Mendocino County Today: Tuesday 6/18/24

Noyo Gulls | Warming | Rasta Refunds? | Grass Fire | Point Fire | Local Events | Cline Statement | Westport Landing | AVUSD Updates | Eco Artists | Giants Tickets | Local ISPs | Buttons | Greenwood Ranch | Ukiah Joke | Sea Monster | Destroying Rail | Get Funky | Destroying Pillsbury | Painted Watertank | Ed Notes | ALRFPD BBQ | Young Bear | Navarro Mouth | Pledge Drive | Automatically Participating | Yesterday's Catch | Casa Madrona | Free Gaza | Big Fall | Consarn | Caitlin/Wilt | Passengers | Interesting Times | Bogie Dogging | Not Fit | Now Hiring | Go Figure | Explanation | NYT Stories | Dream Pillows | Trumpism | Encouraged Discussion | Why I'm Running | Fighting

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DRY WEATHER is expected for the foreseeable future. Interior temperatures begin a slow warming trend through the work week with temperatures approaching 100 degrees in some interior valley locations Friday into Saturday. (NWS)

STEPHEN DUNLAP (Fort Bragg): 1 more day of wind along the coast before calmer conditions return tomorrow. High clouds will be passing overhead today, 47F with mostly clear skies so far this Tuesday morning. The Pt. Arena buoy indicates a water temp of 48F which is near record cold levels. Typically we can expect fog when water temps are that cold. I will check with some buddies to see how that affects local fishing.

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ON-LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

Re: SNWMF cancellation. That wasn’t on my BINGO card. Since the announcement says nothing about refunds, I’m guessing that there won’t be any. Musicians, vendors, the fair, local businesses, law enforcement, etc. will likely take financial hits as well. On top of that, downtown will be left entirely to the pastel clad tourons this weekend. Despite the inconveniences and the crappy management, this has been one of my favorite events and I will miss it. (Bob Abeles)

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This weekend would have been the festival's 30th anniversary (hosted in Boonville since 2006). Until it was canceled. Regarding refunds, an SNWMF facebook entry says: "We will reach out with ticket refund information soon."

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FIREBUG

On 06/13/2024 at approximately 12:14 pm, Ukiah Police Department (UPD) and Ukiah Valley Fire Authority (UVFA) personnel were dispatched to the 1300 block of Airport Road in Ukiah regarding a grass fire in the field. A UVFA Fire Chief was in the area and saw the fire immediately after it started and responded to put it out. Immediately upon arrival, he noticed one male, later identified as Oscar Cabezas-Tafoya, attempting to walk away from the fire. Cabezas-Tafoya was the only person in the area at the time of the fire and he was detained for questioning. The UVFA was able to quickly contain the fire. The burn consisted of a 20x20 square foot area of dry grass. 

UPD Officers and a UVFA Arson Investigators inspected the scene and found physical evidence indicating this fire was either intentionally or accidentally set. Cabezas-Tafoya was interviewed at the scene. Based on his statements and physical evidence, it was determined he was responsible for setting the fire. Cabezas-Tafoya was placed under arrest for felony violation of 452(c) PC, unlawfully setting and wildfire. Cabezas-Tafoya was booked and lodged at the Mendocino County Jail.

Ukiah Police Department would like to thank personnel from the Ukiah Valley Fire Authority for their assistance in this investigation. 

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DAY 2 UPDATES: Sonoma County proclaims local emergency as Point Fire held to about 1,200 acres

The Point Fire, the area’s first major fire of the season, broke out Sunday afternoon northwest of Healdsburg on the east shores of Lake Sonoma.

With high winds and low humidity, it grew to over 1,000 acres within seven hours, forcing the evacuation of more than 300 people with another 399 under an evacuation warning. By Monday, it was at 1,207 acres and 20% contained.

Here are the latest updates as the blaze continues Monday…

pressdemocrat.com/article/news/point-fire-sonoma-santa-rosa-california/

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LOCAL EVENTS

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ON MONDAY, Supervisor Elect Madeline Cline made her priorities clear by rolling out in a prominent letter to the Editor to local media outlets (not including the AVA, interestingly) for the Ukiah area Cheap Water Mafia in her first public statement since being elected with Big Wine money last March.

In the letter Cline describes a proposed fee agreement for the Ukiah Valley Groundwater Sustainability Agency (GSA) as an “unfunded state mandate” imposed on places like Ukiah by former Governor Jerry Brown.

Although having had no role in the development of the Agency or its agenda or its finances, in a very reasonable tone, Cline takes partial credit for reducing the originally proposed unreasonable fees by saying, “Fortunately, we as a community have been able to form our own local agency, the GSA, to lead the management of our groundwater.”

But the people who deserve whatever credit is due are the Board members of the Agency: Glenn McGourty, Doug Crane, Theresa McNerlin, Eddie Nevarez, and Adam Gaska (Cline’s opponent in the March election).

Now that a reasonable fee accommodation has been arrived at in the wake of the State’s discontinuance of support for these state-mandated “agencies,” here’s Cline trying to convince her wine industry followers that she’s involved and cares about the “fees” that “none of us are excited or happy about.”

One could easily argue that the GSA has been an ineffectual and near-wasteful exercise in bureaucratic futility and an attempt to forestall restrictions on water usage in the Ukiah Valley, as we have in the past. Their prime objective has been to slow-walk the development of a speculative computer model of the Ukiah Valley aquifer.

But since the Cheap Water Mafia now has no choice but to pay a fee for this ongoing pointless exercise, apparently Ms. Cline now feels the need posture in solidarity with those who financed her election by belatedly taking an interest in the subject by requesting their attendance a meeting about a subject that has already been resolved.

Given the many issues the Supervisors are facing these days — the budget deficit, high staffing vacancies including in senior positions, a controversial gas station proposal in the district she’s inheriting, grand jury reports of personnel mismanagement, homelessness and mental health, underfunding of public safety, etc. — the fact that Cline chooses to make her first official statement about an issue that is of minimal importance and after the fact, is telling. To the outside observer, it looks like an attempt to insert herself into a wine-industry priority subject that is more proof, if any is needed, that she’s an inexperienced candidate pushed into a county-wide position by people who care only about their water for their grapes.

(Mark Scaramella)

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CUPPLES CONSTRUCTION DOESN'T MESS AROUND!

Some updates from today. You can see the widening walkways and what will be the outdoor learning patios off both science rooms. Those will have large sliding doors that will lead outside.

The mitigation work from asbestos was completed in the main high school wing and the hallway is shown and the cleaned classrooms. These will be ready to receive the new windows when they arrive and then the contractors will start putting everything back together.

The science rooms were the main demolition of the day. Those will undergo abatement over the next couple of days. The elementary parking lot was striped today. We had a blip with the flooring in the elementary with a mastic that came up as needing to be abated.  We are working on a plan for that.

Miguel has done a beautiful job with the painting at the elementary site.

Lots going on.

Louise Simson
Superintendent
Anderson Valley Unified School District

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SENIOR CENTER GIANTS TICKETS RAFFLE

We have Giants Tickets up for raffle. Get your tickets at the Senior Center. Game day is Monday, June 24 at 6:45 pm. Note these are digital tickets and you must have an email and the ability to download them on the MLB app.

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LAZARUS: Willits Online and Pacific Internet abruptly went out of business yesterday afternoon. I just spent the last hour ordering a replacement ISP. I also was informed the line for new service at Xfinity Ukiah is several hours long.

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JEFF GOLL: seems my Willits Online has stopped working for my home computer - even though they sent me a bill on the 15th of this month.  Besides the bill I've received no communication from them;  It has a third world aura about it.

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A READER ASKS: I’ve seen several posts for Real Estate in the Greenwood Ranch HOA that is apparently just west of Redwood Valley. These places are mostly off grid but have lots of property and very nice houses. The ads always say “Tenants in Common”.

Does anyone know about this development and this HOA? I can’t shake the feeling that something isn’t exactly kosher here.

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Scott Ward: My understanding is that it started out as a ranch that was purchased and subdivided by back to the land folks without going through the Mendocino County Planning Department and Planning Commision as required by state law and the Map Act. My understanding is that many of the Greenfield parcels have fractional ownership. Suggest you talk to Mendocino County Planning and Building Director Julia Krog to get a fuller explanation.

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RE VAGRANT WATCH, A READER WRITES: What's interesting about the latest post is how newly elected Bernie Norvell is constantly and actively answering questions directly from his experience, hand on approach and having the balls to follow the Marbut report, he was able to create a team of folks to steer them towards success for everyone involved.  He admits there were pits and falls but didn't give up.  This is called leadership.  Our district 2 leader is still stuck talking about her latest Ad Hoc meeting she created with nothing solved or advertising the art walk like she created it.  What a Joke for the Ukiah citizens.

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“GREAT REDWOOD TRAIL” PLANS TO DESTROY MENDOCINO COUNTY RAIL

by Michael D. Setty

The “Great Redwood Trail Agency” (GRTA) has released its plan for its “Great Redwood Trail” (greatredwoodtrail.org) would destroy what remains of the Northwestern Pacific Railroad (NWP) route between Cloverdale, Ukiah, Willits, and Eureka. The GRTA proposal would construct 231 miles of trail mostly on top of the existing NWP grade.

A key part of the Great Redwood Trail plan is to “railbank” the NWP tracks between Cloverdale, Ukiah and Willits mainly located within Mendocino County. In effect, railbanking allows construction of an “interim” trail on top of a railroad grade after removal of the tracks. Supposedly, this preserves the right-of-way for future reintroduction of rail lines “when needed” at some vague time in the future. In reality, as far as TRAC is aware, no rail line has ever been restored over the nearly 40 years after the U.S. Congress created ‘railbanking” as a tool of trail advocates.

The irony of this situation is destroying the NWP through Mendocino County is not required to construct the Great Redwood Trail in those segments where potential usage justifies its construction. In the cities of Arcata, Eureka, Willits and Ukiah, for example, local trails have already been constructed alongside existing NWP rails. All these trails have proven popular while the tracks remain. Why GRTA doesn’t consider this approach in segments where freight and passenger service could be viable (i.e., Cloverdale-Ukiah-Willits, with a connection to the Skunk Train with 100,000+ passengers per year) leaves TRAC scratching our collective heads.

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DON'T KILL THE POSSIBILITY....

Editor,

The Great Redwood Trail Authority (GRTA), for some reason, wants to destroy the railroad between Cloverdale and Willits, precluding future freight and passenger rail service. This is odd because of the need to reduce emissions, and the fact that trails alongside the rails have already been completed in Willits and Ukiah.

Here are the Train Riders Association of California (TRAC) comments to the federal Surface Transportation Board (STB) on so-called “adverse abandonment”of the Mendocino Railway (Skunk Train) by GRTA, to remove federal freight rights from the Mendocino Railway, needed if the GRTA is to abandon tracks between Cloverdale and Willits in order to build their trail (which will cost much more than restoring the existing railroad, and has far fewer visitor and related economic impacts for Mendocino County).

Re: Great Redwood Trail Agency – Adverse Abandonment – Mendocino Railway in Mendocino County, California, AB-1305 (Sub-No. 1)

The Train Riders Association of California (TRAC) has advocated for improving passenger rail in California for four decades. Our organization is currently involved in several efforts around the state to restore rail lines to service. We are eager to see a public-private partnership return the out-of-service rails of the GRTA Line back into productive freight and passenger service. The first step for us in that process is to oppose the Great Redwood Trail Agency’s (“GRTA”) application for adverse abandonment of Mendocino Railway (“MR”).

As the new President of TRAC, I rely on my Masters in Urban Planning and 40 years of experience as a transit planner to offer the following comments:

Faulty Rail Freight Analysis Commissioned by GRTA

In its application for adverse abandonment of Mendocino Railway’s federal freight rights, GRTA commissioned a dubious railroad freight study for the Willits-Ukiah-Cloverdale route.

The firm that completed the analysis for GRTA stated on the MarieJonesConsulting.com website that Ms. Jones has 30 years of experience in planning, economic development, coastal development, market analysis and grant writing. While Ms. Jones appears to have impeccable credentials and experience regarding various urban planning, zoning, housing, economic development/feasibility, mixed use, and related planning projects, the only transportation project listed was the Fort Bragg Coastal Trail.

TRAC sees no evidence that the firm is qualified to perform freight rail market analysis and similar logistics analysis. The study’s conclusions should not be relied on, especially as they were limited to only Willits to Cloverdale, when that section would never be restored without connecting it to the national network. The too-local scope of analysis guaranteed that MR would be seen to have no future hauling freight. This “study” was a hit piece.

The methodology used for calculating potential freight demands is unlike freight demand studies done in the railroad consulting industry. It is invalid to rely on total area population factored by per-capita factors such as total demand for short-haul freight rail trips.

This approach captures only the demand side of logistics, while ignoring production. For an area with substantial timber processing and finished lumber production like Mendocino, the operative factor would be total production, then applying the likely share of products that ship by rail. Traditionally, finished lumber has had a large percentage shipped by rail due to its bulk and weight.

A national average per capita demand for freight factored by population is not a substitute for a detailed evaluation of the market for specific shippers in the area, not only for finished lumber but also for other commodities such as wood chips, aggregates, etc.

In a further unprofessional effort to cast aspersions, the consultant concluded that Mendocino Railway was deceptive about the potential for short-haul freight rail in obsolete documents, rather than the relevant one:

“…MR consistently overestimated interest in short haul rail shipments in their DOT Build Applications (see Appendix A), such that the over-estimates can fairly be characterized as deceptions.” (page 8).

Here, the consultant is referring to the 2020 grant applications that were incorrectly made to the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) rather than the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA). Because Mendocino Railway has now obtained an RRIF loan, a legitimate analysis would have reviewed that loan application, not a denied grant.

Choice of Potential Shippers to Interview

A small local beer distillery, a small chemical company, and a small finished lumber producer are not representative of much larger potential shippers, such as the remaining sawmills, and potential reload traffic from Humboldt and Del Norte Counties. This alone makes the study’s conclusions invalid.

While the study is correct that hauling of raw logs to the mill by rail went out of common use when logging railroads were replaced by trucks, the study completely ignores the shipping of finished lumber. For Mendocino County, with its long history of logging, this is not merely preposterous–it must be considered an intent to mislead the Board.

MR Evidence of Established If Modest, Freight Volumes

That is, about 400 carloads of raw logs for one of its logging customers for many decades; a second customer has expressed interest in moving 400-500 carloads of aggregate (gravel). The consultant failed to consider Mendocino Railway’s plans for a transloading facility (not a campground as alleged by some) to carry traffic such as timber and aggregate. A restoration of the GRTA Line would enable a transload facility to capture a portion of lumber and other bulk commodity traffic originating in Del Norte and Humboldt Counties.

For the record, the four North Coast counties (Del Norte, Humboldt, Mendocino, and Sonoma focused on Cloverdale) produced almost 400 million board feet of lumber in 2020, according to https://gis.data.ca.gov/datasets/CDTFA::ca-timber-production-statistics/explore.

This is an annual volume of 5,000+/- equivalent lumber carloads assuming 80,000 board feet per car; presumably a large share of these shipments could be captured, including Del Norte/Humboldt loads via a potential reload facility in Willits, particularly for shipments to Southern California (at the 500-mile threshold) and out-of-state. There is also potential for other commodities, such as aggregate for the Bay Area construction and roadway market. The method of national averages applied to Mendocino County ignores MR’s potential for longer distance intra-California (e.g., to the Los Angeles and San Diego regions) and interstate freight traffic.

TRAC chose to not closely investigate the numbers in the feasibility analysis, as the conclusion was so preposterous that the analysis had to be severely flawed: “Even with the award of a $31 million low interest federal loan, rail freight is still not competitive at a price of $57,450/railcar or $900/ton, which is 2,346% more expensive than trucking.” (page 21.)

Feasibility Analysis–Breakeven Analysis

While only a side note in the STB proceedings, it is important for the Board to notice that Mendocino Railway is successfully rebuilding its tourist excursion business after Covid. For example, the Skunk Train served 70,000 passengers in 2022 and 100,000 in 2023 (e.g., about 70,000 in 2023 from Willits, which is not the most “touristy” part of Mendocino County). There is a potential for 5%–7% of annual Mendocino County visitors to arrive by train. This could be 90,000-135,000 tourist arrivals by train, respectively.

Keeping in mind the very high prices that the Napa Valley Wine Train and Skunk Train are able to obtain from visitors ($250-$800 for a 32-mile round trip, and $50 for 7-mile and $65 for 14-mile round trips, respectively) it appears that tourist trains to/from the Bay Area (with a SMART connection) might be more important than carload freight traffic in the long run. There is no reason why a breakeven analysis should be restricted to only the freight side of the operation.

Exaggerated Benefits Claimed for Trail

GRTA’s claims of trail usage in the range of six to nine million annually (Draft Great Redwood Trail Plan, Appendix A, pages 6-7: https://greatredwoodtrailplan.org/) are observably exaggerated, compared to actual usage on existing recreation trails in California. For example, the 28 miles of rail-trail segments completed so far along the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART) route collectively serve about 800,000–900,000 annual users (with roughly 650,000 residents living in the SMART corridor, e.g. excluding the Sonoma Valley, Russian River area, and West Marin County. Trail usage is reported monthly to the SMART Board – https://sonomamarintrain.org/bod).

In the Sacramento urban area with about 2 million residents, the American River Parkway hosts about 5 million annual users. Relative usage in established tourist areas is significantly higher. The Napa Valley Vine Trail attracts about 1.5 million annual users, an estimated 20%-30% being visitors (300,000–400,000 visitor users, 8%-10% of 3.8 million annually).

On the Monterey Peninsula, the Monterey Bay Recreation Trail in the Cities of Monterey and Pacific Grove attracts about 1.5 million users, of which approximately two-thirds are visitors. Based on this, about 20% of visitors use the trail, located in the prime tourism areas of downtown Monterey, Cannery Row, and adjacent to the Monterey Bay Aquarium (in contrast, the Napa Valley Vine Trail is not yet completed to the prime tourism area extending north from Yountville to Oakville, St. Helena, Calistoga, and rural destinations in-between including wineries.

Economic Benefits of Auto-Free Visitor and Other Transportation

With its purported emphasis on creating economic activity, GRTA has surprisingly failed to consider the potential impact of adverse abandonment on MR’s freight and passenger services, which are an auto-free economic engine for Mendocino County. Significantly, MR’s existing line between Willits and Fort Bragg, commonly known as the “Skunk Train,” is the top commercial tourist attraction in Mendocino County. If GRTA agreed to have MR restore the tracks between Willits and Cloverdale, perhaps in exchange for freight rights and the construction of a pathway, the economic impact would greatly exceed that of a trail alone.

A recent study, the Vallejo Passenger Rail Study, found that connecting the Napa Valley to Vallejo Ferry Service operating from San Francisco could attract more than 1,000 visitor trips daily in summer (https://sta.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Vallejo-PRS-Final-Report-FINAL-2024-05-10-PDF.pdf, p.63). In an earlier public presentation, the study consultants estimated there could be 1,000–1,500 visitor trips daily, as an annual average. That is, 365,000–548,000 annual visitor trips via the ferry to the Napa Valley. Assuming one-way trips results in a potential of 182,500–274,000 annual rail trips by visitors. This is 5%–7% of all Napa Valley visitors.

Applied to the 1.8 million estimated annual Mendocino County visitors, this figure suggests 90,000-135,000 trips to Mendocino County might be attracted. This is in the same ballpark as the 100,000 annual riders currently attracted by the Skunk Train. These figures are also consistent with a weekend rail service that operated between Healdsburg and Willits prior to FRA’s closure of the line circa 2000.The latter service reportedly attracted 500-600 passengers per trip.

Conclusion

In my professional opinion, the Marie Jones Report is worthless as a freight rail study, and deserves being given zero weight as evidence.

TRAC strenuously opposes GRTA’s Application. We urge the Surface Transportation Board to encourage freight hauling by rail in Mendocino County via the historic Mendocino Railway by denying adverse abandonment.

Verification

Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 1746, I declare and verify under penalty of perjury under the laws of the United States of America that the foregoing is true and correct to the best of my knowledge, information, and belief. Further, I certify that I am qualified and authorized to file this Verification.

Very truly yours,

Michael D. Setty

President, Train Riders Association of California (TRAC)

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DESTROYING LAKE PILLSBURY IS AN EXPENSIVE GAMBLE WITH OUR WATER SUPPLY

An Urgent and Important Public Statement from Chairman Eddie Crandell and the Lake County Board of Supervisors.

Lake County, CA (June 15, 2022) – The current narrative that dam removal in Lake County is the only viable solution is being pushed forward without proper scrutiny. No real weight is being given to the true potential financial costs and the very real threat to our regional water security. This narrative effectively ignores that the Eel River water diverted from Lake Pillsbury ultimately flows into the Russian River, where it is then routed into pipelines supplying it throughout Sonoma County and Marin County, into the taps of cities like Sonoma, Petaluma, and Novato.

The North Marin Water District has stated the “Russian River, which provides approximately 70% of Novato’s water, originates in Mendocino County and derives supply from both the Eel River and the Russian River watershed.” Without understanding the history behind this, it is likely that many do not know what a gamble special interests are attempting to make with the water needs of 600,000 people as they urge the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to order the destruction of Lake Pillsbury.

In 1922, following the completion of Scott Dam, the Gravelly Valley of Lake County was filled to form what became known as Lake Pillsbury. The Lake County community of Hullville was then submerged under 125 feet of impounded Eel River water. At that time, it was investors from San Francisco who set this transformation into motion, already seeing the need for hydroelectric production to power Ukiah and the diversion of water into Sonoma County. The system of dams and diversion became known as the Potter Valley Project.

During the next 100 years in Lake County, the community of Lake Pillsbury would ultimately develop along the shores of the destroyed town of Hullville. During this same time, development boomed throughout Sonoma and Marin counties fueled by the Eel River bolstered water supply of the Russian River. In 1977, regional representatives presented testimony to Congress on the need for further strengthening of the water supply by constructing the Warm Springs Dam to create Lake Sonoma. Lake Pillsbury, Lake Mendocino, and Lake Sonoma have all come to form the backbone of the Russian River’s ability to meet an ever growing demand.

In those Congressional hearings, a Mendocino County Supervisor stated: “By far the major portion of current summer demand for domestic and agricultural use of water in Southern Mendocino County, Sonoma County and Northern Marin County is met by water released from Lake Mendocino down the Russian River. But, prior to 1908 very little water flowed in the Russian River during the summer months and in dry years the river was usually dry.”

This stands in stark contrast to what many in the region have come to take for granted, that the Russian River has become not just a source of water but also a vacation destination. “As a result of the Van Arsdale diversion and creation of Lake Pillsbury, water flowed in the Russian River all summer, and agriculture developed along the Russian River in Potter Valley, Southern Mendocino County, and Sonoma County. Recreational uses of the Russian also flourished.”

The prospect of the Russian River going dry as it runs along the Mendocino-Lake County line into Sonoma County is frightening, especially in the age of megafires that our region is experiencing. The Eel River in Lake County may go dry and without the water in Lake Pillsbury and Lake Mendocino the regional wildfire danger would seem only to be further heightened.

There have been many assumptions made by dam removal proponents, including that the regional water supply would not be threatened; that the cost to remove the dams is cheaper than providing fish passage; and that the environmental impact on Lake County is minimal. These assumptions simply do not hold up when the broader context is considered.

The most optimistic of projections regarding water supply have been previously used as justification to remove Scott Dam and destroy the water storage provided by Lake Pillsbury. Lake Mendocino has dropped to and remains at historic lows in the midst of this drought. The worst-case scenarios of Lake Mendocino drying up nearly came to pass just in the last year as the water level continued to drop precipitously.

There are many cost-effective methods for fish passage in Lake County that were eliminated from further consideration because they were not viewed as the most desired outcome. Some of these, such as a trap & haul option, or pressurized transport systems, could be implemented quickly without the need for the significant physical infrastructure associated with a fish ladder, even if only on a short-term basis.

Apparently, these options did not fit the narrative that the only viable fish passage option is to remove Scott Dam. In fact, their success would have weakened the argument to destroy Lake Pillsbury and risk our region’s water security. These alternatives were not weighed against the real potential cost of dam removal or realistic threat to regional water supply. Once the dams are removed there is no going back, and it would not be possible to attempt these otherwise cost-effective alternatives.

Even the early, preliminary, cost estimates presented by the Two Basin Solution provided a massive range. The dam removal itself was estimated between $30 and $120 million. What received even less focus were the estimates for Sediment Removal and Vegetation Management. These were each estimated to cost between $25 -$100 million. That put the conservative estimated cost at approximately $80 million, but the more realistic costs at $320 million. When all costs were considered the range came to $400 - $520 million. Lake County did not have a voice in these discussions, so already decisions such as removing the sediment left behind have been noted as infeasible, due to cost. These rough costs could continue to rise as operations are more fully developed.

Dam removal proponents argue that Scott Dam is unsafe. What they carefully omit is that the majority of dams in California, especially those of any substantive size, are considered high risk. In fact, over 90% of the acre feet of dam water storage is classified as high risk just like Scott Dam. This cannot be the basis to begin eliminating water storage across the state.

Forcing dam removal to begin before anyone has the chance to understand the real risks and costs involved seems to be the current strategy. That is why it was necessary to exclude Lake County from the process. Once the dam is out and Lake Pillsbury destroyed, the costs of the resulting environmental harms in Lake County and securing new water sources in Mendocino, Sonoma, and Marin will be forced upon all of us.

For over a century, regional decisions surrounding development have been made in reliance on the water in Lake Pillsbury. The danger of this was foreshadowed in 1977 Congressional testimony:

“The pressure on demand is even greater in Sonoma and Northern Marin Counties because they are closer to the metropolitan San Francisco Bay Area.

For periods of time this pressure may be contained. But we will soon have more wet years. There will be more homes built, businesses started and acres planted in the Russian River Service Area. Every member of this Committee knows this trend cannot be stopped ‘once and for all.’”

Some of the later words still ring true to this day: “When the next dry cycle comes - when demand is much higher - the economic loss that will be suffered, if our water supply is not increased, will be shattering to lives and our economy.” These are the words that helped convince Congress to increase the water supply by building a new dam, and they should certainly give proponents of destroying regional water storage at Lake Pillsbury pause as we enter increasingly dramatic drought.

Residents of Marin, Sonoma, and Mendocino counties are encouraged to contact members of their local City Councils, Board of Supervisors, and other governing bodies to request open discussion of these concerns. You can also submit your comments to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission directly at https://ferconline.ferc.gov/QuickComment.aspx (P-77)

Respectfully submitted,

Eddie Crandell, Chair (Lake County Board of Supervisors)

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ED NOTES: FROM THE ARCHIVE

DOPE TALK FROM 2002: During the week just past, 16,072 marijuana plants were uprooted from 55 gardens in Laytonville, Branscomb, Covelo, Potter Valley, Hopland, and the Masonite Road out of Navarro. The confiscated plants weighed 8895 pounds.

ACCORDING to Sgt. Rusty Noe of the County of Mendocino Marijuana Eradication Team (Commet), "During the past two weeks Commet team members and CAMP (Campaign Against Marijuana Production) Team One have eradicated gardens from various locations in the county. Two Mexican male suspects were arrested for a garden in the Covelo area. This investigation continues and more arrests are expected. During the year Commet has eradicated 101,661 marijuana plants from 265 garden sites with an estimated weight of 37,000 pounds. 23 arrests have been made and 14 firearms were seized."

THE ANNUAL MENDO POT RAIDS are a 9-5 enterprise seemingly choreographed to avoid arresting only the most unwary (or confident) gardeners, and almost all of those who do get caught are snared on public property or on ranches so large their owners truly don't know they're raising cows and marijuana. There are also people who own large properties who share crop pot on handshake agreements that go like this: "You can grow on my ranch if you give me a third of what you make, but if you get caught I've never seen you before and I sure as heck didn't know you were growing on my place because my ranch is obviously too big for me to patrol."

THE OVERALL prob, though, is a frazzled society peopled by folks who badly need to soften the prevailing realities of life to survive them, hence what Allan Greenspan might call the "elastic demand" for marijuana. Put the increasing demand of millions of customers for a proscribed substance, and you've got Mendo Mellow going for upwards of $5,000 a pound and a lot of people saying to themselves, "Hmmm. If I can bring in ten pounds of bud for 50 grand, I can get me a 27 inch TV and maybe even a girlfriend."

MENDOCINO COUNTY'S futile annual effort to take out a few of the larger gardens only serves to keep pot prices artificially high and to attract more and more people to the business. Also kept high is the Northcoast's annual fall anxiety as thousands of armed growers guard against thieves, driving hikers out of the back country for fear they'll be mistaken for harvest rats. But so long as demand "remains elastic," and so long as there are millions of people who need to zone out for long periods of their waking day, and so long as the stuff is illegal, thousands of Mendolanders will continue to grow marijuana.

ITS MILLIONS of propagandists aside, marijuana has been developed to a truly narcotizing strength, hence its agreed upon medicinal properties for adults suffering from terminal diseases, but also hence its status as contra-indicated for young people. Of course if you prefer young people fatter, lazier and dumber than they presently are, you probably think it's better that they're sedentary and inert and smoking pot than careening around drunk at a hundred miles an hour on weekend nights. In Mendo, our nation's future do both. The answer? Beats me. Short of revolution, what can be done about mass pathology?

SPEAKING OF lotus eating, this e-mail wafted in out of cyber-space the other morning: "Is it true that you can legally grow enough pot for a one-year personal supply in Mendocino, California? I just wanna know because I may choose to live there."

YES, but don't run out for a U-Haul just yet; the rents in Mendocino County are higher than primo bud.

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NICK WILSON

A couple of weeks ago a bear came out of the woods late at night and broke into my garage, breaking the padlock and hasp off the edge of the door. I heard the noise, but thought it was just the usual bear knocking over the garbage bins.

But the noise went on longer than usual, so I went to the back porch and yelled at the bear, which I couldn't see. Then the critter burst out of the garage and climbed up a tree. Soon the critter climbed down and moved to the back of the yard. I yelled and growled and bashed a wooden broom handle on the house to make bang sounds. But the bear didn't run, and instead took a couple of steps toward me. I picked up a cordless leaf blower and turned it on, and that did the trick. The bear turned and ran off into the woods.

Next day I checked the damaged door and took a photo of it. The bear was probably attracted by the aroma of ripe strawberries in an old fridge in the garage. Since I couldn't padlock the damaged door, I secured it temporarily with some chain. And I got the strawbs out of the old fridge and into the house.

I have a security camera with a motion sensor that can set off a loud siren and bright floodlight when triggered. I set it up zoomed in on the damaged door. Last night just after sunset I heard the alarm siren, and when I checked the video that was automatically recorded, I saw that the bear immediately reacted to the siren sound and a bright white light. It spun around and bounded off toward the woods.

I think the bear is a young one, maybe a 1 or 2 year old. Next week a friend is coming to repair the door and reinforce it. All in all I'm still happy to live in the country rather than in town. We've been in this house 50 years come November.

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KZYX&Z 2024 SPRING PLEDGE DRIVE

Spring Pledge has come to an end but it is never too late to donate to your favorite radio station!

Our goal was $88,100 and our total donations raised is $71,000.

We fell short of our goal but there is still time to make it happen! Go to our website. There are plenty of Thank You Gifts to choose from. Call the station during office hours (707) 895-2324 Ext #5. Send mail to PO Box 1 Philo CA 95466. 

A big Thank You to our Members and all who donated during the drive! So much gratitude to our Programmers DJs and Volunteers! Our station is strong and resilient due to all of you!
Keep Listening and Supporting Local with KZYX&Z!!! Stay Tuned!

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KEEPING COOL AT THE ROYAL

Warmest spiritual greetings,

Just sitting here in the air conditioned room at the Royal Motel in Ukiah, California, reading online about the fierce heat dome on the east coast and the general warnings about extreme early summer hot weather and, of course, the California wildfires.

Otherwise, am continuing to advocate for a global spiritual revolution. This is the approach of uncompromising direct action, except upgraded from previous historical efforts which stemmed from a socio-political basis. The key here is to get centered in the heart chakra, and then not interfere with the Parabrahman, or God, or the Dao, or whatever you wish to call that, working through the body-mind complex, its instrument. That done, one is automatically participating in a global spiritual revolution. And from there, what is necessary will be orchestrated perfectly, because this is a revolution directed by the Divine Absolute.

Craig Louis Stehr

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CATCH OF THE DAY, Monday, June 17, 2024

CHLOE CARLSON, Clearlake/Ukiah. Controlled substance, conspiracy.

JASON DECOURCY, Clearlake/Ukiah. Paraphernalia, conspiracy.

MARCUS DUMAN, Redwood Valley. Controlled substance, county parole violation.

ADAM FULLER, Ukiah. Domestic violence court order violation, probation revocation.

DUSTIN GOLYER, Ukiah. Metal knuckle, concealed dirk-dagger, disobeying court order, resisting.

FELIZ GONZALEZ-TORRES, Lakeport/Ukiah. DUI.

JOE LOPEZ, Philo. DUI.

SANDY MCNAB, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.

SHEA MARSAN, Cobb/Ukiah. Failure to appear.

ESTEBAN MERINO-ROMERO, Clearlake/Laytonville. DUI, child endangerment.

GAUDENCIO ORTIZ, Clearlake/Laytonville. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.

JAVIER RAMIREZ, Ukiah. Controlled substance, domestic violence court order violation, probation revocation.

EZEQUIEL RODRIGUEZ-MELCHOR, Philo. DUI.

VICTOR SIRIANNI, Gerber/Ukiah. DUI-alcohol&drugs, child endangerment.

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BILL KIMBERLIN

This is a picture of the Casa Madrona hotel in Sausalito. My grandfather built it in 1924 as an auto garage for parking cars as people took the ferry boats to San Francisco before the Golden Gate Bridge was built. He also owned a large whiskey distillery at the edge of town. When prohibition happened we became bootleggers and the garage was used for the trucks (with secret compartments loaded with booze) which supplied all the Speakeasies in San Francisco. There is a brass plaque on the building that describes the building's history.

We ate at the Lighthouse Cafe which was great and then visited the restaurant that used to be called Zacks, which was famous for their Friday evening turtle races.

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UKIAH LAST SATURDAY

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HE SURVIVED AN 11-STORY FALL IN S.F. THIS IS HIS FIRST RETELLING OF THAT MIRACULOUS DAY AND WHAT CAME NEXT

by Kevin Fagan

Washing windows on San Francisco skyscrapers requires unwavering composure and mastery of the delicate balancing act needed to keep from falling. After 15 years holding a squeegee, Pedro Perez had that act down cold.

Until the day he didn’t.

Ten years ago on a chilly November morning, Perez was lugging an extension cord along the roof of an 11-story bank building when he slipped and tumbled over the edge. As he plunged toward the asphalt, a blue blur in the sky causing everyone below to scream and scatter, death seemed certain.

But fate had other plans.

A split second before he would have hit the ground, a Toyota Camry rolled under him — and 58-year-old Perez smashed onto the roof. An ambulance rushed him to a hospital, and one of Perez’s co-workers tearfully called his family, assuming he was dead.

Perez didn’t die, though. He eventually recovered almost completely, and in his first interview since that awful day, Perez described how his life is what most people would call a follow-up miracle to the one that made him survive his plunge.

Today, Perez is a happy grandfather, living with his eldest daughter and her three young children in San Lorenzo. They have ice cream together, play games, watch TV, go out for doughnuts. A few months a year he is in Mexico and stays with relatives before coming back home to be the beloved abuelo to not just the three tots in his home, but his younger daughter’s child as well.

“I try to enjoy every little moment, as I know from experience that life is too short and things can change in a heartbeat,” Perez told the Chronicle. “It has not been an easy journey.

“My recovery has been the hardest thing in life,” he said. “Even after all these years, I’m still limited on what I can do, and still find challenges even with my simple day-to-day activities. But I am still grateful to be here, even if I’m not physically 100%.”

Being merely “grateful” is an understatement, but not surprising given how shy and modest their father is, said Daniela Perez Garcia, one of Perez’s three daughters.

“He’s living his best life ever,” she said. “He’s doing great.

“Even though it was something bad that happened, something very good came out of it,” she said. “Before the accident, all he did was work, work, work. But because of his injuries, he never went back to work after that.”

She sighed. “You never know where life is going to lead, do you?”

After his fall, Perez spent two weeks in a coma, followed by years of agonizing recovery as he regained the ability to walk. The fall broke an arm, a leg, pelvis, ribs and clavicle and also ruptured arteries. His head took such a battering that doctors had to drill a hole in his skull to relieve pressure, and for a couple of months he couldn’t string together more than a few words.

“We didn’t think he would make it for long,” said Perez’s eldest daughter, 28-year-old Monica Perez. “I mean, who the hell falls 11 floors down and lives? We thought he was a goner.”

Perez spent two years in a physical rehabilitation facility in Pleasanton, and he couldn’t walk for the first year because he had to have his pelvis reconstructed. After coming home to the family house in San Leandro, he could use a walker for a few steps, and by the third year he was able to upgrade to a cane.

It was all a terrible challenge for the family of five. Perez’s window-washing salary brought in about $44,000 a year. His wife worked part time at a factory and was mostly home raising the children, so when Perez’s income suddenly plummeted by half on workers compensation, Monica Perez quit college and went to work as a home health aide to pitch in. She was 19.

“It was all up to me, and that was really hard, a big change,” she said. Perez and his wife split up a year into his recovery, and one of the big things that helped the family through — along with insurance picking up the medical costs — was a GoFundMe that raised about $80,000 from more than 1,200 people.

“I have no idea how I did it,” said Monica Perez, who today is a medical assistant and heading back to college to get a nursing degree. “I was literally doing all the adult stuff. I didn’t get to be a teenager, young person, going out and partying. I had to grow up quicker. It made me more mature.”

The ordeal made the whole family come to grips with the fragility of life, and they came out stronger for it.

“With his accident we realized life is too short,” she said. “Your siblings and parents will help you get through anything. We literally helped each other get through it. And now life is good.”

Perez’s employer, Century Window Cleaning in Concord, was fined $12,765 by Cal/OSHA for violations related to the accident, including “failure to secure the roof with fall protection equipment and inadequate training,” noting that Perez was disconnected from his fall protection equipment as he moved to the roof edge. Officials from that company and the one that later bought it did not return calls for comment.

The home where Pedro and Monica Perez live today with her partner and children is a modest stucco home on a quiet street in San Lorenzo, reflecting the quiet life of the people inside. The family sued over the accident and eventually got a modest settlement, “and that helps pay for my father’s expenses,” Monica Perez said.

Perez is so shy he won’t let his family take pictures of him, and agreed to talk to the Chronicle only by email. “He is not one to be in the spotlight in any way,” she said. “He just wants to forget about what happened, and live his life.”

Perez said he leaned on his Catholic faith to keep him going, but that his daughters were really his rock.

“Some advice I would give to someone who finds themselves in a similar situation such as myself would be to lean on their family as much as possible for support and try and take things day by day,” he said. “Having my daughters and family around me, rooting for me every step of the way, is what kept me going. There were days when I wanted to give up, but they would be there every day rooting me on, no matter what.”

“When my daughters told me how much the community came together to help us during such a difficult time, I was in tears. It touched my heart.”

Perez grew up in a small town in Michoacan, Mexico, and when he was a boy he quit school to work and help his single mother raise his sister. He did farming, gardening and roofing — anything that made a buck, “until I turned 16, when I came to America,” he said.

Here he finished high school and did the same sort of laboring work he had done before until he scored the window-washing job in 1999. He started his family, and “life for us was very normal and peaceful,” Perez said. “I was working, had my daughters in school, and we enjoyed family time.”

Then came the accident.

All these years later, Perez still needs the cane, his balance is shaky, and he has limited range of motion with his hands. He’s also “still a little forgetful,” said Monica Perez. “In the last two years in particular, he’s more himself again. He is super sweet, always seeing what he can do to help me with the kids. He takes them out to play, and one of his favorite things to do is to get them doughnuts. We are so happy to have him here.

“He’s always been a hard worker, never been a couch potato,” she said with a chuckle. “So he’ll water the lawn or mow it, and it will take him over an hour. Or take out the trash — all with a cane, and limited use of his hands. I say why do you do it? He says, ‘I have to be useful.’ ”

Back in 2014, Perez’s astounding survival at the corner of California and Montgomery streets — a statistical near impossibility, according to a 2011 study published by the National Library of Medicine — made international headlines.

“At first all I saw was, out of the corner of my eye, a blue streak falling,” banker Sam Hartwell told the Chronicle minutes after Perez’s plunge. “Then I heard that loud crash, the shattering glass and a thud. It wasn’t until the man rolled over onto the pavement and landed on his back that I realized it was a person.”

The timing for Perez smacking the roof of a 2002 Toyota Camry, where the crumple factor helped cushion his fall, was even luckier than anyone thought. The driver of the car, Mohammad Alcozai, was looking for a garage to park in when the Camry’s navigation system went blank, he said, so he slowed down. When it came back on, he sped up — and that’s exactly when “something hit my car with a terrible thump.”

“I thought maybe somebody had hit me with a bike,” Alcozai, who manages a law firm in Concord, recalled the other day. “I never thought someone would come at me from the sky.”

He and more than a dozen others called 911, set up traffic blocks for first responders to get through, and urged the barely conscious Perez to hold on — and that’s the last time he saw the man, Alcozai said.

“I never talked to him. I didn’t want him to feel like I was coming for something,” Alcozai said. “But I’m very happy to hear he’s doing well.

“I think God was watching for both of us that day. We both survived. A split-second later, and it could have been an even more tragic situation for him and for me.”

Perez said he doesn’t remember falling. He doesn’t want to. His eye is only on today and tomorrow.

“I don’t have too many expectations for the future,” he said. “I just want to enjoy seeing my grandchildren grow up and live day by day, and to enjoy life as much as I can and make the most of the time I have left on this Earth — however long that may be.”

(SF Chronicle)

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CAITLIN CLARK ISN’T THE FIRST BASKETBALL SUPERSTAR TO INSPIRE ENVY OR HARD FOULS

by Scott Ostler

You want a comp for Caitlin Clark? I’ve got one for you: Wilt Chamberlain.

I wish the Big Dipper was around today to give Clark some counsel, superstar to superstar. Chamberlain was a major supporter of women’s sports. He might even have become a WNBA team owner had he not died in 1999, when the league was just 2 years old.

Not that Clark needs Chamberlain’s help, or anyone else’s. Rising above the clamor and debate, ignoring her more noxious supporters and haters alike, has been Caitlin Clark. Still, it doesn’t hurt to have some big-brotherly support. It’s lonely at the top.

In her first month in the WNBA, Clark has been up and down. On Sunday, as her Indiana Fever defeated the Chicago Sky 91-83, Clark had 23 points, eight rebounds and nine assists. A very good game.

Stats aside, Clark is dealing splendidly with the noise. Here’s what she said Sunday, after being knocked to the deck by rookie rival Angel Reese on the follow-through of a blocked shot:

“I think it’s just the emotion and the passion that we play with. I think people love to see that. And I think that’s maybe not something that was always appreciated in women’s sports, and it should be. I think that’s what makes it fun. We’re competitors. That’s the way the game should be. It’s going to get a little feisty. It’s going to get physical. But at the end of the day, both teams are just trying to win.”

That doesn’t sound like someone who sees herself as a victim of resentment or racism or rookie-ism. That sounds like somebody who is ready to rock.

Still, I wish Clark and Chamberlain could huddle, because I expect they would have had a special bond.

Each came into pro basketball as the Greatest Scorer Ever.

Each was hailed as the savior of a historically struggling league, and each brought his/her league immediate attention and created millions of fans.

Each faced the fierce glare of many players who resented the shadow cast by a heavily hyped rookie, and underwent baptism by elbow.

Chamberlain was an NBA rookie in 1959, at the age of 23 (Clark is 22). The 7-foot-1 center led the league in scoring (37.6) and rebounding (27, not a misprint), and was the league’s most valuable player.

Following that season, Chamberlain announced his retirement. Among the reasons he cited: the double- and triple-teaming he endured and the hyper-aggressive defenses preventing him from playing basketball.

In Game 2 of the NBA Eastern Conference finals that season, Boston Celtics enforcer Tommy Heinsohn was instructed by head coach Red Auerbach to get behind Chamberlain and block him from turning to run back on defense. The two soon were throwing real punches at midcourt, until police and refs busted up the benches-clearing brawl. Chamberlain emerged with a bloody lip and an injured hand, and the game went on. Philly won the game but lost the series.

Wilt’s “retirement” didn’t last long. He played 14 more seasons.

Clark is playing the situation perfectly as she improves her game on the court. Where Chamberlain complained about the fouling and had a legitimate beef, nobody cheered for Goliath. Clark isn’t a physical giant like Chamberlain, but she is the WNBA’s pint-sized Goliath. She scares rivals, and their only play is to try to beat her up.

On Monday morning, CNN anchor Jim Acosta showed a clip of Sunday’s foul and said, with genuine alarm in his voice, “I’m a little worried that Caitlin Clark’s going to get injured. I mean, she is taking some hits. She’s getting pummeled. We show our viewers this one more time here. She went down hard on that play.”

Cringe.

To Acosta, and millions of others, Clark is a delicate flower who must be protected. I don’t recall Acosta fretting over the well-being of a fragile NBA rookie, let alone any other WNBA first-year player.

Reese’s foul on Clark was hard, ruled a Flagrant 1, but it was not in the same league, literally, as a Draymond Green karate chop, or a Dillon Brooks flying smackdown, like the one that broke Gary Payton II’s elbow during the Golden State Warriors’ playoff run in 2022. Steve Kerr said Brooks’ foul “broke the code.”

Reese’s foul didn’t break the code. She defended her swat by noting that hard hits on her and her teammates were ignored, because “I guess some people got a special whistle.”

There’s the commentary on Clark’s rookie season in a nutshell: She’s protected by the refs, and the refs allow defenders to beat her to a pulp. Just like Wilt back in the day. He shot a league-record number of free throws, and he got pounded by defenders.

If Wilt were around now, I expect he’d tell his new pal, You’ve already figured it out, Caitlin. You’re changing basketball, but you’re never going to change basketball.

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ON LINE COMMENT neatly sums up the true state of affairs:

These ARE very dangerous times.

And the US government has played a major role in creating these dangers.

The US government precipitated the war in Ukraine.

The US government gives Israel a free check to do whatever it wants.

Setting aside the grotesque lack of morality and decency in enabling the Israelis to kill tens of thousands of native Palestinians, both these current events are fraught with a lot of risk, since they may lead to “unforeseen” consequences that could directly affect life in the Big PX.

This weekend, the pathetic, but still infinitely better, choice for President told the faithful (I paraphrase) for the nth time that “Putin would not have ‘invaded’ Ukraine if I was President”. The Donald said “Russian subs off the coast of Florida and Cuba shows how little respect Putin has for Biden” and insisted it would never happen if he was President.

Really Mr. Trump? Is that why you expelled all those Russian diplomats and raised the ante in Ukraine, giving them military assistance? (something the even worse Obama did not do)

Well, maybe if Biden, and Trump and Obama before, had not pushed for Ukraine to join NATO and park missiles next to Russia, 6 minutes from Moscow, Putin would not feel compelled to remind the US Russia can finish off the “Land of the Free” if things get out of hand.

Of course, a war could have beneficial side effects–insurers can weasel out of contracts (look at Nordstream pipeline and Lloyd’s of London), maybe the government can forgive its own debt, and people will be more preoccupied with the war as the government imposes martial law.

And if somehow, the US muddles through these crises (I didn’t mention the US stirring up Taiwan) without a big hot war that leads to US military, or civilian casualties, well, if some folks are correct about fracking in the US running out soon, the end of that oil and gas, plus the end of the dollar, that should make for interesting times.

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THE OBAMA/BIDEN ARM-GRAB WASN’T JUST A SENIOR MOMENT — IT WAS THE MOMENT EVERYONE REALIZED THE PRESIDENT’S NOT FIT FOR OFFICE

by Piers Morgan

They were only 10 words but wow, did they spark a reaction.

I watched the viral clip of Barack Obama taking a frozen Joe Biden by the arm and leading him off stage at their star-studded $30 million LA fundraiser, and posted on X what I suspect everyone who watched it was thinking: “So embarrassing. The Democrats can’t let this go on, surely?”

Within a few hours, a staggering 7.5 million people had viewed my post and many thousands of those had liked, reposted or commented on it.

As I thought, the vast majority shared my honestly held opinion that President Biden is no longer fit for the highest office in America.

I don’t mean that he’s too incompetent for the job, although many would say he is.

No, I mean that he’s too physically and mentally unfit to function at the extremely high level required to be leader of not just the United States, but also the free world.

When the last Democrat to occupy the White House has to literally grab the current one because he notices he’s had yet another “senior moment” and appears to be paralyzed like a statue on stage, it has to be the wake-up call everyone in the party must urgently heed before it’s too late, doesn’t it?

We’re only five months away from the 2024 general election, but what is now painfully obvious is that Joe Biden’s already cooked as a candidate.

There is not a snowball’s chance in hell that he can possibly get through another four-year term of presidency — and everyone knows it.

This is a once very eloquent, fast-talking, firebrand senator (Yes, really. See his blistering 1986 speech from a Senate committee hearing in which he rails magnificently against apartheid South Africa, to see what I mean) who can now barely speak without talking gibberish, nor walk quicker than a snail on Mogadon, and who keeps falling over or forgetting what he’s supposed to be doing or saying.

It’s long gone beyond the stage of being novel to watch.

Biden is supposed to be America’s commander-in-chief but, at what is a very dangerous time for the world, I wouldn’t trust him now to order a restaurant meal let alone a military strike.

So why is he still running?

Why has nobody told him to stand aside for the good of the party and country, as incumbent Democrat presidents Lyndon Johnson did in 1968 and Harry Truman did in 1953?

If they have, then why hasn’t he listened to them?

We’re told he still believes he’s the only person who can beat Donald Trump because he beat him last time.

But as I suspect the world will see when they have their first live TV debate on June 27, the controversial and now criminally convicted Republican candidate will eat Biden alive on stage and there will be no Obama there to rescue him.

Just as bafflingly, why do so many high-profile Democrats persist in trying to convince us that Biden’s still got all his marbles intact?

After I posted my comment about the jaw-droppingly embarrassing Biden/Obama arm-grab, two of America’s most famous billionaires responded to what I said.

The first was hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, who has been a vocal Democrat supporter and major donor but has said he’s now likely to vote for Trump.

He posted to me: “I have been criticized by some for sharing these @POTUS Biden videos which appear almost every day. I have read numerous articles which somehow suggest that the camera angle, the duration of the clip or some form of right wing manipulation explains Biden’s behavior on camera. Some people are old at 81 and others are sharp, vigorous, and impressive. Compare Warren Buffett at 93 and Biden at 81. Biden is an old 81 who can’t find his way off a stage or stay present and focused at a G7 conference. Is that who should be the leader of the free world for the next five years? A president should not have to be led off stage by hand or with an arm wrapped around him. That is the not the image of strength and leadership we need as a country. Look at what is going on in the world. The perception of weak leadership in the United States has led to global chaos. The reality of weak leadership is a long-term serious and continued threat to our country. The Democratic Party is destroying itself by advancing Biden for a second term. This is the Emperor’s New Clothes in real life. But it is not a children’s book or a joke. The world is at great risk, and a Biden second term is a grave threat to global security and prosperity.”

I couldn’t agree more.

But another billionaire, entrepreneur Dallas Mavericks co-owner and “Shark Tank” reality TV star Mark Cuban, doesn’t.

He hit back: “You guys both, @piersmorgan, @BillAckman, are so consumed with pandering to your twitter followers, you have lost all objectivity. I’ll let you both in on a secret. BOTH CANDIDATES ARE OLD. VERY OLD. They both are going to have senior moments, mis-remember, forget things and have physical frailties. I’ll tell you a not so secret secret: One is great at soundbites, but also thinks in soundbites. The other is awful at soundbites, but thinks in complete sentences. Voters will decide which we prefer.”

The instant barrage of replies to Cuban’s message said it all.

Virtually nobody agreed with him.

Many openly mocked him, which is hardly surprising given that even two-thirds of Democrats think Biden’s too old to be running again.

And much as I admire Cuban, he and I both know he wouldn’t employ Sleepy Joe to run a bath for him, let alone a business.

Perhaps the most absurd reaction of all came from White House senior deputy press secretary Andrew Bates, who was so enraged by a New York Post report that accurately recounted what happened with Biden and Obama on stage that he ranted on X: “Fresh off being fact checked by at least 6 mainstream outlets for lying about @POTUS with cheap fakes, Rupert Murdoch’s sad little super pac, the New York Post, is back to disrespecting its readers & itself once again. Their ethical standards could deal with a little unfreezing.”

I have two invitations to Mr. Bates, by way of response.

First, as I have unsuccessfully requested many times, I would like to interview President Biden, just as I previously interviewed numerous US presidents — including his Democrat predecessors Clinton and Carter.

Second, the New York Post’s editorial board would love to give the President the opportunity to put all speculation to bed about his age-related issues, with an in-person meeting.

If both these invitations are declined — as they are to almost the entirety of the media — then as Mark Cuban said, voters can draw their own conclusions and act accordingly.

Just as I believe they will on Nov. 5 when, if Joe Biden is still the Democrat candidate, Donald Trump will be re-elected.

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THE UNITED STATES OF GO FIGURE

by James Kunstler

“Forced obedience to obvious lies is the essence of totalitarianism. It’s the ultimate flex for psychopaths.” — Dr. Toby Rogers

You realize, don’t you, that everything going on around the Ukraine fiasco on the NATO side is completely insane? The folks running the US government — Barack Obama and his witches’ coven — started the whole thing over there in concert with a gang of corporate players (BlackRock, sundry oil-and-gas companies, Haliburton types, arms-makers, bunch of big banks), plus the dastardly WEF for “guidance” (ha!), looking to grab the mineral wealth of Ukraine and, ultimately, of Russia itself. Nice try. Didn’t work out. Tons of money pounded down a rat hole.

Now, the chatter is that we (NATO) “can’t afford to lose.” Yeah? But we’re losing. Russia will hold the eastern Ukraine provinces and what’s left in the rest of Ukraine will be a failed state drained of men under sixty able to work at anything, bankrupt, broken. It will take a century, if ever, for Ukraine to recover from all that and the West will have gained nothing. Anyway, that’s the true prospect. And so, the West’s “solution” to that humiliating quandary appears to be: start a bigger war, right up to and including nukes. That’s good thinking there, Butch, said Sundance.

Why the European members of NATO wanted to go along with this nickel-plated clusterfuck is an abiding puzzle of history now, like who exactly bumped off JFK in 1963. Germany, the Euro club’s biggest economy, stood by listlessly while America blew up its supply of affordable natgas (the Nord Stream pipelines), which was an act of war by us against Germany. Apparently, Olaf Scholz went to our CIA station in Berlin for a haircut one day and came out with a lobotomy, staring blankly through the whole affair like a Hinterwälder steer on the killing floor. Meanwhile, goodbye industrial economy! Nice knowing you. Looks like it’s back to the fourteenth century, living on rough black bread, sleeping with the cattle under your house for heat in winter, fighting jihadis inside your town walls. . . .

What is the purpose, you ask yourself, of this new world war we’re itching to start? And why now, exactly? The stupid answers may be the correct ones. To furnish an emergency pretext allowing “Joe Biden” (Barack Obama & Co.) to “postpone” the election? If so, I guess they want a hot civil war even more than WWIII, because that’s what they’ll get. Or is it just to complete the destruction of the USA, turning us into a failed state run by a tranny Mamluk-ocracy? Or is it, as Ed Dowd has averred, to cover up the imminent implosion of the US / Euroland debt debacle?

To provide cover for all that, the West held a fake peace conference at a five-star resort in Switzerland last week — flutes of Louis Roederer Cristal Brut with langoustine mousse in puff pastry boats . . . to die for! (and you just might) — and you know how serious the USA was because we sent our ace problem-solver Veep Kamala Harris, who cackled and hee-hawed her way through a session or two and then. . . just. . . split the scene, mysteriously. Russia, was conspicuously not invited, by the way. Whose idea was that?

Mr. Putin marked the occasion by issuing a sane proposal to commence peace negotiations so plain, simple, and straightforward that even “Joe Biden” might have gotten the drift: 1) withdraw Ukrainian troops from Donbas territory that has joined the Russian Federation, and 2) agree that Ukraine not join NATO. The US and NATO instantly rejected it, on grounds unspecified. According to The New York Times own search engine this very morning (June 17), the newspaper hasn’t published a news story on the Ukraine War for the past five days. Go figure . .

While Veep Kamala Harris was yukking it up over the peace hilarity in Switzerland, “Joe Biden” went to the far more important celebrity fundraiser out in Hollywood, headlined by the likes of actors George Clooney, Julia Roberts, and late-nite snarkist Jimmy Kimmel, that is, certified experts on geopolitical conflict, united in the cause of “saving our democracy” from “the dictator Trump.”

“Joe Biden” declared that Donald Trump was bent on “retribution. . . he’s gonna get back at the people.” Roger that. But I think he meant that Mr. Trump might open some inquiries into how come the Democratic Party and its Intel blob ran one debilitating lawless hoax after another on our country for the past eight years while bankrupting it and destroying the medical system, the legal system, the currency, higher education, and the US military, not to mention jailing thousands on fake criminal charges and letting ten million alien mutts into the country, many of them jihadis with dubious intentions.

But never mind all that. $30-million got raised in Hollywood to continue the game of pretend that “JB” is running for reelection. Pretend is what actors actually do, you see. They’re really good at it, and your job is to play along, suspend your disbelief. That’s the essence of showbiz. Of course, that chunk of the US population no longer mesmerized by CIA-sponsored disinfo ops is somehow rising implacably in every poll. World War Three might be the only answer for that, after all. In any case, Barack Obama himself even came out of the woodwork to lead the cheerleading among the stars in LA. And when the time came, he took the dazed, vacantly grinning “President Joe Biden” gently by the elbow and assisted him in shuffling offstage, demonstrating to the whole world how things really work in the United States of America.

(kunstler.com)

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THIS MORNING'S LEAD STORIES IN THE NYT

Biden Gives Legal Protections to Undocumented Spouses of U.S. Citizens, by Zolan Kanno-Youngs, Miriam Jordan, Jazmine Ulloa and Hamed Aleaziz

Dozens of Groups Push FEMA to Recognize Extreme Heat as a ‘Major Disaster’, by Manuela Andreoni

In Need of Munitions, Putin to Visit North Korea, by Choe Sang-Hun

Thailand’s Legislature Approves Same-Sex Marriage Law, by Pirada Anuwech and John Yoon

U.S.D.A. Suspends Avocado Inspections in Mexico, Citing Security Concerns, by Emiliano Rodríguez Mega

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FRONTIERS OF FREE ENTERPRISE, an on-line comment: I know a woman who is making dream pillows filled with weed now. Everytime you roll over in your sleep you get a fresh new waft of great smells. It’s cheap enough now and her pillows are popular. Talk about some good dreams!

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A DECAYING, DYSTOPIAN CIVILIZATION with an active genocide in Gaza, nuclear brinkmanship with Russia and a looming global conflict with China, and all you’re encouraged to discuss politically is whether Donald Trump is a brave hero sent by Jesus or a big meanie Cheeto man.

— Caitlin Johnstone

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ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR.

Why am I running? Because I don’t like the way the country is going. And I know millions of Americans don’t either. They don’t like the addiction to wars, the censorship, the corporate capture of our government. They’re fed up with the duopoly’s failure to address the problems that deeply plague so many Americans.

I’m fed up, too. And I’m in a unique position to unravel the harmful policies and strangleholds that have gotten the U.S. to this point.

That’s why I’m running.

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