Mendocino County Today: Thursday 9/12/2024

By AVA News Service on September 12, 2024

Picking Native Rosehips In Comptche (George Hollister)

RIDGING will build back into the region for the end of the work week. Slightly gusty northwesterly winds are likely each afternoon. However, a slight upper level troughing pattern will persist spawning another shortwave trough to move through the region by the weekend. (NWS)

STEPHEN DUNLAP (Fort Bragg): Far from actual rain I did get .05" of drizzle midday yesterday. 53F with clear skies this morning on the coast. It will be windy today & mostly sunny thru the weekend. There are hints of light rain early next week, I am watching of course.

IT IS MY UNDERSTANDING that there is still no in-home hospice in Fort Bragg. And the new version, if one can call it that, is based in the hospital for in house care only. Hardly a Hospice. For those who wish to or have no other choice but to pass at home with family, there has been no service for them since when Covid and financial problems ended Hospice on the coast.

— Bruce Broderick, Fort Bragg

ONE WHO LISTENS

Anon: I’m looking for recommendations for a great General Practitioner for my 93 year old mom. Someone who actually will do an exam. Preferably a GP that is kind listens and is interested in helping patients. Thank you in advance….

Carlee Dahl-Lightel: My grandparents both saw Dr. Teran. He works at MCHC on Dora St. 707-468-1015. He is especially good with seniors. In the end, he was able to explain a lot to me about caregiving for my grandma and his staff is excellent, too.

WANDERING PERV

The Ukiah Police Department (UPD) would like to inform the public about recent developments concerning John Hill, 36, of Laytonville, who has been arrested on multiple occasions and is believed to pose a significant danger to our community. We want to assure the public that we are taking every possible measure to protect our residents and hold Hill accountable for his actions.

On March 2nd, 2024, UPD responded to a distress call from an adult mother regarding her two daughters, ages 15 and 13, and their 13-year-old friend. The girls were walking in the 100 block of N. Orchard Ave when John Hill approached them and attempted to engage them under suspicious circumstances. When the girls fled, Hill chased them until they sought refuge inside a local department store. Hill was later apprehended and admitted to pursuing the girls due to “sexual interests.” Hill was found to be on active parole. He was arrested and charged with violation of parole and annoyance/molestation of a minor. Hill was convicted and sentenced to 360 days in county jail, but only served approximately six months of that sentence. Hill was released from custody on September 4th, 2024.

Following his release, on September 4th, 2024, the UPD was dispatched to El Molcajete Restaurant after an adult female reported being followed by a man while jogging. Hill was identified as the individual who had been following her. He admitted to following the woman but stated he was unsure of his intentions. Hill was subsequently arrested for a parole violation.

On September 9th, 2024, UPD requested that the California Department of Corrections Parole Office place an ankle monitor on Hill due to our concerns for public safety. Unfortunately, our request was denied.

Hill was released as scheduled on September 10th, 2024, at 10:33 AM. At approximately 12:13 PM, the Ukiah Police Department responded to a report from Quest Mart (915 N. State St.) regarding a man, later identified as Hill, who had entered a vehicle without permission. Upon arrival, officers learned from a store employee that both the victims and Hill had already left the scene. After reviewing surveillance footage, officers identified and located two 16-year-old girls who reported that Hill had approached them while they were leaving the store and invited them to hang out. When they declined and began to get into their vehicle, Hill followed, opened the back door, and sat inside. Fearing for their safety, the female juveniles ran back into the store and alerted a customer and an employee. The employee confronted Hill who was still seated in the vehicle. Hill subsequently exited and left the vehicle and walked away. UPD located Hill a short time later, where he admitted to entering the vehicle and stated he thought the girls were between 16 and 18 years old. He mentioned wanting to hang out with them but was uncertain about how the situation might have progressed. Hill was arrested for parole violation and annoyance/molestation of a minor. While being transported to jail, Hill advised he was from Laytonville but moved to Ukiah because Ukiah had more girls. When asked what he would do with those girls Hill stated he wanted to do “personal things with them.”

John Hill’s most recent booking photo can be viewed online at the Mendocino County Jail booking logs (per PC 13665 UPD can’t release Hill’s booking photo on this press release). We urge the community to remain vigilant and report any suspicious activity involving Hill or any other individuals. The Ukiah Police Department remains committed to doing everything within our power to safeguard our community from sexual predators and other threats. We are attempting to work with all relevant agencies to ensure that offenders like Hill are held accountable and kept away from our streets.

We appreciate the public's cooperation and support in maintaining the safety and well-being of our community. For further information or to report any concerns, please contact the Ukiah Police Department at (707) 463-6262.

Salt at Salt Point State Park (Randy Burke)

CANNABIS EXPANSION HORNSWOGGLE REJECTED BY SUPES

by Jim Shields

Really good news from Tuesday’s (Sept. 10th) Board of Supervisors meeting.

Since the Supes Tuesday meetings are also deadline day for the Observer, I only have time to report to you that the Supes voted unanimously to reject the lame attempt by Cannabis Dept. (with an assist from Planning and Building) staff to illegally expand weed grow sites from the Ordinance’s 10,000 square-foot cap up to 22,000 square-feet.

The Cannabis bureaucrats effort to bamboozle the Supes into buying their bogus contention that this was merely a “clarification” or “re-interpretation” of an existing clause in the Ordinance, didn’t work.

Supervisors John Haschak and Dan Gjerde were having none of the spurious arguments raised by the Cannabis staff and County Counsel’s Office.

In fact after only seven or so people made public comment objecting to the staff’s fanciful tales, Supe Ted Williams said he’d heard enough and made a motion to reject the so-called re-interpretation. However, the decision was made to allow the public to continue to address the Board, which included yours truly. LAMAC Member Traci Pellar, Ellen and David Drell, of the Willits Environmental Center, and another 15 or so folks also addressed the Board objecting to the proposed hoodwink.

As chairman of the Laytonville MAC, here’s what I chipped in:

At our August 28, 2024 meeting, the Laytonville Area Municipal Advisory Council (LAMAC) unanimously approved and endorsed a letter from Ms. Traci Pellar regarding the so-called “Cannabis Reinterpretation” issue.

We urge the Board to reject this “backdoor” attempt to circumvent an unambiguous provision in the Ordinance. There is absolutely no authority under existing law or the Mendocino County Cannabis Ordinance for anyone, including County staff, administrators, or the Supervisors to “reinterpret”, in whole or in part, provisions of the Cannabis Ordinance. It’s widely accepted by constituents that such action gives the appearance of Cannabis Ordinance administration being an insider’s game played by staff and a self-selected few in the local cannabis industry.

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

Supervisor Gjerde also gets to the crux of the dispute when he says, “Mendocino Planning and Building Department has a long history of preparing memos on planning matters. My understanding is the purpose of such memos is to insure consistency in how department personnel apply County Code. The new interpretation of County Code (regarding the Cannabis Ordinance), as outlined in this memo, appears to me to go beyond scope of PBS memos, at least as I understand their purpose and scope. For me, the memo does not appear to be consistent with County Code, or what I believe was the understanding of board members or the public at the time of code adoption.”

You should also know that at our June 26, 2024 meeting, our Council unanimously approved the following action:

“The Council Hereby Approves Support For The May 9, 2024 Letter From The Willits Environmental Center To The Board of Supervisors Re: “Re-Interpretation” By Staff of Section 10A.17.060 Of The Cannabis Ordinance, as well as the June 2024 Petition/Statement By The Concerned Redwood Valley Citizens (CRVC) Regarding The So-Called “Re-Interpretation.”

“We urge the Board of Supervisors to reject in whole this proposed re-interpretation of Section 10A.17.060.

Thank you for taking this matter under consideration.

MENDO MATTERS MAKES THEIR CASE; SUPES & SHERIFF LUKEWARM

by Mark Scaramella

“To The Mendocino County Board of Supervisors,

A significant amount of taxpayer money is being spent to fuel what has become a multi-million dollar “homeless economy” in our County, benefiting both the housed and unhoused populations. However, this Board does not appear to know the total dollars spent per individual, nor the cost-benefit outcomes.

We are requesting this Board initiate a comprehensive audit and cost/benefit analysis to determine exactly how much each homeless individual (both housed and unhoused) is costing the County. This should include all relevant service agencies such as fire, police, sheriff, and hospitals, public works, etc.

Also, there should be a requirement and condition of funding that all County contractual service providers submit verifiable documentation of monies they received from both the State and Federal government.

We do not want to receive the same generalized response as before, referencing a national average. We want data specific to this County. Additionally, we do not want to hear that obtaining the facts is “too convoluted.” If these figures are unknown, how can you, as Board members, continue to approve expenditure after expenditure of taxpayer dollars without proper accountability? It is now time to be accountable. The Mendo Matters group is formally requesting the board add this request to a future meeting agenda within the next 60 days.

ATTN: Request for Immediate Action

Mendocino County Board of Supervisors:

Maureen Mulheren, Chair; John Haschak, Vice-Chair; Dan Gjerde; Ted Williams; Glenn McGourty

Darcie Antle, Mendocino County Executive Officer

Charlotte Scott, Mendocino County Counsel

Matt Kendall, Mendocino County Sheriff

Dave Eyster, Mendocino County District Attorney

Ukiah City Council: Josefina Dueñas, Mayor; Douglas Crane, Vice Mayor; Susan Sher; Juan Orozco; Mari Rodin

David Rapport, City Attorney

Sage Sangiacomo, City Manager of Ukiah

Captain Cedric Crook, Ukiah Police Chief

Dear Public Representatives:

Our citizen-based group, Mendo Matters, respectfully requests the immediate adoption of the Care Response Unit (CRU) model, developed by the City of Fort Bragg in collaboration with the Marbut Report.

Mendo Matters represents a coalition of business owners, property owners, and concerned citizens who are united by the shared goal of improving the vitality of our community. Our steadfast efforts focus on addressing critical issues, including public safety and the economic well-being of Mendocino County. We believe the current approaches are insufficient in resolving the persistent challenges we face as a county, and we urge the implementation of new, effective strategies.

The CRU model was originally designed to address the homeless crisis in Fort Bragg and is based on the findings of Dr. Robert Marbut's comprehensive study on homelessness in Mendocino County, conducted between 2019-2021. While Fort Bragg has successfully adopted his recommendations, they have yet to be implemented county-wide. We have attached the CRU model for your review, which highlights its effectiveness in a relatively short period of time. We strongly believe that the county-wide adoption of the CRU model will enhance both the safety and appeal of Mendocino County for residents and visitors alike. The model offers nearly 30 recommendations, including the principle of “engage, don't enable,” a zero-tolerance policy toward encampments, and the reduction of redundant services to name just a few.

By implementing equal or similar approaches across our county, we can begin to restore the health and vibrancy of our communities.

We urge you to prioritize the well-being of Mendocino County by adopting this proven model. Mendo Matters remains dedicated to this community, and the many visitors who wish to enjoy touring our beautiful region. Together, we can restore Mendocino County to its full potential. We invite you to contact us via email at mendomatters@gmail.com or by phone at 707-489-3669.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,

Mendo Matters

Signed by: Kerri Vau, Martha Barra, Jacob Brown, Adam Gaska, Julie Golden, Ross Liberty, Ken McCormick, Todd Schapmire Sr., Richard Selzer, John Strangio, Lynette Rose.” (Strangio and Brown are both running for seats on the Ukiah City Council.)

MARK SCARAMELLA NOTES: On Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors received the Mendo Matters group and their presentation lead by Adam Gaska and Kerri Vau. In response, Supervisor Mulheren said the issue should be addressed by the famously ineffectual multi-multi-agency “Continuum of Care,” the center of the “homeless economy” that Mendo Matters is complaining about. Mulheren asked Behavioral Health/Public Health Director Dr. Jenine Miller for a comment. Miller said, essentially, that she and her department(s) have nothing to do with homelessness, although she wasn’t against the CRU approach. Sheriff Kendall said he thought that Fort Bragg’s CRU model was ok for Fort Bragg but that sometimes they just shifted people from the City to the outskirts of the city and called that a success, but the County can’t do that. Kendall seemed reluctant to take on the CRU approach because unless Proposition 47 — which essentially decriminalized petty theft and drug possession — is reformed by the upcoming statewide Proposition 36, there is no incentive for drug-addicted petty criminals and addicts to enter treatment and therefore no “stick” to arrest them or threaten them with arrest and, via Drug Court or the like, force them into treatment. No commitments were made. The Mendo Matters group, along with Supervisor-Elect Bernie Norvell and Supervisor Elect-Madeline Cline, are likely to put more pressure on the Board for a more active response in the upcoming weeks, including persistent pressure to adopt a version of the Fort Bragg CRU approach and implementation of the key elements of the Marbut report. Waiting for Proposition 36 is not likely to be enough. All the people we know in the Mendo Matters group are personally involved in trying to deal with the growing homeless camps in the Ukiah Valley and they are frustrated at the lukewarm response from the Supervisors and the Sheriff.

LOCAL EVENTS

SAVE LAKE PILLSBURY

To the Editor:

The sound of silence. PG&E neglected Scott Dam. The consequences have been laid on the people of Lake Mendocino and Sonoma county….yet again. Other entities are using that fact, to jump claim to more water, while a loophole in water rights claims exists. Yet they have water too!!

Salmon in river beds as I speak. The costs are unfathomable for such small counties' coffers. Apathy is rampant in most people. People can fight the corporate/politicians money grab machine in small ways and in big ways. If no one tells the story, no one hears the truth. Losing Lake Pillsbury and subsequently Lake Mendocino then subsequently Russian River watershed streams home to thousands of salmonids is at risk of completely drying up forever, with cilmate change and new water diversions.

The tourist and recreational value will be lost and so will the land values all over the county. The salmonoids are just coming back in Russian and Eel with two winters of rains. Please hear my voice above the politicians for corporations and do whatever you can, as an individual, to save our counties’ very few lakes and rivers. Hydropower is a future green source of electricity, with no radioactive risks and no lithium waste. It is the harnessing of water power, the most powerful source of energy, on this Earth. If California is so future forward for green energy, then why are politicians not seizing the day to save Lake Pillsbury/Scott Dam for hydropower?

Catherine Lair

Ukiah

ED NOTES

PATRICK HENRY WRITES: “Thanks for posting my little piece and not ‘lighting me up.’ I enjoyed the General Sherman quote-reference to the ‘sacking of Georgia as a metaphor for tourists sacking of Anderson Valley. As we like to say to tourists visiting our little beachside 'Hood of Belmont Shore — ATTN: tourists, leave your cash, not your trash! Keep up the good work.” PS. Yes, there is a very high probability that I am related to the Virginia Patriot, according to family genealogy and a visit to the Red Hill Virginia burial place. But most of history is all bullshit anyway so who really knows? They are all dead. PPS. Tell your nephew that I found his book very entertaining and provocative. It can apply to many areas besides ‘Boomsville’.”

WATER has been woefully short of demand from the tip of Marin north to northern Mendocino County, and demand continues to grow in a vain attempt to keep pace with development. Lake Mendocino's stored water, mostly owned by Sonoma County, can hardly keep up with Redwood Valley's modest requirements, let alone downstream's ever more ravenous thirst. So, like, why the building boom up and down the 101 corridor?

SIMPLIFIED, the situation is this: Downstream demand for upstream water is greater than the available water to satisfy it. Further simplified, the big pic is also this: Lake Mendocino was built in the middle-1950s. Sonoma County put up most of the money for the construction of the dam that created Lake Mendocino in exchange for most of the water piled up in it. In perpetuity. Former Supervisor Johnny Pinches wanted to re-negotiate this preposterous one-way deal but couldn't get a second to even discuss it.

IN THE FIRST decade of the 20th century Chinese labor dug a thousand-foot tunnel into a Potter Valley ridge to divert a big part of the Eel River into Potter Valley where it fed, and still feeds, a great big, now redundant turbine. The diversion and its ingenious power-generating apparatus was originally designed for the modest purpose of providing electricity to Ukiah, at the time home to fewer than 6,000 people. From this modest beginning via a tenuous tunnel the dimensions of a medium-sized culvert, several million downstream people, from Redwood Valley to Sausalito, are now dependent on this thousand feet of diversion tunnel. And Sonoma County just keeps on approving building permits for large-scale developments. (cf Healdsburg)

THERE IS NO WAY to bring the demand for water into harmony with the current draw on it. And Sonoma County, with the editors at the PD constantly beating the development and tourist drums, shows no sign of enacting a building moratorium until life’s essential ingredient can be rationally apportioned.

BEFORE THE POTTER VALLEY DIVERSION, before Lake Mendocino, the Russian River was reduced to a series of summertime pools almost all the way to what is now the metastasizing urban sprawl known as Windsor. The summertime upper Russian was good for fish who thrived in the cool deep of July and August pools, which reproduced themselves in Edenic numbers in the natural gravel of the river’s winter bed.

TODAY’S SUMMER FLOW of the Russian, whose lower end in the resort areas of Guerneville, is a leach line for Santa Rosa’s treated sewage, hence the unnatural, deep turquoise blue of its flow. The fish are almost gone in the entire Russian River, and the whole show, from the Potter Valley diversion to the heedless downstream growth along the 101 corridor, makes major water shortages more and more likely.

CALTRANS EXTENDS ALBION RIVER BRIDGE COMMENT PERIOD

by Frank Hartzell

https://mendovoice.com/2024/09/after-criticism-caltrans-plans-a-second-public-meeting-on-albion-river-bridge-replacement/

I found some old photos of Caltrans and the Albion community in 2014. The agency has radically changed its approach from asking to telling. Worse, the environmental docs this time are almost nothing but boilerplate and they do 5 bridges at once, making the 3000 pages indecipherable. Back in 2014 they presented color photos, drawings and books about each bridge they wanted. Many cool bridges back then. Now all the same. Most silly, they have 5 options but one option is to place a bridge exactly where the current bridge is!

Read their own materials. All of it negates this. All of the environmental stuff and even more so the economic stuff relies entirely on using the current bridge while building one of the 4 others. The 5th is a sham and part of work in this DEIR that is frankly sloppy.

I asked them to bring back the old stuff done in 2014. Much better quality and communication. I did that because as a reporter I can't understand it. I can't see it.

They did relent and offered a second meeting after this is done and more time to comment. So far the electeds have said nothing publicly. I have asked. NOBODY is negotiating for a better bridge. The Stewards say no. The elected and fire depts and such say nothing. I see problems with these four choices that would impact fire and emergencies negatively, yet no input. I have asked there also. I imagine, without any proof that the fire folks want the bridge replaced for emergencies. Wider and newer would be better from their point of view. Yet that does not excuse no comment or fighting for a better bridge and better access to the campground and village on the other side!

TIBETAN MONKS

Dear Editor

Yesterday, as I sit waiting for brunch and in line to the Windmills Cafe I saw three monk come out of a coffeehouse on North State Street. This happenstance reminded me of how diverse Mendocino County is. And as a visit to the Tomki temple, I got to see how far they have come. My curiosity here how is it possible to do such a practice and live in a place of passivity and yet need to go on pilgrimage(s). I in my senior timetable would need to prepare myself, body towards these goals. I recall the Euro News saying 1,300 Mecca followers perished due to the heat wave. These times need the casual compassionate observers to assist if needed for these pilgrims to be safe when times question walking along the roadways. Aside from that I’m glad they show another side of a unique path taken.

Sincerely yours, Vigilant some of the time, hehehehe

Gregory Crawford

Fort Bragg

AFTER 18 YEARS, JOSE FOLDS UP HIS TENT

by Tom Hine

I knew the guy at the hot dog stand was retiring in a few days so I went to get a Deluxe Dog and talk him into a story on how he spent 18 years standing under an umbrella in the parking lot at Mendo Mill.

The first one (the dog) was easy. Getting to talk with Jose Ramirez was a more difficult bit of business because it was noon and his stand is a popular lunch spot.

Jose hardly has time to hand out a dog, each wrapped in a bun and then a sheet of foil, next make change, point out the condiments and get to the next customer without having to pause to discuss his restaurant career.

And once I got to talk with him I still couldn’t talk with him because when he found out it was for The Ukiah Daily Journal he popped out from behind the table, hurried to his Ford pickup and pulled a slim folder from the door pocket. (Meanwhile, a guy back at the counter holding a foil-wrapped sausage in one hand and ten dollar bill in the other stood waiting.)

Jose Ramirez with the 2006 front page Ukiah Daily Journal article celebrating him and his new hot dog business at Mendo Mill. He retired Friday. (Photo by Tom Hine)

Jose held the packet in both hands and proudly showed it: A 2006 front page UDJ feature with a color photo and story celebrating Jose Ramirez and his new hot dog business at Mendo Mill, under a byline of some reporter named K.C. Meadows.

The fresh-looking color print was in the kind of protective shield a doctor displays his Stanford degree, or a photo of you and the family at Grand Canyon.

But it was an old newspaper clipping, and Jose cherished as if it were a proclamation honoring him for his 18 years selling dogs, telling jokes, singing songs and keeping the customers satisfied. He hasn’t an actual proclamation, but with very little encouragement he did break into song: a lusty version of “Cielito Lindo” which you and I know as “Aye-Yi-Yi-Yiii, No Time for Sorrow…” More or less.

Jose and I belted it out in “harmony” until dogs howled and customers fled Mendo Mill with their hands over their ears. Just kidding. Jose sings like the King of Karaoke; I sing like someone not allowed to sing.

Next, an elderly gent took a seat on a folding chair adjacent to Jose’s canopied shop, polished off a sausage and chips, then opened his wallet to pay. Jose waved both the fellow and his money off. A free lunch? You can do that kind of thing when tomorrow’s your last day in business.

He’s had a great run for all those years, he says, having met nice people who became regular customers, then turned into good friends.

It’s been quite a career in the restaurant business; he even got to meet a genuine movie star. While crews filmed “Sharp Objects” at a big old house in Redwood Valley, Jose had his hot dog stand ready for lunches and snacks.

During the filming he couldn’t help but be charmed by Amy Adams, the star of the show. “She was just so pretty,” he says, looking up dreamy-eyed and sighing. “I could hardly even talk to her.” Another sigh, or two.

She may also have been smitten by the young (at the time barely 75) and handsome entrepreneur, and impressed by his fabulous singing. Alas, their relationship never blossomed; dreams of the pair on the cover of People Magazine withered in the passing weeks.

But a happy ending: One hot day she called an ice cream truck and it came out to the big house on East Road and parked in the driveway. All the movie folks including Jose got in line for free treats, courtesy of Amy Adams. Ahh, fame and fortune, who needs it? The paparazzi alone would drive anyone crazy.

And Jose might have been tempted to move to LA and open his stand outside Warner Bros. studios; luckily he stayed here and remained the most popular hot dog vendor in all of northern Ukiah.

At least “Most popular” until he retires, and he has. It’s not that he’s tired of the work but more the inevitable changes in life.

“I need to help my wife because she has health problems,” he said. “I’m going to stay home to take care of her.”

First he’ll get the house they’ve owned on South Dora for 27 years ready to sell, so they can move to a smaller place in Santa Rosa. And when they settle in Jose said he will devote time to his hobbies: Singing, drawing, painting, and collecting coins, baseball cards and antiques. And watch a bit of TV, though the only programs he could name are the Olympics and the Miss America Pageant.

And maybe on weekends or for special events he’ll take his hot dog business on the road. He’s already thinking of the Redwood Valley Pumpkin Patch and various things scheduled in Santa Rosa.

He just can’t help it. “All my life I’ve been a workaholic,” he says. “I’ve had restaurants in Healdsburg, Santa Rosa and Boonville. I thought maybe I’d open one in Alaska but when I started driving it was too far north, so I stopped in Ukiah,” he jokes. His Mexican restaurant here was called Pico de Gallo.

Jose once opened a second hand shop on South State Street called 3B Thrift, where he developed a system in which the profits were basically 100 percent.

“People would give me things they didn’t want and I would take them to my shop and sell them for a few dollars. And then when I heard someone needed something, like a small refrigerator or a couch, I’d give them what I had.”

To augment his shop’s modest earnings Jose set up a hot dog stand out front, and it was an immediate hit. Problem: “I’d be busy running the hot dog stand while people were going into my thrift store and stealing things. I was the only one working and I couldn’t manage the store and the stand.

“I guess it was kind of funny, but it really wasn’t,” he said, chagrined but trying to sound amused. “I’d be fixing a hot dog and they’d be stealing my DVDs or old VHS player.”

From there it was on to 18 years in Mendo Mill’s parking lot; final day was Sept. 6.

Being a veteran journalist, I of course demanded to know exactly how many hot dogs had he sold in those 18 years.

Jose stared as if he didn’t understand the question, but his son nearby said “A quarter million!”

“OK, good,” I said. “Next question: precisely how many bags of chips did you sell in 18 years?

Son: “Two quarters of a million!”

Excellent. Readers today want complete, accurate information.

LIGHTHOUSE LENS TOURS ON OCTOBER 5+6 AT POINT CABRILLO

Climb to the top of Mendocino’s historic lighthouse!

Join volunteer docents at Point Cabrillo Light Station State Historic Park in Northern California for the unique opportunity to climb to the top of the lighthouse tower, stand next to the historic 1909 Fresnel Lens, and see the beautiful views of the Mendocino Coastline. These tours happen only a few times a year, and are always a delight!

Saturday, October 5 and Sunday, October 6, 2024

All the funds raised from these tours go right back into taking care of this park. Thank you!

Tours are first-come, first-serve, no reservations
First tour of the day goes up at 11am, last ticket sold at 2pm
$10 per adult, $5 per child (under 18)
All children must be over 42 inches tall to climb the stairs
There are no babies or animals allowed on this tour
Tour guests must be able to climb three sets of steep ladders

Don’t forget about the half mile walk from the parking lot to the lighthouse! Give yourself plenty of time to arrive before our last tours of the day head up the stairs.

Tours last between 20 - 40 minutes, and are led by the experienced docents of the Point Cabrillo Lightkeepers Association. For more information, you can call the office at 707-937-6123 or email us at info@pointcabrillo.org.

Point Cabrillo Lighthouse is located between the towns of Fort Bragg and Mendocino on the Northern California Coast, about three hours north of the San Francisco Bay Area.

HELLO HISTORY, GET ME RE-WRITE, Part 2

Short History of KZYX Continues

by Susan Baird Kanaan

(This story is continued from Issue 3 of The Connector (https://mailchi.mp/kzyx.org/issue-3) .)

Jim Tarbell, an early KZYX Board President, recently shared histories of Mendocino County Public Broadcasting written in the 1990s by him and Bruce Hering, another early Board President. Hering describes how the station’s broadcast range was gradually increased after its 1989 creation. A translator was installed in Fort Bragg in 1990 to augment the original 90.7FM signal with 88.1FM, and a booster was added in Ukiah in 1992. This was followed by “a major signal expansion in 1996, when a transmitter on Laughlin Peak was activated and 91.5FM was born, providing a much clearer signal to inland listeners.” The power to Fort Bragg was upgraded in 1997. Over the years, satellite studios were also established on the Coast and in Ukiah and Willits for the convenience of programmers and staff living across the county.

Brian Henry is the KZYX Consultant Radio Engineer who helps keep this complex and far-flung network on the air, working on the transmitters while Operations Director Rich Culbertson handles day-to-day operations on-site. Brian explained, “What makes a radio station are the transmission facilities. If they go down, the station is off the air.”

Here, briefly, is how it works: All broadcasts, including the shows produced in satellite studios, emanate from the main studio in Philo. From there, they are sent via a studio-to-transmitter link (STL) to a transmitter and tower-mounted antenna on Cold Springs Mountain, which broadcasts the signal to Anderson Valley and the Coast. The STL continues from Cold Springs to a transmitter and antenna on Laughlin Ridge, north of Ukiah, which broadcasts KZYX throughout the inland region.

Brian has worked in radio for decades, for commercial and non-profit stations from Portland to San Francisco. He speaks with authority when he says that under the right conditions, “KZYX has the best signal in the county, bar none.”

The problem is that a lot can go wrong with this “terrestrial” system, which, like all FM radio signals, requires line-of-sight transmission with no physical obstructions. Under actual conditions, the KZYX signal is threatened on a regular basis by the old and unreliable broadcast equipment in Philo, and increasingly (and ultimately, completely) by the growing trees between the Philo station and the primary transmitter.

To complicate matters, over the past year, work by CalFire around the Cold Springs transmitter interrupted the signal (and thus broadcasts) repeatedly, sometimes for up to 30 minutes. And wintertime disruptions to the Laughlin Peak signal have sometimes made it necessary for Brian and a crew to go out to the site and up in a bucket to make adjustments. Then there’s the latest and most existential threat, when the Grange Fire temporarily disabled and could have destroyed the entire KZYX broadcast hub in Philo.

Dina Polkinghorne, KZYX’s Interim General Manager, sums up the situation: “It’s time to move.”

RON PARKER (Mendo photo historian)

UNASSUMING NORTHERN CALIFORNIA TOWN SURPRISINGLY RANKED AS THE NO.1 PLACE IN AMERICA FOR FOOD AND WINE

Underrated city named among best places to retire in America

by Tilly Armstrong

A tiny northern California town has been named the best small town in America for foodies and wine lovers.

The quiet idyll of Elk, which is located three hours drive north up the coast from San Francisco, took the top spot in a new ranking by Travel & Leisure magazine.

The string of houses and hotels straddling the Pacific Coast Highway are often overlooked by travelers, and it is home to only around 275 residents.

To find the best small towns for food and wine across the US, Travel + Leisure only considered places with fewer than 25,000 residents.

Elk stood out for its high quality restaurants and its location amid a world-renowned wine region.

In order to be recognized in the ranking, a town had to 'excel in its category and offer a variety of activities, accommodations, and a timely reason to visit - be it a notable new festival, hotel, restaurant, attraction, or tourism initiative,' Travel + Leisure wrote.

Despite being home to fewer than 300 residents, Elk boasts a Michelin-starred restaurant.

The Harbor House Inn, which has received two Michelin stars, is a 20-seat restaurant which serves 'a coastal-cuisine focused tasting menu,' according to its website.

The Michelin guide calls the cooking 'highly original.'

It touts chef Matthew Kammerer's use of 'hyperlocal and foraged ingredients, elevating not only delicacies like sea urchin but also more humble items like seaweed harvested from the nearby coastline or lace lichen plucked from overhanging trees.'

Elk is also home to the recently reopened Sacred Rock Inn, which has unobstructed vistas of the Pacific coastline.

The hotel has two restaurants - Greenwood Restaurant, which considers itself to be 'approachable fine dining,' and Elk House, a casual eatery with pub fare set in a historic building.

The former has a wine menu sprinkled with local vino, according to Travel + Leisure, while the latter has a beer list that includes brews from the neighboring towns of Point Arena and Boonville.

Elk Cove Inn is home to Sibo Restaurant, which has a distinct French flair.

When it comes to wine, Elk has its own wineries, and is in a prime position just half an hour away from Anderson Valley's vineyards.

(Daily Mail UK)

Fishing Boat off of Mendocino Headlands (Jeff Goll)

LOCAL EMERGENCY DECLARED AFTER BOYLES FIRE DEVASTATES CLEARLAKE, 30 Homes Lost

In response to the devastating impacts of the Boyles Fire, which ignited on September 8, 2024, near Boyles Avenue and 8th Avenue in the City of Clearlake, Sheriff Howe has declared a local emergency. While the City of Clearlake bore the brunt of the fire's destruction, including the loss of approximately 30 homes and the evacuation of over 4,000 residents, the fire’s effects were felt beyond the city’s borders.

Infrastructure damage resulting from the fire has caused widespread power outages, affecting areas in unincorporated Lake County as well.

Lake County Sheriff’s Office of Emergency Services express their deepest concern for all those affected, especially the families who have lost their homes. The County stands in solidarity with the City of Clearlake, having already deployed emergency management resources and personnel, including sheltering, law enforcement, building officials and environmental health services to assist in the response. Recovery efforts are underway, and the County remains committed to working closely with the City, state, and other partners to support those in need during this challenging time.

Community Helping Community

The Lake County Community Foundation (LCCF) established the Lake County Comes Together Emergent Needs Fund to provide swift assistance in response to emergencies such as the Boyles Fire. For information visit https://www.lakeccf.org/.

The Lake Area Rotary Clubs Association (LARCA) Emergency Relief Fund is accepting donations for Boyles Fire victims. For information visit https://www.larca5130.org.

Residents Impacted by the Boyles Fire

Further information for residents is available at https://Ready.LakeCountyCa.gov including a link to the City’s Boyles Fire Information and Resources and a “Recovery” tab that includes a comprehensive list of recovery resources compiled by the Department of Social Services.

CATCH OF THE DAY, Wednesday, September 11, 2024

JAVIER MEDINA, Willits. Domestic violence court order violation.

THOMAS ROMAN SR. Ukiah. Robbery.

THOMAS THORSON, Nice/Ukiah. Contempt of court.

JALAHN TRAVIS, Ukiah. Grand theft, resisting, probation revocation. (Frequent flyer.)

PLEASE, NOT A COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN

by Jonah Raskin

I’m not entirely certain what a country for old white men would look and feel like, but I have been thinking about that image/concept ever since I first saw the movie, No Country for Old Men, based on Cormac McCarthy’s neo-western of the same name. In the senior living facility where I’m currently living old women far outnumber old men like me. I’ll likely die here, though surely not in the kind of violence and with the hail of bullets that explode in McCarthy’s novel and in the movie, No Country for Old Men. All the old men and old women here are Democrats. There doesn’t seem to be a single Trumper in this place; if there is, that person is in hiding.

My friend S. calls this senior living facility a “dormitory.” It does have similarities with campus buildings where students sleep before, during and after classes. I prefer to think of my new home—and any studio apartment on the ninth floor—not as a dormitory, but as a hotel, though the place could also be described as a “country” for old men and old women, though they like to be thought of as elderly not old. It’s its own little world, and not a microcosm of the US. I moved here at the end of August from Ocean Beach in San Francisco because I got tired of the wind and the fog and the cold. It’s sunnier here on Post Street.

Like me, the residents have their own apartments, some larger than others, some smaller than others. We have kitchenettes and bathrooms. Downstairs in the dining room we can and usually do eat three meals a day: breakfast, lunch and supper. Tables have white tablecloths. Red and white wine is available. Waiters and waitresses do the serving; entrees are different every night and every noon. There’s a new movie on a big screen every day, seven days of the week, plus concerts and talks. Last Monday, I watched the 49ers beat the Jets on a big screen. I also saw Hitchcock’s Dial M for Muder.

It’s a luxury and a privilege to live here. I'm thankful for my pension that makes it possible.

I have met two-dozen or so residents and have made friends with seven or eight of them, most in their 90s, most mentally alert and physically frail, hard of hearing and reliant on canes and walkers. The director and the head chef are men, so this place can't really be called a matriarchy, though women do set the tone of serenity and practice good manners which are contagious. Arthur, who sits in a wheelchair at meals, will celebrate his 100th birthday in November. He remembers more than a dozen U.S. presidents, all men: Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Nixon, Ford, Reagan, the Bushes, father and son, Clinton, Obama, and Biden. FDR was his favorite. Does the U.S. have a problem with gender? It would seem so.

Arthur and the other elderly men and elderly women in this hotel/dormitory have lived through wars and revolutions in Europe and Asia, as well as depressions and recessions in the US. Several survived fascism. A few of the residents rarely emerge from their apartments, but most residents come out for meals, conversations, events and films. It would be challenging to feel isolated, lonely and alienated here, though I’m sure that masochists and nihilists could talk themselves into states of alienation and loneliness.

If everyone, especially the old and the elderly, had the opportunity to live in a dormitory/hotel like the one where I live, they would probably not feel lost and lonely, at least not for long. Someone would come knocking on their door and invite them to come out and play. That’s what happens here. I’m not allowed to hide and sulk and that’s a good thing.

Slash the military budget the residents say and build housing that will bring people together in communities that will undermine the epidemic of loneliness that blankets the nation and that some have said is worse than the pandemic itself.

On September 10th almost all of the residents watched the debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, the candidate who would like to turn the US into a country for old white men like himself, preferably wealthy, and definitely conservative. The residents here were jazzed by the debate. They think that Kamala came out the winner, but they’re worried and rightfully so about a Trump presidency. They believe he’ll try to wreck the government and become even more dictatorial than he was when he was president.

Kamala Harris might not win this time around, but in many ways, residents say, she represents the future, or at least a possible future, which is bound to be multi-ethnic. We are not yet only a country for old white men, so say the elderly men and elderly women in this facility, though we’re coming dangerously close.

My fellow residents believe that a vote for Trump is a vote for fossilized old white men. A vote for Harris is a vote for the future, they tell me. I know that some of my friends will argue about that. They’ll point out Harris’s flaws and faults of which there are many. True, we don’t know everything about her, as they insist, but we do know that she’s a woman, a person of color and that she’s brave enough to defy an old white man bound for the grave.

WILLIE BROWN, ART AGNOS AND FRANK JORDAN ON WHAT THEY’RE LOOKING FOR IN S.F.’S NEXT MAYOR

by Carolyn Stein

One former San Francisco mayor said his most daunting challenge was confronting homelessness — a task made more difficult by a major earthquake. The issue got the better of him and every successive mayor.

Another said he faced a huge budget deficit that required difficult decisions from his first day in office. That scenario doesn’t sound so different from today.

And yet another former mayor said there’s nothing to be gained looking backward, arguing that the power of San Francisco’s top elected official has been so diminished as to make the job much more difficult than when he had it.

With a highly contested mayoral campaign under way, the Chronicle spoke with three of San Francisco’s ex-mayors — each of whom supports a different candidate — to better understand how their experiences can inform today’s race. We found that while San Francisco leaders face many new and unprecedented issues — from an opioid crisis that has claimed thousands of lives to mass downtown office vacancies and shuttering retailers and restaurants — there are similar challenges as well, like homelessness.

In many ways, the three men couldn’t be more different.

Mayoral debate: On Sept. 19, the Chronicle and KQED are hosting an S.F. mayoral debate with the leading candidates. Click here to register for the livestream.

Art Agnos came to San Francisco from a small town in Massachusetts as a social worker yearning for the experience of life in a world-class city — both of which informed his time as mayor. He’s supporting Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin for mayor.

Frank Jordan is a native San Franciscan who promised to be a “citizen mayor” after years of serving in the city’s police department. He thinks philanthropist and nonprofit founder Daniel Lurie is the best fit for the job.

Willie Brown arrived in San Francisco from rural Texas at 17 and rose to become California’s first Black speaker of the Assembly before being elected mayor in 1995 for the first of two terms. His voice in the city’s politics remains powerful even now. He’s backing Mayor London Breed in November’s election.

These are the highlights of the Chronicle’s interviews:

Art Agnos

Agnos says that serving as mayor of San Francisco from 1988 to 1992 was the toughest job he ever held — more difficult than his job as a social worker for the San Francisco Housing Authority and his 12 years as a member of the California State Assembly.

“I got elected at a horrible time,” said Agnos, now 86, noting that he had to deal with a major recession when he was mayor. “I had to raise taxes, cut services, lay off workers — and in my first year.”

And the economic issues were only one factor Agnos had to deal with. He was also grappling with homelessness, approaching the issue as more than a temporary emergency, which was common at the time, he said. Agnos unveiled his pioneering “Beyond Shelter” homeless plan his first year in office — the first major piece of policy to treat homelessness as a long-term issue in San Francisco and call for moving the homeless into permanent housing. But his vision for Beyond Shelter never fully materialized.

Finding more long-term housing for the homeless proved to be difficult, Agnos said, since most people did not want the formerly homeless to move into their neighborhoods.

“If you take some mentally ill person who’s defecating in the middle of the street, or someone who’s passed out from alcoholism and can’t get up, they don’t want 30 of them living next door,” Agnos said.

As a result, Agnos says, economically disadvantaged areas such as the Tenderloin were the main places he could house the formerly homeless, “because that was the place where you could build and put a place for mentally ill drug addicts or alcoholics and nobody would complain.”

As a result, “we, all of us — every mayor since me — overloaded the Tenderloin, and look at what a mess it is,” he said.

There were other unexpected issues that got in the way of Agnos’ homeless plan.

“The mayoralty is often about crises,” Agnos said. “There are always surprises that no one or no experience can prepare you for, like an earthquake.”

He meant the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake that left thousands of people homeless, some of whom flocked to Civic Center Plaza to set up tents.

San Franciscans grew frustrated with the sight, and the press dubbed the scene at Civic Center “Camp Agnos.”

The mayor ordered a sweep of the tents several months later.

But it wasn’t enough. Voters — tired of the homeless and dirty street conditions — chose Jordan to replace him.

Agnos thinks his plan was the best piece of policy to address homelessness. He regrets not doing more to educate the public about it.

He thinks the city doesn’t have enough resources to help all the homeless and the state government should step up.

He supports reopening and repurposing state hospitals closed decades ago to take in unhoused people who are struggling with mental health and substance abuse issues.

Agnos said being mayor is still as challenging as it’s ever been. He argues Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin is best suited to tackle those challenges. The two, who have known each other since the late 1990s, are close.

Amid the city’s troubles, Agnos remains optimistic about the future of San Francisco.

“This city is a beautiful city. It offers such great opportunities to people to be who they want to be with whomever they want to be with — and they can pursue their dreams,” Agnos said. “You can’t do that everywhere in America, or the world. But San Francisco has always offered that promise.”

Frank Jordan

If Jordan were to become mayor again, his first days in office would look similar to his early days 30 years ago.

When he took over in 1992, he ordered each department to cut 10% of its budget and implemented a hiring and wage freeze to deal with a huge budget deficit. By the end of his reign in 1996, the number of employees at City Hall dropped from around 27,000 to 25,000.

It was a tough decision, the 89-year-old recalled, but that’s what being mayor is all about. Now, as San Francisco faces its own budget shortfalls, he wants to see tough decisions made.

“The first thing I would do is have a complete audit of every department and city government on my first day in office,” he said. Jordan thinks that San Francisco’s city workforce should be smaller than the current head count of about 34,000.

Scandals in City Hall involving nonprofits only add to his concerns, especially the charges of wage theft, embezzlement and misappropriation of public funds against the executive director of nonprofit San Francisco SAFE, which acted as the nonprofit wing of the police department.

“That was a wonderful program during my day in the police department and as mayor, that was a safety awareness for everyone,” Jordan said. “Now, an excellent program during my time has to be abandoned.”

Homelessness is also a grave concern to Jordan. During his time in office, he championed a program that relied on police officers to force homeless people from the streets into health services and housing, though he wished it had more long-term facilities to offer. Critics say the program needlessly criminalized the homeless, but Jordan has no regrets.

Unless the courts step in to mandate more conservatorships that would force more homeless people to receive long-term medical treatment, he said, meaningful progress on this issue won’t be made.

“I know everybody talks about freedom of the individual, but you have to look at quality of life and public safety, too,” Jordan said.

He believes Lurie is the best candidate for the job of mayor today. Lurie’s business experience and previous work with the homeless through his nonprofit Tipping Point Community show a willingness to creatively tackle entrenched issues, he said.

“That’s what I’m looking for, bold leadership and a vision for the future,” Jordan said.

Although Jordan looks back on his time in office favorably, the results of his mayoralty weren’t enough to sway voters to give him a second term. He lost his reelection bid to Willie Brown and attributes the loss to Brown’s extensive political career and extravagant promises to voters.

Willie Brown

Brown made it clear from the start of his conversation with the Chronicle that he didn’t want to draw on his time as mayor to make statements about today’s challenges.

“I don’t know if I could say what would be best,” Brown said. “The world has dramatically changed.”

That includes the job itself, which he held from 1996 to 2004.

“When I served as mayor of San Francisco, I had real power,” said Brown, now 90. That power included full authority to appoint people to commissions with little confirmation needed from supervisors. After he left office, the Board of Supervisors gained more power in the executive decision-making process, he lamented.

Brown thinks that the board currently has too much say over appointments and pronouncements, an argument also made by Breed, whom Brown is supporting for reelection. Prop D on the November ballot would give the mayor more power over commissions and department heads, while a competing measure, Prop E, would put commission reform in the hands of a task force that would make recommended changes.

Critics argue that the mayor has plenty of power, with control over most of the city budget, the police department and numerous commissions.

Like the mayors before him, Brown had hopes of dramatically reducing homelessness when he took office. But after ramping up the creation of supportive housing and other assistance and seeing no end to the crisis, he famously declared that the issue “may not be solvable.” He still feels that way and argues much of the homeless issue is too deeply rooted in mental health, substance abuse and poverty for one city to address on its own.

The increase in sweeping homeless camps in the wake of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in June is a move in the right direction, he said. Brown would like to see an increase in shelter beds, and more affordable housing. He would also like to see more people with addiction and mental health issues forced into treatment, but isn’t optimistic that will happen because of pushback from civil liberties groups, which argue that compelling people into treatment violates people’s rights and doesn’t work.

As for the city’s “doom loop” downtown, Brown said: It “does not exist.”

If people want to revive downtown, Brown said, investors need to get creative and be willing to risk their money. He predicts that by the end of 2025, downtown will spring back from its slump, but experts think it will take much longer for a full economic recovery. Regardless, Brown is confident that downtown will come roaring back.

“I trust the American entrepreneur to get a return on his or her investment in every way, and they will, believe me,” Brown said.

(SF Chronicle)

A PHONY STORY ABOUT DUCKS

While fact-checkers descend on Ohio, a brief reminder about a strange episode

by Matt Taibbi

The world is mad about ducks. Newspapers and fact-checking organizations are zeroing in on Springfield, Ohio, site of what the BBC calls a “baseless claim about Haitian immigrants eating pets.” California congressman Eric Swallwell delivered an impressive rant at the House GOP for retweeting a “Trump will save the ducks” meme, and the unreliable news specter has been deemed scary enough for National Security Council spokesman John Kirby to decry a “dangerous conspiracy theory.”

I’ll wait until ten million reporters finish the inevitable colonoscopy of the Springfield area to weigh in on that controversy, but it seemed an appropriate time to mention another fake news story about ducks that got less ink and aroused far less outrage, perhaps because it was attributed to the director of the CIA…

https://www.racket.news/p/a-phony-story-about-ducks

JACK JOHNSON

The third of nine children, Johnson, was born to former enslaved parents Henry and Tina Johnson. Although Jack’s father had an atrophied right leg from his service in the Civil War, Jack described him as the “most perfect physical specimen that he had ever seen.”

After only five years of schooling, Jack went to work at the local docks. In a pattern seen again and again by physical culture legends, Jack found a mentor. After taking a job at a race track in Dallas, a carriage painter named Walter Lewis introduced Jack to boxing. Johnson also found another mentor when he moved to Manhattan and shared housing with the legendary welterweight boxer, Barbados Joe Walcott. Working as a janitor at a gym, Jack saved enough to buy two pairs of boxing gloves. This allowed him to spar whenever he could.

Johnson’s official debut as a pro boxer occurred on November 1, 1898, in Galveston, Texas, with a knockout victory. At the turn of the century, prize fighting was illegal in some states, and Johnson ended up in jail on account of some of his early matches. One such instance was Johnson’s fight against Joe Choynski in Galveston, Texas. Not only did Johnson lose the bout, but professional boxing was against the law in Texas, and both fighters ended up in jail without the means to cover their bail. The sheriff made an arrangement with the boxers. They could go home at night, as long as they had sparring sessions in the jail cell. These sessions generated large crowds, and from the experience, and with Choynski’s instruction, Jack learned a lot about the intricacies of defense in the ring. Later, this would become a trademark element of Johnson’s boxing style.

In 1903, Jack won the World Colored Heavyweight Championship. On December 26, 1908, Johnson broke racial barriers and carved new roads by winning the world heavyweight title. When he successfully defended the title in 1910 against James Jeffries in the “Fight of the Century,” the victory resulted in riots across the country.

For the duration of his life, Jack was involved with a number of successful business and endorsement deals. He also continued to fight. He took his last exhibition match at 67 years of age.

JILL STEIN FOR PRESIDENT

(Position/Issue)

No: Abortion and Reproductive Health: Do you support the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade?

"Democrats failed to codify Roe for 50 years and women across the country are paying an unbearable price. The GOP attacks reproductive rights and the DNC uses them for fundraising. We will pass them into law." (x.com)

USA Today "She has also criticized Democratic officials for failing to codify the protections provided by Roe v. Wade into law when they controlled both chambers of Congress and the White House from January 2021 to January 2023." (www.usatoday.com)

Yes: Budget, Spending, and Taxes: Do you support expanding federal funding to support social safety net programs such as Social Security and Medicare?
Unknown Position: Budget, Spending, and Taxes: Do you support a decrease in income taxes in order to balance the budget?
Yes: Budget, Spending, and Taxes: Do you support a wealth tax in order to pay for public programs?
Yes: Campaign Finance: Do you support the regulation of indirect campaign contributions from corporations, unions, and individuals?
Yes: Crime & Public Safety: Do you support protecting government officials, including law enforcement officers, from personal liability in civil lawsuits concerning alleged misconduct?
No: Defense: Do you support increasing defense spending?
Yes: Economy: Do you support federal spending as a means of promoting economic growth (e.g. grants, tax incentives)?
Yes: Economy: Do you support the federal government increasing funding for affordable housing programs?
Unknown Position: Economy: Do you support the federal government taking action, beyond those of the Federal Reserve, to alleviate inflation?
Yes: Education: Do you support the forgiveness of federal student loan debt?
No: Elections: Do you support requiring a government-issued identification in order to vote at the polls?
Yes: Energy & Environment: Do you support government funding for the development of renewable energy (e.g. solar, wind, geo-thermal)?
No: Energy & Environment: Do you support the federal government allowing permits for drilling on public lands?
Yes: Guns: Do you generally support gun-control legislation (e.g. red flag laws, boyfriend loopholes)?
Yes: Health Care: Do you support a government-run (e.g. single-payer) healthcare program, such as Medicare-for-All?
Yes: Health Care: Do you support expanding paid family and/or medical leave benefits (e.g. maternity leave)?
Yes: Health Care: Should the government be able to regulate the cost of prescription drugs?
Yes: Immigration: Do you support increasing security along the southern US border?
No: Immigration: Do you support requiring immigrants to return to their country of origin before they are eligible for citizenship, regardless of their immigration status?
No: National Security: Do you support economic intervention as a means of resolving international conflicts?
No: National Security: Do you support the US providing increased offensive military aid to Ukraine?
Unknown Position: Technology and Communication: Do you generally support increased regulations on social media companies (e.g. Tik Tok, Facebook, etc.)?

(USA Today)

THE VOTES AND WHO COUNTS THEM

by James Kunstler

“The world is a dangerous place to live — not because of the people who are evil but because of the people who don’t do anything about it.” —Albert Einstein

When The New York Times tells you that the United States Constitution is a threat to democracy — As it did on the front page of its August 31 edition — you know that you are in thrall to exceedingly subtle minds. The Times only employs persons, both birthing and other, of the subtlest minds. You can tell because they are credentialed by our country’s finest institutions of educational credentialing.

They come to The Times fully equipped with the armamentarium of advanced, progressive, innovative, nuanced, cutting-edge modes of understanding our world — which, you’ll agree, is a pretty goshdurned complex place, and rather niggardly in yielding its secret workings. Hence, The Times has concluded that the Constitution is flawed, perhaps fatally, because it allowed for the election of Donald Trump once, and now, possibly, a second time:

"It’s no surprise, then, that liberals charge Trump with being a menace to the Constitution. But his presidency and the prospect of his re-election have also generated another, very different, argument: that Trump owes his political ascent to the Constitution, making him a beneficiary of a document that is essentially antidemocratic and, in this day and age, increasingly dysfunctional.”

The Constitution does not stipulate a particular election day, but subsequent US law established the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November as the day for federal elections (the states can establish their own election dates for state and local offices). This changed beginning in the year 2000, when Oregon legislated to conduct all elections by mail-in ballot and other states followed with alterations to voting methods beyond a single election day. The Covid-19 pandemic prompted states to permanently relax rules on absentee ballots and expand mail-in voting, under guidance from the federal agencies such as the CDC, while the CARES Act of 2020 provided emergency funding to implement procedures for mail-in voting in order to reduce in-person voting that might enable the spread of Covid-19.

All of that followed orderly legislative procedure. The result was widespread ballot fraud, especially in crucial swing voting districts, much of it arrant. Contrary to official narratives out of the “Joe Biden” administration and the salient organs of corporate news, the allegations of widespread fraud were not “baseless” nor were they “conspiracy theories.” Subtle minds schooled in nuanced, cutting-age modes of analysis agreed to ignore documentary evidence of ballot fraud because it disfavored their preferred candidate, “Joe Biden.” Subtler judicial minds subsequently dismissed challenges to official tallies.

Other shenanigans such as the $400-million that Mark Zuckerberg (Meta and Facebook) injected into swing districts for “election administration and voter turn-out,” via his Center for Tech and Civic Life (CTCL), was not adjudicated in any court. The upshot of the “Zuckerbucks” prank was that polling offiicials in many precincts were replaced by Democratic Party activists who ended up counting the votes. The Federal Election Commission (after “Joe Biden” became president) decided that under federal campaign finance law, the contributions were not seen as illegal — though the “Zuckerbucks” scandal did lead to legislative reform in several states.

You might suppose in the years since the 2020 election that opportunity would be seized to materially correct the weaknesses of mail-in ballots, early voting, ballot “harvesting” practices, giant “balloting centers,” and the use of vote-tallying machines (Dominion, etc.) with modems allowing for Internet hackery. The best and simplest reform would be a return to paper ballots cast only on one election day, with voter ID and proof of citizenship (accomplished prior in voter registration), conducted in smaller, distributed precinct polling places that make hand-counting of ballots practical. Alas, this was too difficult for Congress, while the subtle, nuanced, cutting-edge minds working in news media were not interested in such straightforward reform and did not advocate for it.

Rather, the news media advocated for further laxity in voting rules. And so, now they are actually arguing about whether it is desirable for non-citizens to vote. The “Joe Biden” administration allowed at least 10-million people to enter the country illegally since 2021 and have gotten a million or more of them registered to vote via motor-voter laws — automatic registration when an illegal alien gets a driver’s license, and ditto when they apply for various social services. Alejandro Mayorkas’s Department of Homeland Security has shrewdly distributed large numbers of these illegal aliens into swing districts of states crucial to the Democratic Party’s election chances.

The inquiring mind is prompted to wonder whether it is the US Constitution that is a “menace to democracy” or the Democratic Party. Mr. Trump is issuing communiqués on “X” (Twitter) that his party is paying special attention to voting fraud in the current election, with imputations of very severe punishment to cheaters and fraudsters. You might think that the Kamala Harris campaign would declare likewise. I expect Mr. Trump will put the proposition to her in their Tuesday debate.

Note to readers: My regular website, www.kunstler.com, is down Monday morning (hacked? dunno) and I have no estimate as to when it might go back up. So today only I am allowing comments here on Substack. . . and when my home site is back up, we’ll return to the usual commenting procedure there.

THE REAL LOSER OF TRUMP VS HARRIS DEBATE: Kamala has no plan to lead; Donald has no will to fight and, America will suffer for it

by Maureen Callahan

Only one person seemed presidential on that debate stage and it wasn't Donald Trump.

Yes: Kamala Harris, she of the cackly word salad, wiped the floor with the former president. She has moved with the times, going from 'brat' to 'demure' with ease.

She glowed. Her hair was glossy, her make-up perfection, her suiting impeccable.

Trump, by contrast, glowered. He made Harris cross the stage to shake his hand, then pouted from behind his podium, eyebrows low and heavy, posture slumped.

Trump, suddenly, has become Joe Biden. Gone was the warrior of the assassination attempt, fist in the air, blood on his face, shouting, 'Fight, fight, fight!'

His fight, it seems, is long gone. Trump is now the old, out-of-touch guy who can't get it together, who couldn't formulate a cogent thought, whose every utterance was suffused with anger and grievance.

He looked angry. He barely acknowledged Harris as he ranted wild claims about 'migrants eating pets' and abortion providers killing live babies.

This is how bad the debate was: Kamala Harris offered no real specifics, save a few bullet points from her ostensible 'opportunity economy', yet won handily.

Indeed, Trump had competition for the biggest loser on Tuesday — him or the United States.

For now, Harris is on a glide path to the presidency, without telling anyone what she plans to do with it.

Her abject inability to articulate a solution for Israel was, perhaps, most telling.

She began her answer with one of her go-to time delays, eating up precious seconds with gratuitous verbiage.

'Let's understand how we got here', she said, pedantically reminding us that 'a terrorist organization' known as Hamas attacked Israel on October 7.

'Israel has a right to defend itself, and how it does so matters', she said.

Her plan for peace?

'This war must end and the way it will end is we need a cease-fire deal and the hostages out'.

Okay, then. Simple as that. Oh — and Harris then said she'd work out a two-state solution, which finer minds than hers have tried and failed to effectuate for decades.

Harris was not pressed for specifics, here or otherwise, by ABC moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis, who otherwise fact-checked Donald Trump in real time. Nor was 'full disclosure' offered regarding Kamala's best friend Dana Walden, a top Disney exec who oversees ABC News.

How is this fair to the electorate?

Trump, meanwhile, was pure grievance and all id. Harris was thoroughly prepared for whatever came her way, and her response as Trump slammed her and her father as Marxists — hand on her chin, eyes lighting up, a bemused smile — suggests she got great training in stagecraft from a Hollywood A-team.

Her bar was admittedly low. All Harris had to do was sound serious, speak cogently — actual content a far distant second — and keep her cool. It was Kennedy v. Nixon for the internet age, and Harris was Kennedy: comparatively youthful, hopeful, and forward-looking.

Trump was about the past: The people he fired in the White House, the election he still claims he won, the turncoats who wrote tell-all books about him, the credit he still doesn't get for handling the pandemic, his economy, his foreign policy.

'Move forward', Harris said. 'Turn the page on the same old tired rhetoric. The American people are exhausted'.

She has a point. And in the only metric that may truly matter (I'm kidding, sort of), Taylor Swift endorsed Kamala less than one hour after the debate ended.

'Like many of you, I watched the debate tonight', Swift wrote on Instagram. 'I'm voting for @kamalaharris . . . I think she is a steady-handed, gifted leader and I believe we can accomplish so much more in this country if we are led by calm and not chaos'.

Her sign-off: 'Childless Cat Lady'. Meow!

But that is, in fact, what viewers saw: a composed, serious Harris versus a crazy-sounding Trump. And for the record, neither Trump nor Harris had specifics.

Harris: 'Let's talk about our plans. Let's compare plans. I have a plan'.

That plan remains unknown.

Trump, when asked if he had a plan to replace Obamacare: 'I have concepts of a plan'.

Pathetic, both of them. But Harris at least prepped hard for this debate. Trump rolled in clearly unprepared, as if he had this election in the bag, calling her (and Biden) 'weak and stupid'.

Not a good look in a post-Roe election cycle, female voters activated as never before.

In another blow for Trump, Melania didn't even show – while Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff was there to greet Harris at a post-debate watch party.

Women often decide elections. According to the Center for American Women and Politics, in every presidential race since 1996, most women have voted Democrat. Kamala Harris just gave them confidence that she can do this job — optically, cosmetically, in tone and tenor if not substance.

But that's the state of our politics, and we have only ourselves to blame.

This debate begs one existential question: Does Trump even want to win? His listless, agitated performance suggests not.

Perhaps he is defeated by the lawfare, by his looming post-election sentencing in New York, by the media bias on display at this very debate, and by the assassination attempt that came very close to killing him.

'We're a fading nation . . . in serious decline', he ranted. 'We're laughed at all over the world. We're not a leader . . . We're going to end up in a third world war'.

Harris, by contrast, focused on futurism in her closing remarks. 'What I do offer', she said, 'is a new generation of leadership' — a refreshing idea in our current gerontocracy.

America, she said, is 'a leader' that 'shows strength', and she posited herself as a candidate 'who believes in optimism'.

And after this debate, Harris was feeling extremely optimistic. Rather than take the win and go back to the metaphorical basement, her team quickly issued a challenge to Trump.

'Vice President Harris is ready for a second debate', her campaign chair said in a statement. 'Is Donald Trump?'

Harris indisputably had a great night. America did not.

THE MOST COVETED ENDORSEMENT of them all (285 million fans online)

DNC TALKING POINTS BECOME INSTANT POST-DEBATE HEADLINES

In the Trump-Harris debate, reality proved easy to manufacture. Was it always like this?

by Matt Taibbi

“Tuesday night, Vice President Harris commanded the stage,” began the DNC’s “Talkers’ Toplines” mailing list entry this morning.

“Kamala Harris commanded the debate,” analyst John Heileman said on Morning Joe. “Kamala Harris commanded the first debate against Donald J. Trump,” read the opening line of the New York Times top debate story. “Harris commanded the room from the moment she walked on stage,” California governor Gavin Newsom told the Los Angeles Times. The pattern continued…

https://www.racket.news/p/boom-dnc-talking-points-become-instant

‘YOU DIE HERE, OR YOU LEAVE”

by Selma Dabbagh

“Let’s for a minute imagine a world without Hamas,” the surgeon-turned-satirist Bassem Youssef said to Piers Morgan on October 17, 2023. “What will this world look like? Let’s give this world a name, and let’s name this world the West Bank.” On August 28, Israel launched a ground and air attack on the northern West Bank. As an editorial in Haaretz put it, “Israel has decided to turn the West Bank into the Gaza Strip.”

With the military onslaught came images of medical staff rounded up, hospitals besieged, ambulances and paramedics stopped, cities and refugee camps sealed off, roads destroyed, water, fuel and electricity supplies cut. Israeli occupation forces were reported to have killed twenty Palestinians in Jenin in two days. They took over people’s homes and positioned snipers on the roofs of buildings. Mass arrests and abuse of detainees were filmed by residents. The human rights organisation al-Haq has shown footage of the destruction of the eastern part of the city by Israeli bulldozers. Again, as in Gaza, the targets are mainly refugees of 1948 and 1967 and their descendants, in Jenin, al-Faraa and Nur Shams refugee camps.

In June, according to the Washington Institute, 41% of West Bankers expressed support for Hamas, compared to 12% the previous September. In July, Israeli authorities approved the largest seizures of occupied West Bank territory in decades, making 2024, according to the Israeli organization Peace Now, “by far the peak year for Israeli land seizures in the West Bank.”

I have been told that men in Gaza are joining the armed resistance because “at least that way they will be fed.” If the justification for the Israeli assault on Gaza and its young population was the destruction of Hamas, then that has quite clearly not only failed, but was fallacious from the outset. The intention becomes clearer by the minute. On August 30, the Israeli government appointed a permanent governor for Gaza, “a chief Gaza officer” for “years and years to come.”

The same day, Ahmed Tobasi, the creative director of the Jenin Freedom Theatre, described the situation in Jenin to Democracy Now:

“You hear the drones very close. The vehicles all around, the bombing by time to time. It’s again the scene repeating itself again and again and we don’t know what is the end, how long it will go on, what we should do? Obviously, the Israelis want to tell the communities, the civilians of these areas, you have only two choices: you die here, or you leave.”

According to the Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem, more than a thousand Palestinians in the West Bank have been forcibly evicted from their homes since last October, under cover of the war in Gaza. B’Tselem documented more than 130 incidents of settler violence in the West Bank this year before the invasion on August 28 (with a reminder that “Settler Violence = State Violence’). In a period of just over a fortnight this summer, four Palestinian landowners were arrested after settlers invaded their orchard near Jerusalem (July 27); masked settlers sexually harassed a Palestinian in the South Hebron Hills (August 4) while their cows ate his crops; a soldier harassed Palestinian residents and assaulted an Israeli activist (August 10); twelve families were driven out of Khirbet Um al-Jamal in the Jordan Valley (August 12).

A video posted on August 26 shows Alice Kisiyia, a Palestinian from Beit Jala, standing in front of her land, which Israeli settlers have taken over and fenced off from her. They sit at her family table, behind a fence, as she speaks:

“So these are the settlers who came here yesterday. This is our land registration. In the court the judge said it is official … This proves that this is our land… We ask for all free people to come and watch these people sitting here at our table eating on our land. I am requesting every human and advocate to come and help us and stand with us. Thank you.”

One of Gaza’s most popular vloggers, Mohammed (Medo) Halimy, planted a peppermint cutting in a tin can. “They create death, so we will create life,” he said, asking his viewers for gardening tips. He was killed in an airstrike on August 30 while on the beach with friends. A girl who makes upbeat cooking videos with what little food is available smiles as she says that she doesn’t want to complain, but it is impossible to keep yourself clean in Gaza, there is no shampoo, no soap or anything and she has these sores on her neck that burn. A man standing next to a crater five stories deep says it is as though an earthquake has hit Khan Younis. An earthquake would be a blessing in comparison.

Meanwhile in Britain, a group called UK Lawyers for Israel asked the General Medical Council to suspend Dr. Ghassan Abu Sitta’s license to practice. All charges against Ghassan were rejected by the GMC tribunal. The English translations of his tweets in Arabic were found to be inaccurate and Facebook accounts presented as belonging to him were found to belong to other parties. Since he went to work at al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza in October, his family has been harassed in London by the police and he was detained on arriving in Germany, where he had been invited to speak at a conference. The travel ban imposed by the German authorities – which has since been overturned by the courts – also meant that Ghassan was denied entry to France, where he had been invited to speak to the Senate.

Ghassan has given evidence to the International Criminal Court on the situation in Gaza and his experience as a doctor working there. When he returned to the UK last November he gave a press conference. “On one night I performed amputations on six children,” he said. “Members of the medical staff and nursing staff at Shifa hospital would be running frantically in the emergency department, looking at the faces of the wounded and the dead, to see whether their children had been among the dead and the wounded.” He described ambulances on fire and patients with high-velocity sniper injuries, including mothers and children. As supplies dwindled he had to operate without anaesthetic, in one case on a nine-year-old girl.

By May, according to the UN, 24 hospitals in Gaza were out of service and 493 health workers had been killed. “Each medical center or humanitarian delivery system has been or is being destroyed,” Médecins sans Frontières reported, “to be replaced by less effective, improvised options.” Now people are saying on X that all 36 hospitals have been destroyed. It is hard to verify reports as Israel won’t allow foreign journalists into Gaza.

“The level of suffering we are witnessing in Gaza is unprecedented in my mandate as secretary general of the United Nations,” Antonio Guterres said Monday. “I’ve never seen such a level of death and destruction as we are seeing in Gaza in the last few months.” And what he is seeing is a small fraction of the reality on the ground, communicated by exhausted, starving Palestinian journalists and humanitarian aid workers.

The ten-day assault by Israeli forces on villages and cities in the northern occupied West Bank killed dozens of people, including children. On Friday, September 6, Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi, a US citizen, was shot dead by Israeli forces at a protest against the expansion of illegal settlements in Beita, near Nablus. A US State Department spokesman said on Monday that the US government would not carry out an independent investigation but will wait for the results of an Israeli inquiry.

“The civil defense spent the whole night searching but entire families were buried under the rubble or under the sand after this bombing,” Bisan Owda reported yesterday from the Mawasi “safe zone” in south Gaza. There were three craters, nine metere (30 feet) deep. “They found 40 dead bodies … A lot of people are missing.” A boy tells Owda that his mother woke him up to take him away in the night, that he saw body parts and severed heads. She continues:

“You need to know after all of this destruction the Israeli representatives and military spokesman said that they took all the procedures to protect civilians and to minimize the deaths between civilians. If they took all procedures and this is the result, just — I don’t want to imagine what would be the result if they did not take any procedures or try to protect the civilians.”

53 Comments

Bob Abeles September 12, 2024

Kunstler writes: “My regular website, (link redacted), is down Monday morning (hacked? dunno) and I have no estimate as to when it might go back up.”

A fine moment to bring out Hanlon’s razor:
Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.

Reply
- Zanzibar to Andalusia September 12, 2024
  
  The only possible response to Kunstler:
  
  OK Boomer
  
  (with apologies to 90% of the commenters here)
  
  Reply
Jurgen Stoll September 12, 2024

The real threat to democracy is the outright lies that Kunstler pushes as fact, like “the widespread voter fraud” in the past election due to mail in ballots. Bull fucking shit! Prove it! How about fact checking this asshole?!

Reply
- Bruce Anderson September 12, 2024
  
  It seems to me, Mr. Stoll, there’s a two-pronged attack on democracy, one from the Trumpian right, one from the putative libs of the Democrat type, the latter having maintained a fake president in office for four years, removing that figurehead for another figurehead in Kamala, all that occurring outside all known democratic practices. As for Kunstler, Let a hundred flowers bloom! (Quick! Who said that?)
  
  Reply
  - Jurgen Stoll September 12, 2024
    
    ‘A false equivalence or false equivalency is an informal fallacy in which an equivalence is drawn between two subjects based on flawed or false reasoning. This fallacy is categorized as a fallacy of inconsistency. Colloquially, a false equivalence is often called “comparing apples and oranges.”
    
    Reply
    - Jurgen Stoll September 12, 2024
      
      For all their fakeness, I have not seen the dems try to suppress the vote, turn the presidency into a dictatorship, or come up with a plan written by a bunch of lunatic fascists to turn our country into a white christian right wing theocracy, like Urban’s Hungary. If the dems can’t win on policy they don’t deserve to rule, that goes for both parties. But quit with the lying about mail in ballots and a lost election from fraudulent voting.
      
      Reply
    - George Hollister September 12, 2024
      
      Bruce is more correct than he knows, and no logical fallacy is apparent. Apples, and oranges can both get rotten from the same fungus.
      
      Reply
MAGA Marmon September 12, 2024

Supervisor Mulheren said the issue should be addressed by the famously ineffectual multi-multi-agency “Continuum of Care,” the center of the “homeless economy”

Mo is running scared for her CoC friends. She and her friends are responsible for creating the mess in the first place, so she believes that everyone should step aside and mind their own business (including the BoS). Leave it to the experts, right?

MAGA Marmon

P.S. I hope Kunstler gets his website back up soon.

Reply
MAGA Marmon September 12, 2024

Obamala’s crisp comments during the debate may have wowed the media, but not so the voters. Polls show that the undecided and independents were not impressed at all.

MAGA Marmon

Reply
- Zanzibar to Andalusia September 12, 2024
  
  I kinda liked Trump’s short-lived “Kamalbla,” but I think Kablahblah is better.
  
  Of course, KaMAGA is more accurate.
  
  My favorite for Obama was O-bomb-ya. He once told his aides that he’s “really good at killing people”
  
  Reply
Norm Thurston September 12, 2024

Congratulations to Jose on his retirement from the hot dog stand. If my memory is correct, the late Gil Mossi manned that station for a number of years, too.

Reply
Gale September 12, 2024

I am hoping that Bruce Broderick’s mention of the Fort Bragg hospice situation will result in a discussion that provides clarity for those of us who have been wondering about it for a long time. I have been told a variety of things and one is that the hospice thrift store is, and has been, a really huge income producer.

Reply
Harvey Reading September 12, 2024

https://consortiumnews.com/2024/09/12/belated-reporting-on-oct-7-helps-justify-genocide/

Well, well, well. Whadda shock…the Zionists prove they are nothing but low-life savages. But, that makes the US guvamint love them even more…especially dear Kamala. Makes me even more ashamed of “my” putrid guvamint, an entity that loves to slaughter people and loves to support others who do do the same..

Reply
- Zanzibar to Andalusia September 12, 2024
  
  Is “low-life savage” better or worse than “subhuman scum?”
  
  Asking for a friend.
  
  Reply
  - Harvey Reading September 12, 2024
    
    About the same as far as as I’m concerned.
    
    Reply
Mazie Malone September 12, 2024

Mendo Matters……
Well interesting the money spent on the problems of homelessness, mental illness and addiction should transparent, itemized and accounted for. Demanding Ukiah adopt the CRU program is ridiculous it is unnecessary for Ukiah, Fort Bragg is a smaller population easier to serve the people in need. What would be nice is to have proper protocols and interventions that can be done with the services we have in place where the money is already being spent. Also money would be better spent on CIT trained officers, collaboration of services and actual appropriate intervention and housing.

Did the CRU receive funding from County for the person they just hired, or is the city paying her salary? As I understood the funding was about to run out and they would be submitting request for funding to county.

mm 💕

Reply
- MAGA Marmon September 12, 2024
  
  On a positive note, when Trump wins in November he will hopefully bring back his former homeless Czar, Robert Marbut. Things were just about to happen before Covid (the China virus) derailed his plans.
  
  MAGA Marmon
  
  Reply
  - Bruce Anderson September 12, 2024
    
    Hah! Trump nutted up on national tv the other night, and he’ll be a full-on loon by election day, the only question being how many Magas are as crazy as he is to vote for him.
    
    Reply
  - Zanzibar to Andalusia September 12, 2024
    
    Laughable. He did nothing – perhaps just a ‘concept of a plan.’
    
    Marbut’s top priority is stopping the distribution of food. In two prior homelessness relief ventures, his rules included forcing people to sleep outside – regardless of weather – and in the second venture the outdoor sleeping punishment included being confined – against their will – in a fenced off outdoor ‘penalty box.’
    
    Homelessness has been a persistent mass problem since the mid-1980s, when Reagan and Thatcher’s brand of Neoliberalism took hold. Today, the Democrats are the standard bearers of Neoliberalism. Not one single person in either party has a human heart.
    
    Reply
  - Mike J September 12, 2024
    
    There are now reports/allegations that DJT has been co habituating with Laura Loomer with Melania staying in NYC. I noticed DJT’s left hand is vacant of any ring. This may be an interesting possible new development? (I see only as a certain fact that Loomer was on his plane with him yesterday.)
    
    Ipsos/Reuters and Morning Consult in their just released polls have Harris expanding her margin in both to 5%. Latest Georgia poll is 50/50 and Harris has a 1% edge in North Carolina.
    
    Reply
  - Marshall Newman September 12, 2024
    
    Plans? Trump had plans? Maybe the only good thing to come from Covid was the derailment of those “plans.”
    
    Reply
Lily Heller September 12, 2024

Cats

Delirium Trump likes to PROJECT (When someone unconsciously attributes their thoughts, feelings, or behaviors to another person, they are projecting. Example, your partner may feel jealous in your relationship but may accuse you of being jealous.

Reply
Craig Stehr September 12, 2024

Let’s just forget the whole thing and listen to classic avant garde trombone music, shall we?
https://youtu.be/XyVZOzalAAc?si=1I5EZihOme31Hm0j
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Some_Other_Stuff

Craig Louis Stehr
Adam’s Place
2210 Adams Place NE #1
Washington, D.C. 20018
Telephone: (202) 832-8317

Reply
Mazie Malone September 12, 2024

We do not need CRU because we have

Mobile Outreach & Prevention Services
Dual Crisis Response
Heads Up Project
Street Medicine

Plus all the providers of Services

SB43 was passed which changes the language of gravely disabled to help more individuals be detained on a 5150 hold which is usually first step to treatment and support, once released infrastructure and accommodations fall to the wayside, same goes for incarcerated individuals.

Prop 1 passed making it easier for families to request mandatory treatment via Court Proceedings

Medical is requiring counties to provide 24/7 Mobile Crisis Intervention Services

I know I am forgetting a program but I have a migraine today so muddy brain.

Those requesting adoption of CRU where is the funds coming from ? Measure B money???

mm 💕

Reply
- Mark Scaramella September 12, 2024
  
  Yes, we have “programs,” but 1) the frequent flyers remain unaddressed, and 2) where’s the data demonstrating their effectiveness?
  
  Reply
  - Mazie Malone September 12, 2024
    
    Also sorry I should have said … Hello Mr. Scaramella!!! 💕
    
    mm 💕
    
    Reply
- Adam Gaska September 12, 2024
  
  I disagree. I think Ft Bragg’s approach needs to be instituted county wide. Right now, CRU along with FBPD increased pressure on those unwilling to receive help and treatment are just pushed outside of Ft Bragg city limits. The CRU counselors help those willing to accept help by filling out paperwork, going to appointments and in some cases hand delivering them to a treatment program. The program itself isn’t successful because of the 3 counselors but through the coordinated effort to insist on treatment or face consequences.
  
  A part of the what has led to the situation we now face is the lack of consequences for those living on the street, abusing drugs, committing petty crimes and generally adding to the blight affecting our community. We need more effective sticks in order to make the carrots being offered more attractive than remaining on the street.
  
  This approach doesn’t address those with severe mental illness and it doesn’t need to. The CRU program goes for those low lying fruits I keep mentioning. The sooner we get those people back on the path toward self reliance or at least not being a public blight and nuisance, the more we can focus our limited resources on the more difficult cases. The more difficult cases require changes in conservatorship, places to house and care for those conserved, etc. Those changes and funding need to come at the state level.
  
  Reply
  - Mazie Malone September 12, 2024
    
    Everything the CRU does ……
    “ The CRU counselors help those willing to accept help by filling out paperwork, going to appointments and in some cases hand delivering them to a treatment program. The program itself isn’t successful because of the 3 counselors but through the coordinated effort.”
    Can be done with what we are already paying for!!!! … Adam where do you think funds should come from to implement county wide CRU? …
    
    So yes absolutely pushing people out of the way down past the city limits into County territory because they refuse assistance is a great program to adopt !!! Please give me a break …looks good though…
    
    It is not lack of consequences it is lack of appropriate treatment, housing and support you are criminalizing homelessness. People who live in homes also have Mental Illness and do drugs and get arrested! You assume people choose street life? …. Circumstances not choice …
    
    1/3 the homeless population has a Serious Mental Illness .. So a CRU absolutely must address this need and Disability !
    
    You are wrong the most difficult street cases are what you consider low lying fruit and need addressed first. Very few get conserved and that will not change besides the fact there is very little placement available for conservatorship and a long ass waif sometimes up to 2 years!!!
    
    mm 💕
    
    Reply
    - Adam Gaska September 13, 2024
      
      The funds should come frlm measure B. These are the projects it was meant for.
      
      If the program is made County wide, it makes it more consistent. People must accept the help or suffer the consequences of incarceration. If prop 37 passes, it will help by increasing penalties on petty theft and drug abuse.
      
      This isn’t criminalizing homelessness. Bei g homeless or mental ill doesn’t excuse allowing self harm to extend out into the community. Being homeless shouldn’t be a crime but shitting in the creek, fouling it with needles and being a general nuisance should be.
      
      Taking your number of 1/3 having serious mental illness means 2/3 don’t. That’s a majority. If we deal with that 2/3’s getting them back to being self reliant, it frees up resources for the remaining 1/3.
      
      Reply
      - Mazie Malone September 13, 2024
        
        Adam,
        
        Measure B funds of course you were going to say that…lol…since there are programs in place that can do what the CRU is providing it is unnecessary expenditure of Measure B funds.
        Where do you suppose all those people will accept help from? …. There are not enough treatment facilities….or housing oh right arrest those vagrants …………..put them in jail where they belong…. Criminalizing them for being unhoused!
        I agree that the trash the garbage and all that needs to be addressed and is a problem and safety hazard, giving people housing and treatment will fix that. Insisting people with severe cognitive impairments, disabilities, addiction and mental illness make a choice of Jail or treatment is again ridiculous. Not everyone on the street is making a mess and wreaking havoc. With that being said it takes weeks of commitment, care and ongoing support for someone to make a “choice” a very slow process you cannot arrest someone for not making a choice, so LE hands tied it is not against the law. My number of Serious Mental Illness is the known statistic however myself and others know it is actually higher. You have it backwards it is the sickest people my 1/3 minority is actually the majority because those are the people who cause the most problems and tie up the resources. Such as Joshua Neese who was arrested again today and Jalahn Travis who was arrested yesterday for the 100th time.
        
        mm 💕
        
        Reply
        
        Mike J September 13, 2024
        
        Obama and Holder provided a supportive brief for the eventual appeals court decision on a filing from the Iowa homeless activists.
        Their determination was that ordinances criminalizing sleeping/existing outside violated the 8th amendment of the constitution. California was covered by this ruling until the recent superseding SC decision. Politicians like London Breed and Gavin Newsom are thus now reactively responding to the unsightly and unhealthy scenes via the tough route whereas others like Karen Bass are seeking solutions that don’t demean the homeless person because of demands and complaints from the housed.
        
        There is simply a need in California for the construction of much more housing that goes hand in hand with a shift in perspectives that takes us away from regarding housing as a commodity and asset. There’s not really a barrier to enabling all humans to have their own private housing. Yet concerns over property values and a rejection of the “least among us” becoming neighbors rule the day.
        
        Many of our frequent fliers definitely need psychiatric care and involuntary holds in (now inadequately existing) facilities.
        
        Reply
- Call It As I See It September 12, 2024
  
  It’s failing. Plain and Simple. You should probably tell us what those services actually do. Whatever they are doing has lead us to what is happening right now. Which is a complete failure.
  
  Reply
  - Mazie Malone September 12, 2024
    
    Jesus freaking Christ ..,
    
    I have said for 4 years not providing necessary interventions and services!!! Every thing I have said is that it does not work!!!!
    
    mm 💕
    
    Reply
Mazie Malone September 12, 2024

There is very little effectiveness… from the system as it stands…. hence Jalahn Travis arrested again!! I am not the data girl, but if you ask the right questions which are necessary we could have better systemic support and outcomes. If you again go by the numbers of Homeless we have a little over 700, I think it was 732 divide that by 30 entities that provide services each program in essence is helping 24.5 people. You don’t have to tell me twice we are not utilizing services funds appropriately.

mm 💕

Reply
- Mark Scaramella September 12, 2024
  
  I doubt the number of “homeless” is “a little over 700.” That’s the PIT count count. There’s reason to think that the number might be half of that, or less. Whatever it is it should be manageable given millions that the County gets for it. I was not trying to tell you that the funding is not being used effectively; I’m sure you know that. I expect you also already noticed in the most recent PIT count report that they break the data down by lots of categories, but they don’t break it down by who has local family connections and who’s just traveling through.
  
  Reply
  - Mazie Malone September 12, 2024
    
    Mr. Scaramella,
    
    I know the numbers are skewed maybe more or as you suggest lower. I absolutely agree it should be manageable and can be. Yes I know PIT is categorized but they are not categorizing important information that shows the issues these people face so we can address that with the money/services provided. The laws have changed we have not stepped up to enact them or provide necessary interventions and plans. The CRU positive aspect is its ability to hand hold and walk people through encouraging some form of compliance. Definitely very important in these problems but CRU is not the answer. I am not saying it is not good for FB it probably is but if we are complaining about whats not happening and where the money goes makes no sense to fund a new program when the necessary infrastructure & protocols are not in place. Absolutely scrutinize and address where the money goes and how. Law Enforcement is the driving force in how all of this is set up and handled they hold the key to change but ironically they don’t want it, in theory maybe in actuality no.
    
    mm 💕
    
    Reply
    - Mark Scaramella September 12, 2024
      
      That’s a very good point about the PIT count not categorizing by the conditions the people may have. That would go a long way to helping to structure what should be done. Thanks, Mazie.
      
      Reply
      - Mazie Malone September 12, 2024
        
        Anytime….lol… also hard sell due to HIPAA…..
        
        mm 💕
        
        Reply
        
        Mark Scaramella September 13, 2024
        
        HIPPA should not prevent the collection of such data as long as no names are attached to it. This would just be epidemiological information.
        
        Reply
        
        Mazie Malone September 13, 2024
        
        yes I know but will be cited as reason to not implement.
        
        mm 💕
        
        Reply
    - MAGA Marmon September 12, 2024
      
      Mazie, I have a hard time following you. Who are you supporting?
      
      MAGA Marmon
      
      Reply
      - Mazie Malone September 12, 2024
        
        Hahaha… not that hard I am not taking sides ….
        
        mm 💕
        
        Reply
        
        Bob Abeles September 13, 2024
        
        Mazie, good for you! If we all were a bit less partisan and bit more willing to work for the common good, think of what we could accomplish.
        
        Reply
        
        Mazie Malone September 13, 2024
        
        Mr. Abeles thank you ! We could accomplish so much!
        
        mm 💕
        
        Reply
Zanzibar to Andalusia September 12, 2024

The California recreational cannabis referendum was mostly written by billionaire Sean Parker.

He first started working for the CIA when he was 16. (Look it up if you don’t believe me.)

So it should be no surprise that the system was quickly tilted to large corporations once the law was passed, ending one of the last options for true personal freedom.

Reply
Zanzibar to Andalusia September 12, 2024

Willie Brown, Frank Jordan, and Art Agnos walk into a bar…

Everyone in the bar spontaneously vomits all over them.

The next day, Brown declares that wearing a $2500 suit covered in vomit is “really chic now.”

Reply
George Hollister September 12, 2024

The controversy about immigrants eating pets is classic American comedy on the world stage. Which is correct?: It is an abomination that immigrants are eating our pets (Trump), or immigrants would never do such a thing (Harris). It is common for immigrants to eat all kinds of things, including “our pets”, because that is what is commonly done all over the world, including Europe, and Southern USA. When protein is in short supply, which it is in most of the world, the dog, the cat, the horse, and etc. are on the menu. Duck in most cases is a luxury. So are pigeons. There is a major problem with our Southern border, but don’t be offended by, or be in denial with immigrants eating food we are unused to seen eaten.

How about eating pet rats? Vietnamese have popular recipes for those.

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MAGA Marmon September 12, 2024

Dog meat is the flesh and other edible parts derived from dogs. Historically human consumption of dog meat has been recorded in many parts of the world.[4]

In the 21st century dog meat is consumed to a limited extent in Korea, China,[5] Indonesia, Nigeria,[6] Switzerland,[7] Vietnam,[8] and India;[9] it is eaten or is legal to be eaten in other countries throughout the world. Some cultures view the consumption of dog meat as part of their traditional, ritualistic, or day-to-day cuisine, and other cultures consider consumption of dog meat a taboo, even where it had been consumed in the past. Opinions also vary drastically across different regions within different countries.[10][11] It was estimated in 2014 that worldwide, 27 million dogs are eaten each year by humans.[12]

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

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- Lazarus September 12, 2024
  
  Obama ate dog meat, the animal… when he was a kid. I looked it up.
  And it’s documented in his book, “Dreams from My Father.”
  What a Country…
  Laz
  
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- Harvey Reading September 12, 2024
  
  Funny how you trumpies cover for the brainless mutant by magnifying to huge proportions activities that happen very, very rarely in the US, and are undertaken by very, very few people. In short, I consider such a “defense” of your indefensible hero a most pathetic undertaking. It’s as though you may have been reading ancient issues of Mad magazine…
  
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Mike J September 12, 2024

In the discussion re homelessness, and cru police units dealing directly with homeless mentally ill and substance abusers, an important segment of that population is NOT addressed: the elderly living on the streets because they don’t have enough money for rent and the county’s voucher system is limited.

Now there’s 700 altogether.
Here’s why that will dramatically grow in the relatively near future:

“AI Overview
Climate change is expected to impact Fort Bragg, California in a number of ways, including:

Sea level rise
Rising sea levels are expected to impact Fort Bragg, with an estimated 650 people at risk from a 1.4 meter rise in sea level. This could also impact local stream systems by carrying saltwater inland and disrupting ecosystems.

Heat waves
Fort Bragg has a moderate risk of heat waves, with the likelihood of heat waves consisting of three or more consecutive days where the heat index exceeds 77ºF on the rise. Heat waves can pose threats to health and human safety, including fatigue, heat stroke, heat exhaustion, and heat cramps.

Wildfires
Fort Bragg has a moderate risk of wildfire over the next 30 years, with 40% of all properties in Fort Bragg at risk of being affected. Wildfires can damage properties, cut off access to utilities and emergency services, and impact evacuation routes.

Drought severity
Even if precipitation remains stable or increases, drought severity and the number of dry years are expected to increase.

Snowpack
Rising temperatures are expected to cause a decline in snowpack in California’s mountains, which is a key source of surface and groundwater in the state. “

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- Mazie Malone September 12, 2024
  
  Hi Mike
  Elderly yes, vets, young adults, ….. all people no matter how you slice it struggling with disabilities, poverty and very dire circumstances… Winter is coming and these people doomed. But of course it is their own dam fault, bad choices and all (that’s sarcasm) lol.. 💕
  
  mm 💕
  
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Mike J September 12, 2024

The news orgs are starting to focus in on Laura Loomer, as is (the possibly jealous) Marjorie Taylor Green. Loomer is frequently seen with Trump, including traveling with him on his plane and seeing him at Maro Lago

She’s a self described white supremacist and frequently posts wild claims on X.

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Mendocino County Today: Thursday 9/12/2024

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