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HIGH PRESSURE and hot interior temperatures will continue to intensify today and will peak on Thursday. This pattern will bring major heat risk to hot interior valleys, especially in Lake County. Otherwise typical summer weather will continue through the weekend. (NWS)
STEPHEN DUNLAP (Fort Bragg): Sneaker waves are in the forecast from this morning until 9am tomorrow morning so be careful along the shore, as they are sneaky. Otherwise lovely weather continues until for the week. Some cooling this weekend. 50F under clear skies this Wednesday morning on the coast.
DANIEL GARIBALDI
November 11, 1949 - May 26, 2024
Dan Garibaldi, a dedicated San Francisco firefighter of 30 years, passed away on Sunday, May 26.
He was 75 years old, and was also a member of the Greenwood Ridge fire department, along with several of his friends, who is assist the department structured training, and were members in good standing, volunteering there all time to give assistance, and, necessary training for structural protection, sharing the knowledge that they had learned over the years with the San Francisco Fire Department.
Our deepest condolences go to his family.
— R.D. Beacon
CONGRATULATIONS to the sixth grade elementary team for a great graduation. The parents and families were delighted.
Also, I have been given a lead on the tile mural restoration. Does anyone happen to have former staff member Chris Bing‘s phone number?
Hang in there and have a great rest of the week.
Louise Simson, Superintendent
Anderson Valley Unified School District
LOOKING OUT MARY PAT PALMER'S WINDOW
SUPES APPROVE BEHAVIORAL HEALTH/PUBLIC HEALTH CONSOLIDATION
by Mark Scaramella
Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting started off with former Public Health Officer Dr. Andy Coren strenuously objecting to the proposed merger of Behavioral Health with Public Health with Behavioral Health Director Dr. Jenine Miller in charge.
Coren called the consolidation “a very bad idea,” because the two functions are “completely different” and puts Public Health in a secondary role when it should be in a primary role. Coren said that for the last few months with Dr. Miller as the de facto head of the two departments Public Health “could barely retain programs” and was not allocated sufficient resources as Dr. Miller “dragged her feet,” and lost employee candidates for open senior positions who were worried about being fired, let key senior staff leave… “People were ignored or fired for clear favoritism,” said Coren, “There’s a leadership clique.” Coren acknowledged that there were some administrative efficiencies to be gained. But consolidation now would be “the nail in the coffin of Public Health,” and would be “a great, great loss.” Coren described the current pressure to consolidate the two departments as “administrative bullying in last six or seven months,” and called Dr. Miller’s summary of the efficiencies to be gained from the proposed merger at the last meeting “a facade of a presentation,” concluding “the reality will not be good for Public Health or Mendocino County.”
Former Public Health senior staffer Julie Beardsley cited similar concerns which she has made clear in previous public postings recently, adding that public health has only become worse in the last few months under Dr. Miller. Beardsley called for an “outside study” before the merger was approved.
But several of Dr. Miller’s current staffers came to the podium to disagree, denying that Public Health will take a back seat and insisting that the consolidation would not only save money, but the arrangement has been functioning just fine under Dr. Miller.
In the end it was clear that if the arrangement saves money the Board was unanimously in favor of it, adding as a pseudo-compromise/after thought that a Public Health Advisory Board would be a nice thing to establish to help keep Public Health matters on track in the future.
In budget news, the Board approved the staff’s proposed budget with one minor adjustment to the Resource Conservation District’s already small budget. We’ll have more on the budget discussion coming soon.
ED NOTES
WE SENT a lot of paper-papers into jails and prisons, lots and lots, and found that the imprisoned were our closest and most loyal readers. If we could have locked up the free range miscreants, we'd have been the New York Times of the sub-proletariat. (Never liked that pejorative, lumpen proletariat.) But once free, not a word from most of them. And so what? It was gratifying that in a tiny way the ava was the link to the world the bad boys, and a few bad girls, had left behind but would be returning to, perhaps, maybe, long shot, a little mentally stronger, a little smarter about how they functioned in their home place.
EVALUATING WORLD EVENTS from Boonville's International Desk, I'd say we're looking at civil war here in areas of Liberty Land, an expanding Russian aggression in Europe, China's inevitable grab of Taiwan, endless semitic murder in the Middle East, and general social chaos here and abroad, along with breakdowns in supply chains and other big, complicated systems, all of it wrapped up in a dying planet presided over by the weakest set of world leaders ever, America's the weakest of all.
THIS WEEK'S NIKITA AWARD for headline writing goes to MendoFever: “Updated Notice of Public Hearing For Proposed Fee Adoption for Ukiah Valley Basin Groundwater Sustainability Agency.”
HERB CAEN was the founder of the award based on prose that reads like it's been translated by several East European languages before landing on the page as Americano. The Independent Coast Observer out of Gualala is the perennial Mendo winner.
AND FOR PURE GRATUITOUS INSULT, we get this hed from the Chron: "Heavy-Set Grandmother Completes Terrifying 29-Mile Swim Through Shark-Infested Waters to Break the Record."
THE LAST TIME I braved the white knuckle road out to Usal, a single lane dirt track, when I got there I found that that remote, rare jewel of sand and sea on the south end of the Lost Coast to be wayyyyy too dude-heavy. It's one thing to be a moron, but to also look and act like one seems excessive. But here were acres of them. Unless there's been a demographic upgrade and some basic order established at what should be an oasis of natural peace and beauty, Usal is probably still a free-range human zoo of hats-backward remedial readers and their vacant-eyed female consorts.
DR. FAUCI has been more than a match for the cretinous Republican demagogues failing to Gotcha him. Blaming the covid catastrophe on Fauci ignores the fact that The Big Bazoo was America's boss man at the time, so why didn't the BB, often passing out crackpot medical advice himself as Fauci winced at how dangerously stupid boss man was, also make covid policy? I'll answer that — because Trump was and is wholly unfit to run anything but his inherited real estate office, nevermind our doomed country whose doom he has hastened.
AS HAS BIDEN, the two of them comprising a dual national destruction derby. But Biden has an excuse: he's out of it, not in charge of anything, a dead man walking. “Our democracy” is being run by un-elected people who shoot up the old bag man with the latest in pharmaceutical speed and shove him out there to slur his way off the teleprompter.
GOTTA AGREE with Fort Bragg mayor Bernie Norvell. Via an intelligent, sustained Marbut-based strategy, FB has retrieved central Fort Bragg from its population of menacing vagabonds. Ukiah, if it had even a dollop of reality-based leadership, could do the same.
UKIAH'S homeless flotsam includes unreformed criminals, free range drug addicts and drunks, leavened by a population of the untreated mentally ill, the latter excluded from the dubious services of Ukiah's helping professionals because the intractable are “non-reimbursable,” and, no, Mother Teresa would not be welcome in the county seat.
WHO'S MARBUT? He's a brisk Republican of the better sort who has successfully cleaned up towns large and small by persuading them to apply his tough love strategies to their unhoused populations. He was paid about 60 grand by our county supervisors to have a look at Mendo, but Mendo's helping pros, sensing a loss of revenue if they were to lose any sector of the dysfunctional poor, rose up en masse against Marbut's advice, and, of course, the Supervisors caved.
MARBUT offered a simple strategy for dealing with the human casualties of berserk capitalism, which was, essentially, take care of the homegrown walking wounded, give the professional deadbeats a couple of free meals and send them outta here to, uh, Portland, where they were headed in the first place before they discovered how easy it was to live free in Ukiah.
KEN MCCORMICK (Ukiah Vagrant Watch): “The problem we encounter today is that cities have largely destroyed much of their earlier-existing housing stock that catered to very-low-income populations, and have imposed restrictions that prevent construction of new housing that could be suitable.”
BOWER PARK CLOSURE BEGINNING JULY 1, 2024
Bower Park (Gualala) will be closed for hazardous tree removal and fire fuel mitigation measures beginning July 1, 2024. This includes all areas of the park, including the restrooms, tennis courts, group picnic area, basketball court, baseball field, play area, and outdoor theater.
For any additional information, please contact Mendocino County General Services Agency at 707-234-6050.
MAGA HEADQUARTERS, SOUTH BOONVILLE
YOU'RE A NATCH FOR MENDO, CRAIG. YOU CAN'T LEAVE!
Pure Spirituality in the Land of Fetty/Meth/Coke/Smack/Oxy/Weed
O Radiant Atmans,
Sitting in front of public computer #5 at the Mendocino County Library on a warm afternoon in Ukiah, California, a "housing navigator" has contacted me and a meeting is scheduled for tomorrow morning. She is trying to get me into a motel, with a social services agency paying for it short term, so that I have a place to go to on Sunday June 9th at noon when I must leave the Building Bridges Homeless Resource Center. Otherwise, the last two dental appointments are June 19th for a routine cleaning and July 19th to have the crown replacement done, following a recent successful root canal.
Beyond that, I have no need of being in Mendocino County, and am free to go where I need to go and do what I need to do. To those who are still sane in the American experiment with freedom and democracy, feel free to get in touch with me. There is still a crucial need for a spiritual revolution on planet earth, and as always, the Goddess goes ahead of us and prepares the way.
Craig Louis Stehr
c/o Building Bridges Homeless Resource Center
1045 South State Street, Ukiah, CA 95482
Email: craiglouisstehr@gmail.com
TOM ALLMAN:
It's taken several days for me to comprehend the loss of my friend, Tony Craver.
Some people are bigger than life. Some people use wisdom (and experience) to help other people become better. I truly believe that everyone was put here for a specific purpose.
Tony Craver was bigger than life: His voice, his stature, his reasoning ability and his humor.
He was a leader, he was a family-man and he was a friend. I had never put any thought into not having the ability to call him up and get an answer to a question. But, now that is a fact. Tony's death is being discussed throughout our county (and beyond), but I hope people talk about his life. He had the ability to mediate, negotiate and to honestly tell people when they were about to make a mistake. And yes, sometimes, he had the innate ability to "read" and express his opinion of them
I assure you that you never wanted to be on the receiving end of one of "these" discussions.
His choice of words often emphasized his feelings (enough said on that) and he had no problem telling anyone his opinion. However, and very importantly, he actively listened and would change his mind if he agreed with whomever he was speaking with.
Tony and I yelled at each other (rarely though), laughed with each other (often) and most importantly, respected each other (always). He had the cunning ability to read a situation correctly and make a good first decision. This was clear to all during the early 90's, during Redwood Summer when he was the Area Commander on the Coast.
I was honored to have his endorsement, along with Sheriff Tuso during all four of my campaigns. He was a mentor, a strong leader and a friend. He changed my life for the better.
Rest In Peace my Good Friend. You were very appreciated and you are sincerely missed. I hope that you and Norm are together, discussing politics and guns. On a very personal note, you were a man who helped make me succeed with my career. Thank you.
CHRIS SKYHAWK: I liked Tony Craver too. Back in the 1990s when we were VERY active protesting corporate over-harvesting of timberlands, when he showed up he always treated us humanely, which sometimes didn’t happen that way. Oh sure, he would clear the area, make arrests if he had to, but he was never abusive or disrespectful to anyone on either side of the dispute. I once heard him say, “Just because we sometimes arrest people, you don't have to take their dignity away.” I love that!
IF YOU DROVE NORTH on Highway 101 you had the pleasure of driving through my home town and under the Willits Arch.
You would also pass the Ridgewood Ranch home of Seabiscuit with its premier at the Noyo Theatre a cherished memory.
While a Bypass turned US101 to CA20 and removed the sight of the Arch and the theatre, they both still bring joy to its citizens as the best little town in California.
LOVE ME, I'M A LIBERAL:
The Case for Changing the name of Fort Bragg - Headline Humboldt interview with Phil Zwerling.
Recently, Phil Zwerling was interviewed by Headline Humboldt about why the name of fort bragg should be changed.
Listen to hear the hidden history of both Braxton Bragg and the fort that commemorates his name.
CATCH OF THE DAY, Tuesday, June 4, 2024
ISIDRO BARAJAS, Geyserville/Willits. Petty theft with priors, false ID, resisting, failure to appear.
EMMA BECHTOL, Ukiah. Failure to appear, probation revocation.
ANTONIO DELOSSANTOS-ROJAS, Ukiah. Controlled substance for sale.
ALDAR FRAGOSO, Redwood Valley. Resisting.
MELODIE HUGHES, Willits. Controlled substance.
DEREK NIX, Fort Bragg. Battery with serious injury, petty theft.
STEVEN NOVOA, Ukiah. Domestic battery, child endangerment.
DAVID PACHECO JR., Ukiah. Robbery.
RICKEY PATEREAU, Willits. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.
JESUS RAMOS-RIVAS, Healdsburg//Ukiah. County parole violation, resisting.
IZAAK SMITH, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol&drugs.
CHRISTINA STEED, Rio Dell/Ukiah. Failure to appear.
KRYSTAL WILLIAMS, Willits. Grand theft, controlled substance, probation revocation.
SCOTTY WILLIS, Ukiah. Battery with serious injury, failure to appear, probation revocation. (Frequent flyer.)
KYLEE WOOD, Willits. Controlled substance, paraphernalia, conspiracy, smuggling controlled substance into jail.
TYLER WOOD, Ukiah. Domestic battery.
SOMETHING WRONG
Editor:
Something is wrong with the commentary supporting a climate bond — as endorsed by a number of environmental groups and Gov. Gavin Newsom — with the argument that the climate bond would add additional support, and resource restoration, to other state programs the governor has launched. News: a great portion of Newsom’s climate initiative has been defunded in his new proposed state budget, due to fiscal calamities brought on by the governor himself.
Restoration has become a big business (billions of dollars spent to recover resources). They want you to spend more money to recover resources that should have been protected by their respective responsible agencies. Why pay to recover resources that are not protected? Is that not money down the toilet? Examples: 1973, the Forest Practice Act was approved due to concerns of diminished forest resources. Now, in 2024, our forests are in no better shape. Almost every river or stream in the state is listed as impaired by various pollutants.
Recovering damaged resources is very expensive. We need politicians who will support agency oversight of our resources. Protect it first — before you spend billions.
Alan Levine
Santa Rosa
IT COULD GET HAIRY
Editor:
Democrats are in denial about the likelihood of Donald Trump’s insurrection succeeding this fall. It’s past time for those of us who fear a dictatorship to start thinking about what it would look like and what we can do to fight it.
For starters, another Executive Order 9066 will order the creation of a huge gulag for Americans, especially those of Hispanic origin. The net being cast for undocumented people will have to include American citizens, at least until they can prove they are here legally. There will be a national pregnancy registry to ensure pregnant women don’t seek abortions, which will be illegal anywhere.
Internationally, Ukraine and most of Eastern Europe will become part of Russia. China will take over Taiwan, as well as other far eastern countries. The U.S. will abrogate treaties, erasing international trade (especially with Europe), commerce and tourism between Trump states and Biden states will cease, and the economy will tank.
Think this will just be a short stint of Republicanism, like the administrations of the Bushes and Ronald Reagan? Think again. Once the dictatorship begins, democracy in America will end. For good. Look up Project 2025 and Agenda47. Let’s start planning for a counter insurgency while we still can. Next year that will be illegal.
Walt Frazer
Graton
WHEN HYDROPOWER RUNS DRY
The struggle of the world’s largest source of renewable last year could have important implications for the fight against climate change.
by Manuela Andreoni
Global pollution from electricity generation was set to fall last year, thanks to the growth of renewable energy. Then came the droughts.
Hydropower, the biggest source of renewable energy in the world, was crippled by lack of rain in several countries last year, driving up emissions as countries turned to fossil fuels to fill the gap. To cope with the electricity shortfall, China and India turned to coal plants, and Colombia to natural gas.
A recent report by the International Energy Agency showed that hydropower’s decline last year pushed countries to use dirtier sources of energy that produced an extra 170 million metric tons of carbon dioxide. That’s like turning on an extra 42 coal-fired power plants for a year. In China, the worst-hit country, hydroelectricity generation saw the steepest fall in the past two decades, according to the I.E.A.
This year, the dip in hydropower has continued in some countries, including Ecuador and Turkey, as temperatures continue to shatter records. Because its giant hydroelectric dams didn’t have enough water, Canada imported more electricity from the United States than it had done in over a decade, as my colleague Ivan Penn wrote this week.
But even in rainier years, hydropower comes with a catch.
Today, I want to explain why this century-old technology is struggling, why it may not be as clean as many people think and also why, despite all this, experts believe it still has an important role to play.
As Joe Bernardi, who tracks the industry for Global Energy Monitor, told me: “Hydropower remains a key piece of the global transition away from fossil fuels.”
Why hydropower has declined
Climate change’s role in the struggles of hydropower plants isn’t always clear. But studies have shown that pumping more carbon into the atmosphere changes precipitation patterns, increases the evaporation of water and melts glaciers that feed into some of the world’s biggest rivers.
All of this can dry up reservoirs that fuel hydropower plants, making it harder for countries to abandon dirty sources of energy that contribute to global warming.
Last year, El Niño, the weather pattern that makes many parts of the world dryer and warmer, added to the hydroelectric sector’s challenges. El Niño is associated with lower rainfall in several parts of the world that have large hydropower dams, such as the northwest of the United States and the southwest of China.
In the United States, hydropower generation fell 6 percent last year. The decline was mostly attributed to high temperatures having melted snow too quickly in the Northwest, leading to huge water loss that curbed energy production in hydropower plants.
In China, hydropower generation fell around 4.9 percent last year, according to the I.E.A., because of a severe drought in the southwest provinces of Sichuan and Yunnan, which can generate almost half of the country’s hydroelectricity. Still, renewables have grown so much in China that there is reason to believe that the country’s emissions may have peaked last year, as Carbon Brief reported.
Connectivity helps
Climate change doesn’t lead to drier conditions everywhere. In some parts of the world, it increases rain. In Brazil, lack of rain has dried up large dams that fuel power plants in the north, while frightening floods have come to the south, where there are even larger dams.
While climate change is still expected to present enormous challenges for hydropower in Brazil, rain in one part of the country can help offset drought in another. But that can happen only because Brazil’s grid is fully interconnected, meaning that the energy that each plant produces can be directed to almost any part of the country that needs it.
Experts say a better connected electric system in the United States and Canada would help the region cope with hydropower declines. Instead of one fully interconnected grid, the United States has three grids that connect only in a few points and share little power between them, as my colleagues Nadja Popovich and Brad Plumer explained.
“Most models suggest that a more interconnected grid is a better grid,” Shelley Welton, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania who helped write a recent report on the United States’ grid, told Penn. “I do think there is power in being interconnected across North America. We need scenario planning. We need long-term planning.”
A new way to think about hydropower
Unstable water cycles aren’t the only problem plaguing hydro. Methane emissions from organic matter that accumulates in reservoirs are an increasing source of concern, though they’re not yet fully understood. And a growing number of experts have pointed to hydropower’s overall carbon footprint, Inside Climate News reported last year. The construction of hydropower plants has led to significant biodiversity loss, as large ecosystems get flooded after dams are built.
Still, some policymakers are counting on hydroelectricity to help decarbonize their economies. Hydropower power plants that can be built to work as enormous batteries, called pumped hydro, are spreading around the world, as my colleagues Mira Rojanasakul and Max Bearak described last year. Importantly, these plants can often be built without large, traditional dams.
Still, many governments that rely on hydropower plants are projected to struggle to deliver as much electricity as they have historically. Experts suggest that these governments should gradually shift to using hydropower as a backup to intermittent renewable sources of electricity, like solar and wind, instead.
Bernardi told me that, while global warming can present a short-term challenge to hydropower, governments can avoid longer term problems by building more renewable power sources that can fill the gap when hydro can’t.
“Many hydropower plants are dispatchable,” he said, meaning that “they can be turned on and off as needed, making them a crucial part of the electric grid around the world.”
Why U.S. wind is struggling
When President Biden signed the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, it was expected to set off a boom in renewable energy, with hefty tax breaks that would make solar and wind power cheaper than fossil fuels.
So far, however, that dream has come only partly true. Solar panel installations are indeed soaring to record highs in the United States, as are batteries that can store energy for later. But wind power has struggled, both on land and in the ocean.
The country is now adding less wind capacity each year than before the law was passed.
Some factors behind the wind industry’s recent slowdown are more easily fixed, such as snarled supply chains. But wind power is also more vulnerable than solar power to many of the biggest logistical hurdles that hinder energy projects today: a lack of transmission lines, a lengthy permitting process and a growing backlash against new projects in many communities.
It’s still possible that wind power could rebound. In fact, some experts argue that the recent slowdown is only a temporary artifact of tax policy. But if wind power continues to stagnate, that could make the fight against global warming much harder, experts say.
“Right now, solar is pretty much in line” with what experts projected, said Trevor Houser, a partner at the Rhodium Group, a research firm that has tried to model the effects of the climate law. “But wind really needs to grow by quite a bit. Going forward, we’re definitely much more concerned about wind.” — Brad Plumer and Nadja Popovich
(NY Times)
ON-LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY
Not to worry, folks. Today in Ct the Governor officially honors Pride Month; a massive ‘Pride Flag’ has been raised over the State Capitol. And when I say massive I mean it’s the largest flag you’ve ever seen.
There will be festivities all day inside the Capitol building and on Capitol grounds. Last night some state official gave this absurd militant speech, inviting citizens down to celebrate Pride, implying if you don’t come — and bring your children — you are homophobic.
Last night in the Northend of Hartford — formerly the African American district before the entire city became the African American district – a 2 year old girl out wandering the streets at 11:00 pm was run down and killed … by a speeding BMW that left the scene of the accident. It never ceases to amaze me, all the expensive foreign cars parked on the streets of ‘de Hood’. And not all of them are stolen. It’s strange the local news reporting this incident with a straight face, How awful!, without asking why a 2 year old was out in the road at 11 pm.
“I WAS MADE OUT to be nothing but a sparring partner. It bothered me to be run down like that. I was more than that. I knew it. I was a smaller heavyweight, but I could fight the big guys. I’m proud of what I did, but all I ever wanted was to be a good fighter and a good person.”
— Jimmy Ellis
l was a very, very, good boxer who held half of the heavyweight title for two years during Ali’s exile, and is primarily remembered for his lifelong friendship with, and occasional rivalry with, Muhammad Ali.
When Ali was stripped of the world title for refusing to enter the military, the World Boxing Association staged an eight man title elimination tournament that featured most of the top heavyweight contenders. Ellis, ranked eighth in the world after eight consecutive wins, was invited to be in the tournament.
In the first round of the tournament, Ellis beat Leotis Martin on August 5, 1967, in Houston, Texas. Ellis, a major underdog, beat Martin to a pulp, and the referee stopped it in the ninth round.
In the second round Ellis met tough Argentine strongman Oscar Bonavena on December 2, 1967, in Ellis’s hometown of Louisville. Ellis stunned the experts by knocking down Bonavena in the third and tenth rounds to win a unanimous decision.
In the tournament final, Ellis faced Jerry Quarry on April 27, 1968, in Oakland, California. Ellis fought what Sports Illustrated called: “a tactical masterpiece."
Quarry, who fought with a broken back, lost a 15 round decision, and Ellis took the vacant WBA Heavyweight Championship.
After the fight a dejected Quarry said:
“If they'd given me the decision, I'd have given it back. I didn't deserve it."
Ellis would defend his title once before losing a unification fight to Joe Frazier on February 16, 1970.
Ellis finally retired at 35 after a training injury left him partially blind in his left eye. Ellis finished his career with a record of 40–12–1 with 24 knockouts.
THE VERDICT IS IN ON THE SUPREME COURT
by Maureen Dowd
After Donald Trump was found guilty of 34 felony counts in a Manhattan court, conservatives — from Marjorie Taylor Greene to George Santos to the Heritage Foundation — began posting upside-down American flags on X in solidarity with the “political prisoner,” as Trump absurdly styles himself.
It was the same upside-down symbol that insurrectionists carried to the Capitol on Jan. 6 to proclaim that they thought the election was stolen and that was seen flying over Justice Samuel Alito’s house in suburban Virginia even as the Supreme Court was considering whether to hear a case about the 2020 presidential election.
Now that it’s being used to show support for a felonious ex-president, Alito will have an even harder time trying to pretend he’s oblivious about its meaning.
I don’t need a black robe to hand down a judgment on the Supreme Court.
It’s corrupt, rotten and hurting America.
The once august court, which the public held in highest esteem, is now hopelessly corroded: It is in the hands of a cabal of religious and far-right zealots, including a couple of ethical scofflaws with MAGA wives.
Chief Justice John Roberts, who dreamed of being remembered as a great unifier of the court, is refusing to rein in Justices Alito and Clarence Thomas, who are thumbing their noses at the public and their own oaths to dispense fair and impartial justice.
When Alito pushed a willing conservative majority into yanking away women’s right to control their own bodies, he was, in essence, blaming women: You get pregnant, you’ll have to live with it.
In this latest firestorm, he blamed one woman in particular: his wife, Martha-Ann.
Somehow, in Alito’s world, women are to blame.
It was shocking when The Times’s Jodi Kantor reported that the upside-down flag cherished by “Stop the Steal” marchers was hanging outside Alito’s house. It was even more shocking when we learned that another flag carried by “Stop the Steal” rioters on Jan. 6, the “Appeal to Heaven” flag, was flying outside the Alitos’ vacation home in New Jersey as cases concerning the Jan. 6 assault and riot were pending at the court. This flag symbolizes support for Donald Trump and a desire to infuse the federal government with a lot more Christianity.
“In coming weeks, the justices will rule on two climactic cases involving the storming of the Capitol on Jan. 6, including whether Mr. Trump has immunity for his actions,” Ms. Kantor wrote. “Their decisions will shape how accountable he can be held for trying to overturn the last presidential election and his chances for re-election in the upcoming one.”
Alito’s conservative Christian, right-wing, deeply aggrieved views about the culture wars are reflected in his speeches, decisions and now flags that are red flags.
He is refusing to recuse himself from the two cases about the attempted coup on Jan. 6. (One concerns the question of whether Mr. Trump is immune from prosecution for his role egging on rioters; the other involves a federal obstruction law used to charge the rioters.)
When leading Democratic lawmakers demanded Alito’s recusal, he wrote back, trying to make Martha-Ann Alito the fall guy. Alito has clearly heard enough criminal appeals to know you’ve got to point the finger at somebody else when you’re guilty.
“My wife is fond of flying flags,” he wrote to the lawmakers. “I am not. She was solely responsible for having flagpoles put up at our residence and our vacation home and has flown a wide variety of flags over the years.”
He’s happy to take away the rights of millions of American women to control their bodies, but respects the right of his wife to control their incendiary flags. While he’s on the Supreme Court, he said, Martha-Ann wields the gavel at home.
“I was not even aware of the upside-down flag until it was called to my attention,” he wrote. “As soon as I saw it, I asked my wife to take it down, but for several days, she refused.” He said there was absolutely nothing he could do to get that pesky seditious flag taken down sooner.
He was oblivious about the symbolism of the “Appeal to Heaven” Pine Tree Flag, he claimed.
Clarence Thomas is also awash in ethical snarls, some related to his wife. Ginni Thomas’s supporters also tried to defend her activism related to Jan. 6 by saying she is an independent spouse.
But it doesn’t wash. As Jane Mayer wrote in The New Yorker, Ms. Thomas is a lawyer and a prominent member of hard-right groups and “has declared that America is in existential danger because of the ‘deep state’ and the ‘fascist left,’ which includes ‘transsexual fascists.’”
In a Facebook post, she linked to a news item about the Jan. 6 protest and wrote “LOVE MAGA people!!!!”
Mayer noted that it is getting harder to dismiss Ginni Thomas’s actions as harmless, given that the “Supreme Court appears likely to secure victories for her allies in a number of highly polarizing cases — on abortion, affirmative action, and gun rights.”
Senator Richard Blumenthal asked Roberts to make Justice Thomas recuse himself from the case on Trump and the insurrection, but Thomas refused.
The Supreme Court has two decisions on abortion cases due any day.
“The Fall of Roe,” an insightful new book by the New York Times reporters Elizabeth Dias and Lisa Lerer, laid out the events and the strategy — and the failure of the Democrats to recognize the threat — that led to the fall of Roe. There was a determined group of religious zealots with a long-term master plan to pack the court with religious zealots.
“These conservative Catholic and evangelical Christian operators believed they were fighting the biggest moral battle of the modern age, and forced America to debate on their terms,” they wrote. “But despite their public appeals, they did not convince broad swaths of Americans of the righteousness of their cause. Instead, they remained a minority, and leveraged the structures of American democracy in their favor, building a framework strong enough to withstand not only the political system but also a society moving rapidly against them. They took power to remake the nation in their image. And they were far more organized than their opponents or the public ever knew.”
Now it’s up to Democrats to turn the tables and see if they can use this issue in the November election to save the country and women’s rights.
AS SOLAR POWER SURGES, U.S. WIND IS IN TROUBLE
by Brad Plumer and Nadia Popovich
When President Biden signed the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, it was expected to set off a boom in renewable energy, with hefty tax breaks that would make solar and wind power cheaper than fossil fuels.
So far, however, that dream has only come partly true. Solar panel installations are indeed soaring to record highs in the United States, as are batteries that can store energy for later. But wind power has struggled, both on land and in the ocean.
The country is now adding less wind capacity each year than before the law was passed.
Some factors behind the wind industry’s recent slowdown may be temporary, such as snarled supply chains. But wind power is also more vulnerable than solar power to many of the biggest logistical hurdles that hinder energy projects today: a lack of transmission lines, a lengthy permitting process and a growing backlash against new projects in many communities.
If wind power continues to stagnate, that could make the fight against global warming much harder, experts say. Many plans for quickly shifting the country away from fossil fuels envision a large expansion of both solar and wind, because the two sources generate electricity at different hours and can complement each other. A boom in solar power alone, which runs only in daytime, isn’t enough.
Some of the early predictions that the Inflation Reduction Act would help slash U.S. greenhouse gas emissions roughly 40 percent below 2005 levels by 2030 depended on a rapid acceleration of both solar and wind power this decade. But it is now far less certain that will happen.
“Right now, solar is pretty much in line” with what experts projected, said Trevor Houser, a partner at the Rhodium Group, a research firm that has tried to model the effects of the climate law. “But wind really needs to grow by quite a bit. Going forward, we’re definitely much more concerned about wind.”
Why Wind Power Is Struggling
Wind and solar power are often lumped together, but they have important differences that partly explain why one is slowing and the other is thriving right now.
For one, wind power is much more sensitive to location. Wind turbines in a gusty area can generate eight times as much electricity as turbines in an area with just half the breeze. For solar power, the difference between sunny spots and less sunny spots is considerably smaller. That means developers can’t just build wind farms anywhere.
A lot more wind power is needed to reach U.S. climate goals, experts say, especially if the country wants to do it quickly and cheaply.
In the United States, the best places for wind tend to be in the blustery Midwest and Great Plains. But many areas are now crowded with turbines and existing electric grids are clogged, making it difficult to add more projects. Energy companies want to expand the grid’s capacity to transport even more wind power to population centers, but getting permits for transmission lines and building them has become a brutal slog that can take more than a decade.
“Getting wind projects built is getting a lot harder,” said Sandhya Ganapathy, chief executive of EDP Renewables North America, a leading wind and solar developer. “The low-hanging fruit, the easier access places are gone.”
Because they can reach the height of skyscrapers, wind turbines are more noticeable than solar farms and often attract more intense opposition from local communities. In Idaho, the entire State Legislature has opposed a new wind farm that would be visible from a World War II historic site. A few years ago, hundreds of residents were arrested on Oahu, Hawaii, for blocking the construction of a relatively small wind project.
“We have not seen examples of people being willing to risk arrest to stop solar projects,” said Matthew Eisenson, who tracks opposition to renewable energy at the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia University.
Across the country, hundreds of local governments have restricted or banned wind or solar projects. If a county blocks a solar array, a developer might be able to move next door. But it’s not always as easy to find a new location for wind farms.
Wind turbines are more visible than solar farms and often attract more intense opposition.
The wind industry has also been hampered by soaring equipment costs after the pandemic wrecked supply chains and inflation spiked. While those factors initially hurt solar, too, the solar industry has adjusted much faster, with China nearly doubling its manufacturing capacity for panels over the last two years. Wind supply chains, which are dominated by a few manufacturers in China, Europe and the United States, have yet to fully recover.
The cost increases have been devastating for offshore wind projects in the Northeast, where developers have canceled more than half the projects they planned to build this decade.
Wind isn’t languishing only in the United States. While a record 117 gigawatts of new wind capacity came online last year globally, virtually all of that growth was in China. In the rest of the world, developers weren’t installing wind turbines any faster than they were in 2020.
The Case for Wind Power
Wind power can be incredibly useful for cutting the greenhouse gas emissions that are rapidly heating the planet, experts say.
That may surprise some: After all, the wind doesn’t always blow when it’s needed, and the average turbine only runs at maximum power about one-third of the time.
But when energy modelers have studied the lowest-cost ways to eliminate U.S. emissions, they have often concluded that it would be invaluable to get about one-third or more of the nation’s electricity from wind, up from about 10 percent today, alongside a mix of other technologies like solar, batteries, nuclear power, hydrogen and gas plants that can capture and bury their carbon.
That’s because wind turbines provide very cheap electricity, and they often ramp up at night, when solar power is unavailable. (As the energy writer Michael Thomas recently showed, this is readily apparent in Texas, where wind and solar power complement each other.)
New, long-distance transmission lines are crucial for unlocking American wind energy, but permitting and building them has become a brutal slog.
If wind power can’t expand as quickly as many proponents hope, the United States would need to rely much more heavily on other technologies that can supply carbon-free power throughout the day, such as new nuclear reactors or advanced geothermal power. But those technologies are still in earlier stages of development and are currently more expensive than wind.
“Limiting wind is the worst possible thing you could tell me we have to overcome” in trying to cut emissions to zero, said Ben Haley, a co-founder of Evolved Energy Research, an energy modeling firm.
Can Wind Make a Comeback?
It’s still possible that wind power could rebound. In fact, some experts argue that the recent slowdown is only a temporary artifact of tax policy.
It can take years to develop a wind farm and most companies had raced to finish projects by the end of 2021, which is when the last big federal tax credit for wind power was set to expire. The following year, Congress approved new subsidies in the Inflation Reduction Act, but it will take time for companies to refill the pipeline of wind projects in response.
“There are signs that wind is starting to turn the corner,” said John Hensley, vice president for markets and policy analysis at the American Clean Power Association, a renewable industry trade group.
Mr. Hensley said that U.S. wind manufacturing was beginning to ramp up thanks to new tax incentives, while costs were starting to come down. Last year, orders for new turbines increased by 130 percent, although many of them won’t be delivered until 2025 or later.
The wind industry has been struggling with soaring equipment costs after the pandemic wrecked supply chains and interest rates spiked.
Some states are now trying to make it easier to build renewable energy: Illinois, Michigan and Minnesota have all passed laws making it harder for local governments to restrict wind and solar. The federal government has issued new rules to accelerate the planning of transmission lines.
Demand for wind could also rise as a growing number of states, tech companies and hydrogen producers are trying to secure clean electricity around the clock, rather than just a burst of solar power in the daytime.
California is a case in point. While the state leads the nation in drawing electricity from the sun, it still relies heavily on natural gas after dark. Batteries can help shift some of that solar power into the evening, but to meet its climate goals, California is counting on several giant new transmission lines that will import electricity from sprawling wind farms in New Mexico and Wyoming.
Even if the economics improve, wind power still faces political hurdles. Many experts say federal legislation is still needed to ease the process of building high-voltage transmission lines. But that’s unlikely to happen in a sharply divided Congress. And the November election looms, with former President Donald J. Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, promising to obstruct offshore wind farms if he returns to the White House.
The fate of the wind industry could be a test for whether the country can build large energy projects more generally, said Ryan Jones, a co-founder of Evolved Energy Research. “If we can’t,” he said, “getting to zero emissions is pretty darn challenging.”
(NY Times)
'I was 12 years in New York. I bought a $38,000 home in The Bronx. I had an apartment in Manhattan and a couple of cars. I had a couple of cars in Cuba, too. I had plenty of clothes, everything, jewelry. I was a flashy dresser. I lived according to my situation and helped many people, artist people. I spent my money in the right way. I had $250,000 in property in Cuba. It all went to Castro. He left nothing…
…If I stay in Cuba they kiII me. All those jealous people. They never did nothing in their life. I was champion of the world when they came to power, they wanted to put me down.'
— Kid Gavilan
“I WAS BROKEN HEARTED and at a crossroads in my life when I first went up the Skrang River in Sarawak Borneo. The people I met there, ten years ago, who hosted me and my crew in their longhouse, who fed us and looked after us, treated me with great kindness. When the Chiefs invited me back for their yearly harvest festival, GAWAI, I said I would come.
It took me a while, but in the end I did return.
I have to admit, I was wondering if all the bad shit running through my head the first time I went up that river was still lurking there — if I’d managed to entirely put it away. I was fulfilling a promise. And I was curious to see how things had changed.
The Iban people are wonderful hosts. It is true that once, not too long ago, they were headhunters — a proud tradition reflected in the faded tattoos on the fingers of the elders — and dusty bouquet of skulls that hung over my head in the longhouse the first time I was there.
The skulls are gone now. And there are more TV’s and cell phones… And when I arrived this time, friends and relatives from all over the world had returned for the festival. The forest has been somewhat denuded by timbering, but much is the same.
We went to great lengths to retrace our steps — so some of you might feel you’ve seen this show before. Which you have.
But things are different now.
The drinking was non-stop. The Iban karaoke, insane. And my idea to get a traditional, hand-tapped jungle tattoo on my sternum was probably ill advised.
But it’s one of the most beautiful places on earth-as remote and as different from where I grew up as anyplace could be. The people are lovely — and the food, as everywhere in Malaysia, incredible.
It was, in the end, the best kind of adventure.”
–Anthony Bourdain
RED SKELTON'S SECRET TO THE PERFECT MARRIAGE
Two times a week we go to a nice restaurant, have a little beverage, good food and companionship. She goes on Tuesdays, I go on Fridays.
We also sleep in separate beds. Hers is in California and mine is in Texas.
I take my wife everywhere, but she keeps finding her way back.
I asked my wife where she wanted to go for our anniversary. “Somewhere I haven't been in a long time!” she said. So I suggested the kitchen.
We always hold hands. If I let go, she shops.
She has an electric blender, electric toaster and electric bread maker. She said, “There are too many gadgets, and no place to sit down!” So I bought her an electric chair.
My wife told me the car wasn't running well because there was water in the carburetor. I asked where the car was. She told me, “In the lake.”
She got a mud pack and looked great for two days. Then the mud fell off.
She ran after the garbage truck, yelling, “Am I too late for the garbage?” The driver said, “No, jump in!”
Remember: Marriage is the number one cause of divorce.
I married Miss Right. I just didn't know her first name was “Always.”
I haven't spoken to my wife in 18 months. I don't like to interrupt her.
The last fight was my fault though. My wife asked, “What's on the TV?” I said, “Dust!”
Booking log photos, take a good look at Scotty Willis.
I wrote a thread yesterday where I described an incident with a business owner and a UPD Sargent. Ladies and Gentlemen, the homeless man was, Scotty Willis.
The Sargent knows Scotty, his past and his propensity to be violent, but he felt the need to counsel the business owner. Is UPD waiting for Scotty to murder someone? The day in question that I wrote about, there was cause to arrest Scotty on numerous things. Instead this Sargent chose to protect him.
No matter how you feel about homeless Scotty Willis needs to be incarcerated either in jail or mental institution. The street roaming free is not the answer.
I will give you another name, Jaylan Travis. He is violent and homeless in Ukiah. There is more, my point is, the longer we allow elected officials, police, DA and judges to not take this seriously a tragedy is in our near future. I will predict they will all deflect blame.
Bernie Norvell seems to be the only elected official listening. Whether you like his plan in Ft. Bragg or not, he is taking action. I applaud him.
Agree 100%. No sympathy for these devils.
Yo, lol…
I have not seen Jahlan in awhile maybe he is in jail or psych.. Same with Jake…
mm 💕
Good Morning, 💕
This is why Ukiah does not need a CRU like FB !!!
We have to provide mobile crisis 24 hours a day 7 days a week.
We also have Dual Response, Street Medicine, The Heads Up Project, MOPs,
We need an effective system that is cohesive in its efforts and response .
Behavioral Health Information Notice No.: 23-025
Page 4
June 19, 2023
mental health and substance use related crises, and mobile crisis teams will be carrying, trained, and able to administer naloxone, this benefit is not intended to replace emergency medical services for medical emergencies.
Mobile crisis services include warm handoffs to appropriate settings and providers when the beneficiary requires additional stabilization and/or treatment services; coordination with and referrals to appropriate health, social and other services and supports, as needed; and short-term follow-up support to help ensure the crisis is resolved and the beneficiary is connected to ongoing care. Mobile crisis services are directed toward the beneficiary in crisis but may include contact with a family member(s) or other significant support collaterals) if the purpose of the collateral’s participation is to assist the beneficiary in addressing their behavioral health crisis and restoring the beneficiary to the highest possible functional level. For children and youth, in particular, mobile crisis teams shall work extensively with parents, caretakers and guardians, as appropriate and in a manner that is consistent with all federal and state laws related to minor consent, privacy and confidentiality. 3
Mobile crisis services are provided by a multidisciplinary mobile crisis team at the location where the beneficiary is experiencing the behavioral health crisis.
Locations may include, but are not limited to, the beneficiary’s home, school, or workplace, on the street, or where a beneficiary socializes. Pursuant to federal law, mobile crisis services claimed under this option cannot be provided in hospitals or other facility settings (described in section IV(i)).* Mobile crisis services shall be available to beneficiaries experiencing behavioral health crises 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and 365 days a year.
a. Existing Crisis Intervention Services
DHCS is not making any changes to the existing crisis intervention services and SUD crisis intervention services benefits covered under the SMHS, DMC and DMC-ODS delivery systems. Medi-Cal behavioral health delivery systems shall continue covering these services in accordance with existing federal and state, and contractual requirements. To the extent already allowed, Medi-Cal behavioral health delivery systems may provide crisis intervention services in settings or in a manner not allowed under the mobile crisis services benefit. For example, a Medi-Cal behavioral health delivery system may allow mobile crisis teams to provide qualifying crisis intervention services in a hospital emergency department. However, these services shall not qualify for the enhanced
3 Mobile crisis teams shall abide by all State and federal laws on minor consent. (See Fam. Code, §$
6924, 6929; Health & Saf. Code, § 124260; 42 C.F.R. §§ 2.11, 2.12, 2.14.)
4 42 U.S.C. § 1396w-6(b)(1)(A).
Behavioral Health Information Notice No.: 23-025
Page 5
June 19, 2023
matching rate available for mobile crisis services, and, as applicable, the MediCal behavioral health delivery system would remain responsible for the county share of the cost.
mm 💕
how are the three programs in Ukiah working out for Ukiah? do you see progress, fewer street level homeless? I can tell you how its working over here. sometimes one has to realize and admit what we planned and tried didn’t work. Sometimes the inability to pivot can be a problem. Head up and Cru are completely different, Mops has its place but doesn’t do what we do
It does not thats what I have been saying…and that is in fact the reason we do not need another program. We need to streamline and address what we have and what is in the works with the new laws in place. Your program is great for Fort Bragg which has a much smaller population, so in Ukiah adding more effective outreach and intervention is necessary but should be done without funding entirely new program. Utilize what we have and add more outreach to those existing services. There are still not enough inpatient beds to accommodate the influx of people needing treatment for Serious Mental Illness, so they will continue to not receive treatment & intervention that prevents crime and the mental decline that goes with it. So in reality what you have is addiction intervention not treatment for Serious Mental Illness, which will backfire. People need treatment for both simultaneously.
mm 💕
Well respectfully I disagree. The city of. Vallejo has reached out to help them build their Cru team. The city of Folsom and county of Sacramento is also asking questions. Our program could certainly be scaled up to a city of a million. Fortunately I guess for Ukiah their PD is not interested in the CRU model. I truly hope they get it figured out. We do also deal with crisis. Last year alone we had 300 crisis interventions. I’m for what ever works and I hope the county seat gets it figured out sooner or later. Mazi, I do however appreciate the conversation and your passion. Be well
Let me tell you, Bernie. If you are homeless and you want to live on the street and commit crime, you will be welcomed with open arms. Heck, we even built a trail for you to camp on that will get you anywhere in the city. You can even be a sex predator released from prison and your Parole Officer will let you wander our streets freely, he will even allow you to live on the streets. Oh, and when you get arrested for chasing three teenagers into a downtown business, a judge will release you to another part of our city if you promise to stay away from downtown. We even have a police sergeant who will advocate for you and scold business owners on your behalf.
It’s going very well here in Mo-Town, minus the music.
Doing the same thing over and over, and adding new twists to the failed efforts and programs will only maintain or increase the status quo which is exactly what Redwood Community Services is counting on so that the never ending stream of taxpayer dollars continues to flow into Camille’s pockets. I support Bernie’s successful approach and hope that he gets support from the other Board member.
Absolutely, if RCS and RQMC (both of the Schraeder’s companies) receive millions from the County. What incentive do you have to solve the problem? The answer, NONE! Especially if the BOS hands you the money and never accounts for it.
The County ended the ASO model (RQMC) if I remember right. June is contract month for the Schraeders, we’ll see how that (funding) all pans out in the coming weeks.
MAGA Marmon
Well Tom you captured “talks with Tony” to a T!
Certainly going to miss him and certainly we are better people for knowing him. Great perspective.
Gaston, California
The vid below amplifies the message:
“Once the dictatorship begins, democracy in America will end.”
BE SURE TO UNTAP MUTE
https://t.co/YDkPsdTfxF
(https://x.com/specialrose660/status/1797929474845213033?s=03)
Correction
GRATON, California…sheesh.
Episode 188: Robert Marbut
(5 days ago)
Read More:
https://www.shiftingculturepodcast.com/episodes/episode-188-robertmarbut
MAGA Marmon
Former Black Panther Leader Explains Why He Supports Trump For President
https://dailycaller.com/2024/06/04/black-panther-leader-david-hilliard-donald-trump-2024/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR2gBWUxP1cmcx_cwVbAyU2wiqBKX_3SyAeqmyaiuhyJ6hXNcK7r734U_eM_aem_ZmFrZWR1bW15MTZieXRlcw
MAGA Marmon