Mendocino County Today: Thursday 11/28/2024

Sunny | Silent Auction | Litigation Pause | Sheriff Hires | Police Response | Wildcat Disappointment | 65th Annual | Name Changers | Bear Break-In | Saying Grace | De Nada | Shields Report | Classic Plaque | Ed Notes | Willie McCovey | Yesterday's Catch | Cloverdale Museum | Homeless Sweeps | Carolina Parakeet | Motel 6 | Starving Soldiers | Farm Detractors | Ray Charles | Sic Em | Thanksgiving Football | Young Romantic | DACA Fear | Meeting Mom | $165 Billion | Fundamentalism | AI Fun | Bashing Taylor | Lead Stories | Draft Age | Duck & Cover | Rape Trail | Flooded | Insult Generator | Against Empire

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STEPHEN DUNLAP (Fort Bragg): 34F is about as cold as I have ever seen it 1 mile from the ocean, under clear skies this Thanksgiving Day morning. I am thankful that atmospheric river is stretched far to the south of us! Morning low temps will slowly rise into early next week with no rain currently in the forecast.

DRY WEATHER and cold nighttime temperatures continue into the weekend. (NWS)

HIGH PRESSURE RIDGE: California is about to experience weather whiplash. After six consecutive days of rain, a significant pattern shift began Wednesday, and it might not rain again until at least mid-December — or possibly longer. A large ridge of high pressure started building over the North American West Coast on Wednesday, likely locking into place for the foreseeable future. This atmospheric feature, often called a “ridiculously resilient ridge,” resembles patterns that typically occur in summer, which lead to extended heat waves. While this setup will bring above-average temperatures, its most notable effect will be several consecutive days of sunny, dry weather. (sfchronicle.com)

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CITY OF FORT BRAGG AND MENDOCINO RAILWAY ENTER A 90-DAY STAY AGREEMENT TO PURSUE SETTLEMENT DISCUSSIONS

The City of Fort Bragg and Mendocino Railway are pleased to announce a mutual decision to pursue a 90-day pause in ongoing litigation. This agreement builds on prior discussions this year, reflecting both parties’ shared commitment to reducing litigation costs and redirecting resources toward meaningful settlement discussions which may include a potential Master Development Agreement phased approach. In approving the short stay period, Judge Brennan did caution the parties that a further continuance or stay after expiration of the 90-day period would likely not favored by the Court under the same circumstances, so the parties should use this time period efficiently.

The discussions will focus on collaboratively addressing key issues, including land use and development considerations, in consultation with the California Coastal Commission. Both parties are optimistic that a cooperative approach will yield solutions that benefit the Fort Bragg community, the railway’s operations, and the city's economic and environmental interests.

"Pausing the litigation allows us to redirect resources toward meaningful collaboration with Mendocino Railway and the Coastal Commission," said City Manager Isaac Whippy. “This is an important opportunity to come together, build on common ground, and work with stakeholders to shape a future for Fort Bragg that reflects our shared values. Together, we can create a vision for the Mill-Site that enhances our downtown, provides desperately needed housing, creates local jobs, and preserves and restores open space—all while ensuring sustainable development. We cannot let the Mill Site sit idle for another generation. It’s time to unlock its true potential and transform it into an asset that benefits the entire community."

Mendocino Railway echoed these sentiments. "We have always believed we can accomplish more as a community by working together. We look forward to the chance to again work in conjunction with the City and the Commission, ensuring that the Mill-site is developed in a manner that will fulfill the wishes expressed by our residents and local businesses over almost two decades of meetings,” said Robert Jason Pinoli, President for Mendocino Railway.

The City of Fort Bragg and Mendocino Railway are committed to transparency and will keep the public informed as discussions progress. This initiative highlights a shared desire to strengthen partnerships and work toward solutions that promote a vibrant future for the Mill-site.

(Fort Bragg City Presser)

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THANKFUL FOR NEW HIRES AT SHERIFF’S OFFICE

Another reason to be thankful at the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office Monday.

This morning, Sheriff Kendall swore-in two Sheriff’s sergeants and one Corrections sergeant. Corrections Sergeant Alfonso Aguilar has most recently been coordinating the jail’s Transportation unit. Sheriff’s Sergeant Jack Woida is promoting out of the Sheriff’s Investigations unit. Sheriff’s Sergeant Aaron Clark comes to us from the Lake County Sheriff’s Office, where he was a patrol sergeant.

Sheriff Kendall also introduced incoming Legal Secretary Mariluz Avila. Avila’s experience in Corrections will serve her well as she transitions to the Sheriff’s Records unit.

Please join us in congratulating Aaron, Alfonso, Jack and Mariluz as they take on their new responsibilities.

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POLICE RESPONSE TO MIDDLE SCHOOL FIGHT PROMPTS COMMUNITY DEBATE IN FORT BRAGG

by Elise Cox (KZYX)

…The fight involved two students, one of whom allegedly made an insulting comment about the other's sibling. The students were initially redirected by staff and then they returned and the situation escalated.…

https://www.kzyx.org/2024-11-25/fort-bragg-racism-middle-school-fight

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UKIAH HIGH FOOTBALL SET TO REPEAT

Editor,

One of the more surprising results in the region last week was Ukiah’s 28-25 loss to Redwood (Larkspur) in the Division 4 semifinals. In a complete slopfest on Ukiah’s grass field-turned-mud pit, the Giants capitalized on a late special-teams mistake by the Wildcats for a game-winning touchdown with under a minute to play.

The Giants started the year 3-4, which included a 24-6 loss to Rancho Cotate, a team that beat Ukiah 40-22 in the first week of the season. Now, Redwood will be playing in its first section title game in school history.

It’s a disappointing season-ending loss for the top-seeded Wildcats, who appeared poised to make their return to an NCS title game for the first time since 1999.

Ukiah is set to graduate 18 seniors, including two-way star Omaurie Phillips-Porter, but had a number of young players contributed this season. There’s no reason the Wildcats shouldn’t have a good chance to make it far in the postseason again next year.

Gus Morris

Ukiah

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CHANGE OUR NAME’S Monthly teach-in will be Thursday, December 5, at 7 p.m. at Town Hall, 363 N Main St, Fort Bragg

Envisioned as a program to educate attendees about the issues involved in the name change and to hear neighbors’ ideas, the teach-in will last about one hour and will feature a speaker and a question and answer/discussion period.

Our Speaker will be Clayton Duncan, a tribal elder of the Robinson Rancheria of Eastern Pomo in Lake County.

Duncan has the distinction of being the great grandson of Lucy Moore. At the age of 6, Lucy survived the massacre of Bloody Island at Clear Lake where the US Army slaughtered an untold number of Pomo in retaliation for the killing of Andrew Kelsey and Charles Stone who had enslaved, whipped, murdered, and raped Indigenous people on their ranch in what is now Kelseyville.

Duncan led a project to erect a memorial at the site of the massacre and later worked to change the name of Kelseyville’s sports teams from The Indians to The Knights. Today he is working to change the name of Kelseyville itself so it no longer memorializes the rapacious Andrew Kelsey and his murderous brothers.

Discussing controversial topics requires civility and respect for the opinions of others. This program is free and open to all.

For further information: changeournamefortbragg@gmail.com

A local grass roots non-profit, Change Our Name Fort Bragg is dedicated to an educational process that leads to changing the name of Fort Bragg so that it no longer honors a military Fort that dispossessed Indigenous people or Braxton Bragg, an enslaver and Confederate General, who waged war against our country.

Philip Zwerling, Ph.D.

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WHY WE SAY GRACE

by Mike Geniella

We didn’t say grace at our house when I was growing up because my parents were atheists. I knew even as a little girl that everyone at every table needed blessings and encouragement, but my family didn’t ask for it. Instead, my parents raised glasses of wine to the chef: Cheers. Dig in. But I had a terrible secret, which was that I believed in God, a divine presence who heard me when I prayed, who stayed close to me in the dark. So at six years old I began to infiltrate religious families like a spy — Mata Hari in plaid sneakers.

One of my best friends was a Catholic girl. Her boisterous family bowed its collective head and said, “Bless us, O Lord, and these thy gifts. …” I was so hungry for these words; it was like a cool breeze, a polite thank-you note to God, the silky magnetic energy of gratitude. I still love that line.

I believed that if your family said grace, it meant you were a happy family, all evidence to the contrary. But I saw at certain tables that an improvised grace could cause friction or discomfort. My friend Mark reports that at his big southern childhood Thanksgivings, someone always managed to say something that made poor Granny feel half dead. “It would be along the lines of: And Lord, we are just glad you have seen fit to keep Mama with us for one more year.’ We would all strain to see Granny giving him the fisheye.”

I noticed some families shortened the pro forma blessing so they could get right to the meal. If there were more males than females, it was a boy- chant, said as one word: “GodisgreatGodisgoodletusthankHimforourfoodAmen.” I also noticed that grace usually wasn’t said if the kids were eating in front of the TV, as if God refused to listen over the sound of it.

And we’ve all been held hostage by grace sayers who use the opportunity to work the room, like the Church Lady. But more often, people simply say thank you — we understand how far short we must fall, how selfish we can be, how self-righteous, what brats. And yet God has given us this marvelous meal.

It turns out that my two brothers and I all grew up to be middle-aged believers. I’ve been a member of the same Presbyterian church for 36 years. My older brother became a born-again Christian — but don’t ask him to give the blessing, as it can last forever. I adore him, but your food will grow cold. My younger brother is an unconfirmed but freelance Catholic.

So now someone at our holiday tables always ends up saying grace. I think we’re in it for the pause, the quiet thanks for love and for our blessings, before the shoveling begins. For a minute, our stations are tuned to a broader, richer radius. We’re acknowledging that this food didn’t just magically appear: Someone grew it, ground it, bought it, baked it; wow.

We say thank you for the miracle that we have stuck together all these years, in spite of it all; that we have each other’s backs, and hilarious companionship. We say thank you for the plentiful and outrageous food: Kathy’s lox, Robby’s heartbreaking gravy. We pray to be mindful of the needs of others. We savor these moments out of time, when we are conscious of love’s presence, of Someone’s great abiding generosity to our dear and motley family, these holy moments of gratitude. And that is grace.

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BILL & ME AND THE DEMS

by Jim Shields

Quick Weather Report

Since this Pineapple Express hit at 9pm Tuesday night on Nov. 19, bringing .12 inches of precip, Wednesday 5.96 inches fell, 6.61 inches on Thursday, 1.54 inches on Friday, .62 inches on Saturday, 1.38 inches on Sunday, 1.86 inches on Monday, and 0.13 inches on Tuesday, Nov. 26, we’ve had a total of 18.10 inches in the greater Laytonville area. There was no serious flooding, however. We’ve been fortunate since there’s been breaks of light or no rain between episodes of heavy drenching allowing water to channel off into streams and creeks. The historic average annual rainfall in the Laytonville area is 67 inches, with November through March averaging 10 inches per month.

I find myself in complete agreement with Julie Beardsley, retired county Public Health Analyst and former president the union (SEIU) that represents county employees, who posted this comment on the Anderson Valley Advertiser’s website: “You know I’ve lived here for a long time and I remember in the 1970s it rained for a several weeks at a time and we didn’t freak out and call it a weather bomb. It was just rain. I’m having a hard time understanding why normal weather is freaking everyone out … ummm, maybe I’m just old, but remember that where we live is called a temperate rain forest. The important word in that description is rain. Hot in the summer and rainy in the winter …”

My newspaper, the Mendocino County Observer is an official weather station. I’m also the long-time district manager of the Laytonville County Water District, so you might say I have rainwater in my blood.

I can tell you that there has been a noticeable change in rainfall patterns in the past 15 years. While annually we still receive our historical average of around 67 inches, it falls in a more concentrated pattern, starting later in the rain year than it used to. Instead of measurable precipitation beginning in September and ramping up to November, the preceding months are much drier. In recent years, it is not uncommon for rains not to begin until mid-December and continue through mid-April packing high-volume amounts of precipitation.

Bill & Me

You know the old saying, “Great Minds think alike.”

Well, I’ve discovered that comedian Bill Maher is a comrade-in-arms when it comes to explaining how the Democrats got their asses kicked by D.J. Trump.

I readily admit that Bill’s mind — at least the part where humor genes reside — is so much greater as well as more fertile than mine.

I’ll share a few of our excerpted observations on the November 5th outcome where apparently a meeting of the minds intersected. Saving the best for the last, I’ll lead off.

All the “Progressive” pundits are saying they were flummoxed that Trump will be returning to the White House. They’ve been blaming ignoramus voters for being hoodwinked, bamboozled, deceived, and conned by the Trumpster.

The self-proclaimed experts pointed fingers at:

• White, non-college educated male voters.
• White women voters with no college degrees,
• Black and Latino male voters who can’t handle a woman in the White House.

Maybe those people are saying they are fed up with the Democratic elites treating them like dumb asses.

I figured out back when I was in the Labor Movement that voters, most of whom are common folk, working people, and the middle class, know exactly what they’re doing and why they’re doing it when they vote.

Although I’m a Democrat, heavily influenced by Franklin Roosevelt, his Republican cousin Teddy, Jack and Bobby Kennedy, and the Great Emancipator himself, I keep my distance — politically, socially and otherwise — from today’s Dem Party that immerses itself in identity politics, virtue signaling, oh so politically correct buffoonery, and their long-time sellout of workers and the rapidly disappearing middle class with their rabid support of Globalism.

(Please note I included two Republicans, Theodore Roosevelt and Abe Lincoln, as historical influences on my political development. How quaint. There’s also ancestral connections between the Shields family and both men, especially with Honest Abe. But I’ll leave that history for another telling, or most likely, not at all.)

As a Democrat I can say this: The Democratic Party is responsible for creating the landslide victory for Trump.

People were telling the Democratic Party that their paychecks weren’t even close to keeping pace with inflation and that grocery prices were devouring their nearly non-existent discretionary income.

The Dems responded that the economy was on the rebound and that the real issues were “democracy” and that Trump was bad man.

“Trust us” they said, “we know what we’re doing.”

Fortunately, we still have people who have always fueled the engine of change in this country.

Those folks are the working and middle classes who once aroused are a fearsome sight to behold.

They called the Dems’ bluff and created on the fly a political movement to oppose the elite establishments.

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

This is a 21st Century spontaneous version of Populism and the Trump campaign was the only incubator to be found.

Here’s some of Maher’s thoughts, that are, hands-down, much wittier and laugh-out-loud humorous than mine:

HBO host Bill Maher didn’t hold back as he laid into the Democratic Party for their “doubling down” on the politics that led to their recent election night defeat.

During a long rant about the state of the party, the comedian accused some Democrats of being “stupid,” others of being too liberal, and slammed those who blame racism and/or sexism for Vice President Kamala Harris’ loss to President-elect Donald Trump.

“Someone must tell the usual suspects on the far left that the saying is, ‘When you’re in a hole, stop digging.’ Not ‘keep digging.’ Talk about doubling down on what got you f---ed in the first place,” said Maher in his open monologue Friday on Real Time with Bill Maher.

“Even the one concession I’ve heard a few people on the losing side offer—that liberals should stop saying that Trump voters are stupid—comes with a kind of unspoken parentheses. ‘We know they are stupid, just don’t say it,’” he added.

Maher then hit back at “stupid” Democrats.

“I got bad news for you, they don’t have a monopoly on stupid,” he said. “You wear Queers for Palestine T-shirts, and masks two years after the pandemic ended. And you can’t define ‘woman’—I mean, ‘person who menstruates.’ You’re the Teachers Union education party, and you’ve turned schools and colleges into a joke. You just lost a crazy contest to an actual crazy person.”

“You love to speak truth to power, and we always should, but you have completely lost the ability to speak truth to bulls--t.”

“The Democratic polling firm, Blueprint, told Democrats months ago that Black voters, a.k.a. their supposedly liberal base, were more likely to find the president too liberal than too conservative,” he said. “They also found that voters didn’t just want Harris to distance herself from Biden, they wanted her to distance herself from what they believe the entire Democratic Party has become—a Portlandia sketch."

Digging deeper into identity politics, Maher described the Democrats—the party he voted for—as “a bunch of privileged mean girls complaining about privilege and trying to make ‘fetch’ happen.”

“What a shocker that the people who see everything through the lens of race and sex see their election loss as a result of racism and sexism,” he said. “Yes, if only we weren’t so irredeemably unenlightened, we would have elected a Black president by now. Oh what, we did? Oh, right, and then re-elected him. Maybe you missed it because it wasn’t on TikTok.”

Addressing sexism, Maher added: “Hillary got 3 million more votes than Trump, which in a normal country would be called a victory. It wasn’t 21st-century sexism that prevented a woman from becoming president, it was the Electoral College.”

So in a condensed format. that’s what Bill and I had to say about this election.

Between the two of us, I give the winning nod — by a large margin — to Bill. He’s not only a spot-on with his razor-edged analysis but he’s hilarious as hell.

He’s the living embodiment of the droll advice I’ve dished out for years:

Take your politics seriously but don’t lose your sense of humor.

Need any more be said?

Time For Lara To Transition Into Oblivion

The spineless and corrupt state Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara is long overdue for an investigation by the state Attorney-General or the state Legislature, or better yet, both.

The ethically-challenged Lara has proven there are no bounds to the depths he will descend as he debases himself to curry favor with the corporate interests he is supposed to be keeping a keenly peeled weather eye on in his role as the elected defender of California consumers. Instead, he’s just another business-as-usual, sellout Democrat who sees common folk as, well, just too damn common for him to waste much time on.

Consumer Watchdog, in my opinion this country’s preeminent consumer protection organization, is reporting that many of the recommendations released on Nov. 21st by the Little Hoover Commission, including those for greater public oversight of the secret algorithms insurance companies use to decide who pays more for home insurance and who is not covered at all. The report recommends insurers be required to include individual, community, and statewide wildfire mitigation efforts in insurance underwriting and rate decisions, advice critical to restoring insurance access in California.

The Little Hoover Commission, formally known as the Milton Marks “Little Hoover” Commission on California State Government Organization and Economy, is an independent state oversight agency, created by the state legislature in 1962.

The commission calls out Insurance Commissioner Lara’s refusal to testify or even engage with the Commission over the year-long course of its investigation, and identifies the lack of data available to the public about the home insurance market from the Department of Insurance as a key area for reform.

The commission’s report also called for statewide, open data collection and core standards surrounding wildfire mitigation. Consumer Watchdog said these recommendations will enable another critically needed consumer protection: a statewide mandate for home insurance companies to cover Californians who do the right thing to protect themselves, and their communities, from wildfires.

“The Little Hoover Commission gives key recommendations that will make insurers’ actions more transparent and give Californians credit for the billions that have been invested in protecting our communities from wildfire. Californians can’t access affordable insurance because no one is holding the insurance industry accountable. It’s inexcusable that Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara couldn’t be bothered to speak to the Commission and answer for his actions,” said Carmen Balber, executive director of Consumer Watchdog.

In a letter to the legislature, Little Hoover Commission Chair Pedro Nava wrote, “Unfortunately, throughout the Commission process one voice was voluntarily absent — that of the Insurance Commissioner or anyone from the California Department of Insurance … The Commission appreciates the testimony from former Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones and received input from former Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner. That the current Insurance Commissioner did not participate is inexplicable and irresponsible.”

Consumer Watchdog says financial assistance for individual and community mitigation efforts, also recommended in the report, is needed to guarantee that Californians’ access to coverage is not limited to those who can afford costly upgrades.

And the beats goes on …

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

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ED NOTES

COURTESY OF GIFT SEATS and desperate scalpers, I saw a dozen Giants games before my life relocated to the medical complex at China Basin. I always preferred the very top of the stadium, 400 vertical feet behind home plate, to the box seats, because it's the box seats, generally speaking, where the more annoying fans sit.

ANNOYING because corporations buy season boxes and a lot of non-fans wind up occupying them, so you get a lot of gelded young males tech-talking, ostentatious parenting with children way too young to have any idea what's going on as their neurotically doting parents load them up with sugar and grease, or greased sugar in that perfected gut bomb, the churro, and constant trips with the kids to the playground in left field, not to mention apparent adults on cell phones jumping up to wave to other apparent adults on cell phones somewhere else in the vast ballpark. Is there a more infantile population than ours in all this doomed world?

BUT from up top you mostly get people who like baseball, and between innings and during pitching changes — every four innings or less with the Giants — you can look out at the ships and sailboats on the Bay, the late afternoon gold of the Berkeley and Oakland hills, new moons rising, and you then feel like the very cynosure of some special heaven even if you have zero interest in the game, or even in baseball as the pretext for being blessed to be there.

THAT Saturday my seat mates were three deaf mutes on one side, a Hindu grandmother in full sari, a Buster Posey Bobblehead in her lap, on the other. The old lady had been brought along to babysit the grandson of her fully Americanized son, a fan so devoted he knew Orlando Cepeda's lifetime batting average of .302 when we chatted about the Cepeda statue dedicated earlier in the day at the north end of the park.

THE OLD LADY'S SON said it was his mother's first trip to the ballpark; she was visiting from India. It also seemed to be her first exposure to massed Americans which, in a sports or political context, must be quite shocking to an old world person of austere training and practices. The old lady's demeanor was almost unvarying — mildly aghast for three solid hours, and only when an obese gent wheezed up the precipitous aisle with an armload of negative food value items worth a month's pay in the Bengal, did the old lady's face briefly move from aghast to wide-eyed alarm at the one-man riot of pure excess.

WHEN the mutes first seated themselves, I'd wondered why they'd flipped me off, me a total stranger, until I realized they were deaf and dumb or, education being what it has become in this country, “hearing impaired.” Hell, who isn't hearing impaired to some degree or, as our mates would have it, blessed with “selective hearing”? Deaf and dumb was perfectly serviceable until some earnest liberal decided “dumb” only meant stupid, and out went deaf and dumb as talking nice was simultaneously substituted for being nice as public policy. (I couldn't have known that a few months later I would myself become permanently muted but dumb as ever. The surgery to de-voice me was accomplished only a long fly ball down the street.)

JACK LONDON wrote an un-euphemized account of his brief employment at the state asylum at Sonoma called “The Drooling Ward,” and woe unto Jack if he tried that now, or the asylum itself which, in the aftermath of the '06 quake, calmed inmate panic by tying the terrified insane to trees until the aftershocks stopped. One wonders how today's berserkers, few of them institutionalized, will be calmed after the next big one?

OFFERED a $7.50 container of lemonade by her son, her sari especially elegant amidst middle-age men dressed like little boys and carrying baseball gloves as if a 400 foot vertical foul ball was possible, refused with a single abrupt shake of her head, bobbling Buster Posey's bobblehead, the odd totem still in the lap of the only ascetic in a sea of mystifying extravagance.

WHEN the Giants came back after being down four — an occurrence even more rare at AT&T Park than a Hindu senior citizen in the cheap seats — the fingers of the celebrating deaf and dumb flew, and they bounced and squeaked in their seats, and the old woman in the sari looked wistfully at her grandson, perhaps wondering how she'd come to be in such a strange place and what would become of him in it.

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CATCH OF THE DAY: Wednesday, November 27, 2024

JAMES BELDEN III, 37, Ukiah. Probation revocation.

BRUCE CARTWRIGHT JR., 32, Willits. Failure to appear, resisting.

ROYCE GOOD, 55, Laytonville. Domestic violence court order violation.

ANGEL HISTO, 36, Nice/Ukiah. Failure to appear.

WILLIAM HOLLETT, 40, Fort Bragg. Domestic abuse, false imprisonment, probation violation.

SAVIOR LYKES, 21, Fort Bragg. Controlled substance while armed with loaded firearm.

COLE PARKIN, 36, Ukiah. County parole violation.

SAM ROWE III, 49, Ukiah. Disobeying court order.

JACINTO TUPPER, 19, Fort Bragg. Failure to appear, resisting.

CHRISTINE WHITEHEAD, 33, Ukiah. Paraphernalia, failure to appear.

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BILL KIMBERLIN: If you have never been to the Cloverdale History Museum, you might want to walk from the nearby Plank coffee shop and have a look. If you have ever wondered how people like Jack London got to Anderson Valley or more likely the Mendocino Coast and then back to Boonville, on horse back, and staying at the Boonville Hotel, which was then called, "The Berry Hotel", well you just might learn something that interests you.

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ALL THEY HAVE

Editor:

Do I agree with homeless sweeps? No. Do I think it’s wrong? Yes. Why do I think it’s wrong? If one lives on the street there is a good reason. Rent hikes. Lack of affordable housing.

Normal functioning people can and do live on the streets or in their cars. No longer is it those who are addicted to drugs or inflicted with mental illness. How long one stays on the streets depends on outside factors. I have talked with many people who help run homeless shelters, including Building Bridges in Ukiah. Everyone basically says it’s lack of affordable housing. Constant rejections don’t help either. Those making $16 an hour face extreme housing rejection.

Being homeless on the streets or living out of your car is not easy. A bright flashlight and a cop knocking loudly on the window, firmly telling one to move. Where to next? A shelter is no way to live either. It changes a person. Drugs are rampant within the homeless community.

I implore those doing homeless sweeps to take a minute to think about what they are doing. Those little possessions getting tossed out are of value to someone. It is all they have. Give them a chance to grab what they really need.

N. M. Sartain

Willits

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ON-LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

My dog and I stay at Motel 6 when we travel to see family or friends. It’s all we can afford what with outrageous lodging prices everywhere and we only need a room to sleep and shower. When certain places in California started using these less expensive motels to house homeless, the prices for PAYING customers skyrocketed. Because the agencies buying rooms with OUR tax dollars pushed the residency rates up so high — it was like room rates in Eugene when the Ducks have a football game meaning 4-5 times what they were normally. So…regular working poor such as myself were cut out of being able to stay anywhere except…sleeping in our cars. Or not travelling to see our family/friends. It’s bizarre that these wonderful helpful government folks cannot even grasp or care about the obvious consequences of their actions on the working poor or lower middle class people. California is the worst in this regard. I often had to push the driving to get a room in Oregon or Nevada where it was affordable. I’m not sure why these “geniuses” even have jobs doing this kind of stuff…giving homeless druggies free rooms to destroy with OUR tax dollars while pushing working poor or elderly into their cars to sleep. It’s almost like…They don’t even care.

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A REAL SHOCKER!

I thought the food in the army was pretty good. Definitely as good as at Harvard and both were better than my dear old Ma.

Fort Carson was a major training base in the Vietnam era. I guess they've downsized it.

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2024/11/26/food-hard-find-fort-carson-base-struggles-feeding-soldiers.html

(Fred Gardner)

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BROTHER RAY MAKES MY DAY

by Steve Heilig

One sunny San Francisco morning in the 1990s I was sitting in my office trying to decide which pile of papers and journals and telephone messages piled on my desk to tackle first, when the actual telephone rang. “Hi Steve, it’s Molly! I’m here downtown working on a project. Want to have lunch with Ray Charles today?”

Holy crap. Molly is my sister from another mother, as grew up together on the same street. She’d become a hotshot “set designer” and more in “the industry” in Los Angeles, running a team working all manner of movies, TV shows, commercials, and so on. She told me this was a commercial and they were filming high up on a rooftop in the financial district.

Whatever other plans I might have had that day went out the window and before long I was out the door to catch a bus downtown. I’m not too impressed by stars and celebrities, having met too many of them, but, Ray Charles? The man known as a genius who overcame poverty, racism, addiction and blindness to become one of the handful of most renowned American musicians ever? Starting in the 1950s, his voice became as instantly recognizable as Louis Armstrong’s or Frank Sinatra’s or Willie Nelson’s. Sinatra even called him the one true genius of American music. A brilliant pianist - he could play Bach and Mozart while still in school - and bandleader, he developed a blend of jazz, blues and pop and pioneered what came to be called Rhythm and Blues, and then tossed out some country albums that even those fans loved. Some say he invented modern soul music. His live shows became legendary, with big or small bands of top musicians and soulful backup singers called the Raelettes. He was undeniably an icon of American culture, winning just about every accolade there is. His foundation has awarded many millions to good causes, and early on he refused to play for segregated audiences.

I found the address and took the elevator to the top, where a guard checked my name and let me through a door that opened out onto the sunny roof. It was a bustling scene there with a big crew and props all over, a semi-tropical set but with snow (?) on some of it. I soon spotted Molly and we had a big hug and she told me they were shooting a commercial for the Brazilian beer Antarctica. I'd been to Brazil recently and recalled it as sort of a Brazilian Budweiser, present all over. The other star appearing in the commercial was Shakira, a rising Brazilian singer on her way to becoming a superstar - she more recently did a Super Bowl halftime show with Jennifer Lopez. I didn't see Shakira around, but Molly promptly steered us over to a director’s chair in which sat Ray Charles, all dressed in black.

Molly introduced us and ran off to attend to business. Charles had his big shades on and was smiling but silent. I had to say something, so I volunteered “It’s a big honor to meet you sir. Those records you made in the late fifties and early sixties with the likes of Hank Crawford and Fathead Newman on the horns just blew me away as a kid and I still play them.” He kind of sat up straight and turned his face to me. “You dig those? Really? Man, that’s good taste!” and we both laughed. Emboldened, I continued “Oh yeah, and if I had to choose I think your Berlin concert one from 1962 might be my favorite of all. There’s just something about that one.” Ray nodded his head and smiled even bigger and said “You got that right, man. Remember, that was right when that big wall had gone up there and we didn’t quite know what was going on, but it was tense so we just played our asses off!”

We chatted a bit more, including about Brazil, where I’d recently been to interview national icons Gilberto Gilbert and Caetano Veloso. He had been there and met them and seemed impressed I even knew who they were. People bustled around us, and Ray was kind of swiveling his head around, seemingly checking things out. In fact it seemed he had some sort of sixth sense for when an attractive female was passing nearby, and there were quite a few, including Molly. When one came close he’d say “Hello there!” And of course they’d come over to meet the great man. He’d take their hand in a shake but also hold their forearm in his other hand for a moment. It seemed he could tell a lot from that. He’d make them laugh. The guy was more charming and forward than I could or would ever be. But then he was Ray Charles. He once confessed that for him women were as addicting as heroin, which he was hooked on for 17 years, with multiple busts. He fathered a dozen kids with ten women and near the end of his life he invited them all to get together - ten showed up - and gave each $500k (one wonders if the other two then wished they’d made it). He died in 2004.

I wish I could recall more of his smooth banter, as most everything he said were snappy and funny one-liners. It’s hard to imagine how strange it must have been to be the center of attention and adulation and the boss for so long while being unable to see who was around, but he sure mastered that role.

The call came that it was shooting time. They were firing up some kind of fake snow machine (?). I'd been on film sets before and knew there was often endless waiting around. So when an assistant came to take him to his spot, I said goodbye, and he held out his hand for a solid shake (with just one arm) and we said goodbye. “You be good, man,” he said in farewell. “I try, sir,” I replied, and he laughed again. I went over and said goodbye and thanks to Molly who was too busy to talk much, grabbed/stole a sandwich from the big food table, and headed for the door. The same guard was there and I just shook my head as he let me out, saying “Ray Charles, wow.” He just nodded and then showed me the back of the laminate pass hanging around his neck, which had Charles’ autograph scrawled in felt pen. I hadn’t even thought to ask for one, as I’ve never really cared about those, but on the bus back westward, I couldn’t help but think that in his case I should have made an exception. Ray Charles, wow.

When later I showed my great friend Russ a photo taken of me with Ray, he yelled “Holy shit, that’s amazing!” Then he got his trademark evil grin on his face and added, “You two look like you’re wearing the same shades. But the poor guy would have needed them even if he could see - look at your nerdy white pants!”

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WHY DO THE LIONS AND COWBOYS PLAY ON THANKSGIVING EVERY YEAR?

The short answer: tradition.

by Victor Mather

On Thursday, the Detroit Lions and the Dallas Cowboys will each host an N.F.L. game.

If that sounds familiar, it should, because for decades the Lions and Cowboys have always hosted N.F.L. games on Thanksgiving. The Cowboys have played a home game on that day all but two years since 1966, and the Lions’ streak goes back uninterrupted to 1945.

People in Detroit or Dallas don’t celebrate the holiday with any more gusto than other Americans. There is nothing particularly turkey-like about a lion or a cowboy. So how did it come to pass that Thanksgiving in America became synonymous with two particular football teams?

Origins in the Leatherhead Era

Professional football has been played on Thanksgiving since before the N.F.L. got its name; the league was initially saddled with the name American Professional Football Association.

There were six Thanksgiving Day matchups in the inaugural season in 1920, with such mighty sides as the Dayton (Ohio) Triangles and the Rochester (N.Y.) Jeffersons hosting games.

Pro football was mostly a Midwestern thing then, far overshadowed by the college game, which also held many Thanksgiving Day games. The day after the 1920 games, The New York Times sports report breathed not a word on the A.P.F.A. action, but it did have headlines like “Cornell No Match for Pennsylvania” and “Hobart and Rochester Tie.” College football games had already been played on the holiday for decades by then, a tradition begun by Princeton and Yale way back in 1876.

The pro league, renamed the N.F.L. in 1922, continued to hold Thanksgiving games, including matchups featuring teams like the Chicago Bears and the Green Bay Packers that remain familiar to modern fans.

In 1925, Thanksgiving pro football came to Detroit when the Rock Island (Illinois) Independents defeated the Detroit … Panthers.

The Lions Look for Fans

The more familiar feline arrived in Detroit in 1934 when the Portsmouth (Ohio) Spartans picked up stakes and moved, becoming the Lions. The team was an immediate success on the field, winning its first 10 games. But the owner, George Richards, wanted to increase ticket sales and thought a Thanksgiving game might do it.

It worked: The team, which got 12,000 fans for a typical Sunday game the previous week, drew 25,000 fans for the Thanksgiving game against the Bears. The Lions lost, though, 19-16.

The Lions hosted four more Thanksgiving games, all against the Bears, and then stopped until after World War II. They resumed hosting games on the fourth Thursday in November in 1945, and have done so every year since.

Unfortunately for Lions fans, that 1934 loss was a sign of things to come. Despite all the home games, the Lions have a losing record overall on Thanksgiving, 37-45-2, including losing the last seven years. The team is 10-1 this year, though, and favored to beat the Bears by about 10 points. It will be the 20th Thanksgiving Day meeting between the division rivals.

The Cowboys Seek a Higher Profile

In 1966, Tex Schramm, the Cowboys’ general manager, wanted more national attention for his team and thought Thanksgiving would do the job. Sure enough, more than 80,000 fans packed the Cotton Bowl that year. The Cowboys soon became one of the most popular teams in the league, even gaining the nickname America’s Team.

The new American Football League, which would eventually merge with the N.F.L., also held a Thanksgiving game that year, giving fans three pro games in total. “The starting hours are so staggered that devotees can watch all three in their entirety — if their eyes hold out,” The Times wrote, clearly underestimating ocular stamina of the typical football fan. The A.F.L. went on to have two Thanksgiving games in its final three seasons, letting fans feast on four games for a time.

Dallas has continued to host a Thanksgiving game every year since, except in 1975 and 1977 when the struggling St. Louis Cardinals were given the slot in a league effort to boost the team’s fortunes.

The Cowboys have a 33-22-1 record on Thanksgiving and will be the slight favorite to improve it on Thursday against the New York Giants.

A Tradition Continues

The Cowboys and Lions became the only hosts of the two N.F.L. Thanksgiving games until 2006, when the N.F.L. added a third game, which rotates through a different host each year. Typically the Lions play first (this year at 12:30 p.m. Eastern), then the Cowboys (4:30 p.m.), and the third game is in the evening.

This year the Green Bay Packers will host the Miami Dolphins at 8:20 p.m. The Packers have been a frequent opponent of the Lions, their division rival, in Thanksgiving games in Detroit, but this is only their second time playing at home on the holiday since 1923.

The college menu has become smaller over time: There is only one major game on Thursday, Tulane vs. Memphis.

Though in decline, some high schools continue to play on the holiday, often in long-running rivalry games, often in the morning — like New York City’s Fordham Prep and Xavier, and Boston Latin and Boston English, who meet at Harvard Stadium for their 137th Thanksgiving game. In San Francisco, a city public school championship game will be held at Kezar Stadium, a tradition that dates back to the 1920s.

High school football on Thanksgiving is even protected by state law in Connecticut.

Enjoy the action. If your eyes hold out.

(nytimes.com)

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BAY AREA DREAMERS BRACE FOR ‘WORST-CASE SCENARIO’ — INCLUDING SELF-DEPORTING — IN SECOND TRUMP TERM

President-elect Donald Trump tried to kill DACA, a program for undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children, in his first term. Recipients and their advocates are expecting it to end when he reenters office.

by Ko Lyn Cheang & Jessica Flores

As President-elect Donald Trump pledges to use the military in a mass-deportation effort and to rescind birthright citizenship from the children of undocumented immigrants when he retakes office in January, Reyna Maldonado is having a conversation she never expected to.

A recipient of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, Maldonado said she and some of her fellow “Dreamers” are considering the once unthinkable: self-deporting to countries they knew only as kids if DACA ends.

“We don’t really know what it means to have to lose everything that we have here,” said Maldonado, 31, whose family has owned and operated a Mexican restaurant in Oakland since 2019. “What would happen to our business?”

DACA recipients and immigration attorneys are bracing for the end of the Obama-era program, which since 2012 has been granting temporary legal residence and work permits to undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as children. According to the latest U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services data, 535,030 people were on DACA in June. Recipients must renew their status every two years.

Amid a legal challenge led by Texas and Trump’s previous efforts to end DACA, some recipients in the Bay Area are wondering what might become of the lives they’ve built.

Maldonado, who was 6 when she joined her parents in the U.S. from the southern Mexican state of Guerrero, said her family’s restaurant is an example of the economic contributions “immigrants can do in this country,” and what could go away as a result.

‘People Are Rightfully Afraid’

Trump tried to rescind DACA during his first term, but his effort was blocked by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2020 on procedural grounds.

A 2018 lawsuit brought by Texas and joined by eight other Republican-controlled states challenging the legality of DACA awaits a federal appeals court decision. The Biden administration has been defending DACA in federal court, but the Trump administration is unlikely to do so, say four immigration attorneys interviewed by the Chronicle.

For those reasons, along with the conservative makeup of the Supreme Court, the attorneys say they expect DACA to end next year.

“We’re under no illusions the Trump administration would provide status for DACA recipients,” said Alvaro Huerta, director of litigation and advocacy at the Immigrant Defenders Law Center, California’s largest provider of pro bono deportation defense. “People are rightfully afraid they could lose this status.”

Lourdes Martinez, co-directing attorney for the Oakland-based Centro Legal de la Raza, said she tells DACA recipients whose status is expiring soon to renew it to “get as much time of protection against deportation and employment authorization as possible.”

“That might be buying somebody a little bit of time, but it still might be worthwhile,” she added.

Short of congressional action to pass the Dream Act, which would provide similar benefits as DACA — unlikely, given that Republicans control both chambers — Catherine Seitz, legal director for the Immigration Institute of the Bay Area, said she is advising DACA recipients to look into alternative immigration pathways.

However, Raha Wala, the National Immigration Law Center’s vice president of strategic partnerships and advocacy, said the attorneys defending DACA are devising legal strategies to protect recipients irrespective of what the courts or Trump administration does.

Eliminating DACA would greatly impact the economy, researchers say.

The program provides work authorization and temporary protection from deportation, making it easier for recipients to start careers, open businesses, buy homes and qualify for college financial aid in some states — contributing “significantly” to the local and national economy, according to a 2023 report by the House Committee on Small Business Democrats.

According to the report, rescinding the program could cost the U.S. over $460 billion in economic output over a decade. Deporting DACA recipients could cost $60 billion and reduce the country’s economic growth by $280 billion over the same time frame.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which typically supports Republican policies, has criticized Congress for not passing legislation protecting Dreamers, saying they contribute to the economy and create businesses that employ American workers.

“Providing these individuals with permanent legal status is not just good for our communities and the economy, it is the right thing to do,” the chamber said in a 2022 statement on the program’s 10th anniversary.

Obtaining a Social Security number through DACA helped Maldonado apply for loans to start La Guerrera’s Kitchen, she said. There are business loans available for Individual Taxpayer Identification Number holders, like her undocumented parents — but the options are limited and competitive, Maldonado said.

La Guerrera’s Kitchen opened its brick-and-mortar location 15 years after Maldonado’s mother began selling tamales on the streets of San Francisco’s Mission District. Today the restaurant is inside the food hall Swan’s Market in Old Oakland with a team of 10, a majority of whom are women.

With tamale season coinciding with the holidays, the restaurant’s busiest time of the year, Maldonado says she can’t afford to pause plans despite fear of deportation.

She said self-deporting is not out of the question for her and her friends, something the Nikansen Center, a Washington, D.C., think tank that supports immigration reform, predicted would explode in Trump’s “extreme enforcement environment.”

“We’re definitely exploring what that could look like,” she said.

‘I Have To Rise Up’

As a child growing up in Paramount (Los Angeles County), Jupiter Peraza dreamed of being the first in her family to attend college. An academically inclined teenager who took as many advanced placement classes as she could, Peraza wanted to get a degree, buy a car, own a home and invest in herself — the things her parents wanted her to achieve when they migrated to the U.S. in 2005.

It wasn’t until sophomore year in 2012, when Peraza met her school’s college counselor for the first time, that reality hit.

“That’s when she asked, ‘Do you have Social Security? Do you have a green card? To apply for college and financial aid.’ And I was like, wait, I didn’t think this was going to set me back,” Peraza recalled.

Her dream had been to attend a University of California school. But she didn’t qualify for federal student aid and knew her parents, who worked in a metal factory, could not afford the tuition. She realized she needed to temper her expectations.

That summer, President Barack Obama created DACA through executive action. Peraza was 8 when she came with her parents from Sonora, Mexico. With her DACA status, she was able to work legally to support herself through college. Through 2011 legislation called the California Dream Act, she received state financial aid to attend San Francisco State University. In 2022, she graduated with a bachelor’s degree in international relations.

Trump’s first year in office was one of the hardest of Peraza’s life. She started drinking. She had not yet transitioned to affirm her gender identity. She had not started a political activism career that would see her advocate for August to be recognized as Transgender History Month in San Francisco, be appointed to the city’s Trans Advisory Committee and get hired to manage events at community meeting space Manny’s.

“I feel like so much of my life has been dedicated to fear and to being fearful of what could happen to me, that I’ve now reached a moment that I have liberated myself from fear,” Peraza said.

Trump being elected on Nov. 5 was her “worst-case scenario,” she said, but Peraza doesn’t feel afraid. She believes in the legal and community aid strategies that she saw tested firsthand during Trump’s first term.

A week after the election, Peraza attended a mobilization webinar for DACA recipients. She has started researching legal immigration options for herself, including applying for an H-1B work visa, and how she can help her undocumented parents if they are taken into Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody. At the same time, she’s been practicing self-care, she said, meditating and reading books in her favorite genre, historical fiction.

“This is a moment that requires every ounce of courage and bravery that I have to rise up and say I am not going to take this,” Peraza said. “If that is the last thing I do here in this country, then so be it. I’d rather that and be deported, knowing I gave it my all.”

(SF Chronicle)

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$165 BILLION REVENUE ERROR CONTINUES TO HAUNT STATE BUDGET

by Dan Walters

History will — or at least should — see a $165 billion error in revenue estimates as one of California’s most boneheaded political acts.

It happened in 2022, as the state was emerging from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s Department of Finance, based on one short-term spike in income taxes, projected that revenues from the state’s three largest sources would remain above $200 billion a year indefinitely.

Newsom then declared that the budget had a $97.5 billion surplus, although that number never appeared in any documents.

“No other state in American history has ever experienced a surplus as large as this,” Newsom bragged as he unveiled a 2022-23 fiscal year budget that topped $300 billion.

With that in mind, he and the Legislature adopted a budget with billions in new spending, most notably on health and welfare programs and cash payments to poor families.

Within a few weeks, Newsom and legislators learned that real revenues were falling well short of the rosy projections. But the damage, in terms of expanded spending, was done.

Two years later, buried in its fine print, the deficit-riddled 2024-25 budget acknowledged that sales taxes and personal and corporate income tax revenues would fall well short of the $200 billion a year projection, estimating a $165.1 billion shortfall over four years.

The past two years have seen budgets with deficits papered over with direct and indirect borrowing, tapped emergency reserves, vague assumptions of future spending cuts, and accounting gimmicks. For instance, the current budget “saves” several billion dollars by counting next June’s state payroll as an expenditure in the following fiscal year.

This bit of fiscal history is important to remember because the twin 2022 acts of overestimating revenues and overspending billions of nonexistent dollars on new and expanded services continues to haunt the state, as a new analysis indicates.

The Legislature’s budget analyst, Gabe Petek, unveiled his office’s annual overview of the state’s finances Wednesday and it wasn’t a pretty picture.

There’s been a recent uptick in personal income tax revenues thanks to wealthy investors’ stock market gains , some stemming from Donald Trump’s presidential victory. However, Petek said, government spending — much of it dating from 2022’s phony surplus — is continuing to outpace revenues from “a sluggish economy,” creating operating deficits.

“Outside of government and health care, the state has added no jobs in a year and a half,” the analysis declares. “Similarly, the number of Californians who are unemployed is 25 percent higher than during the strong labor markets of 2019 and 2022. Consumer spending (measured by inflationadjusted retail sales and taxable sales) has continued to decline throughout 2024.”

Meanwhile, it continues, “one reason the state faces operating deficits is growth in spending. Our estimate of annual total spending growth across the forecast period — from 202526 to 202829 — is 5.8 percent(6.3 percent excluding K14 education). By historical standards, this is high.”

Petek’s grim outlook coupled with the more conservative bent of voters, as shown in this month’s election, present a political dilemma for a governor and a Legislature oriented toward expanding government.

Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas, reacting to the analysis in a statement, indicated that he’s gotten the message.

“We need to show restraint with this year’s budget, because California must be prepared for any challenges, including ones from Washington,” Rivas said. “It’s not a moment for expanding programs, but for protecting and preserving services that truly benefit all Californians.”

Newsom will propose a 2025-26 budget in January, but no matter what he and the Legislature decide, the structural budget deficit will still be there when he exits the governorship in 2027. It will be part of his legacy.

(CalMatters)

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ON GOOD & BAD AI

On the virtues of using machines instead of being used by them. Thumbing a nose at dystopia, as it recedes in time for a holiday

by Matt Taibbi

I copped to it on Twitter, but never told Racket readers a secret shame. I succumbed to the AI revolution, signing up for a Pro account and spending nights whipping the machine to produce what’s surely its intended product, i.e. laughs. I asked it to redo Nixonian press conferences in haiku, argue against the DH rule in the style of Lenin, and remake Oscar Wilde’s piercing prison epic The Ballad of Reading Gaol from the point of view of Paris Hilton forced to wait an extra 15 minutes to board a flight.

Wednesday morning’s prompt was, “Please redo Johnny Cochran’s final summation in defense of O.J. Simpson in the form of a Shakespearean sonnet”…

https://www.racket.news/p/on-good-and-bad-ai

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TAYLOR SWIFT, a self-made billionaire woman who did it without lying, cheating or stealing. Who donates money to the needy in every town she has a concert. Who outsmarted a man who tried to steal her music by re-recording all of it. Who by all accounts seems to be a nice person and a great role model. Every time you bash Taylor Swift, you are telling your daughters and granddaughters that you don’t respect successful women.

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LEAD STORIES, THURSDAY'S NYT

Hamas Faces a Future Without Its Most Important Ally

Israeli Military Warns Lebanese Not to Return to Some Southern Areas

With Trump Returning and Hezbollah Weakened, Iran Strikes a Conciliatory Tone

With Joy and Tears, Lebanese Come Home: ‘Look at All the Destruction’

Donald Trump Jr. Emerges as a Loyal Enforcer

Republicans Built an Ecosystem of Influencers. Some Democrats Want One, Too.

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THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION is now pushing Ukraine to lower its minimum draft age from 25 to 18 in order to provide more cannon fodder for the war against Russia. 

Polls say that both Ukrainians and Americans want this US proxy war to end, but instead of ending it Washington is pressuring Kyiv to throw teenagers into the threshing machine of an unwinnable conflict. 

And we were told this war was all about protecting democracy.

— Caitlin Johnstone

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‘MR. EVERY MAN’: THE 50 OTHERS ACCUSED IN FRANCE’S MASS RAPE TRIAL

Dominique Pelicot invited men to rape his wife, whom he had drugged. The French media call them “Mr. Every Man” because they come from such ordinary backgrounds.

by Catherine Porter & Segolene Le Stradic

The last of 50 men to be cross-examined in the rape of a drugged and naked Gisèle Pelicot stood before the judges in a white sweater and jeans.

Philippe Leleu: Single, no children, a dedicated weight lifter and professional gardener who, at 62, was nearing retirement when the police came knocking. His mother opened the door — they live beside one another, and since her stroke 10 years ago, they dine together and he spends most nights at her home.

“I never imagined I’d come before a court for him, never, never,” she told the judges recently.

Yet here he was, among the accused, standing in the crowded courtroom in the southern city of Avignon, part of a mass rape trial, now in its 12th week, that has deeply shaken France.

Ms. Pelicot’s ex-husband of 50 years, Dominique Pelicot, has pleaded guilty to drugging her for almost a decade to rape her, and offering her unconscious body up to strangers he met online. Prosecutors on Monday requested the maximum sentence for him: 20 years in prison.

He’s on trial with 50 other men — all but one charged with aggravated rape, attempted rape or sexual assault of Ms. Pelicot. The French media have dubbed them “Monsieur Tout-le-monde” — Mr. Every Man — because of how varied the men are, and how ordinary.

They are short, tall, flabby, lean, clean-shaven, bearded, bald and pony-tailed. All but 14 were employed, in jobs that reflect the spectrum of middle- and working-class rural France: truck drivers, carpenters and trade workers, a prison guard, a nurse, an I.T. expert working for a bank, a local journalist.

They range in age from 27 to 74. Just over two-thirds have children. Around 40 percent had criminal records, several for domestic abuse and two for rape.

There are few common denominators: Eighteen suffered from addiction to alcohol or drugs; the rest did not. Around a dozen reported being sexually abused as children. Some others, like Mr. Leleu, spoke of loving childhood homes.

“The profile of the rapist does not exist,” said Antoine Camus, one of Ms. Pelicot’s two lawyers, in his closing statement last week.

The men appeared before the court in groups of five to seven over 10 weeks — offering only small glimpses into each man’s life.

Mr. Leleu was the last person in the final group.

“I stopped thinking and I stopped having a connection with my brain,” explained Mr. Leleu, his short, wiry body weaving from side to side as he spoke.

Like dozens of the men who came before him, Mr. Leleu pleaded not guilty to raping Ms. Pelicot. In his defense, he said Mr. Pelicot told him she had taken the drugs herself.

“I’m sorry to Madame Pelicot for involuntarily participating in her suffering,” he said before squeezing back down on his bench.

Among the others in that group was Christian Lescole, 57, a firefighter and divorced father of two daughters. His new partner, with whom he had planned to open a dog kennel, told the court he was an amazing man. “I don’t think he’s capable of committing rape,” she said.

Mr. Lescole is among five of the accused who also face charges of possessing images of child sexual abuse. He has been in pretrial custody for four years.

“I have no future left. I spent my life protecting people. I never had a problem with justice before,” said Mr. Lescole. In contrast to many other defendants, he was relatively loquacious during his testimony.

Since the court case began in early September, Mr. Lescole has attended regularly, sitting in one of two prisoners’ boxes, often stroking his long beard while watching intensely. He was there in search of some existential answers, he said, “because this is not me. This doesn’t reflect my values. How did I get here?”

During the trial, he said he counted 18 men who’d said they’d been offered a drink by Mr. Pelicot after arriving at the Pelicots’ home. He now says he believes they’d all been drugged. He told the court he had no memory after stepping inside the bedroom.

“I have big doubts about my free will at that moment,” he said.

“Materially, I committed a rape,” he added. “But it was my body, not my brain.”

Joseph Cocco, 69, appeared before the judges as part of the same, final group. A retired manager of a beer company subsidiary, Mr. Cocco, 69, is one of only two defendants not charged with raping Ms. Pelicot. Instead, he has been charged with sexually assaulting her.

He is a father, cancer survivor and karate champion who led courses for the police. Like about half of the accused, Mr. Cocco was a swinger. He told the court he had started to swing with his former partner, the “love of my life,” who had recently left him after 23 years together. He said he was invited to the Pelicots’ home for a threesome, and Mr. Pelicot “never talked about rape or drugging his wife.”

That night, another accused man arrived around the same time. They both were captured naked by Mr. Pelicot’s camera, moving around Ms. Pelicot’s listless body. Mr. Cocco sat on the bed, stroked Ms. Pelicot’s backside — which he called a “libertine caress” — and went no further.

“At that moment, I heard snoring,” he said. “I posed the question — what is happening? Why is she not moving?”

When he did not receive answers, he left. But he didn’t call the police either. None of the accused did.

“I don’t accept that I victimized Gisèle Pelicot,” he said. “When you are trapped, you are really trapped.”

The final week included one of the youngest defendants: Charly Arbo, a laborer at a cement company. He was 22 when he first went to the Pelicots’ home in 2016. While most of the men admit to having gone to the home once, Mr. Arbo went six times. Police found 47 edited video clips of those visits on Mr. Pelicot’s electronic devices — two of which were watched by the court.

Stéphane Babonneau, another of Ms. Pelicot’s lawyers, said he struggled to understand how Mr. Arbo could “not admit this was rape.”

“He told me she was consenting,” he responded, staring wide-eyed at the judges, referring to Mr. Pelicot.

Mr. Arbo was reluctant to offer the court his personal story. Judges pulled answers from him like rusty nails from hard wood. Though psychiatrists described his upbringing as dysfunctional, Mr. Arbo defended his family as loving.

The court heard in one video Mr. Arbo and Mr. Pelicot discussing a plan to drug Mr. Arbo’s mother so Mr. Pelicot could come and rape her. Mr. Arbo said he felt pressured by Mr. Pelicot to offer someone he knew, and his mother “was the first thing that popped into my head.”

Mr. Pelicot gave him three sedatives, wrapped in tin foil, according to his testimony. But Mr. Arbo told the court that he threw them away. Police found very small traces of sedatives in a sample of his mother’s hair, but he has not been charged with drugging her.

“I never, never, never gave medication to my mother,” Mr. Arbo said.

Asked about their relationship, he said he loved her “like any son loves their mom, nothing special or bizarre.”

(NY Times)

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QUICK & EASY TEENAGE INSULT GENERATOR

Pick a prefix and match it with a suffix and create hundreds of your own customized childish insults. Mix and match, lots of new opportunities for the playground! Create your own for even more fun!

Prefixes

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Suffixes

• Ball
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