Mendocino County Today: Saturday 6/8/24

Sunset | Cooler | Local Events | Shields Radio | Harbor Boats | Kiger Caught | Odd Clouds | Budget Cutting | Ed Notes | Ukiah Construction | Panther Sports | Beach Swallow | Duh Hed | Palestine Party | Native Quinn | Arena Pizza | Eddie Mitchell | MCBA Initiative | Brovarney Book | Cancelation Notice | Yesterday's Catch | Hear Ye | Mail Slot | Marco Radio | Fattest Man | Lumpen Rap | Tony Murena | Balloon Cruise | Plankton Lobby | Nota Censoria | Don Jr | Bear Trot | Burger Deal | Sex & Money | Wine Talking | Bear Fatality | Jemima Day | Dignity Guns | Well-Bred | Stricken State | Dem Pranks | Seek Approval | More Airstrikes | Baby Cage | Four Hostages | Empire Acrobats

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TEMPERATURES will remain seasonable through the weekend with increasing marine influence near the coast. A moderate heat wave will build early next week. (NWS)

STEPHEN DUNLAP (Fort Bragg): We have 51F with a mix of fog & high clouds this Saturday morning on the coast. Generally clear skies are forecast but we never know what the fog will end up doing? Cooler temps for the weekend then warming back up next week.

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LOCAL EVENTS (this weekend)

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JIM SHIELDS:

Quick reminder: Meet The New Owner Of The Laytonville Long Valley Market

On Saturday, June 8th, Haji Alam, new owner of the Laytonville Long Valley Market, will appear on Jim Shields “This & That” radio program on Saturday, June 8th. Shields program can be heard every Saturday at 12 noon on KPFN 105.1 FM, also streamed live: http://www.kpfn.org Be sure and tune in to learn more details about the re-opening of Laytonville’s Long Valley Market. Alam will also appear at the Wednesday, June 26 Laytonville Area Municipal Advisor Council meeting. The meeting gets underway at 6:30pm at Laytonville Healthy Start.

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The Unforgettable Tony Craver

Tony Craver, 85, passed away on June 1 in Caldwell, Idaho. Tony was a big man with big ideas and a big voice to match. By far, the biggest of his big characteristics was his big heart.

Craver was with the Mendocino Sheriff’s Office for over three and a half decades, including stints as a resident deputy in Laytonville and as Coastal Commander. In 1998 he was elected to the first of two terms as Sheriff of Mendocino County.

Over the years, Tony and I talked about everything and anything we found interesting. In my book, if somebody can talk intelligently and make you laugh at the same time, I listen to them. I listened to Tony a lot.

When he was Sheriff we joined forces fighting the Supervisors over their short-sighted support of the Mental Health Department’s idiotic demand to close the Psychiatric Health Facility. Craver said that police frequently encounter individuals who are not lawbreakers, but merely folks who are mentally ill. “These people we pick up on a 5150 are not criminals,”

Craver said. “They’re just mentally ill individuals who need professional help.”

As a Marine Corps veteran, he told me, “The Marines made a man out of a boy who was crossing the line too much and headed for jail.” Here’s something I wrote back in 1998 when Tony won his first election as Sheriff.

“I knew 18 months ago after talking to Tony Craver in my office that he’d be our next Sheriff. It didn’t take a political genius to figure that out. Craver had a running start on his opponents with a constituent base that cuts across every social and economic strata in the county: He can yarn with the good ‘ol boys and he can discuss self-empowerment with the Old Hippies and the New Agers. Craver’s pragmatic, down-home approach on law enforcement issues (decriminalize pot, don’t over-react with enviro demonstrators, commitment to work with a Sheriff’s citizens’ advisory committee, priority to recruit community-approved resident deputies in Round Valley, etc.), guaranteed Tuesday’s election with 58 percent of the vote. The Sheriff’s Office will be in good hands with Craver.

“He’ll be creative, responsive and accountable. The voters made the right choice for the county’s Top Cop as we head into the 21st Century.” Four years later, an astounding 79 percent of the voters re-elected him to a second term.”

R.I.P. Tony C.

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CHOMO BUSTED IN WILLITS — BAIL SET AT A COOL MIL

In July of 2023, the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office initiated an investigation into the sexual assault of a minor. Throughout the nearly year-long investigation, Mendocino County Sheriff's Office Detectives established that the suspect, Christopher Kiger (40-year-old-male from Clearlake), had allegedly committed multiple acts of sexual abuse against a juvenile victim.

These acts included the continuous sexual abuse of a child, lewd or lascivious acts upon a child under the age of 14, unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor, oral copulation of a minor under 14, and sexual penetration with a foreign object.

Mendocino County Sheriff's Detectives learned that Kiger, upon learning of this investigation, fled the state of California in a suspected attempt to avoid arrest. This case was submitted to the Mendocino County District Attorney's Office for consideration of an arrest warrant against Kiger. The case was filed with the Superior Court of California in the County of Mendocino, and an arrest warrant was subsequently issued for Kiger's arrest.

In May of 2024, Sheriff's Detectives learned Kiger had possibly returned to the area. Detectives attempted to locate Kiger in Lake County where he has family members. During these attempts, Sheriff's Detectives learned that Kiger knew he was wanted and somehow knew the bail amount of his arrest warrant. Sheriff's Detectives learned that Kiger was avoiding capture until he could obtain the required amount of money for a bail bond. It should be noted that the bail had been set at $425,000, pursuant to the State of California bail schedule for the above offenses.

On 06-06-2024, Sheriff's Detectives were able to utilize investigative tools to track down and locate Kiger at a remote location on Williams Ranch Road near Willits where Kiger was believed to be staying and working on an illegal cannabis operation. Sheriff's Detectives located Kiger, who fled the area on foot into a nearby wooded area. After a short foot pursuit, Sheriff's Detectives were able to capture Kiger and take him into custody without any injuries sustained to Kiger or the pursuing Detectives. Kiger was booked into the Mendocino County Jail for the arrest warrant, which included charges of: Continual sexual abuse of a minor, Lewd or lascivious acts upon a child under the age 14, Oral copulation of a minor under 14, Penetration with a foreign object with victim under 14.

Sheriff's Detectives contacted a Judge with the Superior Court of California in the County of Mendocino and requested an increase for Kiger's bail as a result of his past fleeing of the state of California and his avoidance of being arrested once he returned. This request was granted and Kiger's bail was set at $1,000,000.

(Mendocino Sheriff’s Office)

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THE MIS-APPLIED WISDOM OF HIERONYMOUS BOSCH

by Mark Scaramella

At Tuesday’s Board meeting, Supervisor Glenn McGourty invoked Detective Hieronymous ‘Harry’ Bosch’s slogan, “Everybody counts or nobody counts” during the budget discussion. McGourty didn’t mention that in one of his early Bosch novels author Michael Connelly has detective Bosch strongly object to the political use of his pet slogan. Detective Bosch meant it to apply to crime victims, not the public at large — or Mendo bureaucracies.

As fictional slogans go, we prefer George Orwell’s quote from Animal Farm: “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others” because it more accurately captures the underlying attitude of politicians who like to put themselves first when making political and financial decisions as they exempt themselves from cuts as they pretend to be so objective and fair-minded with their less than equal subordinates.

The most surprising aspect of Tuesday’s Budget Hearing for the County’s 2024-2025 budget was the silence of the department heads whose budgets were slashed.

Back in 2010 when similar sized cuts were imposed on the departments, several department heads objected. Then-Sheriff Tom Allman even threatened to sue the Supervisors over his budget cuts because then-CEO Carmel Angelo had overspecified what parts of the Sheriff’s office she was cutting from the Sheriff’s budget. Later Allman backed off when the Board decided to let the Sheriff decide for himself what cuts he’d make. But the cuts were still imposed.

In 2024 as staffing continues to decline from those 2010 levels not one department head complained about the cuts imposed on all the departments, some of them substantial.

But, as Orwell notes, not all departments were required to absorb big cuts.

The Supervisors, for example, only took a tiny $26k cut, most of which was in deferred computer expenses.

The Executive Office was cut a mere $23k, also mostly in deferred computer expenses.

And rounding out the minimal cuts for the departments with the highest paid staff, we find that the County Counsel’s office was cut by only $49k, again, most of it by deferring computer costs.

Despite making a big deal out of hiring more staff in the Assessor’s office to catch up with badly lagging assessments, the Assessor’s office was cut by almost $1 million, more than half of which was for “regular employees.”

As we mentioned before, the District Attorney’s office took the biggest cut at over $1.8 million, more than half of which was for “regular employees.” Not a peep out of DA Eyster.

The Sheriff’s Office took a big hit too, but most of that was in equipment, not much in line staff.

Probation was cut by about $235k. But it could have been much bigger if not for Chief Probation Officer Izen Locatelli’s creative budget juggling. Locatelli explained that he has managed to eliminate the General Fund contribution to Juvenile Hall and might save even more money by “partnering” with Behavioral Health or Public Health regarding various services to probationers both adult and juvenile. Locatelli pointed out that his staffing costs have increased due to pay raises the Board approved, not from additional staff.

Despite these large cuts, Supervisor Ted Williams insisted that the County is still “deficit spending.” Williams also noted that the Assessor’s office is still behind in assessments even though they’ve hired several new assessor staffers. (Yes, we noticed the mixed message in hiring assessment staff while cutting their staff budget.) “The public thinks we have a revenue crisis,” said Williams; the “public” in this case being the AVA and a few private individuals who are following the ongoing revenue crisis. “We are not billing fully,” continued Williams, “not collecting fully, not assessing fully. Our software doesn’t work. And there’s some truth to that. There’s nothing in this presentation that addresses that fundamental problem. How do you address that? Are we not losing potential revenue every year going forward?”

Budget presenter/Acting Deputy CEO Tony Rakes had no answer, resorting to the CEO’s office standard reply that there is “ongoing activity” and “lots of efforts on processes and software for County,” adding that they are “working on” the software problem.

Williams followed up asking how far behind the tax collection process is, adding, “Every year some taxes due become uncollectable. We have to catch up on revenue. We can not continue to use one-time money. We have used $7 million in one-time money this year and it will get worse in future.”

CEO Darcy Antle had no specifics. All she could offer was more “we’re working on it” deflections.

“We are looking for outside help. Some have suggested we hire additional folks to assist. We are working with Human Resources and the Assessor. We are recruiting. We are working those avenues. Evaluating. Discussing what’s needed and what’s not working. There’s no short term fix. It took several years to get here… We hope that the use of one-time funds will be worked down over the year. There are active initiatives in process. We are looking at licensing, audits, a General Services reorganization, co-location of Fort Bragg’s Environmental Health staff with the Planning and Building staff, evaluating the property tax system, re-organizing code enforcement, improving unpaid fee collections, re-evaluating our investment portfolio, coming up with creative and innovative ideas… We need a couple more months. Hopefully in a couple of months. …” Antle drifted off.

This is all the familiar delaying tactic that Antle has been successfully getting away with ever since she replaced Carmel Angelo as CEO in 2022.

Supervisor Maureen Mulheren pointed out that after the 2025/2026 budget year they will finally no longer have to pay $8 million a year on the decades old Pension Obligation Bond from the 90s, Supervisor Williams replied that by then much of that $8 million will probably be eaten up by inflation. “We may have more money,” said Williams, “but even more expenses.”

Supervisor Dan Gjerde asked that the CEO report include specifics on what’s being done to improve efficiencies and revenue collection. As usual, nobody followed up on that plaintive request which has been avoided like a tar baby for as long as we have been following County mismanagement. Of course, CEO Antle is always ready with more we’re-working-on-its, but actual numbers? Never.

Union representative Patrick Hickey came to the podium near the end of the budget hearing to observe that this budget: eliminates 142 vacant and unfunded positions which is about 11% of the overall workforce. “Most of these positions have not been filled for some time,” said Hickey. “But there’s no explanation of what changes are associated with this reduction. What won’t get done? What programs or services will be reduced or cancelled with this dramatic reduction in positions? It’s unrealistic to think that technology improvements and efficiencies will make up the difference. We are doing less with less. Things will take longer, response times will suffer and roads will deteriorate. The Grand Jury recently focused on the short staffing in Family and Children’s Services. 42 positions in Social Services 42 are being cut. Public Health has had 23 positions eliminated. Transportation has eliminated 22 positions. People have to reduce their expectations.”

The CEO could only reply that these position eliminations are for positions that have been vacant for at least 18 months and they simply make official what was already in place. CEO Antle didn’t explain why so many positions are vacant. But the primary reasons are: line staffers leaving for better paying jobs in Sonoma County or elsewhere and not being replaced due to the hiring freeze that even applies to non-General Fund departments; an across the board low morale among the remaining staff in almost every department as remaining line workers struggle with understaffing, ever higher workloads and caseloads, spotty management, and a board of supervisors that has no interest in how departments operate.

Notebook:

Supervisor Gjerde asked the Air Quality manager about their pending move out of the old Veterans Service Office to make room for the return of the Veterans Service Office to their original building from where they were unceremoniously evicted last December. The Air Quality manager replied that they now have a contract with a landlord for some space on Hastings Street in the same building as radio station KWINE. They hope to exchange keys with the Veterans Service Office this week so they “can begin the move process.” They are working with staff to make arrangements for computers and phones and such. No dates were mentioned but the Air Quality manager insisted it would be “ASAP.”

PS. Either the Editor or the Webmaster chose to not post the second of two screen-grabs I snagged from Tuesday’s board meeting when Ukiah City Councilperson Mari Rodin appeared to pressure the Supervisors into giving Ukiah some $3 million in tax revenues from County properties surrounding Ukiah under a lop-sided “tax sharing” agreement engineered by Rodin, Supervisor Mulheren, and Ukiah City Manager Sage Sangiacomo behind closed doors. Granted the picture did not portray Ms. Rodin in a particularly flattering pose as she implored the Supervisors to agree with her and beg that they not consider the loss of $3 million a year to be a loss. But that’s how Ms. Rodin is much of the time — it’s a style she uses whenever she thinks it might work. So here it is: Mari Rodin in all her dreamy, solicitous glory:

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ED NOTES:

WITH the Supervisors’ approval of Ukiah's annexation of County territory, and given Ukiah's obviously superior civic functioning, why not let Ukiah annex the entire Ukiah Valley, extending the State Street model south to Hopland, north to Potter Valley?

STEVE HEILIG WRITES: “Saying wine uses ‘less than almonds’ etc. doesn’t mean much. One question I’ve long had is what percentage of wine winds up undrunk. The vast rows of bottles in stores indicates a glut, and how much is eventually poured out? However much, that’s all waste, other than the one benefit of providing employment (including for those scary ‘illegals.’ And of course tax write offs for those who don’t really need them for their ‘vanity vineyards.’ Toss in all the pesticides, fungicides, etc. and overall it seems a bad deal for the rest of us. (And yes I do drink some of the stuff).”

MY LATE FRIEND, JOE NEILANDS, a professor of biochemistry at U.C. Berkeley, told me he was going to write to figure out how much grape vines aspirated. The vines suck up a lot of water, and that's not considering how much water is expended irrigating them. Any way you consider wine production, it's terribly destructive, ecologically and socially.

IN THE ANDERSON VALLEY, “the romance of the grape” is a one way love affair conducted solely by the industry with itself, leaving out the dupes who pay more than Two Bit Chuck for a bottle of the stuff, and it is an industry in every sense of the term that Henry Ford would recognize. If those were potato vines festooned on the acres of metal grape stakes defiling dear Mendoland, we might have an enterprise worth having, as spuds are edible and easily converted to vodka. Think of it, Boonville! Instead of wine tastings we could have annual touri events pegged to how many edible ways local farmers prepare the Anderson Valley Potato!

THE WINE INDUSTRY, though, is no joke. Via the county Farm Bureau, once an organization devoted to non-industrial farming, it's just elected a supervisor out of Potter Valley, a very young woman of no experience in anything, not that relevant experience or even passable mental health has ever been a bar to public office in this county, but a young woman who can be depended on to promote the wine people who got her elected, a Mo Mulheren with a horse trailer.

CHUCK DUNBAR: “Others and I have made past comments on the number of women noted as MCSO arrestees in the daily Catch of the Day. The last week or so has been striking in this respect. On one day I recall that 6 or 7 of 11 or 12 total were women. Several days showed 3 or 4 women side by side in an entire row. Today it’s 4 women of 11 total, a number that’s near the average, I surmise. As we’ve all commented before, this is a troubling trend, without being able to delve much further into cause and consequences.”

MANY of the people recorded in Catch of Day have been arrested for outstanding warrants. They go to jail until they cough up, a modern update of the Brit's 19th century poor house. As anyone knows who's gotten, say, a speeding ticket, the charge is expensive. Most of the money garnered goes to our friends staffing California's superior courts, and here in pace-setting Mendo, a big hunk of the ransom collected will build a new County Courthouse nobody wants except our nine (count 'em) judges.

THE LATE EMIL ROSSI got his ticket reduced by arguing that the bail fees and court costs on top of the basic fine should be reimbursed, and the judge had no choice to order that Rossi get that portion of his ticket paid back to him. Few victims of this gouging of the everyday citizen read the fine print, but if you do it can save you a nice bit of change.

AS FOR CHUCK'S fret about the increase in women getting arrested, who knows? I'd say it's one more manifestation of the general social implosion.

TRUMP'S vice presidential candidates include eager neo-fascists who find Orange Man inspirational, but South Carolina Senator Tim Scott is pathetic, Marco Rubio isn't quite rabid enough, New York Rep Elise Stefanik is obviously 5150, and Nikki Haley seems too wacky even by Maga standards, but Ohio Senator JD Vance will give the Trump ticket major plausibility with the millions of voters on the fence about Trump. Vance is smart and articulate and wrong about everything, but up against the Democrat ticket of Non Compos Joe and Giggles Harris, it's likely to be Trump and Vance going away.

I WAS WATCHING a reporter on KGO TV interviewing a Maga yesterday when a hat backwards dude skated by and, according to the reporter, “sprayed pickle juice” on the Maga. Then another hat backwards dude sailed by on skates to spray the Maga with obscenities. I doubt the substance was pickle juice but its scent is unmistakable, but would a hat backwards dude be rolling skating around the Marina Green with, of all substances, pickle juice? Odder yet, the Maga guy was delivering an un-Maga-like spiel about healing the country!

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UKIAH DOWNTOWN STREETSCAPE PROJECT CONSTRUCTION UPDATE

The first layer of pavement is down on the north side! This means less noise and dust—whew! This also means that on-street parking is once again available in this section.

On the south side of the project, paving will occur between Mill and Gobbi in the beginning of the week, likely Monday or Tuesday (June 10-11). This is only a one-day job, but will require complete closure of that section of the street during construction hours. It can be driven on later that day, which means traffic will be flowing in both directions again. Pedestrian access will be retained at all times.

Once the first layer of pavement is down, work will begin to construct two small medians—one between Norton and Scott and one near the movie theater. Neither will restrict access to driveways or intersections.

The top layer of pavement, which will include the section of State between Gobbi and Cherry, is currently scheduled for the week of July 1st. About a week after that, the traffic signals will finally be operational again. We getting there!

On Main Street, as part of the “Urban Core” project (www.cityofukiah.com/ucrt), replacement of the underground sewer lines will begin between Smith and Norton, which will take roughly two weeks. For the duration of the week, that section of Main Street will be closed to through traffic—deliveries and business traffic permitted.

And finally, for the Recycled Water project, reconstruction of Low Gap between State and Bush will begin July 8th.

Paving between Mill and Gobbi in the first part of the week, followed by median construction on both sides.

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

There will be some noise and dust associated with work on the south side.

On-street parking has been restored on the north side between Henry and Norton. Pedestrian access to businesses will be maintained at all times. There will be controlled/restricted traffic on the south side (Mill to Gobbi) while paving is occurring. Traffic signals at Gobbi/State and Mill/State and Scott/State will remain on flash.

It’s graduation weekend, with lots of extra people in town. Please be safe!

Shannon Riley, Deputy City Manager

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AV PANTHERS: BIG SPORTS YEAR

Dear Anderson Valley Community,

We apologize for the recent lack of updates as we wrapped up an incredibly busy school year. We are thrilled to announce that we had another successful Spring season for Tennis, Baseball, and Track.

Exciting news: We hope to add Boys Volleyball to our Spring Sports Roster and expand our Track program once our new facilities are completed. We also are looking to potentially add Junior High Flag Football this coming Fall - but WE NEED COACHES!! Please send us a message here or check in with our district office if you are interested!

Our Sports Awards ceremony was a huge success, and pictures will be posted soon. Congratulations to our Seniors Eric Perez and Evelyn Franco for winning Athlete of the Year!

As we look ahead, please note that Fall sports will begin on August 12th for all athletes, with no exceptions. However, Football will start earlier, on July 29th, due to the CIF's additional two weeks of training for the sport.

Thank you for your continued support. We look forward to another amazing year of sports, including the massive Redwood Classic Basketball Tournament this winter - which will likely end up being the biggest tournament ever in its 65 year history!

Best regards,

Coach 2E (John Toohey)

Athletic Director

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FOR YOUR "I'LL BE DARNED" FILE:

"Fort Bragg High School to host 2024 graduation ceremony" (Fort Bragg Advocate)

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VISIT PALESTINE IN MENDOCINO!

Sala'am Aleikoom! You are invited to join us on Sunday, June 23rd, in Caspar for a family event: a celebration of the vibrant and rich culture of Palestine. There will be food, kids crafts, a traditional dance, informational presentations, a feature-length film screening and fun from 11 am until 5 pm on June 23rd, at Good Bones restaurant, 14957 Caspar Road, in the heart of Caspar. Brought to you by the good people of Mendo for Palestine DOT org

(Tom Wodetski)

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MIKE GENIELLA: Worth the wait Sunday night to see Mendocino County native Quinn VanAntwerp perform in the splashy finale for the Tony Awards in his role as Bob Gaudio of the “Jersey Boys.” Just something about local pride. Quinn, a seasoned Broadway performer these days, is the son of Laurel Near, a co-founder of Ukiah's noted SPACE performance group for young people. An auntie is singer Holly Near. And since we're at it, other members of Quinn's extended family include actress Timothy Near and actor Kevin Bacon.

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I FOLLOWED A HANDWRITTEN SIGN TO A CALIF. PIZZERIA AT THE EDGE OF THE WORLD

The remote Mendocino County pie shop thrives amid the harshest weather conditions.

by Jessica Yadegaran

The craving for pizza practically sent us flying into the ocean.

Point Arena Pizza, about 30 minutes north of Sea Ranch, is hidden on a residential street off Highway 1 that dead-ends into one of the most spectacular coves on the Mendocino coast. It overlooks unrelenting waves, massive emerald cliffs and an active fishing pier dating back to the 1800s. My family found the restaurant by following a handwritten sign for “brick oven pizza.” A mile down the road, it felt like the edge of the world.

But the story behind this remote restaurant and the isolated town of Point Arena, population 661, is even more intriguing than the views. The historic wooden pier and the spot where Point Arena Pizza now resides were destroyed in a violent 1983 storm. Today, in a rebuilt building — the pier, now made of steel and concrete, was reconstructed in 1987 — the pizzeria is not only an ambassador to hungry folks heading north but also a symbol of survival amid the harshest weather conditions and a place where the fishers from this dwindling fleet get fed any time of day, no matter what.

“Even if they come in from a long day on the water, after we are closed … there is usually a forlorn slice or a wayward misfire pizza waiting for a hungry waterman,” owner Diana Scott said. “Often we get to hear their stories from a day at sea … miles out in the Pacific Ocean. It’s another world out there.”

This windblown spot is particularly meaningful to Point Arena Pizza manager Amanda Stinson, whose mother moved the family from Oakland to Point Arena 40 years ago after passing through on vacation and falling in love with the fish and chips at a fish house on the pier, which was also decimated in the storm. Stinson remembers San Francisco rocker Steve Perry of Journey landing his helicopter in the middle of the cove for those same fish and chips.

“It tickles me that the spot that brought us here is where I go to work now,” Stinson said.

Locals tell you they like being in a self-contained community cut off from corporations and city life. But people from all over the world still pass through Point Arena, and Stinson likes that. She takes pride in welcoming people and sharing the town’s history — when the wharf was first built in 1866, it made Point Arena the busiest town between San Francisco and Eureka — and stories of hardworking fishers, who launch their boats off the pier, pulling in rock cod and red urchin.

“I definitely feel like an ambassador of Point Arena working here,” she said. “We have the ocean, the sunsets and the community. We have local and organic, quality food made with love. It’s ‘just pizza’ and ‘just a pizza job,’ but it’s also so much more.”

Inside, Point Arena Pizza feels like a well-worn gathering place. The pizza oven is covered in stickers about hugging a farmer and making beer, not war. A surfer riding a pizza slice is one of at least 80 pizza box drawings that are displayed on the wall. Stinson, who is an artist herself, started the tradition by doodling on boxes as orders went out. The other staffers joined in, and now the regulars do it, returning with their cardboard creations, which get hung on the wall.

This was at the height of the pandemic, when Point Arena Pizza and Franny’s Cup & Saucer, a bakery on Point Arena’s one-street main drag, were the only restaurants open for business, according to Scott. The pizzeria’s front patio allowed locals to feel safe, spread out with their pints and New York-style pies. She said the pandemic also “put Point Arena more within reach of the Bay Area,” when people were venturing north and working from wherever they wanted to.

“But the roads are still a barrier,” Scott said. “We’re pretty wild in nature out here.”

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MENDOCINO COUNTY BLACKTAIL DEER ASSOCIATION ANNOUNCES NEW STAKEHOLDER INITIATIVE

Forest And Wildlife Health Initiative Agenda 23

The Mendocino County Blacktail Association (MCBA) is excited to announce we are launching the Forest and Wildlife Health Initiative Agenda 23. With the mission of fostering a collaborative effort between land managers, wildlife managers, non-profit organizations, and other stakeholders, to create a balanced agronomic approach to the maintenance of our public lands in northwestern California, that restores and maintains healthy forest ecosystems and wildlife populations. To accomplish this mission, the MCBA is taking a comprehensive balanced approach of the lands and wildlife, and then launching cooperative projects that will address specific goals to address challenges that arise. We believe that far too long NGO groups and the public have been polarized and not working together. We will accomplish our Projects by establishing grassroot stakeholder meetings, town halls, securing funding, and workforces. Our strategy to achieve this mission is to inventory “collect immediate data” on the current conditions of habitats and wildlife populations. Identifying factors contributing to declines in the habitats and wildlife populations, develop scientific strategies to address these declines, implement collaborative habitat enhancement projects, and introduce conservation strategies in line with an ecosystem management approach, and finally evaluate the outcomes of these efforts to gauge success and guide refinements if needed. We believe that a program that addresses all factors will be the best approach and represent the entire public interest.

The MCBA was formed in 2005 and is a registered 501 C-3 non-profit organization focused on improving the condition of habitats and populations of black-tailed deer and other wildlife species in northwestern California, especially on public lands within the B-Zones units. In order to fulfill its mission, the MCBA works cooperatively with Federal and State natural resource management agencies, non-profit conservation organizations, and other stakeholders to support and conduct projects to directly enhance black-tailed deer populations, their habitats, the vital relationship of their predators, and the greater ecological community. We are asking for your support on this critical mission to restore and maintain our public lands and wildlife in northwestern California. Together with commitment we can! For more information on current projects, and to get involved please contact:

Paul Trouette, President, Mendocino County Blacktail Association

Phone: (707) 489 - 9663

Email: mendodeer@yahoo.com

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Mendocino County Black Tail New Project 2024

“Long Term Monitoring Project”

“The Problem”

With the increasing decline of Deer in the Northern California public lands, MCBA has developed a project that is in step with what we call common sense approach to solving anything. Let’s first figure out where we are, then discover why we are there. And fix it.In 2014 MCBA partnered with Ca, Dept of Fish and Wildlife to assess why we are losing our deer. The survey was completed in a remote area of the Mendocino National Forest system. The study was called “The Black-Tailed Deer Assessment”.

The Study discovered multiple limiting factors for the dramatic decline in deer populations. Black Bear predation on deer fawns was the most significant cause of a lack of recruitment of deer. Ironically most sportsmen were aware of this already. However regulatory changes always require an official Dept position. MCBA was responsible for the idea for the official study, and the Ca. Dept of Fish and Wildlife scientists David Casady, and Craig Stowers were the chief advocates and experts who pulled this off. David Casady is now retired from CDFW and was their lead scientist with 26 years of deer management plus and is the designer of this new project that has a resounding yes in support from region 1 CDFW, and Paul Trouette working with the USFS also approving the new project in full support.

“The Solution”

This project “LONG TERM MONITORING” is designed too initially Discover the population of deer, Lion, Bear in the Mendocino National Forest first, and then move to Six Rivers, Shasta, Trinity, Klamath, covering the B-Zones. This data will tell us the relationship of habitat, and predator pray, in very specific geographical areas, which will in turn give us specific change goals. Our chief interest is, and has always been, the B-Zones. Acquiring local funding and honoring our members by dedicating their dollars to the areas they recreate in. Please help us by supporting our efforts by donating your time or funding to the project.

This project once implemented will produce data that will tell us what is going on in our Lands. It will be an official Scientific document peer reviewed, that will be key to introducing regulatory action recommendations to the CDFW, and USFS.

“The Challenge”

We believe that most of the public will get behind a broader message of a balanced approach to Forest and Wildlife management that is not species specific, but public use specific. If we address all negative impacts that affect all Wildlife and Forest challenges, The public will benefit in all multiple use applications.

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UH, WHO WOULD WANT TO READ A CANCELLATION NOTICE?

Dear Interested Parties,

The cancelation notice for the June 20,, 2024, Planning Commission meeting is now available on the department website at:

https://www.mendocinocounty.org/government/planning-building-services/meeting-agendas/planning-commission

Please contact staff if there are any questions.

Thank you

James Feenan

Commission Services Supervisor

County of Mendocino Department of Planning & Building Services

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CATCH OF THE DAY, Friday, June 7, 2024

DAVID APPIER, Fort Bragg. Disorderly conduct-alcohol, probation violation.

KENNETH BERRY, San Francisco/Ukiah. Probation revocation.

SHANKARA CASEY, Redwood Valley. Probation revocation.

JESSICA DIAZ, Ukiah. Probation violation, smuggling controlled substance into jail.

DREW ERSLAND, Ukiah. County parole violation.

DOUGLAS JOHNSON JR., Ukiah. Parole violation.

KRISTO OUSEY, Ukiah. Parole violation.

WILLIAM OWENS, Ukiah. Parole violation.

WESLEY PRESTON, Little River. DUI.

SOYRIA RAMOS, Ukiah. Possession of IDs of ten or more persons with intent to defraud, stolen property, getting credit with someone else’s ID, probation revocation.

JUAN SANCHEZ-MONTIEL, Ukiah. Disobeying court order.

ERIC WRIGHT, Ukiah. Trespassing.

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MITCH CLOGG

Tales from the Nursing Home

6/7 – Goddammit! I have my fixed hearing aids after months of deafness. Ellie sent them from Wheeler Street to my ears yesterday. I charged them up overnight and started on a post early this A.M., jubilating in the never-before-heard hubbub of this place before it all quickly becomes routine.

It was a long, fond, cheery, sort’ve funny note - upbeat because this restored faculty is rejuvenating. I was so full of youthful ebullience and confidence I didn’t do my usual cautious thing of writing a text in a writing program, then cutting and pasting it to my FB page.

Wrong.

I was several hundred sprightly words in, then glanced away for a sliver of a second, to find, on glancing back… nothing, nada, nyet, rien with “What’s on your mind?” at the head of it.

What’s on your mind? What’s on my MIND?! Where the goddamn hell is my immortal writing—that’s what’s on my flippin mind!!!

So much for my entertaining discourse on the necessity of not being distracted (from me, world’s leading expert on being distracted).

Anyway, hearing kicks ass, until you get used to it. Gracias, Ellie!

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MEMO OF THE AIR: Good Night Radio show all night tonight on KNYO!

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

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

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

What do you still have the capacity to feel like this about? (You might have to click the sound on.) https://twitter.com/DanWuori/status/1758473011382919342

Rerun: The wheel of urine. https://www.amusingplanet.com/2019/03/the-wheel-of-urine.html

The Germans have a phrase for this kind of skin. In English it means milk with blood. https://www.vintag.es/2024/06/fritz-zuber-buhler.html

Or I thought there was that phrase, from German class in high school in the early 1970s, taught by a real German. I guess they don't use that phrase anymore: milch und blut. All I can find of it now is, it was a musical band in 1993. Here's a whole concert (100 min.). They're good. Confident, happy, ready. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWnyW-wx__Q

Marco McClean, memo@mcn.org, https://MemoOfTheAir.wordpress.com

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FRED GARDNER:

The Editor’s preference for “sub-proletariat” makes sense in a leaflet but only lumpen works in the song I wrote as an ad for Country Club Malt Liquor - and actually submitted to their ad agency. This was c. 1970 when The Influencers were saying “Free Huey” (to which FJ would add, “Free Dewey and Louie, too”). “Shiker” means drunk in Yiddish. A rap ahead of its time.

I wish I could remember how to enter lyrics so they come out single-spaced. Maybe Mike K. knows. Maybe this formatting is better for a rap ahead of its time.

Out of the woods and into the night Robin Hood did ride
Sure looked like somethin'
with those mustangs jumpin'
and the usual lumpen by his side…

Off the road at the Highway Inn, Robin and the hoods
Iced another sentry and made illegal entry
and ripped off the gentry
of their goods

Then to the pub a little club called Small's
there to boogie and drink
Country Club malt liquor like beer but quicker
gets you even slicker than you think

Years went by, his beard grew white, Robin was well known
still he kept on stealing, running numbers, dealing
and now and then peeling off
a loan

They caught him at last and brought him in
you know they made him pay
But to this day we weep a little, cause he let us keep a little
he served the people, so they say

"Only try and serve the people.
Always tried to serve the people."
He served the people
So they say.

When Marx and Engels used lumpenproletariat, the reference was to raggedy, patchwork clothes (“lumpen” in German). In the US today lumpen implies sluggishness and drug addiction. MCT's Catch of the Day is only the visible tip of a huge sub-proletariat in this country. Back in the '70s I contributed to a leaflet denouncing and ridiculing lefty Lumpen Lovers by name. It cost me a few friends, including Larry Bensky, with whom I'd been close. Our split only lasted about 30 years. Then we were good friends again.

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A NAZI SALUTE AND DEATH THREATS: My day with SF's inflatable Trump balloon

by Alec Regimbal

Donald Trump was in San Francisco on Thursday, both in person and in an air-filled effigy.

While the real Trump attended a swanky fundraiser at the Pacific Heights mansion of venture capitalist David Sacks, a huge avian version of the former president sailed across San Francisco Bay on Thursday afternoon tied to a small boat.

It was one of the infamous “Trump chickens,” which writer Danelle Morton purchased from a factory in the Guangdong Province of China for $1,100, including the blower and shipping. Dressed in a custom black-and-white striped prison shirt, the 33-foot-tall inflatable was dispatched to the bay to protest Trump’s presence in the city following his recent conviction on 34 felony counts of falsifying business documents.

On Thursday afternoon, Morton, a crew of four, the Trump chicken and this reporter sailed from Fisherman’s Wharf aboard a boat called the Amigo. Morton told SFGATE that she felt the first-ever conviction of a former president was the perfect opportunity to resurrect the chicken, which she put into storage in 2021 after flying it in the city’s Bayview neighborhood for what she thought would be the final time following the election of President Joe Biden. 

“It’s an important symbol of opposition,” Morton said in an interview on Wednesday. “We have billionaires in mansions swanning around with their cocktails for a convicted felon, and we didn’t see anyone organizing resistance against this. We didn’t see anyone doing a demonstration against this.”

Along with all the gear required to blow up and tie down the chicken — a small orange blower, sandbags, several lines of rope — the crew’s supplies included two trays of turkey, ham and beef sandwiches, a case of diet soda and a 12-pack of Heineken beer.

The crew began blowing up the chicken after sailing a good distance away from the marina to keep it from getting damaged or tangled in other boats. Crew members used rope to tie the inflating balloon to the boat while making sure its prison shirt — the chicken’s prisoner number is “00045,” a reference to Trump’s role as the 45th president — fit correctly. Using zip ties, one crewman fastened a banner that read “Alcatraz Prison Transport” to the boat’s starboard side.

About 40 minutes later, with the balloon nearly full, the Amigo began sailing toward Alcatraz. The crew hoped to do a few loops in an area of the bay that can be seen from Pacific Heights, where the Trump fundraiser was scheduled to be held, but the weather had other plans.

Once in open water, winds unexpectedly picked up, sending strong gusts — one crew member estimated 20 knots — and waves that began to violently rock the boat. A smaller boat with three photographers was following the Amigo, and I swear I saw that boat catch air off a wave as both vessels retreated from the wind.

The Amigo and the smaller boat, the Tango, took shelter near Pier 23 by parking alongside the Crown Princess, a massive blue-and-orange cruise ship operated by Princess Cruises. The Trump chicken had lost a ton of air during the Amigo’s escape from the wind, and Morton and her crew began to discuss whether they had to call off the mission because of the weather.

Ultimately, they decided that they’d try one more time, but only after getting the chicken fully inflated and secured. And so, using the Crown Princess as a bulwark against the wind, the crew erected the Trump chicken once more. The Amigo’s captain suggested sailing southeast toward the Ferry Building so people could see the chicken, and Morton’s crew agreed.

By that point, the winds had subsided, and the Amigo was able to sail smoothly along the Embarcadero. People lined the piers as the Trump chicken floated by. Diners were pressed against the windows of restaurants, and some people were standing on rooftops. Many waved, and almost all had their phones out to take pictures or videos.

Once the Amigo reached the Ferry Building, the captain did a U-turn and headed northwest toward Marina Green, where hundreds of the former president’s supporters had gathered for a rally. Dozens of Trump flags could be seen from the boat, and Morton’s crew urged the Amigo’s captain to get as close as he could to the shore. Crewmembers wondered aloud about the effective range of an AR-15, suspecting that some of the rallygoers were armed, and Morton joked that SFGATE could have the biggest story of the year if someone shot a hole in the chicken. I didn’t want to get shot at, but I couldn’t help but agree with her. 

As the Amigo approached the rally, this reporter saw a man in a pastel orange shirt do a Nazi salute, and another man with a bullhorn began shouting at Morton and her crew. I was unable to hear what exactly the man said, but one crew member was sure that the man had threatened the crew, saying he was going to kill them and their families. Undeterred, Morton and her crew mockingly waved at the former president’s supporters as the Amigo sailed by.

By that point, the Amigo had been on the water for about four hours. With the captain billing Morton at $500 per hour for his services, the crew decided their mission had been accomplished despite some setbacks, and decided to do one more loop around the rally before heading back.

The trip back was relatively uneventful, and as the Amigo approached its port at Fisherman’s Wharf, the crew began tearing down the chicken. On Friday morning, Morton texted this reporter to ask about the status of this story. Between the turbulent waters and threats from the rallygoers, Morton joked that the crew and I are “bonded in a near-death experience.”

(sfgate.com)

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21ST CENTURY CALIGULA

Dear Editor,

How would ancient Rome’s brilliant democracy have dealt with Donald Trump?

Rome frequently exercised its democratic responsibility to impeach public officials, even after they left office. Those convicted of bad behavior were exiled from the country.

Rome also had public officials known as censors, one of whose functions was to manage the census rolls of citizens.

When any citizen including the president of Rome (the “Consul”), was convicted of a crime or came under civil action like defamation, bankruptcy, or military dishonor, the censor would enter a mark of “infamy” (Latin: “nota censoria”) into the record by his name.

This was a severe dent in his social reputation that attended him wherever he went. It was a later version of the very ancient Biblical “mark of Cain,” and an earlier version of our own sexual offender registry today.

When found to be “infamous,” public officials would lose the privilege of officeholding and would also lose their “place” as members of the senate or the equestrian order.

Rome acted quickly and decisively when there was misbehavior by those in positions of public trust. That’s why Rome’s democracy lasted 500 years and ours is almost gone after only 250.

Kimball Shinkoskey

Woods Cross, Utah

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BEAR TROTS ACROSS NORTHERN CALIFORNIA HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL FIELD DURING PRACTICE

by Rachel Swan

Coach Josh Ivens had the Truckee High School Wolverines in formation on Tuesday afternoon, ready for a defensive drill. Then a player tapped him on the shoulder.

Turning around, Ivens followed the player’s gaze toward a commotion on an adjacent field, where football practice had temporarily stopped. Members of the junior varsity team huddled at the sidelines, some with their arms crossed, a few jeering nervously. Adults whipped out their cell phones.

They stood and watched as a black bear trotted across the grass, its fur dripping water apparently from the creek near Donner Pass Road. It was 4:30 p.m., the sun bright and scorching, the sky clear over distant pines.

Video posted to Instagram showed the drama unfold in about 20 seconds, with shouts of surprise and coaches trying to be reassuring.

Ivens said he remained calm, despite the sinking realization that his varsity players were right in the bear’s path. It would have come within 10 yards of his receivers, had they not quietly retreated, he said.

“We just backed away and let him walk through,” Ivens said in a phone interview, noting that he views bear encounters as a routine — if startling — element of mountain life. He had a similar experience in 2007, when a bear hopped the stadium fence and barreled across the field after practice, fleeing toward the woods on the other side. Bears have also wandered onto his property lately, captured in home security camera footage.

But Tuesday’s episode created a viral moment — and served as a stark reminder of danger on the urban-wildland interface. Months earlier, a 71-year-old woman was mauled to death in her home by a bear in rural Sierra County. The violent attack last November marked the first human fatality caused by a bear in California history.

“Most residents (of the Sierras) saw that as a horrible accident, and not indicative of behavioral change” in bears, said Jonathan Cook-Fisher, a U.S. Forest Service ranger in the Truckee district. He added that bears in the Tahoe area are “very accustomed to people” and sometimes trespass on homes or sports fields searching for food.

As human-bear interactions increase, so do social media videos of bears, which could pose a problem, Cook-Fisher said. In videos the bears appear “cute and fun,” he said — nothing like “the apex predators they really are.”

Some bear sightings in the community warranted concern, Ivens said. A few years ago, a mother bear roamed the neighborhood with her three cubs, often showing up in Iven’s yard or on his driveway. She seemed to eat from restaurant dumpsters and sometimes behaved aggressively toward human residents, Ivens recalled.

By contrast, the bear who interrupted football practice didn’t threaten anyone, and was “clearly headed somewhere,” Ivens said. Coaches were careful to move the players out of harms’ way, and everyone made noise when the bear slowed down and started looking at them — but to Ivens, he never really seemed dangerous.

Once the bear left, the Wolverines resumed practice.

“There are a bunch of voles and ground squirrels that live here, and a coyote used to (come to) every practice and stand behind us,” said Ivens, who noted he was more unnerved by the stalker coyote than the bear.

However, Tuesday’s incident stood out in one respect. It seemed unusually brazen for a bear to run out in broad daylight, in front of so many people.

It didn’t worry Ivens too much.

“But I probably won’t be walking my dogs over there anymore,” the coach said.

(SF Chronicle)

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I’M A DIVORCE LAWYER — THESE ARE THE TWO MAIN REASONS PEOPLE GET DIVORCED

by James Sexton

Watch out for this pair of issues if you want to keep your spouse to have and to hold from this day forward.

James Sexton, a world-renowned family lawyer based in New York City, has revealed the two main reasons why people get divorced: infidelity and money.

Sexton shared that infidelity and money are the two main reasons why marriages end.

The expert recently shared his insights on broken marriages on Steven Bartlett’s “The Diary Of A CEO” podcast.

He explained that with infidelity while cheating is often involved, it’s “just a component” — and therefore blaming a divorce on cheating is an “oversimplification.”

Sexton claimed that a lack of sex typically leads to infidelity, noting that “men want more quantity sex, women want more quality,”

“It’s the same reason porn is more popular with men than it is with women — because men just want to get the job done,” Sexton said.

The leading divorce lawyer also explained the nuances of money in marriages.

“Money has a lot to do with power. Money is about control. Money is about opportunity, security, it’s about a whole bunch of things, but it’s not really about money,” Sexton said.

“Money is just a currency that we trade, so I think money has a whole bunch of complicated stuff tied up in it. People are dishonest with themselves and with money.”

To avoid having to utilize Sexton’s services, he advises that couples truly “pay attention” to each other.

As an example, he suggested that people — particularly men — write random love notes for their spouses to remind them how much and why they love them.

The leading divorce lawyer also explained the nuances of money in marriages, noting that money is often tied to complicated emotions.

However, fewer people seem to need Sexton’s advice than in previous years.

Marriages have been on the rise while legal breakups have been dwindling since weddings and dates were put on pause during the COVID-19 pandemic — an apparent silver lining to long lockdowns.

The marriage rate is still low compared to the past two decades when the number of marriages stayed around seven to eight per 1,000 people a year — but it comes as divorces continue on a downward trend.

The divorce rate in 2000 was four per 1,000 people a year, compared to just 2.4 in 2022.

Experts suggest that the rise is due to more than the end of lockdowns, explaining that the hardships of the pandemic and current societal trends have changed how people enter into and handle relationships.

(Daily Mail)

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FIRST FATAL BLACK BEAR ATTACK IN CALIFORNIA HISTORY AS WOMAN WAS MAULED IN HOME

by Gregory Thomas

California wildlife officials confirmed this week that the first human fatality caused by a black bear in the state’s history occurred last fall in rural Sierra County.

The victim, a 71-year-old woman, was found mauled to death in her home in Downieville in November. At first, the Sierra County coroner believed that a bear had mangled the woman’s body posthumously, according to the Mountain Messenger. But a follow-up pathology report from Placer County released in May showed that, in fact, the woman’s death was caused by a violent confrontation with a bear.

“This incident is the first known, documented fatal attack by a black bear in California history,” according to an email from Fish and Wildlife Information Officer Peter Tira. “The bear was later trapped, euthanized, and DNA analysis confirmed it was the same bear that had been in the woman’s home and responsible for the mauling.”

Native to North America, California’s black bears were hunted en masse in the 19th century. But they’ve rebounded in the past 50 years; their numbers have grown from an estimated 10,000 to 15,000 in 1982 to between 30,000 and 40,000 today, according to Fish and Wildlife.

While the omnivorous creatures are prone to caution and averse to confrontations, the bears’ population growth is increasing the number of bear-human run-ins.

The state received an average of 674 reported bear conflicts per year between 2017 and 2020, mostly pertaining to property damage and depredation, according to Fish and Wildlife’s draft Black Bear Conservation Plan. That number spiked to 1,678 reports per year in 2021 and 2022.

Younger crops of black bears in Lake Tahoe, where the animals are densely concentrated and seen constantly breaking into dumpsters and homes in pursuit of human food, have become so habituated and unafraid of people that wildlife officials have predicted a brutal outcome for years.

“Having bears going into homes that are occupied is a huge danger,” Shelly Blair, one of two unit wildlife biologists in the Tahoe basin with Fish and Wildlife, told the Chronicle last year. “In our minds, based on how their behavior is developing, it’s only a matter of time before someone is severely hurt or killed by a bear.”

(SF Chronicle)

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ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

I’m a particularly well armed citizen but I don’t do it because I sit in my arm chair and worry about some thugs breaking into my home. I have lived in my home for nearly 22 years now and never had my house or cars broken into. Crime in my area is very low.

I keep my weapons for other reasons but like I have said I hold no illusions that my .22 or my .38 special is going to stop a drone or a cruise missile or a nuke. Really, keeping these weapons gives me the peace to know that if and when the time comes I can at least put up some kind of a fight and end my time on this ruined world with some dignity.

Been hearing prophetic preachings of doom from nukes all of my life. Still waiting. I hope I never live to see those preachings come true.

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MY BROTHERS' KEEPER

by Anton Chekhov, 1888

To Kolya: It is your extreme lack of good breeding, the lower class flesh brought up on thrashings, wine cellars and handouts shows. It's hard, awfully hard to overcome it. Well-bred people, in my opinion, must satisfy the following conditions: You're trusting. You're gifted from above with what others don't have. On earth there is only one artist for every two million people. You have just one fault; this is your false excuse, your grief, your catarrah of the gut. The well-bred respect human personality and are always considerate, gentle, polite, and yielding. They go without sleep to pay for their student brothers to buy clothes for their mother. They respect others' property and therefore pay their debts. They develop an aesthetic sense — they can't go to bed in their clothes; look at cracks full of bed bugs in the wall; breathe foul air; walk on floors covered with spittle; eat out of an old parrafin can; they try as far as they can to tame and enoble the sexual instinct; they need from a woman not bed, not equine sweat, not the sound of urination, not a mind expressing itself in the art of deceiving you in the art of false pregnancy and lying non-stop; they, especially artists, need freshness, elegance, humanity, a capacity to be a mother, not a hole. They don't knock back vodka or sniff cupboards, for they know they are not pigs. They drink only when they are free to on the right occassion. Come home to us! Smash the vodka decanter and lie down and read, if only Turgenev, whom you haven't read. You must drop your fucking conceit because you're not a little boy; you'll be thirty soon. It's high time. I'm waiting. We're all waiting.

To Alexi: I was driven from you by your horrible, completely unjustified treatment of Natalia, and the cook. Constant foul language of the lowest sort; raising your voice, reproaches, rows at lunch and dinner, constant complaints at your hard labor and cursed life. Isn’t that an expression of coarse tyranny? However pathetic and guilty the woman, however intimate she is with you, you have no right to sit in her presence with no trousers on, to be drunk in her presence, to use language that not even factory workers use when they see women around. No decent husband or lover would let himself talk coarsely to a woman about pissing, about lavatory paper, to make an ironic joke of their relations in bed, to poke about verbally in her sexual organs. This debauches a woman and distances her from God in whom she believes. A man who respects a woman and who is well-bred and loving will not appear in front of the chambermaid without his trousers, shouting at the top of his voice, “Katka! Bring the piss pot!” Between the woman who sleeps on clean sheets and the woman who dosses down on dirty sheets and roars with laughter when her lover farts is the same distance as between a drawing room and a pub. You can’t get away with obscenities in front of the children, insulting the servants, or spitefully telling Natalia, “Clear off and go to hell! I’m not keeping you!”

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“I was sitting in a bar on Western Ave. It was around midnight and I was in my usual confused state. I mean, you know, nothing works right: the women, the jobs, the no jobs, the weather, the dogs. Finally you just sit in a kind of stricken state and wait like you're on the bus stop bench waiting for death.”

~ Charles Bukowski, from the story “No Way to Paradise”

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TIME TO JETTISON THE ANIMALS

by James Kunstler

“The old left had intellectual commitments that were false in interesting and theoretically stimulating ways. The new left demands adherence to lurid absurdities so preposterous that merely entertaining them induces nauseating neurological disorders.”

— Xenocosmography on “X”

The most astounding part of America’s “Joe Biden” three-plus-years thrill ride is that the Party of Chaos and Hoaxes was able to pretend until just a few days ago that this political phantasm could run for re-election. Now, regime insiders are forced to confess that they can’t hide it anymore. They spilled the beans as “unnamed sources” this week in a huge Wall Street Journal article. The president is going necrotic in full view of the whole world. His mind is gone. He looks ridiculous when he shuffles in front of the cameras. He utters obvious absurdities and lies. His wife has to lead him around like a dog on a leash. Everyone can see it. He’s got to go. ASAP.

The embarrassing ineptitude has been on view since the 2020 campaign, yet his handlers managed to flimflam half the country ever since, thanks to a news media captured by intel blob gaslighters and to half the country’s susceptibility to mass formation psychosis — fear driven thought disorder — that gave cover to treasonous actors seeking to save their asses even if they had to wreck the USA doing it. Who were these actors? The Clintons and the coterie around them, steeped in financial crime and sex trafficking; the Obama coterie of anti-white racists and bungling Marxists; the batshit-crazy Woke race-and-gender hustlers working to derange the merit-based social order (and get paid for doing it); the congressional grifters living off Pharma and Pentagon loot; the agency top bureaucrats who became a corrupt praetorian guard for all the above players, now desperate to evade accountability.

Everything they’ve done since 2020 has been in the service of covering up their crimes, and each hoax has just compounded the damage done to our country. The Covid-19 prank was pulled to enable mail-in ballot fraud so as to assure a permanent government-by-blob, of which the Democratic Party is now a mere tentacle. We don’t know yet whether the mRNA vaccine module of the prank was a deliberate effort to kill a lot of people or a grievous blunder by greedy drug-makers, or some wicked combo — with assistance from the WEF or China.

They can’t afford to lose their grip on the levers of power in the 2024 election — lose control of the Justice Department, the FBI, and the so-called “national security” apparatus, especially. The open border is just an effort to illegally import and enlist a vast wad of potential new voters to ensure an election victory. More than twenty states have “motor-voter laws” that automatically register anybody with a driver’s license. And these enrollees don’t even have to cast their ballot. Their names can just be “harvested” systematically, attached to voting documents, and bundled to be submitted for them. Millions have entered the country illegally since 2021 at “Joe Biden’s” direct invitation. There’s nothing hidden about this — but all you see is the learned helplessness of actual US citizens unable to stop it.

And yet, even that prank may not work to keep the Party of Chaos and Hoaxes in power. Designated candidate “Joe Biden” is obviously so far gone that even actual citizen voters under the mass formation spell can’t be counted on anymore. His poll numbers look abysmal. He’s scheduled to debate his opponent, the outlaw Donald Trump, on June 27. If his handlers allow that to actually happen, it will be like the unmasking scene in The Phantom of the Opera: brain-ringing horror, from sea to shining sea! Of course, an insult to the zeitgeist that severe will force the party leaders into some ‘splainin’, and I personally doubt they will be able to ‘splain their way out of it. Did all of you Democrats not notice?

The putative replacements for him — Newsom, Hillary, Pritzker, Whitmer, Harris — are political creatures at least as loathsome to voters as “JB” has become. And the obvious pitfall for Michelle O is that her husband looks like a wannabe American Caesar seeking a fourth term. What else have they got? Nothin’. Some utterly unknown governor they can primp up in a few months? Fugeddabowdit. They’ll have to run one of the loathsomes, take the “L,” and hope for the best, perhaps make a get out of jail “deal” with dealmaker supreme Mr. Trump.

Or, they could attempt another mighty prank: kill him. You can imagine they’ll try it, having exhausted all other gambits. If they succeed, and it doesn’t provoke an instant civil war, Mr. Trump’s faction has a pretty deep “bench” of capable figures who can step in and run against the Party of Chaos, Hoaxes, and now Murder. If the assassins botch the job, I wouldn’t want to be them on that dreadful day.

The bottom-line for now: “Joe Biden” is about to wave bye-bye. They’ve already put the question to him. He’s resisting. The one coherent thought in his failing mind is that he has pardon power as long as he is president. It’s not so much Hunter and that silly-ass gun case in Wilmington, which he’ll surely wriggle out of. It’s more about the brothers Jim and Frank and all the spouses and offspring who received wire transfers of Chinese money, Ukraine money, Russian money, Kazak money, Romanian money. . . .

If necessary, the party and its blob masters could bite the bullet and run the 25^th Amendment on the old fraud, git’er done fast, down-and-dirty, virtually overnight any night now. More likely, they’ll “leak” some document from the blob vaults that incontrovertibly incriminates the president on one of the already well-trodden bribery angles. That is, they’ll pretend to discover that not only is “Joe Biden” hopelessly senile, but, turns out, he’s been crooked all along! What a shock! We never suspected ‘til now! Such a seemingly well-intentioned, kindly, patriotic old man! Stand by. It’s going to be a helluva month.

(kunstler.com)

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ISRAEL STRIKES ANOTHER SCHOOL BUILDING AS IT PUSHES ON IN GAZA

The Israeli military said it killed militants in the central part of the enclave on Friday, a day after a strike on a former school, where Gazan officials say civilians were killed.

by Bilal Shbai, Aaron Boxerman, Raja Abdulrahim and Thomas Fuller

The Israeli military pushed ahead with its offensive in central Gaza on Friday, saying it had killed dozens of militants, including some who had holed up in the premises of a former United Nations school that had been converted into a shelter in the area.

The military said it targeted Hamas fighters at a school compound in Shati, a coastal neighborhood northwest of Gaza City’s downtown. The number of casualties was unclear.

“Hamas systematically, intentionally and strategically places its infrastructure and operates from within civilian areas in full violation of international law and while putting the lives of Gazan civilians at risk,” the Israeli military said in a statement after the strike.

Friday’s attack occurred a day after a strike on a similar school complex nearby in Nuseirat where displaced civilians had taken shelter. The Gazan health authorities said women and children were among those killed in that strike.

Israel on Friday offered a full-throated defense of Thursday’s raid, saying that its forces had targeted 20 to 30 militants who it said were using three classrooms in the former school as a base.

The attacks on the U.N. complexes in central Gaza reflect Israel’s laborious efforts to repacify areas where officials had formerly said Hamas had largely been suppressed.

The number and identities of those killed in Nuseirat on Thursday remained disputed. Varying figures have been provided by the Gaza ministry of health and officials at a hospital where victims were taken. And an assessment by the Israeli military offered a third account.

Palestinian officials have given death tolls ranging from 41 to 46. Yasser Khattab, an official overseeing the morgue at Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in nearby Deir al Balah, said 18 of the victims were children and nine were women.

The Israeli military on Friday released the names of eight more Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad fighters that it said were killed in the strike, adding to a list released on Thursday and bringing the total number of alleged militants to 17 so far.

Later on Thursday, an Israeli airstrike on the Nuseirat City Hall killed at least five people, including the mayor, Iyad al-Maghari. Video shared by the Palestinian news media showed numerous bodies on the floor of a morgue, including some who appeared to be children.

The death tolls in all of these attacks could not be independently confirmed.

With 36,000 people killed in Gaza during the war between Israel and Hamas, according to the Gazan health officials, the United Nations announced on Friday that it was putting Israel on a global list of offenders that commit violations harmful to children. Hamas was also on the list.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel condemned the report, saying in a statement that the country’s military “is the most moral army in the world, and no delusional decision by the U.N. will change that.”

Israeli troops also continued their offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah on Friday, where the military has seized much of the area bordering Egypt. The military said it was carrying out “intelligence-based, targeted operations,” without providing further details.

The fighting came as American officials kept pressing for a cease-fire. The State Department announced on Friday that Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken would travel next week to Egypt, Israel, Jordan and Qatar to push for a deal.

(NY Times)

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A BABY CAGE was a bed in a wire cage suspended from city apartment windows. The "health cage", as it was initially called, was invented by Mrs. Robert C Lafferty to provide babies with fresh air and sunshine while living in crowded cities.

The usage of baby cages gained great popularity in London during the 1930s. The installation had been created for children who live in cities without gardens. These baby cages were given by neighbourhood communities, like the Chelsea Baby Club, to every member who didn't have a garden. At the beginning of WW2, the Battle of Britain led by the Luftwaffe ended the usage of baby cages in all London. But they appeared again from 1953.

Ultimately, the sale of baby cages progressively declined through the mid-1900s, possibly due to safety concerns and the rise of urban automobile traffic.

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JUST IN (from the NYT):

"Israel’s Military Says It Rescued Four Hostages"

The freed hostages — named as Noa Argamani, Almog Meir Jan, Andrey Kozlov and Shlomi Ziv — were kidnapped by Hamas from the Nova music festival during the Hamas-led attack on Israel.

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