Mendocino County Today: Monday 8/12/2024

Navarro Mouth | Cooling | Baynham Thanks | Skunkers | Ed Notes | Railroad History | Desist Letter | No Fish | Noyo Gull | HR Mismanagement | Riley Show | Bragg & Lee | Save Bridge | Preserve Rail | Ainslie Hotel | New People | Oil Well | KUKI Sale | Yesterday's Catch | Jerry Berbiar | Lily | Andrew Kelsey | Second Amendment | Apostrophe Man | Retirement Income | He/She Boxer | Vet Stone | Bone Spurs | GI Joke | To Canada | Window Chat | Caveat Lector | Cat Attack | Kamala Protest | Media Monkeys | Maga Mara | Crowd Size | Edward Said | Self Reg

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NEAR TO BELOW NORMAL temperatures are expected this week in the interior. A weak trough may bring isolated thunderstorms to the mountains of far northeast Trinity county late this afternoon and early evening. Coastal areas will remain cool with occasional low clouds and patchy fog. (NWS)

STEPHEN DUNLAP (Fort Bragg): One more day of fog it now seems, a foggy 51F on the coast this Monday morning. Clearing skies likely today then less fog this week. No, really.

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THANK YOU

Dear Anderson Valley Community,

Finally things have settled down on the Baynham homestead. We now have our water system up and running, the smoke smell in our house is going away and life is starting to find a new normal.

Laura and I would like to express our deepest and sincere thanks to our AV Community and to the Fire Departments that responded to the ‘Grange Fire’. Thank you Anderson Valley Fire Department and Cal Fire for saving our home. I saw fire trucks from Comptche, Little River, Redwood Coast, Sea Ranch and Laytonville, thank you, thank, you. You guys saved homes, lots of homes; unfortunately the Clow home was lost and we are very sorry for that.

One of the most moving interactions for me came the day after. Fire crews were looking for hot spots. I was searching for hot spots too and found I couldn’t get to our well because a large still smoking oak fell across my well road. As I was standing there wondering what to do, up from Denmark Creek came a crew from ‘Chamberlin Creek’ with chain saws. “Don’t worry sir, we will cut the tree out of the road for you.” OMG, tears.

The support that we have received from the Anderson Valley community has been very touching. Everything from food, fence repair, and housing have been offered. What a great place to live. The ‘pats on the back’ and the encouragement all helped.

The story doesn’t end here, our life will return to normal.

Please support our fire department and please support your neighborhood.

Laura and Morgan Baynham

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ED NOTES

THE PERIPATETIC CRAIG STEHR, Mendocino County's only Hindu-Catholic, is 75, and much less peripatetic than he used to be. A long-time member (in good standing) of the AVA's famously exclusive family, Craig will be homeless at the end of the month which, most of us would agree, is a helluva grim prospect for a person of his years, and a helluva grim prospect for a person of any age “in the richest country in the world.” The old mystic, a kind of latter-day Mr. Natural, is presently staying at one of State Street's grim motels, there being no other kind the length of Ukiah's grim main drag. This particular dump is called the Royal Palms, which is truly royal if you get my drift. Craig ponied up $1300 out of his monthly Social Security to stay sheltered at the Palms through the end of the month. Mr. Patel, of the inevitable Motel Patels, the manager, knocked down Craig's rent from the $2,000 Patel usually charges per month because the manager likes him. Craig is likeable, especially compared to several other state and county-funded tenants housed at the Palms who, like Craig, have graduated from Building Bridges down the street, but unlike Craig are unlikeable. But the manager's charity is one-time only. Craig's gotta be outta there by the end of the month. A model tenant, Craig can pay a modest rent. If you have something please contact the AVA.

LONG BEFORE there was a library, and more than a quarter century before there was a science building, Mendocino College boasted a pro football-quality weight room, a nifty little football stadium, an all-weather track, a fine baseball park, a women’s softball park, and a huge gym used almost exclusively by the college’s men’s basketball team.

THE COLLEGE'S science structure was finally erected, but for years college priorities began with competitive athletics as its library remained woefully under-booked while well-off retired people and younger dilettantes took advantage of frivolous course offerings. I don’t object to some old gaffer from Deerwood making a pot for the next generation to piss in because they can’t afford higher education, but a quick run through Mendo CC’s course offerings makes it obvious that the place is still heavy on frills, light on substance, and “returning students” can still get good deals on trips abroad.

COMMUNITY COLLEGES were begun as inexpensive sites for college-level study for young people, not Olympic Villages for former high school jocks or tax-subsidized rec centers for late-blooming weavers and potters, and travel centers for the wealthy.

AS WE GEAR UP for this year's Boonville Fair — theoretically a county fair but long ago captured by Boonville Old Boys — we've gone from the raucous, drinkin' and fightin' annual events of the sixties and seventies to the sedate, child-centered fairs of today.

ANDERSON VALLEY'S much missed former resident Deputy Squires was something of a Fair historian. The deputy had seen some very unquiet Fairs in his years in Anderson Valley, including one that featured running battles between a large group of bikers and an equally large group of young men from, of all places, Elk. “That time I got a big old nightstick and got in between them at the Boonville Lodge, and Walt Matson, young Walt, helped calm things down. I thought it was over. Everyone left town. But the Elk guys waylaid the bikers down by the Greenwood Bridge. The bikers were going over to the Coast on the Greenwood Road, but the Elk guys bombarded them with rocks and tree limbs and all kinds of stuff as they rode across the bridge. We hauled a whole lot of people over the hill to the hospital that night. At the old Fairs we ran from fight to fight all three nights."

THE FAIR of 2003 and every Fair since? "I didn’t even see an argument," the deputy reported.

IT'S A COLLECTOR'S ITEM, but if you can find one, “OCTOPUS MOUNTAIN, Poems from life in Anderson Valley” by Roger Schoenahl is a unique artifact every local will want to have. The poems are collected in an attractive little book produced by the late Loretta Houck and twice illustrated by the poet, with one affecting drawing of his well known grandfather, Archie Schoenahl, and a fine rendition of the distinctive landmark that inspired the volume’s title.

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SHERIFF MATT KENDALL:

“A Covelo degenerate. Gentlemen with this same type of persona have just basically overtaken Covelo.”

This problem is continuing to grow and now there’s a new wrinkle. I received a “Cease and Desist” letter from the Round Valley Tribal Council threatening litigation if I continued to investigate the commercial marijuana grows on tribal land. This correspondence cited the Cabazon case which changed law enforcement across native lands. This causes a serious problem because the vacuum of enforcement in tribal lands will likely cause many more “with this same type of persona” to run to tribal lands. Sadly the recent violence will likely grow larger and continue. By not dealing with things which are causing the violence, it will take greater resources to deal with the aftermath.

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JEFF GOLL:

Out of all the time I've spent photographing the Navarro River, I have never seen a fish. The only large fish I've spotted was a Coho in Redwood Creek which flows into the South Fork of the Eel River.

The Navarro River has absorbed excessive pollution from human activity and that affects all levels of the food chain. It's not the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland that caught fire a dozen times, but no fish in a wilderness area is unsettling.

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MISMANAGING THE MISMANAGEMENT OF HUMAN RESOURCES

by Mark Scaramella

Remember that Grand Jury report from last June entitled “25 Years of Transient Human Resources Leadership and a Hobbled Human Resources Department”?

From the intro: “The 2022-2023 Mendocino County Civil Grand Jury (GJ) has identified several areas of improvement for HR, including enhancing performance management processes, addressing workplace culture issues systematically, and resolving staffing shortages across various County departments. These improvements are crucial for maintaining qualified employees, providing training opportunities, improving retention rates, and fostering a healthy organizational culture. Unfortunately, these challenges are not new, as a GJ report from 2013 highlighted similar issues with HR. The fact that these shortfalls continue to exist 10 years later is directly attributable to the lack of consistent and qualified leadership for HR, which in turn is due to the lack of support for HR by County leadership…

The Supervisors were required to respond:

https://www.mendocinocounty.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/60814/638321770876100000

As usual, but especially with this overpaid board of Supervisors, the Supervisors’ first paragraph of their response insulted the Grand Jury:

“The Board of Supervisors encourages the Grand Jury to focus on verified facts and avoid unsubstantiated opinions that tend to inflame instead of inform discussion of this critical issue.”

Translation: Opinions which are critical of us are unwelcome.

The Grand Jury’s first recommendation was to hire a full-time HR Director.

The Supervisors discourteous response: “Not warranted. The County is operating under a different model of HR leadership with HR Director duties performed by Deputy CEO and an Assistant HR Director responsible for HR operations.”

Translation: Butt out, Grand Jury. We’re running HR out of the Executive Office so all your “opinions” are irrelevant.

Nevertheless, after insulting the Grand Jury, the Board immediately contradicted itself and proceeded to agree with a number of the Grand Jury’s recommendations. But, again, as is common, to the Supervisors agreement is just eyewash. They knew they could promise anything in the knowledge that there would be no follow up. They had no intention of following up. The Board only agreed because the GJ’s recommendations were ordinary personnel management practices and were irrefutable.

The most interesting aspect of the Supervisors’ response to this report was the inadvertent inclusion of promised completion dates — which, of course, nobody but us has paid attention to.


GJ Recommendation 3: “Reinforce that assessments [personnel evaluations] are mandatory for all employees, all levels, even step 5. Assessments should be audited and tracked by HR across the organization to ensure all are completed. This should be completed by the End of the Year.”

The Grand Jury had found that the County does a bad job of personnel evaluation and didn’t keep track of their laughably oversimplified and essentially useless personnel evaluations,

County Response: “Requires further analysis. Determine if the current Munis system is capable of tracking assessments and audits by 10/31/23.”

They didn’t even acknowledge how bad the evaluation process was, but only responded to the tracking finding. October 31, 2023 came and went and no analysis or determination was made.

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Recommendation 4: “Direct the department heads (for department level) and HR (at County level) to perform oversight/audit of performance assessments to ensure consistent, equitable, and standardized assessments across workgroups, and to assess and develop managers’ performance assessment skills. This should be conducted annually beginning End of Year 2023.”

County Response: “Implement in future. Depends upon Recommendation 3 completion, by 11/30/23.”

Again, no direction was given. November 30, 2023 came and went and nothing happened. Nobody asked the CEO if the implementation had happened.

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Recommendation 5. “Implement 180-degree assessments and employee assessments of their supervisors within 12 months of the new HR Director’s hire date.”

Of course there was no new HR Director because the Supervisors had turned the department over to the CEO’s office.

Board response: “Implement in future. Determined new HR model of operations 6/1/23, implement 180-degree assessments by 5/1/24.”

It’s now August of 2024. No such implementation.

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Recommendation 6: “Write procedural guidelines describing the updated Performance Management policy, including the recommended changes to the assessment process, as well as guidelines on implementing formal goal-setting and ongoing coaching check-ins during the year. Complete within 12 months of hiring an HR Director.”

Again, the County didn’t hire a new HR Director.

Board response: “Implement in future. Due to new HR model of operations 6/1/23, implement updated Performance Management policy and procedural guidelines by 4/1/24.”

No follow up. No implementation.


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Recommendation 7: “Update the [woefully oversimplified] performance assessment form before End of Year 2023 to include open text boxes under appropriate ratings to require supporting details, relevant qualitative feedback, and examples that justify the rating for all employees.”

Unbelievably, most of Mendo’s pro forma evaluations had no “supporting details, relevant qualitative feedback, and examples that justify the ratings.” Just some grade-school level 1-5 rating boxes.

Board response: “Implement in future. By 12/15/23.”

Date passed. Nothing.


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Recommendation 8: “Update the performance assessment form before EOY 2023 to include additional sections where managers can list the goals and expectations of the past year that the employee is being assessed against, a summary and assessment of their completed work, the short and long-term objectives, and steps for improvement when necessary.”

Board Response: “Implement in future. By 12/15/23.”

Date passed. Nothing. No goals, no expectations. One wonders what the Board did during their own evaluation of their overpaid CEO. Did they set any goals? Based on their own recent self-raise, it’s obvious that in Mendocino County job performance has nothing to do with pay raises.

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Recommendation 9: “Develop follow-up training on effective performance management for all employees (managers and frontline). This training should take the basics learned in the current Vector Solutions training and connect them to each employee’s particular workplace and the County’s specific Personnel Management process. Training development should begin by End of Year 2023 and should be implemented in 2024.”

Board response: “Implement in future. Begin training development by 12/1/23.”

See above.

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Recommendation 16. “Communicate in 2023, and annually thereafter, with all employees to improve the awareness and understanding of the current discrimination and harassment policy and reporting options.”

Board response: “Implement in future. Implement communication by 10/1/23.”

No such communications were issued by the Board.


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Recommendation 20 had to do with the County’s inability to fill essential positions: “Collect data on why applicants decline job offers. This data should be reported to the HR Director every six months. If there is a trend in reasons for declining, this must be reported to the BOS and to the CEO.”

Board response: “Requires further analysis. Assess ability to collect data by 12/31/23.”

No assessment made. No data collected.

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Recommendation 23. “Identify positions that are particularly difficult to find applicants for due to widespread state and national shortages (such as Social Services), and research ways to support local training and certification at both high school and college level, as well as with the Mendocino County Office of Education’s Institute of Career Education.”

Board response: “Requires further analysis. Research for local training and certification by 12/15/23.”

No identification or research was done.

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Recommendation 24: “Track vital staffing statistics such as job vacancy rates and turnover rates in the County and include those statistics in the public CEO report.”

Board response: “Has been implemented. Scheduled reporting to be included in CEO reports.”

Is lying in an official response to the Grand Jury a felony or a misdemeanor?

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Although the Supervisors obviously didn’t appreciate the Grand Jury’s criticism of their HR department and processes, they nevertheless agreed to implement many of the recommendations in the months following the report. Predictably, the dates the Board set came and went and nothing was done; nobody asked if any progress had been made. The Grand Jury was ignored again — even where the Board agreed with the Grand Jury’s recommendations. And we damn sure don’t have any personnel statistics in the CEO report.

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RILEY LEMONS:

Excited to head back home and play a show at AV Brewing, especially since it’s right in the middle of hunting season!

Join me at the Anderson Valley Brewing Company on Saturday, the 24th, from 4-6 pm for some good brews and tunes. Looking forward to seeing some familiar faces there!

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AULD AING SINE?

by Lee Edmundson

I ran into John Fremont yesterday in the line at Safeway in Fort Bragg. Gawd, we've all grown so much older now. Asked how he was, what he was up to. Told me he was involved in the Rename Fort Bragg movement. OK.

Pointed out to John that Fort Bragg had not been named for the (Inept) Confederate General Braxton Bragg of the Civil War (the War Between the States where I was born and raised), but had instead been named for the brilliant United States Army field artillery Lieutenant Braxton Bragg from the Mexican American War circa 1837.

Lieutenant  Hudson -- I believe it was, please correct me if I'm mistaken in this attribution -- named Fort Bragg after his artillery commander in the war with Mexico. OK so far? 1837 Mexican War. Way before the Civil War.

The Fort Bragg Lt. Hudson commanded was tasked with protecting Indigenous peoples, not decimating them. The history here is clear as a bell. Check the historical records.

Lt. Bragg was an honored and decorated member of  US Army in the the Mexican-American War -- whatever you might think of this Imperialistic exercise on our part.

So? I want to finish this little missive with this: I told John that the given name Lee never appeared in my family's lexicon until after the Civil War (Between the States). My Great-Grandfather had served in the Georgia Militia as a young man and had been with Lee at Appomattox. Had been wounded in the war (his niece had seen the scar). he walked home from Appomattox to Georgia after Lee's surrender.

He gave the name Lee to his second son. Deronda Lee Edmundson. I am David Lee Edmundson. Obviously, the given name Lee is in honor of General Robert E. Lee. Never had shown up in my family's genealogy, ever before. For all the recorded decades.

What to do about this? I asked John. He said, "Keep It".

And so I say to all the "Re-Name Fort Braggers" -- Keep it. And try your utmost to make the most sense of it.

It is a compelling history that serves everyone better when we do not try to erase it.

I am Lee Edmundson. I will always be Lee Edmundson. General Robert E. Lee not withstanding.

Fort Bragg will forever be Fort Bragg. Braxton Bragg notwithstanding.

Kudos to John and his cohorts. But their efforts are misplaced. Maybe they can see the light. Maybe not. Time will -- as it is in all things temporal - tell.

We all have greater fish to fry.

Let's consider these greater things.

PAX

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PROTECT MENDOCINO COUNTY’S RAIL FUTURE

Plans for the Great Redwood Trail put Mendocino County’s railroad at risk.

by Robert Pinoli

The future of Mendocino County's transportation network stands at a pivotal crossroads. The Great Redwood Trail Agency, formerly the North Coast Rail Authority, is poised to make a grievous error by severing our vital connection to the national railroad network. This move threatens to eliminate significant economic opportunities and environmental benefits, making it imperative that we, as a community, call upon courts and political leaders to intervene and protect our rail infrastructure from this misguided initiative.

The NCRA has been a controversial entity, squandering over $141 million of taxpayer money with little to show for it. Rebranded as the Great Redwood Trail Agency, it continues to make decisions that disadvantage Mendocino County. While tracks are being preserved south of our border to benefit Sonoma and Marin counties, the trail agency aims to dismantle our rail connection, denying us similar benefits. This blatant disparity is not only unfair but also harmful to our community.

Mendocino County deserves the same opportunities as its southern neighbors. The trail agency’s attempt to force a hostile abandonment of the Skunk Train would erase a vital piece of history and eliminate potential economic and environmental benefits. Consider some of the important facts:

— The Skunk Train, with customers ready to ship 400-500 railcars of freight annually, has the potential to reduce nearly 2,000 trucks on Highway 20 each year. This reduction in truck traffic would alleviate road congestion, improve safety and decrease greenhouse gas emissions. Rail freight is significantly more efficient than trucking, capable of moving one ton of freight nearly 500 miles on just one gallon of fuel.

— California has ambitious goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2030. Achieving these goals in Mendocino County requires maintaining rail connections. The Great Redwood Trail Agency’s efforts to dismantle our rail infrastructure contradict these environmental objectives. At a time when the Biden administration is investing billions in reconnecting communities through initiatives like the Reconnecting Communities Institute, cutting Mendocino County off from the national rail network is counterproductive.

— The rail agency’s strategy of building a trail over existing tracks under the guise of preserving rail opportunities is misleading. Historically, few preserved rail lines have ever been reopened. The agency’s plan to bury tracks beneath a trail at a cost of up to $1 million per mile is a thinly veiled attempt to permanently eliminate the possibility of rail use. This move does not serve the best interests of Mendocino County’s residents and businesses.

It is troubling that some local political leaders support the trail plans. Mendocino County should not be a doormat for the interests of wealthier counties like Sonoma and Marin. Our representatives must prioritize the needs of their constituents. This includes maintaining rail infrastructure, which is crucial for economic development, environmental sustainability, and preserving our county’s unique heritage.

Railroads are inherently safer and more environmentally friendly than trucks. Mendocino Railway has a strong track record of environmental stewardship, winning numerous awards alongside our sister company, Sierra Northern Railway, which is pioneering zero-emission hydrogen locomotives. The company is committed to investing in Mendocino County, enhancing its industrial capacity, and protecting its environment.

Our community must take a stand against the Great Redwood Trail Agency’s plans. We must publicly oppose the forced abandonment of Mendocino Railway’s California Western/Skunk line. It is not too late to prevent this catastrophe and secure a prosperous and sustainable future for Mendocino County.

Our rail connection is not just a piece of infrastructure; it is a lifeline for economic growth, environmental sustainability and historical preservation. Mendocino County's future depends on our ability to maintain and enhance this critical resource. The time to act is now. Let's stand together and demand that our railroads remain an integral part of our community.

(Robert Jason Pinoli is president of Mendocino Railway and a lifelong resident of Mendocino County.)

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WENDLING-NAVARRO 1906-1908

Pasero Hotel also called the Toscano Hotel and Saloon, Pardini Hotel also called the Italia Hotel, Ainslie Hotel, Joe Ainslie owner. This was know as Dago Town. Held House images (via Ron Parker)

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R.D. BEACON

Sometimes I wonder, how poorly informed the new people are that moved to the neighborhood, I have been hearing reports lately, from the museum, visitor center in elk, that some of the new people that are taking over, its operations, have been kicking the old-timers to the curb, saying they're not needed, the problem I see the new people they weren't here in 1945, they were not here in 1956 when the hotel burned out, there were not here with us all mills were running in the, why would be, proper for people who are not from, and not more in the community, to run the museum in the town of elk, where they were not here during the days, of the last of the sawmills, going out of business, in the town, let alone having as many of the people, that it served as caretakers of the knowledge in the community, old dynasty families, it up in in the area for more than 100 years, these are the most valuable part of our resource, for information, and they need to be the caretakers, and the guides of the information that comes out to the community, as well as to the tourist that come here the one about, granted the new people read a lot of books, and get their information this way, the problem is they were never physically here, doing the early 40s, and the 50s, and right up till when the mill shut down, in 1967, individuals it moved here that are pretty much social climbers, from a city or larger community, seem to be taking over our County, and more particularly the coastal area, bringing their city ways, and their thoughts with the, how well will a fair when there's a big earthquake, extremely bad winter and they can't leave, to be part of the community, is a year-round event not run off to your other house where word might be in the Bay Area, or maybe Southern California, being part of a community is year-round make your money here locally from a local business, not something out of town, to be part of the community is to have, your heart and soul here, and many generations, buried in our local rock garden, but the turn of the road, we have within our County, many people have been here many generations, there are some in the Valley that go back, to the days, of the indigenous peoples Indians, that were here before there was really civilization, we have their children and their grandchildren, and many generations forward, sharing their history throughout the county, the true shakers and movers Mendocino County are the loggers, timber owners, sawmill owners, large ranchers, these are the people that made Mendocino County, old-time shopowners within the town's, people alone grocery stores, clothing stores, and many of these go back easily hundred years, the history is in our old timers, these are the people we need to tap, for knowledge, for most of what they know is not, in a book that is sitting between their ears in the generations of knowledge, that they have to share, history is more than old photographs, is knowing the people that are in the photographs, and our history in Mendocino County, is generational, when new people move into the community and read books, about the community, does not make him an expert, like the generations that were here since the creation of the county, no book no letter, can be any more valuable than the actual knowledge of an older person in Mendocino County that was born and raised right here.

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THE KUKI SALE REVISITED

by Tommy Wayne Kramer

Anyone over the age of too old probably remembers the daily “KUKI Sale” that ran mornings on radio AM 1400.

It was pronounced “Cookie” sale and was hosted by a variety of DJs, also known as on-air personalities, including luminaries like Bruce Williams, Jim Cool, Kathleen Stone, Jeff Mullins, Roe Edmunds and half a dozen others.

The KUKI Sale was old-fashioned, down home and highly entertaining. Why it was discontinued I never knew, and why it can’t be brought back I’ll never know.

The KUKI Sale went something like this:

DJ: Good morning and welcome to the KUKI Sale. This is Chuck Savage and I’ll be with you through the noon hour. Now let’s take the first caller, Earl from Potter Valley. Go ahead, Earl.

Yes, this is Earl from out in Potter Valley and I have fresh peaches for sale, fifty cents a pound, six dollars a bushel. Fresh here in Potter Valley, out on Burris Lane. Call me or come by the Farmer’s Market Sundays.

DJ: Thank you Earl, and next we have Laureen from Comptche. Laureen, did you say you have a piano for sale?

Right, Chuck. I have a piano and four snow tires. The piano is a Bristol Heritage Schoolmaster and we had it tuned a month ago. I’d like a hundred dollars for it, and $15 each for the snow tires or you can have all four for $50.

DJ: Sounds like a good deal, Laureen and good luck with that piano. Our next caller is Marge here in Ukiah. Go ahead Marge.

Thank you Chuck and I just want to say how much I enjoy the KUKI sale and your weekend Blast From the Past show. Our dog Molly had a litter of six Golden Retriever purebred pups that all look just like her, and they’re free to good homes, eight weeks old, had their shots and wormed. Six little pups. Come to the Safeway parking lot noon to 3 p.m. Sunday. And thank you all.

DJ: Julia? Julia from Maple Drive is next.

Yes, and by now everyone in town knows that skunk of a husband of mine has gone to Reno with his trashy teenage girlfriend. So I have free golf clubs, a Harley Davidson I’d like $50 for, and season tickets to the 49ers. Those are free too. Big yellow house on Maple; come get what you want.

DJ: Whew! Uhh, now let’s pause and go to the Mail Bag where you can send in a KUKI Sale item to the station here on KUKI Lane in Ukiah. First is a note from Mabel in Calpella and Mabel says she needs a ride to Healdsburg this coming weekend to visit her grandson with a broken leg. Mabel says she can pay $3 and help with gas. Give her a call at 462-8VX5.

Next, Fred on West Road in Redwood Valley has a’55 Nash Rambler he’d like to get $200 for. Runs good, V-6, green in color.

And Michelle in Boonville writes and says she’d like to learn to knit and can pay up to $1.50 an hour for lessons. Michelle is 14 and will come to your home on weekends. Call Michelle for details.

Now back to the phone lines, where we have Maurice in Hopland.

Yes, Hello? This is Maurice and I live down in Hopland. I fell off a ladder last week painting my garage and I need someone to finish the job. Small garage, 16-by-20, and only just got started before I fell and hurt my back.

I’ll pay $35 if someone will come do the rest. I got the paint and brush and ladder. Call me…

DJ: Next we have Hazel from the Golden Rule Ranch up on the Willits grade. Hello Hazel and welcome to the KUKI Sale!

Why thank you! I have raw, organic milk available for forty cents a gallon, available here at the ranch. Goat and cow, raw and organic. Bring your own sterilized glass container, and it’s forty cents per gallon. Thank you. We also have a selection of cheese, and baby goats for adoption. Thank you.

KUKI RADIO SALE, 2034

DJ: Well good morning to everyone out here in radio-land. We’ve got the KUKI Sale where we take your calls and notes, right after a word from VAPE-O-COMA and our friends at TatTuna Ink, Piercings and Body Art.

DJ: OK now, our first caller is Obama O’Brien in Leggett. What you got Obama?

Hey, this is O-Man, North County, and I’m looking to buy antique hoop houses, abandoned ones, to set up a visitor park on my property. I’ll give half a pound for hoop houses in good shape. Thanks, bruh!

DJ: Our next caller, Angie Antifa in Philo. Angie you’re on the line!

Hey Bizzy! Love your show. I’m giving away a coupon good for $100 off on a piercing at Tattoonatics parlor. Call me or stream your Weeble.

DJ: Thanks Angie, and that reminds me: Here at KUKI we have two tickets for the Rolling Stones live at Carl Purdy Hall tonight. We’ll give ’em to the first caller with the answer to KUKI’s Question of the Day:

Ready? OK, today’s question: “What KUKI disc jockey who once hosted the KUKI sale is still here at the station, and in fact is the boss? First caller with the answer gets tickets to see the Stones' Feeble Infirmity Tour at the Fairgrounds tonight.”

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CATCH OF THE DAY, Sunday, August 11, 2024

ANDREWS AYALA-ORTIZ, Ukiah. DUI with priors, toluene or similar, controlled substance.

GORDON HANOVER SR., Ukiah. Failure to appear.

KENNETH LINDAS, Philo. Reckless possession of explosive device on public street, felon-addict with firearm, tear gas, shuriken, controlled substance, false ID.

JEROME MCMURPHY, Ukiah. Failure to appear.

MICHAEL OLVERA-CAMPOS, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol, parole violation. (Frequent flyer.)

SHEILA OWENS, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol, probation revocation.

SHANDRA SILVA, Willits. Controlled substance, paraphernalia, disobeying court order, false personation of another, failure to appear.

JOHN SIMMONS JR., Sacramento/Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.

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JERRY ‘THE FAERIE’ BERBIAR

…has passed away here in San Francisco at the age of 69.

Jerry was my dear friend, co-conspirator, and weed connection for a short time. He sold me my AVA for many years via his volunteer gig at Bound Together Books in the Haight.

An apoplectic Liberal to the end, Jerry firebombed police cars during the White Night Riots and more recently paid $70 to cross the Bay and bask in the presence of an aged Black Panther crone (and anti- Semite, despite the fact Jerry was Jewish). Jerry was apoplectic about everything.

Despite having shed his car some years ago he attended a Rad Fae gathering just this summer up in Wolf Creek, Oregon, even tho it involved shockingly convoluted travel (and expense). He was a multi- decade survivor of AIDS and nucleus of our community!

Goodbye Dear Buddy! The love and joyous havoc you promulgated are already missed!

David Svehla

San Francisco

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ANDREW KELSEY – WIKIPEDIA

The bloody history of the man for whom the Lake County town of Kelseyville is named.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Kelsey

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HAVE REPUBLICANS DROPPED SECOND AMENDMENT TALK?

Editor,

Forgive me if I missed it, but did anyone else notice a rather unusual feature of the platform that emerged from this year’s Republican National Convention? As far as I could tell, there was no mention of support for the Second Amendment.

Dr. Martin Blinder

San Anselmo

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A READER WRITES:

AVA: Do you read Jacobin? I’m betting most of your readers are older and would be interested in this article. What a crappy country! (I’m just in a constant bad mood because of the White Sox, but at least they fired their manager who never should have been hired in the first place.)

https://jacobin.com/2024/08/townsend-movement-seniors-debt-poverty

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ON-LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

Well I see the Algerian he/she Olympic boxer with the testicles has claimed the gold medal, “beating” all the women in his/her weight class. My question is, since Algeria is 99% Muslim will he/she get a victory parade or defenestration? I thought Muslim’s frowned on this sort of stuff. I say we’re winning now, spreading western weirdness to the world on the international stage.

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OLIVER STONE

When American filmmaker Oliver Stone started working on the movie Platoon, all the ingredients necessary to make the war action drama a critical success had already been cooked up in his mind years ago, from a time when he himself had been shot at, his life at risk, all in the name of freedom and democracy.

In 1967, Stone joined the US Army. He didn’t want to be there simply as a witness to the atrocities of war. He wanted to participate in combat himself, made a special request for it, and was wounded in action twice during the Vietnam War. He was awarded a Bronze Star with a “V” device, and a Purple Heart with one Oak Leaf Cluster. Most of all, his experiences in battle elevated Platoon to cinematic heights.

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HOW 'BOUT OL' BONE SPURS?

Editor,

J.D. Vance has really done it.

While bad-mouthing the Democratic vice presidential nominee’s military service record (24 years) and attempting to laud his own four-year non-combative efforts, he’s left out one important factor in the Republican party’s comparison of military services: Donald J. Trump.

I am the same age as Trump. I lived on the UC Berkeley campus through the protests in the ’60s, stood in line at the Oakland Induction Center for my physical as I learned about the death of my schoolmate Jim Arbuthnaut in ’65. Jim was drafted, fought in Vietnam and along with 50,000 other American servicemen women died there. He was only 19.

My father, two of my brothers and one sister served in the military as did six of my brothers-in-law. I couldn’t serve, having failed the Army and Marines physicals) much to my regret. But I digress.

J.D., if you’re through dumping on Tim Walz, care to discuss Donald J. Trump’s military record?

I didn’t think so.

Maybe best to stick to the old cat ladies.

Richard A. Olson

San Mateo

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SHOULD I STAY OR SHOULD I GO? AM I READY TO LIVE LIKE A REFUGEE?

by Larry Livermore

Bob Dylan once told me (well, not personally) that I should “know my song well before I start singing.” But this is ridiculous.

It’s been over two years since Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong told a packed London Stadium that he was renouncing his American citizenship. Whether he meant that literally or figuratively, I don’t know, but I think it’s safe to say he was unhappy with the good old USA.

My friend Peter Montgomery didn’t like this attitude, posting on his Facebook page that it was “the height of privilege” to talk about leaving when “blacks and gays and women and those who believe in freedom need to fight for the future of our country.” It’s hard to argue with a sentiment like that, but of course I did.

Sometimes, I said, it makes sense to fight. Other times, it’s best to run away (whether or not you intend to fight another day). The determining factor should be nothing more complicated than this: do you have a realistic chance of winning. Peter seemed to think we did. I was not so sure.

Wherever you stand on the political spectrum, there’s an element of magical thinking when it comes to “American democracy.” In theory, it’s always possible to seek a more perfect union through our voting rights, our freedom of speech, and, when necessary, our right to protest. But what happens if in practice that’s no longer true?

What had set Billie off was the same thing that left me thoroughly disillusioned: a handful of unelected right-wing religious fanatics on the Supreme Court, in no way representing the will of the people, had stripped American women of their hard-won reproductive rights.

And there wasn’t a damn thing anybody could do about it. You could march around Washington in a pink hat and chant clever slogans, but it’s meaningless noise to the people on the Supreme Court. They don’t care. They don’t have to. They have dictatorial power. Short of a massive and highly unlikely shift in the balance of power in Congress, there is no way to remove or restrain these American ayatollahs. Several of them gained their positions by dubious and possibly criminal means, but they retain the power to overrule any law, any program, no matter how strongly it’s supported by the people.

That’s why, I said to Peter, I could see why someone would choose to leave the country rather than stay to fight what looked like a doomed battle. In fact, I was thinking about leaving myself.

I told him I’d take a few days to gather my thoughts and reply to him in greater detail. Two-plus years later… Well, much has changed, both for worse and – surprisingly – better.

Writing about it would, I thought, help me make my own decision. Thanks to my mother having had the consideration and foresight to be born in Ontario, I am Canadian as well as American, so, unlike a lot of people, I had options.

Staying and fighting didn’t have the visceral appeal it did in the 1960s, when I was convinced that the United States was on the verge of revolution, civil war, or total societal collapse. At the time, that prospect seemed terribly exciting. Maybe it still would today, if I were 20 years old and high on drugs much of the time. Physical fitness is not the only reason the army recruits teenagers and 20-somethings to fight its wars: they’re also among the few crazy enough to think it might be fun. I generally avoid saying “I’m too old for (insert strenuous and/or dangerous activity),” but in the case of wars and revolutions, I’ll make an exception.

But what if, as I suspect Peter believed, “fighting” just meant knocking on doors, contributing to candidates, getting out the vote, etc.? I could get behind that if I thought it might work, but what about the thoroughly unrepresentative and gerrymandered electoral system, not to mention, as I already have, that darned Supreme Court?

I feel a bit cowardly in admitting it, but I’m not sure I have the energy to drag myself out into the streets again. A strongly worded letter to the editor or your favorite social media site, sure, but to paraphrase Phil Ochs, it’s unlikely I’ll be doing any marching in the foreseeable future.

The problem with taking so long to finish an opinion piece – or to decide what one’s opinion is – is that circumstances can change in the meantime. There seems to be some sign of that happening, with what was looking like an inevitable and perhaps permanent return to power for Donald Trump suddenly looking like not such a sure thing after all. But Trump, while a glaringly obvious indicator of what’s wrong with the USA, is far from being its only problem.

In a genuine democracy he never would have been more than a marginally popular crackpot, having lost both elections by millions of votes, but in our very strange version of “democracy-lite” he was able to become president once, and came perilously close to seizing power a second time.

Trump never had nor is he likely ever to have the support of more than a minority of Americans, but under our system that’s all he needs (Hitler got a similar percentage of the German vote before deciding further elections were unnecessary). But minority or not, there are still millions of people who believe unswervingly in his nonsense, and the prospect of living among them is more than slightly unsettling.

Trump and his followers may be the most obvious symptom of a dysfunctional body politic, but they’re far from the only one. In addition to religious extremists who’d like to see America become a theocracy, we’ve got the hard left identitarians with their phantasmagorical take on reality and implacable insistence that there is no difference between Trump and whatever candidate the Democrats put up (millions of women who lost their reproductive rights might like to have a word). I grew up in a labor union-supporting, antiwar, borderline socialist family, but even my father, who was more left-wing than me, would be tearing out his hair at the gibberish they’re spouting these days.

It’s the absolutism that scares me the most. Tens of millions of Americans are historically, politically, economically, and literally illiterate, yet the less they know, the more certain they are of themselves (or of what they most recently read on the internet). Green Day’s rock opera American Idiot was not just a metaphor.

Having said that, I’ll probably have made enough Americans mad at me that getting out of the country makes sense from a self-preservation point of view. Joking aside, everyone from Alexis de Tocqueville to Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew has observed that democracy only works with a large, educated, civic-minded middle class. This is something the US distinctly lacks, though at one time we were at least working on it.

Countries, like people, have ups and downs. Though the USA is going through a particularly rough patch right now, I’m cautiously optimistic – though by no means certain – that it will pull through. But I guess I’m not willing to wait and see, so as of now I’m a full-time Canadian who only wishes the best for his former country. I will watch with great interest what happens next, just not from too close up.

I’m (hopefully) under no delusions. Canada is nowhere near far enough from the US to be unaffected by what happens there, and in any event, it suffers from some of the same problems as the US. If my cautious optimism pays off and the US successfully reverses course from its flirtation with disaster, I might feel a little foolish, but at the same time, I’ve always felt at home in Canada, and my stress levels have dropped dramatically since heading north.

I do feel a bit shamefaced about facetiously referring to myself as a “refugee.” My struggle, such as it is, is a minor inconvenience compared to what actual refugees go through. I’m already a citizen, already speak the language (both languages, actually), and above all, I retain the option to change my mind and go back. Millions of actual refugees can only dream of a situation like that.

So I’ve been very lucky (once again, thanks, Mom!), and I have to weigh that against any sadness I might feel about leaving the USA behind. If you want to call me a coward for running away, knock yourself out; trust me, I wouldn’t be much use in your revolution (or your fascist tyranny) anyway. Regardless of how you feel about it, I would offer a suggestion: if you have any family connections to another country, look into the possibility of getting a second (or third) passport. It’s often quite easy, and even if it’s not that easy, it will be a lot harder if not impossible if everything goes pear-shaped. Many people dithered too long about getting out of Europe during the runup to World War II, and paid for that indecision with their lives.

Too dark? I hope so. I hope we all live happily ever after, and that every country, especially both of mine, works out its problems in a just and humane way. For most of my life the USA was very good to me, despite my best efforts to screw things up. I was able to get an excellent education, to pursue a career in music and writing, and never – I almost feel a little guilty about this – even had to work that terribly hard. I’ve spent time in all 50 states, revelled in the splendour as well as the squalor, and though I write these words from the other side of the border, I will always be grateful for what you gave me, America. God speed and fare thee well.

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CAVEAT LECTOR

Welcome to the Summer 2024 issue of Caveat Lector. We are happy to report: the world still exists! Humans have not blown ourselves up (yet)! And Caveat Lector still lives!

In fact, in this new issue we have gone down the rabbit hole to come up with some gems of poetry, fiction, nonfiction, auto-fiction (what’s that? You shall soon find out) and audio poems from a symphony of artistic Mad Hatters.

And sadly, but in a spirit of celebration and creative camaraderie, we offer a memoriam for local award-winning poet Iván Argüelles, who recently passed. Caveat Lector has published many of his poems over the years, and as part of our tribute we are publishing his last poem, “Fattening Frogs for Snakes,” sent to editor Chris Bernard in March. Please visit our memoriam page and help us celebrate the life of this important poet. RIP Iván, ¡Presente!

The other poets in this issue include Caveat Lector founder Christopher Bernard, with three poems (and audio recordings of the same) reflecting on matter, nature and his cooking recipe for creating hope in these anxious times; and CL co-editor Steven Hill with two poems, one experimental, the other existential, wondering about the bigness of the world and our perplexing human capacity for deep misunderstandings, on both personal and global levels. Other poets include Larry Beckett, Terrence Culleton, Robert Daseler, Richard Anthony Furtak, D. T. Holt, Donna Pucciani, Dennis Ross, Diane Webster, and John Zedolik.

As we proud Luddites at Caveat Lector slowly crawl into the digital age, we are pleased to present a short poem-film (poe(fil)m?) from San Francisco’s outgoing poet laureate, Tongo Eisen-Martin, as he recites his poetic musing, called “The Possibility of Being One Person,” while meandering down a well-known, mural-draped alleyway in San Francisco's Mission district.

Caveat Lector’s nonfiction editor Jonah Raskin has an intriguing piece about his own evolution as an “atheist Catholic,” and a sampling of poems from his new book, The Thief of Yellow Roses. In nonfiction, we feature an essay titled “You’ve Got to be Taught,” by Rosalind Kaplan, a physician musing about her childhood experiences with neighborhood racism; and a reminiscence from Angela Patera, who has contributed an amusing and reflective piece about her acid trip inside her university classroom. We also have a thoughtful essay on artificial intelligence by teacher and researcher Larry Ebert, and more.

Caveat Lector’s impressive fiction lineup includes CL editor Ho Lin's evocative musings of a bibliophile lost in memory; and a powerfully potent piece—autobiographical fiction, sometimes called auto-fiction— by Robert Mitchell that’s based on his wartime experiences in Vietnam as a soldier and helicopter pilot who came to question US involvement in that tragic conflict. Other short stories include “The Housesitters” by Nicki Chen, “The Gift” by Maryanne Chrisant and CL editor Steven Hill's short-shorts.

As we celebrate the creative juices via word, visuals and sound, all of us at Caveat Lector are grateful for our contributors, readers and creative comrades. We hope you are thriving in these challenging times and the worrying news from perilous places, from Gaza, Ukraine and Sudan to the halls of the White House and our looming presidential election.

Please send us your own creative diggings…and dig into this issue and enjoy the work!

www.caveat-lector.org

Christopher Bernard, Ho Lin, Jonah Raskin and Steven Hill

The Mad Hatter Editors, Caveat Lector

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OUTSIDE KAMALA HARRIS’ S.F. FUNDRAISER, PROTESTERS DEMAND SHE ‘STOP THE GENOCIDE’

by Molly Burke

While presidential candidate Kamala Harris held a fundraiser in San Francisco on Sunday, hundreds of protesters condemned her support for Israel during the war in Gaza.

Several Bay Area groups joined the “Kamala, Cut Ties with Israel Now” protest in Union Square, one of many pro-Palestinian rallies springing up around the Bay Area in recent months in response to Israel’s retaliation against Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack.

“Killer Kamala, you can’t hide. We charge you with genocide,” the crowd of about 120 protesters chanted before marching up Powell Street to the Fairmont hotel, the site of the fundraiser. The crowd swelled to about 250 people as it merged with other protesters outside the hotel, where they faced police barricades.

Melinda Stahr, an elementary school teacher in Oakland protesting with Code Pink and carrying a “Stop the genocide” sign, said she can’t support Harris just because she’s not Donald Trump, the former president and Republican nominee. Stahr said Harris would have to commit to stop sending arms to Israel to earn her vote.

Stahr said she was happy when President Joe Biden stepped aside from the race because there’s a “little bit of hope.” But she’s planning on a protest vote for neither Harris nor Trump unless Harris goes further.

Stahr said the Israel-Hamas war will be the deciding factor for her during the November presidential election.

“This is the most important thing right now,” she said. “This is the only thing I’ve really been focused on since October.”

One speaker, joining the crowd in chants of “shame,” said voters should not feel obligated to choose Harris over Trump.

Luna Osleger-Montañez, a protester with Answer Coalition wearing a sweatshirt with revolutionary Che Guevara’s face on it, said Harris’ fundraiser provided an opportunity to make pro-Palestinian groups’ voices heard.

“She is second in command in an administration that’s currently committing a genocide,” Osleger-Montañez said, adding that she would have to see substantive changes to the war to be persuaded to vote for Harris, who she said has not yet taken any “material movement.”

“At the end of the day, it’s the masses of people, the millions of people in this country being out in the streets and making a mass movement that’s going to really put pressure on them,” she said. “If we see real development, that there’s a cease-fire, that there’s an arms embargo, that the genocide in Gaza ended, that the occupation, the Israeli occupation of Palestine, is over, then of course we would change our tactics. We’d pivot.”

Osleger-Montañez noted that when Harris was San Francisco’s district attorney, she refused to take action against the officers who killed Mario Woods, a man who walked toward officers with a knife in the Bayview in 2015.

“When she was attorney general, she put in policies that protected enslaved labor of prison inmates,” Osleger-Montañez said. “She was a big, leading force in the war on drugs — the racist war on drugs — and also in mass incarceration.”

Rami Abdelkarim, a protester with the Palestinian Youth Movement, said there isn’t a benchmark that would win his vote for Harris.

“Last time I checked, politicians are supposed to earn the vote from their constituents,” he said. “It is not our responsibility whether we are picking the lesser of two evils. It’s not our responsibility that if she doesn’t earn her vote, someone else will win.”

Abdelkarim said he sees Harris as a continuation of Biden’s policies and that he is not more optimistic after the change in the nominee. To win his vote, he said, her campaign could call for an arms embargo and cease-fire immediately and take tangible action against the war.

“People can say Donald Trump is more pro-Israel than the Biden administration,” he said. “What I’ve seen in the past 10 months is over 100,000 Palestinians murdered in a genocide. You can’t get more pro-Israel than that. You can’t get more pro-Israel than unrestricted funding. There is no policy difference to me.”

(SF Chronicle)

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FAITHFUL BROUGHT THE JOY, RAGE AND SMIRNOFF ICE.

A music festival headlined by the pro-Trump musician offered a snapshot of a maturing American subculture, with a mash-up of hedonism, rebellion and beer-guzzling pursuit of happiness.

by Richard Fausset

Alan Jeanetti, a 73-year-old retired barber, was tailgating with friends before Rock the Country, a touring music festival headlined by the pro-Trump musician Kid Rock. Mr. Jeanetti’s head was wrapped in a star-spangled bandanna. His T-shirt declared, “I Don’t Care.”

Mr. Jeanetti actually cares about many things, including the toll that his political leanings have taken on his personal life. “I have lost so many friends because I was a Trump lover,” he said. “I wouldn’t do that to them.”

On this broiling July day in Anderson, S.C., however, Mr. Jeanetti had a safe space. A tribe. All around him were fellow fans of former President Donald J. Trump, many with big trucks lining the green fields around the outdoor concert venue. Trump flags fluttered above R.V.s and tents, alongside American flags and a few of the Confederate variety.

Some 22,500 people would come on this first day of the two-day festival, according to the local sheriff’s office, drawn by Kid Rock and an abundance of country performers. “It’s going to be another Woodstock One,” Mr. Jeanetti said.

Starting in April in Gonzales, La., and stopping in six other midsize Southern cities through late July, Rock the Country offered a vision of the MAGA movement in pure party mode.

The shows felt like Trump rallies without the former president, unburdened by policy talk, speeches from lesser-known G.O.P. players, and the buzz-kill tendencies of Mr. Trump himself, who tends to noodle at the lectern like a jam-band soloist.

What remained was a snapshot of a maturing American subculture, with unwritten conventions rivaling those of Deadheads or Swifties, and a dizzying mash-up of hedonism and piety, angry rebellion and beer-guzzling pursuit of happiness.

It was also more evidence that Kid Rock, the 53-year-old Michigan entertainer and festival co-owner whose real name is Robert James Ritchie, has emerged as a chief cultural standard-bearer of Trumpism. At the Republican National Convention in July, Mr. Ritchie, who says he golfs regularly with Mr. Trump, performed shortly before the former president’s speech accepting the nomination, leading the crowd in chants of “Fight! Fight!” and setting a defiantly salty tone with his anthem, “American Bad Ass.”

In a phone interview last week, Mr. Ritchie said that Rock the Country had been designed to appeal to the conservative demographic that had made TV shows like “Duck Dynasty” and “Yellowstone” so popular.

Mr. Ritchie, who began his career as a rather apolitical party rapper, has not only ridden the wave of working-class anger that propels the MAGA movement, but he has also done much to shape it. His 2023 protest of Bud Light, after the beer brand partnered with a transgender influencer, sent its sales plummeting.

After the November election, Mr. Ritchie said, he would try to “lower the tone” politically, “and go back to trying to make good music that anybody can enjoy.” But for now, he said, “I’m going to go hard in the paint through this election for my guy, because I believe in his policies.”

At one point in the conversation, he was asked about prominent conservatives who have raised doubts about Mr. Trump’s fitness for office. Mr. Ritchie, chuckling, referred to those doubters with a homophobic slur; two days later, he texted The New York Times to note that his comment was a line from the 1982 film “Fast Times at Ridgemont High.”

In South Carolina, Kid Rock was the biggest act on the first day of the festival, with the country star Jason Aldean headlining on the second. By late afternoon on Day 1, thousands of people — young and old, overwhelmingly white — had crowded into the open field in front of the stage. Young women clopped across the grass in cherry-red cowgirl boots and Daisy Dukes. Men tried to outdo each other with T-shirts with politically incorrect remarks (“Taxes are Gay”; “Ammosexual”; “I’m voting CONVICTED FELON 2024”).

It had been five days since President Biden announced he would not seek re-election and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to be the Democratic nominee — too soon, it seemed, for the rollout of anti-Harris shirts.

It had also been two weeks since a gunman had tried to assassinate Mr. Trump in Pennsylvania, and one shirt seemed to set the tone more than others: It showed Mr. Trump raising his middle fingers, with the words “YOU MISSED,” followed by an expletive.

The conservative movement once proudly defined itself in opposition to the recreational drug use of the leftist counterculture. At Rock the Country, a cannabis tent did a brisk business in prerolled joints and Delta-9 space pops. Another company sold gummies containing a “proprietary mushroom and nootropics” blend, the packaging said, for a “mind-bending experience.” Bud Light was the conspicuous sponsor of a two-story outdoor bar.

A lighting rig facing the stage had been designed, an organizer told the crowd, to resemble a cross, a reminder that “the true hope for the United States is Jesus Christ.”

Taking it all in from a picnic table were Margie Guden, 58, a supervisor at a fast-food restaurant from Zirconia, N.C., and her husband William, 62, who works at a farm supply store. “There’s no Biden fans here,” Ms. Guden said. “Fantastic!”

The Gudens said they identified with neither political party. They said they would like to see everyone currently in office voted out, and Mr. Trump voted in to cleanse a corrupt system. They also thought he could rein in inflation.

“There ain’t no such thing as balancing a budget no more, when you go to work and you’re making, let’s say, $10 to $15 an hour, and it costs you $22 an hour to live where you are,” Mr. Guden said. “How do you make up and adjust for that cost of living? Credit card.”

Mr. Jeanetti, a North Carolina resident, spoke over a happy din that mounted as the parking lot filled and his friends sipped from cans of Smirnoff Ice.

Mr. Trump, he said, bore some responsibility for the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. But Mr. Jeanetti added that practical issues took precedence when it came to his vote: “The bottom line is called the economy.”

Faith in Mr. Trump seemed to paper over some serious disagreements among the concertgoers. Mr. Jeanetti said he was staunchly in favor of abortion rights. “I grew up in the ’70s,” he said. “Who the hell are you to say I have to have this baby?”

But a few yards away, Jeremy Morey, 47, a plumber from Boyne Falls, Mich., said he believed that liberals’ support for abortion was proof they had aligned themselves with satanic forces when there were “actual angels and demons fighting right now for the soul of this country.”

Others were split on whether the MAGA movement was on the cusp of open rebellion. Edwin Poteet Black Jr., a longtime Kid Rock fan from Michigan with convictions for robbery, assaulting a police officer and other crimes, said that it was time for conservatives to rise up in a civil war against liberals. “We are to the point our forefathers would have already been out in the streets, shooting,” said Mr. Black, whose grandson had given him tickets to the festival for his 60th birthday.

Through the spring and summer, the Rock the Country shows mixed and matched performers, but most were from the world of country — a genre wide enough to encompass all manner of politics, both “rednecks and bluenecks,” as the writer Chris Willman once put it, but one that often aligns with conservative ideals.

In South Carolina, warm-up acts for Kid Rock repurposed recent rock sounds, from grunge to metal. But they mostly stuck to traditional country themes: patriotism, love and lust, God and family, trucks and beer.

Elvie Shane, a singer-songwriter from Kentucky, kicked off the show with “Forgotten Man,” a booming song about the pride and travails of the working life that segued into a cover of Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the U.S.A.” In between songs, he sounded a rare note of concern about the way Americans seemed to have turned on each other.

“I feel like we’re just so divided these days. I know y’all ain’t,” he said with a laugh that seemed to acknowledge the crowd’s unified politics. He encouraged them to reach out to friends or family who might be on the other side of the political divide. “If you love them, you be the bigger man — you make the phone call and say, ‘Hey look, I know we disagree. But I still love you.”

Before Kid Rock’s set, Shane Quick, one of the festival organizers, took the stage and asked the fans to join him in prayer. He thanked God for the military, the police, barbecue and Southeastern Conference football. “Dear God,” he said, “we thank you that just a few days ago, you kept the future president Donald Trump safe from the assassination attempt.”

The crowd went wild. Moments later, Kid Rock took the stage, flanked by dancers who gyrated on poles topped with American flags. He danced and rapped about his rough and rowdy ways. He performed his signature song, “Cowboy,” with its provocative line, “I can smell a pig from a mile away.” At one point he sang in a bluesman’s voice about the nefarious cultural imports of soccer and tofu.

Late in the show, Mr. Trump’s face hovered above the stage in a prerecorded video. He told the crowd they were the “true backbone” of the country.

“Let’s make America rock again,” Mr. Trump said in the video.

Mr. Ritchie said that he hopes Rock the Country will become a regular fixture on the American festival calendar, and predicted that Trumpism would live on as a cultural phenomenon beyond Mr. Trump’s time in politics, like Grateful Dead fans after Jerry Garcia died.

“I think the MAGA movement is probably bigger than Trump at the end of the day,” he said. “Whatever this is, I think it will continue without him.”

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AMERICAN BAD ASS

by Robert J. Ritchie

Yeah! and I've set up and turned out this state
With my own two hands
We've traveled this land packed tight in minivans
And all this for the fans, girls, money, and fame

I play their game, and then they scream my name
I will show no shame, I live and die for this
If I come off soft, then chew on this
Are you scared?

Devil without cause, and I'm back
With the Beaver hat and Ben Davis slacks
30-pack of Stroh's, 30-pack of hoes
No rogaine in the propane flows

Chosen one, I'm the living proof
With the gift of gab from the city of truth
I jabbed and stabbed and knocked critics back
And I did not stutter

When I said that I'm goin platinum, sellin rhymes
I went platinum, seven times
And still they ill they want to see us fry
I guess because of only God knows why why why why why

Oh, they call me cowboy, I'm the singer in black
Throw me the finger in the air, let me see where you're at
And say hey, hey
Let me hear where you're at and say hey, hey
I'm giving back so say hey, hey
Show me some metal and say hey, hey, hey, hey

I like AC/DC and ZZ Top
Bocephus, Beasties, and the Kings of Rock
Skynyrd, Seger, Limp, Korn, the Stones
David Allen Coe, and No Show Jones

Yeah! Pass that bottle around
Got the rock from Detroit and soul from Motown
The underground stoned fuckin pimp
With tracks that mack and slap back the whack

Never get in the way, I don't play with with that
But watch me rock with Liberace flash
Punk rock the Clash, Boy Bands are trash
I like Johnny Cash and Grandmaster Flash

Oh, they call me cowboy, I'm the singer in black
Throw me the finger in the air, let me see where you're at
And say hey, hey
Let me hear where you're at and say hey, hey
I'm giving back so say hey, hey
Show me some metal and say hey, hey, hey, hey

Yeah, I saw your band
Jumping around on stage like a bunch of wounded ducks
When you gunna learn sucker?
You just can't f*ck with Twisted Brown
Trucker

I'm an American Bad Ass
Watch me kick, you can roll with Rock
Or you can suck my dick
I'm a porno flick, I'm like Amazing Grace

I'm gunna f*ck some hoes after I rock this place
Superfly living doublewide
Side car on my Glide so Joe see can ride
Full sack to share, bringin' flash and flair

Got the long hair swinging, middle finger in the air
Snake skin suits, 65 Chevelle
See me ride in sin hear the rebel yell
I won't live to tell, so if you do

Give the next generation a big 'fck you'
Who knew I'd blow up like Oklahoma
Said fck high school, pissed on my diploma
Smell the aroma, check my hits
I know it stinks in here, cause I'm the Shit

Oh, they call me cowboy, I'm the singer in black
Throw me the finger in the air, let me see where you're at
And say hey, hey
Let me hear where you're at and say hey, hey
I'm giving back so say hey, hey
Show me some metal and say hey, hey, hey, hey

I'm a cowboy, bad ass in black singing hey, hey, hey, hey
From side to side from front to back say hey, hey, hey, hey
I put Detroit City back on the map by singin hey, hey, hey, hey
Kid Rocks in the house and that's where I'm at!

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EDWARD SAID DEAD AT 67

by Alexander Cockburn (2003)

A mighty and a passionate heart has ceased to beat.

Edward Said died in hospital in New York City Wednesday, September 24, 2003, at 6.30 pm, felled at last by complications arising from the leukemia he fought so gamely ever since the early 1990s.

We march through life buoyed by those comrades-in-arms we know to be marching with us, under the same banners, flying the same colors, sustained by the same hopes and convictions. They can be a thousand miles away; we may not have spoken to them in months; but their companionship is burned into our souls and we are sustained by the knowledge that they are with us in the world.

Few more than Edward Said, for me and so many others besides. How many times, after a week, a month or more, I have reached him on the phone and within a second been lofted in my spirits, as we pressed through our updates: his trips, his triumphs, the insults sustained; the enemies rebuked and put to flight. Even in his pettiness he was magnificent, and as I would laugh at his fury at some squalid gibe hurled at him by an eighth-rate scrivener, he would clamber from the pedestal of martyrdom and laugh at himself.

He never lost his fire, even as the leukemia pressed, was routed, pressed again. He lived at a rate that would have felled a man half his age and ten times as healthy: a plane to London, an honorary degree, on to Lebanon, on to the West Bank, on to Cairo, to Madrid, back to New York. And all the while he was pouring out the Said prose that I most enjoyed, the fiery diatribes he distributed to CounterPunch and to a vast world audience. At the top of his form his prose has the pitiless, relentless clarity of Swift.

The Palestinians will never know a greater polemical champion. A few weeks ago I was, with his genial permission, putting together from three of his essays the concluding piece in our forthcoming CounterPunch collection, The Politics of Anti-Semitism. I was seized, as so often before, by the power of the prose: how could anyone read those searing sentences and not boil with rage, while simultaneously admiring Edward’s generosity of soul: that with the imperative of justice and nationhood for his people came the humanity that called for reconciliation between Palestinians and Israeli Jews.

His literary energy was prodigious. Memoir, criticism, homily, fiction poured from his pen, a fountain pen that reminded one that Edward was very much an intellectual in the nineteenth-century tradition of a Zola or of a Victor Hugo, who once remarked that genius is a promontory in the infinite. I read that line as a schoolboy, wrote it in my notebook and though I laugh now a little at the pretension of the line, I do think of Edward as a promontory, a physical bulk on the intellectual and political landscape that forced people, however disinclined they may have been, to confront the Palestinian experience.

Years ago his wife Mariam asked me if I would make available my apartment in New York, where I lived at that time, as the site for a surprise 40th birthday for Edward. I dislike surprise parties, but of course agreed. The evening arrived; guests assembled on my sitting room on the eleventh floor of 333 Central Park West. The dining room table groaned under Middle Eastern delicacies. Then came the word from the front-door. Edward and Mariam had arrived! They were ascending in the elevator. Then we could all hear Edward’s furious bellow: “But I don’t want to go to dinner with * Alex!” They entered at last and the shout went up from seventy throats, Happy Birthday! He reeled back in surprise and then recovered, and then saw about the room all those friends happy to have traveled thousands of miles to shake his hand. I could see him slowly expand with joy at each new unexpected face and salutation.

He never became blasé in the face of friendship and admiration, or indeed honorary degrees, just as he never grew a thick skin. Each insult was as fresh and as wounding as the first he ever received. A quarter of century ago he would call, with mock heroic English intonation, “Alex-and-er, have you seen the latest New Republic? Have you read this filthy, this utterly disgusting diatribe? You haven’t? Oh, I know, you don’t care about the feelings of a mere black man such as myself.” I’d start laughing, and say I had better things to do than read Martin Peretz, or Edward Alexander or whoever the assailant was, but for half an hour he would brood, rehearse fiery rebuttals and listen moodily as I told him to pay no attention.

He never lost the capacity to be wounded by the treachery and opportunism of supposed friends. A few weeks ago he called to ask whether I had read a particularly stupid attack on him by his very old friend Christopher Hitchens in the Atlantic Monthly. He described with pained sarcasm a phone call in which Hitchens had presumably tried to square his own conscience by advertising to Edward the impending assault. I asked Edward why he was surprised, and indeed why he cared. But he was surprised and he did care. His skin was so, so thin, I think because he knew that as long as he lived, as long as he marched onward as a proud, unapologetic and vociferous Palestinian, there would be some enemy on the next housetop down the street eager to pour sewage on his head.

Edward, dear friend, I wave adieu to you across the abyss. I don’t even have to close my eyes to savor your presence, your caustic or merry laughter, your elegance, your spirit as vivid as that of d’Artagnan, the fiery Gascon. You will burn like the brightest of flames in my memory, as you will in the memories of all who knew and admired and loved you.

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