Cold & Clear | Raven Reflection | Hospital Negotiation | Gobble Gobble | Repaying B | Insurance Crisis | Foraging Discussion | CARE Court | Ed Notes | Pelosis Laupering | PA Property | Dirigible Visit | Yesterday's Catch | Nuclear Chicken | Clinton Photo | Covid Elections | Bottomless Gulf | Suicide Nets | Duke Kahanamoku | Lead Stories | American Hyperreality | Fun House | Immigration Reform | U.S. Deportations | Dem Dirty Tricks | Joe Junior | Southbound Guns | Etruscan Chariot | Perfect Representative | Piano Tuner
DRY WEATHER conditions will prevail during the next 7 days. Cold, frosty morning through this weekend, followed by normal to near normal temperatures through the end of the forecast period. (NWS)
RAINFALL TOTALS (since October 1, 2024): Laytonville 25.01" - Boonville 15.66" - Potter Valley 15.57" - Yorkville 9.84"
STEPHEN DUNLAP (Fort Bragg): A cold 37F under clear skies. Expect more of the same cold nights & clear days into the holiday weekend. A stray shower brought another .08" yesterday morning, sure did not see that coming either.
THE CONCLUSION OF HOSPITAL LEASE NEGOTIATIONS WITH ADVENTIST HEALTH MANAGEMENT
To the Mendocino Coast Community:
On behalf of the Mendocino Coast Health Care District Board, I’m pleased to share that we’ve completed lease restructuring negotiations with Adventist Health management. While the proposal still requires District Board approval, it brings no significant changes to our current hospital lease agreement.
The two minor changes the District Board will consider at our regular meeting on December 12, 2024 are:
*Refinement and clarification of the lease Section 19.11
*Exploration of a Hospice Thrift Store operational transition back to the district, that could happen on July 1, 2025.
I would like to thank you for your ongoing support and collaboration. Your engagement has been key to shaping a path forward that strengthens our ability to serve this community. Also, we very much appreciate the many emails, phone messages and texts we have received indicating your concerns. We hope we will continue to receive your comments and suggestions.
Finally, we value the trust and partnership of Adventist Health and our community as we continue this important work together. Thank you for supporting our shared goal of a stronger, healthier future for all.
For more information, please contact:
Paul Garza Jr., Board Chair, Mendocino Coast Health Care District
(707) 962-3175
http://mendocinochcd.gov/
STILL WAITING for CEO Antle’s Measure B report…
In late October, (former?) Supervisor Dan Gjerde, referring to the Board’s decision last year to “borrow” about $8 million from the Measure B fund to cover the jail expansion overrun, said:
“Now is not the time to request that [the state] pay for the jail project. Now is the time to request reimbursement for Measure B funds. Which may be politically more appealing, you know, because members of the public don't want to see Measure B funds spent on the jail. Honestly, with the County's budget situation, I mean -- I know it's a loan. But really is there a guarantee that it's going to be paid back? If the County doesn't have the money, it can't pay back Measure B bonds. Having heard that Assemblymember Wood thought there was a pathway there, I hope that there will be one or two people in the executive office who are going to follow up on that.”
Since then, the County Auditor Sara Pierce has reported discovering about $13 million in previously unreported unspent funds, making the Measure B funding picture even more confusing.
County CEO Darcie Antle replied:
“Those conversations are ongoing. On my behalf most recently with Senator McGuire yesterday roughly about this time I had him personally on the phone discussing options. So it is something we are all actively working on. I know the Sheriff is working through his association to get to the state as well. Nobody has dropped the ball on this. Your fiscal team with your Auditor-Controller are working their very best to figure out how to get those Measure B dollars back to Measure B because we certainly do not want to incur interest on those ongoing expenses. More to come on that. Hopefully by November 6.”
November 6 came and went. Nothing more was to come, of course.
This week, the Board’s agenda for the last meeting of the year on December 2 was posted and again nothing about Measure B. (But there’s an item about raising County fees again, obviously the staff’s much greater priority.)
Despite “actively working on” the subject and “hoping” that there would be something to report, it’s now another month later and there’s still no report on the status of the Measure B funds.
(Mark Scaramella)
IS IT POSSIBLE TO GET A BREAK IN AN INSURANCE CRISIS?
by Sarah Reith
Everyone knows that California, like many other states, is in the midst of an insurance crisis. The pressing questions are: what can property owners do to bring costs down; and is there help on the horizon?
On the eve of the season’s first atmospheric river, dozens of Laytonville residents made their way to Harwood Hall for a forum about how they could navigate the insurance quagmire. The Mendocino County Fire Safe Council, the Department of Insurance, and United Policyholders, a non-profit consumer rights and education organization, sent representatives to take questions and offer information. Attendees learned that, under the terms of a 2022 regulation called Safer From Wildfires, they can be eligible for insurance discounts if they create defensible space around their homes and take steps to make their structures more fire-resistant. And, since one of the risk factors in a fire is how well the neighbors have prepared to meet disaster, Firewise and Fire Risk Reduction Communities also come in for a break. With insurance harder and more expensive to obtain, it’s more essential than ever not to lose your home.
The California Department of Insurance is rolling out its Sustainable Insurance Strategy, an agreement it says could go into effect by the end of the year. The DOI cannot compel companies to do business anywhere, but if the current plan succeeds, insurance companies that have left the state might be enticed to start writing policies in wildfire-prone areas again. The plan is currently under review by the Office of Administrative Law.
Rural areas have been especially hard hit by insurance non-renewals. Mendocino County is one of 28 counties in the state that the Department of Insurance has designated a "distressed area," meaning that insurance companies have rated more than 20% of the properties at high or very high risk of wildfire. Top insurance companies like Allstate, State Farm and Farmers have at times stopped writing new policies in California. This leaves the FAIR Plan, originally intended as the insurance of last resort, as the only available option for many people. The FAIR plan is a high-risk pool that only covers basic fire protection for people who can’t find another option. It is bare bones and usually more expensive than traditional insurance. Within Mendocino County, Laytonville’s is one of the zip codes deemed especially distressed, with a FAIR Plan penetration rate of 15% or more.
Durriya Syed, an outreach analyst with the DOI, told attendees that the Commission requires transparency so that property owners can request that their insurers provide them with their fire risk score. This may help them get a clearer idea of what they need to do to mitigate against fire. Still, sometimes the decision about whether or not to insure a property is made by the reinsurance market, the entities that insure the insurance companies, which seems to mean that even the insurance companies cannot always be sure which policies they want to insure will be approved.
The DOI hopes that its Sustainable Insurance Strategy will bring about significant changes in how insurance is calculated. Currently California requires insurance companies to use historical data to determine risk. That means companies cannot use catastrophic modeling, which incorporates estimates predicting future risk based on expectations about the effects of climate change or the likelihood of wildfire in a particular area. The DOI wants insurers to commit to insuring more properties in high-risk areas, in exchange for being allowed to use catastrophic modeling, which the industry believes is more accurate. These models are the focus of a new strategy group chaired by Cal Poly Humboldt Dean of the College of Natural Resources Eric Riggs. The group plans to provide Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara with its recommendations about the catastrophic models in April 2025. The new strategy would also require insurance companies that use the models to take into account wildfire mitigation actions, like home hardening and defensible space. Companies that don’t meet their obligations under the plan could be prevented from using catastrophic modeling in the future. The DOI believes its plan will improve the situation but does not expect it to be a quick fix.
In the meantime, homeowners complain that their insurance sometimes costs more than the mortgage; that increases can be substantial every year; and that they’ve been denied coverage in spite of all their best mitigation efforts. Annie Barber, of United Policyholders, advises rigorous documentation of all communications with insurance representatives. Follow up all conversations with an email, she urged. Make sure you have a record of your belongings. Develop a thorough understanding of the value that’s placed on the loss of use if your home burns down. She encouraged renters to insure their belongings, in case they lose them in a disaster. A Tubbs fire survivor herself, Barber’s research includes personal experience. She strongly advocated finding a local insurance broker who will be an aggressive ally in finding the best deal — though the best deal may still be somewhat grim, in the midst of an insurance crisis.
The Mendocino County Fire Safe Council also recommends visiting both wildfireprepared.org for information about which steps the insurance industry recommends to protect your home; and the home hardening video series on its own www.firsafemendocino.org webpage. If you’d like to learn how to protect your home from wildfire, which could eventually earn you an insurance discount, you can schedule a free property assessment from the Mendocino County Fire Safe Council. You’re encouraged to get your neighbors involved, so inspectors can assess a few homes in one day. This is a non-judgmental, non-binding, non-regulatory, risk-free educational experience where you can also learn about opportunities for free or reduced-cost defensible space work. For more information, call (707) 462-3662 or email admin@firesafemendocino.org.
For a full recording of the insurance forum at Harwood Hall, you can go to the Mendocino County Fire Safe Council’s Facebook page.
MENDOCINO COUNTY TO LAUNCH CARE COURT DECEMBER 2
Ukiah, CA – Mendocino County is pleased to announce CARE Court, or Community Assistance, Recovery, and Empowerment, a program established in California to address the needs of individuals experiencing severe mental health issues that include psychosis and homelessness. The initiative is part of a broader collaborative effort between the Courts and Behavioral Health to provide additional support for people often most severely impacted by their mental health symptoms. The program is set to begin in Mendocino County on December 1, 2024.
The program aims to increase engagement in treatment for individuals struggling with diagnoses which include psychosis by supporting the individuals to overcome barriers to accessing mental health treatment, housing assistance, and other supportive services. The program is a voluntary civil court process which uses the formality of the court to monitor treatment engagement and connection. Those enrolled in the program work with a team—including mental health professionals and peer support specialists—to develop personalized care plans tailored to their unique needs.
By providing better access to treatment and supportive services through a structured court monitoring process, CARE Court aims to improve outcomes for individuals struggling with some of the most severe mental health diagnoses. This program reflects a shift toward more compassionate and effective approaches to mental health challenges.
For over a year County Behavioral Health teams, Superior Court, and Superior Court's Self-Help Center have partnered to plan for the successful implementation of this legislation. The Mendocino County CARE Court is a new civil court process that will be collaborative in nature, whereby multiple agencies will work together to provide personalized treatment plans and community-based support services to those who qualify. The individual is a voluntary participant in the program, and has the right to request an advocate, to help them navigate and represent their preferences to the support team.
Family members, healthcare providers, social workers, law enforcement, and mental health professionals can refer individuals to the program through a formal petition available through the Court’s Self Help Center. Once the petition is filed made, the individual will go through the necessary processes to determine eligibility for CARE Court, and if appropriate, they will be involved in creating a personalized care plan aimed at addressing their mental health needs. The program is designed to be inclusive and collaborative, seeking assistance from a variety of sources to help those in need.
Petitions for CARE Court can be filed in person at the Mendocino County courthouse, and anywhere Self-Help Centers are located. For more information, go to https://www.mendocinocounty.gov/departments/behavioral-health-and-recovery-services/mental-health-services/speciality-mental-health-services/care-court
In June of 2022, Mendo received $7.7 million as their part of $518.5 million “in grants to help provide services and housing options to those with severe mental illness or substance abuse problems, including for those who are living on the streets. The latest funding will help Governor Newsom’s CARE Court proposal, taking a new approach to homelessness and taking stronger action to get people off the streets and into a place where they can get the care they need. The funding will provide treatment beds for more than 1,000 people at a time, plus behavioral health services for many more. It is part of a $2.2 billion effort to expand mental health housing and services across California, especially for people experiencing homelessness.”
It’s now November of 2024 and…
ED NOTES
TOM HOMAN, Trump's la migra man: “If you’re in the country illegally and you got an order for removal, or even if you don’t have one, if you’re in the country, leave on your own. Because when you leave on your own, there’s no penalties. But if we actually have to deport you with a formal order for deportation, there’s a 20-year ban. That means you can’t get a visit visa, you can’t get a tourist visa. If you have a U.S. citizen child that lives here, he can’t petition for you. So, it’s better to leave on your own rather than getting a formal order of removal.”
THIS is not the face of a man who often drinks from the fount of human kindness, but he, like his blustering boss, is lying because, as an INS veteran of many years, Homan knows that the only unpapered people he can easily get to are either prisoners or people already known to the authorities, the many millions more are beyond the capabilities of government to deport because of the cost of even attempting it and the logistics of even attempting to do it are prohibitive, especially at a time the U.S. is funding two wars, one of them a genocide, far, far away.
NEVERTHELESS, us Mendo lib-labs better prepare to do what we can to protect our friends and neighbors, especially in areas like the Ukiah and Anderson valleys where there are lots and lots of Homan-vulnerable people. Homan, btw, has warned us papered persons not to interfere with "these operations," added incentive to get in the way.
DO PEOPLE presently get deported from Mendocino County? Yes, regularly, from the County Jail.
THE UKIAH DISPATCH-DEMOCRAT of September 11th 1908, carried this notice:
“Bear Flag Hero. At the Admission Day celebration in old Sonoma last Wednesday, Henry Beeson, of Boonville, this county, was the lion of the occasion, and hauled up the bear flag to start up the celebration. He is now the sole survivor of the famous bear flag raising over old Sonoma proclaiming California free from Spanish rule. Henry Beeson came to California in 1846 and was only 17 years old at the time of his arrival. He is now nearly 80 years old and likes to talk about the old times. He went down [to Sonoma] especially to take part in the celebration. He still has his home in Anderson Valley and is held in high esteem by all.”
BEESON'S BOONVILLE RANCH was on the wagon track to Cloverdale about where the Boonville CDF station is today. Beeson home-crafted saddles at his ranch for many years, such fine saddles that horsemen from all over California came to Boonville to buy them.
MY GRANDCHILDREN are deep into youth sports, and Marin is a hugely youth sports-oriented place. Even the most obscure games — water polo, archery — are heavily invested. The junior competitions can be intense, with plenty of psycho-parents more childish than their children torquing upwards the pressure on their children to win, win, win! (Sonoma County has had to reschedule high school football games because so many refs, sick of abuse from fans, including death threats, have quit that there's a shortage of officials.
SO, my granddaughter plays softball, volleyball, and basketball. The other day an aggressive basketball teammate, disappointed in a loss, declared to my 10-year-old heiress, “I won't be passing the ball to you anymore because I've lost confidence in you.” Granddaughter was quite upset. “I only made one mistake,” she lamented. The coach had to explain to the perfectionist that basketball is a team sport. All is now well.
CRIME docs on NetFlix include one on the Menendez brothers who shotgunned their parents to death, and the Jon Benet Ramsay murder by a person or persons still unknown. The Menendez brothers murdered their parents because they claimed they were still afraid of their father who'd allegedly molested them. These two yobbos, imo, not only murdered their parents then, distraught, went on a Rolex shopping spree, libeling their dead mom and dad ever after. Do men molest their children? No. Case closed.
FROM what I knew of the Jon Benet murder derived from the police accounts dominant in the news. I assumed it was an in-house job, cemented in my cursory opinion by the fact of the child's life as a participant in child beauty pageants. Jeez, what kind of parents would compel their five-year-old into that weird world? Anything might happen in that context. I assumed with the cops that mom did it and dad helped cover up mom's crime, but the new documentary on the case makes it clearer than clear that the parents didn't do it, that the case may yet be solved by a re-analysis of DNA. Both sordid matters, in their different ways, serve perfectly as metaphors for how far off the psycho-social rails this country has gone.
SPORTS FANS will have long ago noted that baseball players often bump fists these days rather than exchange open-handed grasps with celebrating teammates. Davy Johnson, former major league player and manager, says congratulatory fist bumps have become the norm because years ago Moises Alou would urinate on his hands to, he said, strengthen them. Alou's teammates were naturally loath to shake with him, hence the fist bumps, which quickly caught on everywhere in baseball as de rigueur.
Mark Scaramella: I watched a pretty good documentary about the Jon Benet Ramsey case a few years ago that contened that the most likely killer of little Miss Ramsey was her high-strung older brother who, allegedly, angrily smacked his sister with a large kitchen utensil in the face when the girl tried to snatch some of the boy’s sliced pineapples and ended up accidentally killing the girl. The brother, now an adult, denies any role in Jon Benet’s death. The parents, worried that they’d lose their son, after having already lost their precious daughter, then covered up for their son by trying to make it look like an intruder had snuck into the house and garroted the girl. They then wrote a very odd, and strangely specific, four page ransom note which, the documentary argued convincingly, was written by Jon Benet’s mother. The documentary also pointed out that a Boulder, Colorado Grand Jury had recommended charging the parents with covering up for their son and being some kind of accessory but the DA at the time refused to file any indictment and the Grand Jury report remained sealed. The case continues to fascinate the public and documentarians because of all the theories that have been put forth and the lack of hard evidence proving what really happened. Jon Benet’s doting mother passed away years ago from cancer.
KIRK VODOPALS: All you libtards should have voted for Cyndi Lauper. Even Nancy showed up...
ANSWERS, PLEASE
Editor,
Just to set things straighter, there are FOUR LLCs buying up property in Point Arena, all in Utah, All with the same Lawyer/Agent.
Some of the Members listed are Also buying property under their own name.
As well, the majority of buyups are Left Empty. Even Flourishing Businesses are bought, emptied, and left that way.
One was not for sale, so it was Leased by the Rep, and Then LEFT EMPTY. This happened to be popular with the Local Kids!
No one seems willing to answer a simple question: What is the Agenda, and Why is everything (nearly) left empty. The only answer so far is that these buildings are in such disrepair, it would cost a fortune to upgrade. OK! SO….. WHY do you all keep on Buying More??
And WHY do you shut down businesses that are active, popular and flourishing???
Answers Please.
Carol Williams
Point Arena
THE MAJESTIC SHENANDOAH SOARS OVER MENDOCINO, 1924
A sight unlike anything seen before captivated Mendocino residents in 1924. The Navy dirigible Shenandoah, a colossal airship spanning 680 feet, glided majestically over the town at an altitude of 500 feet. Having departed San Diego the day before, the airship’s journey along the California coast toward Camp Lewis in Tacoma, Washington, drew thousands of onlookers, eager to witness the marvel of aviation technology.
Reports of the Shenandoah’s progress up the coast had locals on high alert. Sightings were first reported at Point Arena around 10:30 a.m., prompting all activity in Mendocino to cease as residents turned their eyes to the skies. By 11 a.m., the dirigible became visible through binoculars, emerging from behind the coastal hills near Kent Ranch. As it drew closer, the airship’s immense size and metallic sheen awed the gathering crowds. One observer described it as resembling “a huge bologna sausage covered with tin foil,” though its slow, deliberate approach soon revealed its true grandeur.
The Shenandoah passed almost directly overhead at 11:40 a.m., offering an extraordinary view of its three powerful motors and cabins nestled beneath its body. Onboard were 44 crew members, including Lieutenant Commander Zachary Lansdowne, along with a newspaper correspondent and a motion picture cameraman documenting the historic flight. The subdued hum of its engines—a stark contrast to the sharp roar of ordinary airplanes—reinforced the ship’s aura of strength and innovation. Clear skies and a gentle breeze added to the spectacle, making the event even more memorable.
As the airship disappeared into the northern horizon, the assembled crowd let out a collective sigh before returning to their daily routines. For Mendocino, the Shenandoah’s passage marked a milestone in aviation history, leaving an indelible impression of the era’s technological ambitions and the allure of the skies.
(kelleyhousemuseum.org)
CATCH OF THE DAY, Tuesday, November 26, 2024
RYAN LEWIS, 44, Seattle/Fort Bragg. Probation revocation.
MONICA MCDONALD, 56, Ukiah. Petty theft, failure to appear.
JOSHUA NEESE, 26, Ukiah. County parole violation.
ON-LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY
Nobody wants to destroy the world, but we’re in an escalatory spiral now. Some things move beyond the control of the lunatics who believe nothing bad CAN happen. We aren’t doing this for the same reasons Russia is doing this. So we don’t know exactly where their actual red lines are. We’re just blundering in that direction. It takes a lot of skill to play nuclear chicken, but we don’t even have anyone officially in charge of this.
So the odds of a cascading failure, misunderstanding or accident is very high and getting higher all the time.
Nobody wants this thing, but it’s already taken on a mind of its own.
LARRY LIVERMORE: When I met Bill Clinton in 1967, he showed me this picture, told me it was his proudest possession, and that one day he planned to follow JFK into politics. Today, 57 years later the photo popped up in my Twitter feed, which came as something of a relief, since I was starting to wonder if I’d imagined the whole thing.
COVID DID IT
Editor:
Many reasons have been put forth for why Kamala Harris lost the election. But underneath them all, I think the factor that determined the last two presidential elections was COVID.
Donald Trump was riding high until early 2020. Then COVID hit, and things started going downhill for him. Through his mishandling, thousands of extra Americans died. And beyond his control, worldwide supply chains broke, causing global economic problems with increased unemployment and inflation. The result: Trump lost.
After Joe Biden took office, world economies were still in disarray. The global rate of inflation rate didn’t peak until 2022, and consumer prices remained considerably higher than under Trump. Then Harris became the candidate. She couldn’t overcome these lingering COVID-originated headwinds, and with many polls showing the top voter issue was the high cost of living, she lost too.
I think one could conclude from this it was actually COVID that determined the outcome of the last two presidential elections. Conversely, it’s likely that without COVID, we might be saying “goodbye,” not “hello,” to Trump, who would be finishing his second term.
Sherman Schapiro
Eureka
“…the apparently bottomless gulf between what we say we want and what we do want, between what we officially admire and secretly desire, between, in the largest sense, the people we marry and the people we love.”
– Joan Didion
GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE SUICIDE NETS HAVE BEEN UP FOR NEARLY A YEAR. ARE THEY EFFECTIVE?
by Rachel Swan
The scene played out many times at a general hospital in Marin County, always with palpable urgency.
An ambulance would radio from the Golden Gate Bridge, reporting that someone had jumped from the rail – and miraculously survived. At MarinHealth Medical Center, doctors would marshall all resources, said trauma surgeon John Maa.
“There was always a great level of preparation and concern whenever someone was brought in,” Maa recalled. “And a sense of dread.”
But in the last ten months, MarinHealth surgeons have activated this emergency response only once. Crews finally finished constructing a massive net, woven from enough marine-grade steel to cover seven football fields. It took five years and $224 million to build, a process prolonged by the harsh environment, design complexity and a bitter lawsuit between bridge officials and their construction contractor, which settled this month.
Now fully installed, the net has largely been a success, bridge administrators say — even if it doesn’t save everyone.
As of November 21 the Golden Gate Bridge Highway and Transportation District reported eight suicides this year, significantly less than the average of 30 each year from 2012 through 2023.
“The net is working as intended to save lives and deter people from coming to the Golden Gate Bridge to harm themselves,” said district spokesperson Paolo Cosulich-Schwartz. He noted that the net has served not only as a physical barrier, but as a deterrent as well. In a typical year before its completion, bridge security teams thwarted up to 200 suicide attempts. This year through October, they made 106 interventions.
Bridge district leaders called for patience – and a little faith – when they launched the project a decade ago, persuading the public that it was worth the time and money, and that it wouldn’t mar the beauty of an internationally-revered span.
They tried to meticulously address concerns, studying wind and aerodynamics, ensuring that a barrier wouldn’t make the bridge more vulnerable to inclement weather, securing federal and state funding and ensuring that the net’s steel webbing would blend into the mist.
Ultimately, they also had to convince people to be pragmatic, and embrace the art of the almost-perfect.
“Our board made a conscious decision get away from the principle that any suicide prevention system had to be 100% effective,” said Bridge District General Manager Denis Mulligan. “They realized that was just an excuse to do nothing. They made a conscious decision to adopt a policy that says, ‘We want to greatly reduce the number of deaths at the bridge. Because nothing is 100%.’”
Paul Muller, president of the Bridge Rail Foundation – an advocacy group that spent years pushing for a bridge suicide deterrent system – tried to sound optimistic as he reflected on the net’s first year.
“This year has been a real dramatic improvement,” Muller said. With a slight edge of bafflement he added: “Obviously, we want to get to zero.”
His group has shifted focus, and now advises other communities on how to replicate the Golden Gate suicide barrier for other structures – and particularly, how to navigate the often vexing political process, Mulligan said.
The general manager, too, is presenting the net as a model. This year he participated in a conference in New York where state officials were seeking to end a spate of suicides from their bridges.
Maa, who saw suicides continue during the net’s construction, had voiced skepticism that it would work. Yet once crews knit all the steel together and fixed every gap, the surgeon said many of his doubts and misgivings evaporated.
“I was a little dubious, but I’m remarkably surprised” by the results, he said.
During his tenure in the MarinHealth trauma unit, Maa has overseen care for three Golden Gate Bridge survivors, each of whom beat incredible odds to recover and be discharged from the hospital.
Treating these patients can be wrenching and powerful, Maa said, though he acknowledged that it’s always a battle. Some suffer lasting physical and psychological wounds. Many struggle to put the experience behind them.
“I encourage survivors to move forward, and tell them they’re here for a reason,” Maa said. “There’s something they were meant to do in this world.”
He and other doctors are relieved that, with the net in place, MarinHealth has received no such patients since June.
Dr. Mel Blaustein, a psychiatrist who spent years evaluating survivors at Saint Francis Memorial Hospital in San Francisco, said he’s heartened to see a dramatic reduction since the net went up. He expects the number to drop further.
“When I’ve told patients there was a barrier, they’ve decided not to go to the bridge,” Blaustein said.
Beyond the net’s obvious impact of saving lives, Blaustein said he appreciates the message it sends.
“It’s a great example,” he said. “It says to the world that we care.”
If You Need Help
If you or someone you know is experiencing a mental health crisis, call the free 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by dialing “988” 24 hours a day or text “HOME” to 741741 to reach a crisis counselor anytime.
(SF Chronicle)
DUKE KAHANAMOKU
Imagine a young Hawaiian defying all expectations and breaking records no one thought could be broken. In 1911, 20-year-old Duke Kahanamoku shattered the world record for the 100-yard freestyle in Honolulu Harbor. His time was so fast it left everyone amazed. But instead of celebrating, the Amateur Athletic Union dismissed his achievement. They couldn’t believe someone from a small island could beat the world's best swimmers by an incredible four and a half seconds.
Duke didn’t let this stop him. In 1912, he competed in the Olympics and won gold in Stockholm with his powerful swimming style. Eight years later, in Antwerp, he won gold again. If World War I hadn’t canceled the 1916 Olympics, he might have added another victory. His dominance only ended in 1924, when he won silver behind Johnny Weissmuller, another swimming legend.
But Duke was more than a swimmer. He was a true waterman who introduced surfing to the world, earning the title "Father of Modern Surfing." Duke Kahanamoku wasn’t just an athlete—he was a pioneer, a legend, and a symbol of the ocean’s spirit.
WEDNESDAY'S LEAD STORIES, NYT
Thousands Return to Southern Lebanon as Cease-Fire Takes Effect
Trump Picks Stanford Doctor Who Opposed Lockdowns to Head N.I.H.
Inside the Plastic Industry’s Battle to Win Over Hearts and Minds
Record Number of Travelers Expected Over Thanksgiving Week
An A.I. Granny Is Phone Scammers’ Worst Nightmare
ENGLISH PEOPLE fresh to the United States are often shaken to find themselves in hyperreality. The landscape, so familiar in two dimensions from television, movies and print, suddenly, unsettlingly, takes on a third. From my own first visit, which happened to be to Massachusetts, in 1972, I remember the hallucinatory character of the experience: my first three-dimensional armed cop, my first American rental car, a boatlike Chevrolet (and this was the season of Don McLean singing ‘American Pie’), my first phone booth, my first cocktail in the bar of a three-dimensional Howard Johnson’s, my first freeway exit, my first white-shingled house with picket fence. Living the movie, I was in that peculiar no man's land, half-fact, half-fiction, where I remained for weeks, and where I can occasionally still find myself after more than 30 years of permanent residence here. No other country in the world has quite this disorienting effect on the British visitor or immigrant, this capacity to induce a semi-permanent jet-lagged high in which the newcomer feels himself to be standing at a slight but constant tangent from reality.
— Jonathan Raban
A REFORMIST PROGRAM ON IMMIGRATION (OR WHAT HARRIS MIGHT HAVE SAID)
by Richard D. Wolff
The immigration issue has split and/or weakened both center and left parties and movements across many nations in recent years. Serious economic and social problems afflicting national working classes have been “managed”—at least temporarily—by scapegoating immigrants as if they were responsible for those problems. Leaders on the left fear that many among their supporters are vulnerable to that scapegoating. In contrast, leaders on the right often see that scapegoating as a means to achieve electoral gains. Trump reflected and strengthened the view that such scapegoating can get votes. The widespread perception that Kamala Harris too would be “tough on immigrants” showed that she offered no real alternative program on immigration. Thus, the classically reactionary posing of the issue as “protecting the nation against an immigrant ‘invasion’” widely prevailed.
Appeals to morality, multiculturalism, and compassion for the plight of most immigrants failed to dissuade many on the left from disengaging and moving politically rightward. The center or moderate left needs but lacks clear, strong support for immigrants that does not alienate portions of their traditional electoral base. “Me-too” opposition to immigration, even if less harsh and hostile than that of the professional demagogues, will fail, as Kamala Harris’s campaign discovered. Moreover, classic left reformism suggests a radically different program on immigration. It is derived from the reformist program (the “Green New Deal”) to address climate change when it faced a parallel problem with job-holders in polluting industries. A parallel reformist program to deal with immigration might be called an “Inclusive New Deal.”
In contrast, conservative, right-wing, and fascistic political forces have used extreme opposition to immigration to grow their ranks. Those forces boldly accuse immigrants of bringing crime, disease, downward pressure on wages, competition for jobs, and burdensome, costly demands on schools, hospitals, and other public services. Even in the United States, a country mostly composed of successive immigrant waves (who obliterated and replaced the indigenous people), many of those immigrants’ descendants now hold anti-immigrant views. Despite massive evidence to the contrary, they rationalize those views by insisting that, unlike former immigrants, today’s differ in being “unwilling to work.”
Rightists advance their radical “solutions” such as sharply tightening immigration rules, refusing all further immigration, and deporting millions. Even where moral, ethical, and religious traditions call us to welcome immigrants, right-wingers have found that anti-immigration politics can work well. They attack center-leftists for seeking future votes by being pro-immigration or only weakly anti-immigration. In the United States, they attack the Democratic Party for not putting their American-born constituents first. Patriotism, as defined by such rightists, now entails a strict anti-immigrant position that displaces traditional religions’ endorsement of the opposite.
Immigrants forced to arrive as slaves, Black people in the United States, for example, fared differently: their integration was mostly slower and much more partial. Brown immigrants who arrived as other than slaves also suffered slower and partial integration. Anti-Black-and-Brown racism added further discrimination and life difficulties to the experience of those immigrants. Institutionalized racism denied opportunities for such immigrant communities to develop their members’ levels of education, job skills, businesses, personal wealth, and social confidence. All immigrants suffer delays in their access to those qualities and capabilities, but the addition of racism worsens and lengthens those delays, including in U.S. society today. The difficulties usually endured by immigrants slow and skew the development of the economy they have entered. The occasional explosions of immigrants’ resentments and bitterness at their treatment—and the usually very violent subsequent repressions—then add further damage to their host economies.
Repeated efforts by those opposed to immigration have rarely succeeded in stopping it. The broad range of social forces—including the persistent effects of colonial and neo-colonial subjugation, uneven capitalist development, and climate change—that propel people to emigrate usually outweigh their concerns for their own economic, personal safety, and family interests. For employers, immigration can cheapen labor costs by expanding the supply of labor power (especially when the opposite is threatened by falling birthrates or when capital accumulation risks bidding up wages). Undocumented immigrants offer employers notoriously outrageous opportunities for super-exploitation. Hence, they often support it.
An important social cost of immigration is the opportunity it has regularly presented to demagogic politicians. They have repeatedly scapegoated immigrants to deflect genuine mass discontent where it might otherwise threaten the domestic employer class. Is there unemployment? The demagogue suggests that jobs are being preferentially reserved for immigrants. Are public services inadequate? The demagogue suggests that immigrants are placing excessive demands on them and corrupt officials are directing them to immigrants to secure cheap labor or votes. Demagogues often insist—again despite evidence to the contrary—that immigrants commit more crimes and bring and spread more disease than the native-born.
The campaigns of Donald Trump and many Republicans scapegoated immigrants. Many Democrats’ campaigns likewise featured the scapegoating of immigrants. In contrast, the real, basic economic problems of the United States were not seriously addressed in the latest presidential election campaigns. One of those is the immense gap between haves and have-nots that has widened over the last 40 years. Another is the economic instability that has the economy oscillating between inflation and recessions. Still another is the obvious decline of the American empire (the relatively declining roles of U.S. exports, imports, investments, and the dollar) within the global economy. These issues were marginalized or, more often, ignored. Instead, candidates relentlessly scapegoated 12 million undocumented immigrants (among the poorest of the poor) as if they were the cause of and thus to blame for the deep problems of U.S. capitalism, an economy of 330 million people. Likewise, they excoriated China for the economic competition its economic growth has brought to the United States. Doing that conveniently deflects blame from the corporate employers who made the decision to move production from the United States to China. As usual, all social blame or criticism must be kept from touching the U.S. capitalist system that accounts for those profit-driven decisions.
Deep, costly, and lasting consequences have followed the demagoguery and divisions in societies that split over immigration. Much energy, time, and money is diverted from dealing with the nation’s real economic problems to obsessive “coping with” immigration (homeland security budgets, border patrol budgets, and wall construction and maintenance). Still more is devoted to housing, policing, feeding, and otherwise “processing” undocumented immigrants. If high-priority policy instead created good jobs with good incomes for immigrants, huge portions of these social costs would be unnecessary. Moreover, worthwhile alternatives to failed existing immigration policies are available if sufficient political power places them on the social and political agendas of societies confronting immigration. A remarkable flaw of today’s global capitalism lies in its provocation of massive migration of people alongside its massive, costly failure to plan or manage that migration.
One such alternative policy could solve together the recurring problems of unemployment, inadequate housing and social services, and immigration. In the U.S. case, another Marshall Plan or “Inclusive” New Deal, green or otherwise, is needed. It could create jobs performing public services (paid at or above the current median for such jobs) that would be provided, as a right, to every unemployed citizen as priority #1. As priority #2, equivalent jobs would be provided, as a right, to all immigrants. As priority #3, the jobs thus created would include expanding the housing and all other social services needed to adequately accommodate the entire population, native plus immigrant. The tragic social divisiveness of immigrant-vs-native competition for jobs might thereby be sharply reduced.
Such an Inclusive New Deal could be funded by (1) billions of dollars no longer needed for unemployment insurance, (2) increased income and other taxes paid by newly employed native and immigrant workers, (3) increased taxes paid by businesses profiting from increased spending by those workers, and (4) an annual wealth tax of 2 percent on all personal wealth above $20 million. Immigration could be reduced for the first five years of this Inclusive New Deal to get it fully established and running.
A major side benefit of this Inclusive New Deal would be the huge boost in receipts for Social Security. Another such benefit would be the reduced demands placed on social services by the better physical and mental health of all newly employed workers. Finally, as a social dividend from such an Inclusive New Deal, the official work week in the United States for all workers could be reduced from 40 to 36 hours (with no pay reduction).
Imagine the enormous social benefits that would accrue to the entire U.S. population, native and immigrant, from this different reformist approach to the immigration issue. In the United States and beyond, such an approach would reduce the social divisions over jobs, incomes, housing, homelessness, social services, and immigration. A strong, growing economy attracts immigrants, integrates them productively, and thereby impresses the world. A weak, declining economy not only fails to employ all its people productively but by deporting immigrants advertises its failure to the world. A radical program would embrace the freedom to migrate as universal and therefore reorient the global location of investment to serve that freedom both domestically and internationally.
(This article was produced by Economy for All, a project of the Independent Media Institute. Richard Wolff is the author of Capitalism Hits the Fan and Capitalism’s Crisis Deepens. He is founder of Democracy at Work. CounterPunch.org)
THE DEMOCRATS' DIRTY TRICKS PLAYBOOK?
Documents just made public show how groups aligned with the Democratic Party hit a third party rival with an array of underhanded schemes that put Watergate tricksters to shame
by Matt Taibbi
“We can just rig our own poll to make it look as shit as possible…”
“Block signature-gathering…”
“Make [them] seem like they might be totally crazy/right-wing wackos to mid-low-info voters…”
“Hijacking their ballot line and pushing extremist candidates to muddy [their] brand…”
The above quotes are just a few excerpts from incredible documents made public after a long court fight. Details of a plan to “shun,” “stigmatize,” and “destroy” the third party No Labels suggest a Rosetta Stone of corruption, showing groups aligned with the Democratic Party using dirty tricks and elaborate fakery to attack anyone in their electoral path, all while presenting themselves as “pro-democracy” forces.
When filed a year ago on December 4, 2023, No Labels vs. No Labels seemed a picayune trademark dispute. It concerned No Labels, a political alternative founded in 2010 by longtime Democratic fundraiser Nancy Jacobson and backed by since-passed former Senator Joe Lieberman. Armed with $70 million and plans for “nationwide” ballot access, No Labels was whispered about early in the cycle as a potentially serious threat to the Democrats’ election chances, especially in a race with widespread diffidence regarding the two likely nominees, Joe Biden and Donald Trump. The Wall Street Journal article about them from July 2023 was headlined, “A Mysteriously Financed Group That Could Upend a Biden-Trump Rematch.”
The newly released court docs bear out the fact that there was deep concern within the blue activist world about the third-party run. A memo sent from political strategist Lucy Caldwell to Dmitri Mehlhorn, aide to billionaire donor and LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, described No Labels as a “looming forest fire” that would be a “nuclear grade threat” if it nominated a candidate and reached a “live campaign environment.”
To prevent that, Caldwell proposed a protracted campaign of “brand destruction,” using “controlled burns” to put the fire out long before the election. As Lincoln Project co-founder Rick Wilson put it less subtly in a tweeted video last April, No Labels needed to be “burned to the fucking ground politically.”
Key No Labels figures knew there was an organized effort to oppose their run, but didn’t start to learn how organized until filing the trademark lawsuit last December. The case seemed more like a matter of trolling than corruption at first. The actual No Labels website, located at nolabels.org, was suing an irksome imitator who’d bought and begun to use the domain nolabels.com. The mystery doppelganger used the same black banner, same font, same yellow oval signup button, even some of the same language, like the slogan “Commonsense Majority”:
But there were differences. The actual No Labels was and is more of a centrist pushback against both parties. Its leading voices included Lieberman and former NAACP chief Ben Chavis, who together that year published “Donald Trump Must Never Again Be President” on the real No Labels site. The imitator, meanwhile, prominently featured a photo of Trump and identified TikTok phenomenon Tyson Draper as a “No Labels Senate Candidate,” even though No Labels was not supporting congressional candidates. The Delaware suit accused the imitator site of “deceiving the public” and “sowing confusion about what No Labels stands for,” and sought emergency relief.
Right after that filing, on December 19th last year, Semafor published details of an 80-minute conference call between Democratic Party-aligned activist groups. Attendees included the aforementioned Mehlhorn, prominent neoconservative Bill Kristol, and representatives of Third Way, Move On, and “the Lincoln Project, American Bridge, Public Citizen, and Reproductive Freedom for All.” The piece said attendees agreed on an all-out strategy to stop the No Labels bid by sending the chilling message:
If you have one fingernail clipping of a skeleton in your closet, we will find it… We are going to come at you with every gun we can possibly find. We did not do that with Jill Stein or Gary Johnson, we should have, and we will not make that mistake again.
Former Emily’s List chief Emily Kane, now of Third Way, wrote a letter after the discussion reported on by Semafor, summing up the conclusions of what she called, in the subject line, the “Anti-No-Labels Coalition meeting.” Notably acknowledging they were indeed “working together as a broad coalition” to “fight the anti-democratic operation that is No Labels,” it added without irony that this fight for democracy should also include “deterring other third party presidential efforts.” Groups identifying themselves as “pro-democracy folks” saw no contradiction in an organized effort to prevent people other than their candidate from participating in elections.
Openly talking about “deterring” other candidacies on principle, or stopping a third party from “successfully signature gathering” (as they did in a different memo), is striking given the Democrats’ stance on other voting access issues.
“If you look at the actual law, federal and state law, ballot access has the same kinds of legal protections as voter registration,” says Ryan Clancy, the chief strategist for No Labels. “So in other words, the law sees it as equally serious if you’re preventing somebody from being registered to vote as they do preventing somebody trying to get on the ballot.”
Shortly after, on January 11th, 2024, No Labels — not aware yet that an “Anti-No-Labels Coalition” existed on paper — took the step of sending a letter to the Department of Justice asking for an investigation into the activities of its opponents, highlighting a list of bizarre obstruction efforts like the fake site.
Another episode involved a serving official, Maine’s Secretary of State Shenna Bellows. Bellows at the time had just made national headlines by declaring Donald Trump an insurrectionist and therefore ineligible for the ballot in her state (she would later be reversed by the Supreme Court). Bellows, like Emily Kane a Maine Democrat, took an extraordinary step in May 2023. She wrote to 6,500 Maine residents registered for No Labels, essentially to ask are you sure: “If you did not intend to enroll in the No Labels Party,” she wrote, “please be aware that you can change back”:
The No Labels letter to the DOJ went unanswered, and from there, the effort ran into one problem after another. On January 16th Lieberman a letter to his old friend from the Senate days, Biden, asking him “respectfully… to help put an end to this shameful attempt to silence voters.” That letter too went unanswered. Two days later, news broke that American Bridge hired former Hillary Clinton attorney Marc Elias to help “thwart” third-party candidacies.
Lieberman, the former running mate of Al Gore, died on March 27th. Former New Jersey governor and rumored potential nominee Chris Christie announced the next day he would not seek a No Labels nomination. A week later, amid much snickering in the Beltway, No Labels quietly announced it would not field a candidate in 2024. Members of the “Anti-No-Labels” coalition did an end zone dance and reoriented to new targets. “Good Riddance,” chortled End Citizens United. “Next up, RFK,” chortled Wilson.
“Once we backed out, it’s like, all right, let’s go kill off Bobby Kennedy,” said No Labels chief strategist Ryan Clancy. “Some of these same people before were saying, let’s go kill off Dean Phillip].” Forgetting about the dubious ethics and legality of using the courts and trickery like fake sites to stop opponents, the Democrats by spring had loudly advertised efforts to block ballot access not just for No Labels but for Kennedy, Phillips, Marianne Williamson, Green Party candidate Jill Stein, Cornel West, and Trump, i.e. every candidate they faced in an election in the last cycle. Was this smart? Theresa Amato, the former campaign manager for Ralph Nader and author of a book about an earlier generation of eerily similar schemes called Grand Illusion, doesn’t think so. “Scapegoating isn’t a successful election strategy,” Amato said. “You shouldn’t be trying to eliminate the competition instead of winning the hearts and minds of the future voters. But that’s the way it’s played out the last 20 years.”
After Dropping Out, Discovery
No Labels by then had learned enough from its trademark lawsuit to embarrass Democrats, but the goriest details remained under seal. Only now have documents been released that give a picture of the surprisingly vicious and personal blueprint for vaporizing competitors, as employed by groups the Washington Post describes as “Democratic allies of President Joe Biden.” Letters to and from Caldwell to Mehlhorn detail the coalition’s “campaign to destroy” the No Labels brand, but the most eye-popping material might be a 14-page pitchbook from an Arizona-based lobbyist named Charles Siler explaining the smear tactics behind the fake “NoLabels.com” site. The Post’s Michael Scherer first reported on Siler’s memo last year, but most of the details were not shown. You have to see these slides to believe them.
Makers of the fake site first proposed to make No Labels look like a Trump-supporting operation by including a picture of Trump speaking at a No Labels event in 2015. Worse, they pitched adding “christo-nationalist dog whistles,” like “NL now has access in 14 states with support in 88 counties.” The number 88 is code, paraded by Aryan prison gangs and people like mass shooter Dylann Roof alike, representing the eighth letter, H: HH, for “Heil Hitler.” The number 14 is a reference to a well-known “14 words” slogan coined by white supremacist David Lane:
What was Siler’s connection to the “anti-No-Labels group”? It’s not clear. Here’s how the Washington Post described the funding of the fake site last year:
Siler said in his deposition that he originally brought the idea of acquiring NoLabels.com to Lucy Caldwell, a political operative who has been active in a broader effort by Democrats and anti-Trump Republicans to stop No Labels’ presidential ambitions. She attended a June meeting at the offices of Third Way with top Democratic officials, including former White House chief of staff Ron Klain, who attended in his personal capacity… Caldwell… said in an interview Thursday that the broader anti-No Labels coalition was not involved in this effort.
Neither Siler nor Caldwell responded to requests for comment.
Pitchbook notwithstanding, the fake site ended up not pulling the 14/88 stunt. Nonetheless, the proposal was remarkable. A “Potus Nominees” slide proposed to have “fun” with a list of possible candidates by listing figures “we think would be off-putting,” complete with “bios made to look as problematic as possible.” Suggestions included a “running poll on the site to see who people want to see become the [No Labels] POTUS nominees,” but then “we can just right our own poll to make it look as shit as possible.”…
https://www.racket.news/p/the-democrats-dirty-tricks-playbook
Martinez native son, Joe DiMaggio, and his son Joe Junior on the cover of Sport Magazine, September 1946 when Joe Senior was still actively playing baseball.
Joe Jr was born in New York to Joe Sr. and his then wife Dorothy. Joe Sr. was playing for the Yankees at the time.
Junior spent much of his later life in Martinez and Contra Costa County. He died in Antioch in 1999, at only 57 years old, only a few months after his father passed.
ON THE IRON RIVER
by Rachel Nolan
There are only two gun stores in Mexico. Throughout the enormous country, which takes three full days to cross by car from top to bottom if you don’t stop, the only places you can legally buy a gun are a shop on a military base in the capital and a shop on another military base in the large northern city of Monterrey.
It’s not advisable to drive straight through Mexico any more, even if you don’t stop. The country is awash with guns, which are often in the hands of criminal outfits. Locals know which spots or people to skirt. Migrants and asylum seekers trying to reach the US-Mexico border from further south can’t avoid traversing the area more or less blind. It’s not wise to do this, and people wouldn’t if they felt they had another choice. Few migrants now travel alone: their best option is to pay human smugglers who carry illegally bought guns to protect themselves from other people with illegally bought guns. The going rate for safe passage across Mexico and through the desert into the US is more than $10,000 and rising.
Trump drove up prices last time and will again. Routes and business models keep changing, and, for obvious reasons, the rates and terms are hard to keep tabs on. But I have always been told that the fee buys three attempts, unless the customer is killed by a gun held by someone they haven’t paid to protect them. Death might cancel the second or third attempt, but it doesn’t cancel the debt. The bereaved family must still pay the smuggler.
Where did all those guns come from? The two legal gun stores are heavily guarded, expensive and long on red tape in the form of background checks by the Mexican army. So almost all of the guns come straight from the US: Walmart, Dick’s Sporting Goods, gun shows, private sales. Mexicans, or North Americans who work for them, cross into Texas, New Mexico or Arizona to visit the vast array of stores selling guns on the US side. Background checks and controls are sparse, and it’s easy to smuggle the guns back across the border into Mexico. Border agents are mostly trying to catch people coming north, not guns going south. This is NAFTA, flipped. The idea of the free-trade agreement was to open markets and close borders: goods would move freely, people would not. Three decades later, goods do flow freely, including illegal goods. But so do people. Now there is illicit business in both directions: drugs and people smuggled up, guns smuggled down. The flow of guns south is so relentless that it is called the ‘iron river’.
Damage to another human body is slower and harder with a knife or machete. Manual labor. Killing another person with a gun is so easy that a child can do it (and does). Mexico can pass as many gun control laws as it likes, but it is unlucky to sit just south of a much more powerful country over which it has little leverage, a country with more guns than anywhere else in the world.
In the US, a lavishly paid lobby and Second Amendment culture war hysteria ensure that nearly anyone who wants a gun can buy one. The iron river created by what the anthropologist Ieva Jusionyte calls the “asymmetry between gun laws in the US and Mexico” is not new: in the early 20th century US guns were smuggled to fighters in the Mexican Revolution. In 1971, Mexico tightened gun controls, passing a law stating that only the Ministry of National Defense can import and sell arms. That is why the only two legal gun stores are on military bases.
(London Review of Books)
BILL KIMBERLIN:
I photographed this in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. It is the "Monteleone chariot and is an Etruscan chariot dated to c. 530 BC, considered one of the world's great archaeological finds. It was uncovered in 1902 in Monteleone di Spoleto, Umbria, Italy, in an underground tomb covered by a mound. The Monteleone chariot is the best-preserved and most complete of all known surviving examples.”
THE ONLY THING I LIKE about Trump is exactly what so many empire managers hate about him: he gives the game away. He says the quiet parts out loud. He’s the only president who’ll openly boast that US troops are in Syria to keep the oil or lament that they failed to take the oil from Venezuela, or just come right out and tell everyone he’s bought and owned by Zionist oligarchs.
Trump is the opposite of Obama, who was very skillful at putting a pretty face on the evil empire. Trump puts a very ugly face on a very ugly thing. He is a much more honest face to have on the empire. A crude, stupid plutocrat who is owned by other plutocrats is the perfect representative of that tyrannical power structure.
— Caitlin Johnstone
Please add my name to my photograph and writing about Etruscan chariot dated to c. 530 BC. Thank you.
Yo good people, Happy Wednesday…..
Care court …. about time and not soon enough, they arrested Josh Neese again, who by the way had been in psychosis and missing for the last 3 weeks but found in Fairfield 2 days ago! Would be awesome to see “Care Court” assist him and JT…… Also how is what we already have “Mental Health Court” going? Is it going to be integrated into the Care Court program or remain as is?
mm 💕
Care Court will not work, it’s voluntary. None of the mentally ill, drug addicted who live on the streets will volunteer.
You should read the two page fact sheet put out by the state:
Treatment is court-ordered and if not followed through the person is placed on an involuntary hold, hospitalized and eventually conserved.
That’s simply not true. I’ve met with Kieth Faulder who told me judges hands are tied because behavioral and drug court are now voluntary.
Ask him about Care Court and read the officially presented Fact Sheet.
There are indeed obstacles, mostly because of a lack of involuntary hospital beds.
Saying hands are tied…. Hahaha of course otherwise known as not my responsibility ….. same ol story of any entity who has the power to effect precedence and change!!!
🤮🤢
mm 💕
CIAISI
Actually its not really voluntary treatment because it is petitioned via the court to oversee that BH services are providing necessary investment in support and treatment of these individuals with Serious Mental Illness. Problem is then that those same services have for over 50 years not been able to do so based on the idea a person is always free to choose. That idea will continue to be the obstacle to providing what is necessary. I am happy care court is being implemented gives many families and individuals hope for a better a life. However this will only be successful if the protocols implemented are appropriate and those assigned to address and handle these cases follow through instead of dropping the ball on people, as is the norm. Imagine petitioning the court to mandate treatment for elderly people with Alzheimers???!!! …. Many of the cognitive distortions are the same, the behaviors too, but we would never allow our beloved old folks with brain based illness’s to navigate health treatments, they can’t, neither can people with Serious Mental Illness! Both are no fault brain diseases just one is see as an unfortunate part of being old and the other a personal failure.
mm 💕
Name calling by anyone (paging Kirk Vodopals) should have no place in “Mendocino County Today.”
Yeah…But it is okay to label anonymous contributors, Trolls, Cowards, and Scum. and worse.
I know and have experienced it all. This place has become a partisan, mean-spirited, place.
And some of the worse name-callers are the contributors and most connected if you get my drift…
It’s no surprise that the commentary and contributors have recently decreased. Apparently, the so-called RED WAVE caused a lot of hate and pain.
Have a nice day,
Laz
Agreed; that also is not okay. Other than banning those commenting folks – which the editor can and should do at his discretion – it is difficult to police. However, content is under his direct control and that control should be exercised to eliminate name calling.
The same editor that called me a fascist, lol? I actually don’t mind and I’m certainly not offended by those silly poopooheads. Cheers
Context?
You are right, Laz, and I try to watch my own comments more closely. I do cross the line now and again, and am certainly partisan, but try to be less-sharp-tongued toward others, and to post “positive” comments often. Our exchanges a while back taught me a good lesson, and I appreciate that you and I could call a truce. I appreciate your comments when they come, and try harder now to listen and take things in.
BTW, I tried to contact our missing James M. recently, found his phone # and left a message that he was missed by some commenters–and felt that to be true even if many us disagree with some of his comments. I left my number with him, but have not heard back. I told him we hoped he was doing ok. I myself hope that nothing seriously bad has come to his life.
I just checked his FB page. He seems okay.
The word libt*rds is so cringe and juvenile. I see it and instantly stop reading and move on to the next article/blurb/comment.
Does it hurt your feelings? That’s too bad, maybe cuddling your favorite stuffed animal will help.
How right you are. Why do folks have to include derogatory tags?
You’re an ass
Why do you leave derogatory statements? Or is calling someone an ass positive and uplifting. You must be liberal, do as I say not as I do.
Emily is just calling it as she sees it. Or calling it as we see it. ..
RE: Call It Like I See It: “Does it hurt your feelings? That’s too bad, maybe cuddling your favorite stuffed animal will help.”
Nope, not at all. The use of derogatory words like libt*rd just tells me the writer is dense and not worth reading, so I don’t. Like I said, I move on. And lame, worn out comments like yours = small-dick energy.
Just a few comments to people who are disgusted by derogatory terms, you know the upstanding texters who would never lower their morals. And how do they respond, one says I’m an ass, the other, claims I have a small dick.
Hey Lurker I can’t tell because your head is in the way.
Maybe too much caffeine for you, today. Take a break, take it easy, Thanksgiving’s coming. All will be well
The on-line Chronicle did away with its comment line because of “hate speech” in all its odious, anonymous cascades but about every tenth comment someone said something useful or interesting. Used to be that the demented had to sit down and write an actual letter to the editor, but now….. Well, as we know, the internet has freed the international lunatic and, worse, put him in touch with the other lunatics to form whole political movements. I want to keep the AVA’s comment line open to allow the minority of sensible people — always a minority in whatever context — to have their say. So I second Lurker Lou; scroll on by.
Sounds like you’re talking about yourself!
If Representative Alexandria Ocasio Cortez and MAGA-oriented Representative Tim Burchett can co exist as close friends (despite howls of protest from some in their fan base), then there’s hope. A little bit. (They bond over dogs.)
Both Peter Coyote and I once had online columns in the Chronicle, and we both eventually quit due to the colony of CATS (Cowardly Anonymous Trolls). I never thought it”hate speech,” just juvenile idiocy, like graffiti. Somehow it was/is almost always from keyboard warriors of the MAGA type. This Call It guy is a textbook example, who can’t even help himself when the Editor explains a bit. He’s a chronic nuisance, bringing the whole forum down to his gutter. How about shutting him down and inviting him back only using his real name? We’d see how much he really stands behind his own vitriol… whic I’d wager is not much. Free Speech is for those brave enough to say who they are.
Be nice to your neighbors
Measure B funds
How do you all of a sudden find 13 million unspent dollars.
Doesn’t Ms. Pierce balance the accounts every month? This should have been found in the first month she took over.
Something doesn’t pass the smell test.
Re:
“NEVERTHELESS, us Mendo lib-labs better prepare to do what we can to protect our friends and neighbors, especially in areas like the Ukiah and Anderson valleys where there are lots and lots of Homan-vulnerable people. Homan, btw, has warned us papered persons not to interfere with “these operations,” added incentive to get in the way.”
Are there any specific action ideas? I would love to sign up! I live just south of the Ukiah city limits so there will be lots of fed operations guided by Homan here. Given the make up of the population here.
Here’s an idea, post your address and they can all hide at your house when the evil Homan troopers invade. Maybe we’ll get lucky and the troopers will arrest you. Do you actually read what you write? 99% of your comments are complete nonsense.
I’m sure Laken Riley’s family would agree with your statement. NOT! You’re beliefs are exactly why Americans voted Trump.
Hello again Dark Comedian,
You say 99% of my comments are complete nonsense. Since we all know what subject I generally provide news updates on here, I guess you’ll have to deal with the shattering disappointment re Trump’s comments re that subject on Joe Rogan and elsewhere (recently), his eldest son’s avid advocacy re it, his VP’s excitement re it, Vivek Ramaswamy promotion of it and even many MAGA members of Congress going whole hog for disclosure.
PS: his new National Security Advisor Mike Waltz and Pete Hesgeth also are in the complete nonsense camp.
CNN news updates is what you provide. Just look at today’s posts, you didn’t even know about threats to Trump’s cabinet picks because CNN didn’t report it at the time of your post. That’s why your posts are nonsense. You believe documented liars of the media.
Rules for THEE, not for ME! That’s the Libt rd Way! I also despise that word, but have found no suitable replacement.
Trump barely won, with less than a third of eligible voters voting for him.
Yes the party of unity and adults in the room, their followers are now threatening the incoming cabinet members.
After Dementia Joe and Workd Salad Harris referred to Trump as Hitler and two assassination attempts and ongoing fake charges. These psychopaths are not done. January 6 looks like babyshit compared to what these power hungry socialists have done this election season.
This is why the American people are standing up to your wokeness and policies that contain no common sense whatsoever.
You should be embarrassed to call yourself a Democrat, or how I look to put it, Libtard!
Enjoy the next 4 years!
Hello Mr. or Ms. Dark Comedian,
Can you direct me to where people are threatening incoming administration figures?
Maybe you are confused: Bondi is talking about investigating the investigators, Trump threatening licenses of CBS News and others, and Homan threatening to arrest sanctuary city mayors whereas some Commie Libtards like myself are pondering protective measures for undocumented residents facing mass detention and deportation. I assume that our means will be ethical, non violent and legal.
Turn on your TV, it’s all over the news. Or maybe CNN isn’t reporting it, that’s odd!
CNN is now reporting of bomb threats and swatting targeting Stefanic and several others. I definitely hope arrests are made. We have a long history of psychotic behaviors coming from far left and far right characters whose psych issues involve obsessively tripping on political matters.
You haven’t so far, your party has tried everything ,has been violent and threatening
Ms. Williams: Wealthy people across the country have been buying up residential properties and then leaving them vacant. The resulting housing shortage brings higher rents and property prices, which those investors will eventually take advantage of by renting or selling at the inflated rates. Maybe they have expanded that strategy to commercial properties, or maybe they have plans for development in Pt. Arena (possibly to attract more tourism). There may be other reasons, but these seem to be the most likely.
I suspect those buying up property are wealthy investors involved in REIT’s (real estate investment trusts). It used to be office buildings and warehouses, but those are pretty much bust since Covid, so they have turned to private property like homes and lots. They are too rich to worry about puny “rents” (too much trouble) when inflation gives them the return they desire. They have cash to burn, and consider real estate the most reliable investment. Too bad they don’t at least rent them or turn them over to make a little profit but of course that isn’t enough. It’s the old Machiavellian mystique, they do it because they can.
The city council member associated with the Utah LLC s only got a little over 50 votes and the other two candidates a little over 100. A clear sign of people frustrated with a lack of clarity over all this.
I suspect the very last possibility you (Norm T) mention (the most positive one).
This hissy fit between “Call It As I See It” and “Mike J” is not only unseemly for this rag to carry, but also boring. Hey Fellas, Get a Room. Please not allow this comment section of the AVA to descend into the swamps like the Mendocino List Serve has.
Censorship of Free Speech? Nope. It’s called Editorial Discretion. Do your duty Bruce, Mark. You really don’t have to publish every thing you’re sent. Even this.
As for “Call It As I See It” and “Mike J” — like I said, I reiterate: Get A Room.
Right. Maybe a “rubber room,” as the mental health pros used to call it.
You may have a little reading comprehension issues. I posted simply about resonating with Bruce Anderson’s thoughts re Tom Homan, and got a hostile response which I responded to in a generally polite manner.
I’m thinking now that given these hurtful remarks that I will now avoid the AVA and just stick to Blue Sky where people don’t demean others.
Bye.
Who made you the Comments monitor?
Since no national news roundup today, here’s some…
(OOPS, the conned voters start to say…. But all were warned…)
“Trump plans tariffs on Mexico, Canada, and China that could cripple trade” (NYT)
“Walmart says Trump tariffs could raise prices” (CNBC)
“Trump’s deportation vow alarms Texas construction industry” (NPR)
“US farm groups want Trump to spare their workers from deportation” (Reuters)
“Trump officials to receive immediate clearances and easier FBI vetting: president-elect’s team planning for background checks to occur only after administration takes over bureau” – The Guardian
“Kennedy’s antivax views and friends can cause real damage” (NYT)
“Trump Pentagon pick (Hegseth) had been flagged by fellow service member as ‘Insider Threat’” (AP)
“Tulsi Gabbard’s sympathetic views towards Russia cause alarm as Trump’s pick to lead intelligence services” (AP)
“Sexual misconduct allegations sank one Trump nominee and loom over Kennedy” (WSJ)
“Gaetz exit puts spotlight on other Trump nominees accused of sexual misconduct” (Reuters)
Laura Mannweiler of U.S. News and World Report today estimated the worth of Trump’s current roster of appointees to be at least $344.4 billion, more than the gross domestic product of 169 countries. That number does not include Bessent, whose net worth is hard to find. In comparison, Mannweiler notes, the total net worth of the officials in Biden’s Cabinet was about $118 million. Champions of the swamp!
Did you miss that Trump cabinet choices were being threatened? That was reported today.
Oh,?but somehow you left it out. That’s odd.
Looks like we’ve all checked in present and accounted for since the red tide swept in and cleared the beachhead— all but James Marmon, still missing and un accounted for, idle rumors notwithstanding. ..any word on James?
James did post here fairly recently, once. A couple weeks ago. I had posted about Mo orchestrating an Orr Creek cleanup and James posted in response, asking what she was wearing.
Okay, we’re all about as contentious as the soldiers in the movie Platoon but if Putin hits us we will spring to order. Nothing like an immediate outside threat to overshadow and blot out a thousand petty shades of difference like the ones between the Democrats and Republicans currently… Glad you’re with us, James, you’re a good man to have in a fight.
Funny enough, Democrats and Republicans in Congress have very notably united over one issue. Lately. It’s the issue Reagan said would undoubtedly unite us all. (The issue isn’t actually a threat….except to maybe the psychological well being of some….I was happy till now providing news updates on that front in the comment section here. I’ll pass on continuing to do so now as I think the issue has a good foothold in the national media and Congress.)
Maybe people can find James on Facebook messenger?
Dylan sings the theme song, “Don’t Fence Me In” for the new Reagan movie; Dennis Quaid plays the part, Peter Ustinov being dead….(humph).
“Glad you’re with us, James, you’re a good man to have in a fight.’
M.B.
I agree. James is one of the good guys.
But why would James return? Those in disagreement belittled and berated James over almost anything he wrote for years.
However, Trump did win, “By a lot.”
And as James Carville said, “Winning is Everything, Stupid.”
Oh, by the way, I saw Kamala Harris today on TV, she appeared to be, shitface drunk. Perfect…
Be well,
Laz
“Winning is a good deodorant,”
—John Madden
“and losing SUCKS”!
Laz
Ouch!
You are right, Laz. I struck out at Marmon a few times… But he sure enough laid a few good ones on me, too!
Potentially a way to appropriately regulate on line forums is to delete logical fallacy arguments. It means the person doing the regulating needs to read up on what a logical fallacy is. There are quite a few here at the AVA blog who have nothing to offer but a continuum of logical fallacies. Eliminating name calling would be a good start.
Guess you’d be the first to go, George…
Measure B
The funds were never transferred out of the B account to the county. The B committee after much discussion last week agreed to fund the CRU program for two years.
Have to laugh at all the boy banter over whether low-class bickering should be allowed — since the whole purpose of the AVA is to stir the pot. Truly boring, most of it, but if people aren’t able to “cross swords” and take a few meaningless pokes, how will they learn to talk usefully about their frustrations? (Used to be called “venting,” but in those days, exercising one’s spleen cleared the way for “working the problem,” to little avail.)
Every entry, readable or not, expresses the collective anger evinced by struggling with an amorphous bureaucracy at every turn. Budget accountability? CARE Court? Housing? “Health” care? No one is ever accountable, problems are perpetuated by the consumers of wasted tax dollars, guilt gelt, separating each of us from any recourse (just think about Mr. Marmon’s life story). So, no sticking one’s neck out to actually accuse the abusers in office, at the supermarket, in the closet at home.
As long as our time is spent on foolishness, we are not thinking about the reality of life in “the blob,” which is comprised of everything on and in the air. Seeking connection, we have to settle for contact, barely satisfied by verbal skirmishes of the pejoratives heard on the schoolground at the elementary school. “Are, too!” “Am not!”
Even so, it’s worth every erg and occulation — the AVA is a safe harbor for words we cannot say anywhere else. Thanks, Bruce (et al).
Betsy, a perfect end to an endlessly contentious, dreary day. Thank you.
Yes, and I was glad to hear gentleman George Hollister’s summation of the quandary. But it seems Stephen Rosenthal has been reluctant to check in on the issue —especially since he astutely bowed out early on when the jesting with sharp tilts was getting perilous!
Last I recall he was concerned about his cat’s health— which I sympathize with as my own cat is one of the few things that keeps me sane.
Still, insults are not gunshots, as Betsy points out any more than acerbic insinuations are lethal clouds of mustard gas. And if looks could kill, as grandpa used to say, I’d be dead.