betray-causes-they

THE SUN DANCE CEREMONY:

Another Edward Curtis photo of a Crow (Apsaroke) man. He is tethered to the pole with visible leather straps, that hold two sharp stakes which pierce both sides of his chest. He pulls back on the pole, with each tug stretching the skin on his chest like a slingshot, this goes on for 4 days, and he cannot stop until he gets a vision. He is eventually freed, when the flesh is torn off his body and the stakes fall to the ground. In the Lakota version of this, the man blows an eagle bone whistle throughout the procedure. This is not for the faint hearted, and the participants' courage level is off the charts. Meanwhile, you can see blood on his body even from the rear. After this test, for warriors like him, riding into battle is like going to the market.

I REMEMBER IN THE 1930s there was a family from Ohio in town, God knows why, and on July Fourth they drove their car up on the levee and spread a blanket and had a picnic. They didn't set the brakes on the car and it ran down into the Mississippi River and everyone said, ‘It served them right for celebrating the Fourth of July.’ We despised Yankees, just on the face of it.

— Shelby Foote

NANCY GREEN

The world knew her as "Aunt Jemima," but her given name was Nancy Green and she was a true American success story. She was born a slave in 1834 Montgomery County, KY... and became a wealthy superstar in the advertising world, as its first living trademark.

Green was 56-yrs old when she was selected as spokesperson for a new ready-mixed, self-rising pancake flour and made her debut in 1893 at a fair and exposition in Chicago. She demonstrated the pancake mix and served thousands of pancakes... and became an immediate star. She was a good storyteller, her personality was warm and appealing, and her showmanship was exceptional. Her exhibition booth drew so many people that special security personnel were assigned to keep the crowds moving. 

Nancy Green was signed to a lifetime contract, traveled on promotional tours all over the country, and was extremely well paid. Her financial freedom and stature as a national spokesperson enabled her to become a leading advocate against poverty and in favor of equal rights for folks in Chicago.

She maintained her job until her death in 1923, at age 89.

CRAZY ARMS

Now blue ain't the word for the way that I feel
And a storm is brewing in this heart of mine
This ain't no crazy dream I know that's it real
You're someone else's love now, you're not mine

Crazy arms that reach to hold somebody new
But my yearning heart keeps saying you're not mine
My troubled mind knows soon to another you'll be wed
That's why I'm lonely all the time

Please take these treasured dreams I had for you and me
Take all the love I thought was mine
Someday my crazy arms will hold somebody new
Right now I'm so lonesome I could die

Crazy arms that reach to hold somebody new
But my yearning heart keeps saying you're not mine
My troubled mind knows soon to another you'll be wed
You're someone else's love now, you're not mine
Well you're someone else's love now, you're not mine

Songwriters: Ralph Eugene Mooney, Chuck Seals

FIGHTING FLARES ANEW IN GAZA AS HAMAS RECONSTITUTES

The U.S. secretary of state warned that Israel’s victories over Hamas may not be “sustainable.”

by Liam Stack, Aaron Boxerman & Eric Nagourney

As the Israeli military stepped up pressure on what it calls Hamas’s last stronghold in Gaza, fighting elsewhere in the Palestinian enclave on Sunday led to warnings that the militants might remain a force for a long time to come.

Close-quarters ground combat between Hamas fighters and Israeli troops raged in parts of northern Gaza over the weekend, both sides said on Sunday, even as the world’s attention was largely focused on the southern city of Rafah, where Israel escalated military operations last week.

It has become a familiar scenario in the Gaza Strip over the course of the seven-month war: After pitched battles, Israel declares an area clear of Hamas, only to return after the militants reconstitute their forces.

On Sunday, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken said he was concerned that Israel’s failure to lay down a template for the governance of Gaza meant that its victories might not be “sustainable” and would be followed by “chaos, by anarchy and ultimately by Hamas again.”

Mr. Blinken’s warning came as the Israeli military said its soldiers had “eliminated a number” of fighters in the Gaza City neighborhood of Zeitoun. In nearby Jabaliya, where civilians were ordered to evacuate on Saturday, troops went in overnight after fighter jets struck more than two dozen targets, the military said. The operation, it said, was “based on intelligence information regarding attempts by Hamas to reassemble.”

Hamas said on Sunday that its fighters were engaged in “fierce clashes” with Israeli soldiers near Jabaliya and that the fighters had fired heavy-caliber mortar shells at Israeli forces in Zeitoun.

Neither claim could be independently verified.

Palestine TV, a network affiliated with the Palestinian Authority, a rival to Hamas based in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, broadcast footage that it said showed civilians, many of them women and children, fleeing northern Gaza. Some were on foot, while others were on bicycles, in cars or piled onto carts drawn by donkeys.

“I am deeply distressed by the fast-deteriorating conditions in Gaza,” the United Nations’ human rights chief, Volker Türk, said in a statement about the fighting in the north.

In Rafah, the southernmost city where more than a million Palestinians have fled for safety since the war began in October, Gazans were once again on the move, fearful that Israel was about to move into the city in full force.

Israel has been under intense international pressure — including from the United States, its closest ally — not to launch a full-scale invasion of Rafah. The Israelis say they are determined to eradicate the militants who led the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel.

U.S. officials say Israeli intelligence agencies agree with the American assessment. The two countries’ spy agencies believe that Mr. Sinwar most likely never left the tunnel network under Khan Younis, a major city to the north, according to American officials. The American officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence assessments.

Israel nevertheless has been increasing the pressure on Rafah.

The main United Nations agency aiding Palestinians in Gaza said early Sunday that about 300,000 people had fled from Rafah over the past week. Another organization, the World Food Program, warned that a full-scale invasion of the city would be “catastrophic.”

Gaza’s largest telecommunications company said on Sunday that internet service was down in parts of southern Gaza because of Israeli military operations. And Doctors Without Borders said it had started to refer the last 22 patients at one hospital, the Rafah Indonesian Field Hospital, to other facilities because it could “no longer guarantee their safety.”

On Sunday, citizens in Israel were observing Memorial Day, a national day of mourning that has taken on added poignancy this year. At 8 p.m., a minute-long siren sounded across the country, bringing pedestrians to a standstill in the streets and traffic to a halt.

Even in a normal year, the commemoration for soldiers and victims of terrorist attacks is sacrosanct in Israel, a small country where many know someone killed or wounded as a result of the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Roughly 1,200 people were killed and 250 taken hostage on Oct. 7, the Israeli authorities say. Since Israel launched its invasion of Gaza, at least 272 soldiers have been killed, the military says. More than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war, and most Gazans have been forced to flee their homes, Gaza officials say.

(NY Times)

THE RAFAH DISASTER

by Bernie Sanders

For five days (Monday through Friday of last week), almost no humanitarian aid has gotten into Gaza. Israel’s military operation in Rafah has displaced another 110,000 people and closed both main border crossings. That means no food, no water, no medicine, no fuel. And now Israel is threatening to expand that operation.

Hundreds of thousands of children were starving and famine was imminent even before this military operation crippled the humanitarian aid operation. Israel’s Rafah invasion is already having a dramatic effect and making a catastrophic situation even worse.

Bakeries are shutting down. Food can’t be distributed. Soon, hospitals will go dark as they run out of fuel. Incubators, ventilators, and critical machinery will stop working. Thousands more women, children, and innocent people will die.

The United Nations Secretary General said today that an “attack in Rafah would lead to an epic humanitarian disaster.” There is simply no way for humanitarian organizations to effectively deliver lifesaving aid in the midst of active fighting around Rafah.

That is why President Biden was right to withhold 2,000-pound bombs for Israel – bombs that could only cause massive civilian death in densely-populated Rafah.

Over the years the U.S. has provided tens of billions in military aid to Israel. We must make it very clear: an invasion of Rafah means an end to all U.S. military aid to Netanyahu’s right-wing, extremist government. Period. End of discussion.

We cannot continue to be complicit in this humanitarian disaster.