Mendocino County Today: Saturday 6/29/24

DRY AND SEASONABLE conditions will continue through weekend along with gusty northwest wind in the afternoon. A strong heatwave will build early through at least mid week. (NWS)

STEPHEN DUNLAP (Fort Bragg): Clear skies & 52F this Saturday morning on the coast. Another breezy day is forecast so that should keep the fog offshore. Clear skies & more wind thru Monday.

Stream Flow Measuring Station on the South Fork of the Eel River at Angelo Reserve (Jeff Goll)

CAL FIRE SUSPENDS BURN PERMITS IN MENDOCINO COUNTY

The Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) Mendocino Unit is suspending residential outdoor burn permits. This suspension will take effect on Monday, July 1, 2024, at 12:01 a.m. and suspends all residential outdoor burning of landscape debris such as branches and leaves.

After another wet winter and above-average snowpack, warming temperatures and winds are quickly drying out the abundant annual grass crop. The increasing fire danger posed by the high volume of dead grass and hotter, drier conditions in the region is prompting CAL FIRE to suspend all burn permits for outdoor residential burning within the State Responsibility Area of Mendocino County.

Since January 1, 2024, CAL FIRE and firefighters across the state have already responded to over 2,156 wildfires. While outdoor burning of landscape debris by homeowners is no longer allowed, CAL FIRE is asking residents to take that extra time to ensure that they are prepared for wildfires by maintaining a minimum of 100 feet of Defensible Space around every home and buildings on their property and being prepared to evacuate if the time comes.

While outdoor burning of landscape debris by homeowners is no longer allowed, CAL FIRE is asking residents to ensure that they are prepared for wildfires by maintaining a minimum of 100 feet of defensible space around every home and buildings on their property and being prepared to evacuate if the time comes.

Here are some tips to help prepare homes and property:

Clear all dead and or dying vegetation 100 feet from around all structures.
Landscape with fire resistant plants and non-flammable ground cover.
Find alternative ways to dispose of landscape debris like chipping or hauling it to a biomass energy or green waste facility.

The department may issue restricted temporary burning permits if there is an essential reason due to public health and safety. Agriculture, land management, fire training, and other industrial type burning may proceed if a CAL FIRE official inspects the burn site and issues a special permit.

The suspension of burn permits for residential landscape debris does not apply to campfires within organized campgrounds or on private property. Campfires may be permitted if the campfire is maintained in such a manner as to prevent its spread to the wildland. A campfire permit can be obtained at local fire stations or online at PreventWildfireCA.org.

LOCAL EVENTS (this weekend)

PROACTIVE PATROL LEADS TO CHASE AND ARREST OF GLOCK-TOTING FORT BRAGG TEENAGER

On June 27, 2024, at approximately 2:30 AM, Fort Bragg police officers were conducting extra patrol in the 500 block of S. Harrison Street due to recent thefts in the area.

While patrolling, officers observed a suspicious subject who appeared to be hiding and lying next to a parked vehicle. The subject was wearing dark clothing and a mask. When officers attempted to contact the subject, they immediately fled on foot. With the assistance of the Mendocino County Sherriff’s Office, officers and deputies pursued the suspect for several blocks, but ultimately lost sight of him. Officers searched where the suspect was first seen hiding and found a loaded unregistered 9-millimeter firearm and a loaded high capacity 9-milimeter magazine hidden under a parked vehicle.

Approximately 45 minutes later, while continuing to check the area, officers located a 17-year-old juvenile suspect running through the area in dark clothing wearing a mask. The juvenile suspect was about one block from where the firearm was located.

The juvenile was arrested for the following violations: public intoxication and curfew violation. Additional felony charges are pending fingerprinting results from the found 9-milimeter firearm and magazine.

During the foot pursuit, one Fort Bragg police officer sustained minor injuries, was treated at the Adventist Health Emergency Room, and is expected to make a full recovery.

Chief Neil Cervenka said, “I am very proud of our team. This type of proactive patrol efforts by our night shift officers is what prevents crime and ensures our community can sleep peacefully.”

Anyone with information on this incident is encouraged to contact Officer Baker of the Fort Bragg Police Department at (707)961-2800 ext 226.

Store Window Mannequin, Fort Bragg (Jeff Goll)

FREE SPORTS PHYSICALS FOR KIDS

Join us on Saturday, June 29 for our Free Sports Physicals and Community Resource Fair!

Summer may have just started, but school will be back before you know it. Get ahead of the game and join us at the Adventist Health Mendocino Coast Medical Offices, located at 721 River Drive in Fort Bragg, from 9 a.m. - 1 p.m. on June 29.

This event is specifically designed for school-aged children, offering Free Sports Physicals to ensure they are ready to hit the field for the 2024-2025 school year. The state requires that every student playing school sports have a valid sports physical.

But that's not all! Our Community Resource Fair will also be taking place under the big tent, where you can find backpacks, school supplies, and other valuable resources for students and families.

Join us and discover the various partner organizations, including the Mendocino Coast Children's Fund, the Fort Bragg-Mendocino County Library, California Highway Patrol, Blue Zones, Mendocino County Behavioral Health & Recovery Services, Mendocino County Public Health, CV Starr Community Center, and the Fort Bragg Lions Club. They will be there to bring awareness about the resources available for local families and provide fun activities for everyone to enjoy.

Parental consent is required for youth athletes, and it's a first-come, first-serve event — no appointment necessary!

Don't miss out on this opportunity! With free sports physicals, activities for the whole family, school supplies, and more, this is an event you won't want to miss. We can't wait to see you on Saturday, June 29!

UKIAH CONSTRUCTION UPDATES FOR THE WEEK OF JULY 1ST

This will be a short but very (positively) impactful construction week. The final layer of pavement will occur at night between Sunday and Tuesday nights. The streets are typically reopened for vehicle traffic by 6am. Paving hours will be as following:

Grinding old pavement out in preparation for the final layer.

Sunday, June 30: 5pm – 6am; Scott Street (between State and School) and North State between Norton and Henry

Monday, July 1: 6pm – 6am; South State Street between Mill and Gobbi

Tuesday, July 2: 8pm – 6am; South State Street between Gobbi and Cherry

During the daytime hours (Monday-Wednesday), crews will be onsite to “raise the irons.” This is the process of drilling through the new asphalt to “unbury” the utility manholes and bringing them up to the new level of the street. (No, we didn’t accidentally pave over them. ;) This is how it’s done.) Work will begin on the north end and work toward the south. There will be intermittent jackhammering associated with this work. There will be no construction on Thursday-Friday, July 4th-5th.

Traffic signals are scheduled to be activated between July 9 and 11. Remember that these will be “smart” signals, like the ones currently installed at Perkins and Standley Street. They are demand based, rather than timed, and allow for left turns on flashing yellow lights, which ensures more efficient traffic flow.

Installing new water lines on West Gobbi Street as part of the UCRT project

The “Urban Core” project (www.cityofukiah.com/ucrt), which consists of Main, Gobbi and Perkins Street, will continue on West Gobbi between Dora and State to replace water and sewer lines. Main Street will be completely reopened, and there will be intermittent traffic control on West Gobbi. As usual, residents and delivery traffic will be allowed access.

Bonus: Low Gap is getting reconstructed between State and Bush! Starts July 8th; will take about a week.

Paving work will take place on both sides.

Construction hours will be Sunday-Wednesday, day and night.

There will be very little dust; some noise associated with paving work and “raising the irons” on both sides.

Streets will be entirely closed while paving at night; open the next morning. Traffic signals at Gobbi/State and Mill/State and Scott/State will remain on flash.

Happy July 4th!

Thanks,

Shannon Riley, Deputy City Manager

AV UNIFIED NEWS: Louise Simson Bids Farewell

Dear Anderson Valley Community,

This will be my last message to you, although I prefer to frame it not as goodbye, because I will see you again soon. The last three years, we have made some transformative changes together, particularly in the area of facilities. I am excited for your new superintendent, Kristin Larson Balliet, and the administrative team of Heath McNerney and Alyson McKay to propel the achievement and academic levels forward. Everybody has their wheelhouse and mine was facilities equity. The new team will concentrate on the academic and social achievement now that the facilities are in fairly good shape.

I have been most lucky to work for a school board that is wise and thoughtful and keeps politics out of the boardroom. I thank them for their partnership. I thank the parents and community for their support on the bond, and in their outrage our infrastructure upgrades finally got legislation passed for the $500,000 septic bill, and letters of support for the track and field. I appreciate the gargantuan lift of the district office staff that put more and more on their plate that would be good for the District's kids and simply got it done. For Don Alameida for his hard work to retrofit the facilities at a cost that is far less than the large staff-heavy design firms.

I thank Bruce Anderson and Major Scaramella for giving us a platform to let the community know what was happening in their local schools. I thank the Ed Foundation and Robert Mailer Anderson and Nicola Miner for their generosity for our kids. And, I thank the staff for their hard work and effort for kids.

There is much more exciting construction to come. The CalTrans track will be finished by fall of 2025. The gym will certainly qualify for a major upgrade or perhaps a full replacement on the State’s dime. The elementary kitchen should be out to bid for construction in December. More good things are coming.

I wish you all continued health and success and leave you with one of my favorite quotes by Yeats “Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.”

Wishing your children all the best as they learn and discover all that they can become.

Sincerely yours,

Louise Simson, Superintendent

Anderson Valley Unified School District

Coal miner’s child in grade school. Lejunior, Harlan County, Kentucky, 1946. (National Archives, Russell Lee photographer)

THE NEW NORMAL ON THE STREETS

by Sheriff Matt Kendall

On Wednesday, June 26, 2024 our deputies were called to the report of a stolen bicycle. In a short amount of time, they were able to locate it in a homeless camp along with the subject who had stolen it. The subject was also in possession of drugs.

While at the location, a 35-year-old female, Elizabeth Dockins, was located in a tent, deceased and in possession of drug paraphernalia. Based on our initial investigation this appeared to be another overdose. Toxicology and pathology results are pending on this, and we will have answers when that portion of the investigation is completed. This is becoming the new normal in Mendocino County.

Meanwhile, back in Sacramento our Governor’s Office leadership along with many state legislators are working hard to come up with plans to defeat the ballot initiative (aka Prop 47 Reform) which would roll back many of the failed legislative efforts which are causing so many problems for us. I have no idea what world our representatives in Sacramento are currently living in, something tells me it’s nowhere close to the world we are seeing in Mendocino County.

I used to wonder if this is simply an out of touch issue in which Sacramento was telling rural California “Let them eat cake.” Now I am leaning towards something more nefarious at hand. Over the past several years many attempts to correct the problems of Prop 47 have been brought forward to our state legislature. All of these have been shot down or killed in the public safety committees. It appears this is because representatives have been placed on these committees with the express purpose of shutting down bills which would be tough on crime. We are seeing many people choose to live their life on drugs; that is a reality, these folks shouldn’t have free rein to victimize people who choose not to. If the state continues to ignore our victims, the victims will take matters into their own hands.

This is not what we need to see.

I met with many of the North State Sheriffs who are in dismay regarding the direction things are headed in Sacramento. We would love to explain to our Governor what we are seeing in our communities. It’s not a matter of the Governor not listening; it’s actually a matter of he won’t speak with us. This is a real problem and one that needs to be looked at closely.

When our accidental deaths are over 50% due to drug overdoses, we have a serious problem. When businesses are closing in our state and leaving for locations where they are not victimized, or taxed and regulated out of existence, this should be a wakeup call. This was all sold to us as a humane approach and an alternative to incarceration. A full decade into this experiment, I see nothing humane in this approach whatsoever.

What I am seeing is a new industry which is producing a lot of money. An industry of well-meaning services which simply aren’t working. Catchy phrases such as “Harm Reduction measures” have made their way into the mainstream and they make us feel good. Handing out clean needles and doses of Narcan aren’t solving a problem. It certainly didn’t solve a problem for this young woman on Thursday.

If I find a person cutting themselves with a butcher knife and hand them a box of Band-Aids, I haven’t really solved that problem. But I’m fairly certain the folks selling the bandages appreciate our continued support. As we continue down this road let’s all stay tuned for more shenanigans from Sacramento. If recent history tells us anything, I am certain the politicians will begin a campaign to help us outsmart our common sense once again. This time let’s all educate ourselves, and not allow Sacramento to provide the reading list to us.

Thank you.

MENDOCINO COUNTY VETERANS SERVICES OFFICE IN UKIAH WILL BE RELOCATING DURING THE WEEK OF JULY 1, 2024

Ukiah, CA – The Veterans Services office in Ukiah is returning to its original location at 405 Observatory Avenue, Ukiah, CA. The office will be closed on Monday, July 1, and Tuesday, July 2. From Wednesday, July 3, to Monday, July 8, service hours may be limited as the relocation and setup process continues.

For questions or additional information, please contact the Ukiah Veterans Services office at (707) 463-4226 or fax (707) 463-4637.

(County Presser)

ms notes: “Relocating.” What a benign sounding announcement. Of course, the County can’t stand up and admit to the compounded, wasteful and stupid errors behind this bland announcent. It took less than a week for County staff to abruptly “relocate” (i.e., evict) the Veterans Service Office out of their cottage offices on Observatory back in December. It then took three months and a big push from veterans and their supporters before the Supervisors grudgingly conceded that the “relocation” was mislocation and that they should “relocate” the Veterans office back to Observatory in March. And now the Veterans Office is finally scheduled to return to the status quo ante in July. Pretty fast for Mendo, actually. Also, recall that the original purpose of the “relocation” was to snag some rent money from the state into County coffers. But even that dumb move was undone when the County decided to re-relocate the Air Quality Management offices to a commercial rental in Ukiah instead of into the perfectly usable space in the County’s Dora Street complex where the Veterans Office had been moved into and is now relocating from.

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY #1

Sarcasm Alert! I can’t wait for the State of California experts in financial matters, deficits, transparency and trust building to weigh in on Mendocino County! They do such a great job at the State on all those things! All for a screaming deal at just $800,000 too!

RARE PREDATORIAL SEA STAR SPOTTED BY SCIENTISTS ON THE MENDOCINO COAST

by Sarah Reith

On their last day on the Mendocino Coast, scientists from the California Academy of Sciences found an elusive predator that’s almost wasted away in the wild. Aside from the occasional uni-loving human, the pycnopodia sea star is the one creature that will eat purple urchin, which have devoured most of the bull kelp off the California coast. Most wild pycnopodia succumbed to a wasting disease that started tearing through the population in 2014. But one young celebrity member of the species puts in regular appearances off the headlands in Mendocino.…

mendofever.com/2024/06/29/rare-predatorial-sea-star-spotted-by-scientists-on-the-mendocino-coast

JIM SHIELDS

One of the items we took up at this week’s Laytonville Area Municipal Advisory Council (LAMAC) meeting on June 26, dealt with more problems at the County’s Cannabis Department.

Our Council was asked to support efforts by folks who are concerned about Cannabis Department staffers action to “re-interpret” a provision in the failed Weed Ordinance. Specifically the agenda put before the Council the following item: Discussion and Possible Action To Approve Support For The May 9, 2024 Letter From The Willits Environmental Center To The Board of Supervisors Re: ‘Re-Interpretation’ By Staff of Section 10A.17.060 Of The Cannabis Ordinance, as well as the June 2024 Petition/Statement By The Concerned Redwood Valley Citizens (CRVC) Regarding The So-Called Re-Interpretation.” Our council unanimously approved supporting both organizations’ positions.

I can tell you this, there is absolutely no authority under existing law or the Mendocino County Cannabis Ordinance for anyone, including County staff, administrators, or the Supervisors to “reinterpret” where the goal is to re-write or amend, in whole or in part, provisions of the Cannabis Ordinance.

According to the Willits Environmental Center, “At the April 24, 2024 General Government Committee meeting staff informed the Committee members that staff would be implementing a new interpretation of 10A.17 that would allow in some instances doubling the allowable size of cannabis cultivation areas. For example, instead of limiting a large outdoor grow to 10,000 sq ft per parcel, by applying this re-interpretation, a person could increase, even double, the size of the area of cultivation on a single parcel.”

This has all the appearance and trappings of Cannabis Ordinance administration being an insider’s game played by staff and a self-selected few in the local cannabis industry. This is another example of County officials creating a problem where none existed before.

The good news is the day after our meeting, Supervisor Dan Gjerde sent a memo to county staff calling for this issue to be put on the agenda in July.

What is left unanswered at this juncture is what or who prompted the Cannabis Department to take it upon themselves to rewrite and amend an ordinance under the clumsy guise of a “re-interpretation.” That’s one pig in a poke that won’t be bought anytime soon.

WHAT IS A WEED ORDINANCE “RE-INTERPRETATION”?

by Jim Shields

One of the items we took up at this week’s Laytonville Area Municipal Advisory Council (LAMAC) meeting on June 26, dealt with more problems at the County’s Cannabis Department.

Our Council was asked to support efforts by folks who are concerned about Cannabis Department staffers action to “re-interpret” a provision in the failed Weed Ordinance.

Specifically the agenda put before the Council the following item: Discussion and Possible Action To Approve Support For The May 9, 2024 Letter From The Willits Environmental Center To The Board of Supervisors Re: ‘Re-Interpretation’ By Staff of Section 10A.17.060 Of The Cannabis Ordinance, as well as the June 2024 Petition/Statement By The Concerned Redwood Valley Citizens (CRVC) Regarding The So-Called Re-Interpretation.”

Our council unanimously approved supporting both organizations’ positions.

This has all the appearance and trappings of Cannabis Ordinance administration being an insider’s game played by staff and a self-selected few in the local cannabis industry.

What follows are excerpts from the statements from two organizations, who explain what the problem is why the Board of Supervisors need to take action to solve it.

“Staff based this re-interpretation on what we believe to be a mis-reading of Section 10A.17.070(D), which is the section of the cannabis ordinance that addresses cannabis cultivation business license (CCBL) density, i.e. the number of licenses allowed per parcel - NOT cultivation area size, except to clarify that if license Type 4 (Nursery with a maximum size of 22,000 sq ft) is one of two license types being sought, the nursery footprint must be reduced such that the total square footage of both types does not exceed 22,000 sq ft, AND the cultivation area of the non-nursery license does not exceed the 10,000 sq ft maximum. (Limits to cultivation area size per license type and zoning district are clearly defined in Section 10A.17.060 and in Tables 1 and 2 of Section 20.242 of the County Code.)

“This “re-interpretation” turns seven years of understanding on its head and dramatically alters a fundamental tenant of the ordinance and the underlying justifications of its Mitigated Negative Declaration — and all without any public process. Less than two years ago, citizens of Mendocino County mounted a referendum against adopting a new cannabis ordinance that would have allowed just the kind of expansion that this re-interpretation would now make possible.

“We respectfully request that the Board immediately reject this re-interpretation and inform the Mendocino Cannabis Department to immediately withdraw any public notice referring to the re-interpretation.”

In a similar vein, the Redwood Valley group stated, “We, Redwood Valley citizens, are alarmed and dismayed by concerns brought forward recently by members of the Willits Environmental Center regarding statements made during a recent General Government Committee meeting. It appears that the Mendocino County Cannabis Department staff may be allowing and implementing expansion of Cannabis grow areas in Mendocino County without due process, i.e., public input and ratification by you, the Board of Supervisors.

“In recent months, the County CEO’s office has been reporting that one of its goals is to provide greater transparency. Yet, here we go again. A statement made at the General Government Committee meeting made by staff was that they are reinterpreting the Cannabis Ordinance. The inference made by the Willits Environmental Center is that this will lead to expansion and could have significant impacts on neighbors and neighborhoods. Why did staff feel there was a need for a reinterpretation of the Cannabis Ordinance in the first place and on who’s authority was it approved, we ask? Supervisors Haschak and McGourty, who were present at the meeting, seemed to be out of the loop regarding this issue as well.

“Many of us among the public now feel we have to be constant watchdogs over County proceedings as we cannot trust that our government officials are following current laws on the books. We, Redwood Valley citizens, stand united with the Willits Environmental Center and believe this issue needs to be addressed with immediate attention. Then, followed up with transparency and proper public outreach and involvement.”

On June 27, Supervisor Dan Gjerde sent a memo to Steve Dunnicliff, Deputy Chief Executive Officer, who evidently now oversees the Cannabis Department. It’s Dunnicliff’s position that the so-called “re-interpretation” of the disputed ordinance provision is compliant with the existing ordinance. In a June 27 memo, Dunnicliff explains, “I am reaching out to provide clarity regarding cannabis density rules. The attached procedure was implemented [by “re-interpretation”] on April 25, 2024. It is based on the express terms of the County’s Cannabis Cultivation Ordinance and does not involve any expansion of or require any amendment of the ordinance.”

Responding to Dunnicliff’s memo, Gjerde asks, “Can supervisors receive an opinion from the County Counsel's Office confirming County Counsel believes this new interpretation of County Code is consistent with State law and County Code? The memo is not signed by County Counsel.”

Gjerde also gets to the crux of the dispute when he says, “Mendocino Planning and Building Department has a long history of preparing memos on planning matters. My understanding is the purpose of such memos is to insure consistency in how department personnel apply County Code. The new interpretation of County Code, as outlined in this memo, appears to me to go beyond scope of PBS memos, at least as I understand their purpose and scope. For me, the memo does not appear to be consistent with County Code, or what I believe was the understanding of board members or the public at the time of code adoption. What is the process for this memo to be agendized for discussion at a board meeting in July? I would like to see this item on a board of supervisors agenda, where these issues can be addressed.”

This is another example of County officials creating a problem where none existed before.

What is left unanswered at this juncture is what or who prompted Mr. Dunnicliff and the Cannabis Department to take it upon themselves to rewrite and amend an ordinance under the clumsy guise of a “re-interpretation.”

That’s one pig in a poke that won’t be bought anytime soon.

(Jim Shields is the Mendocino County Observer’s editor and publisher, observer@pacific.net, the long-time district manager of the Laytonville County Water District, and is also chairman of the Laytonville Area Municipal Advisory Council. Listen to his radio program “This and That” every Saturday at 12 noon on KPFN 105.1 FM, also streamed live: http://www.kpfn.org)

Happy 82nd birthday Charlie Musselwhite

FIRE SAFETY THIS FOURTH OF JULY – FIREWORKS ARE ILLEGAL IN MENDOCINO COUNTY!

The Mendocino County Office of Emergency Services would like to remind Mendocino County residents and visitors that all fireworks are illegal in Mendocino County.

As we approach the 4th of July holiday, please remember that we are now in fire season, and it is dry in all areas of the County. The illegal use of fireworks poses a serious threat to the safety and well-being of everyone in our County.

CalFire and local fire and law enforcement agencies are working together to enforce a zero-tolerance policy regarding the use and sale of illegal fireworks in Mendocino County this year. Please do your part to help protect Mendocino County from another devastating wildfire by celebrating the 4th of July safely and responsibly.

For fireworks enthusiasts, there are safe, organized, professional fireworks displays scheduled in Fort Bragg, Point Arena, and Ukiah this year!

Fort Bragg Independence Day Fireworks:

Date: Saturday, July 6, 2024

Location: Todd Point, Fort Bragg, CA 95437

Point Arena Fireworks Extravaganza:

Date: Saturday, July 6, 2024

Location: Arena Cove, 810 Port Road, Point Arena, CA 95468

Fireworks Extravaganza at Ukiah Speedway:

Date: Saturday, July 6, 2024

Location: Ukiah Speedway, 1055 N. State St., Ukiah, CA 95482

Have a wonderful and safe Fourth of July!

(County Presser)

JULY 4TH & HOLIDAY WEEKEND CELEBRATIONS (via Word of Mouth Magazine)

Willits Frontier Days
Monday, July 3 - Wednesday, July 5
Willits
 
The spirit of the frontier is alive and well in Willits, especially during the lead up to 4th of July, when our town hosts two nights of CCPRA rodeo, dances, horseshows, a Junior Rodeo, a gymkhana, a Truck & Tractor Pull, a beef BBQ that serves 5,000, a carnival, and a 4th of July parade on Main Street. Billed as “the longest running continuous rodeo in California,” Frontier Days celebrates our town’s Western heritage.

Mendocino Annual 4th of July Parade
Thursday, July 4 | 12:00pm
Main and Lansing Sts, Mendocino
 
Enjoy an Independence Day parade in downtown Mendocino. The Mendocino 4th of July Parade has been ongoing since 1976. This year’s theme is “Be Humane.” Each year, hundreds of people line Main and Lansing Streets to experience this fun, funky, and festive event. Be sure to come early to get a good spot! After the parade, the celebrations continue with music, food, and beverages.

Olde Time Fourth of July
Thursday, July 4 | 12:00pm - 4:00pm
Mendocino County Fairgrounds
Boonville 

Enjoy a day of fun at the fairgrounds with an old-time Fourth of July celebration. The event features a barbecue with wine, beer, and non-alcoholic beverages for purchase. A cake auction will be held. There will also be a kid’s parade, a dunk tank, tug-o-war, balloon toss, bounce house, face painting, watermelon-eating contest, and other fun activities. Proceeds benefit the Anderson Valley Volunteer Firefighters, the Anderson Valley Elder Home, the AV Skatepark Project, and the AVUSD Wellness Committee. All ages $10, or free for children 13 and under. Cash only.

Independence Weekend Celebration in Point Arena
Saturday, July 6 at 4pm at the Cove Sunday, July 7 at 1pm on Main Street
Point Arena
 
On Saturday, July 6th, our street fair kicks off at the cove at 4pm. We have an array of food vendors, activities, and live music all day long. After dark, our one-of-a-kind fireworks display will light up the sky!
 
On Sunday, July 7th, our parade is 12pm-1pm. Our theme this year is Community Spirit. Come to Point Arena’s Main Street to celebrate our community interdependence!

The World’s Largest Salmon BBQ
Saturday, July 6 | 11:00am - 6:00pm
South Noyo Harbor  19275 South Harbor Dr, Fort Bragg
 
The World’s Largest Salmon Barbecue is held each year on the first Saturday of July, with great food, live music, and all proceeds going to the Salmon Restoration Association to improve salmon populations along the Mendocino County coast. The meal features grilled wild-caught salmon, fresh corn on the cob, salad, and local bread from Fort Bragg Bakery. Coffee is provided by Thanksgiving Coffee. A variety of craft brews from North Coast Brewery can also be purchased.

In 1972 42 year old Jack Lynch of Dublin attempted to drink 20 pints (about 11 liters) of Guinness beer in one sitting to enter the Guinness Book of Records.

FIRST FRIDAY AT GRACE HUDSON

This July 5, Grace Hudson Museum will be open all day with free admission, and from 5 to 8 p.m. for First Friday events. Guitarist Clay Hawkins along with bassist Andrew Robertson will provide the evening's entertainment. The Museum's current exhibition, "Deep Roots, Spreading Branches: Fine Woodworking from the Krenov School" explores the history of this unique Fort Bragg institution. Grace Hudson will also be celebrating a new popup exhibition, featuring Native artists, with artwork by Corine Pearce and her basketweaving students, and from the Acorns & Abalone Art Project. Visitors can also have a look at the Museum's core galleries, featuring Grace Hudson's artwork, exquisite Pomo basketry, and Hudson-Carpenter family history. Light refreshments will be available.

The Grace Hudson Museum is at 431 S. Main St. in Ukiah. For more information please go to www.gracehudsonmuseum.org or call (707) 467-2836.

BAD MOVIE PITCH GETS BAD REVIEW

To the Editor:

Tommy Wayne’s most recent trope titled “Little big leaguer” about a 34-year-old man identifying as a Ukiah Youth Baseball Player read like nothing more than a poor pitch for a movie circa 2004 starring a younger Johnny Knoxville pre Jackass 2,3, 3.5, 4, and 4.5.

Something that would get an audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes of 34 percent, but still get some box office cred because stoners do like to see movies and stoners like to laugh at movies. This drawn out, three cliché and two paragraphs too long predictable act of fiction gave readers of the UDJ a swift reminder, TWK has gone staler than a box of Saltines left open on a bass fishing boat in the middle of Clear Lake last Saturday.

While T “dub” would prefer to have no questions asked or interruptions made of his fictitious story (a good side point to make here is that obviously he would prefer brainless, non thinkers reading his column) I can only assume this story was a lackluster attempt to address transgender and nonbinary athletes participating in sports divisions different than their born gender.

Thus, the idea of a 34-year-old man identifying as a youth baseball player is a tongue in cheek way to make fun of a societal issue that stands on the far periphery of his day-to-day life.

An issue that does little more than give him a small headache and another reason to drink. Thus, leaving us with a column we can scratch are heads at each week wondering how much wind is left in this blow hard.

Ending the column with what he believes are rarities of the world titled “As Rare as…,” which read as a projection of fear that the boomer aged white male is now on the endangered list of societies decision making on what is cool and what’s not. Kids still play baseball at local fields, Wu Tang Clan doesn’t care what TWK thinks is humble and pleasant, county employees aren’t just the overpaid pencil pushers, but also the hardworking social services, road maintenance workers, and parks service workers. And Berkeley is more punk rock than TWK could ever imagine.

Charles Erdmann

Ukiah

ED NOTES

AFTER THURSDAY NIGHT, I guess we know why the two-party dictatorship excludes third party candidates. Put RFK up there with Biden and Trump and he's the next president. Jill Stein of the Greens would do well, too, and Cornel West would deliver salutary political truths to us befuddled masses. The duopoly dies if they can't keep it in-house.

PESTICIDE use is down in California, and down on the Northcoast except in Mendocino County where chemical use rose by 17 percent. According to the California Department of Pesticide Regulation, production of wine grapes accounts for half of all pesticides deployed in the county.

BUT THE PESTICIDE ACTION NETWORK, a San Francisco-based non-profit whose staff includes chemists, says that pesticide sales figures don't jibe with the numbers reported to county ag offices; that there's about a ten percent discrepancy between pesticides sold and pesticide use reported, although many pesticides aren't required to be reported.

METHYL BROMIDE was reluctantly phased out by grape growers when it was found by non grape growers to be a major contributor to the destruction of the earth's ozone layer. It was instantly lethal to directly exposed humans, which is why the Mexican labor typically compelled to inject the evil substance into the earth was, presumably, protected by moon suits. The earth into which the deadly compound was injected was sheathed in thick black plastic to prevent its potentially lethal fumes from escaping, not always successfully. Methyl bromide cleansed the earth of all life to depths of ten to twelve feet. It was the ultimate in gopher control. The wine industry lamented its passing. Alternative earth poisons were soon developed and applied.

(Mark Scaramella: A former Chicago ambulance chaser lawyer named Jim Ball tried to start a vineyard in Philo in the 2000s, but he didn’t know anything about growing grapes and was quickly taken to the cleaners by local grape growing companies and suppliers. After investing millions of his hard-earned personal injury lawsuit winnings into his ill-fated vineyard and winery “vision” across the street from Goldeneye (former Obester vineyards), Ball filed for bankruptcy before making any wine. When we reviewed his bankruptcy filings at the time we found that the bank loan he obtained to help finance his wine project had a provision which required that a Santa Rosa chemical testing outfit test the soil after it had been scraped of all biological matter and vegetation to be sure that there was no sign of life remaining in the soil before the rootstocks were planted. The testing company filed a bankruptcy claim for $150k for the testing they had done and became one of the many vendors that Mr. Ball didn’t pay.)

CONGRESSMAN MIKE THOMPSON, a wine industry gofer, as are his successors, was instrumental in getting the ban on methyl bromide extended into this century. Sulfur is the main chemical applied to grape vines these days. It's applied to vines to eradicate fungus and mildew. Asthmatics report it negatively affects them. Most wine grape enterprises are chemically dependent, Round-Up being a favorite method of weed control. Vineyards also use chemicals as insecticides.

“HOW COME you gave up the ‘Be As Radical As Reality’ quote from Lenin? on the masthead of the paper-paper?” a reader belatedly asked. Because reality defeated me. I couldn't keep up. Thursday night's debate shattered whatever sense of reality I had left.

A READER WRITES “I'm writing because I got such a laugh out of your account of your Petaluma prog-fest refund. I've worked at a certain radlib publication and another liberal publication with a much larger local audience for several years, and I think I'm finally getting to the point where as many local activist types hate me as love me. I've worked so hard to get there. Seriously, most of the hate comes from people who agree with 95% of what I have to say, but will never forgive me for whatever other 5% I crossed them with. With the anarchists, it was the imbecility of the WTO property destruction. With animal rights, it was the Makah whale hunt. With enviros, it was siding with the farmers at Klamath over enviros who simply want the farms to go away and somehow assume they'd get fair price for a lifetime of work. After 9/11, I went after peaceniks for knee-jerk, boilerplate left rallies out of touch with even the people who didn't want a military response. For the public transit types, there was a reminder a few months ago that some people are never going to get out of their cars, especially since our entire urban geography penalizes any other lifestyle, so why not acknowledge it rather than looking down your nose at anyone who doesn't bicycle or ride a bus? And so on. Plus, I can and rather enjoy being able to laugh at anything and ridicule any pomposity.

”Take it all together and it shouldn't matter, but it does, because too many of these people are humorless and intolerant beyond belief — especially when faced with a dissenting opinion or (Lord help us) a Diverse Life Experience. They do their little KZYX-type ghettos to protect themselves from the cruel opinions of the rest of the world, because, well, their feelings get hurt, and besides, everyone else is dumber than they are and just don't get it and so are not worthy of debating. How anyone can purport to lead a people whose culture they by and large despise is beyond me. But then, leaders who hate their people generally act like tyrants, too. Hmm.

I used to marvel at the sorts of incidents you described, esp. around the Bari Bombing, of people heckling and shunning and otherwise abusing people whose opinions they didn't like — not just the Netanyahus and other mass murderers of the world, but folks they would agree with on a lot of other things. But I'm racking up enough of my own body count these days that it's sounding all too plausible. I think, informally — I haven't kept a tally — my death threat count is about equally divided between the far left and the far right. (We've all got to find that balance somehow…) The AVA wasn't, as you claimed in I think the same rant, the only progressive newspaper left in America, but it was the only good one.”

THE DEMS will now dump the old guy, but for who? Prediction: they'll fake an open convention in Chicago and trot out Newsom, the only plausible candidate they have, plausible in that he can talk and he's in the neo-lib, Republican-Lite tradition of an utterly bankrupt political party, the Demo difference from the Magas being that the Democrats refuse to send 2000-pound bombs to the Israelis to more efficiently murder Gazan children.

IN THE DELUGE of hilarious remarks and memes inspired by Thursday night's “debate,” those I liked most were, “Foreigners are not allowed to watch his embarrassing American family problem,” and “alexa play i hate it here by taylor swift” and “Give them both a pdf, first one that can rotate it gets to be president,” and “trying to give joe an adderall through the tv.”

CATCH OF THE DAY, Friday, June 28, 2024

JON ABRAHAM, Santa Rosa/Ukiah. Trespassing.

ANAND BABU, Watsonville/Vandalism.

WILLIAM LAMEBEAR, Hoopa/Ukiah. Probation revocation.

ANAISEL MARIN-JUAREZ, Ukiah. Disobeying court order.

DEVIN MILLER, Redwood Valley. Controlled substance, disobeying court order.

JEREMIAH RAY, Covelo. Disorderly conduct-alcohol, probation revocation.

KAYLA SALLIS, Ukiah. DUI with blood-alcohol over 0.15%.

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

BRANDON SCHMER, Ukiah. DUI.

JALAHN TRAVIS, Ukiah. Probation violation. (Frequent flyer.)

ERNIE PARDINI: Like most civic minded Americans, I took a seat in front of the television to watch the presidential debate, even though my choice for the office, RFK Jr., was excluded from participating. I tried to have an open mind and give Trump and Biden the benefit of the doubt in hopes I would hear something that would inspire hope for the future of our country. What I heard instead was, on one side, a senile old man struggling to focus long enough to complete a sentence, and on the other side an egotistical blowhard patting himself on the back and calling his counterpart names and ridiculing him for his physical and mental shortcomings. The saddest thing of all was the exclusion of RFK Jr. Who would have spoken to the real issues affecting the American middle class and presenting common sense solutions, promising to clean up our corrupt federal government, shake up all the corrupt agencies associated with the same. I sit here at this moment and say without any reservation, even though I love my country and all that it is supposed to represent and worship all those who died for the ideals once associated with with this great nation, that in this moment I am for the first time ever, ashamed to be associated with what this country has become. Light me up if you will, but know that I am a patriot at heart and would fight and die to get America back again. Sadly, the only candidate willing and able to start that process is being silenced by the corporate media who are owned by the corporate giants who stand to profit by keeping their bought and paid for politicians in power.

LISTEN UP, KIDS

Editor:

Louisiana just passed a law requiring the Ten Commandments to be displayed in every public classroom. The First Amendment of the Constitution says in part that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” I understand Congress didn’t pass this law, but isn’t the spirit of this amendment such that no one religion can legally be forced on the people of this country?

I’m no lawyer, but it seems to me that if one religion is required to be represented in a public space, then all religions of all people who might be present in that space should be posted as well. That means Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism, atheism, Native American religions, Sikhism, Wicca and any others that may be practiced by students present in each classroom.

This is not only antithetical to our Constitution, it’s just plain ridiculous and insulting.

Chris Montalto

Santa Rosa

CRAIG SAYS….

Warmest spiritual greetings,

It is a stone cold fact that The Donald does not have a snowball’s chance in hell of winning the U.S. presidential election, and therefore, it is clear that all of the hullabaloo insofar as the debate, general campaigning, and a long hot summer of media coverage is all designed only to keep everyone’s attention, so that advertisers will have an audience and sell goods and services. Enjoy the spectacle, but you could be investing your valuable time elsewise.

Respectfully submitted,

Craig Louis Stehr

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.

Plus 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:

Arabs got talent. Apparently wow is wow in all the languages. This is less robotically precise than the famous Asian troupes that do this sort of thing, but it kind of adds to the experience, for me. https://myonebeautifulthing.com/2024/06/24/mayyas

I've been reading books from the library in the Internet Archive. You might have to make an account and log in to read more than a sample of this or that. I have had some trouble logging in, depending on what computer I use, but no trouble ever when I just let it log me in via my Google account. Here's something via Futility Closet that I saw today. https://archive.org/details/godsmannovelinwo0000ward/mode/2up

On the other hand, giant publishing companies sued the Internet Archive over the lending of just 178 books, and won, which set a precedent so the Archive just this last week /had to remove half a million titles from lending. Also in the one-step-forward ten-steps-back department, Oklahoma just required public schools to have a bible in every classroom and for teachers to teach from it. Next stop, Republic of Gilead. Or maybe the train won't be stopping at all, and it'll be like /Snowpiercer/.

And "Sauron is often portrayed as a force of pure domination and destruction, but that was more Morgoth's deal, Sauron was originally a student of Aule, the Smith God, and was interested in a perfectly ordered world that progressed through industry and craft. In a way Sauron's was the world that came to be, organized advanced industrial capitalism (or the Soviet system, I doubt Tolkien saw too much difference) which globalizes the economy and destroys local traditions." https://static.existentialcomics.com/comics/SaurontheEconomist.png

If you want to do radio from KNYO's place on Franklin Street, everything you need is there. It's easy and fun. Bob Young will get you started. Contact him: bobb@poetworld.net. If you'd like to set up your own remote studio to do radio on KNYO, or to record your real-life, non-A.I. music, or whatever, I can advise you. It's cheap and if you're reading this in the comfort of your own place, which you are, you already have most of the kit right where you are. I'll be doing my show tonight from Albion, for example.

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

ORLANDO CEPEDA, slugging Hall of Fame Giants 1st baseman nicknamed ‘Baby Bull,’ dies at 86

The Giants and his family announced the death Friday night and a moment of silence was held on the scoreboard at Oracle Park midway through a game against the Dodgers.

by Janie McCauley

SAN FRANCISCO — Orlando Cepeda, the slugging first baseman nicknamed "Baby Bull" who became a Hall of Famer among the early Puerto Ricans to star in the major leagues, has died. He was 86.

Then-outfielder Orlando Cepeda of the San Francisco Giants in 1961.

The San Francisco Giants and his family announced the death Friday night and a moment of silence was held as his photo showed on the scoreboard at Oracle Park midway through a game against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

"Our beloved Orlando passed away peacefully at home this evening, listening to his favorite music and surrounded by his loved ones," his wife, Nydia, said in a statement released through the team. "We take comfort that he is at peace."

Cepeda was a regular at Giants home games through the 2017 season until he dealt with some health challenges. He was hospitalized in the Bay Area in February 2018 following a cardiac event.

One of the first Puerto Rican stars in the majors but limited by knee issues, he became Boston’s first designated hitter and credits his time as a DH for getting him enshrined into the Hall of Fame in 1999 as selected by the Veteran’s Committee.

"Orlando Cepeda’s unabashed love for the game of baseball sparkled during his extraordinary playing career, and later as one of the game’s enduring ambassadors," Hall of Fame Chairman Jane Forbes Clark said. "We will miss his wonderful smile at Hall of Fame Weekend in Cooperstown, where his spirit will shine forever, and we extend our deepest sympathies to the Cepeda family."

When the Red Sox called Cepeda in December 1972 to inquire whether he’d like to be their first designated hitter, the unemployed player accepted on the spot.

"Boston called and asked me if I was interested in being the DH, and I said yes," Cepeda recalled in a 2013 interview with The Associated Press in the 40th year of the DH. "The DH got me to the Hall of Fame. The rule got me to the Hall of Fame."

He didn’t know what it would mean for his career, acknowledging, "I didn’t know anything about the DH." The experiment worked out beautifully for Cepeda, who played in 142 games that season — the second-to-last in a decorated 17-year major league career. The A’s had released Cepeda only months after acquiring him from Atlanta on June 29, 1972.

Cepeda was celebrated at Fenway Park on May 8, 2013, for a ceremony celebrating his role as designated hitter. The Red Sox had invited him for their first home series of the season but his former Giants franchise was honoring the reigning World Series champions at the same time.

"It means a lot," Cepeda said then. "Amazing. When you think everything’s finished, it’s only the beginning."

He said then-A’s owner Charlie Finley sent him a telegram to call him within a 24-hour period or he’d be released. Cepeda didn’t meet the deadline and was let go in December 1972. He played in only three games for Oakland after the A’s acquired him for pitcher Denny McLain. Cepeda was placed on the disabled list with a left knee injury. He had 10 knee operations in all, sidelining him four different years.

Cepeda had been a first baseman and outfielder before joining the first class of baseball’s designated hitters under the new American League rule.

"They were talking about only doing it for three years," he said. "And people still don’t like the idea of the DH. They said it wouldn’t last."

The addition of the DH opened new opportunities for players such as Cepeda and others from his era who could still produce at the plate late in their careers but no longer played the field with the spot-on defense of their primes.

Cepeda was thrilled to have another chance.

He hit .289 with 20 home runs and 86 RBIs in 1973, starting off strongly with a .333 average and five homers in April. He drove in 23 runs in August on the way to DH of the Year honors. On Aug. 8 at Kansas City, Cepeda hit four doubles.

"That was one of the best years," Cepeda recalled, "because I was playing on one leg and I hit .289. And I hit four doubles in one game. Both my knees were hurting, and I was designated hitter of the year."

Cepeda topped Baltimore’s Tommy Davis (.306, seven homers, 89 RBIs) and Minnesota’s Tony Oliva (.291, 16 HRs, 92 RBIs) for top D.H. honors.

"It wasn’t easy for me to win the award," Cepeda said. "They had some great years."

Cepeda also knew little English when he arrived in the minor leagues in the mid-1950s, putting him among the first wave of Spanish-speaking players thrown into a different culture to play professional baseball, build new lives and send money back home.

It was an opportunity to succeed in a sport he loved, as long as daunting challenges off the field could be overcome.

Early on, Cepeda was told by a manager to go home to Puerto Rico and learn English before coming back to his career in the U.S.

"Coming here my first year, everything was a novelty to me, a surprise,” Cepeda recalled in a 2014 interview with the AP. "When I came to Virginia, I was there for one month and my father died. My dad said, ‘I want to see my son play pro ball,’ and he died the day before I played my first game in Virginia."

"From there I went to Puerto Rico and when I came back here, I had to come back because we didn’t have no money and my mother said, 'You’ve got to go back and send me money, we don’t have money to eat,'" he said.

Cepeda had continued to be encouraged watching so many young players from Latin America arriving in the United States with better English skills, thanks in large part to all 30 major league organizations putting more emphasis into such training through academies in the Dominican and Venezuela.

There also are English classes offered to young players during spring training and into extended spring, plus through the various levels of the minor leagues.

He had his troubles, too.

Cepeda was arrested in May 2007 after being pulled him over for speeding when officers discovered drugs in the car.

The California Highway Patrol officer arrested Cepeda after finding a "usable" amount of a white-powder substance that likely was methamphetamine or cocaine, while marijuana and a syringe were also discovered.

After his playing career ended, Cepeda was convicted in 1976 in San Juan, Puerto Rico, of smuggling marijuana and sentenced to five years in prison.

That conviction was probably one reason he was not elected to the Hall of Fame by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. Cepeda eventually was elected by the Veterans Committee in 1999.

Cepeda played first base during his 17 seasons in the majors, beginning with the Giants. He also spent time with St. Louis, Atlanta, Oakland, Boston and Kansas City. In the spring of 1969, Cepeda was traded by the Cardinals to the Braves for Joe Torre.

A seven-time All-Star who played in three World Series, Cepeda was the 1958 NL Rookie of the Year with San Francisco and NL MVP in 1967 with St. Louis, a city sad to see him go in that trade that brought Torre to town. In 1961, Cepeda led the NL with 46 homers and 142 RBIs. Cepeda was a .297 career hitter with 379 home runs.

It wasn’t until after that 1973 season as DH that Cepeda could look back and appreciate all he had accomplished that year — along with the big part he played in history and change in the sport.

"I just did it," he said of learning the DH. "Every day, I say to myself, how lucky I am to be born with the skills to play ball."

(Associated Press)

KINKY FRIEDMAN (1944-2024)

by Jonah Raskin

When I read Kinky Friedman's obituary the other day I felt like crying and laughing. Laughing because I laughed at the lyrics to many of his songs, including “They Ain't Makin' Jews Like Jesus Anymore,” which pokes fun at Jews and non-Jews alike. Also, because I found his many murder mysteries immensely entertaining and even humorous. Kinky could “crack wise” about murder, as one of his characters might say.

I felt like crying because “Kinky,” as I always called him, and not Richard as his parents named him, was only 79 when he died, a vastly talented performer who had not yet exhausted his seemingly limitless supply of creativity that took aim at the Lone Star State—where he lived most of his life —and other Texas-sized targets.

I didn't know anything about Kinky until a day in 1975 when Abbie Hoffman — who was then a fugitive running from the law — bought two-dozen copies of his first album at a record store on Sunset Boulevard in LA, autographed them "Kinky Friedman" and handed them to strangers. I watched in awe. Kinky would not have minded Abbie's prank. The co-founder with Jerry Rubin of the Yippies, Abbie had appointed himself Friedman's chief publicist and number one fan. Eight-years older than Kinky, a loyal New Englander, a bar mitzvah boy and a Brandeis graduate, Abbie persuaded 1960s/1970s protesters to riot in the streets by telling them jokes. No one else on the left did that.

The two comedians appreciated the same Jewish performers — Mel Brooks, Carl Reiner, and Sid Caesar— who kept Americans in stitches for decades. They also both boasted serious agendas. In the present day era of political correctness, where satirizing certain groups and individuals can prompt boos and rebuke, there are few if any comedians like Hoffman and Friedman. For both of them, there were no sacred cows. Everything and everyone was a valid target for ridicule: Texas, the Democratic Party, John Wayne and compulsory drug testing. But Kinky wasn’t clowning when he ran a summer camp for kids.

Nor was he clowning when he noted that he was the "bastard child of cowboys and Jews." Hoffman saw himself as the bastard child of the Jewish tradition carved out by Marx, Freud and Einstein, plus the all-American world of pool hall hustlers and door-to-door salesmen.

Behind his clownish act Abbie was bio-polar, and not surprisingly he committed suicide by taking an overdose of drugs washed down by Glenlivet. Not a funny way to exit the stage of history.

I heard Kinky live in the 1990s in San Francisco where he performed the songs that had made him famous. At the end of the evening he gave me a guitar pick inscribed with his name. We smoked cigars in a bar when bars were filled with smoke. "Come and visit me in Texas hill country," Kinky said. "I'll put you up and show you around." I did not take him up on his offer, though I took a deep dive into his murder mysteries—Kill Two Birds and Get Stoned and God Bless John Wayne — that feature a detective named Walter Snow who bears an uncanny resemblance to the author himself. People magazine noted that “Kinky Friedman is to the detective novel what Frank Zappa is to rock and roll: a gleeful gadfly who delights in offending purists." Abbie felt the same way about purists and yanking their collars.

Less protective of his persona than Abbie was of his Yippie identity, Kinky ran for governor of Texas and called for the legalization of street drugs, enforcement of illegal immigration, and an end to the probation of smoking in public. Hoffman and the Yippies ran a pig for president in 1968. Kinky received some votes; the pig none.

In an obituary in The New York Times, Clay Risen noted that it "could be hard to know when Mr. Friedman was joking and when he was serious." He might have used the very same words to describe Abbie Hoffman. Also, he might have observed that they don't make Jews like Kinky and Abbie anymore, not in America and not in Israel either.

People will not remember you much after your death. After a few days, you will be forgotten, as if you were never born and never existed. Your mention will occasionally come up by chance, but with the arrival of new generations, you will be completely erased.

At that time, people will not remember who you were, nor will they remember the principles you always held. They will not recall if you were brave and virtuous or bad and corrupt. In both cases, you will gain nothing from their words.

Live your life as you see fit, in a way that makes you happy because your life is yours, and the days that pass will never return! Live your life in the way that seems right to you.

— Dostoyevsky

S.F. PLANS TO ESCALATE HOMELESS CAMP SWEEPS AFTER MAJOR SUPREME COURT DECISION

by J.D. Morris, Bob Egelko & Kevin Fagan

Now that the Supreme Court has given a green light to cities’ sweeps of homeless encampments, San Francisco officials are looking into the broader authority the court has given them and what it means for the hundreds of tents spread across city streets.

Since December 2022, a federal magistrate has barred San Francisco from enforcing certain anti-camping laws, though the city has actually been able to increase encampment sweeps over the past two years by relying on other laws to clear tents.

After the ruling, San Francisco officials cautioned that they still needed time to review the Supreme Court’s decision, update city policies and train staff accordingly — a process that will take weeks to resolve. But they also indicated that the city would likely be able to take more decisive action to keep tents off the streets.

“With this opportunity, we’ll be able to do more to clean and clear our streets — especially for those who are refusing shelter and services,” Mayor London Breed said at a City Hall news conference. “This is very helpful to us as a city.”

Breed said San Francisco would continue to offer “shelter and support” to the unhoused but indicated that law enforcement might be more involved in encampment clearing after the court decision. She said increasing the number of homeless people arrested and cited “is not being ruled out at this time.”

Asked by the Chronicle how many more tents San Francisco might remove from city streets because of the decision, Breed said “my hope is that we can clear them all.”

The city says officials have evicted only those who refused offers of shelter, but U.S. Magistrate Judge Donna Ryu has declared that San Francisco’s public shelters are full and their waiting lists are closed.

However, Ryu’s injunction was based on a September 2022 ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a case from Grants Pass, Ore., saying a city violates the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment when it punishes homeless people for sleeping on public property or using blankets and pillows to protect themselves from the elements.

The Supreme Court overturned that ruling Friday in an appeal by Grants Pass that was supported by San Francisco officials and by Gov. Gavin Newsom. The 6-3 majority, led by Justice Neil Gorsuch, said the ban on “cruel and unusual punishment” in the Constitution’s Eighth Amendment does not prohibit cities from removing people from encampments, or from imposing fines and other criminal penalties on those who refuse to leave.

“Consider San Francisco, where each night thousands sleep ‘in tents and other makeshift structures,” Gorsuch wrote, quoting the city’s filing with the court. The city, he said, enforces its laws against camping not to criminalize homelessness, but, in the words of its court filing, “as one important tool among others to encourage individuals experiencing homelessness to accept services and to help ensure safe and accessible sidewalks and public spaces.”

The ruling apparently will require Ryu to lift her injunction and allow San Francisco to sweep encampments without the previous limitations.

Breed has tried to show that she’s making improvements in street homelessness despite Ryu’s injunction — a politically important task for the mayor as she tries to overcome four serious challengers to win another term in November. From April 2023 to April 2024, the city reported a 37% reduction in the number of tents and other homeless dwelling structures on its sidewalks and public spaces. And the city’s most recent one-night tally of its homeless population found that the number of people sleeping outside had fallen 13% over the last two years, though overall homelessness still grew due to an increase in people living in cars and shelters.

Despite the positive data, Breed’s political opponents have been betting that many voters haven’t noticed enough a reduction in street homelessness as public opinion about the direction of the city has soured. Two of her moderate challengers in the mayor’s race, Daniel Lurie and Mark Farrell, promptly seized on Friday’s court ruling to criticize Breed for failing to make more meaningful change sooner.

Lurie, a nonprofit founder and Levi Strauss heir, said Ryu’s injunction did not prohibit Breed from ridding the city of tent camps, “lack of action did.”

“The mayor used the injunction as an excuse. She should have built the shelter beds and cleared the sidewalks years ago,” Lurie said in a statement. “Every day that the encampments remain on our sidewalks is another reminder of her failed leadership.”

Farrell, a former supervisor and appointed mayor, said Breed had “consistently failed” to use her authority to clear encampments.

“While the ruling provides more clarity, it should not be viewed as a panacea,” Farrell said in a statement. “It takes a consistent and determined effort to ensure tents are not a part of our permanent landscape in San Francisco.”

Jennifer Friedenbach, executive director of the Coalition on Homelessness, which filed the lawsuit that led to Ryu’s injunction, was also critical of Breed after the court ruling came out.

“The Supreme Court, and I guess the mayor of San Francisco, is aligning with right-wing justice (Samuel) Alito in saying that it’s okay to put unhoused people in a cage when they have no other choice but to sleep outside,” Friedenbach said.

City leaders were reluctant to discuss their exact plans ahead of the court ruling. But District Attorney Brooke Jenkins, San Francisco’s chief prosecutor, hinted at what lies ahead when she was asked at a public forum last December how the city should deal with homeless people who refused an offer of shelter.

“They have to be made uncomfortable,” she replied. “We cannot make it comfortable for them to pitch a tent on our sidewalks and stay.”

In response to Friday’s ruling, City Attorney David Chiu said the court’s action “will give cities more flexibility to provide services to unhoused people while keeping our streets healthy and safe. It will help us address our most challenging encampments, where services are often refused and re-encampment is common.”

“San Francisco has and will continue to take a compassionate, services-first approach to addressing our homelessness crisis,” Chiu said in a statement.

But a lawyer for the homeless and their supporters said their legal challenge to San Francisco’s policies and practices will continue regardless of the Supreme Court ruling.

“Our lawsuit is about trying to get the city of San Francisco to try to follow its own policies,” Friedenbach said. “Many of those are based on state and local laws, and we’ll continue fighting for that and fighting for housing and fighting for a data-driven response to homelessness that resolves the issue rather than making it worse.”

Even without Ryu’s injunction against encampment sweeps, the city still faces claims for unjustified destruction of people’s possessions and failure to accommodate homeless people with disabilities, said attorney Nisha Kashyap of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area.

She also said San Francisco’s stated policy, and an ordinance approved by its voters, require the city to provide reasonable shelter to the homeless before sweeping their encampment.

“An adverse decision should not give the city a license to criminalize homelessness,” Kashyap said. And in the end, she observed, “the policy solution to homelessness is to provide homes.”

San Francisco, with an overall population of 746,000, reported a homeless population of 8,323 in January 2024, a 7.3% increase from two years earlier. But the city said the total included 3,969 who were living in shelters and that the population in encampments or on the streets was at a 10-year low.

The city says it provides people 72 hours of notice before clearing an encampment. Under its “bag and tag” policy, city employees at an encampment site who find property that is unattended but not abandoned – such as luggage, backpacks, medication and personal papers – must remove the items to a Department of Public Works storage site for 90 days and leave a note saying where they can be found.

The reactions to the ruling among homeless people in San Francisco was mixed.

“It’s not fair, and this is going to affect us a lot,” said Bryttanie Roze, 29, as she sat with her belongings on Turk Street near Taylor Street in the Tenderloin. “I won’t go into the shelters, but I am on a list for housing. Now since that court says what it did, things might be different.

“At least they offered us stuff before, but now they don’t have to when they move us. Housing might not have worked for me yet, dammit but it has a lot of people. I’m afraid this will really make things harder.”

Her friend William Rentie, 55, said his tent was a block away, but he was pretty sure it would be moved before he got back to it.

He shrugged. “Happens all the time,“ he said.

“Last time I went into a navigation center, my stuff got stolen, so I’m staying out here,” said Rentie, who was using meth. “Some court saying they can do what they’re already doing doesn’t really make that much difference to me. I’d love to do rehab, but there’s not enough of it. It just seems kind of hopeless out here.”

Iqtidar Khan, 60, who sat with his sleeping bag and belongings on Golden Gate Avenue near Taylor Street, said he didn’t think the Supreme Court would change a thing. He was looking forward to the city's encampment team coming by to take his stuff.

“They told me to move this morning, and a HOT (homeless outreach team) guy said he would get me a navigation center bed,” he said. “I’ve been in a nav center before and left, but need to go back. I believe the city is trying to do the right thing and put us inside, whether they get told to by some court or not.”

(SF Chronicle)

Kristi Fleming ponders her next move, Thursday, June 28, 2024 after Sonoma County Sheriff’’s deputies instructed her and others to move from a sidewalk they were blocking on Santa Rosa Ave. Deputies explained that it is a penal code violation to block public sidewalks from foot and wheelchair access. (Kent Porter / The Press Democrat)

SUPREME COURT DECISION UPHOLDING SWEEPS OF HOMELESS CAMPS REVERBERATES LOCALLY

Local homeless advocates greet SCOTUS ruling with dismay, government officials say it gives them another ‘tool’ to address unsanctioned encampments.

by Jeremy Hay

Advocates in Sonoma County for people who are homeless greeted with dismay Friday’s Supreme Court ruling that local governments can enforce anti-camping regulations meant to curb public homelessness, even if people have nowhere to go, while others said the ruling was correct and would give jurisdictions more options to address an often intractable problem.

The high court, in Grants Pass v. Johnson, determined that the Oregon City’s ordinance making it illegal for people who were homeless to camp on public property did not violate the Constitution. The ruling essentially gives authorities the right to more strongly enforce anti-camping ordinances, including through citations and arrests, although it does not require them to do anything new.

“This is a disaster,” said Adrienne Lauby, board chair of Sonoma Applied Village Services, a homelessness services provider. “This means that homeless people are literally told they don't belong in our county and we don't care. I am hopeful local officials will create policies to send a different message to the people who are our friends and family members.”

David Rabbitt, chair of the county Board of Supervisors, said the ruling gives local governments “another tool” to address encampments in public spaces but “I think how they use that is vitally important, because you can't just go and roust people without thinking about the other side of that.”

He added: “What's going to be curious is how jurisdictions use this going forward. I think they should use it judiciously.”

Friday’s decision remade a legal landscape in place since a 2019 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that said it was cruel and unusual to punish homeless people for camping in public if they have nowhere else to go, making it a violation of the Constitution’s 8th Amendment.

That ruling, Martin v Boise, was generally interpreted to mean encampments could not be broken up if homeless residents could not be offered shelter beds. Government officials in California and other western states said it hamstrung efforts to clear encampments that were a health and safety hazard to their residents and the larger community.

“This is pivotal,” Supervisor James Gore said of the Grants Pass ruling. “This was a necessary reversal for our management of homeless services.”

Gov. Gavin Newsom, who urged the Supreme Court to take up the case and filed a friend of the court brief, applauded the ruling.

“This decision removes the legal ambiguities that have tied the hands of local officials for years and limited their ability to deliver on common-sense measures to protect the safety and well-being of our communities,” Newsom said in a statement.

Local Camping Bans

A number of Sonoma County jurisdictions dealing with increasingly visible homeless encampments had moved ahead in recent years with anti-camping bans that have been enforced to varying degrees.

The county in 2023 — spurred in large part by repeated large homeless encampments on the Joe Rodota Trail — enacted a ban on camping on public property from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily, among other prohibitions. Santa Rosa’s ordinance, also passed in 2023, prohibits people from setting up tents or storing belongings in city parks or on the sidewalk — among other public areas — if it impedes traffic.

Both the city and county between 2019 and 2023 operated under a federal injunction limiting their ability to clear illegal encampments on public property. Before forcing people to leave an encampment, officials had to offer them adequate opportunities of shelter and storage for their personal belongings, among other legal provisions.

The case that led to that injunction, Vannucci v. the County of Sonoma et al, which included Santa Rosa as a defendant, is still in federal court. Alicia Roman, a locally based California Rural Legal Assistance attorney who is working on it, said there are still legal avenues to pursue in that case, although the Grants Pass decision knocked out one of their arguments.

On Friday, Santa Rosa Police Chief John Cregan said the city is still following the terms of the injunction. He said the Grants Pass ruling, which city officials are still analyzing, will not immediately affect how his officers do their jobs when interacting with people who are homeless.

“We're going to go out there, we're going to make these contacts, whether required by the law or not, to offer services. That's what we work toward, because we're not going to arrest our way out of the homeless situation,” he said. “I think the first step is not going to change anything.”

He said the department will continue to work with homelessness service providers in outreach programs and strategies that take a “lead with compassion” approach to working with people who are homeless.

(Santa Rosa Press Democrat)

MATT TAIBBI:

When the most deranged and disturbing presidential debate in our history was over, the event’s cable hosts, CNN, tossed to mild-mannered John King for instant reaction. The silver-haired anchor, whose normal specialty is fussing over the “Magic Wall” electoral map on election nights, performed a grimmer duty last night:

“There is a deep, a wide, and a very aggressive panic in the Democratic Party… It involves party strategists, it involves elected officials, it involves fundraisers. And they’re having conversations about the president’s performance, which they think was dismal… They’re having conversations as to what they should do about it. Some of those conversations include, ‘Should we go to the White House, and ask the president to step aside?’”

Whoa. Murder on the CNN Express continued around a table of analysts who’ve been telling us for years that Joe Biden is a fit president. Each now echoed King. “The panic that I am hearing from Democrats is not like anything that I have heard,” concurred Abby Phillip. “They are now seeing a President… they do not necessarily believe can do this for another four years.” Barack Obama’s right hand David Axelrod said: “I can’t argue with either of them about how Democratic leaders are reacting.” Van Jones, playing the schmaltz role, offered tearfully, “I love Joe Biden,” but “We’re going to want to see him consider taking a different course now.”

On MSNBC, whose brand is more hysteric loyalism, Joy Reid read the same script:

“My phone really never stopped buzzing throughout. The universal reaction was somewhere approaching panic… It’s not a full drumbeat yet, but there is talk of… I just happen to know a lot of politicians. They all believe that they have a unique ability to run the race that they passionately want to run, and I know for a fact that Joe Biden believes he is the only person who can beat Donald Trump… The problem is, after tonight, his party doesn’t believe that.”

Was that sentiment really “universal”? Former Obama campaign manager David Plouffe seemed to say yes. Introduced by a crestfallen Rachel Maddow as someone who’d been on the phone all night with “muckety-mucks” and people “we gingerly call the donor class,” Plouffe laid down a grim sound bite. “It’s a DEFCON 1 moment,” he said. Regarding Trump and Biden, he added. “They’re three years apart. They seemed about thirty.”

If you listened closely you heard different camps. Back on CNN former Biden press secretary Kate Bedingfield, passing on views of the Biden campaign, offered that “their dials started moving really away from Trump” as the debate progressed. Jill Biden — we have to consider Jill Biden — shouted with the vigor her husband needed, “Joe, you did such a great job… You knew all the facts!” But this was after guiding him down debate stairs in an instantly viral scene, and by morning, the firing squad across from her family had expanded exponentially. The judgments seemed too unanimous to be coincidence…

racket.news/p/the-democratic-coup

BIDEN CAN’T SURVIVE THIS CAREER-ENDING EARTHQUAKE — AND SHAME ON THOSE WHO LED HIM TO THIS CATASTROPHE

by Piers Morgan

I’ll never forget my first earthquake.

I was staying at the Beverly Wilshire hotel in Los Angeles in 2009 and at 8:30 one night, my suite suddenly began to rock wildly.

Chairs flew across the room; the minibar rattled furiously, then burst open, sending bottles flying; my clothes tumbled out of the closet; and for 20 seconds, it felt like the world was about to end.

The whole experience was so shocking to my system that it took me many hours to get over it and I barely slept.

The US presidential debate between President Biden and former President Donald Trump had much the same effect on me, but the repercussions are likely to be far more profound.

This wasn’t a mere car crash or train wreck, as some are saying.

It was a political earthquake of biblical-level proportions.

Only this quake lasted just 16 seconds.

That’s how long it took Joe Biden to show horrified Americans, and the watching world, he is no longer fit to serve as president of the United States.

The debate between Presidents Biden and Trump had much the same effect on me, but the repercussions are likely to be far more profound, says Piers Morgan.

His rambling, nonsensical, dithering attempt to explain what he’d do about the out-of-control illegal immigration border crisis that he’s fueled was excruciating enough.

But it was Trump’s response that was the kill shot.

“I really don’t know what he said at the end of that sentence,” the former president said, with unusual calmness. “I don’t think he knows what he said, either.”

It was a devastating riposte, because it was what we were all thinking.

And from that moment, which came just a few minutes into the 90-minute debate, Biden was a dead man walking, both metaphorically and, sadly, almost literally.

I say sadly because nobody wants to see an old man humiliated live on television like that in front of tens of millions of people.

It was so shudderingly painful to watch that I felt the same sharp pangs of discomforting anxiety I felt when going through that actual earthquake 15 years ago.

They should have stopped the debate right then and there.

That would have been the kind, humane thing to do.

But of course, it continued, and Biden stumbled on like a guy with senile dementia who’s escaped from his caregiver — and gotten lost in a hospital corridor.

Trump didn’t even have to go full Trump to win.

In fact, I’ve never seen him more restrained.

He was even entirely respectful to the CNN moderators, Jake Tapper and Dana Bash, who I thought did an excellent job with a revised debate format — featuring mute buttons and no audience — that was powerfully effective in exposing the brutal reality of this race.

Trump’s bemused and half-smiling facial expressions as Biden self-imploded with croaky, monotone, drone-like, incomprehensible verbal diarrhea said it all.

At one stage, it looked like the Republican nominee was even feeling a tiny sliver of sympathy for his opponent.

We all did, didn’t we?

Setting aside political partisanship, this was a desperately sad moment for America.

It was the eye-popping, jaw-dropping public confirmation of what many of us have been saying for the past year: Joe Biden, both mentally and physically, is a busted flush.

Honestly, there were more than a few times when I either held my head in my hands or wanted to run and hide behind my sofa, such was the agonizing spectacle unfurling before our eyes.

And lest there be any doubt about what we witnessed, CNN’s post-debate reaction show reaffirmed it had been a political immolation.

To see former colleagues of mine like John King and Van Jones, and Democratic grandees like David Axelrod, queue up to denounce it as an unmitigated catastrophe was truly startling to behold given how savagely critical they’ve been of Trump for so long.

But what else could they say?

For several years now, Biden supporters have tried desperately to pretend he’s not the man we’ve all seen constantly falling over, freezing or speaking gobbledygook.

Just two weeks ago, when Barack Obama was seen at a fundraiser taking his former vice president’s wrist to guide him off stage, I posted on X: “So embarrassing. The Democrats can’t let this go on, surely?”

My view was shared by billionaire US hedge fund tycoon Bill Ackman, who replied to me: “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.”

This enraged another billionaire entrepreneur, Mark Cuban, who raged at us: “You guys both, are so consumed with pandering to your twitter followers, you have lost all objectivity.”

He then insisted Biden was no more age-frail than Trump.

To which I replied: “I think Bill and I are more consumed with reality than you seem to be, Mr. Cuban!”

He retorted: “What matters to me is the ability to understand and deal with concepts, strategy … to have leadership skills, even if you do them while in a rocking chair.”

Well, now it’s been proven beyond any lingering doubt that Bill Ackman and I were right, and Mark Cuban was embarrassingly delusional.

Frankly, I wouldn’t trust Joe Biden to even sit in a rocking chair without tumbling out of it, let alone have his supposed commander-in-chief fingers anywhere near a nuclear trigger.

And shame on the first lady, Jill Biden, for not stepping in before to save her husband from himself and such hideous ignominy. Instead, she was seen after the debate congratulating him on “answering all the questions” and leading a chant of “Four more years.”

The fallout from this unedifying debacle will be fast and ruthless.

BIDEN’S DISASTROUS DEBATE PERFORMANCE AMPLIFIES SPOTLIGHT ON NEWSOM

by Joe Garofoli

It’s a bad night for America when the candidate who said, “I didn’t have sex with a porn star” gave the better showing.

President Joe Biden’s disastrous performance at Thursday’s 90-minute debate on CNN presents Americans with a terrible choice in November: Do they want to elect an 81-year-old president who appears on the decline or a serial liar and convicted felon in 78-year-old Donald Trump, whose answers were often as incoherent, albeit delivered with conviction and vigor?

Said Obama administration official Van Jones: “You have somebody who shouldn’t be president, and somebody who CAN’T be president.”

While Republicans were celebrating Biden’s face plant, Democrats are openly wondering whether it is too late — less than two months before Biden is scheduled to accept the nomination at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago — to replace him.

Vice President Kamala Harris would be next in line to replace Biden at the top of the ticket. Even though she is polling as poorly as Biden, it’s unlikely the Democratic Party would risk alienating the most loyal voters in their party by shoving aside the first Black woman to serve on the national ticket in favor of another rising star in the party … like California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who gave a more forceful defense of Biden’s performance after the debate than Biden did during it.

Newsom wound up being the Democratic star of the night.

Yet Newsom parried many questions about whether Biden should step aside. Asked point blank as he moved through a crush of reporters after the debate whether he would be the nominee, Newsom said, “Our nominee is Joe Biden. I look forward to voting for him in November.”

Newsom told MSNBC’s Alex Wagner that the post-debate panic was “unhelpful, and I think it’s unnecessary. We’ve got to go in, we’ve got to keep our heads high and, as I say, we’ve got to have the back of this president. You don’t turn your back because of one performance.”

Newsom may have been the only one saying that. Democrats were in full bed-wetting mode before the debate was half over.

David Axelrod, President Barack Obama’s senior adviser, said “there was a sense of shock of how he came out at the beginning of this debate, how his voice sounded, he seemed a little disoriented. … I think you’re going to hear discussions … about whether he should continue.”

Even the Democratic cheerleaders on MSNBC couldn’t paper over Biden’s performance.

Nicolle Wallace said she was communicating with top Democrats during the debate and the “conversations ranged from whether he should be in this race tomorrow morning to what was wrong with him.”

MSNBC commentator Joy Reid said Biden’s one job Thursday was to “calm his party to make them feel that yes, I can do this. I have four more years in me. I have the ability and the stamina and the strength to do four more years. He did not do that. He did the opposite of that. He made them more panicked.”

Julián Castro, a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, posted on X: “Biden had a very low bar going into the debate and failed to clear even that bar. He seemed unprepared, lost, and not strong enough to parry effectively with Trump, who lies constantly.”

Biden’s camp wanted to debate Trump at this extraordinarily early point in the election to jump-start his campaign. Polls show him trailing Trump. The debate’s rules seemed to favor Biden: No live audience, which Trump thrives on. Candidates’ microphones were turned off unless they were answering a question.

Yet Biden whiffed.

Speaking barely above a whisper — in part due to a reported cold — Biden looked feeble and sounded bumbling. The split screen didn’t do him any favors: When he wasn’t speaking, he appeared to stare off into space with his mouth slightly agape.

Said longtime GOP consultant and Trump loather Mike Murphy on X: “Biden’s listening face is a real visual problem. Heartbreaking. He’s such a superior person to Trump.”

He couldn’t even eviscerate Trump on issues where he had an advantage with many voters, such as abortion.

Trump placed three justices on the Supreme Court who helped overturn Roe v. Wade, a fact that he regularly brags about while campaigning — and took credit for on the debate stage.

“We did something amazing,” Trump told the Faith and Freedom Coalition Conference in Washington, D.C., last weekend.

But Trump also realizes that the issue is a political loser for Republicans. Since Roe fell, voters in six states have been asked to weigh in on abortion-related constitutional amendments, and in all six have supported allowing access to abortion.

Trump clarified Thursday that he supported exceptions for rape, incest and the health of the pregnant person.

“I believe in the exceptions. I am a person that believes, and frankly, I think it’s important to believe in the exceptions,” Trump said.

But Trump went off the rails by describing the Democratic position on abortion as “radical because they will take the life of a child in the eighth month, the ninth month and even after birth.”

After birth?

The moderators and Biden did virtually nothing to challenge that and other bizarre assertions.

It makes you wonder what Harris, Newsom or many other top Democrats would have done in that spot. A lot of Democrats are doing that right now.

JOE BIDEN CATCHES COLD

by James Kunstler

“Biden’s entire closing statement is the political equivalent of the blue screen of death. It’s just one long frozen glitch.”
— Sean Davis, the Federalist

Maybe ninety-seconds into last night’s long-awaited debate spectacle, the consensus must have jelled among the woke-and-broken news media mavens that their champion, “Joe Biden,” was not quite killing it out there at the podium. CNN moderators Jake Tapper and Dana Bash acted like witnesses at a ritual sacrifice. And afterward, the CNN post-mortem panel seemed genuinely shocked that months of playing pretend had skidded to such an ignominious finish.

Which raises a great many questions, starting with: why on earth did the Democratic Party and its media handmaidens persist in pretending month-after-month that “Joe Biden” was a fit candidate for another four-year term? Last night, he didn’t appear capable of even finishing the current term. Why did they usher him so jauntily into the nomination? And what are they going to do about that now? And what were their motives for all that pretending? “Joe Biden” circulates among scores of astute officials every day. Did they all fail to notice his incapacity? Or has the whole thing been a sham and a lie all along? Was this just the culminating hoax by the Party of Hoaxes of a long string of hoaxes against the nation going back to 2015?

To the question of motives, the answer is obvious: the news networks have worked tirelessly (and with stunning dishonor) to hide their collusion with the government in gaslighting the public. More to the point, they’ve concealed the appalling truth that the CIA, DARPA, and their many intel blob subsidiaries conducted a silent coup over the USA and have been running our country’s affairs disastrously behind the “Joe Biden” façade — and that the coup actually started well before Mr. Trump’s 2016 inauguration. You know it, and they know that you know it.

More acutely, now that “Joe Biden” has been revealed as a hoax president, whole legions of public officials appear liable to criminal charges of the most serious degree: sedition, treason, mass murder, fraud, malfeasance, and in the case of the president himself, influence peddling and bribery. They must be desperate to avoid accounting for all that, losing their accrued fortunes to legal fees and going to prison (or worse). For example, outed just this week: news that then-CIA Director in 2020, Gina Haspel, knew about and participated in the infamous operation using 51 former Intel officers to cover up the veracity of Hunter Biden’s laptop days before the election.

They knew the laptop was real. Their colleagues over at the FBI knew it was real. They all knew it was stuffed with deal memos, legal memoranda, and emails that clearly laid out a long-running bribery operation among Biden family members and their lawyers. They knew it in 2019 when the Democratic Party moved to impeach Mr. Trump for inquiring about the Biden family’s money-grubbing activities in Ukraine — where, by the way, we may have fomented the war with Russia in part to cover up the culpability of all involved, including especially the State Department and their embassy staff in Kiev. The FBI and its bosses in the DOJ also withheld the laptop from Mr. Trump’s defense lawyers during the 2020 impeachment, though it contained massive exculpatory evidence to explain just why he made that fateful phone call to the newly elected Zelensky.

It’s obvious that the ruling blob now has to deep-six “Joe Biden.” The problem is they must induce him to renounce the nomination of his own will. The party’s nominating process is so bizarrely complex that it would very difficult to just shove him out. Another problem is that the party had to peremptorily declare “JB” their legal nominee before the August convention in order to keep him on the ballot in Ohio with its 17 electoral votes (due to some arcane machinery in the state’s election laws).

As per above, the debate fiasco calls into serious question whether “Joe Biden” is competent to even serve out this term. He (or shadowy figures pulling strings behind him) are making profoundly hazardous decisions right now, such as last week’s missile attack that killed and wounded civilians on the beach in Crimea. Are you seeing how easily “Joe Biden” might start World War Three? All of which is to say that pressure will soon rise to use the 25th amendment to relieve him of duty, leaving you-know-who in the oval office. If Joe Biden actually has to resign as president, he also loses the ability to pardon his son, Hunter, and peremptorily his other family members who shared bribery money received from China, Ukraine, and elsewhere.

If he won’t resign, and the party can’t force him off the ticket, the blob could have no choice except to bump him off. I imagine they would get it done humanely, say late at night sometime, in bed, using the same method as for putting down an old dog who has peed on the carpet one too many times. Or, if that can’t be managed and he clings to his position, maybe the party could cobble up some new nominating rules impromptu. And then, who could they slot in from the bench?

The usual suspects are like the cast of a freak show, each one displaying one grotesque deformity after another. Gavin Newsom we understand: the party’s base of batshit-crazy women may all want to bear his child, but that limbic instinct to mate with a six-foot-three haircut-in-search-of-a-brain might not work with any other voter demographic — and Newsom has the failed state of California hanging around his neck. All Mr. Trump would have to do is broadcast the scene from a San Francisco street-cam on “X” (Twitter) 24/7.

Hillary has been stealthily flapping her leathery wings overhead for weeks as this debacle approached. She may still own the actual machinery of the Democratic Party — having purchased it through the Clinton Foundation some years back when the party was broke and needed a bailout. She could just command the nomination by screeching “Caw Caw” from the convention rostrum. Whatever happens, it will look terrible.

Governor Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan? An inveterate and notorious intel blob tool, Whitmer has allowed herself to be used repeatedly by the FBI to frame and persecute conservatives in her state as well as using her state AG Dana Nessel to go after political enemies there, especially poll workers who cried fraud in the sketchiest Michigan voting districts.

Illinois Governor JB Pritzker. Like Dreamboat Newsom in California, Mr. Pritzker is busily running Illinois (and especially Chicago) into bankruptcy and chaos. Looks aren’t everything, but if Dreamboat gives the vapors to Karens across the land, the Illinois governor will get them shrieking in terror as from the sight of King Kong on Skull Island

Who else is there? Michelle O, of course, who will be instantly branded as a catspaw for her husband seeking a fifth term — as Barack himself has averred in so many words: just hanging out in the background, managing things in his jogging suit. That would be the ultimate Banana Republic set-up for us and I don’t think the voters will go for it. It all boils down to the Party of Chaos being thrust into chaos. Can it even survive “Joe Biden?”

Then there is Mr. Trump himself. He remains the object of widespread rabid loathing, yet more and more Americans are coming to appreciate his opposition to Woke Marxist chaos and intel blobbery-gone-wild in our land. His performance last night featured his usual jumpy locutions and incomplete sentences, but in contrast to the current president, he looked neither senile nor an agent of sinister forces dedicated to bringing our country to its knees. Had Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. been present both of the others would have been badly outclassed verbally and intellectually. If Mr. Trump survives the blob’s efforts to delete him before November, I’m sure Mr. Kennedy will play a prominent role in another Trump administration. He knows exactly where the rot is and how to roust it out.

(kunstler.com)

REALLY THINK ABOUT WHAT IT MEANS That The US President Has Dementia

It’s very revealing how everybody’s focusing on what Biden’s dementia-addled debate performance says about his ability to win re-election instead of on the fact that the current, sitting president of the United States has dementia.

If you were lucky enough to have missed the debate, Biden was so confused and zoned out that not only did CNN’s audience overwhelmingly say Trump won while the word “dementia” was sent trending on Twitter, but it was also uniformly acknowledged to have been a horrifying catastrophe by Democratic Party operatives and liberal media pundits, who are now widely suggesting that the president should withdraw from the race.

But the conversation has almost entirely revolved around Joe Biden as a presidential candidate, with relatively little attention going to the fact that this person is the president right now. Everyone’s talking about whether Biden can assure American voters that he has what it takes to be president, and nobody seems all that concerned about the fact that he is already president and will remain so for half a year.

What this suggests is that people already kind of know on some level that the president of the United States doesn’t really run the United States, but are still mentally compartmentalized away from this reality enough to care who wins the presidential election.

If people really believed the president runs the country, they’d be freaking out that Biden in his demented haze might order an attack on the Soviet Union or nuke Libya to kill Muammar Gaddafi or something. They’re not worried that this will happen because they know their government is actually being run by unelected empire managers from behind the scenes, and that Biden is just the official face on the operation.

So in order to hold their mainstream worldview together, liberals are simultaneously straddling the two completely contradictory concepts that (A) it doesn’t matter who the president is because the country is actually run by unelected empire managers, and (B) that Biden’s debate performance was very concerning because it means Trump will become president.

If they let go of (A) then they’re no longer in the mainstream worldview where their country works how they were taught it works in school, and if they let go of (B) then they’re no longer in the mainstream worldview where presidential elections are super duper important and all their country’s problems are the result of Americans voting incorrectly. So they straddle them both and try not to think too hard about the obvious contradictions between them, in order to avoid the crushing cognitive dissonance they’d experience if they looked at them too closely.

In reality the US empire has marched along in all its usual depravity despite its official leader having Swiss cheese for a brain this entire time. They got their genocide in Gaza and their world-threatening proxy war against Russia, as well as China policy that is vastly more hawkish than that of Biden’s predecessors. The imperial murder machine hasn’t skipped a beat in its nonstop campaign of steadily increasing global tyranny.

This has happened because US presidential elections are fake and the results don’t matter. It wouldn’t matter if Americans elected a labrador retriever or a bottle of Tabasco sauce; the empire would roll forward without the slightest interruption. The wars would continue. The economic injustice would continue. The surging authoritarianism would continue. The oligarchy and corruption would continue. The ecocidal capitalism would continue. The imperialist extraction would continue.

US elections are just a diversion to keep Americans from pushing for real change in ways that pose a meaningful challenge to power, and Americans already kind of know this. The sooner they stop compartmentalizing away from this fact that they’re already dimly aware of and face reality, the sooner they can start bringing health to both their nation and the world.

(caitlinjohnstone.com.au)

Arrah, give over your bloody codding Joe, says I, I've a thirst on me I wouldn't sell for half a crown.

Give it a name, citizen, says Joe.

Wine of the country, says he.

‘Cyclops’ episode, Ulysses, p. 283

“Every life is many days, day after day. We walk through ourselves, meeting robbers, ghosts, giants, old men, young men, wives, widows, brothers-in-love, but always meeting ourselves.”

— James Joyce, ‘Ulysses’

SATURDAY'S LEADS FROM THE NYT

Major Democratic Donors Ask Themselves: What to Do About Biden?

Biden’s White House Brushed Off Age Concerns. Then the Debate Happened.

Could Democrats replace President Biden at the top of the presidential ticket?

Former President Obama defended President Biden: “Bad debate nights happen.”

Vice President Kamala Harris, in her crisp defense of President Biden, built a case for herself.

“As a poet – not as a citizen – there is only one political duty, and that is to defend one’s language from corruption. And that is particularly serious now. It’s being so quickly corrupted. Speech is the mother of thought, not the hand-maiden. When it is corrupted, people lose faith in what they hear, and that leads to violence. As a citizen obviously one has a host of political duties. The issues are too obvious to go into. But that’s as a citizen. My only duty as a poet is to defend the use of language."

— W.H. Auden

ON-LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY #2

The problem we have in America is there is nobody willing to stand up and fix it.

The media?

Congress?

The SCOTUS?

The drugged up, tattooed, porn addicted American people?

Who?

17 Comments

MAGA Marmon June 29, 2024

RE: THE ASYLUM

When other counties and cities move to stop street camping we should see a large influx of homeless folks making their way to Ukiah, where just about anything goes. Plowshares will most likely have to get more volunteers in their kitchen. The helping community will need more more money from the BoS in order to hire more staff as well. Mo and her gang on the City Council must be jumping for joy in anticipation of all the Federal, State, and County money coming their way. With the new annexation agreement, I suspect there will be thousands of “housing first” complexes build in and around what is currently known as Ukiah.

MAGA Marmon

BRICK IN THE WALL June 29, 2024

Good on Louise Simson, and Matt Kendall.

Marshall Newman June 29, 2024

Kudos, thanks and all the best to Louise Simson.

Chuck Wilcher June 29, 2024

If more school districts in the county had education warriors like Louise Simpson running the show we’d all be better off. Best of luck to her wherever she goes.

- BRICK IN THE WALL June 29, 2024
  
  Absolutely. She was a good find, and more of the county could imitate her warriors hip if only they saw the value in serving young minds.
  
Harvey Reading June 29, 2024

With lackeys of the ruling class going over-the-top nuts over Biden’s (expected, and not really any worse than the state of union) performance in the debate, something’s up, and it doesn’t smell good or bode any good for the country. The ruling loonies are up to something that may lead to a very much worse place (and life) for us plebes.

Kathy June 29, 2024

Be thankful we’re not getting all the government we’re paying for.
~Will Rogers

- BRICK IN THE WALL June 29, 2024
  
  Right on
  
MAGA Marmon June 29, 2024

California voters to decide whether to roll back controversial Prop 47 this November

Proposition 47 was passed by voters back in 2014. It reduced many non-violent crimes such as drug possession and property crimes valued at $950 or less to misdemeanors. The current law also allows resentencing for people convicted of felonies for such offenses.

Critics have pointed to that law as a reason for an increase in retail theft and other crimes.

The new measure, called the Homelessness Drug and Theft Reduction Act, would change elements of Prop. 47.

The new measure would allow felony charges for possessing certain drugs, including fentanyl and for thefts under $950. It also aims to help people who are homeless and struggle with mental health and addiction.

https://abc7.com/post/prop-47-california-voters-decide-fate-law-blamed/14939477/

MAGA Marmon

Iggy June 29, 2024

Ohio guv signed law changing the qualifying date for a candidate to get on the ballot. Kunstler is wrong about a lot of things but…

Call It As I See It June 29, 2024

Matt Kendall’s thoughts that he put in writing are 100% right on.

Just as I have said, liberals will never solve the homeless issue because it’s a legal way to extort hard working Americans tax dollars.

It will be interesting to see what is ahead after the Supreme Court’s decision. It clearly overrides the Ninth Circuit’s decision that lead us down this path.

This must have ruined Photo-Op MO’s day. It means the homeless can now be arrested on her beloved Rail Trail, she no longer will be able to scold business owners or send her trolls to see if certain businesses have a homeless issue. I bet Mo and her homeless crew were in mourning last night at that Orchard Plaza. Yes, she does have such thing! They even have code names, one of them goes by Goldilocks.

- Matt Kendall June 29, 2024
  
  Believe it or not this isn’t a liberal or conservative thing in sacramento. We have several democrat leaders who are 100% on board with this attempt to fix the failed legislation. Those are the legislators who are actually listening to their constituents.
  
  They may take a beating from their party. And the fact the leaked emails show the Governor was negotiating for this to come forward but not until 2026 tells me he knows it needs to happen but doesn’t want it during his term. Word on the street is he would be forced to admit many of his policies didn’t work.
  Strangely I think that could lend some credibility to him but I doubt he sees it that way.
  
Chuck Dunbar June 29, 2024

That Debate

It’s hard to believe the debate was just two nights ago. Seems longer, I’d like to forget it. A debacle for sure, no other word fits as well. Bruce’s admission goes for me, too: “…Because reality defeated me. I couldn’t keep up. Thursday night’s debate shattered whatever sense of reality I had left.”

The only comfort for me in the midst of chaos and disappointment was this assertion —an excuse of sorts— from a friend who’s a never-say-die Joe Biden supporter: “Of course Joe did poorly, he was standing right next to the devil.” Made me laugh out loud at the partial truth of it.

Mike Williams June 29, 2024

Trump really shot himself in the foot with the statement about illegals taking “black jobs”. He really exposed his racism. Think about it for just a minute, the implication being that he equates illegals taking low level jobs from black people. So insulting to millions of black people. There are lots of hilarious videos online with black people in a variety of positions both blue collar and professional, frantically looking out for the illegals who are after their jobs.

Jim Armstrong June 29, 2024

https://www.medpagetoday.com/opinion/second-opinions/110891

Craig Stehr June 29, 2024

~Sahaja Samadhi Avastha~
2.3. THE AROMA OF SAHAJA AVASTHA
No one need struggle to pass from Sahaja to Nirvikalpa Samadhi; it is an automatic process. Even the struggle that the Yogi puts forth (if it may be called struggle) is intended only to maintain the Sahaja Avastha. The slender thread of Sattvic ego should be prevented from assuming Rajasic proportions. Though such downfall is very rare, we do come across such instances in our scriptures where a slight heedlessness spoils the game. If, as Lord Krishna puts it in the Gita, this Sahaja Avastha is maintained till the very end of life (till the Prarabdha is exhausted), one attains Brahma-Nirvana or Nirvikalpa Samadhi.
Sahaja being a God-conscious state, the Yogi vigorously engages himself in Lokasangraha. In selfless service and cosmic love, Karma is rapidly worn out, and the Supreme Culmination is hastened-at the same time all chances of even the slightest descent from the high Sahaja Avastha are prevented.
2.4. CHITTA SHUDDHI FOR SAMADHI
Q. Can I not get Samadhi without having Chitta Shuddhi?
A. No. Just as a superstructure cannot be built without proper foundation, so also Samadhi cannot be built without the foundation of Chitta Shuddhi. Just as the building that is built on a rotten foundation will fall down, so also the Sadhaka who is trying to attain Samadhi without Chitta Shuddhi will fall down. Purity of heart is the first pre-requisite in the spiritual path, be it Raja Yoga, Bhakti Yoga or Jnana Yoga.
~ Swami Sivananda

D. Merit June 29, 2024

One Minute Watch

Worth it…Rev. Al Sharpton, and DNC Chairman…on Pres. debate.

“DNC Chairman: ‘Biden has always had our back, and we’re gonna have his'”
https://youtu.be/vnKNUjnHakg?si=IeH5tBx9VCZ3vfFg

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