Mendocino County Today: Wednesday 11/20/2024

Incoming | Storm Warning | Highway Closure | Irish Beach | Flood Watch | Issa Niambele | Priscilla Hunter | Wellness Calendar | Palace Hotel | Kendall City | Harp & Violin | Gran Kermes | Not Dead | Old Incline | Ferry Launch | Yesterday's Catch | San Francisco | Class Action | Sucker Loser | Cheesy | Burleigh Bone | Girls | Lost Coast | Noisy Backpacking | Walking Bass | The Niners | Bluesky Meeting | Market & Powell | Trump Sports | Human Relations | Lead Stories | Bad Hair | Whiny Wokesters | Golden Gate | Finding Aliens | Buddhist Cheatsheet | Deportation Plan | Cheap Comics | Nuclear Chicken | Not Intelligent | Whitewashing Genocide | Shasta Snow

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A STRONG atmospheric river storm system will deliver strong to damaging winds and prolonged moderate to heavy rainfall, which could lead to life threatening flash flooding, along with heavy mountain snow. Rain and winds will only briefly lessen today before ramping up again Thursday when a second strengthening cyclone brushes our coast, with impacts lasting through Friday. (NWS)

RAINFALL (past 24 hours): Laytonville 1.30" - Boonville 1.18" - Hopland 0.91" - Yorkville 0.88" - Ukiah 0.76" - Covelo 0.67"

STEPHEN DUNLAP (Fort Bragg): A rainy 51F with .95" of rainfall collected this Wednesday morning on the coast. A look at the satellite shot shows the system parked off the coast of Washington & the tropical moisture feed coming from the southwest. That is what we have for a next few days with lots of rain & wind forecast. It looks like conditions start to calm down on Friday although rain remains in the forecast well into next week. Hopefully the forecast models are over selling this, we'll know in time.

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FORT BRAGG PREPARES

Storm Warning Issued: Heavy Rain, Flooding, and High Winds Expected

The National Weather Service has issued a Major Risk warning for heavy rain and flooding from Wednesday through Friday, with up to 12 inches of rain possible. A Moderate Risk for high winds, gusting up to 43 mph, begins Tuesday evening. The storm may cause significant flooding, power outages, and hazardous conditions, including a second wave of heavy rain Thursday morning.

City crews are ready to address storm impacts, including flooding and downed trees.

Residents are urged to stay informed, secure outdoor items, limit travel, and prepare for potential outages. For storm-related issues, contact Fort Bragg Public Works during working hours at (707) 961-2836 ext. 342 or FBPD Dispatch after hours at (707) 964-0200.

See Press Release for full details.

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HWY 1 FULL CLOSURE 11/24, 25, 26

The Jack Peters Creek Bridge project just north of Mendocino had signs up Tuesday saying Hwy 1 will be fully closed all day and night from Sunday 11/24 thru Tuesday 11/26. That's a huge deal for the first 3 days of Thanksgiving week, leaving only Wednesday for shopping. The big storm will make it even worse. The detour around the closure is via Ukiah and Willits. Depending on storm conditions it may be possible to detour via Little Lake Rd to Rd 409 and back to 1 at Caspar. Plan ahead!

— Nick Wilson [coast chatline]

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BE PREPARED FOR FLOODING

With “steady, moderate rain” expected to begin Tuesday night and continue much of the week, the National Weather Service has issued a Flood Watch beginning early Wednesday for the Ukiah Valley and beyond.

According to the Forecast Discussion prepared by staff at the Eureka office of the NWS for Nov. 18, “an atmospheric river” is forecast to move over Mendocino County and other areas of Northwestern California Tuesday night and “park itself” there through the week.

In response, the NWS has issued a Flood Watch from 4 a.m. Nov. 20 through 4 a.m. Nov. 22, as the region may receive “four to eight inches of precipitation falling Wednesday and Thursday, with rain likely continuing into the weekend.

This will bring a prolonged period of moderate rainfall with an initial threat of small stream and urban flooding Wednesday and Thursday, and potentially main stem river concerns later in the week. More extensive flooding is possible later this week as rain continues.”

As for soil moisture, NWS staff explain that their latest “moisture modeling is indicating … 20 percent to 30 percent in Mendocino and Lake Counties, thus the initial bands of precipitation late Tuesday night and Wednesday likely will be absorbed.

“However, with the prolonged nature of this incoming system, saturation is likely, leading to enhanced runoff. This may initially lead to small streams and creeks flooding, as well as flooding in urban areas. Main stem rivers are forecast to respond late this week to the persistent rainfall as well, however just how high they will reach remains uncertain.”

Also this week, the city of Ukiah is considering hiring a firm to create a new 100-year Flood plain Model in response to updated maps created by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

According to the staff report prepared for the the Nov. 20 meeting of the City Council, the Public Works Department is requesting that the board “authorize the City Manager to negotiate and execute a contract with GHD Engineers Inc. in the amount of $85,507 to develop a 100-Year Floodplain Model for the city of Ukiah. This project will include hydrologic and hydraulic modeling for the Orrs, Gibson, and Doolin Creek watersheds, along with coordination with FEMA to ensure model adoption.”

As background, staff explain that “FEMA’s revised preliminary floodplain maps, first proposed in 2022, showed inconsistencies with observed flood data, raising concerns about accuracy. In 2023, the City appealed FEMA’s initial maps, but the updated versions still showed potential inaccuracies, especially for low income areas, where residents may face unnecessary flood insurance costs. Preliminary analysis by city staff suggests FEMA’s data may not fully capture local flood risks, underscoring the need for a more detailed, locally-informed floodplain model.”

As for funding available, staff point to “a combination of already approved, available budgeted funds that are not expected to be expended this year and potential grant funds. (If the contract is authorized,” staff will also reach out to FEMA to partner, if possible, on the studies and seek funding support.”

This item will be considered as part of the Nov. 20 meeting of the City Council, scheduled to begin at 5:15 p.m. Wednesday at both the Civic Center at 300 Seminary Avenue, and online at: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/86736894549

(Ukiah Daily Journal)

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ISSA NIAMBELE DIES IN MENDO JAIL

The Mendocino County Sheriff's Office Coroner's Unit has provided notification to the Sheriff's Office Corrections Division that the deceased individual's Next of Kin has been located and notified of his death.

The individual has been identified as being Issa Niambele, a 40-year-old male from Ukiah (California).

The cause and manner of death is still pending an official determination by the Sheriff's Office Chief Deputy-Coroner. Once that determination is made, a subsequent press release will be publicly disseminated.

Original Press Release:

On 10-29-2024 at approximately 8:30 PM a Corrections Deputy was performing a routine safety check on two pre-housed adult male individuals inside a holding cell inside of the Mendocino County Jail Building One (referred to as Main Jail).

At this time the Corrections Deputy noticed both individuals were laying on the floor in different areas of the holding cell and appeared to be asleep. After constant visual observation for a brief time, the Corrections Deputy became concerned about one of the individuals.

This prompted the Corrections Deputy to enter the holding cell with an additional Corrections Deputy to perform a closer physical check on the individual. The Corrections Deputy determined the individual was unresponsive to include being absent breathing and a pulse.

An immediate radio broadcast of a medical emergency was made which prompted response of additional corrections and onsite Naphcare medical personnel.

Corrections and jail medical personnel began immediate lifesaving efforts which included CPR, and use of an AED (automated external defibrillator) while outside medical services were being requested.

Personnel from the Ukiah Valley Fire Authority soon thereafter arrived and continued with additional advanced forms of lifesaving efforts. Corrections personnel continued providing CPR assistance during this time for an extended period which resulted in the individual regaining a pulse.

The individual was transported to the Adventist Health Ukiah Valley Emergency Department where further advanced lifesaving efforts were continually provided after admittance.

These ongoing advanced lifesaving efforts were ultimately unsuccessful, and the individual was pronounced deceased on 10-30-2024 at approximately 12:14 AM.

Mendocino County Sheriff's Office Detectives were contacted, and they are conducting investigations in connection with the Mendocino County Fatal Incident Protocol.

In addition to this investigation the Mendocino County Sheriff's Coroner's Unit is conducting a coroner's investigation into the cause and manner of the individual's death. A forensic autopsy on the individual was performed on 10-30-2024 and the official result of that autopsy is pending BA/Toxicology analysis at this time.

The identity of the deceased individual is not available for public release at this time pending identification and notification of their Next of Kin.

Arrested in July for under the influence and petty theft. Again in October for controlled substance, camping in public and paraphernalia. And in late October for “restricted use of fire.”

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PRISCILLA HUNTER

Priscilla Hunter, age 77, passed away peacefully on Saturday, November 16, surrounded by her family and friends who sang her home.

Priscilla was a well-known Tribal leader and environmental activist who was committed to preserving her Pomo cultural heritage for future generations.

In 1957 her family was terminated from tribal recognition because of their eviction from the original Coyote Valley Rancheria in order to create Lake Mendocino. Not until the mid-1970s was her family able to regain federal tribal recognition. With her grandmother, mother, aunts and uncles, Priscilla helped develop the new Coyote Valley Band of Pomo Indians and their reservation.

In her capacity as Tribal Administrator and Tribal Chairwoman over several years, Priscilla participated in developing Tribal housing, a gymnasium, pool, education center, and other facilities on the reservation. She also sat on the California Indian Gaming Association in connection with the Coyote Valley Casino.

In 1994 she led a Pomo Peace Caravan to Mexico to aid the Zapatistas in their struggle to support the Indigenous people of Oaxaca.

Priscilla was appointed to the California Native American Heritage Commission, which allowed her to support other tribes in their tribal sovereignty, cultural practices, and federal recognition. With ten Mendocino County tribes, Priscilla helped initiate and lead the InterTribal Sinkyone Wilderness Council to preserve nearly 5000 acres of forest near the Usal Campground on the northwest coast.

Of many statewide Native cultural initiatives that Priscilla participated in, two include the California Indian Recognition Task Force and the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act.

With her long-time partner Polly Girvin, Priscilla worked in coalitions to defend heritage landscapes and to demand Pomo Land Back, such as those encompassed by the Willits bypass and Jackson Demonstration State Forest.

Priscilla had an intuitive sense of politics and people, as well as a great sense of humor. Her deep wisdom allowed her to weather various struggles. Priscilla’s strong spiritual presence was felt by everyone she worked with and knew.

Priscilla was preceded in death by her mother Delma Eyle, her Father Thomas Ramos, brothers Tom and Timothy Ramos, her granddaughter Courtnee Priscilla Hunter, and great grandson Mateo Delgadillo-Hunter.

She is survived by her partner Polly Girvin, two children, Melinda and Michael Hunter, grandchildren Justine, Tristen and Ma-Kayla Hunter, and great-grandchildren, Courtnee, Chloee, Cambree, and Adriel Delgadillo-Hunter, Daniel Felix, Calvin Zarco and Willow Zarco, sisters Nina Campbell, Tina Ramos, brother Tommy Ramos, and many nieces, nephews and cousins.

Services for Priscilla will be on Wednesday, November 20th, 2024, at 6:00 pm at the Coyote Valley Gymnasium, 455 Coyote Valley Blvd., Ukiah, CA and on Thursday, November 21st, 2024 at 11:00 am. Interment will follow at Ukiah Cemetery, 940 Low Gap Rd, Ukiah, CA.

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YOUR MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES TAX DOLLAR AT WORK

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PALACE HOTEL, 2024

by John Arteaga

Jeeze, how can I express the dismay that I and so many other Mendonesians feel about this latest news about the Palace Hotel ruins?

Before I go on, just an alert to anyone whose memories go back to the heyday of the Palace Hotel: do yourself a favor and purchase one of the great Karen Rifkin’s just recently published book about the history of the Palace, available, I’m sure, at local bookstores. It’s a great read with tons of wonderful photos going back over a century here in our beloved Ukiah.

The latest disposition of this ancient (by local standards) ruin is another turn of the Groundhog Day wheel; decade has followed decade with the neglect of this prime, centrally located property in the heart of downtown Ukiah. So many people I know were given false hope in this last year or so when it seemed like the Ukiah City Council, better late than never, had finally had its fill of the endless procrastination over this collapsing ruin, and had, it looked like, finally drawn a line in the sand and told its hapless, by default owner, Jitu Ishwar, that he must either tear it down or somehow “stabilize it” (about as close to a structural impossibility as one can imagine), or face legal consequences, perhaps even jail.

In the investment world they talk about the “greater fool” idea, where one hopes to make money on an investment that may appear to be of questionable value, but if the market is somehow charmed by it, one may profit by selling it to a “greater fool.” Such seems to be the case for the Palace. For those who have not been following this story for lo these many years, each of its successive owners, down through the decades, have fallen into the same trap of insufficient due diligence; starting with Marin realtor Eladia Laines, 30 years or so ago.

I can just imagine the thought process: “How can I possibly lose?! Most of a city block, with the giant three-story beautiful brick structure for the bargain-basement price of, what was it, like $160 grand?” Well, in the end she found out that she could indeed lose money, all of it. And this is after she spent what was no doubt a serious chunk of change doing the only worthwhile project that has ever been done on the property, the removal of the asbestos pipe insulation, etc.

It was an absolutely foolish thing way back when the court system was suddenly given authority over the collapsing disaster; what on earth does some judge know about what makes sense or not about what should be done with the property? The judge's decision to hire on a 'public receiver' from somewhere in Socal struck me as sheer stupidity, only adding years to the Palace's inevitable eventual demolition. I had to laugh when I read, back then, that the public receiver "was empowered to borrow against equity in the property to pursue its redevelopment". Ha! equity?! The property was self-evidently devoid of any 'equity' to borrow against. Anyone with the slightest familiarity with construction could see that the building was decades into a state of disrepair and collapse that was far beyond any conceivable rehabilitation. What's more, with a small but dedicated group of kitsch 'no cost is too great to give up and allow the demolition of this sacred architectural monument!' lobbying group, led by newsman/cum opinion writer Mike Genellia, ready to pull out all the stops to frustrate any rational future for the property.

As if that weren't enough to demonstrate that the Palace had actual negative value, add in the numerous buried fuel tanks (any one of which could annihilate the value of a much more valuable property), and you have an 'investment' guaranteed to lose all your money.

So I was dumbfounded when the much ballyhooed public receiver was able to squander something like 800 grand on a preposterous seismic retrofit engineering plan (maybe sometime it will come in handy as table cloths), but who was, amazingly, able to find his greater fool, the apparently well-heeled hotelier Mr. Ishwar, who made the public receiver whole, and soon after, when no one was stupid enough to take on the project, became the Palace's default owner

When the energetic young Wall Street wiz Minal Shankar became enamored of what she believed was a possible refurbishment project, I wrote in a column that if Mr. Ishwar had any sense, he would write off his losses and get rid of this tar baby project that had fallen into his lap even if Ms. Shankar only offered him a single dollar for it.

He didn't take my advice, and to my utter astonishment, recently, yet an even greater fool came along, one Tom Carter, who apparently has made Mr. Ishwar whole, buying out his whole “investment” with funds which I would have sworn would soon be considered stranded assets, spent on a property of no or negative value.

So here we are today; I just watched a video of Mr. Carter venturing out onto the composting roof of the structure and talking about installing a “temporary roof.” I’m sorry, but as someone who has been involved in construction my whole life, I’m not sure what a temporary roof over such a vast structure means; a bunch of tarps?! Isn’t the first breeze that is going to come up going to tear the whole thing apart? You have to have an actual solid structure to attach a real roof to.

I guess that Mr. Carter’s bona fides come from his reconstruction of the Tallman hotel in Lake County, but to my understanding, that was a largely intact structure that needed a little work. What that has to do with the gigantic collapsing compost heap surrounded by crumbling brick walls that is the Palace, I’m not sure. Apples and oranges.

Impressed as I am that Carter was able to come up with almost $1 million to make Mr. Ishwar whole, I wonder if he has another $20 mil or so to do a seismic retrofit and reconstruction there. If he’s waiting for investors to come out of the woodwork to get in on this wonderful investment… Well, I doubt it. Nor is any rational bank likely to underwrite a project that has about a zero probability of ever returning anything on its investment. I have a standing bet with my wife for $1000 that the Palace will not be refurbished in our lifetimes, and I’m not worried about losing that wager.

For this and other columns, https://inarationalworld2.blogspot.com/2024/11/local-ukiah-palace-hotel.html

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JEFF BURROUGHS

Alonzo Kendall is an interesting character. The current town of Boonville used to carry the moniker of Kendall City, so named after the fellow seen here in this photograph, Alonzo Kendall. A mister W.W. Boone, yes with an "e" in the spelling, bought Kendall out and changed the name of the town. W.W. Boone was the 2nd cousin to the famous Daniel Boone so I guess his name carried enough weight to convince everyone to make the change. Why Alonzo sold out and moved to the coast is a question best left to Mathew Kendall's family to answer.

RON PARKER

Alonzo Bernham Kendell - Mary Kendell and daughter Thelma. Other children Courtney, Edith, Lowell. Edna

Mendocino County. Matt Kendell, any relation?

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COLORFUL RHYTHMS OF SPAIN AND ARGENTINA!

Harpist Anna Maria Mendieta will be joined by violinist Ingrid Tracy, the newest member of her touring show, to perform selections from her award-winning album "Tango Del Cielo". Fiery classics by De Falla, Rodrigo, Albeniz, and the sultry nuevo tangos of Piazzolla and Ziegler are delightfully mixed with nostalgic Latin favorites for a program to excite, intrigue and delight!

Sunday November 24th at 3 PM. Preston Hall in Mendocino. This is an Opus Concert presented by Symphony of the Redwoods. Full program and tickets at symphonyoftheredwoods.org

Doors open at 2:30 PM. Cookes, PUMKIN PIE and coffee will be available before the concert and during intermission.

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I’M NOT DEAD & I CAN PROVE IT

by Bruce Levene (May 28, 2008)

Once I had a good friend who called himself Captain Fathom.

He said I was his best friend.

He asked me to publish his memoirs. He paid for the printing and kept all the profits. I asked for no payment for creating the book, which was a mild success, at least on the Coast.

The man got rectal cancer and received an outpouring of sympathy, consolation and help from his many friends. On a cold windy day on Albion beach more than a hundred people, including the rabbi, danced and prayed and cheered him on. The cancer went into remission.

We are grateful for a society that tolerates eccentricity; we overlook peculiarities that non-conformists evince. We are amused when they clown and make us laugh.

We are not amused when they become dangerous, to themselves and to others. Sometimes events strip off coverings that have, even for years, masked a person’s true nature. Sometimes grandma does turn out to be the wolf.

He asked me to print another edition of his book, took the books, then refused to pay all the printing costs. That ended our friendship.

Thus began a series of events seemingly intended to alienate most of his friends, which is what happened. The most outlandish was when he destroyed property and threatened the women at the Mendocino Pharmacy, which resulted in a forcible arrest by sheriff’s deputies.

A year ago he began telephoning me, at all hours, in the middle of the night, from the County Jail in Ukiah. I asked him to stop, got caller ID, finally had to request the jailer to make him desist.

Last week the phone calls began again, collect calls I wouldn’t accept. Ravings in the background, “Mussolini lives!” Gibberish Italian.

This past Thursday I drove to Ukiah for a blood test at the VA clinic. When I got back home, at about 3:30, one of my oldest friends, 80-year-old Laurel Moss, was standing in my driveway next to her red Prius. She was bawling, almost wailing, as she tried to speak: “I heard that you were dead and came to find out if it was true.” She could have had a heart attack.

Obviously, and thankfully it wasn’t true.

What happened was that, on the day before, the Anderson Valley Advertiser had published this letter:

“Goodbye Bruce Levene:

“To the editor:

“The village of Mendocino is mourning the passing of Bruce Levene.”

“A heavy tree has fallen. Bruce Levene died at home with his pipe in his hand and a bottle of expensive brandy at his side. His wife was at work. We remember Levene as the ‘stalking horse’ candidate for the Fifth district’s long-time supervisor Norman DeVall. His friendship with such notables as Paul Katzeff (Thanksgiving Coffee CEO), Beth Bosk (New Settler Interview), S. Anapolsky, Paul Tulley (fisherman and poet) and artist John Chamberlin was well known.”

“Fellow worker Levene (an IWW member) was Editor of the Mendocino Art Center’s advertizine (a throw away) and the publisher of Captain Fathom’s Fables — a Mendocino favorite. He wrote movie scripts and several historic booklets. He leaves wife Gail, his beautiful daughter Tara Levene and his books. Smoke a prayer for him.”

Aside from some discrepancies — I don’t smoke a pipe, dislike brandy, two of the people mentioned are certainly not friends, I never met Paul Tulley, and Tara isn’t my daughter’s name — as an obituary it was pretty good.

Except that the letter wasn’t meant to amuse or give praise. Knowing that the AVA would publish anything he wrote, the writer with cunning, cruel and malevolent intent, was out to do harm. Which he might have done.

Soon after I took Laurel into my house and quieted her down, my wife Gail Lauinger came home. That morning Kate Lee, editor of The Mendocino Beacon, had phoned Gail, asking about my health. Gail’s first thought was that I had been in an automobile accident, which naturally caused her much distress, but Kate cleared everything up. Kate told Gail that she had first phoned the mortuary in Fort Bragg, then Bruce Anderson, publisher of the AVA, who said that the letter had come from Alan Graham (in the County jail in Ukiah) but that he — Bruce Anderson — had not checked it out.

Meanwhile numerous phone calls came to Gail from concerned friends and she explained that it was all a stupid nasty hoax.

Later that day, a friend sent this email to Bruce Anderson:

“Dear Editor Anderson,

“We strongly object to your publication of the bogus death notice for Mendocino Town citizen Bruce Levene. This has caused a great amount of anxiety and stress to us and others. We find your handling of this to be below what we would expect in a seriously run reliable newspaper. Have you heard of checking out facts before publication? The local Fort Bragg funeral home, Chapel by the Sea, could have confirmed the accuracy of this report. Check it out first and print only if it is accurate!”

—Richard and Pat Karch, Mendocino

Bruce Anderson replied to Richard Karch:

“It wasn't a death notice, it was a rambling letter to the editor from the incarcerated Cap Fathom. If people, including me, had read the letter with the skepticism its author should inspire, they would have known that Bruce (Levene) is probably much amused, and was still with us. I'm surprised you're all not relieved that he is, but if you'd prefer to flog me, please do.”

From Richard Karch to Bruce Anderson:

“It is interesting that people in Mendocino thought it was a death notice and that Bruce's friend was outside his house crying when he came home. I guess my question is why you chose to print a rambling unsigned letter from Alan Graham without figuring it could cause an emotional response in the community?”

—Richard Karch

Bruce Anderson to Richard Karch:

It is even more interesting that residents of "the village" of Mendocino are so upset. The Captain is a friend of mine. I don't happen to think he's as crazy as popularly assumed. I thought he would know something I didn't and, in his way, was honoring Bruce's memory. But now that I'm compelled to give the episode some thought, posthumously so to speak, I remember that the Captain once called me up to tell me that Anna Marie Stenberg had committed suicide. I'd been critical of the old girl over some long forgotten issue but the Captain's call implied that I'd driven her over the side. Future death notices from the Cap'n will be viewed here with heightened skepticism.

PS. Objectively considered, though, the whole show flatters Bruce (Levene) in that he's gotten a sneak preview of his passing. A person weeping at his gate? We should all be so intensely mourned.

Bruce Levene: That morning (Thursday) I had sent an article to Peggy Templer and on Friday she sent me this email:

“I actually had a couple of people phone me at home to ask me if I knew if you were dead or alive, which I got a chuckle over. I told them, dead men do not send emails…”

There are some people in our community who will find all of this amusing and continue to defend Alan Graham’s actions and lifestyle. If, and when, he preys on their good nature, they will think otherwise.

It is my belief that speakers should always leave their audience laughing, so here is the famous quote by Mark Twain: “The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.”

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Bruce Anderson: Bruce Levene’s account of his premature death notice got me thinking about an apology as the un-deceased had requested in an e-mail to me, as if I should have headed off Captain Fathom before he clambered aboard the paper’s letter’s page which, I concede, I would have done if I thought The Captain wasn’t seriously lamenting Levene’s ascent, as Bruce may or may not view whatever’s next, if anything.

But if someone writes in to announce a death I assume the writer is on the level. Why would I think otherwise? Death is no joke, I’ve heard. But I’m supposed to know that The Captain is so deranged he can’t even be trusted to write an obituary? I do know the guy and, in my experience with him, he’s been more of an eccentric than free floating menace. Anyway, apologize for what? We should all be so fortunate to find a person weeping in front of our house at our passing, even if we haven’t transitioned, as I heard a woman describe eternal oblivion the other day on KZYX, and even if the duped mourner is elderly, as if the elderly are more pathetic than the rest of us. Which they generally aren’t.

When I achieve pathetic elderly status, which I half-did in March of this year with a double tracheotomy that has left me mute, I remain mostly un-pathetic, but mos def on the edge of “transitioning. But in living fact, Levene was lucky to get a sneak preview of his departure, and a flattering one at that, so what’s all this posthumous keening about? Hell, most of us shuffle off unnoticed or, if noticed, unlamented.

Here’s a case more or less in point: some years ago, a Southern Humboldt fellow burdened with the same name as mine went to his reward. Joints were joyously lit, glasses raised, Gaia praised all on the assumption he was me until KMUD announced he wasn’t me. I thought that one was awfully funny, my amusement deriving entirely from the sorrow my many enemies would surely feel when they learned I was alive.

Further back, Captain Fathom himself left a late-night message on my nut screener saying that Anna Marie Stenberg had committed suicide, implying I’d driven AM to it because I’d been critical of her political behavior. I’d downed two celebratory cups of morning coffee and was gleefully carving another notch in my kill stick when I learned the old girl was still upright!

The Stenberg call was a pretty crazy thing for The Captain to have done, but it was a long time ago, so long ago I’d forgotten it altogether by the time of The Captain’s funereal assault on Bruce Levene. If I’d remembered The Captain’s Stenberg call in time I certainly would have called Bruce to ask him if he was alive, and you can be sure I wouldn’t have taken yes for an answer. But apologize? No way. I think it’s all very funny, as funny as life itself, and this has been so much fun, and Bruce Levene is such a good writer, I wish he’d die again next week so we could keep on laughing.

Note: Years ago I invited myself to make a presentation at the Vet's Hall in Garberville. My spiel made a number of people in the audience unhappy, especially a demented old bat who kept shouting, “Cointelpro!” Afterwards, as I stood around chatting with the few people who were pleased with my talk, a gaggle of old hippies — there's no meaner creature on God's dying earth than a hippie gone mean — gathered in the rear of the hall to chant their desire that I die on my way back to Boonville. I drove extra careful, I can tell you.

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THE OLD INCLINE & COUNTY ROAD SOUTH OF MENDOCINO, 1929-1933

by Carol Dominy

View of the remnants of the Mendocino Lumber Company's inclined tramway that ascends the bluff from Big River. On the right is the elevated bridge that brought non-vehicular travelers from the Big River Flat, up through a 50-foot gap between two houses, and onto Main Street just west of Evergreen Avenue. It was once a short county road, but in this photo it appears on the right side as a footpath winding its way through grasses.

In the center of the image, at the top of the Incline, are lumber company structures, including the power house and its nearby water tower that supplied the water for the steam boilers that powered the incline's hoist engine. Cables run by the engine pulled rail cars loaded with lumber from the mill on Big River up to the top of the bluff where they were then moved out to the shipping point. The water tower in the background belonged to the Lansing House on Main Street.

The Presbyterian Church steeple and its associated Manse or Rectory (built in 1908) are visible in the background, center. The unpainted house to the right of the manse was the G. Canning Smith-Doyle House, later demolished to make way for Preston Hall. Right of that is the building known as the Cavanagh House, and next to that is the Len Barnard House, both still standing on the south side of Main Street. Between them and farther away on the north side of Main Street, the mansard-style roof of the McCornack House (most recently Didgeridoo Inn) can be seen.

Other buildings on Main Street identified in this photograph include the Norton residence to the left of the church (demolished in 1935) and the Sears House (later Sweetwater Inn and Spa), to the right of the McCornack House.

This image was most likely taken after 1929, based on the presence of an enclosed porch on the dwelling to the right of the water tower; it is shown as an unenclosed space on the 1929 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map, so it was likely enclosed sometime after that.

The upper 1933 date relates to the chimney (built in 1879) that is attached to the hoist engine building. In 1933, the 25-foot high brick structure was removed by Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) workers and the bricks used in the construction of their camp near Russian Gulch. In this image, the chimney can still be seen between the engine power house and the legs of the water tower's support structure.

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RON PARKER

I know this has been posted before but this is a really excellent copy with Native American Ladies Ferry Mendocino Launch 04/14/1927 SF Bay.

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CATCH OF THE DAY, Tuesday, November 19, 2024

DUNCAN CHARLES, 27, Fort Bragg. Taking vehicle without owner’s consent, reckless evasion, suspended license, serious felony with prior, parole violation.

DEGAN DYKES, 19, Willits. Vandalism.

CHARLES HAAS, 45, Long Beach/Ukiah. DUI, reckless driving no license, narcotics for sale, controlled substance.

MATTHEW HOLBERG, 34, Ukiah. Vandalism, probation revocation.

JESUS LOPEZ-CEJA, 86, Ukiah. DUI.

JORGE MARTINEZ-GARCIA, 28, Ukiah. County parole violation.

ADAN RODRIGUEZ, 33, Baldwin Park/Ukiah. Parole violation.

LUIS VEGAMONTES-DELOCA, 21, Willits. Incest, rape by force, violence, duress or menace, sexual battery by restraint, unlawful sexual intercourse with minor with victim under 18, false imprisonment, cruelty to child-infliction of injury.

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CLASS ACTION AGAINST REPS. THOMPSON AND HUFFMAN

If you are a taxpayer who lives in either the 1st California's Congressional District or the California's 4th Congressional District, and if you disagree with Rep. Jared Huffman and Rep. Mike Thompson's unconditional support of U.S. military support of Israel, even as Israeli war crimes and crimes against humanity in Palestine and Lebanon have resulted in over 100,000 civilian causalities and are fully documented by third-party humanitarian relief agencies, then please consider signing this class action lawsuit.

John Sakowicz

Ukiah CA

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ONLY IN AMERICA

Editor:

I served in the U.S. military during wartime. I am a sucker and a loser. Our country’s new leader is a draft dodger and convicted felon. Only in America. What a country!

Doug Courtemarche

Santa Rosa

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BONE FOUND IN CALIFORNIA RIVER BANK ENDS 7-YEAR SEARCH FOR MISSING MAN

by Andrew Chamings

The seven-year search for missing man in Northern California has ended in the discovery of a bone protruding from the bank of a river in Humboldt County.

Mark Charles Burleigh, then 32, was last seen in Oct. 2017 when he was released from the Humboldt County Correctional Facility in Eureka. Burleigh suffered from substance abuse issues in adulthood, his mother Jennifer Burleigh previously told Redheaded Blackbelt. After his release from jail, Jennifer said Mark called her and was excited about Thanksgiving, but she never heard from him again.

The Humboldt County Sheriff's Office reported that Mark made his way to the Alderpoint area — a remote town deep in cannabis country, also known as "Murder Mountain" due to a wave of unsolved crimes there. Other missing person posters stated that Burleigh was last seen in Garberville.

In years following Mark's disappearance, his mother, the sheriff's office and amateur sleuths chased down numerous leads and tips in the case to no avail. In July, a woman discovered a bone sticking out of the muddy bank of the South Fork of the Eel River near Redway — around 20 miles from Alderpoint and 10 miles from Mark's previous home in Miranda.

Initially the county coroner determined that the bone was "unlikely to be human," but a subsequent examination by anthropologists deduced that it was a human shinbone. Cadaver dogs were taken to the river to locate further remains without success. The bone was then analyzed by the U.S. Department of Justice, which positively identified it as belonging to Burleigh.

By chance, the woman who found the bone remembered Burleigh from her time working as a teacher's aide in the 1990s. “He was just a little kid, full of energy, full of life — a prankster,” Kim Cabrera told the Redheaded Blackbelt last week. “It’s just sad to know that the little kid I remember is no longer with us.”

On Sunday, Jennifer Burleigh posted an update on a social media group dedicated to finding her son. "With deep sadness, we confirm that DNA analysis identified a tibia bone found in the Eel River as belonging to Mark Charles Burleigh of Humboldt County, California," the post read. "Missing since 2017, Mark’s mother never gave up searching for him."

The Humboldt County Sheriff's Office said that the case is still under investigation, and asked anyone with any information to call their office at 707-445-7251.

(SFgate)

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HIKERS URGED TO RECONSIDER AFTER FAMED CALIFORNIA TRAIL SUFFERS MAJOR DAMAGE

by Sam Mauhay-Moore

Anyone preparing for a hike along Northern California’s famous Lost Coast is being asked to reconsider their plans, as active landslides are currently impacting portions of the trail. Three landslides in the King Range National Conservation Area north of Shelter Cove are causing rocks and other debris to fall onto the Lost Coast Trail, the Bureau of Land Management announced on Friday. The slides are most active during and after rainfall, and with a bomb cyclone storm system slated to hit the state this week, a hike along the revered trail could spell trouble.

“In some areas the slides can block narrow stretches of beach,” BLM’s Arcata Field Manager Collin Ewing said in the agency’s press release. “Hikers should consider whether to proceed with their trip. If proceeding, they should assess conditions in slide areas and avoid the temptation to cross the landslides.”

Landslides are impacting parts of the trail north of the Black Sands Beach Trailhead, including areas between Sea Lion Gulch and Randall Creek and areas between Shipman Creek and Gitchell Creek, according to the BLM.

The work of assessing trail conditions comes in addition to the built-in task of reading tide charts for the area before setting out on a hike, something all Lost Coast hikers must do in order to avoid being swept away by high tides along the trail’s wild and remote beaches. The northern section of the trail covers about 24.6 miles of what is known to be some of the most untouched coastline in the country, attracting visitors from around the world. Overnight backpacking trips along the trail require permits, which often run out quickly.

BLM advises hikers to contact the King Range Visitor Center for information on tides and trail conditions before attempting the Lost Coast Trail.

(SFgate)

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ON-LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

We backpacked 12 miles into a wilderness area from the nearest parking lot. During the night a group in a campsite a nearby was playing hip hop rap music late into the night. Don't know what kind of speakers they packed in but they were plenty loud. I expect that kind of bullshit at car accessible campsites but to hike 12 miles with a backpack on and still blast shitty poetry with a bass beat. Blew my mind. People can't enjoy quiet solitude anymore. Everything has to be noise, noise, noise, noise. Like I said, you can't go anywhere in this world anymore without encountering another human being.

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J.R. WYATT:

The Niners? Where do I begin? Kyle? Special Teams? Defense? Wide Receivers? It’s all a clustermuck right now. I’ve seen some of you put all the blame on Kyle, I’ve seen some of you put all the blame on Sorensen. The truth is there is plenty of blame to go around. There are questions that have to be answered. Let’s start with the playcalling. The league has caught up with the offense and Kyle hasn’t take the next step in trying to get one step ahead. Is it because of ego? Is it because he can’t? We’re not seeing much innovation with the play calling this season. Special Teams…it just sucks. There has to be accountability and there has to be some changes. It’s just that harder to win with crappy ST play. Defense….Let’s be honest, it’s underwhelming right now. The mistakes, the calls, it’s all there. Remember the energy that Ryans and Saleh had on the sidelines? That’s not there, It seems as if Sorensen is not up to the task. (Just my opinion). The only stud WR we have right now is Jennings. He’s a dawg who is fighting for every single inch. Deebo? He’s becoming a has been. I love Deebo but what is he bringing to the table? Not much. With all of this said, this teams has played ALOT of football the last few years. They’re getting old and slow, it shows every game. Maybe this is a blessing in disguise. Take a step back and look in the mirror to really see what needs to be done. Alright…I think I’ve said enough. Win or lose, I will always be Faithful. Niners baby!

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POST BY LIBSOFBLUESKY ON X

If Bluesky users had a meeting.

pic.x.com/pWwCZmQBhB

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WATCHING A PARALLEL MEDIA TRY TO MAKE TRUMP’S SPORTS WEEKEND A THING

by Dave Zirin

On Monday, my phone rang with an Atlanta area code. It was TMZ, a celebrity-obsessed news outlet for people who find The National Enquirer to be snooty. I scoured my brain for any Hollywood love triangle I might be embroiled in to no avail. The person on the other line, however, wasn’t looking for scandal. It was a producer who wanted me to come on their television program, TMZ Live, to discuss “Donald Trump dominating the sports weekend.” I knew that TMZ founder Harvey Levin was a Trumpist ally and that despite a stormy relationship, Trump has greatly valued Levin’s greasy, gossip empire. There was that Daily Beast article from Trump’s first term about “TMZ going MAGA.” And then in 2021, TMZ was also sold to Fox Corporation—which also owns Fox News Media—so I politely declined, more out of disinterest than any kind of political principle.

The call, however, made me curious. I follow sports for a living, and the idea of Trump “dominating the sports weekend” seemed odd. I googled “Trump dominates sports” to see what I’d been missing. There was one match. It was on Fox News, where one of their writers, Ryan Gaydos, published a short article with the headline: “Trump support dominates weekend in sports.” OK. I guess the common use of the word “dominate” could be a coincidence, but then I decided to see what constituted this “domination.”

The opening sentence of the Fox News piece was, “The NFL, UFC, boxing and college football had a stranglehold [on our attention?] and there was one underlying theme across the sports landscape.”

The “underlying theme,” of course, was Trump. But what is the evidence for such a bombastic statement? Did players speak out for Trump? Was Patrick Mahomes celebrating the violence necessary to deport 10 million people in his post-game press conference and I just missed it? The answer is no. What Fox and TMZ wanted to pound into our heads—“The Sports World Loves Trump!”—is backed by evidence thinner than Stephen Miller’s spray-on hair.

Let’s go through the sports that Fox News said Trump was dominating. All that happened in the NFL was three different players in two different games doing that demented dance Trump does at the end of rallies. Eight years ago, when far more players took a knee to protest police violence and later to protest Trump calling them “sons of bitches,” there were no stories on TMZ about how “fighting police brutality is now hot hot hot!”

What about college football? Gaydos admits at the end of the article, “College football didn’t appear to have anyone new doing the dance move.” (It wasn’t just “anyone new.” I couldn’t find a record of anyone. Not even in the SEC!)

In boxing, the big fight of the weekend was, of course, 58-year-old Mike Tyson against YouTube influencer and living symbol of American declinism Jake Paul. Neither did anything Trumpian during the fight, but that did not stop Gaydos from including them on his list since Paul and Tyson had endorsed Trump previously.

The Ultimate Fighting Championship did indeed include an in-person Trump celebration on Saturday night at Madison Square Garden, the site of Trump’s hate rally from the previous month. UFC—and its audience of aggro young men—has always been an electoral base for Trump both among fighters and fans. On Saturday night, heavyweight Jon Jones (who has his own star-crossed story) gave his UFC Championship belt to Trump to hold in front of the cheering throngs. None of this should be surprising since UFC is ruthlessly controlled by Dana White, a long-time Trump donor who spoke at both the RNC and the MSG hate rally. It is White who ensures that the UFC will always be a safe space for Trump’s thin skin.

So what is our collective evidence that Trump “dominated” the sports world this weekend? That would be three dancing football players and the typical fealty of the UFC. Yes, there are right-wing players in the NFL, and yes the UFC still loves Trump. Yawn. This isn’t a story. It’s a few tweets at most. Yet here is Fox News with a, to be kind, thin article and then TMZ picking it up joyously, as if it had just won the pay-per-view rights to dig up Princess Diana’s grave.

Painfully we now have a parallel media structure that is bigger than just belching out fake news. It now has the power to create its own reality. If you want to believe that Donald Trump is now “dominating the sports world,” Fox News and TMZ will show you a magical land of alternative facts. Did Trump lead a coup or sexually assault countless women? You’d never know it.

The mainstream media bears a great share of the blame for the way people consume right-wing disinformation. They have lost trust and bled subscribers and viewers. (Their work over the past year doing public relations for the Israel Defense Forces was particularly shameful.) It is not surprising, as trust has eroded over time, that people sought new media with different facts, but choosing a more pernicious set of lies is no answer. If we’ve learned nothing from history, having the right ideas is never enough. They need to be backed by movements— and media—committed to fighting the falsehoods.

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THERE SHOULD BE MORE sincerity and heart in human relations, more silence and simplicity in our interactions. Be rude when you’re angry, laugh when something is funny, and answer when you’re asked.

— Anton Chekhov

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WEDNESDAY'S LEAD STORIES, NYT

Linda McMahon Is Chosen by Trump to Be Education Secretary

Trump Defies the #MeToo Movement With Cabinet Picks Facing Accusations

Trump Selects Mehmet Oz to Run Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services

Hacker Is Said to Have Obtained Damaging Testimony About Gaetz

Watchdog Group Sues Justice Dept. for Gaetz Investigation Documents

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MEMO TO THE WAILING WHINY WOKESTERS STILL LOSING IT OVER TRUMP WIN: SHUT UP!

by Piers Morgan

At first, it was funny.

Watching the woke brigade predictably lose its collective s–t over Donald Trump’s stunning comeback win made me laugh out loud.

Not least because they’re always telling us what a terrible loser he is!

But now, two weeks later, these incessantly wailing, whining, woke wastrels have become a constant irritant to my eyes, my ears and my intestines.

And in the words of “Network” movie star Peter Finch: “I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take this anymore!”

It started with the howling.

Video after video of hysterical, mainly female Democratic voters literally shrieking dementedly into their phone cameras and posting their tormented anguish to the world.

Then they started shaving their hair off, borrowing from the radical feminist 4B movement originating in South Korea.

Then they vowed never to have sex again.

“F–k being skinny,” shouted one in a viral TikTok clip, “f–k being hot, f–k being all the things that the patriarchy wants us to be, ’cause clearly they don’t give a s–t about us. Stop dating men, stop having sex with men, stop talking to men, divorce your husbands, leave your f–king boyfriends, leave them!”

I hesitate to point out the bleeding obvious here — that no man in his right mind would want to be around such an unhinged lunatic anyway.

Then came the liberal exodus from Elon Musk’s X, led by author Stephen King, who declared: “I’m leaving Twitter. Tried to stay, but the atmosphere has just become too toxic.”

At which point, I heard another piercing howl, as irony died.

The same Mr. King has been one of the foremost contributors to that toxic atmosphere for years, spewing his hateful bile at anyone who disagrees with his self-righteous worldview.

He was soon followed by a fuming red carpet of Hollywood’s most ardent Trump-bashers like Barbra Streisand, Jamie Lee Curtis, Alyssa Milano and Bette Midler, and longtime Trump-loathing media types like Don Lemon.

In the UK, the boycott has been even more amusing, with the left-wing Guardian newspaper quitting X after offering therapy counseling to staff traumatized by Trump’s win, and even a bridge now joining in.

Yes, an actual BRIDGE.

The Clifton Suspension Bridge & Museum, located in Bristol in the west of England, announced it was also departing X: “With the rise in inappropriate content and decrease in meaningful engagement with our followers, we have chosen to no longer post to this account.”

Oh no!

Where on earth will I go now for my Clifton Suspension Bridge updates?

If all this sounds completely insane, it’s because it is.

And it’s been fueled by media that have also lost their minds.

“The source of this [hysteria and delusion] has been the mainstream media,” Dr. Drew Pinsky told Fox News host Sean Hannity. “The American public has been propagandized to the point that they have literally become mentally ill. And the thing about delusionality is it can’t be reasoned with. We have been through a stage of delusion that started with the first Trump presidency and was put into absolute orbit with COVID.”

He’s right.

These people have had their brains fried by eight years of three very damaging medical conditions: Trump Derangement Syndrome, and two viruses — coronavirus, and what Elon Musk calls the Woke Mind Virus.

And it’s sent them utterly stark raving bonkers.

I realized this when I watched MSNBC’s resident basket case (a British term for someone incapacitated from functional normality by extreme anxiety) Joy Reid interviewing a Yale university psychiatrist who solemnly advised viewers whose family members voted for Trump to snub them over the upcoming holidays.

As Reid nodded along enthusiastically to this crazed shrink’s outlandish claptrap, I realized she couldn’t help herself; the madness is now too deep.

And equally demented Democratic politicians are showing no sign of learning a single lesson from their election drubbing.

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker has vowed to keep his state open to transgender treatment for minors, and for “gender-affirming” trans athletes to compete in women’s sports and be able to use girls’ and women’s bathrooms.

This despite the revelation that the Republicans’ most effective campaign ad was the one that proclaimed, “Kamala’s for They/Them, Trump’s for You.”

They just don’t get it.

As the election result showed, Americans across the entire spectrum of race, gender and creed have had enough of all this woke garbage.

And the more that toddler-tantrum-throwing liberals gnash their teeth, stamp their feet, shave their hair, dump their Republican men and scream into social media cyberspace about Trump since he delivered such a resounding repudiation of everything they stand for, the more ridiculous and irrelevant they sound.

I’m not laughing at them now.

I pity them.

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HOW WILL THEY FIND THEM?

To the Editor:

How will government officers find all those undocumented immigrants they plan to round up in the largest mass deportation of immigrants in American history?

Undocumented immigrants look no different than anyone else walking down the street. Which means that you and I — all 345 million of us in this country — are subject to being stopped and forced to prove we are here legally.

To limit the field, officers may be forced to stop only people who look “foreign.” Of course, many people born here look “foreign.” Many people who are foreign don’t look foreign. Will courts allow profiling based on appearance?

When we are stopped, how will we even prove we are legal so we can stay out of the planned detention camps? We all don’t go around with immigration or naturalization papers. We don’t all have passports. I don’t carry ID unless I’m driving, drinking or using the AARP discount. My only proof is my birth certificate, which I can’t even find.

Even if courts say it is legal to stop anyone for any reason, how long would Americans put up with their own government harassing them?

The government may try to ease the pain by setting up offices in every city and requiring everyone to go there with proof of citizenship. Employees will then issue us cards to carry at all times to show officers. Or the government might force us to get tattoos on our arms or foreheads so we won’t even have to be stopped.

Mass deportation will encroach on our liberty. But the sacrifice will be worth it to rid America of the scourge of “illegals,” the president will tell us. If you are legal, he’ll say, you shouldn’t mind having your rights violated.

Joe Kollin
Lake Worth, Florida

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TRUMP’S BORDER CZAR TOM HOMAN REVEALS NEW DETAILS OF MASS DEPORTATION PLAN, debunking frenzied liberal speculation

by Jennie Taer

President-elect Trump’s new border czar is giving more clarity on exactly how the military will be used to aid in the mass deportations of illegal immigrants that the incoming administration has promised.

Tom Homan, who served as the acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) during Trump’s first term, debunked frenzied speculation from some liberals that the military could be deployed to arrest people on US streets — saying that service members would be used for “non-enforcement” duties.

“They certainly can handle transportation, whether that’s ground transportation or air transportation… and certainly help building infrastructure,” he told The Post.

He called the military’s role “administrative” — intended to put ICE agents back in the field after up to 70% of personnel were assigned to other duties like helping to process incoming migrants.

“The more non-enforcement work [the Department of Defense] can do, releases more enforcement officers on the street to look for the bad guys,” Homan said.

Trump confirmed Monday that he will declare a “national emergency” and use “military assets” to deport illegal migrants once he returns to the White House.

The president-elect made his plans clear on Truth Social, where he responded “TRUE!!!” to a post from Judicial Watch chief Tom Fitton revealing his hopes for such a plan.

“GOOD NEWS: Reports are the incoming @RealDonaldTrump administration prepared to declare a national emergency and will use military assets to reverse the Biden invasion through a mass deportation program,” Fitton wrote on the social media platform.

Thousands of ICE officers and agents have been assigned to processing the millions of illegal migrants who crossed the border in recent years at their offices across the country rather than taking to the streets to make arrests, The Post recently reported.

ICE sources said that an estimated 60-70% of their officers are currently stuck behind desks and some of them have never made arrests on the streets for the agency.

The sources said rank-and-file personnel are ready to be “catching criminals that Biden let roam freely in the country for the last four years without any consequences.”

One source said he “can’t wait” to be out making arrests on the streets again.

Active-duty troops are barred from carrying out domestic law enforcement duties under the 1878 Posse Comitatus Act, but the military has still historically been able to assist law enforcement agencies in other ways.

“When I worked with the National Guard, we would do things with the FBI, ATF or DEA. We would be doing a large bust and we would provide overwatch from helicopters, we would provide drone support, we would do all of those things,” Davis Younts, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel and military defense attorney, told The Post.

One major hinderance to ICE’s ability to make arrests will be with sanctuary cities that prevent local law enforcement officers from communicating with the feds on the basis of immigration status.

Homan says that will not stop ICE from making arrests, but warned sanctuary leaders that it could mean more illegal immigrants will be arrested as an unintended result.

“I just can’t believe any mayor or governor who’s out they’re saying they’re gonna roadblock us would not want public safety threats out of their communities,” said Homan.

“They don’t want to help us in the jail then we’ll go to into the community and arrest them. And what happens in the community when we find the bad guy, the chances are he’s with others, so others are going to be arrested that weren’t even on the radar, but you know what, sanctuary city policies forced us in that position,” he added.

He also warned sanctuary leaders during a recent appearance on “Fox & Friends” against “harboring illegal aliens,” which is a felony.

“Don’t cross that line,” said Homan.

(nypost.com)

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OUR SIXTY DAYS OF NUCLEAR CHICKEN HAVE BEGUN

Expectation of peace talks after Donald Trump's inauguration is pushing all sides of the Ukraine war to escalate, with British and American missiles adding fresh risk

by Matt Taibbi

In an irony so miserable it must be true, widespread belief that peace talks are coming under after Donald Trump’s inauguration is pushing Russia and the U.S. into a game of nuclear chicken, leaving us with “60 days to decide on World War,” as one Russian newspaper put it this week.

While the story may not be getting Cuban Missile Crisis treatment here, Joe Biden’s decision to green-light launches of U.S.-made ATACMS missiles into Russia has that country’s media in freakout mode. Rhetoric was hotter than ever today, the 1000th day of the war, after at least six ATACMS were fired into Russian territory.

“Russia and the West have reached the point of no return,” declared Moskovsky Komsomolets.

“Halfway to Armageddon,” read a RuNews24 headline.

“The most dangerous moment of escalation in the history of this war, and maybe the most dangerous moment in European history since 1945,” historian Alexander Friedman told EuroRadio.

“World War III, closer still?” asked Irina Romaliskaya, at the top of Evening newscast.

“The last ‘red line,’” grumbled Andrei Krasov, First Secretary of the Duma’s Defense Committee.

A U.S. official told Reuters Russians intercepted two out of eight ATACMS, with the remainder landing near Karachev, a town in the Bryansk region about 110 kilometers from the Ukrainian border. The Russian defense ministry says it shot down five of six missiles. Either way, the move triggered another change of nuclear doctrine by Vladimir Putin, allowing for nuclear response to any attack on the “territorial wholeness” of Russia. The previous standard required a threat to the “very existence” of the Russian state.

Most Americans likely view the ATACMS strike as just another self-defense response by a Ukrainian army that’s been forced to rely on Western resources and weapons since Russia’s invasion two years ago, and not substantively different from the 34 drones sent to strike Moscow just over a week ago. The Russian government disagrees, but do they disagree enough to nuke someone?…

https://www.racket.news/p/our-sixty-days-of-nuclear-chicken

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WESTERN MEDIA: WHITEWASHING ISRAELI GENOCIDE & MANUFACTURING CONSENT

by Jamal Kanj

A UN Special Committee has characterized Israel’s war in Gaza as genocide, while Western “free” media has abandoned its ethical responsibility to cover and or report objectively on the conduct of Israel’s wars in Gaza and Lebanon. Western corporate media outlets, without exception, acquiesced to Israeli directives barring reporters from entering Gaza. Journalists embedded with the Israeli army report only what Israel permits them to observe, creating a one-sided, heavily filtered narrative.

The programmed absence has deprived Western public of critical information to show what UNICEF describes as the most dangerous place in the world for children. Disregarding these realities, corporate Western media outlets often dehumanize Palestinians, dismissing their grievance while overtly empathizing with the Israelis. Case in point, they extensively cover the relocation of hundreds of Israeli families, while offering little to no coverage on the Scholasticide of the 625,000 Palestinian children who are unable to attend school for a second year because Israel has damaged or destroyed 85% of Gaza’s schools. Similarly, they disregard U.N. documented Israel’s use of “starvation as a weapon of war . . . destroying vital water, sanitation and food systems,” and neglect the plight of 90% of Gaza’s internally displaced population, many of whom have been forced to relocate nine or ten times. In addition, the media’s intentional omission of the destruction of the entire higher education system, with 100% of Gaza’s 12 universities demolished, leaving 88,000 students unable to continue their studies.

Just as with the systematic destruction of Gaza’s educational system, the “free” media has failed to critically report on Israel’s deliberate strategy to dismantle Gaza’s healthcare system. According to former U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay, this strategy involved “relentless and intentional attacks on medical personnel and facilities,” including the killing, detention, and torture of medical staff as part of a “concerted policy to destroy Gaza’s healthcare system.” By the end of July 2024, the World Health Organization reported that Israel had conducted 498 raids on healthcare facilities. Out of Gaza’s 36 hospitals, less than 16 are partially operational, leading to the near-total collapse of the healthcare system.

The managed “free” media deploys countless reporters in Tel Aviv to cover the effectiveness of Israel’s Iron Dome missile system, yet no one on the ground investigates the starvation in North Gaza or even show the face of one of the approximately 16,800 murdered children or the anguish of over 17,000 children who have lost one or both parents. At the same time, the programmed media floods screens with images of a broken glass window in a “Jewish only” colony, but no cameras are allowed to capture the devastated 163,778, plus residential units in Gaza.

The so-called “free” Western media does not question or fact-check Israeli disinformation, hasbara, when American made jets target schools or demolish residential towers under the pretext of “command centers” inside these facilities. Worse yet, the media propagates a false narrative, portraying Israel’s malevolent policies as acts of benevolence because they issue a warning ahead of bombing homes to smithereens, and then murder civilians as they evacuate under the same orders. Journalists ignore Palestinian voices pointing out that the wide scale destruction of homes, “safe shelters,” and critical infrastructure is part of a calculated Israeli strategy to render Gaza uninhabitable and forcibly displace its residents. Their reporting from afar, normalize Israeli violence and ethnic cleansing as they parrot Israeli Newspeak without scrutiny.

A glaring example of the media abdicating its objectivity is the case of Al-Shifa Hospital, where Israeli military officials showcased an elaborate 3D model purportedly depicting a command center beneath the hospital. The Israeli disinformation was echoed by U.S. President Joe Biden and the White House, further amplifying the false Israeli narratives to an unsuspected public.

In November 2023, Al-Shifa Hospital was occupied by the Israeli army. Doctors were arrested, several tortured to death in Israeli custody, and the hospital was forced out of service. Western journalists, embedded with the Israeli military, joined the Israeli army to show the world what was claimed to be a military command center beneath the hospital. However, to uncover that the only underground edifices in the hospital’s vast complex were originally designed by Israeli architects Gershon Zippor and Benjamin Idelson, and commissioned by the occupying Israeli Public Works Department in 1983.

The embedded Israeli propaganda tool, aka Western media, accompanied Israel’s chief disinformation officer on a tour of Al-Shifa Hospital but left empty-handed, unable to find the flaunted “command control center” or any military facilities under the hospital. Human Rights Watch later concluded that the military raid at the hospital constituted a war crime after failing to provide evidence “to justify revoking the hospital’s status as protected by the laws of war.”

Rather than holding Israel accountable for destroying a major health facility, the embedded media continued to market Israeli lies to excuse violations of international law. The lack of critical reporting and fact-checking is a betrayal of the journalistic responsibilities, effectively serving as implicit approval or, at the very least, normalization of the Israeli war crimes.

Another case on how the media facilitates violence and aggression is the adoption of Israeli-nuanced jargons that desensitizes readers, and redirects focus. For instance, by framing Israel’s wars against Palestinians in Gaza and the people of Lebanon as a war against “Hamas” or “Hezbollah,” the media employs euphemisms that deflect Israeli responsibility for the broader impact of the war on innocent civilians. This framing whitewashes Israeli culpability for the destruction of 80% of homes, 60% of the hospitals, 85% of the schools, 100% of the universities, the displacement of 90% of the population, the razing of villages, and the starvation of children, portraying these atrocities as mere “collateral damage,” or unintended victims in a crossfire.

Furthermore, Western media’s dereliction in contextualizing Israeli violations of the international humanitarian law, the findings of the International Court of Justice and International Criminal Court, leaves readers unaware of the legal ramifications and obscures accountability. In doing so, Western media becomes, wittingly or unwittingly, a complicit platform in Israeli hasbara.

Western media has even abandoned fellow local journalists who remained in Gaza and were purposely targeted by the Israeli army. Israel’s assault on the truth, including attacks on journalists and their families, is unprecedented in war zones. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Israel has murdered 137 journalists and media workers, making it the deadliest since CPJ began collecting data in 1992.

Zionist hasbara, bolstered by a powerful media plutocracy and influential special interest groups in the West, has normalized Israeli lies and bias against Palestinians for over 76 years. This media-constructed narratives distorts public understanding, manipulates public discourse and shape policy debates. Inevitably, the systematic dissemination of misinformation shapes a one-dimensional view of the conflict, suppresses dissent, and position Western media as a key instrument in manufacturing consent for Israel’s wars of genocide.

(Jamal Kanj is the author of Children of Catastrophe: Journey from a Palestinian Refugee Camp to America, and other books. He writes frequently on Arab world issues for various national and international commentaries. CounterPunch.org)

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