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VISIBILITIES HAVE IMPROVED, but patchy, dense fog can still be found this morning. Periods of clearing is expected today for the coastal areas. Otherwise, an approaching upper trough will drive inland temperatures much cooler and bring chances for light rain and breezy conditions Wednesday. Additional chances for precipitation look probable in the extended forecast. (NWS)
STEPHEN DUNLAP (Fort Bragg): 51F under a mix of high & low clouds this Tuesday morning on the coast. A slight chance of a shower today & tomorrow then clearing into the weekend. A big cool down & maybe some rain in the forecast for early next week, we'll see?
AV PANTHER ATHLETIC DIRECTOR JOHN TOOHEY
Our AVHS Volleyball team is top 3 in the Section (Division 6). Come out and support them Tuesday evening as they host Mendocino. JV at 5pm, Varsity at 6pm. Fill the Gym!
ROUNDING UP THE USUAL SUSPECTS
On Saturday, September 7, 2024 at approximately 4:14 A.M., Mendocino County Sheriff's Office deputies were conducting a foot patrol in the 100 block of Kawi Place in Willits. While patrolling the area, one of the deputies observed a subject he recognized as Andrew Riffle, 29, of Fort Bragg, who the deputy knew to be on formal probation in Mendocino County.
The deputy contacted Riffle and conducted a search of Riffle per his formal probation terms. The deputy located several checks in Riffle's possession, which belonged to a local business in Fort Bragg. The checks had a total displayed value of over $250,000. The deputy began an investigation and learned Riffle was also in possession of mail belonging to the business in Fort Bragg.
During the investigation, the deputy developed probable cause to believe the checks and mail were delivered to a mailbox belonging to the local business in Fort Bragg. The deputy also developed probable cause that Riffle was illegally in possession of the stolen mail and checks.
At the conclusion of the investigation, Riffle was placed under arrest for Felony Possession of stolen property, Mail Theft, and Violation of Formal Probation Terms.
Riffle was subsequently transported to the Mendocino County Jail where he is to be held on a no-bail status due to violating the terms of his formal probation.
A SOBERING DISCUSSION AT THE MCHCD SPECIAL BOARD MEETING
by Mikael Blaisell
The board of directors for the Mendocino Coast Health Care District (MCHCD) met this afternoon primarily to approve the board's response to the Mendocino County Civil Grand Jury report. In the consent section of the agenda, I was appointed to the MCHCD Planning Committee.
After the Grand Jury response was approved, there was a very sobering discussion of finances that has serious implications for all of the community here on the coast. Adventist Health had submitted a report covering needed maintenance items both short and long term that will cost into the tens of millions of dollars. Given that our hospital is 60+ years old, and hospitals tend not to age as gracefully as houses, it's understandable that there would be some serious money involved in what is needed.
Our hospital, under state law, has to be made earthquake-safe in the coming years. While it may be that the approaching deadline will be extended, it will still need to be met at some point -- and that will take money that it doesn't look like we will have under the current level of funding. The question naturally arises: do we retrofit and upgrade the existing structures, or build a new hospital? That issue, in turn, opens the door to far wider concerns.
What kind of hospital do we need here on the coast? And how much can we afford? We know that access to health care is already a serious issue. Our shortage of housing makes it difficult to attract and retain medical professionals. A sizeable percentage of our population is aging, and will require a range of medical services. We have an influx of younger families with a different set of needs. As our demographics continue to change, so will our needs as a community, What practices do we need, and how can we provide facilities for them will continue to be vital questions.
These are issues that the board will have to wrestle with in the coming months, and the community needs to be involved. There is an election coming up in November with two seats on that board needing to be filled. I'm a candidate for one of them. I am committed to keeping our hospital here on the coast with as wide a range of care as possible. My candidacy is endorsed by two of the continuing members of the board, Chair Paul Garza and Director Susan Savage.
MENDOCINO COUNTY SHERIFF MATT KENDALL
Davina Sentak has joined the Mendocino County Jail Inmate Services as a new chaplain. She brings more than twenty years of experience in chaplaincy within Mendocino County, having worked with CAL FIRE, the Ukiah Valley Fire Authority, and the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office. Chaplain Sentak retired from CAL FIRE in 2017, where she coordinated employee support services and helped during major incidents across the state, helping employees and their families during crises.
A resident of Mendocino County for four decades, she and her husband live in Willits and are active members of the River Church in Ukiah.
Chaplain services address the various religious and spiritual needs of inmates at the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office Jail. These services work in conjunction with the Restorative Justice Program Manager of MCSO Inmate Services to organize volunteer efforts. Davina assists incarcerated persons with their spiritual needs, which include personal counseling, study programs, religious services, and Bible studies. She will also handle urgent situations such as death notifications and family trauma, coordinate community resources, and oversee donations.
Interested in volunteering or donating spiritual items, please contact Buffey Bourassa at (707) 234-2136 or bourassab@mendocinosheriff.org.
“Chaplaincy is a ministry of presence and is about showing up for people in the midst of crisis. When we do this, it gives people a sense of hope and helps them see beyond where they are in that moment.” — Davina Sentak
BRIGITTE VARONE
A Safe Place Of My Own
One of my favorite quotes is, life is what happens while we're busy making other plans. I can definitely attest to that. Life is a mix of circumstances & choices. I certainly didn't want to go through abuse, cancer, homelessness. My inner work & healing journey helps me deal with the past & current of those
I mention this because, apparently, I need to go on to my next adventure. By Jan, I need to find another place to live. Some of you may remember that I was looking for housing a year ago. I didn't know it would be happening again. I've mentioned before that I'm on my third bout of cancer. Stage 4 uterine. I'm holding steady, but am dealing with some of the effects from the infusion I get. I'm also somewhat disabled from bone cancer. I'm not currently working. I'm receiving benefits. Which as you may know, don't go far. I'm hoping to find someone looking for a roomie who has their own health issues & might be on benefits. Or otherwise struggles financially. So we can understand & help each other. I'd be very grateful.
I'm 55. I'm originally from Sebastopol. I've been in Ukiah almost 13 years. I'm friendly, but otherwise keep to myself. My roomie & I usually stay in our separate rooms. Though we do have times we get into a conversation. I don't smoke. I rarely drink or do pot. I haven't had either this year, so far. I don't play music/shows/films loud. I meet with friends separately from where I live. I'm not a neat freak, but I do keep my & the common area tidy. I have a 17 year old Chi Rattie mix. I also have two kitties being fostered. I'd love to have my family all together, if possible. I do have an ESA letter from, Dr Wang, my oncologist. If I could at least have my dog with me. As I do here
I had been support staff for developmentally challenged adults through ABC. Until my diagnosis. I do volunteer at the shelter on Plant. I'm the main one with the kitties. Besides spending time with them, I take photos & make observations. To share on social to help them get adopted. I've been going there for eight years. I know a lot of people involved with helping animals. I do have ties to the community. It would be great to room with someone who also volunteers there or at HSIMC and/or does rescue. Another way to understand & support each other. I'd prefer Ukiah, but am open to other places with the the county. As well as Lake, Sonoma, Humboldt. If you or someone you know has something coming available in Jan, please DM. Thank you
I'd love to be able to live on my own again. I had only had a few years of that in my life. So if someone has a trailer, granny unit, converted shed or something that I can have my only little safe space, I'd appreciate it.
ADAM GASKA re “low impact commercial campground”:
I think [State Senator] McGuire just wants to make it easy for people to turn the properties along the GRT into campgrounds. County PBS has been having meetings about this issue and there has been a lot of community concern over the impacts that could rise to the level of a nuisance or worse. Most people support restrictions to mitigate possible nuisances and dangers.
The bill McGuire is pushing has very little in the way of restrictions. If his bill gets passed quickly, it becomes law. If our county does not pass restrictions, then people can start operating “low impact campgrounds”. Once people are operating, they have an established use that they are now entitled to which makes it harder to add restrictions or requirements after the fact.
Here is the bill: https://legiscan.com/CA/text/SB620/id/2834063
A READER WORRIES:
Artificial turf. I have been worried about this in relation to the new field at AV High. On one hand, I know enthusiasm for the project is high, but on the other hand, we could be causing problems for our students in the future. Sigh.
https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/news/santa-rosa-artificial-turf-ban
CELEBRATING OURSELVES
Mendocino County Superior Court is honored to welcome California Chief Justice Patricia Guerrero and Senate President pro Tempore Mike McGuire to the Ukiah courthouse on Thursday, September 12th. This will be the first visit from a Chief Justice to the Mendocino Court in more than 25 years. Mendocino County is in the heart of Senator McGuire’s large Senate District and this will be his first visit to the Court in several years.
The Chief Justice was appointed by Governor Gavin Newsom and sworn into office on January 2, 2023. Chief Justice Guerrero was raised in Imperial County and earned her Juris Doctorate from Stanford. She worked in private practice and contributed many pro bono hours to such issues as immigration and fair housing while in private practice. She was appointed to the San Diego Superior Court in 2013 and was elevated to the Fourth District Court of Appeal in 2017. Then, in March 2022, she joined the California Supreme Court as an Associate Justice. She is the first Latina to serve as California’s Chief Justice.
Senator McGuire has had a long career in county and state government service. He has served in many local elected positions, including the school board president, city council member, mayor and county supervisor in Sonoma County. He was elected to the California State Senate in 2014 and was re-elected in 2018 and 2022. He has risen to one of the key Senate leadership positions, serving now as the President pro Tempore.
Presiding Judge Keith Faulder states, “This visit is an historic and a much-appreciated opportunity to share the challenges facing trial courts in rural counties such as ours. Our judges and court staff are excited to welcome Chief Justice Guerrero and Senator McGuire and give them a firsthand look at our everyday operations and all the services offered to residents of Mendocino County. We are especially excited to demonstrate the vast expansion of public access to court services through the use of remote technology.”
Court Executive Officer Kim Turner agrees and plans to showcase the many innovations that have made the court more accessible to the public. “We have extended our public counter and phone hours, made many court records available on-line, and created webforms and other applications to make it possible to pay fines, sign up for traffic school and perform community service without coming to the courthouse. Our court records are paperless, making court proceedings more efficient, and we have made e-filing easy and convenient for the public. Our self-help services are assisting, on average, about 20 English and non-English speaking litigants per day. These strategies and programs make it possible for our court users to have more successful interactions with the court.”
In addition to meeting with court leadership, Chief Justice Guerrero and Senator McGuire will tour the courthouse and visit courtrooms where remote proceedings are in progress. September is also Constitution Month. This visit from the Chief Justice of the largest court system in the country will also be an opportunity for a group of fifth graders to meet with her and ask questions about the court system and the three branches of government. Finally, the Chief Justice will meet with judges and court staff to recognize their important contributions and to hear their perspectives on public service in today’s environment.
RAMBLIN' ROY AND LUCKY LUSKO
Two Mendocino County residents were arrested early Saturday morning following a vehicle crash in Healdsburg, where officers discovered drugs and paraphernalia.
As per a press release issued by the Healdsburg Police Department, officers responded at 1:18 a.m. to a report of a vehicle crashing into the curb near First and Piper streets, with loud music blaring from the scene. Upon arrival, officers found the driver and passenger passed out inside the vehicle and requested medical assistance as a precaution.
After speaking with the individuals, officers suspected the driver was under the influence of a substance. A subsequent investigation and vehicle search led to the arrest of both the driver and passenger on drug-related charges. Authorities seized 78.9 grams of methamphetamine and 7.31 pounds of marijuana from the vehicle.
The driver, identified as 35-year-old Ryan Roy Downey of Covelo, was arrested on charges of driving under the influence of drugs, possession of a controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia, and possession of drugs for sale.
The passenger, 40-year-old Courtney Luscko Hamilton of Ukiah, was also arrested on similar charges, including possession of drugs for sale and drug paraphernalia.
Both suspects remain in custody as the investigation continues.
(mendofever.com)
BOYLES FIRE IN LAKE COUNTY DESTROYS DOZENS OF STRUCTURES, VEHICLES
by Andrew Graham, Phil Barber & Adriana Gutierrez
Firefighters have stopped progress on the Boyles Fire, and containment grew on the Lake County blaze by dawn Monday as a layer of smoke hung over the city of Clearlake.
Containment reached 40%-45% by Monday morning, according to Autumn Lancaster, the Lake County Fire Protection District’s fire marshal. A considerable first responder presence remained in the area, but no active firefights were happening in the urban area.
The state fire agency put the total area burned at 76 acres. That number is down from Sunday night’s estimate of 90 acres burned; the source of the discrepancy wasn’t immediately clear.
Evacuation orders remain in place for at least one neighborhood in south Clearlake, just east of Highway 53. Most of the homes still under evacuation are in the area of Irving Avenue, where it intersects with 18th and 19th avenues.
Linda McBurney, 63, lives in the neighborhood that burned. She works at Clearlake’s Walmart, which was evacuated Sunday afternoon as the fire began. McBurney said she left the store around 2:45 p.m. and headed for her house. She estimated she had about 20 minutes to evacuate her seven dogs and several relations who live in her home near the corner of 20th and Irving avenues.
McBurney spent the night sleeping in a parking lot, she said, and came home Monday to find pink fire retardant blanketing her house and artificially turfed backyard. Firefighters had cut through her fence to provide protection, and portions of the fence and an edge of the turf burned, but her home was saved.
“I feel blessed,” McBurney said, her voice choked up, “but look at the people across the street, or behind me.”
She said that during her drive out, down 20th Avenue, it was dark as night as the fire bore down.
Two of McBurney’s close neighbors, Raymundo Perez and Juan Mendez, were sorting through the ashes of the trailer they call home. They’d lived in the structure, which was a complete loss, for five years, they said.
The two men fled north on Irving Avenue as flames burned uphill into the neighborhood. They saw the fire down the hill and did not think it would reach them, but had to flee five minutes later.
Mendez was grateful to have gotten his family to safety, he said, but as he searched the rubble of his home he found little that had survived. All he had collected so far was some metal car tools.
Across 18th Avenue, Luis Lopez slowly combed his fingers through ash, harvesting quarters, nickels and dimes. He filled a coffee can with the singed coins. The loose change was among the few remnants of his home of at least 10 years, which appeared a total loss along with a burned-out sedan parked in front.
“We are OK,” Lopez said of his family, which includes three adults and three children.
They had evacuated the day before with about five minutes notice, and an official from the Lake County Sheriff’s Office let them know the home burned. “It’s terrible but what do you do? You can’t do anything,” Lopez said.
The family owned the land and structure, but the home was not insured, he said.
Jorge Camacho, who also lived in the home, said the neighborhood had a lot of high grass and brush, and trees that had baked dry in the California sun.
“I think it was a factor, the grass,” he said, describing the fire’s rapid spread.
The Camachos lost their home and a decade’s accumulated belongings — and much more. Esperanza Camacho was mourning the death of the family’s chihuahua, which they were unable to grab in the rush to flee the flames.
The dog was pregnant and nearly to term, Camacho said, speaking through tears.
A neighborhood north of 24th Avenue also was evacuated Sunday night, but that order was later lifted.
An evacuation center has been set up at Twin Pines Casino near Middletown.
Temperatures are expected to approach the mid-90s in the Clearlake area Monday, with prevailing dry conditions, according to Edward Swafford, a meteorologist in the National Weather Service’s Eureka office.
Winds are expected to pick up to 7-8 mph by early afternoon, a risk factor in a parched area that saw wind-borne flames jump from block to block Sunday. Those winds are forecast to increase into Monday night, Swafford said.
By Wednesday, a low-pressure system is expected to move into the area, lifting the relative humidity from midteens to the 36%-42% range and dampening the fire danger. That trend should begin Tuesday.
But Monday presents “a window of time of concern,” Swafford said, with the potential for more damage.
Lancaster, the Lake County fire marshal, referred to this moment as the “witching hour,” when areas that aren’t 100% mopped up have a chance to re-erupt should conditions worsen.
(Santa Rosa Press Democrat)
FIRES (via Sherlynn Mehtlan): https://photos.app.goo.gl/tkkyEGB4MWNAfGNG6
JAMES MARMON: THE CLEARLAKE FIRE, AN EYEWITNESS:
I’m safe from the Boyles fire, I live on 33rd and Boyles, the fire’s forward progress ended at 23rd and Boyles. I spent most of yesterday afternoon and evening hosing down my house and property, my water bill is going to be ridiculous. A lot of people here in the Avenues suffered big losses. It actually started somewhere around 2nd Avenue which is sparsely populated where a lot of homeless have encampments are common, behind Walmart, Tractor Supply, Big 5, and the DMV Office. I was without power until early this morning.
It’s not uncommon for fires to start behind that Shopping Center, the homeless have taken over that area for years. The City went in there and cleared a lot of brush which made it more attractive to the un-housed. This time the fire reached 18th Ave. which is heavily populated, it took out homes from 18th to 23rd. The Shopping center has several fast food chains as well. The City of Clearlake needs to adopt a zero tolerance regarding encampments in that part of the City. Where are you Alan “the Kid” Flora?
MARY PAT PALMER
My personal Winter Wellness Queen - Inula Helena of the Compositae family. She is commonly called Elecampane. Tall and stately, it is her roots we use.
Discover more about her and the other medicines growing in my garden at the Philo School. 9/21 class is full but will repeat 10/12, noon-4.
www.herbalenergetics.com
41ST ANNUAL CHESTNUT GATHERING at the Zeni Ranch will be Saturday, November 2nd from 10 am to 4 pm.
30995 Fish Rock Road, Yorkville
Potluck dinner this year! Bring something to add to the table along with your own eating supplies. Dogs on leashes ok, but your responsible for your pet.
Chestnuts are $4 a pound if you pick, or $7 if already picked. No credit card service. Call or text Jane Zeni, 707-684-6892. Fresh raw chestnut honey, T-shirts and our popular nut sacks will be available, and other farm products.
CAPTAIN RAMBO
(Photo of Captain Rainbow from Steve Derwinski)
MODERATOR RECRUITMENT
Daney Dawson (Coast Chatline): “Currently, this typically involves only a few actions per month…”
Marco McClean:
Hear this in a calm, avuncular tone, like the tone of the narrator of a pet food commercial in 1972, not adversarial at all, because that's how I'm saying it out loud as I write, and that's how I feel:
Okay, “A few per month,” you say. So, that would be what, eight actions, by now? Ten? Fourteen? Three?
I'm asking again for a list of actions taken so far, with all of the available material: infraction, name of perp (incl. his or her sock-puppet names), emails “discussing and deciding what action to take” (from the “shared email account” you mention), and a very brief summary of real-world conversations about it between moderators, and action taken. Plus, of course, the names of the prosecutors.
Simply, show the transparency you promised you would when yez were campaigning for control of the listserv.
If this info is already on the web somewhere, reveal a link to it. If it's not, why not?
NORM CLOW:
This was an interesting 13th anniversary for Ruth, June 3rd in 1985, being recognized as an Honorary Chapter Farmer of the Anderson Valley Chapter of the Future Farmers of America. She had been hired in the agriculture department at our high school in January of that year and, as usual, put in a tireless effort to help make the program a success, which it was. She was a program assistant and helped manage the school farm. Interestingly enough, it was her involvement in the department that was a major part of us being able to move to the Micronesian Islands in 1991. In 1987 or so, the head of the department, Steve McKay, organized FFA chapters in Costa Rica, where he owned a small farm, and later in those islands. I had been recruited to serve as the chairman of the department's advisory board due to my local background in agriculture, and we both felt this strong urge to explore the opportunity of living in the Western Pacific. Eventually we did. Side note: before we made the move to Pohnpei in 1991, where we were neighbors of one of the teachers and his family who had come to AVHS the year before with a group of island ag teachers for some new training (the fact that Kiyoshi's wife was the sister of the president of the FSM Development Bank didn't hurt, I hasten to add). Ruth and I were both made honorary chapter farmers - I'm thinking they forgot Ruth already was one. sort of like I've forgotten where that particular certificate is . . .
ASK THE VET: WHAT IS A REVERSE SNEEZE?”
by Clare Bartholome
Reverse sneezing is generally an innocuous event, but dog owners witnessing it for the first time often find it very distressing. When a dog reverse sneezes, they stand still with their neck extended, mouth closed, and lips pulled back. Their chest expands and they inhale rapidly while making a snorting sound, creating a spectacle that can appear similar to gasping for breath. As a veterinarian, I have counseled many distraught dog owners (including my own family) on the subject of reverse sneezing. Hopefully I can shed some light on this simple yet confusing subject and put some minds at ease.
Reverse sneezing is typically caused by irritation at the back of the throat or nose, resulting in a spasm. Air is pulled inward through the nose, as opposed to being forced outward as it is during a normal sneeze. Episodes may last from a few seconds to a minute, and dog owners may be able to help stop the reverse sneezing by massaging their dog’s throat or covering the nostrils for a few seconds to induce a swallow. Any dog can exhibit reverse sneezing, but smaller dogs and brachycephalic (short-nosed) breeds tend to be overrepresented. Cats can reverse sneeze as well, but it is much less common than in dogs.
Most cases of reverse sneezing do not require any treatment and will resolve on their own. Many cases have no apparent cause, but irritants in the air, excitement, eating or drinking too quickly, or pulling too tightly on a leash can all trigger episodes. While the majority of cases are benign, reverse sneezing can occasionally be an indicator of underlying issues that require veterinary intervention, such as allergies, parasites, bacterial or viral infections, foreign material or masses.
If your dog is experiencing very frequent or long-lasting episodes of reverse sneezing, or if the episodes are accompanied by other signs of illness, consult your veterinarian. If you are uncertain whether your dog is reverse sneezing or having a more serious respiratory issue, your veterinarian will be able to help differentiate. If possible, show them a video of the behavior in question and they will be more easily able to rule reverse sneezing in or out.
(‘Ask the Vet’ is a monthly column written by local veterinarians, including Colin Chaves of Covington Creek Veterinary, Karen Novak of Mendocino Village Veterinary, and Kendall Willson of Mendocino Equine and Livestock.)
NAVARRO RIDGE HOTEL. George Gordon & Co. Market run by Haskett Severance. Pardini Photo c 1902 (Ron Parker)
ED NOTES
REALLY? So many people came down on Hall of Fame football player Terry Bradshaw today that his alleged offense made the national news. Ready? Bradshaw said he hasn't been this excited for football season “since my aunt taught me how to play spin-the-bottle.” Which made me laugh, laugh for the first time at anything Bradshaw has said. Ever. To me, he's one of these famous persons who makes a lotta money acting like a fool, and I sit there wondering, “You really need money this bad?”
ACCORDING to John Strausbaugh, author of Sissy Nation: How America Became a Culture of Wimps & Stoopits, “America has become a sissy nation. A culture of fat, soft, stupid, fearful, fatalistic, groupthinking victims.”
HOLD IT right there, John, let’s see your samples. For every groupthinking lardo there’s at least one lean, mean stoopit, and for every fearful, fatalistic sissy there’s at least one fat, soft, fearless alienato fully prepared to open fire on a school bus.
WIMPS, however, are too wimpy to bother anybody, so I say lighten up on us wimps, crack down on the psychos, as we reconcile ourselves to the armies of stoopits like the lady (sic) who called me up one day to tell me I was stoopit for “talking shit about my brother.”
THAT CALL was the first time I’d heard stupid pronounced “stoopit.” Turns out the charming maiden’s brother was so irremediably stoopit he couldn't even pull off a smash and grab rural robbery without getting caught.
IT'S MY FAULT this stoopit’s name appears in the Sheriff’s Log? But who’s stoopiter? Me, for assuming a stoopit can make elementary distinctions, or the stoopit who can’t even say stupid right?
AN OBESE PERSON, in my early years, was a rare sight, but group thinkers are forever plentiful. (cf Democrats and Republicans.) Wimps? Needs some defining. but if the non-wimp standard is Hulk Hogan I'd rather be a wimp.
THERE are lots more overweight people around for a visible fact, but there are also lots more fit citizens than there used to be. I don't recall seeing a recreational walker, let alone a jogger, until I was about thirty, circa 1970. And as a kid heavily into sports in the 1950s, coaches knew nothing about conditioning. "Okay, boys. Gimme twenty push-ups and do a lap." That was it for football in a time when even the pros were smoking in the locker room at half-time. Basketball? No such thing as a line drill. It was just assumed you could get up and down the court. Baseball? Zero physical training.
DURING my recent hospitalizations, I couldn't help noticing that the medical people all appeared to be fit, with a large percentage of the males sporting gym-made biceps. Of course one would expect medical people not to weigh in at 300 pounds, but at least here in the suburban bubble most of the passing parade seems reasonably proportionate.
I BOUGHT JIM FIXX'S book on running the very day Fixx, still in his forties, dropped dead of a heart attack near the Fairmont Hotel, apparently unaware his blood pump was so defective he should have been walking. Of all the dumb things I've done in my careening life, distance running is near the top of the list. After my fifth or so marathon, and innumerable running events, it finally occurred to me, or I read the advice from a credible source, that brisk walking was aerobically just as good as running, besides which you got to see the sights rather than pounding along wondering how your knees were holding up. These days, depleted from a serious affliction, I'm gradually regaining my strength, never vast in the first place, by walking, light weights and push-ups, about a total hour a day.
WHICH reminds me of my unique morning of murder and marathons some forty years ago. The Sheriff’s Department had uncovered a fresh lead on an old murder and robbery which occurred near the “drunk tree” only a few yards from the Navarro store. A young man had been found shot to death in his sleeping bag, apparently for whatever valuables he may have possessed. The ”drunk tree,” for persons unfamiliar with The Valley prior to the arrival of the Golden Horde and the consequent blanding down of local personalities, was the clump of second-growth redwoods due west of the store, conveniently within tottering distance for the multi-generational drink and discussion group assembled there daily.
THERE WERE many days that the wine-fueled regulars dis-assembled right where they were, falling asleep on an array of battered easy chairs and cast-off couches until old lady Zanoni opened the front door of her store the next morning, and their deliberations could resume.
EARLY ONE MORNING, way back when I was foolishly training to run a marathon just to see if I could do it, I jogged from Boonville to Navarro just as Rob Bloyd, a retired logger, was waking up in a discarded La-Z-Boy at the foot of a redwood. “Goddam!” he demanded. “What in the hell are you doing?” I explained that I’d just jogged into town from Boonville. “Bullshit,” the old man thundered. “That’s humanly impossible. For chrissakes you looked like a Stanley Steamer coming up on me out of the tule fog like that. Scared hell outta me. Well, anyway, you’re an inspiration. Damned if you haven’t inspired me to jog on over for a little somethin’ to get me up and runnin,” he cackled, gesturing toward old lady Zanoni who was just then opening the door to her crucial emporium.
CATCH OF THE DAY, Monday, September 9, 2024
JAMES CLAUSEN, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.
ALEX HERNANDEZ-GOMEZ, Hopland. Disorderly conduct-alcohol&drugs.
JOHN HOAGLEN, Covelo. Parole violation.
MATTHEW KELLY, Willits. Failure to appear.
ANGELA LEBERT, Willits. DUI while on probation, suspended license for DUI.
SHAUN LELL, Ukiah. Transient registration, controlled substance, county parole violation.
CARLOS MARTINEZ, Harlingen, Texas/Willits. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.
JOHN MARTOGLIO, Fort Bragg. Domestic battery.
MONICA MCDONALD, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.
CODY MENDEZ, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.
MARY NELSON, Redwood Valley. Domestic battery.
CARLOS RUIZ, Hopland. DUI.
AURELIO RUIZ-HERNANDEZ, Hopland. Disorderly conduct-alcohol&drugs.
PETER SAARI, Ukiah. Parole violation.
ANDREW STEPHENSON, Clearlake/Ukiah. Parole violation.
KIMBERLEE WALKER, McKinleyville/Ukiah. DUI.
JUSTIN WILLIAMSON, Ukiah. Failure to appear.
DOREEN WRIGHT-HOAGLIN, Covelo. Failure to appear.
WILLIAM YOUNG, Woodland/Ukiah. Obtaining personal ID without authorization, paraphernalia, probation revocation.
THE GREAT DEBATE
The debate tonight (Tues) stands to be the most important night in Vice President Kamala Harris’s political career. It will offer her her biggest audience yet as the country tries to learn more about what kind of president she would make.
Former President Donald J. Trump enters the debate hoping to turn the page on a tough summer. Ms. Harris has closed the polling gap with him since she replaced President Biden as the Democratic Party’s nominee. Tuesday may be one of Mr. Trump’s best shots to reverse that momentum before Americans begin early voting.
Ms. Harris’s aides and supporters want her to goad the former president into delivering incoherent rants. The Trump team wants him to turn the conversation back to three areas they consider winning terrain: the economy, immigration and global chaos.
With no other debates scheduled between Ms. Harris and Mr. Trump, the face-off figures to be one of the highest-stakes 90 minutes in American politics in generations.
(NYT)
FROM HOODLINE:
San Francisco has recently witnessed the return of two ships that ventured into the heart of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. To clean up the immense accumulation of plastics and other waste, the mission has now reached a pivotal point.
According to ABC7 News, The Ocean Cleanup, led by its CEO Boyan Slat, has developed the necessary technology to start the cleanup process. However, what stands between this innovation and the daunting reality of the environmental crisis is funding—estimated to oscillate between $4 to $7.5 billion.
Boyan Slat emphasized the situation's urgency, stating, "Once that is secured, we can ramp this up in about two, three years and the clock starts running. We can clear up the patch in potentially just five years," as he told ABC7 News.
The Ocean Cleanup's journey began six years ago, with the organization setting sail with the ambition to develop technology to tackle this feat. They claim that the end of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch—a massive environmental hazard—could be within grasp within a decade if the efforts are duly funded and applied.
In San Francisco, The Ocean Cleanup showcased the effectiveness of their System 03, which is instrumental in removing trash from the ocean gyres.
Netting, AI-powered cameras, and computers ensure a selective collection that spares marine life while filtering out the pollutants. The fruits of this labor are seen in products like the glasses scientist Matthias Egger wore during his interview with ABC7 News, representing a circular economy that finds value in what was once considered mere oceanic refuse.
Meanwhile, The Ocean Cleanup's press release underscores a poignant moment of choice—we are now poised to potentially negate this blight on the marine environment. Still, the impetus must come from global collective action. "The removal of the GPGP could be achieved in 5 years at a cost of $4 billion," the organization stated, making a proposition that at once is daunting yet climactically hopeful. "The only missing thing is who will ensure this job gets done", said Boyan Slat.
Boyan Slat remains hopeful: "For humanity to thrive, we need to be able to be optimistic about the future. And I think if we can clean up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, this seemingly insurmountable thing, I think is going to be an inspiration for many people," as he shared his vision in an interview with ABC7 News...
AFTER 49ERS’ DECISIVE OPENING WIN, why you should spike your 2024 doom and gloom
by Scott Ostler
If you listened to all the outside chatter about the San Francisco 49ers over the past few months, even from rational newspeople who are close to the team, you might have become convinced this Niners team had been sucked into its own doom loop, which would be kind of appropriate, since that’s a phrase seemingly invented to apply to San Francisco and the Bay Area.
Holdouts, hold-ins, Super Bowl hangovers, injured superstars, disgruntled vets, coach on the hot seat, antsy ownership, even a ghastly shooting. Team turmoil.
Apparently, those of us who were doing that kind of worrying had been sucked into a misinformation loop.
This 49ers team seems to think a doom loop is a carnival ride, or another term for the MacArthur Maze. Monday night’s season-opening 32-19 beatdown of a decent New York Jets team made you wonder what all the worrying was about.
The truth is, even the players themselves didn’t know until the hittin’ started.
For instance, offensive tackle Trent Williams, who held out until the final week, had no idea how he’d play with so little preparation, saying, “It was uncharted waters for me.”
The 49ers were so good in this one that it was a bit surprising.
“I don’t like using the word surprise,” fullback Kyle Juszczyk said, “because I expect our guys to do so well, but I was definitely just happy with the maturity of this team. With all what people perceive as distractions, and the noise, for us to go out there and show that it really didn’t bother us.”
Juszczyk has been around, and he’s a positive guy, but it was obvious from his enthusiasm that the 49ers showed him something out there on the national stage.
“This just felt so good,” he said.
Linebacker Fred Warner, another veteran team leader and captain, admitted that, while he has faith in his teammates, a lot of weird stuff had gone down and, “You never know.”
With the disclaimer that this game was just 1/17th of the regular season, against a team with an ancient quarterback who hadn’t played in a year, it’s possible that what we’re looking at with the 49ers is not only a team loaded with stars — seven of the league’s top 30 players, according to a poll of the players — but a team loaded with intangibles.
Like character. Prima donnas and divas need not apply. It could be that with leaders like Warner, Juszczyk, George Kittle, Trent Williams, Nick Bosa and Brock Purdy, there’s no room for slackers and whiners and me-first guys.
“I think so,” Juszczyk said, agreeing with the leadership premise. “I think it’s the leadership, it’s because of the culture we’ve established over these eight years we’ve been here now. Weed out the guys that aren’t like that, and we only keep the guys that (buy in), and now it has accumulated and it’s just what we do.”
Adversity? Distractions? Sure, but if you’re philosophizing on a higher plane, like these guys are — so far — you know that life is adversity and distractions, and you don’t let ’em own you.
The fact is that the 49ers are loaded with great talent, offense and defense, great leadership, experience – and motivation, thanks to that crushing loss in the Super Bowl back in February. If you look at it that way, this season-opener was teed up beautifully for the 49ers, and they hit a crushing drive off the first tee. Split the fairway.
Look, I’m usually the first person to roll his eyes when athletes start talking about overcoming adversity, as if a couple players holding out for a bigger salary or a guy with a calf strain are monumental tragedies. But some teams play through the little bumps and lumps of life, and some crumple. This team, this year, maybe it’s still all just TBD, but their optimism could be more than just happy talk after an encouraging win.
Purdy talked about the preseason goings-on, and said, “It's the NFL. Some crazy stuff can go on, but just our culture, our team, what we stand for and how we all come together and find ways to win and rally around each other. We do it right here and that's something that I stand on and firmly believe in, and we all do.”
Purdy can already toss out corny cliches with the best of ’em, but there’s a sincerity behind them, and what’s not to believe?
There’s a stat that’s being thrown at the 49ers, like a challenge. Of the 57 teams that lost a Super Bowl, only three of them came back the next season and won the Super Bowl. To overcome that spirit-crushing hangover requires something rare.
Do the 49ers have that special sauce? One game in is a teeny-tiny sample size, but the initial indications are positive.
(sfchronicle.com)
COMEDIAN ESCORTED AWAY AFTER HECKLING NANCY PELOSI AT BOOK SIGNING: ‘WHAT STOCKS SHOULD I BUY?’
by Ariel Zilber
A comedian was escorted away from former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi after he posed as a Democrat and heckled her over her stock trading, calling her “the greatest options trader of all time” and asking for tips on which shares he should buy.
Alex Strenger, a conservative comedian, approached Pelosi as she was signing copies of her new book “The Art of Power” at a book store in Fort Worth, Texas — a clip of which was posted on the X social media platform on Sunday.
Strenger, who is seen wearing a COVID mask and a Bernie Sanders baseball cap, approached the table where Pelosi was sitting and identified himself as “Noah,” according to the news site Mediaite.
“I’m a UTA candidate. I was listening. I wasn’t able to get a book, sold out, but I want to say how much I appreciate your, like, fierce, staunch defending of democracy,” Strenger told Pelosi, adding that it “really means so, so much, you know?”
Strenger then told Pelosi about how he was “really scared about…Donald Trump winning the election.”
“And honestly, with all the disinformation on X, like, you know, I honestly, the only chance, like, that we have is for Donald Trump to spend the rest of his life in prison,” Strenger said.
He added that imprisoning Trump was “the only hope for democracy,” adding: “We just have to win the election.”
Pelosi agreed, replying: “We do.”
Strenger then asked Pelosi: “What stocks should I buy?”
“Nancy, you’re the greatest options trader of all time,” the comedian added.
“I just want to know what stocks I should buy. What I just want to know, like, what’s your biggest concern?”
As security guards stepped in to prepare to escort Strenger away from the former House speaker, he said: “The police are an instrumental institution of white supremacy and racism. I don’t understand why they are even here at all. They should be defunded.”
Strenger then said that Pelosi “makes six figures a year in Congress and has a hundred million dollar net worth.”
“Don’t y’all want to know what stocks she should buy? Come on. I just want to know,” he said as security began escorting him away.
“I just want to know what stocks to buy. I want to close the wealth gap. What’s the problem? I just want to close the wealth gap.”
Pelosi, the Democratic congresswoman who represents San Francisco, is married to Paul Pelosi, the founder of a real estate and venture capitalist firm.
Paul Pelosi’s stock trading activity has raised eyebrows given the fact that his wife’s position as one of the most powerful legislators in the country gives her access to information that may influence market decisions.
In June 2021, Paul Pelosi exercised call options in Microsoft just before the company was awarded a lucrative defense contract from the US government.
The next year, Paul Pelosi purchased shares of AI chipmaker Nvidia just as Congress was set to vote on the CHIPS Act, which provided significant government subsidies to the semiconductor industry.
The Pelosis’ stock portfolio includes shares in blue-chip tech firms such as Apple, Amazon, Meta, Tesla and Alphabet.
Last year alone, Pelosi’s stock options gained more than 65%, according to an analysis.
Nancy Pelosi initially opposed proposals that lawmakers and their spouses be banned from trading stocks — insisting that her husband makes stock trades independently and that she has no involvement.
The Post has sought comment from Nancy and Paul Pelosi.
(New York Post)
NO BULL
Editor:
The profit margin in the grocery industry in 2023 was 1.6%. The U.S. Department of Agriculture says 88% of farms are small family farms that rely on off-farm sources for the majority of their household income. Kamala Harris says the grocery industry is to blame for so-called price gouging, with absolutely no evidence that it exists. She vows to enact a federal law to control grocery prices. On average, grocery costs have risen 25% since January 2020. How does she plan to control prices? Starting where? What happens when the government tries to control prices? It creates shortages, which create even higher prices and often black markets. Remember the old Econ 101 theory of supply and demand? Duh. Competition leads to lower prices, not price controls.
President Richard Nixon tried price controls in the 1970s, but it only made inflation worse. Harris focuses on meat prices. Does she want to control that industry by getting rid of the cows? News flash: 88% of Americans are omnivores and won’t give up meat. Oh, that’s right. Cow flatulence contributes to climate change. That’s bull, no pun intended. Harris is an economic illiterate.
Linda Davis
Kenwood
ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY
Walz on the balance beam, trying to straddle the fence…
He’s not going to score any points that way…
Nobody likes someone that tries to play both sides against the middle…
Meanwhile…
Kamala Harris is unclear on the concept…
She is trying to convince, (confuse), everyone in her Party that the “issue” of the war in Gaza is “not binary”…
“Harris previously said that it was important to remember “the war in Gaza is not a binary issue. However, too often the conversation is binary, when the reality is anything but.” ”
Whatever the fuck that is supposed to mean…
“If you can’t dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bullshit”…
HIS DELUSIONS LEAD TO TRUMPIAN DANGERS
by Ralph Nader
Even if I have to say so as co-author with Mark Green of “Wrecking America: How Trump’s Lawbreaking and Lies Betray Us All,” I know of no book on Trump to be as practically useful for the 2024 presidential election. Useful, that is, for those Americans who are appalled at how this egomaniacal delusionary man has gotten tens of millions of voters wanting him back in the White House.
The fervent Trumpsters may believe all politicians are delusionary. Trump, however, is proudly open about his assertions proving it. He is a bombastic blowhard who rants and raves in all directions.
Trump is too unstable, too unreliable, too dangerous, especially to exercise lawfully the enormous power held by a President of the U.S.
In our book, we assembled Trump’s own words to define his “delusionary” state of mind. He made these boasts without a smile and in all seriousness:
“Nobody knows more about taxes than I do, and income than I do.”
“Nobody knows more about construction than I do.”
“Nobody knows more about campaign finance than I do.”
“I know more about drones than anybody.”
“Nobody knows much more about technology … than I do.”
“Nobody in the history of this country has ever known so much about infrastructure as Donald Trump.”
“I know that H-1B [visa], I know the H-2B. Nobody knows it better than me.”
“I know more about ISIS than the generals do, believe me.”
“Nobody knows more about environmental impact statements than me.”
“I understand the power of Facebook maybe better than almost anybody.”
“I know more about renewables than any human being on earth.”
“Nobody knows more about polls than me.”
“I know more about courts than any human being on earth.”
“I know more about steelworkers than anybody that’s ever run for office.”
“Nobody knows more about banks than I do.”
“Nobody knows more about trade than me.”
“I know more about nuclear weapons than he’ll ever know.”
“I understand the tax laws better than almost anyone.”
“I know more about offense and defense than they will ever understand.”
“Nobody even understands it but me. It’s called devaluation.”
“I understand money better than anybody.”
“I understand the system better than anybody.”
“Nobody knows more about debt than I do.”
“Nobody knows the game better than me.”
“And who knows more about the word ‘apprentice’ than Donald Trump?”
“I understand politicians better than anybody.”
“Who knows the other side better than me?”
“I was the fair-haired boy. Nobody knows more about it than me.”
“I know a lot. I know more than I’m ever gonna tell you.”
For a mass media that concentrates so heavily on the politics of personalismo, it is remarkable that journalists have not more forcefully taken account of this braggadocio on steroids. Imagine any other candidate – Democratic or Republican – bellowing two or three such grandiosities without being taken to task. This is what happens when politicians like Reagan and Trump succeed in constantly lowering the bar of expectations by the reporters. Trump gets away with saying things for which other candidates would be excoriated or harshly ridiculed.
Wrecking America is replete with clearly written narratives on what damage Trump and his administration did to many aspects of life, laws, social norms, justice, health, safety, trust and truth in our country. During his business and political careers, he has gotten away with serial lawlessness. He bragged publicly in 2019 “I have an Article II, where I have the right to do whatever I want as President.” And he proved this dictatorial license regularly.
Last June by a vote of 6 to 3 the U.S. Supreme Court went very far in saying that Trump could do what he wants to do, should the Electoral College select him again as President in November.
On page 251 we devoted a few pages to speaking to wannabe Trump voters, elaborating how they and anti-Trump voters suffer the same under the impact of Trumpist policies and practices. That is if you are not part of either the Plutocracy and the Oligarchy.
Such hubris or arrogance is not just rhetoric. It led directly to him saying about Covid that “It’s going to disappear. One day, it’s like a miracle, it will disappear.” Trump also suggested that using a “powerful light” might be used to fight Covid.
He even wanted to explore injecting a disinfectant. The Michigan Poison Center reported, “Popular disinfectant companies like The Clorox Company and Reckitt Benckiser, the parent company of both Lysol and Dettol, quickly released statements emphasizing that their products should not be consumed. Despite warnings from healthcare providers and other officials, [some] people acted on Trump’s advice and ingested chemicals, including bleach, across the country. In at least five states, poison centers reported they had an increase in calls within 18 hours of Trump’s broadcasted stupidity.”
This “know-it-all” delayed mobilizing the Executive Branch for weeks and his actions caused tens of thousands of Covid-related deaths.
Moreover, through Trump’s own carelessness, he exposed himself and White House aides to Covid, sending him to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. Tragically, before he left the White House in January 2021, 400,000 people died from Covid.
Trump’s delusional campaign promises know no bounds. In his first run for the presidency, The Guardian newspaper reported Trump’s “Promises to save US manufacturing and prevent American jobs moving abroad were a key part of Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign. But since Trump took office in January 2017, nearly 200,000 jobs have been moved overseas, based on Trade Adjustment Assistance certified petitions.”
Trump also promised clean air and water. But he pushed to weaken the Clean Air Act and clean water protections. Making empty promises is nothing new for Donald Trump. Expect more of the same between now and election day.
Presently, assailing Kamala Harris, Trump is going off the rails into very vulgar territory where no presidential candidate has ever dared to dwell. His advisors are frantic, trying to have him read their talking points and wondering how they are going to focus erratic Donald during his September 10th ABC network debate with Harris.
They are unlikely to succeed. Trump will sweep aside most reporters’ questions and launch into the same diatribes, falsehoods and bloated assurances to fix everything immediately which he repeatedly delivers at his rallies.
His delusions by definition are here to stay.
DEMOCRATS DON’T CARE IF YOU VOTE FOR THEM AND DON’T CARE IF THEY LOSE
by Caitlin Johnstone
Now that the election is closer and the Democrats have switched out Biden for Harris, I feel like I should reiterate my position that you’re not actually punishing the Democrats if you refuse to vote for them in November. I often see people talking about making the Democratic Party pay a price for Gaza and for ignoring calls from progressives to end the genocide, but it doesn’t actually work that way. They don’t care.
They don’t care if you don’t vote for them. They don’t care if they lose. Their political careers will be fine either way.
It’s entirely okay and legitimate to not vote for Democrats, but don’t let that act dupe you into thinking your vote matters. It doesn’t matter how you vote, and it doesn’t matter how you don’t vote. The US power structure is set up to be completely unaffected by voters. Acting like you could teach the Democrats a lesson by refusing to vote for them only feeds into the illusion that voting matters inside a power structure that has been deemed too important to be left to the hands of the voters.
There’s a viral tweet from Glenn Greenwald going around that says “The US has no functional president and has not had one for months, and it’s barely noticeable and barely matters because there’s a permanent unelected machine that runs the government.”
Greenwald is correct. Nobody with any real power cares all that much who the president is. The president doesn’t even need to have a functioning brain. This whole show is being run by people who don’t ultimately care all that much whether Democrats or Republicans are in office, including the party leadership of the Democrats and the Republicans.
You think Democrats have enjoyed playing the face of the evil empire these last few years? You think they’ve enjoyed having their political rallies interrupted by anti-genocide protesters and having their feel-good progressive image completely discredited in front of everyone? They’d all be having a lot more fun if the terrible things being perpetrated by the Biden administration were being done by Trump instead, so they could go back to playing the good guys.
They’re happy to lose, which is why they’re acting like they’re happy to lose. They’re doing absolutely nothing to appeal to progressives or energize their base. They’re not articulating any real policies besides more of the same. They’re not changing anything about any of the stuff that makes normal people hate Democrats in the year 2024, and if they lose again in November they will continue to not change anything.
Americans don’t live in the kind of country where votes matter. I’m sorry, but that’s just the way it is. Vote or don’t vote however you want, but don’t make the mistake of believing you’ll be teaching the Democrats any kind of lesson that they will actually learn by doing so.
If real change comes to the United States, it won’t be because of how any Americans chose to vote or not vote in any of their fake elections. There are no solutions to these problems in electoral politics. Other solutions are needed.
(caitlinjohnstone.com.au)
60 YEARS AFTER LYNDON JOHNSON’S “DAISY” CAMPAIGN AD
The 2024 election is completely lacking in wisdom about nuclear weapons and relations between nuclear superpowers.
by Norman Solomon
One evening in early September 1964, a frightening commercial jolted 50 million Americans who were partway through watching “Monday Night at the Movies” on NBC. The ad began with an adorable three-year-old girl counting petals as she pulled them from a daisy. Then came a man’s somber voiceover, counting down from ten to zero. Then an ominous roar and a mushroom cloud from a nuclear bomb explosion.
The one-minute TV spot reached its climax with audio from President Lyndon Johnson, concluding that “we must love each other, or we must die.” The ad did not mention his opponent in the upcoming election, Sen. Barry Goldwater, but it didn’t need to. By then, his cavalier attitude toward nuclear weapons was well established.
Goldwater’s bestseller The Conscience of a Conservative, published at the start of the decade, was unnervingly open to the idea of launching a nuclear war, while the book exuded disdain for leaders who “would rather crawl on knees to Moscow than die under an Atom bomb.” Closing in on the Republican nomination for president, the Arizona senator suggested that “low-yield” nuclear bombs could be useful to defoliate forests in Vietnam.
His own words gave plenty of fodder to others seeking the GOP nomination. Pennsylvania Gov. William Scranton called Goldwater “a trigger-happy dreamer” and said that he “too often casually prescribed nuclear war as a solution to a troubled world.” New York Gov. Nelson Rockefeller unloaded with a rhetorical question: “How can there be sanity when he wants to give area commanders the authority to make decisions on the use of nuclear weapons?”
So, the stage was set for the “daisy ad,” which packed an emotional wallop — and provoked a fierce backlash. Critics cried foul, deploring an attempt to use the specter of nuclear annihilation for political gain. Having accomplished the goal of putting the Goldwater camp on the defensive, the commercial never aired again as a paid ad. But national newscasts showed it while reporting on the controversy.
Today, a campaign ad akin to the daisy spot is hard to imagine from the Democratic or Republican nominee to be commander in chief, who seem content to bypass the subject of nuclear-war dangers. Yet those dangers are actually much higher now than they were 60 years ago. In 1964, the Doomsday Clock maintained by experts at the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists was set at 12 minutes to apocalyptic midnight. The ominous hands are now just 90 seconds away.
Yet, in their convention speeches this summer, both Donald Trump and Kamala Harris were silent on the need to engage in genuine diplomacy for nuclear arms control, let alone take steps toward disarmament.
Trump offered standard warnings about Russian and Chinese arsenals and Iran’s nuclear program, and boasted of his rapport with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. Left unmentioned was Trump’s presidential statement in 2017 that if North Korea made “any more threats to the United States,” that country “will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen.” Nor did he refer to his highly irresponsible tweet that Kim should be informed “I too have a Nuclear Button, but it is a much bigger & more powerful one than his, and my Button works!”
When Harris delivered her acceptance speech, it did not include the words “atomic” or “nuclear” at all.
Now in high gear, the 2024 presidential campaign is completely lacking in the kind of wisdom about nuclear weapons and relations between the nuclear superpowers that Lyndon Johnson and, eventually, Ronald Reagan attained during their presidencies.
Johnson privately acknowledged that the daisy commercial scared voters about Goldwater, which “we goddamned set out to do.” But the president was engaged in more than an electoral tactic. At the same time that he methodically deceived the American people while escalating the horrific war on Vietnam, Johnson pursued efforts to defuse the nuclear time bomb.
“We have made further progress in an effort to improve our understanding of each other’s thinking on a number of questions,” Johnson said at the conclusion of his extensive summit meeting with Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin in Glassboro, New Jersey, on June 25, 1967. But fifty-seven years later, there is scant evidence that the current or next president of the United States is genuinely interested in improving such understanding between leaders of the biggest nuclear states.
Two decades after the summit that defrosted the cold war and gave rise to what was dubbed “the spirit of Glassboro,” President Reagan stood next to Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and said: “We decided to talk to each other instead of about each other.” But such an attitude would be heresy in the 2024 presidential campaign.
“These are the stakes,” Johnson said in the daisy ad as a mushroom cloud rose on screen, “to make a world in which all God’s children can live, or to go into the dark.”
Those are still the stakes. But you wouldn’t know it now from either of the candidates vying to be the next president of the United States.
(Norman Solomon is the national director of RootsAction.org and executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy. His latest book, War Made Invisible: How America Hides the Human Toll of Its Military Machine https://thenewpress.com/books/war-made-invisible, was published in paperback this month with a new afterword about the Gaza war.)
Regarding the Kamala protest sign. The protester ought to know it takes two to tango, and Kamala isn’t either of them. He or she should have a sign with pictures of both Netanyahu and Sinwar.
Sinwar – a hero and perhaps the greatest world leader living today – is not the hold up. It’s Nethanyahu and his band of disgusting criminals that have held up the negotiations – murdering the other side’s top negotiator (Haniyah, another hero and great world leader) kind of makes that obvious.
Included in Nethanyahu’s band of disgusting criminals is Donald Trump, whose team has backchanneled Nethanyahu, asking him to delay negotiations – and therefore the release of the IDF prisoners and civilian hostages – until after the election. Of course, this is now a Republican tradition.. .Nixon did it with Vietnam; Reagan did it with Iran.
But who is it that is presently supplying Nethanyahu’s genocide campaign? Who is sending him weapons to carry out his murderous rampage against 100% innocent people? Who is sending him money? It’s Genocide Joe and “the best decision [he] ever made,” Kamala Harris.
If you are a person of decency and you find yourself as part of an administration that is committing genocide, you resign. It’s that simple.
In a couple of months, the voters of the USA will do what they always do. They will vote pro-war and pro-genocide.
What a pile of hooey you are peddling regarding Sinwar. As the person who helped plan and lead the October 7 attack, he hardly qualifies as “the world’s greatest leader living today.” Great leaders don’t provoke an attack through their actions and then hide behind innocent civilians. And make no mistake, he is as much the problem with reaching a ceasefire agreement as Netanyahu.
Classic colonist point of view – blame the occupied for resisting their occupation, as always.
Sinwar knows what what is obvious – that genocide is inherent to Zionism. He knows and knew full well that the “Israelis” planned to murder or expel each and every one of them. He and his people had and have every right to resist. If people had busted out of Dachau and killed a bunch of Nazis, they would be hailed as heroes to this day. You would know their names. There would be multiple movies made about their heroism.
Sinwar and Haniyeh, with little in resources relative to the Israelis – the supposed 4th strongest military in the world – pulled off an absolutely brilliant attack. 10% of the population of “Israel” has fled. More than 40,000 “Israeli” businesses have shut down. Thousands of IDF are dead and thousands more are injured. While the “Israeli” lunatics are united in wanting to exterminate the 100% innocent Palestinians, they are also at each other’s throats. All of this happened because of the brilliance of Oct 7.
And please, don’t tell me any Zionist lies about rapes, dead babies, or airheads at a rave held next to a concentration camp. Hamas raped no one, while the Zionists’ use of rape as a weapon is well documented – from the Safsaf massacre to today. Even the Israeli press is now reporting that MOST of the people who died at the airhead music festival were killed by the IDF.
Hamas is the fairly elected government of Gaza. They are also a badass prison gang. And just like in Attica, WHO has killed the IDF prisoners and hostages?
I don’t like their stupid religion – or anyone else’s for that matter. But right is right and wrong is wrong. The Palestinians are 100% right and the Zionists are 100% wrong. Their resistance is heroic. Their leaders and their fighters are heroes.
Your last sentence shows the vast distance between your delusions and reality.
If they were Jews in Dachau, you’d be calling them heroes, but because of the deep racism and mind control you’ve been exposed to – a million movies about the Holocaust and zero about the Nakba – you give the mindcontrolled response. Classic colonist.
If you and your family were experiencing what Palestinians in Gaza are experiencing, you would join the resistance too. If you have any decency at all, that is.
In the beat/beatnik era, Cab Calloway dressed in “Full Drape.” Very cool… The more conservative hipsters dressed in “Half Drape.” Somewhat less but still cool.
Any questions? That’s what I thought…
Laz
Re: Cab Calloway. The regular trenchcoat part of it /is/ good, but the effeminate Little-Bo-Peep neck bow and Easter hat, the awkward hareem pantaloons, and the knee-entangling rope-chain, are not. It’s obviously oppressively hot, heavy and uncomfortable. Maybe it has value in weighing you down for exercise, like sports sandbags you velcro around your wrists and ankles if you have limited time for walking and swinging your arms around, or like taking the stairs to go down and out for a smoke break instead of taking the elevator.
Back in college, for some purpose I can’t at all fathom now I sewed a closure toggle onto a thick wool Navajo blanket from the thrift store to wear like a poncho, stuck little Xmas bells on my shoelaces, and I nailed bottlecaps all around the end of a stick and carried that around with me everywhere, shoving it out periodically through folds in the poncho to rattle it for punctuation. Remember, in /The Message/ episode of /Firefly/, when they were at a space station, Jayne got a ridiculous orange, knitted, pompommed, tasseled, deerstalker hat in the mail from his mother, put it on, said, “Kinda cunning, don’t you think? How’s it sit?” and Wash said, ahem, “Man walks down the street in that hat? People know he’s not afraid of anything.” This is like that. I must have been out of my mind. In my memory I was who I am now, but how is that possible? Also one time, then, I was so sleepy in a class that I couldn’t keep my eyes open. I went to the back of the room, lay down on a table, and woke up after class was over, everyone was gone and the teacher, Mr. Everson, was getting ready to turn out the lights, lock the door and leave. I said, “I’m sorry. I don’t, um…” He said, “I was teaching in the sixties. Don’t worry about it.”
That said, songs with Zoot in the title, or about zoot culture, like movies about Gypsies or with the word Gypsy in the title, are always great. Here’s one, and please note the /real/ zoot suit, not a goofy parody, the singer wears, though it also has the stupid chain:
Re: Pelosi and her social class. Regardless of anyone’s politics or whether the candidate or incumbent is the best or the worst of a narrow range of choices, it should be much harder in time and personal effort for any rich person to stay rich than for someone with nothing to reliably get just enough. By enough, I mean freedom from anxiety about shelter and food and adequate medical, vision and dental attention. And equal opportunity to a good-quality education in the humanities, medicine, and hard sciences. (If it’s free for rich kids, which it has always been, it should be free for poor kids, as long as they keep up their grades.) Our nation’s most famous founding document, right at the start, explicitly holds this truth as being self-evident: all men are created equal. When one child is born into lifelong wealth and power and another is born with a greater chance of being struck by lightning than of ever climbing out of poverty, let alone achieving political power, that’s not treating them as equals. And it’s easy enough to fix: aggressively progressively tax all wealth as well as all income, and treat corporations truly like people they pretend to be on the books, so if a corporation steals money or defrauds the government or bribes the authorities for special treatment or murders ten or a thousand or a million people or despoils what belongs really to all of us –the water, the air and irreplaceable natural resources and mineral wealth– that corporation’s leaders and /all the people who profit from it/ should be treated by the law like any Joe Shmoe is treated who robs and steals and bribes and conspires and murders. And, while we’re at it, hold cops and judges and government officials to at least the standards we set for everyone else, not lower ones, so when they act like mob bosses and mob thugs and act like the shamelessly reveling pigs in the farmer’s house at the the end of /Animal Farm/ or the calm, genteel, understatedly hypocritical but just as awful world leaders around the dinner table in /The Girl In The Cafe/ the attitude isn’t /Oh, well, hey? That’s the way the world works. What can ya do./
Why was ” The last 24 hours with Trump ” post by Ron Filipkowski cut off after only posting the first 20 minutes?
I’d like to see the whole 24 hours.
Because it only got dumber…
Linda Davis
Kenwood
She will enforce the laws against monopolies. There is only one source of chicken in this country, for instance. That needs to stop. That enforcement has not been done for decades.
Not true. Overregulation only hurts the small farms.
https://youtu.be/unOXcKigSuY?si=h4UUP74iS4TMAr7j
Right on, Kimberlin. Without competition, capitalism fails miserably.
To further support your position on monopolies: My little adventure: For about a year now I have been lucky enough to discover a delicious Thai peanut sauce, as well as a packaged brown rice vermicelli (a kind of “cellophane noodle” popular in Asian cooking) at Grocery Outlet, by a name brand (Annie Chun) for just under $3.00 per item. The noodles are very generous and last a few servings per package and the peanut sauce comes in a bottle, does not go bad in the fridge and therefore lasts for weeks. Anyway, my luck finally ended and those items are no longer available at Grocery Outlet. However, I knew they would be available online so I looked it up and was shocked to find that I could not get those items (either one of them) for under $5.00 per item at local grocery stores, Amazon, or Instacart! Before they stopped selling at Grocery Outlet, they were about 3.99 or less at local grocery stores, including the Co-op. That means that after their “introductory offer”, they suddenly went up a firm $1.00, for no reason except; guess what! Grocery stores, Instagram, and Amazon all agreed on an exorbitant price and now that’s what you have to pay. Needless to say, I will be making my own peanut sauce from now on, and replace the noodles with brown rice! Ending monopolies may be hard, but it has to happen. Inflation is caused by this kind of robbery, right out of the pockets of ordinary Americans. It may sound minor, but it adds up.
As for Pelosi’s fortunate financial position, that is a good point, as well, that she and her husband are in a very good place to get the inside track on investments. That is actually illegal, but they must somehow have found a loophole, while the rest of us eat dirt with low interest rates and an iffy stock market, while the Fed is eager to lower interest rates still more. I do not see how that is going to fix things for most Americans, as, even if home buyers can get a lower interest rate, there will be more people vying to buy real estate, which will cause prices to go up, therefore obliterating the so-called advantages of the lower interest rates. That leaves people like Donald Trump, who owes vast amounts of money, as well as the U.S. government, to gain, while the U.S. wastes its resources on gifts to corporate interests.
AND, BTW, beef cattle do contribute to global warming. Where is your science on that, Ms. Davis?
https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/3669259-lawmakers-furious-at-pelosi-after-stock-trading-ban-stalls/
Thank you for this. It is confusing what the laws are regarding stock trading by congressional members. Looks like there is a law against using insider information, but that law would be difficult to enforce. Thus the effort at a new law, which would, in its strictest form, force the sale of stocks by members of Congress (and other officials).
Anyone can follow and duplicate stock trades made by politicians here:
https://unusualwhales.com/portfolios
In depth will cost $10/mo. There are a couple of real standouts there and Pelosi is not one of them.
The Jet’s defense was ranked third overall in 2023 – the 49er’s defense was ranked 8th. So I think the 49ers scoring 32 points was pretty good statement to open up the year.
On to Minnesota…
Nancy Pelosi had the ninth-best performing portfolio of all Congresscritters in 2023.
There were eight ahead of her, all male, four Democrats and four Republicans.
I despise Pelosi like any decent person should. She belongs in jail – forever. But the reason she gets targeted while the men go unmentioned is obvious. I hate Hillary too, but not because of her pantsuits. Sheesh.
The long track record of organizations opposed to war (in general) and the current U.S. belligerence “overseas” is lost in the noise of the pre-election protests — joining those around the world — against the decimation of Palestinians and other disenfranchised victims (Kurds, Yemenis, Somalis, and the list seems endless) while the Russian dictators continue the “battle” for Ukraine. As campaign issues, these overshadow the plight of millions in the U.S. alone whose livelihoods have been shredded by spending policies driven by “party” politics. “Joy” and “hope” are not available to any of the starving victims of exploitative ventures enriching the global corporations and their economic beneficiaries. Socially regressive threats coming from the Heritage Foundation and their sock puppet, Donald Trump — supported by Congressional “representatives” — can be seen as absurd but cannot, like the terror in the middle east, be stopped by hurling unimaginative memes at the internet. The ringmasters keep the circus going, while we gaze dumbfounded at the live “streaming” of pop stars and athletic heroes of the day.