Mendocino County Today: Wednesday 7/3/2024

Hot | Philo Regatta | Yorkville Cooling | Laytonville Pedo | Local Events | Warm Nights | Jumbo's Win Win | 128 Allocations | Turkeys | Firework Sales Suspended | Westport Surf | Firesafe Meeting | Gaza March | Highrollers | Record Highs | First Friday | Ed Notes | Revo Rides | Wine Winners | Mime Troupe | Green PTSD | Yesterday's Catch | Biden's Brain | Melon Tip | More People | Eating Customers | Grammarians | Corections Dept | Rich Bond | Self Regulation | NYT Stories | Ladies | Digesting NYT | Country Song | Melting Ice | Future Laptop | Immunity Decision | Fifth Ave | Savior Complex | Frida's Wedding | Old Pols | Vague Cover | Trump's Lies | War Bonds | Saudi Tower | Donner Memorial | Dem Divisions | Big Love

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YESTERDAY'S HIGHS: Ukiah 110°, Yorkville 109°, Boonville 107°, Laytonville 104°, Covelo 101°, Fort Bragg 70°, Point Arena 63°

EXTREME, RECORD BREAKING HEAT will begin to peak across the southern half of the area today with heat continuing to spread northward at the same time. Heat will bring continued Major Heat Risk alongside enhanced fire weather concerns. (NWS)

STEPHEN DUNLAP (Fort Bragg): I got to 72F yesterday with a light breeze, not bad. 51F under clear skies this Wednesday morning on the coast. Not much change for the coast, clear skies & warm temps are forecast the rest of the week. Always on fog watch of course.

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PHILO YACHT CLUB REGATTA (July 1, 2024)

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YORKVILLE COOLING CENTER: OH BABY! IT IS HOT OUTSIDE!

The Yorkville Cooling Center Is Here. With this week's record high temperatures, the Yorkville Community Benefits Association would like to offer you a cooling solution. From 1:00-4:00 July 3-5 the Community Room (next to the Post Office) will be open and the AC turned on. We have WiFi and water, tables and chairs; come to work or just chill for a couple of hours. Let us know if you think this is a good idea for the YCBA to continue on with this summer: news@theYCBA.org

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LAYTONVILLE MAN BOOKED FOR ALLEGED CHILD SEX CRIMES AFTER CALLING COPS ON HIMSELF

On June 29, 2024, at approximately 8:30 pm, Willits Police Department received notification of a sexual assault of a 14-year-old victim that had occurred earlier that afternoon.

Michael Santos DeJesus (a 33-year-old male resident of Laytonville) had contacted the Sheriff’s Office dispatch to request that he be arrested at his home for sexual assault of a minor, which had occurred in Willits earlier in the afternoon.

The responding Sheriff’s Deputy later transported DeJesus to the Sheriff’s Willits Substation, where officers of the Willits Police Department conducted an interview.

During the investigation and contact with the victim, it was determined that DeJesus had committed the violations of lewd and lascivious acts upon a child at least 14 years old; sexual acts upon a victim more than 10 years younger; and infliction of cruelty upon a child.

Due to the severity of the crime and potential danger to the public, a felony bail enhancement was sought, and bail was ordered at $500,000 on June 30, 2024.

The Willits Police Department would like to thank the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office and the California Highway Patrol for assisting this investigation.

The Willits Police Department is continuing its investigation of the incident and asking anyone with information about this investigation or additional potential victims to call (707) 459-6122 to speak with Officer Pearson.

(Willits PD Presser)

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LOCAL EVENTS (this week)

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CALIFORNIANS EXPECT ‘LITTLE TO NO RELIEF’ OVERNIGHT FROM HEAT WAVE

by Anthony Edwards

A potentially historic heat wave is underway across California, and high temperatures may exceed 100 degrees for more than a week straight in parts of the Bay Area and Central Valley.

But there’s another, less talked about, part of the forecast that is potentially more worrying — warm overnight temperatures.

Warm nights, in addition to hot days, compound health effects, putting stress on the human body. Heat is the No. 1 weather-related killer in the United States.

Nighttime temperatures are expected to be exceptionally high this week, likely remaining in the 70s to low 80s in the valleys away from the immediate coast. Vacaville’s forecast low Tuesday night is 80 degrees, more than 20 degrees above normal for early July.

It will be particularly hot in the mountains due to a weather phenomenon known as a thermal belt.

“A thermal belt is a zone of high nighttime temperatures that is often experienced within a narrow altitude range on valley sidewalls,” said Katrina Hand, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Sacramento.

Thermal belts are common during periods of clear, hot weather with light winds, as expected this week with a strong heat dome over California.

The thermal belt is expected to range between 700 and about 2,500 feet Tuesday night, trapping hot air between these elevations. Lows in the Santa Cruz Mountains, North Bay mountains and Diablo Range could be 20 to 30 degrees above normal Tuesday night and range from the mid-70s to near 90 degrees.

“No doubt about it, it is going to be very warm overnight in the Oakland hills, North Bay mountains, Santa Cruz Mountains, amongst many other locations,” said Nicole Sermant, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Monterey. “Some higher elevations may not see minimum temperatures below 90 degrees” on Tuesday night.

Warm nights are set to continue through the holiday weekend into early next week, and temperatures in the evenings will remain in the 60s near the bay shoreline and 70s to near 80 in the valleys.

Sacramento, San Jose, Modesto, Fresno, Redding, Fresno and Bakersfield are among cities that could threaten nighttime records.

The excessive heat warning from the weather service notes that “this level of rare, long-duration extreme heat with little to no overnight relief affects everyone.”

“This is an important issue because the health statistics indicate that the ‘hot night’ heat waves result in greater human health impacts, including mortality,” said Nick Bond, emeritus Washington state climatologist.

Warmer than average nighttime temperatures are also a fingerprint of climate change. In fact, forecast nighttime temperatures Tuesday and Wednesday in the interior Bay Area and Central Valley, if validated, will have been made three to five times more likely by human-caused climate change, according to Climate Central, a nonprofit climate research and communication organization.

Nights are warming about twice as fast as daytime temperatures in the U.S., according to Andrew Pershing, vice president for science at Climate Central. Since 1970, summer nights have warmed 3.4 and 6.4 degrees in San Francisco and Fresno, respectively. Nighttime temperatures in Reno have climbed by an alarming 17.4 degrees in the same time.

“During the day you have a lot of variability in terms of temperature, and a lot of that comes from solar radiation, but at night you remove that away and the climate gets quiet,” Pershing said. “What you’re left with is the gases in the atmosphere that have warmed up during the day and now they’re radiating that heat back at you.”

The greenhouse effect is triggered by atmospheric gases, such as carbon dioxide, that absorb heat and radiate it earthward. This effect occurs naturally, and without it the planet would be uninhabitable at night, but burning fossil fuels adds excess heat-absorbing gases to the atmosphere and results in extra warmth which creates more wildfires which in turn accelerates the accumulation in a viscious upwards cycle.

(SF Chronicle)

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EXCITED for the new burger place in Philo. Not sure when it will open or what days it will be open?

Update: Local sources tell us that Jumbo’s will open in the week following the Fourth of July. The owner/operators are related to Helen Papke of Philo and the cook is a well-known and popular man who has been cooking for the Lions Club and has a loyal local following already. The former Country Kitchen restaurant has been remodeled to serve 50s-style American fare with a modern flare.

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AMONG THE ROADWORK ALLOCATIONS recently announced by Caltrans from a combination of federal and state road funds are two projects on Highway 128:

Approximately $1.3 million in SB1 funding in emergency allocations toward roadway and drainage repairs along with the removal of debris and hazardous trees on Route 128 east of Route 1 near Navarro in Mendocino County following a series of large storms in the winter months of 2024.

And, approximately $1.1 million in SB1 funding in emergency allocations toward roadway and culvert repairs along with erosion control on Route 128 near Cloverdale in Mendocino County following heavy rainfall in the winter months of 2024.

The timing of these and a number of other area projects was not mentioned in the latest Caltrans announcement.

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THEY DID, LINDA

Editor:

I wonder if the city of Cloverdale is going to come to its senses and not allow the sale of fireworks this year — and also not have a fireworks show. Or is that too much to ask from our city leaders? With temperatures what they have been and dry everything, it would certainly be the sensible and considerate thing to do. Let’s hope so.

Linda Elliott

Cloverdale

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CLOVERDALE FIREWORKS SALES SUSPENDED due to heightened fire risk amid red flag warning

Cloverdale is the lone place in Sonoma County where sales and use of state-approved fireworks are permitted. A suspension was announced Tuesday due to extreme fire danger

by Colin Atagi

Sales and use of legal fireworks are being suspended in Cloverdale due to unsafe weather conditions that are raising concerns of wildfires, city officials announced Tuesday.

The sudden announcement, which comes just two days before Independence Day, is a major about-face for the lone place in Sonoma County where sales and use of so-called “safe and sane” fireworks are allowed.

Those sales had just begun on Monday.

Officials attributed the decision to the red flag warning from the National Weather Service signaling extreme fire danger that is now in place through Friday.

Regional temperatures are set to surpass 100 degrees daily, including in Cloverdale, which is typically the hottest of Sonoma County’s cities.

Low humidity and gusty winds of 25 mph have amplfied fire danger.

“The decision to suspend the sale and use of state-approved fireworks was made after careful and thorough consideration and made based on fire threats to our community,” city officials said in a news release Tuesday.

Earlier on Tuesday, Santa Rosa police blamed a firework for starting a 2,500-square-foot vegetation fire Monday afternoon. A city resident was arrested on suspicion of starting the fire.

Tuesday’s announcement stemmed from discussions between city leaders, the Cloverdale Police Department and the Cloverdale Fire Protection District.

Officials did not say what would happen to fireworks that had already been purchased at two locations in the city run by TNT Fireworks.

Prior to Tuesday’s announcement, Cloverdale residents would have been allowed to use “safe and sane” fireworks on July 4, between 11 a.m and midnight.

“Safe and sane” fireworks do not explode or fly and are identified by a State of California or State Fire Marshal logo on the product. Until Tuesday’s announcement, under Cloverdale’s rules, they could only be used only on private property and at least 10 feet away from other homes.

A July 4th fireworks display at Cloverdale High School is scheduled to go on as planned.

“Fire personnel will be onsite to monitor conditions to ensure the safety of attendees,” city officials said in Tuesday’s announcement. “If weather conditions exist that are a threat to the city, the fireworks display could be canceled and/or modified.”

Cloverdale’s announcement comes the same day officials in St. Helena and Yountville announced they would postpone their respective fireworks shows due to the heightened fire risks across Napa County.

The move came after a 40-acre wildfire ignited in rough terrain northeast of Calistoga off the Old Lawley Toll Road, prompting a pitched, hours-long firefight involving ground crews, bombers and helicopters.

St. Helena will instead hold a community-wide Fourth of July celebration without fireworks at Crane Park.

(pressdemocrat.com) 

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JULY FIRE SAFE POINT ARENA MEETING

Wednesday, July 3, 4:45 p.m., Coast Community Library

Radio check-in will be at 4:00, on channel 2

— Jennifer Smallwood, firesafepointarena@gmail.com

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MARCH FOR GAZA CEASEFIRE in Mendocino's 4th of July parade this Thursday

We, Mendocino Parents for Peace, will be joining the Mendocino 4th of July Parade, this year calling for a Ceasefire in Gaza and an end to the occupation. Please join us. We will gather on Little Lake Road (near where Zo's was) at 9:00 am to paint signs and decorate trucks, then again in the parade forming which starts at 11 am. Hope to see you,

— Faith and Cal, fsimon29@yahoo.com, calwinslow123@gmail.com

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DEATH VALLEY COULD HIT 128 DEGREES. That's just one stat that puts California heat in context

by Greg Porter

Californians are facing serious risks as a heat dome brings sweltering — and potentially record-breaking — temperatures to most of the state. 

The heat wave has already spurred power outages and aided in wildfires spreading. It also means residents are at risk of heat-related illness. 

The streak of hot temperatures could become historic. Here are six numbers that put this heat wave — and its significance amid global warming — in context. 

115 degrees

Sacramento’s all-time record high temperature of 115 degrees, set 63 years ago on June 15, 1961, is under threat this week. On Wednesday, Thursday and again over the weekend, temperatures in the city are forecast to come very close to tying or surpassing 115 degrees. 

1996

The last time San Francisco hit 90 degrees in July was on July 20, 1996, when the city reached a toasty 93 degrees. The city has a good shot at reaching the 90 degree mark on Tuesday and Wednesday, before a sea breeze kicks in later in the week. 

10 days 

Some weather models are forecasting 10 consecutive days of temperatures 110 degrees or higher in Redding, starting Tuesday and continuing until next Thursday. This would shatter the previous record of six consecutive days with temperatures 110 degrees or higher, set in July 1988 and August 1978.

165 hours

Nearly all of the Central Valley is, as of Tuesday, under an excessive heat warning that remains in effect until 8 a.m. on July 9 — a span of 165 consecutive hours. If current forecasts hold, this excessive heat warning is likely to be extended further into next week.

128 degrees 


The forecast high temperature for Death Valley National Park on both Sunday and Monday is expected to be extreme. Death Valley, often the hottest spot in the country due to its location several hundred feet below sea level, still holds the record for the hottest temperature on Earth, reaching 134 degrees in July 1913.



70

The approximate number of record-high overnight low temperatures at risk of being broken in California over the next five days. Warm overnight temperatures, often overlooked during prolonged heat waves, can pose significant health risks. Climate change has undoubtedly contributed to more frequent periods of very warm overnight temperatures in recent years.

(sfchronicle.com)

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FIRST FRIDAY at Noyo River Grill,

Live Music 4-10pm+

Colby Lee Huston begins the evening with his soulful voice and beach busker blues, followed by Mendocino County’s own singer/songwriter Scott Forbes with Ronny Lee, playing old school Americana, country and Western swing.

Kitchen is open ‘til 9 and bar is open until 11

Food and Drink Specials in the bar.

Reservations and info 962-9050.

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ED NOTES

GRAY DAVIS, a look back. I felt my first ever sympathetic twinge for Governor Eraserhead during KTVU's Ten O'Clock News. There he was, that day in 2002, in Union Square in the heart of San Francisco for a noon rally. Arrayed behind him was the Democratic ticket, including such inspirational figures as John Garamendi and Dianne Feinstein. But there were more professional officeholders on the speaker's stand than there were people looking on. Sure, there were a 20 or so guys hired to hold placards and cheer the governor's wooden presentation, but a few yards away real people were eating lunch and chatting as if the Governor and the rest of the Democrat hacks were so many performing winos. But Davis, his cliched words as always a half-second or so out of sync with his artificial hand and arm gestures that are supposed to accompany them, went on as if he were addressing millions. Even the pretty people who read the KTVU news — crime and traffic catastrophes interspersed with idiot chatter about movie stars and ball games — commented that the “turnout was sparse” and “hardly anyone showed up.” Objectively, I'd say the Governor is a crazy person. He not only looks like a nut, he acts like one, which is the inevitable consequence of years of public insincerity and private evil. Granted, Gray Davis is an extreme case — he's weird by any standard. But compare the massed physiognomies of contemporary American pols with, say, those of Abe Lincoln's administration, or even Roosevelt's administration; the contempos collectively can't muster so much as an impressive eyebrow, let alone a puss that looks like its owner might have some character.

SO THE COUNTY faces a budget deficit. The deficit has been created at least partially by a series of expensive blunders by the sitting supervisors, but can't now be plausibly resolved by the supervisors because their blunders have crippled them as leaders, and none of them had much popular support even before they commenced blundering.

SO WHAT WILL the Supes do to balance the books? Will they take pay cuts to inspire a general belt-tightening among the people they allegedly supervise? Of course not. They ran for the job because it pays good and requires little to no effort (cf Supervisor Gjerde).

DON'T look to the top for fiscal austerity. The Supes will knock off the line jobs that actually do a few things for the general public. And they won't fill existing vacancies — former CEO Angelo's savvy budget strategy was pegged to leaving vacancies unfilled, even those that made local government work better.

SPENDING by the supervisors on their own comfort and pleasure disguised as “travel and conference” will of course be unaffected by any budget paring. Crucial agencies of local government, like the Employee Wellness Program where the two Wellness ladies advise county employees not to be fat, not to smoke tobacco, not to remain seated for years at a time, and not to think negative thoughts, will continue to be funded at the bargain price of an annual $126,494.

THE WATER WARS are upon us because, in part, Sonoma County owns most of Mendo's water, which SoCo stores in Lake Mendo and Lake Sonoma while large-scale development up and down the 101 corridor continues as if the finite Eel Diversion at Potter Valley and the battered Russian River can supply the water for all of it. (The wife of the Press Democrat's narcoleptic editorial writer, Pete Golis, functioned full-time as Sonoma County's water lawyer.)

THE PRESS DEMOCRAT has always wanted “reasonable” water people sitting as supervisors in Mendocino County. They editorialized against former Supervisor Pinches' idea that storage of Mendo's Eel River winter run-off be stored for summer use, and were horrified at the Laytonville cowboy's suggestion that the one-way Mendo water deal with SoCo — SoCo gets almost all of it — be renegotiated. Pinches motion to renegotiate died for a second when he introduced it.

TRY as the County might to combat garbage dumping, the Usal Road north of the campground at Usal itself; at Navarro Ridge Road from where its residential areas end up on the ridge to Navarro in Anderson Valley; on Sherwood Wood Road from where the pavement ends at both the Willits and Fort Bragg ends; and Ten Mile Road from wherever to whatever, lots of people use these vast areas to deposit garbage and as off road vehicle rampage sites, littering, tearing up the flora, terrifying the fauna.

HAVING HIKED on Sherwood from the Fort Bragg end, and driven its length to Willits a couple of times, I can testify that slobs are obviously using the Fort Bragg end of Sherwood as a dump site. Ditto for the Navarro end of Navarro Ridge Road. Ten Mile I know nothing about; never got around to hiking it.

I'VE ALSO HIKED the Sinkyone trail out of Usal, the last time with Alex Cockburn when we took advantage of a fall's perfect weather for a few hours in the remote splendor of one of the most beautiful, people-free trails in the state. Late afternoon, Cockburn drove north on the Usal Road to Four Corners in HumCo, reporting back that the Usal Road was easily passable though “tunnel like,” meaning it is without the vistas provided by the wilderness trail west of the road. Never tried that road myself, but I have managed to get stuck twice on the Sherwood Road.

ONLY the most committed atheists drive all the way to these otherwise undefiled areas to rent God's magnificent handiwork.

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AV WINEGROWERS ASSOCIATION

Wanted to congratulate all wineries who won notice at the Sunset Magazine International wine competition but more specifically the AVWA Wineries who competed and won! Thank you for representing Anderson Valley so well - the accolades are well deserved! Congratulations!! Plan your Anderson Valley visit now to taste these award winners: Penny Royal Farm, Navarro Vineyards, MF Cellars, Husch Vineyards, Greenwood Ridge, Fathers and Daughters, Berryessa Gap Vineyards, Smith Story Wines.

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CHRIS SKYHAWK: Oh my, you’ve triggered my PTSD, I “served” on the Green Party of Mendocino County Council for a couple of years; I was young and idealistic enough to think maybe here in left leaning Mendocino County we might be able to start something. I had the misfortune of serving at the same time as Richard Johnson the One True Green; and even though his (ahem) antagonistic personality style caused a lot of problems and dissension; after a lot of hard work, I came to realize that the OTG aside, these people couldn’t organize a yard sale; and weren’t really interested in having political power. And so I moved on to more productive and fulfilling activities. There are very few things in my life I’ve considered a waste of my time, but this was one.

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CATCH OF THE DAY, Tuesday, July 2, 2024

ALEJANDRO ALGARA, Lubbock, Texas/Ukiah. Petty theft, controlled substance, paraphernalia, failure to appear.

DANIEL CHECK, Hopland. Burglary, domestic violence court order violation, bringing controlled substance into jail.

LINDSEY HEINZEN, Gilroy/Ukiah. Drug possession in fire camp, false ID.

MIGUEL HERRERA-CHOLULA, Potter Valley. DUI, reckless driving, resisting.

COLBY HUSTON, Fort Bragg. Criminal threats.

MICHAEL LANGLEY, Ukiah. Failure to appear. (Frequent flyer.)

FRANKLIN LOWERY, Gold Beach, Oregon/Piercy. Under influence, controlled substance, paraphernalia.

AVERY PARSONS, Chico/Fort Bragg. Operating without commercial fishing license, failure to appear, probation revocation.

PETER SAARI, Ukiah. Parole violation.

JUAN SANCHEZ-MONTIEL, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol. (Frequent flyer.)

BIANCA SCHOFIELD, Point Arena. Disorderly conduct-alcohol, battery on peace officer, interfering with police communication.

SYDNEY SHACKMAN, Ukiah. Trespassing, probation revocation.

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BIDEN IN THE BARDO

by Jeffrey St. Clair

Seymour Hersh said Biden isn’t all there. Thomas Friedman and Jane Fonda were reduced to tears. Rob Reiner, who watched the debate with Fonda in LA in the company of Doug Emhoff, the husband of Biden’s VP Kamala Harris, screamed at the TV: “We’ve lost.” One of the party’s top money-bundlers told Politico: “Our only hope is that he bows out, we have brokered convention or dies. Otherwise, we are fucking dead.” These were just some of the shock reactions to Joe Biden’s somnambulant performance in his debate against Trump last week in Atlanta.

Biden’s decrepit appearance, death-rattle voice and baffling answers shouldn’t have been a surprise. He’s 82-years-old and he’s been descending into senescence for years. But most people, including many of his most ardent supporters, hadn’t seen this diminished version of Biden before on extended display.

Biden doesn’t make many prolonged public appearances anymore. He hasn’t given a full-press conference in nearly a year. He’s been kept on a tight public leash by his staff, restricted to short interactions with the White House press gaggle or prepared remarks fed to him by a teleprompter. Even then he’s seemed halting, confused, and mentally frail.

During an interview with CNN, Carl Bernstein said multiple sources told him there have been at least 15 occasions in the last year and a half “where the president has appeared like he did at that horror show (his debate performance).”

Bernstein said that in the last six months, sources have told him there has been a marked rate in Biden’s cognitive decline. He says that some of his sources have taken their concerns to Ron Klain in the last year, worried that the President is losing his train of thought and didn’t have the capacity to pick up where he left off. Bernstein described a fundraiser at the Four Seasons restaurant in New York in June of 2023, where the President became “Very stiff…almost like a kind of rigor mortis.”

Biden’s staff and family are charged with protecting him. The media isn’t. Most other courtier reporters surely knew what Bernstein had heard. Yet, they’ve largely been complicit in covering up Biden’s accelerating cognitive decline, presumably because of their deep hatred of Trump, whose faculties, such as they are, also seem to be in an advanced state of decay.

As Jill Abramson, former executive editor of the New York Times, wrote in Semafor: “It’s clear the best news reporters in Washington have failed in the first duty of journalism: to hold power accountable. It is our duty to poke through White House smoke screens and find out the truth. The Biden White House clearly succeeded in a massive cover-up of the degree of the President’s feebleness and his serious physical decline, which may be simply the result of old age. Shame on the White House press corps for not to have pierced the veil of secrecy surrounding the President.”

But the dam finally burst after the debate. Nearly the entire stable of NYT liberal columnists-Nick Kristof, Friedman, Ezra Klein, Krugman–said Biden should stand down for reelection for the good of the country. A few days later the newspaper’s lead editorial cast the same fatal judgment on Biden. Then New Yorker editor David Remnick, the Peggy Noonan of the liberal commentariat, rendered his own stark appraisal of Biden’s terminal political condition: “For the Joe Biden to insist on remaining the Democratic candidate would be an act not only of self-delusion but of national endangerment.”

Biden’s inner circle, largely consisting of his family and long-time advisor Ted Kaufman, who is himself 85, have closed ranks, blaming his enfeebled performance against Trump on a cold, on the cold medicine, on CNN’s lighting and makeup crew, on the moderators’ failure to fact-check Trump and on Biden’s staff over-preparing him at Camp David, leaving him tired and vulnerable to Trump’s hyperbolic fusillades.

But as Ben Rhodes, former assistant National Security Advisor for Obama, a couple of hours after the debacle: “Telling people they didn’t see what they saw is not the way to respond to this.”

Mika Brzezinski, a Biden dead-ender and co-host of Morning Joe, was one of the last media holdouts: “The choice is one terribly bad night versus a decade of destruction to our core beliefs, our democratic values, and yes, our Constitution. For me, Joe Biden is still the man for this moment.

Of course, it wasn’t just “one terribly bad night.” Biden’s brain didn’t suddenly melt under CNN’s lights. It’s been eroding for years and there’s no drugging it back together again. Face it, that “terribly bad night” is probably the best Biden will ever be from now on…

counterpunch.org/2024/07/03/biden-in-the-bardo

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WATERMELON SEASON!

Look for a yellow spot on the bottom of the watermelon, known as the "field spot," to determine its ripeness. The yellower the spot, the riper the watermelon.

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ON-LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

People are compensating by living with more people per household. Putting bunk beds in bedrooms. There are ever more homeless people all over the place and now these idiots are importing tens of millions more people. All these new people need housing, cars, power, water, food, income. I am running into more and more people talking about moving to the outskirts of town and buying a chunk of dirt and putting multiple prefabricated houses on it. San Diego gave out incentives to put up granny flats and extra living areas on people’s single-family homes. A closer look shows more people putting everything on plastic the debt-to-income rations is staggering.

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GRAMMARIANS

SHANNON STRONG: I was told I was a snob bcz I know the dif between there, their and they’re; Accept and Except, and Course and coarse; Two, too & to and so on! I said nope, just basic grammar. LOL

TOM BAUER: As a former English teacher, I really have to restrain myself when I see grammatical errors. I don't dare correct my family and friends. I know when we correct people, we can be really nasty and probably hurt feelings. However, I find that when I get into a political argument on Facebook, I feel free to let it all hang out and act the part of teacher when it comes to spelling or errors in grammar. When I'm berated by my debate opponent, I tell them that if they want their arguments to be credible, their use of the language should be competent.

CYNTHIA BLACKBURN: I hope this question doesn't start a war and it's not meant to troll (though it may look that way); moderators, please remove it if it appears to cause a ruckus. But. I was just reading an independently published book by a NYT bestselling author, where black (as an adjective), when used to describe a person was capitalized, as in: “She was a tall and striking Black woman.” The rest of the characters who were not black/Black were also not described with any color adjective, but if they were, would they be white, or White? (If they were of a place ethnicity, like Latina, or Chinese, or Kenyan, or Russian--I'd understand the capitalization, of course, because geography is a thing.) This capitalization, however, pulled me out of the story and now I can't continue until I know for sure. Are people's races now to be capitalized, or have they always been and I haven't noticed until now?

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DOES A PROPOSED $10 BILLION BOND FAVOR RICHER CALIFORNIA SCHOOL DISTRICTS?

by Carolyn Jones

As lawmakers finalize a school facilities bond for the November ballot, some superintendents from low-income and small districts say the proposal leaves them with an all-too-familiar feeling: underfunded and overlooked.

“Am I mad? Yeah, I am very mad,” said Gudiel Crosthwaite, superintendent of Lynwood Unified, in a low-income area in Los Angeles County. “California has a responsibility to educate its children, regardless of where they live. This bond favors larger, higher-wealth districts at the expense of districts like ours.”

Lawmakers struck a deal late Saturday night on Assembly Bill 247, a $10 billion bond that would pay for repairs and upgrades at K-12 schools and community colleges throughout the state. Schools desperately need the money: The current fund for school repairs is nearly empty and the voters rejected the state’s last school facilities bond, in 2020.

Everyone agrees on the need for money to fix dry rot and build new science labs. But some superintendents, as well as the civil rights law firm Public Advocates, had been pushing for a more equitable way to distribute the money. Currently, the state doles out facilities funding through 50-50 matching grants, which means that districts that can raise a lot of money locally — typically, higher-income areas — can get more state money.

Public Advocates has threatened to sue California if it doesn’t adopt a wider sliding scale for distributing the money. The current deal does include a sliding scale, but it’s only from 60% to 65%, not the 5% to 90% that Public Advocates wanted. Under the deal’s scale, the state’s wealthiest districts would only get slightly less than its poorest.

Also under the current proposal, schools could get more money if they hire union contractors for their construction projects. That gives an edge to urban areas where union labor is easier to find.

“California has a responsibility to educate its children, regardless of where they live. This bond favors larger, higher-wealth districts at the expense of districts like ours.”

— Gudiel Crosthwaite, superintendent, Lynwood Unified School District

Brooke Patton, spokeswoman for the State Building and Trades Council of California, said hiring union workers would benefit any school project because the workers are highly trained and efficient. Union projects also include apprentices, who may be from the local community.

“Not only does California end up with new school facilities, but also a new generation of workers who can afford to live in California and contribute to our economy for years to come — a worthy investment of public funds,” Patton said.

The bill still needs to pass both houses with a two-thirds majority and be signed by the governor this week. To go into effect, it needs approval from a simple majority of voters in the fall.

‘It’s A Compromise’

While the bill doesn’t satisfy every need for California’s schools, it’s better than nothing, some education advocates said this week.

“It’s not perfect; it’s a compromise,” said Derick Lennox, senior director at California County Superintendents, which represents school administrators and is supporting the bill. “(The bond) takes incremental, important steps toward equity that will do a lot of good.”

The bill includes some help for smaller and low-income districts, such as providing extra money to hire project managers and expanding the number of districts that qualify for hardship funds. It also sets aside 10% of the money for small districts.

The California School Boards Association is also supporting the bill, along with a companion bill, AB 2831, sponsored by Assemblymember Josh Hoover, a Republican from Folsom, that would provide more relief for small and low-income districts if the school bond passes in November.

“We’re more than sympathetic to the needs of small districts,” said association spokesperson Troy Flint. “But times are tight, and we feel it’s crucial to get a school bond on the ballot. … It’s not what we need, but it’s what we could get. Now we have to focus on getting it passed, for the health and safety of California students.”

Old Heaters, Outdated Kitchens, No AC

Trinity County Superintendent Fabio Robles said that some of the schools in his county are so dilapidated that any money is welcome. Passing local bonds is almost impossible, he said, because the county is so poor. So schools are almost totally reliant on the state for repairs.

In Lewiston, the gym has no air conditioning and the kitchen dates from the 1950s, Robles said. At Van Duzen Elementary, a small K-8 school in the mountains, the heater is 40 years old.

“Would a 5-90% sliding scale have been better? Yes. But what’s being proposed now will be a big help to us,” Robles said. “I’ll take that any day of the week.”

In Lynwood, Superintendent Crosthwaite said he’s tired of low-income students having to put up with broken air conditioners and leaky roofs while their more affluent peers enjoy state-of-the-art facilities. His district, for example, is going to ask voters this fall to approve a bond for $80 million. Across town, Pasadena Unified is moving forward with a $900 million school facilities bond. If the state offers matching grants, Pasadena will get even more money.

Meanwhile, students in Lynwood Unified lack basic facilities, he said. A middle school only has a blacktop, no green space. An elementary school lacks hot water. The district doesn’t have enough performance spaces or science labs.

“Our kids think this is normal. It should not be ‘normal,’” Crosthwaite said. “In California we call ourselves progressive, but we need to take a hard look at how we allocate our resources.”

(CalMatters.org)

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WEDNESDAY'S LEAD STORIES, NYT

Biden’s Lapses Are Said to Be Increasingly Common and Worrisome

Democrats Go Public With Panic About Biden Amid Fears of an Electoral Debacle

Judge Delays Trump’s Sentencing Until Sept. 18 After Immunity Claim

Why GPS Is Under Attack

Student Loan Borrowers Owe $1.6 Trillion. Nearly Half Aren’t Paying

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PROBLEMS SOLVED!

Sitting here at the Mendocino County Library in sunny Ukiah, California, digesting today’s perusal of the New York Times. This is the weirdest possible national social situation, playing out in postmodern America. I mean, this is irrationality on steroids. And the international situation is more dangerous! Direct the mind inward to its center located in the “cave of the heart”, and then perform whatever spiritual practice is appropriate in order to keep the mind united with its source. That is all. Problem solved.

Craig Louis Stehr

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STUDY FINDS ALASKAN ICE FIELD MELTING AT AN ‘INCREDIBLY WORRYING’ PACE

by Raymond Zhong

The speed of decline in the Juneau Ice Field, an expanse of 1,050 interconnected glaciers, has doubled in recent decades, scientists discovered.

One of North America’s largest areas of interconnected glaciers is melting twice as quickly as it did before 2010, a team of scientists said Tuesday, in what they called an “incredibly worrying” sign that land ice in many places could disappear even sooner than previously thought.

The Juneau Ice Field, which sprawls across the Coast Mountains of Alaska and British Columbia, lost 1.4 cubic miles of ice a year between 2010 and 2020, the researchers estimated. That’s a sharp acceleration from the decades before, and even sharper when compared with the mid-20th century or earlier, the scientists said. All told, the ice field has shed a quarter of its volume since the late 18th century, which was part of a period of glacial expansion known as the Little Ice Age.

As societies add more and more planet-warming carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, glaciers in many areas could cross tipping points beyond which their melting speeds up rapidly, said Bethan Davies, a glaciologist at Newcastle University in England who led the new research.

“If we reduce carbon, then we have more hope of retaining these wonderful ice masses,” Dr. Davies said. “The more carbon we put in, the more we risk irreversible, complete removal of them.”

The scientists’ findings were published on Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications.

The fate of Alaska’s ice matters tremendously for the world. In no other region of the planet are melting glaciers predicted to contribute more to global sea-level rise this century.

The Juneau Ice Field covers 1,500 square miles of rugged landscape north of Juneau, the state capital. The region has become warmer and rainier over the past half-century, which means a longer melt season for glaciers and less snow to replenish them.

The ice field includes 1,050 glaciers. Or at least it did in 2019.

To reconstruct how the ice evolved in the preceding two and a half centuries, Dr. Davies and her colleagues combined decades of glacier measurements with information from satellite images, aerial photographs, maps and surveys. They looked at studies of tree rings and peat to understand the past environment. They also went out on the ice themselves to double-check what they saw from the satellites.

The changes they’ve uncovered are sweeping.

Every one of the ice field’s glaciers receded between 1770 and 2019, the scientists found. More than 100 glaciers disappeared entirely. Nearly 50 new lakes formed as glaciers melted and the water pooled.

The scientists also found that the rate at which the ice field lost volume slowed somewhat in the middle of the 20th century. It picked up after 1979, then accelerated further after 2005.

This quickening, the scientists said, might have to do with the way the whiteness of the ice — its albedo, as glaciologists call it — affects melting and vice versa. As snowfall decreases, more rocks and boulders in the ice are exposed. These dark-colored surfaces absorb more solar radiation, causing the ice around them to thin even faster. Tourism and wildfires are also depositing soot and dust on the glacier surface, which further accelerates melting.

Another factor, Dr. Davies and her colleagues said, is that as the ice field thins, more of its area lies at a lower elevation. This exposes more of its broad, flat surface to warmer air, making it thin even faster.

Scientists have been aware that glacial melt is affected by these kinds of self-enforcing feedback, said Martin Truffer, a physicist at the University of Alaska Fairbanks who wasn’t involved in the new research. By and large, though, models of glacier change still don’t include enough of these physical complexities, Dr. Davies said. “If you want to know how this ice field’s going to behave, you want to know that the physics is realistic,” she said.

Still, she added, the science is advancing quickly. Last year, researchers issued projections of how every glacier on Earth will evolve depending on what humankind does, or fails to do, about global warming.

The scientific accomplishment was significant, even if the conclusion wasn’t heartening. According to the projections, even if nations meet the Paris Agreement’s goal of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial conditions, roughly half of the world’s glaciers, 104,000 of them or so, could be gone by 2100.

(NY Times)

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SCOTUS IMMUNITY DECISION

Dear Editor,

Thursday is the 4th of July. We celebrate the signing of the Declaration of Independence by Congress, July 4, 1776.

Congress said these were no longer colonies of Great Britain, Our people no longer wished to be ruled by a king. What happened next? For the next 5 years and about four months, Americans fought English, Hessians, some Indians and some of our own people (so-called Loyalists) before General Corwallis surrendered his troops to General Washington at the Battle of Yorktown, October, 1781,

Today the Supreme Court nullified the Declaration of Independence. By a 6-3 decision it declared that the President has nearly complete immunity from any act or crime he commits. If Donald J. Trump wins reelection, he can act with immunity from any civil prosecution in any US court. This means that if the president happened to be Richard Nixon, he would not need to turn over his audiotapes eill drop the word “Inauguration.” They can call this a “Coronation” of “King Donald.” He will be the first King of America.

Frank H. Baumgardner, III

Santa Rosa

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SAVIOR COMPLEX

by Fintan O’Toole

Biden’s tragedy is that he has come to feel that he alone can rescue America.

Those who define themselves by the thing they are not eventually find themselves more and more like their imagined opposite. To be someone’s antithesis is also to be their alter ego. Watching the disintegration of Joe Biden in his CNN debate with Donald Trump, I was reminded of Hans Christian Andersen’s chilling story “The Shadow,” in which a man’s shade comes to life, gradually infiltrates his existence, takes over his entire persona, and kills him off. Biden’s shadow is Trump and we got to watch in real time as it inhabited and displaced him.

This happened at a point in the debate when Biden had already alarmed viewers with his weak, raspy voice, his looks of stricken confusion, his fragmentary or unintelligible answers, his claim that “we created 15,000 new jobs” (he meant 15 million), and his boast, which Trump pounced on with relish, that “we finally beat Medicare.” The horrifying feeling of watching a president in freefall had been firmly established when the cohost Dana Bash raised the obvious concern that both men would be well into their eighties at the end of a putative second term. Biden, a man capable of dignity and even of grace, morphed, before our eyes, into a bargain-basement Trump. The contest for the future of the American republic became two crabby old men in the clubhouse shouting “My swing is bigger than yours.”

Trump boasted that he had won two club championships. He could “hit the ball a long way” whereas Biden “can’t hit a ball fifty yards.” To any opponent who was fully present, this pitiful bragging would have been manna from heaven. Trump was inviting the one thing he cannot withstand: mockery. He had left himself wide open to a quip of the kind that would have shown Biden to be quick-witted and endeared him to viewers: “Did you win those championships at your own clubs? How do we know they weren’t rigged?”

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THE DAY OF FRIDA KHALO'S MARRIAGE (August 21, 1929)

She was petite, barely twenty-two years old when she joined her life with him, a huge, fat man of forty-three years old, divorced, and a communist. The party took place in a house in Coyoacán owned by a great friend of the couple: Tina Modotti. To everyone's surprise, the main dish of the banquet: black mole from Oaxaca was prepared by Lupe Marín who was Diego's ex-wife, the same one who had starred in several scandals due to her jealousy. In addition to the black mole, there were a series of Mexican dishes to delight the guests' palates: stuffed chiles, pozole, rice, capirotada and wedding cake, to drink: pulque and tequila, or failing that, fruit water. The bride's mother was heartbroken, she had done everything possible to avoid that wedding, she who had put so much effort into her daughter's education, she who was so Catholic and the groom who was so atheist and so communist. Dear God! The demon had entered his house! The bride's father consoled his wife by making her see that it was not so bad. Together they left the party early. Late at night, Lupe Marín approached the bride, lifted her skirt and pointed to her legs while shouting, calling the guests' attention: Look! See these sticks? This is what Diego has now instead of my legs! The poor bride freed herself as best she could and ran to hide from the mocking giggles and uncomfortable exclamations of the guests who had seen her right leg thinned by polio. This was the marriage celebration of Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo y Calderón and Diego María de la Concepción Juan Nepomuceno Estanislao de la Rivera and Barrientos Acosta y Rodríguez, 94 years ago.

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NANCY PELOSI'S ABOUT-FACE

For some time, whenever she’s been asked about Joe Biden’s age, former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has been giving a version of the same answer. Invariably she notes Biden is “younger than I am,” says age is a “relative thing” (is it?), and invokes Biden’s wisdom, empathy, and judgment, often dismounting to “experience is an advantage.”

Sometimes she counter-accuses Donald Trump of having dementia himself. At times, as with Anderson Cooper early this year, she engages on the issue at length, but she’s also snapped at a reporter for bothering her with “this frivolity.”

Tuesday, in an interview with MSNBC, Pelosi gave the same answer, but with a new ending: “Now, again, I think it’s a legitimate question to say: is this an episode, or a condition?”

If Joe Biden is replaced atop the ticket, and comments like Pelosi’s (along with numerous other developments seemingly happening by the minute ) suggest the door to that is now open, every Democratic politician of profile is going to have a similar reel to explain. What a zoo this campaign season is becoming.

(On line comment)

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TRUMP'S LIES

Kevin Drum: Some of Trump's lies:

1. Tariffs:

“Not going to drive [prices] higher. It’s just going to cause countries that have been ripping us off for years, like China and many others, in all fairness to China — it’s going to just force them to pay us a lot of money, reduce our deficit tremendously, and give us a lot of power for other things.”

Flat out lie. Tariffs are paid by the importer, who then has to pass along the cost increase to its customers.

2. Social Security:

"This man [Biden] is going to single-handedly destroy Social Security. These millions and millions of people coming in, they’re trying to put them on Social Security. He will wipe out Social Security. He will wipe out Medicare."

Illegal immigrants aren't eligible for Social Security. In fact, they help Social Security because they pay taxes but never get any of the benefits.

3. Abortion:

"If you look at this whole question that you’re asking, a complex, but not really complex — 51 years ago, you had Roe v. Wade, and everybody wanted to get it back to the states, everybody, without exception. Democrats, Republicans, liberals, conservatives, everybody wanted it back. Religious leaders."

Flat out lie. It's simply untrue that "everybody" wanted to overturn Roe. v. Wade.

4. Abortion again:

"If you look at the former governor of Virginia, he was willing to do this. He said, we’ll put the baby aside and we’ll determine what we do with the baby. Meaning, we’ll kill the baby."

Former Gov. Ralph Northram never said this, no matter how many times Trump claims it.

5. Illegal immigration:

"He [Biden] decided to open up our border, open up our country to people that are from prisons, people that are from mental institutions, insane asylum, terrorists. We have the largest number of terrorists coming into our country right now. All terrorists, all over the world — not just in South America, all over the world. They come from the Middle East, everywhere. All over the world, they’re pouring in."

There is no evidence that terrorists have crossed into the US via the southwestern border.

6. Foreign affairs:

"As far as Russia and Ukraine, if we had a real president, a president that knew — that was respected by Putin, he would have never — he would have never invaded Ukraine….Just like Israel would have never been invaded in a million years by Hamas. You know why? Because Iran was broke with me. I wouldn’t let anybody do business with them. They ran out of money. They were broke. They had no money for Hamas. They had no money for anything. No money for terror."

This is ridiculous. Trump did nothing to deter Putin and nothing to deter Iran.

7. January 6:

"Nancy Pelosi, if you just watch the news from two days ago, on tape to her daughter, who’s a documentary filmmaker, as they say, what she’s saying, oh, no, it’s my responsibility, I was responsible for this. Because I offered her 10,000 soldiers or National Guard, and she turned them down. And the mayor of — in writing, by the way, the mayor. In writing turned it down, the mayor of D.C. They turned it down."

Flat out lie. Trump didn't offer 10,000 National Guard troops to anyone on January 6.

8. January 6 again:

"The unselect committee, which is basically two horrible Republicans that are all gone now, out of office, and Democrats, all Democrats, they destroyed and deleted all of the information they found, because they found out we were right. We were right. And they deleted and destroyed all of the information."

Flat out lie. The January 6 committee didn't destroy anything.

9. Ukraine:

"Joe could be a convicted felon with all of the things that he’s done. He’s done horrible things. All of the death caused at the border, telling the Ukrainian people that we’re going to want a billion dollars or you change the prosecutor, otherwise, you’re not getting a billion dollars."

"If I ever said that, that’s quid pro quo. That — we’re not going to do anything, we’re not going to give you a billion dollars unless you change your prosecutor having to do with his son."

Flat out lie. The US wanted Ukraine's top prosecutor fired because he was corrupt. It had nothing to do with Hunter Biden, and in any case, Joe Biden was just the messenger for US policy.

10. Inflation:

"He caused the inflation. He’s blaming inflation. And he’s right, it’s been very bad. He caused the inflation and it’s killing black families and Hispanic families and just about everybody. It’s killing people. They can’t buy groceries anymore. They can’t. You look at the cost of food where it’s doubled and tripled and quadrupled. They can’t live. They’re not living anymore. He caused this inflation."

Our recent surge in inflation was caused primarily by COVID shortages. Beyond that, it was most likely caused by rescue packages passed under Trump, which were much bigger than Biden's. And food prices haven't doubled or quadrupled; they've gone up about 20%.

11. Criminal justice:

"What he has done to the black population is horrible, including the fact that for 10 years he called them superpredators. We can’t, in the 1990s, we can’t forget that. Super predators was his name. And he called it to them for 10, and they’ve taken great offense at it, and now they see it happening."

Flat out lie. Biden never uttered the word superpredator.

12. The environment:

"During my four years, I had the best environmental numbers ever. And my top environmental people gave me that statistic just before I walked on the stage, actually."

Trump was a disaster for the environment. Carbon emissions stopped going down under Trump until 2020, when they dropped solely due to COVID.

13. Fentanyl:

"Jake, we’re doing very well at addiction until the COVID came along. We had the two-and-a-half, almost three years of like nobody’s ever had before, any country in every way. And then we had to get tough. And it was — the drugs pouring across the border, we’re — it started to increase."

Fentanyl deaths increased from 70,000 to 107,000 over Trump's term. Cocaine overdose deaths also skyrocketed.

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TRUMP ORGANIZATION announces new tower in Saudi Arabia

The business venture again raises concerns about potential conflicts of interest should Donald Trump be re-elected president in November

by Ariana Baio

The Trump Organization has struck a deal with a Saudi real estate company to build a Trump Tower residential building in the city of Jeddah, the company announced on Monday.…

independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-tower-saudi-arabia-deal-b2572649.html

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BIDEN’S UGLY DEBATE PERFORMANCE SPARKS FULL-FLEDGED DEM CIVIL WAR — GET YOUR POPCORN

by Michael Goodwin

Get your popcorn and grab a seat.

The hottest political show of the moment is one Americans haven’t seen for decades: Democrats behaving like Republicans.

Suddenly, members of the party with a recent habit of sticking together are engaged in a circular firing squad.

The insults, name-calling and nasty exchanges echo the way the GOP has squandered its House majority.

The Dem civil war involves even bigger stakes, of course, because it was sparked by President Biden’s debate debacle.

It was so bad that lawmakers and donors are growing increasingly bold in publicly demanding that Biden withdraw from the race.

n an arrogant response, the campaign blasted the “bedwetting brigade” and told complainers to get back in line if they want to beat Donald Trump.

Alas, the order to shut up isn’t working, as even some of the party’s most reliable handmaidens are abandoning ship.

CNN’s Jake Tapper, usually a full-time Trump basher, accused the White House and Biden campaign of using Orwellian tactics to silence dissent.

“There is a pattern, discernible pattern, of Democratic officials seemingly trying to convince you, the public, to not believe what you saw and what you heard with your eyes and with your ears on Thursday night,” he said of the debate he helped to moderate.

Gibberish Joe

As the whole world knows, the showdown was dominated by Biden’s stunning brain freezes and gibberish, as in “we finally beat Medicare.”

His false claim that no soldiers were killed on his watch shocked grieving Gold Star families, with at least 16 soldiers killed by hostile action in the last three years.

The face-off, which Biden demanded as a way to lift his sagging poll numbers, was a political earthquake, and its aftershocks are reshaping the presidential race.

My prediction is that the president will follow the path a politically wounded LBJ took in 1968 and drop out within a month.

Meanwhile, Biden’s closet of secrets is spilling open and the public is finally getting some insights into the extent of his cognitive decline.

The emerging profile is that he’s a part-time president whose work schedule is lighter than that of your average civil servant.

The commander-in-chief is only “dependably engaged” for about six hours a day, insiders told Axios.

They said that outside a window of 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., he’s more likely to get tongue tied and exhausted.

Nice work if you can get it.

As Axios noted, most of the president’s public events are scheduled for those hours, meaning his handlers created a Potemkin village of a fully functioning president.

Health info a secret

Politico separately reports that Biden has become more difficult to deal with in routine matters, and that briefings are constructed to please him and avoid his tantrums.

“It’s like, ‘You can’t include that, that will set him off,’ or ‘Put that in, he likes that,’ ” a source identified only as a senior administration official reportedly said.

It added that Biden refuses to take advice from anyone outside a small inner circle and is becoming increasingly isolated.

Although it’s a welcome development that members of the staff are coming clean, Biden’s true medical condition remains a secret.

How about China, Russia and Iran — do they know the roster of his ailments?

Does their knowledge explain their aggression and confidence that America itself is in decline?

Then there’s the Washington press corps.

Where has it been?

If there’s a Pulitzer Prize for the best coverup of government corruption, the Washington media bigs should share it.

They have meekly surrendered to the fact that Biden has done far fewer news conferences and interviews than recent presidents.

A little curiosity about why and some digging might have revealed what we’re now learning about his condition.

But that would have benefited Trump, so the curiosity and shovels stayed in the closet.

Worse, the media became a megaphone for White House disinformation.

When the ever-hapless press secretary recently declared that videos of the president stumbling and mumbling were “cheap fakes,” many outlets instantly repeated her lie as a fact.

That makes the press corps the real lying, dog-faced pony soldiers Biden once strangely referenced.

Keeping him hidden was key to preserving the illusion that he is good to go for a second term, according to Carl Bernstein.

Although he suffers from a rabid case of Trump Derangement Syndrome, the former Watergate reporter told CNN that the ugly debate scene was not unique.

Complicity in coverup

“There have been 15, 20 occasions in the last year and a half when the president has appeared somewhat as he did in that horror show that we witnessed,” Bernstein said his sources tell him.

Historic media coverups of Oval Office secrets, such as the fact that FDR needed crutches and that JFK was a serial seducer, are often explained away as relics of bygone eras.

But there’s no excuse for this one, which is arguably the most dangerous coverup of all.

Correction — there is one excuse. Trump.

The truth could make him president again, so it had to be hidden.

Falling public trust in the media has merit.

Biden himself, in a mark of his desperation, revealed another secret Monday.

Wearing excessive bronze makeup to compensate for the ghostly pallor he fashioned at the debate, he denounced the Supreme Court’s ruling on presidential immunity.

The ruling likely will postpone the federal trial of Trump on charges related to Jan. 6, leading Biden to demand a trial before the election.

“The public has a right to know the answer about what happened on January 6th before they ask to vote again this year,” he said.

His demand, which he read off a teleprompter, could have been aimed at the Washington, DC, judge handling the case.

Tanya Chutkan was nominated to the bench when Biden was vice president under Barack Obama and has tilted toward prosecutors in the case so far.

Real threat to democracy

Still, Biden’s comments are a reminder that he was no bystander in the case, or any of the others brought against Trump by Dem prosecutors.

In April 2022, The New York Times reported that Biden told aides he was frustrated that Attorney General Merrick Garland had not prosecuted his predecessor — and future opponent — on the Capitol riot.

Within months, Garland appointed a special prosecutor, who obtained two federal indictments against Trump, including the one most affected by the Supreme Court ruling.

And now Biden is furious, with the cases in jeopardy and his weaponization of the courts against his opponent collapsing.

Even the delay in the planned sentencing of Trump in the Manhattan show trial raises the chances that case will be overturned on appeal.

The significance of these developments cannot be overstated.

The Dems’ claim that Trump is a threat to democracy was always a fig leaf to hide that they were the ones playing by banana republic rules.

And now the sordid conspiracy appears to be unraveling.

Good riddance to it and, hopefully, to the president who authorized it.

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