Mendocino County Today: Friday 11/15/2024

By AVA News Service on November 15, 2024

COOLER TEMPERATURES are expected today, with most interior areas seeing overnight lows below freezing tonight. Another round rain is forecast this weekend. Unsettled weather possibly continues next week. (NWS)

STEPHEN DUNLAP (Fort Bragg): A brisk 40F on the coast this morning under mostly clear skies. Scattered showers yesterday brought .12" of rainfall. Clear skies today & Sat, rain on Sunday then we have dueling forecasts for next week ? We'll see.

JIM SHIELDS (Laytonville): Since Sunday we've had 3.08 inches of rain to push our season total to 6.18 inches.

SHINING BRIGHT. The weekend’s most captivating weather story may come from the coast. Friday night marks the final supermoon of 2024 — the beaver moon — and with clear skies, it should shine brightly. This lunar event coincides with a period of king tides, offering a great opportunity to snap photos of the high tides and contribute to the California King Tides Project, which supports sea-level rise research.

Meanwhile, large waves of 12 to 18 feet will continue crashing along the California coast through the weekend. While the rough surf creates hazardous conditions for swimmers, it could offer excellent opportunities for experienced surfers.

THE CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF TOXIC SUBSTANCES CONTROL “has reviewed the available documents and information in the context of these factors, and determined the information provided does not warrant adding the City [of Fort Bragg] as a respondent to the Order at this time.”

The Skunk Train had asked the state pollution control agency which has been heavily involved in the remediation of pollutants on the old Georgia Pacific Mill site to include the City to share in the site clean up responsibility. The agency rejected the Skunk’s request to off-load some of the liability on to the City, saying that the Skunk had not demonstrated that Fort Bragg contributed to the pollution and therefore the Skunk Train which acquired the property via eminent domain for a very low price is on the hook for whatever remediation is required.

full response from the DTSC (Department of Toxic Substances Control)

ALBION'S MEASURE S STILL NOT FINAL

It is my understanding that we won’t know the official vote count until Dec. 3. As of Nov. 13 there are 16,332 unprocessed ballots in the county. Albion/Little River Fire is in District 5 which has 4,297 votes unprocessed..

Yes, Measure S needs 66% to win. It seems to me we don’t know yet how many people voted on the Measure and what percentage voted yes until all the votes are processed. This is information I gleaned from the County election pages, perhaps I misunderstood, but I am waiting until Dec. 3 to be glad or sad about Measure S.

Arlene Reiss, Albion

FORT BRAGG CITY COUNCIL VOTES

CITY OF UKIAH ANNEXES OVER 750 ACRES IN THE WESTERN HILLS

Annexation Will Support Housing Development and Preserve Open Space

Ukiah, CA. November 14, 2024. - The City of Ukiah just received approval by the Mendocino Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCo) to annex 752 acres of unincorporated open space in the Western Hills. This area is mountainous, but has room for safe residential development in proximity to City services. By bringing the land into the City, development in the area can now move forward while preserving open space and effectively managing the wildland urban interface.

"Annexing Ukiah's Western Hills is essential to preserving open space that is otherwise zoned for private development, while providing opportunities for needed housing, and advancing goals, such public safety and open-space access," said Jesse Davis, Chief Planning Manager for the Ukiah Department of Community Development. "This will enable us to apply strategic growth principles and concentrate residential development in proximity to existing services and utilities, while preserving a significant portion of the acquired land for potential trails and accessible open space. By providing municipal infrastructure and managing growth properly, we can address our housing needs while avoiding sprawl."

Over the past several decades, the Greater Ukiah Valley has suffered from uncoordinated development and urbanization. This has resulted in newly developed areas not getting necessary services to support increased residential and business needs. By folding this Western Hills area into the City, there will now be a clear plan and guidelines that ensure the new development is properly sited and accompanied by appropriate services and efficient access to affordable and reliable City utilities. Now that they are within the City limits, the new properties will receive electricity from Ukiah's municipal utility, which offers energy at a significantly lower cost and greater reliability than PG&E. Additionally, Ukiah's water, sewer, and roads infrastructure will have greater funding and more robust maintenance plans than areas within unincorporated county land.

Annexation of this area also helps improve public safety by allowing the City access to proactively address fire danger and reduce risks.

"Annexation of this area will offer more coordinated land use and a controlled growth plan," said Ukiah City Manager Sage Sangiacomo. "This improves safety and sustainability for our growing community." Ukiah has taken a series of steps in recent years to better position the Ukiah Valley for sustainable development. It has reviewed and updated its General Plan, as well as adopted numerous zoning policies to encourage infill development. In coordination with Mendocino LAFCo, the City conducted a Municipal Service Review and Sphere of Influence Update to inform and coordinate service delivery for utilities like water and sewer. Additionally, the City worked with the County of Mendocino and the cities of Fort Bragg, Willits, and Point Arena to adopt a Master Tax Sharing Agreement. This tax sharing agreement will ensure all residents in the area pay an equal amount for the services they receive, and all residents have access to the proper level of municipal services for their community.

"It is crucial for the Greater Ukiah Valley that City boundaries match where we all live, work, shop, and play, so annexation is a necessary step," added Sangiacomo. "This will prevent a patchwork of disconnected projects or unequal access to utilities and services. Annexation is the right way to manage growth and ensure a high quality of life in our community."

For more information, visit the City website here https://cityofukiah.com/western-hills-annexation-request-sphere-of-influence-amendment/ or contact Deputy City Manager, Shannon Riley, at sriley@cityofukiah.com

UKIAH VALLEY WATER AUTHORITY EXPANDS TO INCLUDE WILLOW COUNTY WATER DISTRICT

Water Authority to Provide Improved Water Service Reliability and Regional Coordination on Water Supply and Infrastructure

Ukiah, CA. [November 14, 2024] - Willow County Water District has voted to join the recently formed Ukiah Valley Water Authority, a joint powers authority that has become the regional entity responsible for providing safe, reliable, and cost-effective water services for 9,100 connections in the Greater Ukiah Valley. The Water Authority was formed in early 2024, and already includes Millview County Water District, Redwood Valley County Water District, and the City of Ukiah.

Councilmember and UVWA Board Member for the City of Ukiah Doug Crane said, "The Greater Ukiah Valley has a broad portfolio of water rights, including our members' surface and ground water, as well as the City of Ukiah's recycled water system. By integrating our collective access to water and enabling delivery of those resources across our entire community. We can finally break down the barriers to efficient resource use that have hobbled us for so long. This expanded collaboration is critical given that PG&E is in the process of decommissioning the Potter Valley Project, which will greatly curtail our regions access to water. Now more than ever we need to work together to share, protect, expand and efficiently utilize the Greater Ukiah Valley's water supply. Strong regional cooperation is essential for our shared future, and I am very glad to see Willow join us."

Across the state, water districts have been facing increasing difficulty in maintaining reliable water supplies during drought years. Additionally, outdated infrastructure is hard to maintain or update when the rate base is too small. Instead, the state is encouraging consolidation of water districts and providing grant funding to pay for new infrastructure that is needed to connect systems and improve water mobility. "For decades, we have witnessed volatility in our water resources in the region, with drought conditions and state regulations threatening our water supplies," said Jerry Cardoza, UVWA Board Member for Millview County Water District. "But now we will be able to work together across a larger geographic area to achieve efficiencies and secure a more reliable water future."

The Ukiah Valley Water Authority is currently conducting an assessment of existing infrastructure for the member water districts and will determine what capital projects are needed to address gaps and create connections to bring water from where it is available to where it is needed. Then the Water Authority will pursue grant funding to support infrastructure upgrades, such as pipeline extensions and interties, storage tanks, wells, or booster stations.

"We need to make significant improvements and updates to the aging water infrastructure that has serviced Redwood Valley customers for more than 40 years," said Adam Gaska, Board Member for Redwood Valley County Water District. "Joining the Water Authority will provide more resources and access to grant funding to help address these long-standing needs." The Water Authority was formed based on a commitment to shared values of: Reliability, Efficiency, Sustainability, Transparency, Oversight, Representation, and Equality. The joint powers authority will now be positioned to act on behalf of the greater Ukiah Valley, protecting its water interests, leveraging resources, and positioning the region for smart, sustainable growth.

The next meeting of the Ukiah Valley Water Authority will be held on November 7, 2024. Starting in January 2025, customers from Millview and Redwood Valley will see transitions in their billing format. Certain aspects of administration for Willow, such as billing, will occur several months later as billing systems are integrated.

Water Authority administration will be managed by the City of Ukiah's Water and Customer Service staff.

More information is at https://cityofukiah.com/uvwa/.

LOCAL EVENTS

COUNTY ADMINISTRATION RESPONDS TO BOMB THREAT WITH SWIFT SAFETY MEASURES

On November 12, 2024, the Mendocino County Executive Office was alerted to a concerning email threat indicating that a bomb had been placed within the County Administration Building. In response, CEO Darcie Antle took immediate action, following County protocols and consulting with Sheriff Matt Kendall. Following the Sheriff’s recommendation, a comprehensive bomb assessment was initiated to ensure the safety of all employees and the public.

Out of an abundance of caution, all personnel in the County Administration Building at 501 Low Gap Rd. were evacuated at 4:00 p.m. By 5:00 p.m., a complete bomb sweep had been conducted, confirming that no explosive devices were present. The situation was managed swiftly and efficiently, prioritizing the well-being of staff and community members.

A series of email bomb threats targeting Registrar of Voters offices in multiple California counties have been reported and have been assessed as non-credible.

The County of Mendocino remains committed to the safety of its employees and residents, maintaining close communication with law enforcement and following established safety protocols in all situations.

WHEREASES FOR MYSELF

Mendocino County Honors Fourth District Supervisor Dan Gjerde for 26 Years of Public Service

by Supervisor Dan Gjerde

Mendocino County extends its sincere gratitude to Fourth District Supervisor Dan Gjerde, honoring his 26 years of dedicated public service, with 12 of those years devoted to serving as a County Supervisor. From his start on the Fort Bragg City Council in 1998 to his current role, Gjerde’s leadership has driven impactful projects in planning, fiscal stability, and community development.

During his time in Fort Bragg, Gjerde helped secure grants that transformed public spaces, built parks and trails, and strengthened financial reserves. As County Supervisor since 2012, he prioritized fire preparedness funding, climate-change readiness, library support, and pension reform, all while championing competitive wages for county employees to attract and retain talent.

In addition to his role as Supervisor, Gjerde has been an active member of the Mendocino Council of Governments for over two decades, advocating for inclusive transportation planning and improvements that serve all residents. Through his efforts, Mendocino County has been able to prioritize infrastructure projects that enhance accessibility for motorists, pedestrians, cyclists, and other users, fostering safer, more connected communities.

As he prepares to transition to a new role with Caltrans, Supervisor Gjerde leaves behind a legacy of public service grounded in vision, integrity, and accountability. His enduring commitment to Mendocino County serves as an inspiration, and his influence will continue to be felt across the community. Gjerde has expressed his full support for the incoming Fourth District Supervisor Bernie Norvell, whose experience and dedication will be invaluable as Mendocino County moves forward.

Mendocino County extends its gratitude to Supervisor Dan Gjerde for his remarkable service and wishes him all the best in his future endeavors. His leadership has established a strong foundation for the county’s continued growth and prosperity.

FREE COMMUNITY THANKSGIVING DINNER WILL AGAIN FEED SCORES OF COAST NEIGHBORS

For the 28th year, the Fort Bragg Presbyterian Church will be hosting the annual FREE Community Thanksgiving Dinner, feeding coastal residents from Westport to Albion.

Dinners of turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans, cranberry sauce, dinner rolls, and pie will be provided to more than a thousand coast residents at no charge, thanks to generous financial and in-kind donations from the business community and individuals.

This year, community members will have three options for how they would like to receive a meal: curbside pickup (from 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.), home delivery (beginning at 10:00 a.m.), and in-person dining (12:30 p.m., at 367 S. Sanderson Way). Reservations are required for all dinners—those served at the church as well as those delivered or picked up. Reservations can be made online, at https://fbpchurch.org/community-thanksgiving-dinner/, or by phone, at 707-964-2316, ext. 2 (calls will be returned within 24 hours).

For the last several years, home delivery has been the most popular option, with hundreds of Thanksgiving dinners being brought to residences all along the coast. Because of the time needed to plan and coordinate delivery routes and drivers, reservations for home delivery will close the week before Thanksgiving, at the end of Friday, November 22. After that, curbside pickup and in-person dining reservations will continue to be accepted until the end of Tuesday, November 26 or until seating capacity is reached..

This year, everyone who chooses in-person dining will gather together for a single seating, at 12:30 p.m.

on Thanksgiving Day, enabling our faithful volunteers, who arrive so early in the morning, to spend time with their loved ones later in the day. Seating is limited to 100, so anyone who would like to dine at the church should be sure to make their reservation as soon as possible. (A bonus for those dining in person: stuffing!)

The event is entirely volunteer-driven, with Kathy Hart stepping up as the new volunteer Director. Those interested in volunteering should visit the Community Thanksgiving Dinner webpage (https://fbpchurch.org/community-thanksgiving-dinner/) for signup instructions and a list of the available shifts and duties. Volunteers are needed for a variety of duties.

ED NOTES

THE HITS just keep on coming. Trump will announce that he's tapped Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, an appointment akin to replacing your doctor with an astrologer. Trump's employment standard seems to be, "Is he crazy enough to be in my government?"

OF COURSE Trump's nutso appointments of extremists so extreme even the extremists are complaining, may be a ploy to insert less inflammatory extremists in these two jobs, as Kennedy, Gaetz, Hegpeth are rejected by the Senate.

ON THE SUBJECT of The Last Days, there's a confirming article in the current New Yorker called, “The Home Front — Some Americans are preparing for a second civil war… According to an analysis of FEMA data, some 20 million Americans are actively preparing for cataclysm — roughly twice as many as in 2017.”

“FOR YEARS I've had an idea to develop a dog into a superthief who'd go into these guys' rooms and take dollars out of their pockets. I'd train him to take nothing but green money; I'd make him smell it all day long. If there was any humanly possible way, I'd train him to take only twenties." — Jack Kerouac, ‘On The Road’

SPORTS TRIPS to Point Arena used to be quite exciting for Boonville people, sometimes a little too exciting. Way back, circa 1966-67, when Boonville fans were quick to resort to fisticuffs, a propensity that would now be denounced by the prevalent Appropriate Police as extremely inappropriate, the Fog Eaters and the Boonts went at it in an all-out co-ed brawl that took Sheriff's deputies and off-duty CHP officers the better part of an hour to quell. No one was injured, not even the Senior ladies who went at it until they collapsed from exhaustion. But for several years Boonville and Point Arena teams did not compete against each other for fear of a re-occurrence.

THE US INSTITUTE of Medicine confirms our experience with pot smokers: “Most people smoke marijuana to get ‘high.’ This high provides a sense of well-being or euphoria and increased talkativeness and laughter alternating with periods of introspective dreaminess followed by lethargy and sleepiness. A characteristic feature of a marijuana 'high' is a distortion in the sense of time associated with deficits in short-term memory and learning. A marijuana smoker typically has a sense of enhanced physical and emotional sensitivity, including a feeling of greater interpersonal closeness. The most obvious behavioral abnormality displayed by someone under the influence of marijuana is difficulty in carrying on an intelligible conversation, perhaps because of an inability to remember what was just said even a few words earlier.”

WHENEVER I VISIT Fort Bragg — Fort Bragg and Covelo being my fave in-county destinations — I always make time for a brisk outing on the old mill’s Haul Road, of which the trestle over Pudding Creek used to be the bridge over which log trucks reached the mill itself. The old haul road, now elevated to Coastal Trail Status, is easily the most accessible, and certainly among the most beautiful coast walks in all of California, the others being either too short for real exercise or too crowded for one to fully enjoy the splendors of the sea crashing against lonely bluffs. (The coast trail in Santa Cruz is nice but an absolute mob scene.) The irony is that Fort Bragg was once so completely a mill town, and Mendocino County so completely timber country, that the owners of the Fort Bragg mill could build their own road in a virtual straight line down the coast from their major timber sources ten miles to the north. The idea was to spare log trucks the tortuously winding ordeal of Coast Highway One, which was then the only link from Rockport south to Fort Bragg. The haul road was constructed, I believe, in the 1920s. It’s turned out to be a major boon to Fort Bragg, and easily that beguiling, relatively unspoiled town’s lead attraction.

USED TO BE MUCH FRETTING about toxics on the old mill site. They once had dangerous toxics in a part of the mill in pcb-laden capacitors, a fact revealed by the AVA’s Mike Koepf when the capacitors burst one memorable day on top of a couple of millworkers who were told that the fluids were not only not harmful, but as healthy as olive oil.

OF COURSE there are people around who think that the GP mill is some kind of Northcoast Chernobyl, but most retired GP workers have lived out their days free of chemical poisoning, and the Pacific Coast Trail is complete from Noyo to about a mile past MacKerricher. The haul road north of MacKerricher, however, has been reclaimed by the Pacific. I’m sure lots of people think they can set off over the trestle and hoof it all the way up to Ten Mile River on perfectly flat, only partially eroded pavement as one does from the trestle to MacKerricher, but you can’t. The pavement, and the road beneath it, ends less than a mile north of the heavily visited state park.

THE TRESTLE portion of Fort Bragg’s Ten Mile Trail has long been open to pedestrians, meaning the long-time dream of Coast nature lovers, walkers, joggers, hikers, and bicyclists of a path beginning at Noyo harbor and culminating at Ten Mile is that much closer to reality. Before the trestle was rehabbed, one commenced walking from either the parking lot just north of Fort Bragg or, typically for me, from the parking lot at MacKerricher State Park, farther north of town.

HOLIDAY POP-UP

PETIT TETON FARM

Petit Teton Farm, a couple of miles south of Boonville, is open Mon-Sat 9-4:30, Sun 12-4:30. Right now we have sungold and heirloom tomatoes along with the large inventory of jams, pickles, soups, hot sauces, apple sauces, and drink mixers made from everything we grow. We sell frozen USDA beef and pork from our perfectly raised pigs and cows, as well as stewing hens and eggs. Squab is also available at times. Contact us for what's in stock at 707.684.4146 or farmer@petitteton.com. Nikki and Steve

NCS FOOTBALL PLAYOFF SCHEDULE

Open/Division 1

No. 5 Cardinal Newman (9-1) at No. 4 Marin Catholic (8-2), 1 p.m. Saturday

Division 2

No. 3 Windsor (7-3) at No. 6 Casa Grande (8-2), 7 p.m. Saturday

No. 8 Vintage (6-4) at No. 1 Liberty (7-3), 7 p.m. Friday

Division 4

No. 1 Ukiah (7-3) at No. 8 Alameda (8-2), 7 p.m. Friday

No. 2 American Canyon (8-2) vs. No. 7 College Park (3-7), 7 p.m. Friday

Division 5

No. 1 St. Vincent (9-1) vs. No. 8 Arroyo (8-2), 1 p.m. Saturday

No. 3 Sonoma Valley (10-0) vs. No. 6 Hayward (6-4), 7 p.m. Friday

No. 4 Maria Carrillo (7-3) vs. No. 5 Tamalpais (3-7), 7 p.m. Friday

Division 6

No. 3 Piner (8-2) vs. No. 6 Benicia (4-6), 7 p.m. Friday

No. 4 Montgomery (4-6) vs. No. 5 Petaluma (4-6), 7 p.m. Friday

8-person Division 1

No. 3 Roseland University Prep (7-3) at No. 2 Branson (6-2), 1 p.m. Saturday

8-Person Division 2

No. 2 Elsie Allen (6-4) vs. No. 3 Round Valley (4-4), 7 p.m. Friday

Hop picking near Ukiah, circa 1910. (via Marshall Newman)

THE CASPAR CHOO-CHOO

by Chuck Bush

Reprinted from the February 25, 1993 Mendocino Beacon and annotated with additional information.

Caspar Creek, and later the town of Caspar, were named after Siegfried Caspar, an early settler of German descent who raised cattle in the vicinity. Construction of the sawmill near where Caspar Creek meets the ocean commenced in 1861, after the owners, William Kelley, Captain Richard Rundle, and Eugene Brown purchased 5,000 acres of timberland around Caspar Creek. This was almost ten years after the start of the Big River mill in Mendocino, but the Caspar mill was the first one on the coast to construct its own railroad.

By the late 1860s, the supply of lumber in the Caspar Creek area was dwindling; mill owner Jacob Green Jackson, who had bought out the original owners in 1864, purchased a large tract along the next creek to the north, Jughandle Creek. While the logs from the Caspar Creek area could be floated down to the mill, the logs from the Jughandle Creek area would have to be moved up and over the ridge separating the two creeks, or a new mill would have to be constructed on Jughandle Creek. Jackson decided that the most cost-effective solution was to build a railroad to bring the logs to the Caspar Mill.

The railroad was constructed in 1869 and 1870, with wooden rails covered with thin iron straps. It was about one mile long [and ran roughly where Highway 1 is today]. Flat railroad cars with flanged metal wheels were made to carry the logs. Oxen dragged the logs to and onto the cars, then horses and mules pulled the cars to the mill. There was a dam across Caspar Creek next to the mill, which created a millpond for log storage. The logs were rolled off the cars and then slid down a chute into the millpond.

By 1875 the railroad had been extended quite a bit further up Jughandle Creek, to a distance where animal power was no longer adequate. A steam engine made by the Vulcan Iron Works in San Francisco was brought north via ship, disassembled, and the pieces were barged ashore where they were reassembled, but the new engine, named "Jumbo," proved too heavy for the strap iron rails. Fortunately, a large quantity of solid iron rails were acquired, salvaged from a shipwreck off the South American coast.

[In 1882, the Mendocino Beacon reported, ”At Caspar, the Jug Handle railway makes six or seven trips daily. The railway, or properly speaking, tramway, extends 5 miles in the woods, so there is a distance of nearly 70 miles traversed each day. The output is between two and three hundred logs.”]

By 1884 Jumbo, now called "Old Dirty and Greasy," had pushed or pulled a great quantity of logs out of the Jughandle Creek area and more timberland was needed. A huge tract was purchased this time farther north, covering nearly all of the Hare Creek watershed, an acquisition that was key to the long success of the Caspar Lumber Company.

Bringing logs to the mill from this new territory required crossing Jughandle Creek, and that required building a large wooden trestle [about a half a mile upstream from where the highway bridge is now]. In 1885, Jackson brought in engineers and bridge builders from the Central Pacific Railroad to create the Jughandle Creek trestle. It was 7000 feet long, 146 feet high, 82 feet wide at the base, and 12 feet wide at the top. It consisted of seven 20 layers or "bents," each 22 feet high and 10 feet wider at the base than at the top.

At that time it was one of the largest and tallest structures of its kind, and immediately became a favorite spot for photographers. There was no roadway on top, only rails and ties, so it was a scary business walking out on it. Yet people did, and had their pictures taken as testimony.

Log train crossing the Jughandle Creek trestle.

The earthquake of 1906 caused the trestle to "collapse like a row of dominoes," but it was quickly rebuilt following the original specifications. Later, the Caspar Lumber Company acquired nearly all the timberland around the south fork of Noyo River. Between 1884 and 1945, nearly all of the logs that came out passed over the trestle, pulled by Jumbo or one of its seven successors.

[The trestle remained in operation until 1945, and was dismantled after the railroad was abandoned in favor of truck transport, according to the Jug Handle State Natural Reserve brochure from California State Parks.]

Thanks to Ted Wurm and his wonderful book "Mallets of the Mendocino Coast," for much of the above.

LEW CHICHESTER (Covelo):

Bruce Anderson’s story regarding Hastings, Eden Valley, the Eel River Rangers and killing all the Indians has been tough to absorb, even though I knew the story already. I have been dwelling in the killing fields out here for over 50 years now and the living memory held by lots of people still resonates, informs attitudes, cripples all of us. People in Round Valley remember the story, have it told to them by their grandparents, we live with it every day. Usually not consciously, but it doesn’t go away. Fifty years ago, a hundred years after the killing, some people here still knew bits and pieces of the language, a few of the songs, most likely taught by grandparents who were lucky survivors.

My family was from the Deep South, didn’t come to California until JFK was president, but my grandparents certainly made sure I knew about which houses Sherman burned, where the Confederate money was stashed, which Yankees came later and stole everything. The history of Round Valley, and the rest of Mendocino County by the way for those of you who don’t know any better, is even way worse than the American Civil War and we all know how that memory still motivates too many people. “Make America Great Again,” and exactly when was that?

CATCH OF THE DAY, Thursday, November 14, 2024

GREGORY HUBBS, 63, Ukiah. Battery with serious bodily injury.

TREVOR MCCLURE, 32, Spokane, Washington/Ukiah. Burglary, theft by misrepresenting as card holder, getting credit with another’s ID, fugitive from justice.

JUSTICE MENEAR, 28, Ukiah. Probation revocation.

MICHAEL MCGEE, 36, Ukiah. Controlled substance, paraphernalia, probation revocation.

ORLANDO MUNOZ, 29, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-under influence, resisting.

PEDRO REYNAGA, 42, Willits. Disorderly conduct-alcohol&drugs, petty theft.

JEAN TRUILLO, 80, Ukiah. Domestic battery, elder abuse resulting in great bodily injury to victim under 70 years of age.

KRISTOPHER WHITE, 35, Fort Bragg. Disorderly conduct-alcohol&drugs, paraphernalia.

NORMAN WHITE, 44, Ukiah. Failure to appear.

SUTTER BUTTES AND WINTER MIGRATION of Tundra Swans and Snow Geese. Definitely one of the best photos ever taken of the Sacramento Valley landmark.

Photographer Mike Peters. (via Mike Geniella)

MARCH & CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE IN SAN FRANCISCO DEMAND A CEASEFIRE IN GAZA

Text & Photos by David Bacon

On Veterans Day hundreds of people, including many war veterans, marched from Harry Bridges Plaza at the foot of Market Street to the office of California Senator Alex Padilla.

Marchers demanded that he and Senator Laphonza Butler support a ceasefire in Israel's assault on Gaza. More than 43,600 people have been killed in the last year, mostly women and children, and over 102,900 others injured, according to local health authorities. Israel faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its actions in Gaza.…

https://davidbaconrealitycheck.blogspot.com/2024/11/sf-march-and-civil-disobedience-demands.html

ESTHER MOBLEY

In the New Wine Review, Jon Fine profiles Walter Scott Wines, which produces some of Oregon’s best Chardonnays. (I love them too.) “Despite all the strides Oregon Chardonnay has made, it’s just very hard to think of anyone making them better than Walter Scott,” Fine writes.

The latest on Lowell Sheldon, the prolific Sonoma County restaurateur who’s been accused of sexual harassment (here’s Janelle Bitker’s definitive 2021 investigation): Hours before Sheldon’s latest restaurant was set to open, in Santa Rosa, key staff announced they would not be showing up to work, citing a hostile environment. The Press Democrat’s Jennifer Graue, Marisa Endicott and Paulina Pineda report.

Chronicle restaurant critic MacKenzie Chung Fegan ate her way through 65 courses in the last two weeks alone in preparation for this list of the Bay Area’s best fine dining. Which are the best 12 places to spend that $500 that’s been burning a hole in your pocket? MacKenzie has the answer.

P.S. If you’re not at one of those nouveau parties on Nov. 21, come join me at the launch party for the Chronicle’s new cookbook! I’ll be onstage at Manny’s in the Mission with Senior Food & Wine Editor Janelle Bitker and our star recipe columnists, Christian Reynoso and Amisha Gurbani. We’ll chat about home cooking, wine pairing and what went into creating our new book, “San Francisco by Season.” Get your tickets here!

(SF Chronicle)

Surfing at the Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco, on some really big waves, afternoon, Nov 12, 2024 (Photo / Gary Lenhart)

AN OLD FART ANALYZES THE 2024 ELECTION

by Doug Holland

When Donald Trump won in 2016, you could plausibly argue that he was a fresh face, and voters didn't know what they were getting. Eight years later, he's very familiar. For your next president, America has knowingly elected an always-angry, born-rich billionaire with a solid-gold suitcase stuffed with startlingly cruel ideas. And he won by five million votes.

In this first week after the election, Trump has made a dozen cabinet and high-level nominations, each of them comic-book evil and emphatically wrong for the job — the only requirements for anyone Trump would nominate. He's also asked for the unconstitutional abrogation of Senate confirmation hearings, a demand immediately agreed to by his Republican Party's leadership, who control the Senate.

And with that, Trump's Project 2025 is underway, rewriting the USA as something uglier than it's been in my lifetime.

But why did America vote for this? That's my question, and here's my answer, in four parts:

Many Americans have no empathy — no concern or no ability to care about other people's problems. Show them kids growing up hungry, a beggar on the street, a stranger coughing up blood but unable to afford a doctor, and these people do not give a damn. Can't quantify how many of these people walk among us, but anyone with two eyes and a heart can see that not caring is the American way.

There are fancy words for this lack of empathy — psychopath or sociopath, or maybe Vulcan — but those are loaded terms, saying more than I want to say. It's not intended as an insult, just a fact: Most Republicans lack empathy. That's the base of their political party.

The Democratic Party has been marching steadily to the right since the 1960s, doing it doubletime since the ’90s, and if you're an actual leftist, the Democratic ticket for 2024 offered nothing.

Harris's campaign rushed rightward to pile up endorsements from Republicans, without a whisper about universal health care, or breaking up giant corporations, or anything more than a tiny token tax increase for billionaires. Harris refused to say she'd even reconsider aid to governments actively engaged in war crimes. Universal basic income and ranked choice voting weren't mentioned. She spoke to a right-tilted middle, not to the left.

That's because the Democratic Party's only purpose is fundraising. They did a great job, too — the Harris campaign brought in and wasted more money than any political campaign in US history. To the people in charge at the Democratic Party, that's victory; the election is immaterial. Harris had nothing to say to the left, because anything that might cost the party fundraising opportunities from the center and right, even if it would win votes and elections, is disallowed.

Harris offered diddlysquat to people who are hurting.

On 10/23, two weeks before the end of the campaign, she came out for raising the minimum wage to $15 p/hour — something first proposed so long ago (2014, I think) that by now $15 p/hour is nowhere near what's needed.

Only in platitudes (if at all) did she mention patching the safety net that barely exists for the unemployed, the sick, the disabled. Or complete medical and student debt forgiveness. Or worker's rights. Or rent control. Or the cost of groceries.

To people literally dying of corporate capitalism, Harris's mantra was, "You're wrong — everything's pretty good, just look at our charts!"

Last and most obviously, the media decided the election, well before it got underway. Even as someone who reflexively distrusts corporate news, it's been jawdropping to see.

For making a few confused statements in his debate against Trump, Joe Biden was portrayed as the oldest, weakest, most intellectually infirm president we've ever had, and whatever will the Democrats do about having him on the ticket?

Trump routinely makes lengthy speeches with no two sentences connected to a third, says the most inane, unintelligible blather, makes up lies that aren't plausible or possible, insults anyone who's annoyed him, often with racism and sexism… And from all that, The New York Times will distill a phrase here or half a sentence there, and report that Trump proposed a new tariff.

It's understandable that voters informed only by such media headlines might vote for Trump, so he's finally, accidentally right about one thing: The news media is the enemy.

And those were the circumstances under which Kamala Harris got nine million fewer votes than Joe Biden got four years ago, while Donald Trump gained one million more than in 2020, to win handily. About eight million fewer Americans voted this time, than last time.

Where did everyone else go? They weren't invited, so they stayed home.

And the only person I won't particularly blame is Kamala Harris, because why bother? She's politically blah, always has been, but she wasn't in charge of her campaign's strategy any more than she would've been in charge in the White House, which is not at all.

Harris (once) called Trump a fascist and (constantly) said he's a threat to democracy, but having lost the election, President Biden and VP Harris now welcome our new insect overlords. They're moving toward a peaceful transition of power, without any complaint.

I don't expect or suggest that they should refuse to concede or cooperate, like Trump did in 2020. But if democracy and the constitution and the American way of life are in peril — and they are — then it is incumbent on the incumbents to say it out loud. They should be speaking against Trump, sounding an alarm as he begins building his Second Reich.

They'll say nothing, though, until it's at a $5,000-a-plate chicken dinner, because Biden and Harris and their ilk are not in charge and never have been. They're middle-management for the oligarchy, that's all, and the oligarchy wants what's coming.

(Drop by itsdougholland.com and say hello. It's not always as boring as this.)

KEEP THE FAITH, SOLVE THE PROBLEMS

By Jim Shields

Before taking a break from the November 5th electoral wipeout engineered and orchestrated by the Democratic Party, here’s more evidence of why this Populist revolt has occurred.

This is a 21st Century spontaneous version of Populism and the Trump campaign was the only viable option for financially-insecure and politically-estranged Americans.

Don’t be fooled, these people are not Trump followers or brainwashed disciples.

Don’t fret about Trump being a threat to democratic governing.

All the pundits have it wrong who have diagnosed the Trumpster as a fascist or xenophobic nationalist. Hell, he couldn’t even spell fascist if his life depended on it.

In fact, he’s not even a politician, and he’s definitely not a statesman.

He’s an arrogant, pompous, narrow-minded, narcissistic, bloviating blowhard.

For the past century, the cry emanating from many voters has been, “What this country needs is a businessman in the White House!”

Well, we’ve had one who was in office for four years.

How’d that work out?

And now he’s back for another four years.

This country survived his first term in office, and we’ll survive the upcoming four years.

Trump was never a threat, menace or danger to the constitutional underpinnings of our democratic republic. But these One-Percenter-Global Marketeers are, as they have no allegiance at all to our country, or any nation for that matter. In fact, their raison detre is a borderless, govermental-less world. In a stateless world, they would be free to conduct their business at will. Ironically, Trump the Businessman-U.S. President was a threat to Globalism, albeit on a limited scale, but he did more to fight the One-Percenters than either Republicans or Democrats at the time.

History confirms that ordinary Americans are nowhere near quite as ordinary as the Democratic and Republican Elites believe them to be.

As I’ve said, many times, working people and the middle class have it all figured out, and once aroused they are a fearsome sight to behold.

Here’s some of the reasons why.

Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (“AOC”), a self-described “Progressive Democrat” from New York City, asked her followers on Instagram to explain why they voted for Trump, while on the same ballot also re-electing her for the umpteenth time.

“People who supported both Trump and me, or voted Trump/Democrat, tell me why,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote on her Instagram story.

According to AOC, responses included a variety of reasons, from policy positions to the attitudes of the candidates. The economy was one of the most commonly mentioned issues, with one response reading: “Trump is going to get us the money and lets men have a voice. You're brilliant and have amazing passion!"

Another wrote: “[Harris] was more for rights than the economy, and when she talked about it she didn't have a plan.”

Out of the 20 responses Ocasio-Cortez shared, she explained that the majority of them mentioned her and Trump's status as ‘outsider’ politicians who were not part of the establishment.

“I voted Trump, but I like you and Bernie [Sanders]. I don't trust either party's establishment politicians,” another responder said.

Another voter said: “I feel that you both are outsiders compared to the rest of [Washington] DC, and less establishment. “

One Instagrammer declared, “You signified change. Trump signified change. I've said lately, Trump sounds more like you."

Other dual Trump-AOC voters stated the following reasons:

“I voted for Trump and you, not genocide Harris. Dems need Bernie!!”
“It's real simple… trump and you care for the working class.”
“I feel like Trump and you are both real."
“I know ppl that did this and it was bc of Gaza.”
“You are focused on the real issues people care about. Similar to Trump populism in some ways.”

Sounds to me like lots of folks understand the situation we’re in, how we got there, and what needs to be done to resolve any potential troubling times that may lie ahead.

As I’ve said a million times, problems just don’t happen, people make them happen.

Since people make problems happen, other people can make them un-happen.

I guess you coud say that’s one of the central premises and strengths of our Constitutional Republic.

Keep the faith, we’ll be just fine.

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

FOR ALL ITS TROUBLES, the US has reached a height from which many fear it can only fall. Like Rome after the rapid expansion of the republic, America’s influence has plateaued. At the end of his reign, as if mindful of overreach, Emperor Augustus urged his successors to keep the empire within the limits that he had established for it. By Hadrian’s time, as in Trump’s America, there was little call for interventionism and globalization. … Analogies between Trump and the demagogues and emperors of ancient Rome come too easily. It is, however, fruitless to despair at the death of the republic or the birth of Caligula II. America’s fall, if it comes, will be protracted and complex. If the pattern of Roman history can show Trump one thing, it is that he would be wise to look not only at the troubles brewing without but also at those brewing within.

In The History of the Decline and Fall of The Roman Empire, Edward Gibbon luridly evokes the Rome of 408 AD, when the armies of the Goths prepared to descend upon the city. The marks of imperial decadence appeared not only in grotesque displays of public opulence, spectacle and waste, but also in the collapse of faith in reason and science.

The people of Rome, Gibbon writes, fell prey to “a puerile superstition” promoted by astrologers and to soothsayers who claimed “to read in the entrails of victims the signs of future greatness and prosperity.”

Rome, argued Gibbon, did not collapse because of the decadence of the emperors, but in the decadence of all Romans, and indeed in the collapse thereby of the system which the Romans had created to elect their leaders.

Rome therefore did not fall because its emperors managed it badly; it collapsed because Romans stopped being able, in their collective systems and structures of self-governance, to elect candidates who were meritocratically capable of doing the job.

The emperors were incapable of running the empire – usually because of old age, advanced conditions of delusional narcissism or both.

Empires – and America is as much an empire as Rome, if not moreso – tend to decadence.

— Daisy Dunn, The New Statesman

"THERE IS A SADNESS in realizing that the person you have become is not the person you once wanted to be. It is the sadness of looking back on your life and seeing all the ways you have compromised, all the dreams you have let go, all the parts of yourself you have lost along the way. And in that sadness, there is a sense of mourning, not just for the life you could have had, but for the person you could have been."

— T.S. Eliot

MEDICARE "ADVANTAGE" BY THE NUMBERS

by Emma Curchin, Brandon Novick and Peter Hart

The quasi-privatized system called “Medicare Advantage,” otherwise known as Part C, was created in 2003 as a means of expanding the role of private sector corporations in the publicly-funded Medicare system. Proponents claimed it would lower costs and improve health care for seniors. It has achieved neither of those goals; instead, MA has become a wildly profitable scheme for private insurance giants, who have become adept at taking advantage of Medicare’s billing model to claim exorbitant profits. At this point, MA is more profitable for many companies than their conventional insurance businesses.

And the program continues to grow. MA now has more enrollees than traditional Medicare, thanks in no small part to aggressive public relations campaigns that sell seniors on the idea that the plans cut costs and increase choice. Congress has simultaneously failed to plug the holes in traditional Medicare, pushing seniors towards MA to avoid high out-of-pocket costs. Policymakers can fill these gaps and guarantee true comprehensive coverage simply by redirecting the overpayments to MA insurers into Medicare.

Numerous studies and media investigations have documented the problems with Medicare Advantage. What follows is a collection of some of the most notable figures documenting the high costs of this failed experiment in privatizing Medicare.…

https://cepr.net/medicare-advantage-by-the-numbers/

AFTER RETIRING FROM CHESS for approximately 9 years, in 1981, American chess legend Bobby Fischer agreed to play with Canadian Grandmaster Peter Piassas at the pinnacle of his glory and powers, and Bobby Fischer defeated him 17 times in a row. “He was so good, so good that defeating him was impossible and there was no point in playing with him, and there was no excitement or fun in it. They were beating me and I didn't know why or what I had done wrong. and the most disappointing thing was that I didn't even make it to the final stage with him. At one point, I would always lose in the intermediate stage at maximum and, what's more, Bobby never took the time to think he wasn't a rival, and that there was no one worthy of the honor of fighting against him, and I, having been his opponent, bear witness to this indisputable fact. It's worth noting that computers ranked Bobby Fischer as the greatest chess player of all time, and his arch-rival, the legendary Mikhail Tal, described him as ‘the greatest genius to ever descend from the firmament of chess’."

Credits: Dewey Simpson

KENNEDY’S FDA WISH LIST: RAW MILK, STEM CELLS, HEAVY METALS…

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., one of President-elect Donald J. Trump’s advisers on health, is taking aim at the agency’s oversight on many fronts.

by Christina Jewett

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been unflinching in his attacks on the Food and Drug Administration in recent weeks, saying he wants to fire agency experts who have taken action against treatments that have sometimes harmed people or that teeter on the fringe of accepted health care practice.

How much influence Mr. Kennedy will have in President-elect Donald J. Trump’s next administration remains unclear, with some suggesting that he could act as a White House czar for policy over several federal health agencies. Mr. Trump has voiced support for Mr. Kennedy in recent weeks, saying he will let him “go wild on health.” In his acceptance speech, Mr. Trump reiterated his support for Mr. Kennedy’s involvement on health matters.

Some of Mr. Kennedy’s priorities are relatively standard, such as focusing on the health effects associated with ultraprocessed foods. Yet others threaten to undermine F.D.A. authority to rein in inappropriate medical treatments or to warn about products that can damage the public health.

A spokeswoman for Mr. Kennedy did not respond to interview requests.

Days before the election, in a post on X that has received 6.4 million views, Mr. Kennedy threatened to fire F.D.A. employees who have waged a “war on public health.” He listed some of the products that he claimed the F.D.A. had subjected to “aggressive suppression,” including ivermectin, raw milk and vitamins as well as therapies involving stem cells, and hyperbaric oxygen.

Some items that he singled out had become flash points for conservative voters during the coronavirus pandemic, including ivermectin, which was found to be an ineffective treatment against Covid.

Dr. Robert Califf, the current F.D.A. commissioner who spoke frequently about the dangers of misinformation in the Covid pandemic, said at an event Tuesday that he was aware that experts were not always right — but he worried about them being broadly ignored.

“Not having experts, I think historically, in every society, has been a case for demise of that society,” Dr. Califf said.

He also noted that leadership above the F.D.A. — including the Health and Human Services Department — very rarely interferes with scientific decisions at the agency. Yet, “it’s totally within the law for the president or the H.H.S. secretary to overrule the entire F.D.A.,” he said.

Here is a look at some of the items raised by Mr. Kennedy and the actions the agency has taken.

Raw Milk

Drinking raw milk has always been risky, according to the F.D.A. and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It is regularly associated with outbreaks of illnesses from a long list of bacteria, which includes a strain of E. coli that can cause kidney failure and death.

The bird flu outbreak among dairy cows has heightened the risk to public health, said Meghan Davis, an associate professor at Johns Hopkins University who studies infectious diseases affecting animals and humans. Since the outbreak was first detected in March, the virus, known as H5N1, has spread to nearly 500 herds in 15 states, according to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Raw milk contains high levels of the virus, which can also infect people.

Recent studies by the F.D.A. and the Department of Agriculture have found that pasteurization effectively renders the virus inactive.

Promoting consumption of raw milk — or silencing the F.D.A. from warning about its risks — is “probably a bad idea,” in the middle of a bird flu outbreak, said Dr. Georges C. Benjamin, the executive director of the American Public Health Association.

Doing so “would be fine until he gets his first bacterial outbreak in the population of kids drinking raw milk and someone dies because he encouraged people to drink raw milk,” Dr. Benjamin said.

There is no test to screen milk for the H5N1 strain in the current outbreak, and not all cows are showing symptoms. Also, the milk is often pooled from numerous cows, so only one cow needs to be sick to introduce contamination.

Proponents of raw milk say it has more beneficial enzymes and diverse probiotics than pasteurized milk and that its consumption is associated with lower rates of asthma and allergies.

The F.D.A. does not decide who can sell raw milk; states do. But since the 1980s, the agency has ensured that raw milk is not shipped out of the 30 states where sales are permitted. Lawmakers who oppose the shipment regulation have tried for years to advance a bill in Congress that would allow sales among states where it is legal.

Dr. Davis said she was concerned that an increase in raw milk consumption could make it easier for the H5N1 virus to adapt and become more severe or transmissible among humans. On Thursday, the C.D.C. released a study showing that some farm workers carried antibodies to the strain but were not aware that they had been infected.

“This is a virus that has pandemic potential,” Dr. Davis said.

Hydroxychloroquine

Early in the pandemic, under pressure from Mr. Trump, the F.D.A. issued an emergency use authorization for hydroxychloroquine, a drug used to treat malaria. The agency noted in March 2020 that the drug had been shown in a lab to prevent growth of the coronavirus and that some patients who took it reported improving.

The authorization did not last long. On June 15, the F.D.A. revoked it after a study of 821 people found a lack of effectiveness. The drug also carried serious side effects, including one that disrupted the electrical activity of the heart. The agency concluded that the potential benefits did not outweigh the risks.

In doing so, the F.D.A. showed flexibility in a time of crisis and pulled back when important information came to the fore, said Dr. Ashish Jha, a former Biden White House adviser on the Covid pandemic and the dean of the Brown University School of Public Health.

“That is exactly what you would want the agency to do,” he said.

Further studies also found that hydroxychloroquine did not work against Covid, and one large analysis found that people who took it had an elevated risk of death.

Chelation

Mr. Kennedy has a history of promoting the possible benefits of chelation, which is an accepted therapy for removing heavy metals from the blood after a serious exposure, but not for treating autism.

A blog entry posted by the Children’s Health Defense, a nonprofit founded by Mr. Kennedy, claims that “many cases of autism” are actually cases of mercury poisoning brought on by a preservative found in some vaccines. The post, which says it was written in 2000 and posted in 2017, went on to note the promise of chelating agents — chemicals that remove toxic metals from the body — as a potential treatment for autism. A 2015 book edited by Mr. Kennedy that focused on widely debunked theories about vaccines and autism notes “evidence of chelation’s benefits” from a handful of small studies.

Doctors do use chelating agents to treat some conditions, like lead poisoning, said Dr. Jeffrey Brent, a toxicologist at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. But he said he doubted that “any legitimate physician” believed that chelation was an appropriate treatment for autism.

Chelation can also be dangerous. A 5-year-old boy died in 2005 from cardiac arrest after a doctor in western Pennsylvania tried to treat his autism with chelation.

“It was a huge problem and there are people out there that are pushing it,” Dr. Brent said. “I’m sure they feel emboldened right now.”

Yet, several companies have marketed what they described as chelation products for a number of uses not approved by the F.D.A., including treating autism, prompting the agency to send warning letters to those organizations in 2010.

Mr. Kennedy underwent chelation therapy himself after blood tests showed that his mercury levels were elevated. He attributed the high levels to his preference for eating tuna, which is known for containing mercury.

Stem cell treatments have generated excitement in the medical field in recent years. Studies have shown promise in treatments for Type 1 diabetes and macular degeneration. One recently approved therapy combines gene editing and a stem cell treatment for sickle cell disease. Yet amid the hope for revolutionary treatments, rogue clinics have promoted cures that were not approved by the F.D.A. for myriad ailments.

Given the context of Mr. Kennedy’s post on X, he appeared to be referring to stem cell clinics that the F.D.A. had targeted for enforcement, said Paul Knoepfler, a professor of cell biology and human anatomy at the University of California, Davis, who tracks questionable stem cell treatments.

Dr. Scott Gottlieb, who was appointed by Mr. Trump to lead the F.D.A. during his first term, summarized the problem in 2017, saying that some “unscrupulous actors who have seized on the clinical promise,” of advances in the field were selling “unproven and, in some cases, dangerously dubious products.”

“In such an environment, a select few, often motivated by greed without regard to responsible patient care, are able to promote unproven, clearly illegal and often expensive treatments that offer little hope and, even worse, may pose significant risks to the health and safety of vulnerable patients,” Dr. Gottlieb wrote in a statement.

In 2017, Stanford researchers reported that people who had gone to one stem cell clinic in Florida for eye procedures left with considerable loss of sight, apparently caused by the stem cell infusions.

The next year, the F.D.A. filed two permanent injunctions against stem cell clinics in California and Florida that “have continued to disregard the law and, more importantly, patient safety,” Dr. Gottlieb said in a statement at the time.

The two companies sued the F.D.A. and lost their cases at the appellate court level.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld the F.D.A.’s action in a decision on Sept. 27 of this year, aligning with a Florida judge’s ruling in 2019 that protected the agency’s authority to crack down on a stem cell provider that it had deemed unscrupulous.

In the California case, judges concluded that the F.D.A. had correctly exercised its authority to oversee such treatments.

Given Mr. Kennedy’s potential influence in the new administration, he may be able to change the F.D.A.’s direction in such cases, Dr. Knoepfler said.

(NY Times)

TYSON VS. THE INFLUENCER

A 27-year-old social media influencer is gearing up for a bizarre boxing match against 58-year-old former heavyweight champion.

The most-watched program on Netflix this weekend may not be a documentary or a romantic comedy.

Instead, millions of people are expected to tune in for a boxing match between Jake Paul, a social media influencer who has disrupted the sport in recent years, and Mike Tyson, a former heavyweight champion.

Paul, 27, will face off against Tyson, 58, on Friday night in a heavyweight fight that will be streamed for free to Netflix’s nearly 300 million subscribers. The Paul-Tyson fight will take place after three other matches that start at 8 p.m. Eastern.

The generational showdown is part of the streaming service’s growing ambitions for live programming. It will also test the knowledge of fans: Some watched Tyson dominate the heavyweight division in the 1980s, while others followed along online as Paul catapulted to fame in the late 2010s.

If you want to catch up quickly before the fight at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, home of the Dallas Cowboys, here are some key moments from Tyson’s and Paul’s careers.

Jake Paul, the Entertainer

Paul, who was raised in Ohio and has more than 27 million Instagram followers, first became known for short videos on the now-defunct social platform Vine before switching to YouTube. In the videos he would re-enact movie scenes, eat spaghetti with a fork attached to a power drill and follow trendy dance moves, among other things.

Disney Channel announced in 2015 that it had hired Paul for a role in the series “Bizaardvark,” a show that also helped accelerate the career of the pop star Olivia Rodrigo.

Paul continued creating YouTube videos while acting, but they took a more destructive tone. He set mattresses and furniture on fire, surfed behind the back of a pickup truck on a flooded street and performed other stunts at an upscale home in the Los Angeles area. Paul and Disney Channel mutually agreed to part ways in 2017 after a television news report about his antics.

Paul lives and trains in Puerto Rico. His older brother, Logan Paul, parlayed his own social media career into a contract with World Wrestling Entertainment; he also hosts a podcast, on which he interviewed Donald J. Trump in June, during the presidential campaign.

Paul ventured into boxing as an amateur in 2018. He won his first professional fight in 2020, defeating Ali Al-Fakhri, another YouTuber, when the referee stopped the match in the first round after Paul landed a flurry of punches. Later that year, Paul defeated Nate Robinson, a retired professional basketball player, by knocking him out in the second round.

Paul now has a 10-1 record, although the quality of his competition is mixed. Many of Paul’s opponents, such as Tyron Woodley and Anderson Silva, were aging mixed martial arts fighters who had to adapt to the limits of boxing (mixed martial arts fights can include kicking and wrestling; boxing allows only punches). But Tyson and others have praised Paul for bringing new eyes to boxing, which is now surviving primarily on streaming services after networks like Showtime and HBO abandoned the sport.

Paul and his business partner, Nakisa Bidarian, founded Most Valuable Promotions, a boxing promotional company, in 2021. One of its fighters, Amanda Serrano, will face Katie Taylor on Friday in a rematch of a highly competitive championship fight.

The Controversies

In 2020, Paul, who claimed that the coronavirus pandemic was a “hoax,” hosted a large party at his home in Calabasas, Calif., that did not adhere to social distancing or mask mandates, drawing public condemnation from the city’s mayor.

Later that summer, the F.B.I. raided his home nearly two months after he had been charged with misdemeanors for entering a mall in Scottsdale, Ariz., that was being looted. Those charges were eventually dropped and the raid did not result in federal charges.

In 2021, Justine Paradise, a 24-year-old TikTok influencer, accused Paul of sexual assault. “This claim made against me is 100% false,” he said in a statement at the time.

Mike Tyson, Boxer

Tyson, who was raised in Brooklyn, took up formal boxing when he was sent to a reform school in upstate New York as a teenager after being accused of street fighting and crimes like picking pockets. He made his professional boxing debut in 1985. A year later, he knocked out Trevor Berbick to become, at age 20, the youngest heavyweight champion.

With a reputation as a devastating puncher, Tyson remained undefeated until 1990 when he lost to Buster Douglas. After the loss, Tyson went on a shorter winning streak before losing two bouts to Evander Holyfield.

Tyson retired from professional boxing in 2005 with a 50-6 record.

He has since fought in exhibition bouts, including in 2020 when he faced another aging boxer, Roy Jones Jr. (the bout ended in a split draw). Friday’s fight is a professional match, meaning the result will count toward each boxer’s permanent record and legacy.

As Tyson rose to fame in boxing, he also began to break through as a crossover star. In 1998, he was a special guest at WrestleMania, the marquee event for World Wrestling Entertainment.

In 2009, Tyson appeared with Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis and Bradley Cooper in the hit movie “The Hangover,” in which Tyson knocked out a member of a bachelor party in Las Vegas after suspecting that he stole Tyson’s pet tiger. (The boxer’s exotic face tattoo became part of the sequel’s story line.) Tyson was also the centerpiece for the 1980s video game Punch-Out!! and has been a pitchman for brands such as Mike’s Hard Lemonade.

Controveries

Tyson served three years in prison after he was convicted in 1992 of raping a beauty pageant contestant. Last year, another woman filed a lawsuit accusing Tyson of raping her in a limousine in the 1990s. In a statement, Tyson’s representatives said the boxer “does not know this woman and looks forward to his day in court where this meritless bad faith claim will be dismissed.”

A 1996 fight against Bruce Seldon is remembered most for what happened after the action in the ring. The rapper Tupac Shakur, who was friends with Tyson, was fatally shot at an intersection off the Las Vegas Strip after attending the fight at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. Last year the police arrested a suspect who is scheduled to face trial in March on murder and related charges.

Two months after the Seldon fight, Tyson lost to Holyfield in an upset; the referee stopped the fight when Holyfield delivered a barrage of punches in the 11th round after dazing Tyson in the 10th. In a rematch the next year, Tyson was disqualified for twice biting Holyfield’s ears during close-quarter exchanges. Tyson’s boxing license was temporarily revoked and he was fined $3 million.

(NY Times)

“We should search in vain for traces of the barbarian he was: all his instincts are throttled by his decency. Instead of goading him on, encouraging his follies, his philosophers have driven him toward the impasse of happiness. Determined to be happy, he has become so. And his happiness, exempt from plenitude, from risk, from any tragic suggestion, has become that enveloping mediocrity in which he will be content forever.”

— Emil Cioran

SCIENTISTS FEAR WHAT’S NEXT FOR PUBLIC HEALTH IF RFK JR. IS ABLE TO ‘GO WILD’

Many scientists at the federal health agencies await the second Donald Trump administration with dread as well as uncertainty over how the president-elect will reconcile starkly different philosophies among the leaders of his team.

Trump announced Thursday he’ll nominate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to be secretary of the Health and Human Services Department, after saying during his campaign he’d let the anti-vaccine activist “go wild” on medicines, food, and health.

Should Kennedy win Senate confirmation, his critics say a radical anti-establishment medical movement with roots in past centuries would take power, threatening the achievements of a science-based public health order painstakingly built since World War II.

Trump said in a post on the social platform X that “Americans have been crushed by the industrial food complex and drug companies who have engaged in deception, misinformation, and disinformation when it comes to Public Health,” echoing Kennedy’s complaints about the medical establishment. The former Democratic presidential candidate will “end the Chronic Disease epidemic” and “Make American Great and Healthy Again!” Trump wrote.

Vaccine makers’ stocks dipped Thursday afternoon amid news reports ahead of Trump’s RFK announcement.

If Kennedy makes good on his vision for transforming public health, childhood vaccine mandates could wither. New vaccines might never win approval, even as the FDA allows dangerous or inefficient therapies onto the market. Agency websites could trumpet unproven or debunked health ideas. And if Trump’s plan to weaken civil service rights goes through, anyone who questions these decisions could be summarily fired.

“Never has anybody like RFK Jr. gotten anywhere close to the position he may be in to actually shape policy,” said Lewis Grossman, a law professor at American University and the author of “Choose Your Medicine,” a history of U.S. public health.

Kennedy and an adviser Calley Means, a health care entrepreneur, say dramatic changes are needed because of the high levels of chronic disease in the United States. Government agencies have corruptly tolerated or promoted unhealthy diets and dangerous drugs and vaccines, they say.

Means and Kennedy did not respond to requests for comment. Four conservative members of the first Trump health bureaucracy spoke on condition of anonymity. They eagerly welcomed the former president’s return but voiced few opinions about specific policies. Days after last week’s election, RFK Jr. announced that the Trump administration would immediately fire and replace 600 National Institutes of Health officials. He set up a website seeking crowdsourced nominees for federal appointments, with a host of vaccination foes and chiropractors among the early favorites.

At meetings last week at Mar-a-Lago involving Elon Musk, Tucker Carlson, Donald Trump Jr., Kennedy, and Means, according to Politico, some candidates for leading health posts included Jay Bhattacharya, a Stanford University scientist who opposed COVID lockdowns; Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo, who opposes mRNA COVID vaccines and rejected well-established disease control practices during a measles outbreak; Johns Hopkins University surgeon Marty Makary; and Means’ sister, Stanford-trained surgeon and health guru Casey Means.

All are mavericks of a sort, though their ideas are not uniform. Yet the notion that they could elbow aside a century of science-based health policy is profoundly troubling to many health professionals. They see Kennedy’s presence at the heart of the Trump transition as a triumph of the “medical freedom” movement, which arose in opposition to the Progressive Era idea that experts should guide health care policy and practices.

It could represent a turning away from the expectation that mainstream doctors be respected for their specialized knowledge, said Howard Markel, an emeritus professor of pediatrics and history at the University of Michigan, who began his clinical career treating AIDS patients and ended it after suffering a yearlong bout of long COVID.

“We’ve gone back to the idea of ‘every man his own doctor,’” he said, referring to a phrase that gained currency in the 19th century. It was a bad idea then and it’s even worse now, he said.

“What does that do to the morale of scientists?” Markel asked. The public health agencies, largely a post-WWII legacy, are “remarkable institutions, but you can screw up these systems, not just by defunding them but by deflating the true patriots who work in them.”

FDA Commissioner Robert Califf told a conference on Nov. 12 that he worried about mass firings at the FDA. “I’m biased, but I feel like the FDA is sort of at peak performance right now,” he said. At a conference the next day, CDC Director Mandy Cohen reminded listeners of the horrors of vaccine-preventable diseases like measles and polio. “I don’t want to have to see us go backward in order to remind ourselves that vaccines work,” she said.

Stocks of some the biggest vaccine developers fell after news outlets led by Politico reported that the RFK pick was expected. Moderna, the developer of one of the most popular COVID-19 vaccines, closed down 5.6%. Pfizer, another COVID vaccine manufacturer, fell 2.6%. GSK, the producer of vaccines protecting against respiratory syncytial virus, hepatitis A and B, rotavirus, and influenza, fell just over 2%. French drug company Sanofi, whose website boasts its products vaccinate over 500 million annually, tumbled nearly 3.5%.

Exodus from the agencies?

With uncertainty over the direction of their agencies, many older scientists at the NIH, FDA, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are considering retirement, said a senior NIH scientist who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of losing his job.

“Everybody I talk to sort of takes a deep breath and says, ‘It doesn’t look good,’” the official said.

“I hear of many people getting CVs ready,” said Arthur Caplan, a professor of bioethics at New York University. They include two of his former students who now work at the FDA, Caplan said.

Others, such as Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association, have voiced wait-and-see attitudes. “We worked with the Trump administration last time. There were times things worked reasonably well,” he said, “and times when things were chaotic, particularly during COVID.” Any wholesale deregulation efforts in public health would be politically risky for Trump, he said, because when administrations “screw things up, people get sick and die.”

At the FDA, at least, “it’s very hard to make seismic changes,” former FDA chief counsel Dan Troy said.

But the administration could score easy libertarian-tinged wins by, for example, telling its new FDA chief to reverse the agency’s refusal to approve the psychedelic drug MDMA from the company Lykos. Access to psychedelics to treat post-traumatic stress disorder has grabbed the interest of many veterans. Vitamins and supplements, already only lightly regulated, will probably get even more of a free pass from the next Trump FDA.

“Medical freedom” or “nanny state”

Trump’s health influencers are not monolithic. Analysts see potential clashes among Kennedy, Musk, and more traditional GOP voices. Casey Means, a “holistic” MD at the center of Kennedy’s “Make America Healthy Again” team, calls for the government to cut ties with industry and remove sugar, processed food, and toxic substances from American diets. Republicans lampooned such policies as exemplifying a “nanny state” when Mike Bloomberg promoted them as mayor of New York City.

Both the libertarian and “medical freedom” wings oppose aspects of regulation, but Silicon Valley biotech supporters of Trump, like Samuel Hammond of the Foundation for American Innovation, have pressed the agency to speed drug and device approvals, while Kennedy’s team says the FDA and other agencies have been “captured” by industry, resulting in dangerous and unnecessary drugs, vaccines, and devices on the market.

Kennedy and Casey Means want to end industry user fees that pay for drug and device rules and support nearly half the FDA’s $7.2 billion budget. It’s unclear whether Congress would make up the shortfall at a time when Trump and Musk have vowed to slash government programs. User fees are set by laws Congress passes every five years, most recently in 2022.

The industry supports the user-fee system, which bolsters FDA staffing and speeds product approvals. Writing new rules “requires an enormous amount of time, effort, energy, and collaboration” by FDA staff, Troy said. Policy changes made through informal “guidance” alone are not binding, he added.

Kennedy and the Means siblings have suggested overhauling agricultural policies so that they incentivize the cultivation of organic vegetables instead of industrial corn and soy, but “I don’t think they’ll be very influential in that area,” Caplan said. “Big Ag is a powerful entrenched industry, and they aren’t interested in changing.”

“There’s a fine line between the libertarian impulse of the ‘medical freedom’ types and advocating a reformation of American bodies, which is definitely ‘nanny state’ territory,” said historian Robert Johnston of the University of Illinois-Chicago.

Specific federal agencies are likely to face major changes. Republicans want to trim the NIH’s 27 research institutes and centers to 15, slashing Anthony Fauci’s legacy by splitting the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which he led for 38 years, into two or three pieces.

Numerous past attempts to slim down the NIH have failed in the face of campaigns by patients, researchers, and doctors. GOP lawmakers have advocated substantial cuts to the CDC budget in recent years, including an end to funding gun violence, climate change, and health equity research. If carried out, Project 2025, a policy blueprint from the conservative Heritage Foundation, would divide the agency into data-collecting and health-promoting arms. The CDC has limited clout in Washington, although former CDC directors and public health officials are defending its value.

“It would be surprising if CDC wasn’t on the radar” for potential change, said Anne Schuchat, a former principal deputy director of the agency, who retired in 2021.

The CDC’s workforce is “very employable” and might start to look for other work if “their area of focus is going to be either cut or changed,” she said.

Kennedy’s attacks on HHS and its agencies as corrupted tools of the drug industry, and his demands that the FDA allow access to scientifically controversial drugs, are closely reminiscent of the 1970s campaign by conservative champions of Laetrile, a dangerous and ineffective apricot-pit derivative touted as a cancer treatment. Just as Kennedy championed off-patent drugs like ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine to treat COVID, Laetrile’s defenders claimed that the FDA and a profit-seeking industry were conspiring to suppress a cheaper alternative.

The public and industry have often been skeptical of health regulatory agencies over the decades, Grossman said. The agencies succeed best when they are called in to fix things — particularly after bad medicine kills or damages children, he said.

The 1902 Biologics Control Act, which created the NIH’s forerunner, was enacted in response to smallpox vaccine contamination that killed at least nine children in Camden, New Jersey. Child poisonings linked to the antifreeze solvent for a sulfa drug prompted the modern FDA’s creation in 1938. The agency, in 1962, acquired the power to demand evidence of safety and efficacy before the marketing of drugs after the thalidomide disaster, in which children of pregnant women taking the anti-nausea drug were born with terribly malformed limbs.

If vaccination rates plummet and measles and whooping cough outbreaks proliferate, babies could die or suffer brain damage. “It won’t be harmless for the administration to broadly attack public health,” said Alfredo Morabia, a professor of epidemiology at Columbia University and the editor-in-chief of the American Journal of Public Health. “It would be like taking away your house insurance.”

(Arthur Allen is a senior correspondent for KFF Health News, a nonprofit newsroom covering public health, where he writes about the FDA and the pharmaceutical industry as well as topics related to COVID-19. Reach him at aallen@kff.org, on X @ArthurAllen202.)

LOOMING FASCISM AND THE QUESTION OF HOPE

by Norman Solomon

When some leading thinkers at the London School of Economics saw fascism take hold in the 1930s, Oxford history professor Ben Jackson said in a recent BBC interview, they “argued that in those circumstances the people with economic power in society, the property owners, are willing to cancel democracy, cancel civil liberties, and make deals with political organizations like the Nazis if it guarantees their economic interest.”

That analysis has an ominous ring to it now as many tech industrialists swing behind President-elect Trump. They can hardly be unaware that Gen. Mark Milley, who served as the Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman under Trump, described him as “fascist to the core.”

“Big congratulations to our 45th and now 47th President on an extraordinary political comeback and decisive victory,” Amazon founder Jeff Bezos tweeted the morning after the election. Weeks earlier, as the owner of the Washington Post, Bezos had blocked an endorsement of Kamala Harris by the newspaper’s editorial board.

Bezos could lose billions of dollars in antitrust cases, but now stands a better chance of winning thanks to a second Trump administration. During the last decade, Amazon Web Services gained huge contracts with the federal government, including a $10 billion deal with the National Security Agency.

No wonder Bezos’ post-election tweet laid it on thick—"wishing @realDonaldTrump all success in leading and uniting the America we all love.”

Not to be left behind at the starting gun in the tech industry’s suck-up-to-Trump derby, Meta’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote: “Congratulations to President Trump on a decisive victory. We have great opportunities ahead of us as a country. Looking forward to working with you and your administration.”

As a nine-figure donor and leading purveyor of online lies for the 2024 Trump campaign, Elon Musk has been working closely with Trump. The Tesla magnate, X (formerly Twitter) owner, and SpaceX mogul is well-positioned to help shape policies of the incoming administration. A week after the election, news broke that Musk has been chosen by Trump to co-lead an ill-defined “Department of Government Efficiency” with an evident mission to slash the public sector.

Musk, Bezos and Zuckerberg rank first, third and fourth respectively on the Forbes list of the world’s richest individuals. The three of them have combined wealth of around $740 billion.

“In recent years, many tech elites have shrugged off the idealism once central to Silicon Valley’s self-image, in favor of a more corporate and transactional approach to politics,” the Washington Post gingerly reported after the election. The newspaper added: “A growing contingent of right-wing tech figures argue that Trump can usher in a new era of American dominance by removing red tape.”

For amoral gazillionaires like Bezos and Musk, ingratiating themselves with Trump is a wise investment that’s calculated to yield windfall returns. Evidently, the consequences in human terms are of no real concern. In fact, social injustice and the divisions it breeds create the conditions for still more lucrative political demagoguery, with the richest investors at the front of the line to benefit from corporate tax cuts and regressive changes in individual tax brackets.

After Election Day, the fascism scholar Jason Stanley offered a grim appraisal: “People who feel slighted (materially or socially) come to accept pathologies—racism, homophobia, misogyny, ethnic nationalism, and religious bigotry—which, under conditions of greater equality, they would reject. And it is precisely those material conditions for a healthy, stable democracy that the United States lacks today. If anything, America has come to be singularly defined by its massive wealth inequality, a phenomenon that cannot but undermine social cohesion and breed resentment.”

The threat of fascism in the United States is no longer conjectural. It is swiftly gathering momentum, fueled by the extremism of the party set to soon control both the executive and legislative branches of the U.S. government as well as most of the federal court system.

It’s not only that, as Stanley notes, “the Republican Party’s domination of all branches of government would render the U.S. a one-party state.” Already set in motion are cascading toxic effects on social discourse and political dynamics, marked by widening acceptance and promotion of overt bigotries and brandished hatreds.

The successful relaunch of Trump’s political quest has again rocketed him into the stratosphere of power. Corporate profits for the few will reach new heights. Only humanity will suffer.

This deeply perilous time requires realism—but not fatalism. In the worst of times, solidarity is most needed.

And what about hope?

Consider what Fred Branfman had to say.

In the late 1960s, Fred was a humanitarian-aid volunteer in Laos when he discovered that his country was taking the lives of peasants there by the thousands. He assembled Voices from the Plain of Jars, a book with the subtitle “Life Under an Air War,” published in 1972. It included essays by Laotian people living under long-term U.S. bombardment along with drawings by children who depicted the horrors all around them.

When I asked Fred to describe his experience in Laos, he said: “At the age of 27, a moral abyss suddenly opened before me. I was shocked to the core of my being as I found myself interviewing Laotian peasants, among the most decent, human and kind people on Earth, who described living underground for years on end, while they saw countless fellow villagers and family members burned alive by napalm, suffocated by 500-pound bombs, and shredded by antipersonnel bombs dropped by my country, the United States.”

Fred moved to Washington, where he worked with antiwar groups to lobby Congress and protest the inflicting of mass carnage on Indochina. During the decades that followed, he kept working as a writer and activist to help change policies, stop wars, and counteract what he described as “the effect on the biosphere of the interaction between global warming, biodiversity loss, water aquifer depletion, chemical contamination, and a wide variety of other new threats to the biospheric systems upon which human life depends.”

When I talked with Fred a few years before his death in 2014, he said: “I find it hard to have much 'hope' that the species will better itself in coming decades.”

But, Fred went on, "I have also reached a point in my self-inquiries where I came to dislike the whole notion of ‘hope.’ If I need to have ‘hope’ to motivate me, what will I do when I see no rational reason for hope? If I can be ‘hopeful,’ then I can also be ‘hopeless,’ and I do not like feeling hopeless.”

He added: “When I looked more deeply at my own life, I noticed that my life was not now and never had been built around ‘hope.’ Laos was an example. I went there, I learned to love the peasants, the bombing shocked my psyche and soul to the core, and I responded—not because I was hopeful or hopeless, but because I was alive.”

We’re alive. Let’s make the most of it, no matter how much hope we have. What we need most of all is not optimism but determination.

(Norman Solomon is the national director of RootsAction.org and executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy. His most recent book, War Made Invisible: How America Hides the Human Toll of Its Military Machine, was published in June 2023 by The New Press.)

ON-LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

You bet he is going after offshore windmills off our coast. What kind of humans who love the environment and living beings would be for 900 foot tall Cuisinart shredders off our coast. Have you ever been out in the ocean? There are thousands of seabirds out there. Whales migrate and feed out there. Who wants to see birds shredded to pieces and whales beached because they are driven crazy by the undersea sonic noise created by these abominations. The windmill cement people are on the losing end of this scam, just like the people who insist all old growth redwood should be cut down and turned into decking. Choose wisely, because the rest of society says no way, no how, never. Fake man caused climate change is just that, a fake scheme utilized to control others by the Gollums who got crushed a week ago. Never again will society listen to fake bought off scientists who know better but got a taste of the Benjamins and became the Gollum.

FRIDAY'S LEAD STORIES, NYT

Trump Picks R.F.K. Jr. to Be Head of Health and Human Services Dept.

Trump Takes a Victory Lap Before a Friendly Audience at Mar-a-Lago

Elon Musk Met With Iran’s U.N. Ambassador, Iranian Officials Say

Three-Quarters of U.S. Adults Are Now Overweight or Obese

The Onion Wins Bid to Buy Infowars, Alex Jones’s Site, Out of Bankruptcy

The Curious Fight Between Jake Paul and Mike Tyson

TORTURE, TOO

Editor:

Americans have not been told of the deeply troubling torture of Palestinians in Israeli prisons. It is being done openly, presumably, for deterrence. According to an article in the New York Review of Books, techniques used include sleep deprivation, denial of food and medical care, beatings, blindfolding and sexual torture. More than 60 have died in Israeli prisons since Oct. 7, 2023.

The Israeli government is held to international laws it has ratified that provide for prosecution of perpetrators of torture. When three solders in military prisons were set for trial for torturing Palestinians, political pressure ended their prosecution. George W. Bush, in 2011, canceled a planned trip to Sweden to avoid arrest and prosecution for promotion of torture. The U.S. “Leahy Law” prohibits us from assisting government forces of countries that engage in torture.

Robert d. McFarland

Petaluma

THE BOMBSHELL TRUTH ABOUT DANIEL PENNY'S CHOKEHOLD TRIAL THAT BRAINWASHED LIBERALS WILL REFUSE TO BELIEVE

by Maureen Callahan

The Daniel Penny trial isn't just about New York. It's a litmus test for the future of American justice.

On the 13th floor of Manhattan Supreme Court, 26-year-old Penny, a Marine veteran, stands charged with manslaughter in the death of Jordan Neely, a 30-year-old homeless black man who had been threatening passengers in a crowded subway car in May 2023.

Penny, who is white, faces 20 years in prison.

This case reflects so much of what plagues America: soft-on-crime policies that have average citizens in fear for their safety; the far-left's insistence that leaving homeless, drug-addicted, mentally ill people on the streets is compassionate; and the intransigent falsehood that this nation runs on white supremacy — ergo, Daniel Penny's actions that day embody nothing less than white America's belief that black lives don't matter.

All brought to us by feckless DA Alvin Bragg, a Democrat who has reduced violent crimes from felonies to misdemeanors, and who somehow saw President Donald Trump's hush-money payments to a porn star worthy of prosecution.

Bragg has racialized the criminal justice system in New York — a city like no other, in which people of every imaginable race, creed, color and socioeconomic class interact daily. As they did in that very subway car. It's a multiracial witness list, and what isn't in doubt is that Jordan Neely scared commuters who thought they'd seen everything.

Juan Alberto Vasquez, a 59-year-old reporter from Mexico, said he went into “alert mode” the moment Neely boarded the train. He told police that Neely reminded him of Frank James, the man who randomly shot ten commuters in a Brooklyn subway car in 2022.

Moriela Sanchez, a teenager from Harlem, told a grand jury that she did not believe Penny was “lynching” Neely, as the left would have us believe.

A key bit of that testimony:

Q: “Did it appear to you that the white man was squeezing the black man's neck?”

Sanchez: 'No. He was trying to protect other people so that [Neely] wouldn't put [his] hands on nobody.”

Neely had a long history of assaulting strangers on the street and in the subway — including breaking the nose and orbital bone of a 68-year-old woman.

In fact, Neely had more arrests than birthdays: 44 by age 30, including for indecent exposure.

He was on the city's “Top 50” list of homeless people in dire need of help and, in 2015, was arrested for attempting to kidnap a 7-year-old girl. Neely was reportedly seen dragging the child down a street.

But you won't see mention of that in most coverage of this trial – because in Bragg's worldview, and that of the left-leaning media, Neely was just an occasional Michael Jackson street-performer who fell through the cracks.

In January, New York magazine ran a soft-focus cover story, headlined: “Finding Jordan Neely.”

It was a love letter to an urban menace, with writer Lisa Miller musing that Neely’s threats to terrified passengers that day were “perhaps a plea to be back in a place where meals and medications were provided, perhaps a sign of his exhaustion or anguish, perhaps an admission of defeat.”

Or, perhaps, a prelude to harming people, as Neely had done many, many times before.

Naturally, Al Sharpton, New York City's original race-baiter, eulogized Neely.

“We can't live in a city,” Sharpton said, “where you can choke me to death with no provocation, no weapon, no threat.”

To be clear: No one deserves to die as Neely did.

But New Yorkers can't live in a city where police are scant, or afraid to intervene for fear that they, too, will be brought up on charges of hate crimes, or where the elderly, children and women are raped, assaulted, and murdered in broad daylight — as 23-year-old Leslie Torres was last month, apparently strangled to death outside a Times Square hotel at 1.30 in the afternoon.

But for Sharpton and compatriot Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who positioned herself front row at Neely's funeral, violent crime is so often adjudged solely through race.

“Jordan Neely was murdered,” AOC posted on X, two days after his death. “The murderer gets protected [with] passive headlines [and] no charges. It's disgusting.”

What's disgusting is pampered politicians fanning racial animus and calling Penny, before he was ever arrested or charged, a murderer.

Even Mayor Eric Adams, himself a former police officer, implied that Penny should likely not be charged with a crime.

“Any loss of life is tragic,” Adams said in the immediate aftermath. “However, we do know there were serious mental health issues in play here.”

As were drug issues and, according to Neely's aunt, a diagnosis of schizophrenia. The autopsy showed Neely was high on K2, a powerful synthetic cannabinoid that can cause paranoia, hallucinations and cardiac arrest.

New York City's medical examiner has refused to say how much K2 was in Neely's system at time of death. Seems relevant to me.

Barring the prosecution hiding some piece of bombshell evidence — we're in week four of a likely six-week trial — Daniel Penny should be found not guilty.

Witness testimony, so far, supports this.

The basic facts: After 2 p.m. on Monday, May 1, 2023, Neely boarded a northbound F train at the heavily trafficked Second Avenue station.

Alethea Gittings, a retired medical administrator and daily subway rider from Brooklyn, was in the same car.

She testified that, as far as she could remember, Neely started yelling: “I don't give a damn. I'll kill a motherfucker… I'm ready to die.”

She described his tone as “very loud, very menacing, very disturbing,” and said it left her “scared shitless.”

Caedryn Schrunk, a senior brand manager at Nike, was also in the subway car. She testified that, as a daily subway rider, she had never been so terrified.

“Everyone was frozen,” she said. “I was fearful, truly, that was the moment I was going to die.”

Schrunk testified that Neely was approaching a mother who was shielding her child with a stroller. Neely's odor, she said, “took over the subway… His sweatpants were visibly soiled.”

She suspected he was having a mental breakdown and was likely on drugs. “I've never seen a human in that state,” she added.

That's when Penny is said to have taken Neely down, restraining him in a chokehold. Two other civilians, one a black man, helped keep Neely on the floor until police arrived.

NYPD Sergeant Carl Johnson was among the first on the scene. He testified that neither he nor any of his officers performed CPR on Neely — not because the NYPD is racist, but because Neely was so obviously filthy and potentially diseased.

“He was an apparent drug user,” Johnson said of Neely. “He was very dirty. I didn't want [my officers] to get… hepatitis. If [Neely] did wake up, he would have been vomiting. I didn't want my officers to do that.”

Bodycam video shown in court revealed that Neely still had a pulse when first responders arrived. Penny remained on the scene the entire time.

Alethea Gittings testified that she 'came back to thank Mr. Penny for what he had done'.

The fear of potentially fatal assault is one that every woman, in an increasingly lawless New York City, can relate to. As Lauri Sitro, the mother of that five-year-old boy, testified: “I was scared for my son. It's not like you can take a 5-year-old and run to the next train. I felt very relieved when Daniel Penny had stopped [Neely].”

Yet the prosecution runs on the race card.

“I am not a white supremacist,” Penny told the New York Post last year. “This had nothing to do with race.”

Will a jury see it that way? If there's one thing the election of Trump augurs, it's that ordinary Americans are rejecting the idea that everything in this country should be reduced to race. We are exhausted by the notion that white people are inherently evil and bigoted.

The Daniel Penny trial seems in pursuit of a cause, not a crime. And that cause is propping up the myth of an intractably racist America.

IN KHARKIV

by Timothy Garton Ash

George Orwell's Homage to Catalonia teaches political writers who follow in his footsteps that you must be honest about the failings of your own side. There are certainly some on the Ukrainian side. One of the most critical is recruitment for military service. Ukraine has mobilized far fewer soldiers than Russia has. Officials claim they are recruiting some 30,000 a month, but according to well-informed Western sources the real figures over the summer were significantly lower. Why this shortfall? Unlike Putin, Ukrainian leaders really care about the lives of their own people. The country is still a democracy, albeit one semi-suspended in wartime, which means that the recent conscription law took many months to wind through Ukrainian parliament. Zelensky and his overmighty adviser Andriy Yermak worry obsessively about their approval ratings and feared the loss of popularity that might come with a harsher mobilization regime. There have been some shocking cases of corruption in recruiting offices and medical facilities, where officials have collected bribes running into the millions of dollars in return for enabling people to dodge the draft. But it's also because many young Ukrainians really don't want to fight, especially when military service has no time limit and they know that many of the regular army brigades — unlike Khartiia — are badly equipped, inadequately trained, poorly led, and liable to get you killed in short order. That leaves old soldiers who have been fighting since the beginning of the full-scale war, average age at least 40, to battle on with no relief or end in sight.

The strategic wisdom of this summer's lightning incursion into Russia's Kursk region must also be doubted. It was a brilliant stroke of political theater, revealed the weakness of Russian frontier defenses, and gave a much- needed boost to Ukrainian morale. But it has taken some of the best units away from the rest of the Ukrainian army. So far it doesn't seem to have diverted significant Russian military resources from the eastern front, where Ukrainian troops are slowly but steadily being pushed back by the Russian meat grinder. It will take a lot for Ukrainians to hold the Kursk enclave for many months, if their government wants to use it as a bargaining chip in any eventual peace negotiation. (We return your territory, you return some of ours.)

I called one battalion commander of my acquaintance, who turned out to be in the Kursk region. How was it there? Tough, he replied. And he memorably described his troops as “mostly old men and tired.”

These are things Ukraine itself is responsible for. But at least as much depends on us. More than half the country's budget comes from the West. It's the West that pays the country's pensioners and civil servants, sustains its hospitals and schools, and keeps the lights on. With something like a million men and women under arms and relentless demand for munitions, virtually all the state's much-reduced domestic revenue goes to defense spending. But its military cannot hold the line, let alone prevail, without our arms (or contracts for Ukraine's own rapidly growing defense industry), ammunition, intelligence, and training.

When I say “us,” this should by rights mean, above all, us Europeans. For this is a European war, existentially threatening other Central and Eastern European countries that were until quite recently part of the declining Russian empire. What is more, how this war ends will shape an entire new period of European history that began on February 24, 2022. But eight decades after 1945, and shamingly for us Europeans, when it comes to European security, this “us” still means first and foremost the US.

American voters chose a new president on November 5 for reasons that have little or nothing to do with Ukraine. But the election of Donald Trump will have consequences even more immediately disastrous for Ukraine than those likely to follow for the United States. If Americans had elected Kamala Harris, she would have faced a challenging choice. Simply continuing the Biden administration's policy of cautious support for Kyiv would not have been enough to achieve a sustainable peace, which requires the security that only NATO can provide.

The region around Kharkiv is known as Sloboda Ukraine or Slobozhanshchyna, “the land of the free,” because Cossacks and others were encouraged to settle there free of taxes in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Today it is, in a deeper sense, the land of the free, and the home of the brave. But bravery alone does not win wars. Ukrainians cannot prevail over the Russian Goliath unless they have farsighted, strong allies to support them.

20 Comments

George Hollister November 15, 2024

The anti-vaccine mindset goes hand in hand with the anti-pesticide mindset. RFK Jr. represents that duel mindset well. He may have trouble getting Senate confirmation. But is there some truth mixed with the fantasies? Of course there is. We can thank Washington, and Dr. Fauci for that.

Reply
- Adam Gaska November 15, 2024
  
  Even a broken clock is right twice a day.
  
  Reply
- peter boudoures November 15, 2024
  
  Pesticides are for sick plants. Keep them healthy and clean and they aren’t necessary.
  
  Reply
Mike J November 15, 2024

Logan Paul, older brother of Jake Paul (profiled in MCT above), has long intrigued people on “ufotwitter” for having refused to show a copy of a video he promised the filmer not to share despite being a clear view of an alleged alien craft. Yesterday he posted this message:
”
Logan Paul

@LoganPaul
I’m deeply invested in the latest UFO/UAP disclosure in Congress

The question is no longer “are we alone?”
The question is: who else is here and why?

It’s undeniable that there is intelligence on Earth far more advanced than humans which should be alarming considering we are no longer at the top of the food chain

The reported UFOs defy known laws of physics, traveling through air at hypersonic velocity, capable of transmedium travel, seamlessly moving between space, Earth’s atmosphere, and motherfucking WATER (USOs = Unidentified SUBMERGED Objects). Oh and with no identifiable means of propulsion…

They tease our naval aircraft, stalking and observing us like prey, particularly around military bases; seemingly monitoring us to see what we’re capable of.

According to whistleblowers, the government has a crash retrieval program aimed at reverse-engineering this technology. They’ve collected “non-human biologics” and have had “definitive nonverbal communication” with these enigmatic crafts. This branch of the US government has allegedly operated with minimal congressional oversight for decades.

I can’t help but wonder… How long have they been here? What are they? What do they know about the origin of the universe, the fabric of reality, God?

I’m deeply entranced by all of it & can’t wait for more whistleblowers to come forward

(If you’re as into this as me, I HIGHLY suggest watching George Knapp’s “Investigation Alien” on Netflix)”

Reply
- Chuck Wilcher November 15, 2024
  
  “The U.S. government has received more than 700 reports of unexplained phenomena but have found no proof of extraterrestrial life, the Pentagon’s UFO office confirmed at a Thursday briefing.” (USA Today)
  
  Reply
  - Mike J November 15, 2024
    
    The new head of AARO notes he’s an engineer and that’s he very puzzled by the extensive data surrounding 21 very anomalous events exhibiting capacities beyond what we’ve achieved.
    
    AND, re the quote you offer, here’s how it’s stated in the executive summary:
    “It is important to underscore that, TO DATE, AARO has discovered no evidence of extraterrestrial beings, activity, or technology”.
    
    Most of the over forty whistleblowers from unacknowledged special access programs that an official interviewed over a two year period for the earlier UAP Task Force refused to approach AARO because of distrust of its previous director. Instead they briefed the Inspector General and members of the Senate Intel Cmt staff.
    
    The new director is much more trusted…so far.
    
    Reply
    - Mike J November 15, 2024
      
      Dr. Kosloski in press conference yesterday:
      “But there are interesting cases that I, with my physics and engineering background and time in the IC, I do not understand. And I don’t know anybody else who understands them either.”
      https://www.defense.gov/News/Transcripts/Transcript/Article/3965734/dr-jon-kosloski-director-aaro-media-roundtable-on-the-fy24-consolidated-annual/
      
      Reply
      - Harvey Reading November 15, 2024
        
        Propaganda often is difficult for honest people to decipher. especially when it makes nonsensical claims, to distract us from real-world guvamint shenanigans…
        
        Reply
        
        Mike J November 15, 2024
        
        Trump’s hilarious (and also tragic) moves in staffing his upcoming administration likely will distract from this issue but I still think there may be a difficult birthing of astonishing revelations.
        
        Reply
        
        Harvey Reading November 16, 2024
        
        This issue’s been around since humans first saw the sky and developed imagination (even to the extent of creating imaginary gods). Now, those in charge use it to influence the thinking of the dumber ones of those they “govern”. Nothing astonishing at all about the wishful thinking of human monkeys, especially those who convert that wishful thinking into nonsense like religion (or government policy, very similar), with which the domineering ones can force others into developing whatever way of thinking is desired by the “master”. No actual ET is at all necessary; it’s all mind control.
        
        Reply
Craig Stehr November 15, 2024

In these times of extreme socio-political chaos, with the existential threat of global climate destabilization intensifying, war being the now common means of solving disputes, and the human race collectively rotting in the quagmire of samsara, the path forward is open to all…
~Holding to the Constant~
https://bmcm.org/inspiration/passages/holding-constant/

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Paul Modic November 15, 2024

My take on the election:
We now live in Trump country, no more doubt…
He may destroy the country
He may destroy the world
So it’s time to look within,
and deal with our own issues…
Well, I’m going to try…

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Chuck Dunbar November 15, 2024

“KEEP THE FAITH, SOLVE THE PROBLEMS”

Thanks, Jim Shields, for the pragmatic, hopeful perspective–much needed these days.

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Harvey Reading November 15, 2024

Annexation Will Support Housing Development and Preserve Open Space

LOL. Talk about a contradiction in terms… Well, it’s all good, since it will hasten the demise of Homo sapiens…

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Fog November 15, 2024

THE SOURCE…RFK,jr HHS Director to be

“Thank you @realDonaldTrump for your leadership and courage. I’m committed to advancing your vision to Make America Healthy Again.

💥We have a generational opportunity to bring together the greatest minds in science, medicine, industry, and government to put an end to the chronic disease epidemic.💥

I look forward to working with the more than 80,000 employees at HHS to free the agencies from the smothering cloud of corporate capture so they can pursue their mission to make Americans once again the healthiest people on Earth.

Together we will clean up corruption, stop the revolving door between industry and government, and return our health agencies to their rich tradition of gold-standard, evidence-based science. I will provide Americans with transparency and access to all the data so they can make informed choices for themselves and their families.

My commitment to the American people is to be an honest public servant. Let’s go!”

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- Fog November 15, 2024
  
  Let’s do this!
  
  DTrump, says:
  “For too long, Americans have been crushed by the industrial food complex and drug companies who have engaged in deception, misinformation, and disinformation when it comes to Public Health. The Safety and Health of all Americans is the most important role of any Administration, and HHS will play a big role in helping ensure that everybody will be protected from harmful chemicals, pollutants, pesticides, pharmaceutical products, and food additives that have contributed to the overwhelming Health Crisis in this Country.”
  
  win-win opportunity deal for these two players to get it right.
  
  Reply
  - Chuck Wilcher November 16, 2024
    
    “win-win opportunity deal for these two players to get it right.”
    
    This is coming from the same guy whose diet consists of Big Macs and KFC fried chicken?
    
    Reply
Mike J November 15, 2024

Kirsten Gillibrand is soon hosting, maybe on the 19th or in December, an UAP hearing by the Senate Armed Services Cmt. Dr. Jon Kosloski, the new director of the All Domain Anomaly Resolution Office, is expected to be one testifying. Details (I don’t know how much you can see here though….I’m a subscriber) in Matt’s humorous conversation with the Senator:
https://www.askapol.com/p/sen-gillibrand-previews-senate-uap-hearing

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Chuck Dunbar November 15, 2024

A fine, fact-filled MCT today with lots of timely pieces. Reading some of them at the end of the day.

Still no word from James M.–I think I have found his phone number and am tempted to call him, not sure he’d welcome a call from me, but…..

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Jim Armstrong November 15, 2024

Donny’s just about filled his cabinet:
https://www.onlinepsychologydegree.info/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/5-great-movies-for-psychology-students-and-professionals.jpg

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Mendocino County Today: Friday 11/15/2024

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