Navarro Estuary | Rain Coming | Navarro Mouth | Weer Queries | Missing Roy | Redwood Classic | Wreaths Day | New Deputies | Mendo Water | Holiday Party | Ed Notes | Glentzer Glasses | Pianist Concert | Anonymous Meetings | Tub Theft | Philo Palms | Woodblock Prints | State Hospital | Yesterday's Catch | My Day | Both Wrong | Haight Ashbury | Delta Project | Seals Stadium | Lead Stories | Antichrist Bibles | Assassination Comments | Luigi Manifesto | So Insecure | Marjorie Rawlings | Overheard Dialogue | Lobsters | Silent Violence | Svastikles | Exquisite Americana | Brown-Nose Reindeer | About Democracy | Mother's Son | Dawning Universe | Deserves Love | Under/Wear Show | Sioux Chiefs
A COLD FRONT is bringing rain to Del Norte county this afternoon and this will quickly spread south and east reaching Lake county by the evening. Thursday showers are expected, mainly in the north. Friday and Saturday the next weather system is expected to bring heavy rain, mountain snow and strong winds. A brief break is expected Sunday with another weather system on Monday. (NWS)
STEPHEN DUNLAP (Fort Bragg): On the coast this Wednesday morning I have 41F under clear skies. Sure looks wet out at sea! 3 systems are lined up to visit us thru Monday starting later today. Forecasters are saying around 5" total from it all, we'll see?
RETIRED AUDITOR’S ROLE KEY IN MOVE TO DISMISS CUBBISON CASE
by Mike Geniella
To what degree former Mendocino County Auditor Lloyd Weer fits in with a felony criminal case filed by District Attorney David Eyster against Weer’s successor has been unclear for months.
On January 6, however, it will be the sharp focus of a crucial court hearing on defense moves to dismiss charges of misappropriation of public funds against suspended Auditor Chamise Cubbison and former county Payroll Manager Paula June Kennedy. The court hearing on the dismissal request had been scheduled for Tuesday, December 10, but it was delayed because of a last-minute request for continuance by Kennedy’s new lawyer.
During the hearing on Tuesday Superior Court Judge Ann Moorman ordered Weer and investigative Sgt. Andrew Porter to appear at the January 6 hearing where she is expected to rule on the relevance of missing county emails that defense attorneys suggest might have untangled who was responsible for Kennedy collecting about $68,000 in extra pay over a three-year period during the Covid pandemic.
In October 2023 DA David Eyster accused Auditor Cubbison and Kennedy of using an obscure pay code to enable the disputed payments. Eyster’s move led to Cubbison’s immediate suspension by the County Board of Supervisors, who in turn are now engaged in civil litigation for denying the elected Auditor “due process.”
Prosecutor Traci Carrillo, a Sonoma County attorney hired by Eyster to pursue felony charges against the two veteran county employees, is opposing dismissal of the high-profile controversial case that rocked the county’s political establishment in late 2023.
Kast Friday Kennedy’s new lawyer, Public Defender FredRicco McCurry, served the court with his intent to file a motion to dismiss on her behalf, joining Cubbison’s attorney Chris Andrian who originally cited the missing emails and Weer’s alleged deeper involvement than initially reported by investigators.
Carrillo argues the two defense lawyers are unable to demonstrate that the missing county emails are of “significant materiality” and that there is no evidence of “bad faith” by county IT officials and law enforcement investigators who initially failed to preserve documents for evidence that were recovered after an internal archival system collapsed.
Cubbison, a veteran County finance officer, at the time was embroiled in a high-profile public dispute with the DA about his own office’s spending when Eyster filed the charge. Cubbison has entered a not guilty plea, contending that the extra pay stemmed from a deal between Weer and Kennedy while he was still in charge of the Auditor’s Office. Kennedy initially claimed she never discussed her need for extra pay with Weer, but the retired Auditor subsequently admitted to criminal investigators that in fact they had.
Andrian argued, however, in a new court filing on Wednesday that the lack of email documentation among Weer, Kennedy and Cubbison is critical because in fact Cubbison was “not a party to the (extra pay) agreement” between Weer and Kennedy. Further, he argues, law enforcement investigators, who once had access to the missing emails for review but did not preserve any for evidence, ignored Weer’s role because they decided “he had no involvement in the payments and was in no way responsible.”
In short, argues Andrian, they took “no steps to preserve emails that would have been relevant and very likely exculpatory.”
Andrian said that for her part, Cubbison contends, “she had a conversation with Mr. Weer regarding finding a way to pay Ms. Kennedy more, when he was the supervisor.”
“Ms. Cubbison also stated that Mr. Weer spoke to HR (the County’s Human Resources Department) regarding finding a way to pay more” while he was still the office supervisor.
“She [Cubbison] stated that she believed Mr. Weer had followed up with Ms. Kennedy about the request, did not know the results of the conversation, but believed the use of the 470 code was the result of that conversation,” according to Andrian’s latest sworn declaration.
Andrian also contends that “there are also notes kept by Ms. Kennedy which indicate the payments were ‘per Lloyd.’ Ms. Kennedy even stated that Ms. Cubbison told her it was Mr. Weer who would sign off on such payments.”
Weer, who has not been charged, has ducked any public comment despite repeated requests since the criminal case was filed in October 2023. There was no response from him Sunday to the latest request seeking a response to the defense contentions.
In a related but separate court filing on Wednesday, the same day of Andrian’s, Judge Moorman submitted a statement about a report from a court-appointed referee who had reviewed approximately 10,000 emails among Cubbison, Weer and Kennedy that were eventually recovered by IT technicians. They covered the crucial time beginning Jan. 1, 2018.
There were no specific conclusions released by Moorman but the judge wrote that, “The court does not represent, nor has it ever represented that the emails now in its possession represent all emails ever generated during this time frame between or among Weer, Cubbison and/or Kennedy (using their County email boxes) after application of exclusion criteria.”
“Whether or not other emails existed and/or may have been destroyed is the subject of the motion to dismiss filed by Cubbison on September 24, 2024,” according to Moorman.
AV ATHLETICS
The 65th Redwood Classic was the largest tournament in its illustrious history. Featuring 16 teams playing 32 games over four days across three locations, it provided a four-game guarantee and plenty of high-level basketball action.
Priory claimed the championship, defeating Stuart Hall in an incredibly competitive final. Defending champions South Fork secured a third-place finish by beating Valley Christian, while Pinewood triumphed over a tough Averroes squad to take home the consolation prize.
Anderson Valley, the host school, delivered its strongest performance in years. Despite a roster dominated by freshmen and sophomores, the varsity team made an impressive comeback from a 15-point deficit to briefly take the lead before falling to Valley Christian in their opening game. Later that evening, they bounced back to defeat Potter Valley. After a loss to Averroes on Friday, they ended their tournament on a high note with a Saturday morning win against Willits.
The game of the tournament was a thrilling overtime showdown between Round Valley and Lower Lake, with Round Valley narrowly claiming victory in a packed gym.
It was an incredible week of basketball that would not have been possible without the hard work of countless volunteers and the dedication of participating schools.
Tournament season continues with our first ever high school girls tournament: The Sequoia Classic! Games will start Friday afternoon and be played all day Saturday.
WREATHS ACROSS AMERICA
To: Ukiah Valley and surrounding areas.
Please share this image and information with your friends and community.
Saturday morning at 9:00am is the annual “Wreaths Across America.”
This year, due to rain forecast, we will be having the ceremony indoors at the chapel at the Ukiah Cemetary.
This event is free and it happens in coordination with thousands of other community cemeteries across the US.
Wreaths are placed on the graves of US Veterans. Last year we had a great turnout and we’d love to see you this weekend as well.
Come show these families some U Town Love.
SHERIFF KENDALL
Today, we are thankful and inspired at the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office. Three of our own have taken the next step to develop their law enforcement careers as deputy sheriff-coroners.
In the presence of loved ones and Sheriff’s Office staff, Travis Hemphill, Jesus Lopez, and Osvaldo Ramirez took the peace officer’s oath of office this morning. The three new deputies graduated from the Police Academy last week in Windsor, Hemphill with top academic achievement in their graduating class.
Jesus, Osvaldo and Travis now start an intensive training program at the Sheriff’s Office. Please join us in offering all three congratulations.
WE RECENTLY WONDERED what happened to that $5 million water storage for the Town of Mendocino that State Senator Mike McGuire and Supervisor Ted Williams so proudly announced back during the big drought of 2021. Soon after the announcement, a local reporter noted that the project was estimated to take up to five years because of California’s enormous bureaucratic hurdles, even though it seemed like a relatively straightforward water storage project. By accident we stumbled across a County Planning Commission hearing item on December 5 entitled “MUSD Water Infrastructure Case #UM_2024-0008,” which is what the project has now become.
It turns out a couple of years after the project was so grandly announced, it merged with a couple of other grant-funded water projects already underway by the Mendocino Unified School District and has now “ballooned” (in the words of some critics) into a much more complicated water project with an estimated cost of over $8 million becaue the project now includes fire protection and school water supplies.
The storage capacity being planned is two huge water tanks with a total capacity of 630,000 gallons to be placed on Mendocino Unified’s school grounds along with a couple of new wells and associated plumbing and pumps as well as monitoring wells to keep track of water table levels.
Nobody objects to the long-overdue project in principle, but some former advocates and school district neighbors are worried that the project will overddraw the town’s shallow aquifer and cause neighboring wells to go dry.
The School District appears to be flexible about how this problem might be addressed, but so far nobody has come up with the specific planning language that will satisfy the school’s and town’s water needs while ensuring that the parcels surrounding the wells (which are on the inland side of Highway 1 where the school is) will not be overdrawn.
The Planning Commission ran out of time trying to come up with the specific language and put the question off until their next meeting on December 19.
The complications involve the potential of having to do a complete Environmental Impact Report on the now much larger project, as well as the need to comply and coordinate with the Coastal Commission, the town fire department, the school district (both an elementary and a high school), and the Mendocino Community Services District (MCCSD) which is responsible for the town’s water sytsem as well as its related sewer system and the County Planning Department and Commission. All this while addressing neighbor concerns. Not to mention the myriad of permits and associated paperwork required and the financing.
There was no discussion of the timing of the project itself. If the Boonville Water and Sewer project’s painfully long timetable (going on ten years now and still not approved by local property owners) is any guide, the initial guess of five years for Mendo’s system upgrade will turn out to have been so optimistic as to be incredible.
(Mark Scaramella)
ED NOTES
MEDIA are aghast that a young guy from a privileged background can become an assassin, and an assassin coming intellectually from the left at that. Lenin, Mussolini, most American presidents, Castro, Che Guevara, and the guy who just took over Syria, all came from privileged backgrounds. Why? Because privilege gets the privileged a sound education. Which this kid Mangione has deployed to conclude the obvious — that corporations, aka the rich, are killing us. He specifically went after the health corporations by murdering one of that particular monster’s most egregious chiefs. The kid isn't alone in his estrangement. Millions of Americans agree with him and silently approve of his sacrificial act. But political assassinations are pointless unless they're part of a movement, and who knows, young Mangione may have started one.
IN A WORLD of misunderstanding, and there’s a whole universe of it right here in Boonville, a couple of Spanish-speaking gents took angry exception to a bumpersticker on a Philo woman’s battered pick-up that said “Fuck Beamers,” which the two Spanish-speakers had read as “Fuck Beaners.” Volleys of heated fuck yous were exchanged, the semantics unresolved, and both sides went away unmollified.
A RECENT DISPLAY ad in Frisco’s dying Sunday paper invited readers, “Re-Discover Yourself In Mendocino.” But darned if it wasn’t the same old me I found in the rear vision mirror Sunday as I crossed the Mendonoma County line north of Cloverdale where the second roadside sign on the right is (still?) sponsored by medical marijuana, and the whole vastness of my home county is heavily dependent on intoxicants.
I WAS ALSO on the lookout for the “charming towns and villages” the ad promised, but there was only Hopland. Hopland is chock full of lively people, but except for the Thatcher Hotel and the Bluebird Cafe, Hopland is too brief to be charming. Now you see it, now you don't.
UP THE ROAD is Ukiah, a town certainly, but charming? Ukiah used to be charming, and remained charming right up until about 1955 with State Street lined with stately old Elms and the downtown confined to graceful old buildings in an identifiable downtown. Then Ukiah slurbed out in three directions, the elms were cut down, the liberals came along and made everything even uglier with big box stores on 101 and one-way secret police windows in the DA’s office on the ground floor of the Courthouse, and all the charm the place once had was shoved into a few blocks on the west side. A series of crooks, beginning with Vince Sisco, destroyed the Palace Hotel, which was once charming and might be charming again even if the crooks made off with the Black Bart painting and the rest of the cash and carry fixtures, set the place on fire and ran off, and now Ukiah is what it is, a place one visits only if subpoenaed.
FARTHER up the road is Willits which, by any reasonably objective standard, is more frightening than charming but, like most places in the county, can be nice at the higher elevations, up there with the hill muffins and their road associations, beauty increasing with distance from the valley floor.
THE “VILLAGE” of Mendocino lost its charm 30 years ago when the Jack In The Box guy “discovered” it. But Point Arena is certainly charming in the old sense, as is Fort Bragg. Mostly. Covelo is the most beautiful place in the County but no one goes there because people think it's dangerous. Gualala would probably be more comfortable in Clearlake, but Gualala tries and Gualala is even getting its power lines buried, while the Anderson Valley is maybe half-charming and we're not even on the waiting list to get our power lines buried.
MOST BOONVILLE property owners try to keep up appearances, a few don’t, the king of the non-tryers being a character called Glen Ricard of Little River and Mendocino, two charm-heavy communities where Ricard would never be allowed to maintain the firetrap eyesore he sits on in Boonville.
STRANGE how Boonville’s governing body, its Community Services District board, once compelled the much missed Lauren’s Restaurant to spend a small fortune replacing a perfectly functional stove hood but allows this Ricard guy to get away with a half-block-long pile of kindling that could destroy half of Boonville if (when) it catches fire.
WHEN PEOPLE, and ad copywriters are people I guess, talk about Mendocino County charm they’ve got to mean its unencumbered vistas, those magic areas where hills and trees and sometimes the sea combine with our non-industrial light in ways that make atheists believe in God.
A READER WRITES: “In the wanderings of my squandered youth and embittered middle age I came to know more than one individual of the Captain’s (Fathom) thirsty, oblivious tribe. A few it was an absolute pleasure to dismiss with a grunt, but most of those folks had some kind of redeeming or even endearing quality, even if only intermittently apparent. More than one had a long suffering spouse and, of course, multiple kids; with a long sigh does one realize it means all that constantly flaunted Hopeless Loser DNA will likely be carried down through the future of judgment day itself. Well, there’s the human experience for you — we dream of grandeur and transcendence; here on Earth we’re mostly mixed nuts, with legs.”
AS THE PRINT MEDIA DIE off, America's media experts — all of them with non-competitive cush jobs in “think tanks” and universities — proliferate. These experts say the internet and the changing ways that Americans get their information — television and cellphones, mostly — are killing newspapers published on newsprint. Many of us also go to the internet for our daily doses of misinformation. Me, too, plus the remaining County newspapers, and books and two book reviews, The New York and The London, the latter being especially reliable on international events.
BUT MOST PEOPLE under the age of 50 pluck everything they know from either television or cyber-space, or from radio news blurbs wedged in between love yawps and the arrhythmic honks of popular music, hence the aggregate national attention span of three-quarters of a second, hence our quality of government, hence, for instance, growing numbers of young parents failing to vaccinate their children, hence literal millions of crackpots with their own electronic newspapers, hence the growing numbers of people who only talk to each other, hence a population easily manipulated by the owning classes as media place all power in the RC's endlessly acquisitive hands. The internet, like dope, has isolated people and made them dumber and crazier. Television has rotted their brains. And print media, including quality lit, are dying.
MICHELLE HUTCHINS: Had the honor of being sworn in to the MCOE Board of Education today and even got to wear a pair of Glentzer Glasses!
32nd ANNUAL PROFESSIONAL PIANIST CONCERTS
presented by Spencer Brewer and Ukiah Community Concerts
Coming to the Mendocino College Center Theatre
on Saturday, January 25 at 7:00 PM,
and on Sunday, January 26 at 2:00 PM.
The artists you've come to love plus exciting new talent will take the Ukiah stage by storm once again, bringing their signature flair, finesse, humor, irreverence, and the sheer joy of sharing their immense talent that has wowed audiences for over three decades.
Artists performing on Saturday evening, January 25, at 7:00 pm:
- Spencer Brewer
- Carolina Cavalache
- Barney McClure
- Ed Reinhart
- Ben Rueb
- Janice Timm
Artists performing on Sunday afternoon, January 26, at 2:00 pm:
- Spencer Brewer
- Wendy DeWitt
- Elena Casanova
- Tom Ganoung
- Elizabeth MacDougall
- John Simon
The artists are terrific,
the humor runs high (and low!),
the performances are always full of surprises.
How not to miss a single memorable moment?--
Tickets are on sale now at the Mendocino Book Company in Ukiah, Mazaharin Willits, and on the UCCA website through Brown Paper Tickets
$25: Purchased in advance; open seating
$35: "I Wanna see the Hands" section
$30: Tickets at the door (if available)
Please note that, although the UCCA offers free youth/student tickets for our season concerts, these will not be available for the Professional Pianist Concerts.
For more information: 707.463.2738
The Professional Pianist Concerts are co-produced by Spencer Brewer and the Ukiah Community Concert Association and are a benefit for
- The Mendocino College Recording Arts Club
- The Allegro Scholarship Program
- The Ukiah Community Concert Association
A READER WRITES
Hey, everyone who happens to read this.
Just to make myself clear… whoever stole the cheap black planter tub, in Daylight in downtown. Technically that is a crime. We don’t have help yourself signs …but maybe
We as a community should discuss the state of Boonville!
Rural is too expensive!
Gas/ food/ shelter $$$$$
Stop
Find some gov. Funding, find a way, or just close or everyone I. The town write a letter to the news, or governor gavin.
We are not tourists, but struggling families and probably shop in Ukiah.
Is this no longer a safe town? Last night there was gunshots ….kind of scary. Yeah maybe this is the new norm here but when you go to the grocery store $16 for mayonnaise (can there be a local price?!?)
Then to boot, you can’t even put anything out in public view without someone stealing it? It’s an empty black tub cheap I know the economy is not good so please it does not give you a right to steal, from anyone.
Maybe the town is changing maybe people aren’t as friendly and they’re desperate are they having a rough time?
You could’ve asked me I would’ve given it to you. People are in need of help, obviously not trying to be snide.. I do care about everyone in this town and as much as it looks like I don’t care (like everyone) I am here to help. Just as if I needed help I would ASK. So remember what we don’t know or see is not a right to assume or categorize…., let’s be mindful and keep our integrity and even if we were not taught or shown (seek the knowledge you need) and keep changing for the better!
My point is stay kind people we’re all in the same boat.
I wasn’t trying to make a statement to the community…with the ‘stay kind‘ sign. It was for the parents and families
I just happen to get it on sale at IKEA
Definitely didn’t want to stir up gossip or assumptions or politics. Oops
MARSHALL NEWMAN: Palm trees! In Philo! I don't think so.
CLOUD NINE FIRST FRIDAY FEATURED ARTIST IN JANUARY
Walt Padgett January First Friday Featured Artist at Cloud Nine Art Gallery. Walt Padgett, woodblock print maker extraordinaire First Friday, January 3, from 5 - 7 Cloud Nine Art Gallery, 320 N Franklin Street in Fort Bragg
In his own words:
"I approach woodblock printmaking with the sensibility and experience of many years as a Plein Air landscape painter, and constant photographer, always pursuing compositional possibilities while investigating content. I intentionally draw inspiration from the works of the historically great artists of the world, conscious that the broader context of world art can add layers of precedent, innovation, and relevance to the fabric of my own personal aesthetic. Travel is essential to my work, and I often include books on my favorite artists' work in my gear. I thrive on the on-location experience of exploring the world on foot, searching for the best images to represent my adventures."
In addition to the First Friday event, Walt will do a demonstration of his printmaking process at 1pm on Saturday, January 4. Come by and see what goes into the creation of his beautiful woodblock prints.
Join us for another fun First Friday at Cloud Nine. Enjoy a glass of bubbly, light refreshments, Chris Cispers' guitar background music, new work displayed and mingling with friends.
Our business hours are Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 12 - 5 and by appointment. We are pet friendly.
Margaret Paul, mpaul@mcn.org
UKIAH WAY BACK WHEN (Ron Parker) Old Building Mendocino State Hospital Talmage Ca.
CATCH OF THE DAY, Tuesday, December 10, 2024
NATHAN DEGURSE, 26, Willits. Controlled substance, failure to appear, county parole violation.
MARLON JACK, 54, Lakeport/Ukiah. Controlled substance, failure to appear.
MATHEW LEWIS, 41, Ukiah. Taking vehicle without owner’s consent.
NICOLE SANDERSON, 30, Ukiah. Probation revocation.
ITURI SHIVALILA, 48, Willits. Robbery, probation revocation.
JOSEPH THOMAS, 44, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.
JALAHN TRAVIS, 25, Ukiah. Domestic violence court order violation, probation revocation. (Frequent flyer.)
ROAD HAZARDS
Editor:
The recent Press Democrat story about hostility between bikes and cars in Paris reminded me of my experience in Santa Rosa. I have traveled by bicycle, walking and bus most of my life, but recent physical and bus schedule problems have forced me to use a car. When on the bike, I was the frequent victim of hostile, aggressive and dangerous violations of my right of way by motorists and even had drinks tossed at me from time to time. Now as a motorist, I see bicyclists engaging in idiotic and dangerous violations of the law that sometimes defy imagination. It looks like one of those rare situations where both sides really are wrong.
Edward Meisse
Santa Rosa
NORM CLOW
Ah, life in the Haight-Ashbury, where my sister lives with her daughter and family. Like I said to my old girlfriend Judy, it’s just as weird, maybe in a different way, as it was when she and I were still innocent, well, maybe me, teenagers. Interesting shops and decor, good food, great architecture, and, of course, lots of street people congregating on the Famous Corner, some of them certainly from 60 years ago. First obligatory photos were of the Grateful Dead house at 750 Ashbury, just a block and a half from my sister’s house, the Janis Joplin house across the street, and the Red House, where Jimi Hendrix once lived (now a pet store). Good eats at Cha Cha Cha, a Caribbean diner where we enjoyed some Jamaican jerk chicken, and Flipping Burgers, and interesting things to pick up at San Francisco Mercantile and its sister company Haight & Ashbury. The one thing I missed was the long-standing Haight Ashbury Guitar Center, where I bought a nice Fender Precision Bass once, now relocated south of the city to the Bayshore Freeway (101). A nice few days to wander around the neighborhood known as Upper Haight and Cole Valley.
DELTA TUNNEL CRITICS URGE METROPOLITAN WATER DISTRICT TO VOTE NO ON $141.6 MILLION FOR PROJECT
by Dan Bacher
The One Water and Stewardship Committee of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California yesterday voted to approve $141.6 million for planning for the Delta Conveyance Project after receiving comments both for and against the project.
The agenda item will go to a full vote (or be delayed) at today’s joint meeting of the MWD Board of Directors and the Executive Committee starting at 12 p.m.
The specific agenda item was: “8-4 Review and consider the Lead Agency’s certified 2023 Final Environmental Impact Report for the Delta Conveyance Project and take related CEQA actions and authorize the General Manager to enter into an amended agreement for preconstruction work planned for 2026-2027.”
The vote was 13 to 1, with 1 abstention. Mark Gold was the one vote against the funding.
Dozens of people from both Northern and Southern California made comments urging MWD to vote against the funding or to delay the vote, citing both environmental and financial impacts of the projects.…
OLD SAN FRANCISCO
I was thrilled to see Ted Williams play in an exhibition game at Seals Stadium when the Seals were a farm team for the Boston Red Sox. In his first at bat, he drilled a line drive single to right field. A home run would have been better, but I wasn't disappointed. (Rob Anderson)
LEAD STORIES, WEDNESDAY'S NYT
A Search in Syria for the Disappeared
Israel, Seeing an Opportunity, Demolishes Syria’s Military Assets
Suspect in C.E.O. Killing Withdrew From a Life of Privilege and Promise
Federal Judge Blocks $25 Billion Kroger-Albertsons Grocery Merger
Panic at Pepperdine University in Malibu as Wildfires Threaten City
FIFA Bends Own Rules to Give Saudi Arabia Coveted 2034 World Cup
ANTICHRIST BIBLES
PARIS: The much-anticipated reopening of Notre-Dame Cathedral on Saturday was ruined by the appearance of the Antichrist, observers said.
Beelzebub, who had traveled from Palm Beach, was heard loudly complaining that he had come “all the way to Notre Dame and there was no football game.”
He later disrupted the ceremony by loudly hawking a shipment of $60 Bibles he had just received from China. (Not including tariffs.)
ASSASSINATION COMMENTS
Is it just the people I’ve been talking to? Nearly everybody I talk to is okay with that health insurance CEO getting executed! Yeah- it’s a bad way to go getting shot in the back but…. A few people have expressed sympathy for the shooter referring to him as a sort of folk hero for bringing the issue into the mainstream press. Only a few. Most of us know that killing an unarmed person is wrong. But it’s crazy how many people say stuff like “Good” or “He deserved it” or “I hope they get the message.” I guess there hasn’t been any point or place where people could express their utter frustration and anger at the health care insurance industry and now there is? This Luigi really touched a nerve…
Merch sellers cash in on UnitedHealthcare CEO killing.
T-shirts, mugs, stickers and more merchandise capitalizing on the UnitedHealthcare CEO shooting is available online.
We’ve never had a problem with our UHC coverage, never denied coverage for any medical need, so I have no idea what the complaint is about. If a cheap policy doesn’t cover something and you’re denied, it’s because you selected a cheap plan instead of the more costly one that provided broader coverage. And for those who demand socialist medicine, the only procedure without very long wait in Canada is government assisted suicide.
You won’t be in perfect health forever. Have fun when the real issues come about as you age more. Rehabilitative and anesthesia claim denials are far higher through UHC than the closest competitor. And hopefully an actual person handles your claims, not some AI robot.
Canada’s long wait times are not caused by their single payer system itself; they are caused by the system being underfunded. If Canada’s per capita spending on single payer health care was comparable to the per capita spending in the US (which includes a huge administrative, marketing and project overlay), they’d have shorter wait times like in Europe or Cuba.
WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT LUIGI MANGIONE’S MANIFESTO
by Danielle Cohen
On Monday, after a five-day manhunt, police arrested 26-year-old Luigi Mangione and charged him with the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. As details about Mangione’s life (and eyebrows) emerge, many are wondering what might have led him to allegedly shoot a health-insurance executive to death at point-blank range. One crucial piece of context is a three-page handwritten manifesto police found on Mangione when he was arrested, which they say indicated “ill will towards corporate America.”
Before Mangione’s arrest, there was at least one indication (aside from Thompson’s job) that the shooting was intended as a statement about the American health-care system: Bullet casings found at the crime scene were inscribed with the words deny, defend, and depose, a riff on a common refrain used to criticize how insurance companies avoid paying claims. The information authorities have revealed about Mangione’s manifesto — not to mention what we have gleaned from his apparent Goodreads account — is even stronger evidence. According to the New York Times, the document Mangione had on him when he was arrested opens with a confession and states that Mangione “wasn’t working with anyone.” He reportedly points out that UnitedHealthcare’s market capitalization has grown while American life expectancy falls and writes about corporations that “continue to abuse our country for immense profit because the American public has allowed them to get away with it.”
Speaking specifically about United, Mangione is said to condemn the company’s corruption and “power games,” noting that he is “the first to face it with such brutal honesty.” The manifesto also reportedly includes lines like “Frankly these parasites had it coming” and “I do apologize for any strife and trauma, but it had to be done.” According to the Times, internal police analysis of the manifesto states that Mangione likely saw the killing as “a symbolic takedown” and that he “likely views himself as a hero of sorts who has finally decided to act upon such injustices.”
ON-LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY
Why do White people pay big money to try to become darker and Dark people pay money trying to become lighter? Are we all so insecure with our appearance that we can be swayed so easily? I say that every time I see one of these Tatted, pierced punks whose obvious desire is to be a freak.
AUTHOR MARJORIE KINNAN RAWLINGS was born on this day in 1896 in Washington, D.C.
Rawlings is best known for her Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Yearling (1938), and her popular memoir Cross Creek (1942).
Rawlings lived for many years in Cross Creek, Florida where she wrote short stories and novels, most of which were about life in rural Florida.
Rawlings' last novel, The Sojourner, was published shortly before her death in 1953, in St. Augustine, of a cerebral hemorrhage. She is buried at Antioch Cemetery near Island Grove, Florida.
Rawlings left her property to the University of Florida, where she had once taught creative writing.
In 1970, Rawlings' Cross Creek home was listed in the National Registry of Historic Places. Today, the property is designated as The Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Historic State Park.
THE “DELAY AND DENY KILLER”: DIALOGUE OVERHEARD IN A MIDTOWN MANHATTAN COFFEE SHOP
by Stephen F. Eisenman
The following dialogue was overheard in a coffee shop not far from the Hilton on 6th Avenue, New York City, where the murder of UnitedHealthcare executive Brian Thompson took place. My booth was next to that of the speakers. Inaudible words or phrases are indicated by bracketed ellipses […].
One of the pair was a woman, late 60s or early 70s, long, grey hair, dressed in black, tattoos on her arms, Queens accent, and theatrical gestures. An artist or actress? The other was a man, about the same age, with wire-frame glasses, tweed sports jacket, grey hair emerging from beneath a black mariner’s cap, and clipped, unaccented diction. A writer or professor?
He: “[…] Thompson wore no hat or overcoat, so must have been staying at a nearby hotel. The Hilton has all the charm of a bus station. The Pierre? Plaza? Sherry-Netherland?”
She: “No. A cheapskate. He was at the Marriot, a block away — another dump. Pinched pennies […] worked at PriceWaterhouseCoopers before UHC – that’s why he was hired; didn’t know fuck-all about healthcare.”
He: “The average price of a New York hotel room is about 450 bucks. The heads of those hotel chains ought to be watching their backs too. You still think this was a professional hit?”
She: “Yup.”
He: “No way. First, he’s too young. Unless he was a freshman at Hitman U. And who would send out a newbie to whack the boss of one of the biggest insurance companies in the country […] the world? They had revenue of $400 billion last year: more than Exxon-Mobil — another popular company.”
She: “Exactly my point! This was a job for a professional. Anyway, the shooter […] not so young – just a nice smile. Look at the planning! Cash-only hostel, hoodie, mask, gun, bike, taxi, and trains. The $300 Peak Design backpack was genius too. At the hostel, that’s all people noticed! And now, guess what? Poof! He’s gone. Fuhgeddaboudit – he’s a pro!”
He: “Dunno. Lots of crimes go unsolved, even murders in Manhattan – about 25,000 since 1980.” [He was right. In New York State, there are 30,316 unsolved murders – mostly in NYC.] “And it doesn’t take a genius to know there are cameras everywhere and plan accordingly. Even the Lone Ranger wore a mask!”
She: “Ranger, shmanger. This guy knows his stuff. Who else would use a silencer, buying himself a few more seconds for his getaway.”
He: “Then how do you explain the words ‘delay, deny, depose’ written on the bullet casings? He was making a point about bad payouts. I think this was just […] kid whose grannie got offed by UHC. That was UHC’s special sauce – they denied nursing care to old people who had strokes or broken hips. Or they tossed them out on the streets before they were ready. How […] is that! Humana was even worse. I wonder who’s their CEO?”
She: “I looked it up. James Rechtin, another gonif, hired last year. His specialty at his previous job at Envison Health was jacking up emergency room costs by ensuring out-of-network doctors poked their heads in whenever possible. And then surprise! Huge bills! Envison got burned by a congressional law, the No-Surprises Act and declared bankruptcy in 2023. Guess who benefitted from that? UHC, Humana, and the other big providers! Oh, and UHC’s top campaign recipient? Kamala. But they gave almost equally to Republican candidates – equal opportunity healthcare scam. And what happened to Envision Health? Not to worry – they came out of chapter 11 last year, jettisoning $8 billion in debt along the way. So, you still think this was just some poor guy from Columbus, Ohio, who plotted a complex Manhattan murder in between passing the stuffing and cranberry sauce at the family Thanksgiving dinner?”
He: “Um, you make some good points…But how do you explain the messages on shell casings? ‘Delay’ and ‘deny’ is how UHC makes its money!”
She: “A ruse, red herring. You’re so romantic. You think the shooter was a young Che who decided to the rid the world, one by one, of corporate criminals in revenge for killing his grannie. […] You think he’s the vanguard of a new movement? Dream on.”
He: “Geez, yeah, I was thinking he was a kind of Robin Hood, only, um, a little more violent. Of course, I don’t approve of gun violence” [He said this loudly, as if for eavesdroppers.] “But can you imagine the impact of an, um, crime spree directed at the major heads of U.S. and multi-national corporations? Somebody could write a book like How to Blowup a Pipeline, only with info about disguises, accessories, budget accommodations and cash travel. [Both laugh nervously.]
She: “Fodors for hitmen! It sounds like you are coming around to my point of view: It was a professional job. The shooter […] recruited by one set of corporate criminals to off another corporate criminal who was stealing their share — basically a Mafia hit.”
He: “That might also explain the Monopoly money found in the backpack: It was a dark joke between corporate titans. But I thought you said it was policy holders who were being ripped off? “
She: “Not only. Last year, Thompson and his UHC chums dumped $120 million in stock while the company was being investigated for anti-trust violations, weeks before anybody else found out. Shareholders lost 25 billion in that deal! So, follow the money. Vanguard Capital owns seven million shares of UHC and Blackrock five million. At about 200 bucks per share that’s…you can do the math. Then there are the Hedge fund suspects: Ben Ackman of Pershing Square Capital; he’s the schmuck who forced the resignation of the Harvard president. Ken Griffin, founder of Citadel, another schmeg. Carl Icahn of Icahn Enterprises, and Steve Cohen from Point72 Assets – he’s the shonda who owns the Mets. They all traded UHC futures. All of them should be called in for questioning!”
He: “Shit, you really know your stuff. Yeah, they ought a be brought into the Midtown Precinct station for police interrogation. I can picture it: hard wooden chair, metal table, bright lights, cold coffee…”
She: “Edward G. Robinson can do the questioning.”
He: “I’d settle for Letitia James…”
The pair then rose from their table, walked to the counter to pay their bill, and left. They seemed happy, as if they had just cracked the case.
(Stephen F. Eisenman is emeritus professor at Northwestern University. His latest book, with Sue Coe, is titled “The Young Person’s Guide to American Fascism,” and is forthcoming from OR Books. He can be reached at s-eisenman@northwestern.edu.)
LOBSTERS
In the 1700s, lobsters were so abundant along the Massachusetts coast that they would wash ashore in piles up to two feet high.
These crustaceans were considered the “poor man’s chicken” and were primarily used as fertilizer or fed to prisoners, slaves, and indentured servants. In fact, some indentured servants revolted against being forced to eat lobster, leading to agreements that they would not be fed lobster more than three times a week.
As the American rail transportation system developed, train workers realized they could serve lobster to passengers because it was plentiful and cheap. Passengers, unaware of the negative stigma attached to lobsters, believed they were eating a decadent food and began requesting it even when they weren’t on the train.
This shift in perception transformed lobster from a lowly food to a luxurious delicacy. It’s amazing how perspectives can change when economic opportunities arise!
Text credit: Earth Unreal
THE ‘SILENT VIOLENCE’ OF CORPORATE GREED & POWER
by Ralph Nader
For decades consumer groups have been sounding clarion calls for action against the “silent violence” causing massive casualties that arise from the unbridled power of corporate greed, criminal negligence or indifference. They cite statistical and case studies that the media and lawmakers mostly ignored or relegated to low levels of enforcement.
Corporate bosses just have their corporate lawyers and public relations hacks brush away such warnings and pleas. One day stories they knew would not have legs if they just kept quiet or mumbled some general words of regret, promising some vague improvements to their products and services.
But year after year, the deadly toll goes up, not down, and the horrors continue. For example, at least 5000 people A WEEK die in hospitals in the U.S. due to “preventable problems,” concluded a peer-reviewed study by Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine physicians in 2016. This is just one of numerous such studies of hospital-induced infections, overuse of antibiotics, medical malpractice or what is called “medical error,” prescribing bundles of drugs that backfire, “accidents,” deskilling and understaffing.
There has been no mass mobilization by either government officials or industry executives to address this staggering toll of at least 250,000 fatalities a year!
Behind these figures are real people with families, friends and coworkers shocked, incensed or despondent over avoidable losses of life and preventable harms. Some of them undoubtedly knew the specific causes and demanded correction and compensation, to no avail.
Avoidable casualties also arise from the sweeping denial of insurance coverage for ill or injured patients by greedy unregulated or underregulated health insurance companies maximizing profits and bonuses for CEOs. Many insurance companies are now using AI to help wear down consumers.
About two thousand Americans a week lose their lives because they cannot afford health insurance to cover prompt diagnosis and treatment costs. System-driven patterns of denial of benefits by health insurers also cause deaths and injuries. The companies have algorithms that automatically delay or deny needed procedures without even seeing a patient’s medical records or speaking with the patient’s physician.
Insurance policies are full of fine print deductibles, co-pays, waivers and exclusions that drive consumers and their doctors up the wall. Insurance premiums are paid by patients or employers ahead of time with advertised assurances.
In the past two months, consumers have been overwhelmed by a blizzard of television ads by giant insurers e.g., Aetna, Cigna, and Humana for their Medicare (dis)Advantage plans aimed at elderly beneficiaries. The ads are loaded with “freebies” that paint the companies as charities instead of cunning commercial marketers. In reality, denial of benefits is higher for these plans than for traditional Medicare. Moreover, these plans push patients into narrow networks of physicians and hospitals and subject them to dreadful over-use of “prior authorization.” The latter means some remote company doctor or medical professional decides whether a physician with a patient can be reimbursed for a specific treatment. This results in overwhelming paperwork for the doctors, immense profits for the companies and degraded treatment for patients.
An October 31, 2023 NBC investigation titled “‘Deny, deny, deny’: By rejecting claims, Medicare Advantage plans threaten rural hospitals and patients,” by star reporter Gretchen Morgenson exposed another deadly impact of Medicare (dis)Advantage programs on rural hospitals in America.
These companies are so entrenched that they have become largely immune to exposés. They have gamed the system to straitjacket both patients and healthcare workers. The healthcare industry gets away with about $360 billion in computerized billing fraud and abuses every year. (https://scholar.harvard.edu/msparrow/license-to-steal). Prosecutions are minimal, and lawmakers are mostly indifferent as they count their campaign cash donations. Did you see any of the major party politicians in this year’s election campaigns even mention the devastating impact of the medical industry’s greed on innocent people or the taxpayers?
Just under the surface is a seething whirlpool of resentment, anger, frustration and bitterness about corporate abuses. Such reactions are often most pronounced in poor areas or workplaces, where people are subjected to choking pollution or exposure to carcinogenic toxins leading to cancer, heart disease and other organ ailments.
The corporate perpetrators, however, are remote from the impacts of their operations and policies. Their hugely overpaid bosses rule from elaborate suites and enjoy unimaginable luxuries. Very few people know the names, even of the CEOs of Fortune 500 companies like ExxonMobil, Aetna, Humana, Duke Energy, Bank of America, and so on. The lethality, the theft, the domination, and the escape from the rule of law are rendered impersonally by the corporatists who are now investing huge sums to go even more abstract and remote with tyrannical generative AI algorithms.
This week, a man, still on the run, made his anger very personal. Around 7:00 AM he singled out, in front of a busy midtown Manhattan hotel, the chief executive of the giant UnitedHealthcare, Brian Thompson, and shot him. The assassin fled on an electric bike. Police collected the bullet casings from his pistol. On these casings were the words, “deny,” “delay” and “depose.”
As news of this fatal shooting spread over social media, a torrent of angry or morbid comments flooded the Internet. The New York Times reported a few, to wit:
“I’m an ER nurse and the things I’ve seen dying patients get denied for by insurance makes me physically sick. I just can’t feel sympathy for him because of all of those patients and their families.”
“Thoughts and deductibles to the family,” read one observer underneath a video of a CNN picture. “Unfortunately, my condolences are out of network.”
Tragically, Mr. Thompson, according to a company employee, was one of the few executives who spoke of changing the culture of the company.
But corporate culture, marinated to the core with endless cravings for ever-growing easy profits, is very hard to change – especially when it is so easy to extract more and more premium dollars from powerless consumers who lack adequate regulatory protections.
And so, the social media explosion included this typical comment on TikTok: “I pay $1,300 a month for health insurance with an $8,000 deductible. ($23,000 yearly) When I finally reached that deductible, they denied my claims. He was making a million dollars a month.”
The New York Times described a “wrenching outpouring from patients and family members who posted horror stories of insurance claim reimbursement stagnation and denials.” The ugly reality will continue to exponentially pour out with volcanic fury as the media receives more public reactions.
One wonders about the reaction if this were to have happened four months before the November election. Could the uproar have transformed the slimy rhythms of the Harris campaign, orchestrated by the Democrats’ corporate-conflicted political consultants who manage the candidate messages and who definitely don’t listen to the warnings and popular proposals by Senator Bernie Sanders?
EXQUISITE AMERICANA: TRUMP & US POWER
by Tom Stevenson
Donald Trump’s return as US president can’t match the shock of his ascent in 2016. But it does force a permanent change in historical perspective. In 2020, Joe Biden’s victory was treated by Trump’s domestic and international opponents as though it were deliverance from a bout of delirium. In 2024 it is Biden’s single term that looks like a Covid-induced interruption in the Trump era. Where foreign policy is concerned Trump has always caused confusion. Was he, first time round, a threat to the US-led global order or a revelation of its true face? And what exactly would he have done had his whims not so often been thwarted by the national security bureaucracy and his own incompetence?
Writing about Trump often descends into psychopathology, which is all right as far as it goes. Trump at Mar-a-Lago might be easier to take were he more like Tiberius on Capri. But far from being a debauched libertine Trump is a roaring teetotaller uninterested in much except power and fame. That predilection leads to talk of fascism and Europe in the 1930s, or of a transplanted Oriental despotism. It was always lazy to try to see Trump as part of an international group of autocratic rulers (Modi, Erdoğan, Orbán, Duterte), each of whom was in fact defined more by specific national conditions than any global trend. In reality, Trump is an exquisite figure of Americana. His appeal is to a distinctively American form of mercantile nationalism tempered by grift. His closest contemporary analogues – and they’re not that close – are in Brazil and Argentina. But he has always had more in common with his domestic opponents than they like to admit.
What will a second Trump term mean for the world beyond the US? Predictions are difficult given Trump’s erratic nature and recent transformations in the American political system. Neither the Republicans nor the Democrats are really political parties in the 20th-century sense: they are more like shifting collections of performing entrepreneurs. The currency of the court at Mar-a-Lago, with its cronies, goons, sidekicks, clans and lumpen billionaires, is attention. Trump’s prospective chief of staff, Susie Wiles, who ran his election campaign and heads the “Florida mafia” faction of hangers-on, will have a good deal of say over who gets Trump’s ear. But his thinking is an unstable concoction. Trump is an enthusiastic trade warrior who occasionally indulges in anti-war rhetoric. His anti-empire talk may be as insincere as the “foreign policy for the middle class” of Biden’s patrician national security adviser, Jake Sullivan. Both nod to sentiments they can’t comprehend. After all, an anti-war position would imply less power, or less use of power. And, if he is for anything, Trump is for max power.
Like Biden before him, Trump sets the tone of the court more than he runs the practical business of government. In these conditions cabinet appointments take on greater importance. Some of his nominations are conventional enough. His choice for national security adviser, Mike Waltz, is a Floridian soldier who wouldn’t have been out of place in George W. Bush’s team. Waltz has spent much of the last few years raging about the withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan, which he believes will lead to “al-Qaida 3.0.” On Russia and the war in Ukraine he complained not of the cost to the US but of Biden’s ‘too little too late strategy.” For Secretary of State Trump has nominated Marco Rubio, another member of the orthodox neoconservative faction who once co-wrote an article with John McCain in the Wall Street Journal claiming that the overthrow of Lubya’s Gaddafi would lead to “a democratic and pro-American Libya.” Rubio is preoccupied with schemes to destabilize Cuba, Venezuela and Iran. As late as 2022 he was criticizing Trump’s “unfortunate” praise of Putin’s intelligence. An internal Republican vetting dossier (almost certainly obtained and leaked by Iranian hackers) noted that “Rubio appears to have generally postured as a neocon and interventionist.”
If Trump has nominated second-tier establishment types for powerful positions that is partly because so many of the more accomplished practitioners have migrated to the Democrats. Kamala Harris was endorsed by most of George W. Bush’s national security team, including Michael Hayden, James Clapper, Robert Blackwill and Richard Haas – a who’s who of the foreign policy establishment. This has led to some barrel-scraping on the part of the Republicans. For Director of the CIA, Trump has chosen John Ratcliffe, his final director of National Intelligence in his first term, who has been selected for political loyalty over any other quality. In Pete Hegseth there is the prospect of a Secretary Of Defense who believes Israel’s wars are a fulfilment of biblical prophecy and that American soldiers should not be punished for committing “so-called war crimes.” Hegseth is a representative of the frothing at the mouth Fox News contingent. He is also a reminder that many of these people are unlikely to last, if they succeed in being confirmed in the first place. The choice of Tulsi Gabbard as Director of National Intelligence irritates centrist commentators and European politicians thanks to her insufficiently critical views of Putin’s Russia. She is also an excuse to pretend that Trump’s return is the result of a Russian ruse rather than a phenomenon for which the Democratic establishment may share responsibility. Overall, Trump’s nominations show no repudiation of the national security establishment. The logic of the choices appears to follow tributary loyalty more than anything else.
WHAT SCOTLAND CAN TEACH AMERICA ABOUT DEMOCRACY
by Joe Mathews
EDINBURGH, Scotland — I exited the city government offices, turned left at the Adam Smith statue and walked two minutes along the Royal Mile to the Museum of Childhood.
Founded in 1955 by a city councilor, the world’s first museum dedicated to childhood’s history has four fascinating floors of soft exhibition pieces — dolls (like Queen Anne from 1740), toys (1920s voice-activated Radio Rex) and stuffed animals (a Steiff teddy bear that accompanied Jewish children on a train out of Nazi Germany).
But the museum, by highlighting vast improvements in young people’s living conditions, conveys a hard, relevant narrative — about the growing power of children.
Once seen as little adults who did not live long, Earth’s 2.3 billion children now represent a rising global superpower. In the 21st century, capitalism, extended schooling, legal protections and technology have empowered more children to shape their own lives — and threaten the supremacy of adults.
“We can’t save the world by playing by the rules, because the rules have to be changed,” declared the Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, who famously organized global school boycotts on Fridays in 2018. “Everything needs to change — and it has to start today.”
People older than Thunberg rarely discuss children’s growing power — and their fear of it — but it is polarizing our societies and politics.
After all, nationalism and authoritarianism are strongest in aging countries and among older people, who react to the perceived threat of youthful power.
Restrictionist immigration policies, often framed as an issue of culture or economy, actually focus on demonizing and detaining children. During the Donald Trump and Joe Biden presidencies, the United States had an official policy of separating children from parents at the border.
“We need to take away children,” said the Trump-appointed U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
Nationalists around the world also have seized neutral government agencies and expert institutions that they see as hostile to traditional values. But in weaponizing such institutions, nationalists often target children.
Law enforcement agencies worldwide routinely violate the rights of children. National education ministries and local school boards limit who can be in the classroom, what they can read or learn or how they can protest. And politicized health agencies often threaten the health of young people. It’s no surprise that President-elect Trump plans to put American health policy under Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who spreads monstrous lies about the vaccines that protect children from disease.
Politically, the idea of reducing the power of children, in part by reducing their numbers, has adherents on the economic right (children are “tax eaters”) and the ecological left (more children = more carbon emissions). But, ironically, efforts to decrease youth power by shrinking the child population can be self-defeating. Because when children become scarce, they become more important — and powerful.
Societies with fewer kids have smaller talent pools from which to develop adults who can support their older populations. This means each kid must be more successful and productive than the last. That’s why smart countries with low birth rates, notably in Asia, invest so much to support their children.
Such generational solidarity makes all the sense in the world. But today’s politicians — who thrive on fear and division — try to make us afraid for our children and of our children.
That’s the context in which many governments around the world have sought to limit children’s power to communicate by banning mobile phones from schools and by banning children from social media.
Some of these policies are good-faith efforts to protect children — from distractions and screen addiction, online bullying, loneliness and mental health problems. But such policies also can violate basic democratic principles. The governments banning phones for schoolchildren are organizations of adults selected by adults, and they rarely include children in determining such policies.
In the face of hypocrisy, children are demanding more of the democratic rights that they are now denied. Worldwide young people are forming their own parliaments, some with formal power. Young people have lowered the voting age to 16 or 17 in Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Ecuador, Indonesia, Malta, Nicaragua and in local jurisdictions from Germany to the Bay Area.
I AM MY MOTHER’S SON. All other identities are artificial and recent. Naked, basic, actually, I am my mother’s son. I emerged from her womb and set out on this earth. The earth gave me another identity, that of name, personality, appearance, character, and spirit. The earth is my grandmother; I am the earth’s grandson. The way I comb my hair today has nothing to do with myself, who am my mother’s son and the earth’s grandson. I am put on this earth to prove that I am my mother’s son. I am also on this earth, my grandmother, to be her spokesman, in my chosen and natural way. The earth owns the least to myself; she shall take me back, and my mother too. We have proven the earth’s truth and meaning, which is, simply life and death.
― Jack Kerouac, Jack Kerouac: Collected Poems, Kerouac Estate
IT IS A WORLD completely rotten with wealth, power, senility, indifference, puritanism and mental hygiene, poverty and waste, technological futility and aimless violence, and yet I cannot help but feel it has about it something of the dawning of the universe.
―Jean Baudrillard
IT'S A FUNNY THING about the modern world. You hear girls in the toilets of clubs saying, " … He didn't love me. He just couldn't deal with love. He was too f*cked up to know how to love me." Now, how did that happen? What was it about this unlovable century that convinced us we were, despite everything, eminently lovable as a people, as a species? What made us think that anyone who fails to love us is damaged, lacking, malfunctioning in some way? And particularly if they replace us with a god, or a weeping madonna, or the face of Christ in a ciabatta roll then we call them crazy. Deluded. Regressive. We are so convinced of the goodness of ourselves, and the goodness of our love, we cannot bear to believe that there might be something more worthy of love than us, more worthy of worship. Greetings cards routinely tell us everybody deserves love. No. Everybody deserves clean water. Not everybody deserves love all the time.
— Zadie Smith
UNMENTIONABLES
Editor,
It’s a pity there was no space for men’s underpants in Clare Bucknell’s review of the Under/Wear show at the Rijksmuseum (LRB, 21 November). It’s true that they have always been an easier affair, with many men simply tying their undershirt between their legs, but there is still much to be said about the design and materials, the use of buttons, flaps, laces and so on. Over the centuries, as women’s underwear became ever more elaborate and punitive to support an expanding or subtracting silhouette, men’s lower garments became progressively simpler, and fitted more naturally and closely to the lower body. This had the effect of making breeches and then trousers socially charged garments, in more direct and revealing contact with the rear and genitals. The 19th-century vocabulary for trousers – the OED lists ‘inexpressibles’, ‘unmentionables’, ‘indescribables’, ‘ineffables’, ‘never-mention-’ems’, ‘unwhisperables’ and ‘unutterables’ – captures this, though it was more likely used in fun than out of prudery.
An example, to complement Bucknell’s more sensual quotation from Hardy’s The Well-Beloved, is Trollope’s short story ‘The Relics of General Chassé’, in which two English tourists, the narrator and the well-fed Reverend Horne, visit Antwerp and the private apartments recently inhabited by General Chassé (a real figure), who had valiantly but unsuccessfully held out against a French siege of the city in 1832. Wandering into the bedroom, Horne sights an abandoned pair of the general’s breeches – variously described as ‘respectable leathern articles’, a ‘virile habiliment’, ‘what’s-the-names’ and ‘regimentals’ – and determines to try them on. He takes off his own trousers and is in the middle of failing to wrestle his way into the general’s when a group of Englishwomen enter the room. He and the narrator are forced to hide themselves in a dressing room, where Horne, admitting defeat, casts aside the general’s breeches. Meanwhile, the ladies, mistaking Horne’s trousers for sacred relics of the general, cut them up into sections and strips, intending to use the cloth (judged very fine) for a bag, a needlecase, a pincushion, a pen-wiper and leggings for the winter months. All that’s left behind is a ‘melancholy skeleton of seams and buttons’.
Horne is eventually smuggled back to the hotel under a cloak, and re-emerges the next day dressed as normal above the waist, but below in ‘a pair of red plush’, ending an inch from the knee, with socks black silk to the calf and white cotton thereafter. The narrator, meeting the ladies a few days later, gleefully informs them of their mistake. The story ends without the word ‘trousers’ having been used once.
Tom Crewe
London
ASSASSINATION COMMENTS
The public response would have been similar irrespective of who shot the robber baron. People are fed effen up!
Editors Notes: “Love yawp”… is that Boontling? …My Mate came to the City in 1962 and immediately began ranging about (and investing in) Mendonoma! He says it turned to shyte via Divorced Women in expensive foreign cars! These could also be the Liberals of whom you speak…
Ed Notes:
” Lenin, Mussolini, most American presidents, Castro, Che Guevara, and the guy who just took over Syria, all came from privileged backgrounds. Why? Because privilege gets the privileged a sound education. Which this kid Mangione has deployed to conclude the obvious — that corporations, aka the rich, are killing us.”
There is a lot to that narrative that needs questioning. I would say being the beneficiary of family wealth doesn’t mean a sound education, but it does mean you have time away from having to make a legitimate living. We can put these wealth beneficiaries in a class commonly called trust funders. But there is a price paid for being disconnected from ever having to be an employee carrying a lunch bucker. It means a sheltered grasp of reality, along with the outsized ability to get into trouble, and to make trouble. But in the Mangione case, we have a trust funder that went off the rails. This is not a nut case like Joan Of Arc, or John Brown, but a nut case with family means who has suddenly gone off like a firecracker like Timmothy McVeigh did. Did Mangione, and McVeigh have legitimate grievances? Of course, but nothing that would be made better by a well planned act of violence.
You are so wrong, George, or is “jealous” the more correct term, or both? Apparently you come from a wealthy background. Mangione’s act was the act of a hero in my opinion. A few more like him and the wealthy would lose their power over us plebeians, whom they propagandize and rip off and send off to wars based on lies for a living.
I don’t see Mangione and McVeigh in a similar light. McVeigh’s grievances were Waco and Ruby Ridge, the former being mass murder, including the mass murder of children, by the government and latter being a botched arrest where some people who don’t deserve any tears ended up dying.
Mangione made a point of targeting one person, and in his notes it’s clear he didn’t want any innocents to be harmed. He contemplated using a bomb, but abandoned the idea because of the possibility of collateral damage. McVeigh, on the other hand, knew full well that he was targeting innocents, including a day care center full of young children. If one cares to go down rabbit holes, the case of Terry Yeakey and his murder, as well as the mystery of “John Doe Number Two” lead to uncomfortable questions about the Oklahoma bombing, while the CEO killing, at least so far, seems to to be the work of one person.
As for privileged people becoming revolutionaries, perhaps it’s the shock they feel when they see the reality of commoners. Siddhartha Gautama was a prince who had every need taken care of. One day he went to see what common life was like, and he concluded s**t was seriously f***ed up.
The poster with the palm trees is similar to a postcard I often imagine from Fort Bragg in a happy future where it’s been renamed The Palms, which it very well might be –The Palms is the popular second choice, right after Lindy Petersville. Except instead of a road, there’s a dock; instead of mountains, there are whitecapped sea waves; and instead of that house and garage on the left, there’s a majestic electric powered passenger-and-freight flying boat and a foreshortened hollow wing/ramp disgorging families and goods. Also the colors and shadows, though attractive, are not right. in the postcard, they’re right. Another postcard would be looking down Palm, (formerly Main Street) between rows of genetically improved palm trees. A third would be the monorail soaring above the beautiful Headlands Park, where the lumber mill once sprawled.