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DRY WEATHER is expected this week as high pressure builds in. Gusty winds are forecast today, particularly in Lake County, with a potential for chilly morning lows this morning through Thursday morning throughout the region. (NWS)
STEPHEN DUNLAP (Fort Bragg): It drizzled ALL DAY yesterday yet only .05" collected this morning, I have never seen a day like that before? Clear skies & 43F this Tuesday morning on the coast. Our forecast is calling for another cloudy day then clearing later this week, but I'm not sold. South & east of here there will be really high northeast winds & a fire danger in So Cal.
JUDGE PONDERS DISMISSAL IN CUBBISON CASE AFTER HEARING
by Mike Geniella
Mendocino Superior Court Judge Ann Moorman signaled Monday that she may wait until a scheduled preliminary hearing later this month to decide whether to rule on defense motions to toss a contentious felony criminal case against suspended Mendocino County Auditor Chamise Cubbison.
After listening all day to the testimonies of three key witnesses, Moorman said she needed more time to “reflect” on what she heard about the possible role of retired Auditor Lloyd Weer in the case, and whether the collapse of a County email archival system has hampered a full review of potential evidence.
Weer testified under oath he had no part in any extra pay agreement prosecutors alleged was reached between Cubbison and co-defendant Paula June Kennedy, the County’s former Payroll Manager. Kennedy, who also faces a single felony charge, is accused of conspiring to receive $68,000 in extra pay over a three-year period during the Covid pandemic. Weer said he knew nothing about an obscure pay code that the two veteran County employees are alleged to have used to compensate Kennedy for hundreds of hours of extra time over the period in question.
Weer admitted that Kennedy racked up extra hours doing a difficult job during the pandemic, and that he and Cubbison, his then assistant, had multiple discussions about how to ease the situation. He acknowledged Kennedy and he had directly talked about ways to get around no overtime restrictions for managers in her position, based on what other county employees may have been doing. Weer, however, was evasive about how direct his role was in any outcome, and whether he misled investigators by initially denying any talks with Kennedy.
“We struggled to find answers, but I did not authorize what is alleged,” said Weer.
Lt. Andrew Porter, the Sheriff’s investigator who turned over the case to Eyster’s office, admitted under oath he only preserved one of hundreds of emails he had reviewed among Weer, Cubbison and Kennedy which were later found to be missing after the discovery of a collapsed County archival system. Porter, a veteran officer, also acknowledged telling Weer early on he was not part of the ongoing investigation even though he [Weer] had been suspended from acting as a special consultant once the criminal probe was launched.
Porter agreed that he had tried to “build rapport” with Weer during his investigation by telling him he should not have been suspended by Cubbison, and that he was going to help “fix that.”
Cubbison attorney Chris Andrian pointed out that it was his client who triggered the criminal probe by informing County officials of a Kennedy threat to quit and file a lawsuit over her alleged 390 hours of uncompensated hours.
“If she were part of a criminal conspiracy, why would she do that? Did you consider that?” demanded Andrian.
Porter had no answer.
Tony Rakes, now a deputy County CEO who once was the direct manager of IT services for the County, testified that when he took over in May 2022, he discovered the county had no email retention policy. Then, when the Cubbison case began to unfold, he and the IT department learned the County’s archival system had been corrupted.
Rakes said an outside company informed him a month ago that it may be possible to “capture” missing emails among Weer, Cubbison and Kennedy but “they are not available today.”
Moorman questioned the witnesses during the hearing, and at one point she noted conflicts in Weer’s testimony. She also ordered Weer to provide “yes” or “no” responses to questions rather than vague answers.
At the end of the day, Moorman said, “I am not prepared to rule. I need to take time to reflect on what I have heard today.”
Moorman agreed to hear final arguments on Wednesday afternoon from defense attorneys, and from Special Prosecutor Traci Carrillo, the outside attorney who is prosecuting the case for Eyster at $400 per hour. She opposes the dismissal motions.
Moorman said she is leaning toward hearing what evidence prosecutor Carrillo may produce at the preliminary hearing before acting on defense motions to dismiss the case before trial. “That hearing is later this month,” said Moorman.
The politically laced case has dragged on for 15 months because of legal challenges to Eyster’s decision, and the discovery of how the County’s former archival email system collapsed in 2023.
Cubbison had become a target of Eyster’s wrath after she, as then Assistant Auditor-Controller, challenged his office’s spending practices. The DA took the extraordinary step of publicly denouncing her before the county Board of Supervisors and blocking her appointment as interim Auditor when Weer resigned early. Cubbison was elected Auditor a year later by County voters over the opposition of Eyster, and members of the County board.
When Eyster filed the felony case against Cubbison, county Supervisors immediately suspended her without pay and benefits. Cubbison was not given an opportunity by the board to respond publicly prior to the suspension. Cubbison has a pending civil lawsuit against the county alleging she was denied “due process.”
HEEDLESSNESS ON 253
Hello Anderson Valley,
Be careful with this reckless driver. No consideration for others on the road but apparently themselves. He passed me on a solid yellow line, mind you I had my two boys 6 and 4 years old in the car. Then proceeded to pass the Ford in front of them on solid yellow line on a nasty curve on Hwy 253. I believe in karma and hopefully this is lesson as he could have caused two serious accidents. Hey, you in the crv Honda: I lost my brother in a car accident and you could have put not only us at danger but my kids and I don't play when it comes to my children…
REDWOOD VALLEY’S WATER SYSTEM TRANSITION: What’s Next?
by Monica Huettl
The Redwood Valley County Water District (RVCWD) transfer of water services to the Ukiah Valley Water Authority (UVWA) was completed on January 2, 2025 with the City of Ukiah assuming oversight. At the December 19, 2024, board meeting, General Manager Jared Walker outlined updates on billing changes, financial reporting, and recent repairs. The board also discussed the future of local water governance, including potential consolidation and the dissolution of the Upper Russian River Water Agency (URRWA), while addressing ongoing vandalism at the Lake Mendocino pumphouse.…
https://mendofever.com/2025/01/07/redwood-valleys-water-system-transition-whats-next/
FIREWORKS ASSAULT ON FORT BRAGG HOMELESS
On January 4, 2025 a member of the local media contacted The Fort Bragg Police Department regarding a video circulating on social media. The video depicted unknown subjects throwing a lit explosive device at a member of the unhoused community within the City of Fort Bragg. Screaming could be heard in the video after the firework detonated inside the tent.
Officers immediately initiated an investigation into the matter. Officers reviewed the video and interviewed persons who were able to provide further information regarding the origin of the video.
Through their investigation, officers were able to identify the location the video was filmed, the victim, and a potential suspect. Furthermore, officers were able to determine that this incident was initially unreported by the victim, but occurred within the City of Fort Bragg in July of 2024.
On January 5, 2025, officers located and obtained statements from the victim and a suspect. The elderly victim confirmed the incident occurred and other details.
On Jsnusty 6, 2025, officers served warrants on a social media account and at a residence associated with the suspect in the county of Mendocino.
Officers are currently gathering digital evidence from the social media platform and the cell phone recovered at the residence, which may determine additional suspects wanted in connection with this crime.
Chief Neil Cervenka said, “The act in the video committed against a member of our community is deplorable. The Fort Bragg Police Department is dedicated to protecting all of our community members, especially those who are most vulnerable. This wasn’t a joke or a prank. It was an assault with an explosive device.”
The Fort Bragg Police Department will be seeking prosecution for the crime depicted in the video and are actively seeking any information pertaining to the incident. Anyone with information regarding this incident is encouraged to contact Officer Beak with the Fort Bragg Police Department at (707)964-2800 ext. 224 or email rbeak@fortbragg.com. This information is being released by Sergeant Jon McLaughlin. For media inquiries, please reach out to him directly at jmclaughlin@fortbragg.com.
STACEY HANKS: Hubby found a chonker. No this is not a chanterelle.
IT'S AMAZING that anything substantial ever gets done in Mendocino County. Simply to apply to change the zoning on your property costs thousands of dollars. (We can’t keep up with Mendo’s ever-increasing fees, so we don’t know the current cost, sorry.)
There’s no guarantee that the rezone will be approved either. Not that rezones are without peril, but thousands of dollars up front for even non-controversial ones, is quite an obstacle.
Before you can even apply for a zoning change you've got to apply for a “land use designation change.”
Changing a Rural Residential land use designation to Rural Residential-5 (with five specific residential parcels) is a real zoning change which typically costs several additional thousands.
After your land use designation is changed, and your specific zoning is changed, you then have to get a development permit. Then you need a use permit, perhaps major, perhaps minor. Then a building permit. Then a final sign off after construction.
At any step along the way you can be denied based on objections only God, senior members of the Planning Department, the Planning Commission and the Supervisors may raise. Or requirements can be imposed that cost whatever additional amounts. So, after spending considerable funds getting to what you may think is final approval you can still find yourself getting a slam dunk NO from Mendocino County, land that you love.
Oh, and did we mention possible lawsuits from neighbors?
Assuming you've got your project past the County of Mendocino, there may also be easements to consider and, perhaps, Fish and Game permissions and Caltrans or County encroachment permits and traffic studies, a complete set of engineering and geological reports, along with CalFire road approvals, and maybe even an archeological clearance certifying that there are no ancient Indian burial grounds to be disturbed — Mendocino County being much more solicitous of dead Indians than it ever was to live ones.
Unless, of course, you’re applying for a tasting room on your ag land.
Tasting room? No problemo. Go right ahead. Whatever. Fine with Mendo. Come right in. Bon appetite!
Tasting rooms are agriculture, like produce stands, you see, so as long as you’re selling wine that’s at least 50% made from grapes grown on your vineyard (according to you), no steenking rezoning or permit requirements apply.
Tasting rooms do not require use permits, not even minor use permits, thanks to the Board of Supervisors who, even though they say they must have “cost recovery” from other county services to beat back budget deficits, the Supervisors explicitly refused to require minor use permits for roadside wine bars as part of the General Plan Update process a few years ago because, gosh, if they did that then nobody’d build tasting rooms anymore!
Which is what the Tasting Room Lobby told the Planning Commission back in 2008 when Anderson Valley’s own small group of well-meaning volunteer planners tried to get the County to at least require minor use permits for tasting rooms, much as use permits are required for, say, childcare facilities, barbershops, restaurants, curio shops and plain old booze bars stuffed with, ah, less, er, ah, companionable hooch quaffers than are presumably found in the permitless roadside booze boutiques.
We vividly recall that day when the Planning Commission held a special meeting at the Boonville Fairgrounds as they prepared to rubberstamp the multi-million dollar, consultant-prepared General Plan Update. After the local planners made their modest suggestion that tasting rooms be required to obtain minor use permits like everybody else, a local wine guy in a brightly colored Hawaiian shirt came to the podium, presuming to represent his fellow winemakers, to ask, “Why do you hate us so much?”
(Mark Scaramella)
MENDO JURY TRIALS
Trying criminal cases as a prosecutor is a team activity. While the highly-visible prosecutor in the courtroom is often characterized as the captain or quarterback for the law enforcement team, there are other teammates who come and go during the course of a trial, as well as some working behind the scenes who may never be seen by jurors or spectators.
Who are these teammates? The investigating law enforcement and civilian witnesses, skilled DA investigators, legal research deputy DA's, hard-working secretaries who prepare subpoenas, jury instructions and jury verdict forms, Victim-Witness advocates who guide both victims and witnesses through the criminal justice system, as well as other critical clerical workers doing the necessary work required of Mendocino County’s largest constitutional law firm – the Office of the District Attorney.
The ongoing courtroom success of the Mendocino County DA's trial team since 2011 to present can be traced back to the efforts of the many who contribute to and pursue justice with one of our goals being the maintenance of societal and local order.
As we move into the New Year, thank you one and all for your willingness to work hard and do the right thing for victims and others affected by crime in our Mendocino County communities.
(DA Presser)
SUPERVISOR MAUREEN MULHEREN:
As I begin my second term as your County Supervisor, I want to express my deep gratitude for the trust you’ve placed in me.
Over the past four years, I’ve dedicated myself to connecting with our community, listening to your needs, and working tirelessly to serve our county. Our journey together has been one of growth, challenges, and triumphs, and I remain committed to fostering engagement and collaboration every step of the way.
As we move forward, my focus will continue to be on enhancing community services, promoting economic growth, and ensuring that every voice is heard. Your participation and feedback are invaluable, and I encourage you to stay engaged, share your thoughts, and join me in shaping a future that benefits us all.
Here’s to continued service, strengthened connections, and a vibrant community!
OLDIES AND GOODIES REDUX AT PARTNERS GALLERY
In January Partners is showing a collection of past creations from the archives of gallery members.
They may reflect works in unfamiliar media or subject matter. Earlier works often offer different perspectives by the artists and this is a chance to enjoy a few of them.
There are pieces in a variety of media including drawing, painting, etchings, mixed media and sculpture.
The show runs from January 9 - 31.
There is a Second Saturday Meet the Artists January 11, 5-7pm
Gallery hours are Thursday through Monday 11-4pm
The gallery is located at 45062 Ukiah St in Mendocino.
www.partnersgallery.com
MENDOCINO THEN & NOW:
A northeastward view of Mendocino's Main Street from The Point on the Headlands, taken between 1968 and 1972 by Eastman's Studio, Susanville, California. In the foreground are wooden remnants of the structures that once occupied this lumber company shipping place. Some of the upright parts embedded in the ground may have been used by unknown sculptors to create totem or Tiki-type posts that persisted for decades overlooking the Bay.
Some of the buildings on Main Street that can be identified, left to right, are: the Ramus-Hee Building with the glassed-in front porch; the unpainted remnant of a building that was once the Ramus Saloon; an empty lot known as Tank Alley, but later filled with a small store; and the two-story white building known as the Everson-Bank of Commerce Building, which housed Alphonso's Mercantile from 1970-2003.
Continuing right is the former Eugene Brown Store that has recently been rebuilt in this photo as The Village Barn and Gallery, and right of that is the two-story Eugene Brown House, built in 1878. A one story, unpainted building to its right is the home of John Granskog, but would later be turned into Bill Zacha's final location for his Bay Window Gallery. The 2.5 story structure next door was originally built in 1906 and was called the Eagle Saloon. It became a garage building, and was later torn down.
Two white buildings occupy the corners of Kasten and Main Streets - the Bank Building on the left, built in 1908, would later house the Out of This World store, and the Jarvis & Nichols Building across from it on Kasten, home for many years to Dostal’s Clock Shop (location of today’s Gallery Bookshop). The light turquoise building to its right is the building once known as the Remedy Store, and which is seen in this image undergoing its transformation into the Remedy Arcade shops with an entire wall opened up and filled with large windows. The last building on Main Street seen here is the old Post Office Building, built in 1957.
Several water towers appear in this photograph. The tallest one, seen right of the Odd Fellows Hall, is the Heeser Water Tower, missing its topmost water tank at this point in time. Its accompanying windmill can be seen farther right near the two-tank water tower that belongs to the Jarvis-Nichols Building. The pale yellow tower with the distinctive square top farther back is on Ukiah Street next to the MacCallum house. Immediately to its left is a tower without a tank, probably belonging to the Mendocino Hotel, whose mustard gold-painted corner is just visible on Main Street.
(kelleyhousemuseum.org)
ED NOTES
ON AN OTHERWISE unamusing medical morning, I suddenly recalled the three funniest cartoons I've ever seen. (1) A troubled man casts his eyes heavenward, pleading, "Why me, God? Why me?" God looks down and says, "There's just something about you that pisses me off." (2) A Stone Age man is sitting in a tree as another primitive passes by below. The man in the tree shouts, “You're nobody! Got that? Nobody!” (3) A man is walking through a desert when he spots a flower some distance off his path. He detours to the flower, stomps it, returns to his path and walks on.
THAT ANONYMOUS HIPPIE who recommended back in '67 that we “let it all hang out” may have lived to regret the advice. In an encounter that would have won a consensus “odd” prior to that pivotal year, a woman sat down next to me the other day at the dying Northgate Mall as I was enjoying the passing parade, as usual noting that the culture has long since passed me by, and nearly to the point of unrecognizability
MY SIMPLETON'S MUG seems to inspire the confidences of strangers, strangers ranging on the Loon Scale from mildly unhinged to pop-eyed bonkers. I pegged this lady of middle years at the mild end of the mental illness charts, although she was too old to be dressed as a teenager.
“Hi,” she began as she seated herself. “Mind if I sit down here?” Without so much as an introductory sentence she proceeded to tell me that her daughter was 23 and had “never been kissed,” but was now engaged to “a Catholic who goes to Mass every day and belongs to that secret society Magna Carta or whatever it's called.”
I MUTTERED an avuncular assurance that her daughter could do worse.
“NOW she's going to Mass every day and they're engaged. Next thing I know my little girl will be a baby factory! Why haven't they invented a birth control pill the Catholics approve of?”
I SAID I didn't know, but that I had every confidence in medical science, Catholic and non-denominational. “He's a rich Catholic, though,” she said ignoring my assurance as she mimed a couple of vigorous overhead pulling motions accompanied by overly loud, “ka-ching, ka-chings."
BECAUSE a Chinese family happened to be walking past I thought for a panicked moment my new friend was delivering an ethnic slur until I realized she was mimicking the ka-ching, ka-ching sounds of a cash register. “At least they'll have the money for a lot of kids,” she said, smiling, perhaps at the thought of her daughter in a velvet nursery.
“SORRY, gotta go. Here comes my husband.”
BRUNO, a reel short movie review. I thought Sasha Cohen's first movie, ‘Borat,’ was funny. I think there's lots of funny stuff in ‘Bruno,’ but the funny is too often dragged down by the unfunny, the excruciatingly unfunny, the painfully unfunny. ‘Bruno’ the movie consists of a series of encounters between Cohen's flamboyantly gay character, Bruno, and guileless patsies, can't miss targets who include a couple of fundamentalist preachers, an astrologer, the audience at an Arkansas cage fight, a uniquely unattractive group of wife swappers, the singer Paula Abdul and, of all people, Ron Paul, the last reacting with zero grace to Cohen's see-through gay schtick.
MOST READERS of this newspaper know that many of our fellow citizens are almost primordially primitive. We don't need to go to a cage fight or an astrologer for confirmation. Put two faux gay men making out in the center of the ring at a cage fight and what do you suppose the cage fight audience's reaction will be? (One guy is so dismayed he looks like he's going to cry, the rest of the spectators start throwing chairs and death threats.)
THE MOVIE'S IDEA, I guess, is to parody homophobia, but ‘Bruno’ is so crude, its targets so defenseless, it never rises to parody. I saw it with my daughter in the middle of the day at a city theater. Of the dozen people in the audience the women laughed the hardest; I have no idea what that means, or if that gender trend would hold up with a larger sampling.
MY DAUGHTER LAMENTED, “If I'd known it was going to be this gross I wouldn't have brought my father.” But if I'd known it was going to be so offensive, so extremely incorrect, so bracingly in yer face, I'd have brought KZYX.
NORTH BAY ACTIVISTS, POLITICIANS CELEBRATE BIDEN’S OFFSHORE DRILLING BAN
President Biden’s last-minute order, said Sonoma County Supervisor Lynda Hopkins “does give you some hope, that there are things that can be done, to create lasting safeguards.”
by Austin Murphy
President Joe Biden has banned new offshore oil and gas drilling across a vast swath of federal waters, including the entire coast of California, Oregon and Washington, in a move seen as a last-minute effort to thwart actions by the incoming Trump administration to expand offshore drilling.
North Bay politicians and environmental activists expressed gratitude, relief and — in the case of one veteran anti-drilling activist — confidence that it will be extremely difficult for Donald Trump to undo the sweeping new strictures once he takes over the White House in two weeks.
The ban, announced Monday, protects nearly 630 million acres in offshore areas along the East and West coasts, the eastern Gulf of Mexico and portions of Alaska's Northern Bering Sea.
To withdraw those areas from future oil and gas leasing, Biden used his authority under a provision of a 1953 law, the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act — the same law that previous presidents have used to protect areas of the coast, including President Trump, who sought to safeguard a stretch of the Atlantic coast during his first term.
“So we do not believe this can be reversed or undone. I feel entirely comfortable that today’s action is Trump proof,” said Bodega Bay activist Richard Charter, a senior fellow at the Ocean Foundation.
In a statement Monday, Biden said his decision “reflects what coastal communities, businesses and beachgoers have known for a long time: that drilling off these coasts could cause irreversible damage to places we hold dear and is unnecessary to meet our nation’s energy needs.”
The new orders would not affect large swathes of the Gulf of Mexico, where most U.S. offshore drilling occurs, but it would protect a vast, unbroken stretches of the Pacific and Atlantic coastlines from future drilling.
(pressdemocrat.com)
NORM CLOW
Thinking back at our long-delayed re-visit to the California Palace of the Legion of Honor Fine Arts Museum at Land’s End in San Francisco during our week there last month at my sister’s place in the Haight, I forgot I had booklet on it until I ran across it in one of my 15 bookcases scattered around the house, not where it should have been in the art enclave. Opened in 1924, the museum was built by Adolph and Alma Spreckels (think “sugar”) as a three-quarter replica of the original 1788 palace on Paris’ West Bank. It was enlarged in the 1990s and stands today as one of the premier fine arts museums in the country (certainly, as you can see in the photo from this publication, in a much better location and atmosphere as ours 30 miles south in downtown Houston!). I first visited it as a youngster in the late 1950s and 60s, later in college as an art major, and then over the years. As I mentioned in my earlier post, it was our first visit since 2003. With any luck, it won’t be our last.
CATCH OF THE DAY, Monday, January 6, 2025
MARCIE BRENDLEN, 35, Ukiah. Domestic battery.
DAVID BYER, 41, Willits. Failure to appear.
ISABELLA CANADY, 22, Gualala. DUI.
CHADLEY GOTTSIMMONS, 41, Ukiah. Under influence, paraphernalia.
MARCO LICEA JR., 33, Calpella. DUI, evasion.
LAROY MADDEN-STEPHENS, 42, Ukiah. Unspecified offense.
MICHAEL MORRIS, 39, Ukiah. Domestic abuse.
BILL BRYSON IS AN ENTERTAINING WRITER
by Paul Modic
The author Bill Bryson writes fascinating books, educational as well as entertaining, and I listened to most of them last winter. He explores in depth looks at many aspects of human life, history, and geography through his intense research, interviews with experts, and following tangents deep into the past. He travels the world, including the United States, and tells about what he sees, and for the reader it’s an educational, often humorous experience, and I recommend all of his books.
One is called The Body and yup, he goes through every system and organ, traces the history of anatomical discovery by scientists, doctors and self-educated laymen who often made the first and subsequent discoveries. A continuing theme, in this and his other books, is that often the true discoverer or inventor doesn’t get the recognition or credit, personal or financial, just by chance. You will cringe at the early medical techniques, at least I did, Bryson’s basic message being that you, especially women, would have been better off by not going to a doctor back in the olden days. (But hey, killing off those tens of thousands of people accidentally, out of ignorance and inexperience, lead to many discoveries and treatments which did work, so what a tradeoff, eh?)
In The Body there was an astounding process illustrated by Bryson which I’ll attempt to describe, paraphrase, as an example of how amazing our bodies are: When a baby is breastfeeding it will inject certain enzymes (or something like that) into the mother’s body through her breasts, which will then interact with the chemical makeup of her mother’s milk, and transform it before delivery, to optimize that individual baby’s health. (I should have just quoted Bryson at length but you get the idea: read or listen to the book to get the unfiltered description.)
In his book Shakespeare: The World as Stage, Bryson investigates The Bard’s work and life and comes to the conclusion that the conspiracy theories are most likely wrong, that it was Shakespeare who wrote his plays, and not someone else. (Bryson has lived in Great Britain for many decades. His book about growing up in Iowa, "The Thunderbolt Kid,” is an amusing and entertaining read, and he’s also published travel books about Australia, hiking the Appalachian Trail, and exploring England, among many others.)
His book The History of Everything was the only one which included sections beyond my comprehension, as he got into the beginning of the universe, black holes, quarks, and really went deep, too deep for me at times. In One Summer: America, 1927, the chapter about Babe Ruth was pretty fucking great, as well as the rest of the book.
(Our local library has many Bill Bryson books and books on CD, or they can all be ordered free of charge.)
49ERS’ DISASTROUS SEASON WAS AN EMBARRASSMENT. NOW THE HARD WORK OF FIXING IT BEGINS
by Ann Killion
Embarrassing.
That’s the way Nick Bosa described this San Francisco 49ers season. And he’s not wrong.
Rather than going out with pride and energy, instead of ending on a high note, the 49ers completed their season-long face plant here in the Arizona desert, falling to a hapless Cardinals team, 47-24.
The humbling defeat ended a season filled with cringe-worthy moments. The 49ers finished 6-11, with a 1-5 record in the weak NFC West.
It was the final indignity in the worst season ever in the Kyle Shanahan-John Lynch era, given the expectations and hopes when the season began, the roster talent and the payroll, and the extreme mediocrity of their division.
Given all of that, it has been a disaster.
“We’ve been processing this all year,” Shanahan said. “We’ve been trying to get there and you don’t really accept that you’re not going to get there until you’re eliminated from the playoffs.
“We were trying to finish it with a win. We didn’t get that today, but excited to get to this offseason and figure out how to not be in this situation again.”
There is an awful lot to figure out after this awful season. Coaching staff and assignments, roster personnel, free agency and draft priorities, cultural adjustments.
The 49ers’ apologists will draw parallels between this season and the 2020 season that also ended in the Arizona desert — where the 49ers were quarantined for the final six weeks of the season. They’ll note the injuries that were also a part of the Niners’ woes in 2020 after losing Super Bowl LIV, and that the 49ers were able to bounce back the next season, in large part because of the last-place schedule they had earned. They spent the three subsequent seasons as one of the NFL’s most-feared teams.
And, yes, there are similarities but there are also extreme differences, and not only because that weird and lousy season happened in a pandemic. This team is built upon many of the same key players, who are all now four years older, with far longer injury histories and far less tread on their tires. That 2020 team was still young in football terms; the 2019 Super Bowl team the season before probably arrived earlier than expected. The 49ers had not yet squandered three first-round draft picks for Trey Lance. The future was bright and full of flexibility.
But now, while the 49ers’ Super Bowl window isn’t completely closed it is definitely not wide-open. The 49ers might be able to get their swagger back next season with the forgiving nature of a fourth-place schedule littered with awful teams. But they must not be in denial about how much work is needed to regain their once-formidable aura. They can’t expect to simply run this group back and try to recreate 2023. While they don’t need a total rebuild, they definitely need a major retooling.
In the past three seasons, the 49ers have hit rough patches but were able to recover and go on winning streaks. Because of that history, they seemed to assume that they were going to snap out of their slide this season. It didn’t happen.
“Embarrassment. It doesn’t feel good,” Bosa said of his season-ending feelings. “It’s hard to look the guys in their faces, as a leader on the team. That that’s the product that we kept putting out game after game. It’s pretty embarrassing.”
To their credit, the 49ers’ players did not point the finger at injuries, because they know this was about more than missing key players. Other teams — like Kansas City and Detroit — have also been hit hard by injuries, yet have found ways to win games.
Both George Kittle and Fred Warner — the respective leaders of the offense and defense — pointed the finger most prominently at turnovers. The 49ers’ offense turned the ball over and the defense couldn’t force turnovers: since coming back from the bye week they have a minus-14 turnover margin, second-worst in the NFL, just ahead of the Cleveland Browns. On Sunday, they turned the ball over three times, in contrast to Arizona’s clean sheet.
“The reasons why we’re losing is not very fun: turnovers, not converting in the red zone, not scoring points,” Kittle said.
Warner said, “The takeaways, the lack thereof, is what killed us. We pride ourselves in taking the ball away and protecting it on offense. That’s the key to winning games and when you’re not doing that you don’t give yourself any type of chance of winning.”
Injuries were, of course, a factor. The 49ers have to take a hard look at offensive tackle Trent Williams, who missed the final seven games with an ankle injury. When asked a few weeks ago if it was potentially a career-ender for the lineman who will be 37 next season, Shanahan said, “not that we’ve heard,” which is a different answer from a hard “no.”
Is Christian McCaffrey going to get healthy? He arrived in Santa Clara with a reputation as being injury-prone but had been productive with the 49ers until this season. But he has now played in 46 of 84 regular-season games in the past five seasons, or just slightly over 50% of his games.
There are a lot of hard questions that the 49ers will be pondering as the postseason rolls on without them for the first time in four years.
As this miserable season has progressed, the 49ers have been more honest about the mental toll losing the Super Bowl took on them. This week Deebo Samuel, who was held out of Sunday’s game due to injury, went on Amon-Ra St. Brown’s podcast and told the Detroit receiver that losing the Super Bowl put him “in depression.”
“You go months without talking to people, wanting to be seen,” Samuel said. “Losing the Super Bowl is one of the worst feelings ever… You went through the whole season, we got here, we lose and now you’re going back to work in three weeks about to do it all over again.”
It turns out the 49ers couldn’t do it all over again. Not even close. They ended their season embarrassed.
And now comes the hard work.
(SF Chronicle)
BILL KIMBERLIN:
On a trip to New York with my brother some time ago, we took a side trip into Connecticut and visited author’s homes. Teddy Roosevelt (Long Island), Mark Twain, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Eugene O’Neal, Herman Melville, Louisa May Alcott and Henry David Thoreau.
We saw Walden Pond and a reconstruction of the cabin Thoreau famously built. The pond was used for sawing blocks of ice in winter and shipping them down river at a time before refrigeration was invented.
But the most surprising thing was learning about the Thoreau Pencil Company. Their pencils were the most popular American made pencils at the time and they dominated the market in the U.S. Profits from the pencil factory that was started by his father, bought the family a home in Concord, Massachusetts and paid for Thoreau’s books, Walden and Civil Disobedience.
Selling pencils also paid for Henry’s Harvard education. In those days the school issued cannon balls to their students, to be heated and used as bed warmers.
Most pencils at the time were very low in quality. Henry’s father had discovered a type of graphite mine and cornered the market in pencils with a superior product. Henry was now all-in and perfected cutting short pieces of wood and trenching them to fill with the graphite and sealing the half’s together.
When the family learned that their graphite mine could simply sell their product to the new electrotyping process of printing, they slowed the pencil sales and made more money just selling the graphite to the printing industry.
Walden was self published by Henry in 1859 after his father had died. It didn’t sell well and Henry died in 1862 of tuberculosis, possibly hastened by some of the inhaling sawdust and graphite.
ON-LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY
I don't see the need to hop on any Presidential train. I am going to wait in the station until I see what TRUMP does about Gaza, the Ukraine the pardons, etc - I think too many who hopped off the Biden train, just hopped immediately onto TRUMPS - and i am old enough to having believed too many campaign promises that were never mentioned again once the candidate was in office. Trump may indeed dismantle the "system" but I rather believe Glenn Greenwald's position that there is little difference between the Dems and Repubs - I am waiting with a hopeful heart.
MOHAMMAD MOSSADEGH, who was briefly democratically elected premier of Iran in the 1950s before being deposed by the CIA, was someone who told the truth too early. The truth needs time to mature, because otherwise it’s seen as heresy. The Shah, who the CIA installed to replace Mossadegh, didn't understand that destroying a man like Mossadegh wouldn't make him cease to exist. On the contrary, he begins to exist all the more. The scythe swings, and at once the grass starts to grow back. Cut again and the grass grows faster than ever.
— Ryszard Kapusinski, “The Shah of Shahs”
FREDERIC SACKRIDER REMINGTON (October 4, 1861 – December 26, 1909) was an American painter, illustrator, sculptor, and writer who specialized in the genre of Western American Art. His works are known for depicting the Western United States in the last quarter of the 19th century and featuring such images as cowboys, American Indians, and the US Cavalry.
LEAD STORIES, TUESDAY'S NYT
Ignoring Warnings, a Growing Band of Tourists Venture to Afghanistan
Justin Trudeau’s Trying to Save His Party. Is He Hurting Canada?
First Bird Flu Death in U.S. Reported in Louisiana
Dana White, the Ultimate Fighting Championship C.E.O., Joins Meta’s Board
For Many Returning Russian Veterans, a Long Road of Recovery Awaits
WOKE ELVIS RESIGNS
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was an overgrown pick-up artist whose humiliating downfall will stand forever as a cautionary tale for men
by Matt Taibbi
A number of years ago, I was wearing a beautiful cable knit turtleneck that my wife got me, and had a blazer… I was feeling like I was dressed pretty cool, and a random bunch of guys who didn’t recognize me sort of walked into the hotel and said, “Hey, turtleneck boy!” And I was like, hey, I like this look!
— Justin Trudeau, Chatelaine magazine, 2018
In a move that CNN described as “choosing to jump before he is pushed,” Canadian Prime Minister and feminist heartthrob Justin Trudeau resigned this morning. His departure completes an unprecedented popularity cliff dive, dropping from 65% to an incredible 16% approval rating over the course of a nine-year reign that men will chuckle over, from now through the end of time. Centuries from now, fathers will sit sons on their knees and tell The Fall of Trudeau as a cautionary tale…
https://www.racket.news/p/woke-elvis-resigns
PRANK-O-RAMA
by James Kunstler
Poor “Joe Biden” can’t help himself as the suns sets on his ignominious career. He ordered the American flag to fly at half-staff into January 20, inauguration day, to signal grief and distress at Donald Trump’s swearing-in — not realizing, apparently, that Mr. Trump’s first act in office will be to order the flags raised back up, signaling symbolically the end to America’s grief and distress under “Joe Biden.”
You might wonder: what other sort of vicious mischief the Party of Chaos has in store in the final ramp-up to a momentous change of government? Well, no sooner had ol’ “JB” draped the Wegovy-slenderized neck of Hillary Clinton with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, than Bill Clinton went on ABC’s The View to declare he was “open to talking with [‘President Biden’]” about a preemptive pardon for Hillary.
Say, whu…? What crimes did Bill have in mind that such a pardon might avail? Skokovo? Uranium One? The Clinton Foundation’s sketchy activities in Haiti after the earthquake there? Bill preemptively mentioned the old emails bidness as a ruse. Nothing to see there, folks, he protested. (Just don’t look anywhere else!)
You must imagine that the incoming Solicitor General, John Sauer’s, first act in office will be to ask SCOTUS for a ruling on the legitimacy of preemptive pardons — blanket pardons for crimes alive perhaps in guilty consciences but nowhere extant as yet in the legal system. The justices might detect a certain logical incoherence in that proposition. “Joe Biden” should have just draped wreaths of garlic around the necks of Mrs. Clinton, Liz Cheney, and Alex Soros (standing in for ol’ George).
Judge Juan Merchan did not get a medal. He’s warming up for his January 10 stunt of sentencing of Mr. Trump for the “felony” of recording a payment to lawyer Michael Cohen as a “legal expense” (times thirty-four) so Democrats can holler “nyah nyah, felon!” as Mr. Trump re-enters the Oval Office. Judge Merchan himself has racked-up an impressive list of federal offenses around deprivation of Mr. Trump’s civil rights and due process issues as well as judicial misconduct, obstruction of justice, and abuse of power. Justice may await the judge.
January 6, of course, is electoral vote certification day in a joint session of Congress. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) has been making noises about contesting certification on the grounds that Mr. Trump is an “insurrectionist” under the disqualification clause in Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. Don’t be surprised if Jamie makes a show of it to justify all his loose talk, but it will only be a performance. He might as well bring a chicken into the chamber and bite its head off.
The shadowy claque behind “Joe Biden” has been super-busy cooking up documents for the demented old bird to sign before leaving office, anything that supposedly might discommode the incoming Mr. Trump. “JB” is like a bandit fleeing the scene of a crime, throwing his stolen booty into the road off the back of his truck to trip up the police closing in.
Close down offshore oil drilling off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts for evermore… ban gas-powered water heaters… any old thing to make life more uncomfortable for the people of this land. The shadowy claque seems oblivious to the fact that the people won’t appreciate these pranks, that they just give more reasons for them to drive a wooden stake through the heart of the Democratic Party — as if it even had one.
Prank-of-the-week, though, goes to Tony Blinken’s State Department. No sooner had Congress defunded his agency’s Global Engagement Center (GEC) — that is, its censorship coordination hub — than the muppets at State redistributed GEC’s personnel to other corners of the agency and scared up new funding for their censorship activities from some dark hidey-hole of sequestered money. Do they suppose no one will find out where these employees went? All that’s necessary is to look up who was on the GEC’s payroll in 2024, and earlier in the hub’s heyday, and see if they remain on the State Department’s payroll now — and then fire the whole lot of them for cause: abrogating Americans’ First Amendment rights. Buh-bye…
You are not out-of-order worrying, of course, that the political Left and the deep state blob behind them might look, in desperation, for other ways to prevent Donald Trump from getting sworn in. There’s the president-elect’s rally in DC the night before the inauguration. Not a few MAGAs are wondering if that’s really a good idea. And the recent garish drone swarms around the USA have put folks ill at ease about a swearing-in on the west front of the US Capitol, out in the open air.
I’d even be a little concerned about the mechanicals of Mr. Trump’s airplane as he flies north from Mar-a-Lago to the big event in Washington. Nobody will surprised if “Joe Biden” does not show up on the dais at the Capitol that fateful day. He at least has one final snub left for Mr. Trump as “JB” departs office with the pardon he will preemptively lay on himself in the wee hours of January 19 — in case anyone might inquire into all those shadow companies that First Son Hunter was running over the years to receive money from China, Ukraine, Russia, Romania, and Gawd knows who else, to be redistributed (i.e., laundered) through the innumerable bank accounts of Biden family members. There is that to consider.
CANADA'S 'INSUFFERABLE TOOL' JUSTIN TRUDEAU RESIGNS
by Tom Leonard
Once upon a time it looked like nothing could ever go wrong for Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. He was the fairytale prince of international politics, and wife Sophie was his equally perfect princess.
Young, tall, unfeasibly good-looking, he and his ex-TV presenter and personal shopper wife had three beautiful children to match and a shared mission to change the world – one woke step at a time.
If to outsiders and political opponents they seemed just a little bit sanctimonious and smug - actually, achingly, teeth-gratingly smug - to many of their fellow Canadians, who are sometimes accused of having the same faults, it didn't seem to matter.
Their ridiculous, virtue-signalling antics – from posting online photos of their impressive yoga positions to dressing the entire family in lavish traditional Indian costumes during a 2018 trip to New Delhi – received nothing like the mockery they surely deserved.
When Trudeau in 2011 raised over $1,000 by performing a partial striptease in front of a whooping audience at a charity gala and did push-ups while announcing that Canada was ready to compete in the 2016 Invictus Games for disabled veterans, Canadians overlooked his appalling poseur tendencies.
Indeed, Teflon Trudeau and his lovely wife could do no wrong. They were the darlings of the progressive world, worshipped on social media, and Canada was apparently riding high under his enlightened leadership.
Now, nearly a decade on from leading a decisive election victory in 2015 – the second-best in the Liberal Party history – his personal life is in shambles, and it's all fallen apart politically for Trudeau as he finally announced his resignation as prime minister on Monday.
Trudeau's government had been struggling for months – largely due to a limping Canadian economy, wounded by rising unemployment, low growth and record inflation driving up the cost of living and housing.
Trudeau's personal popularity has also plummeted, with a recent poll revealing that fewer than one in five Canadians felt the country was heading in the right direction.
And so, suddenly, the man who once promised to bring 'sunny ways' back to Canada came under immense political pressure - even from a majority of his own caucus – to step aside.
Trudeau, 53, the son of former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, got an unpleasant taste of that new mood several days ago while on a skiiing holiday in British Columbia. As revealed in a video post shared on social media, a woman approached him in the parking lot of the Red Mountain Resort in Rossland and he greeted her with his trademark glittering smile and handshake.
'Mr. Prime Minister,' she said. 'Please get the fuck out of [British Columbia].' He politely replied, 'Have a beautiful day ma'am,' which seemed to rile her even more. 'Yeah, you suck,' she said as Trudeau walked away.
It's anyone's guess which particular government policy had prompted her outburst, but it could easily have been his progressive stance on immigration.
In October, Trudeau announced Canada would sharply cut the number of new immigrants allowed into the country, after admitting his administration's decision to allow a flood of new permanent citizens over the last four years put intolerable pressure on Canada's housing market.
It was another humiliating climbdown for a prime minister who had long bragged about how his country was so much better than other rich Western countries at welcoming newcomers and integrating them into the culture and economy.
It also gave President-elect Donald Trump a chance to crow and chalk up a victory for his tough borders policy, commenting: 'Even Justin Trudeau wants to close Canada's borders.'
Recent woes also certainly brought matters to a head - first, Trump threatened to impose potentially crippling 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian imports, then, three weeks ago, Trudeau's deputy prime minister, Chrystia Freeland, resigned from his minority government in disagreement over how to handle that threat. (The US is Canada's biggest market and is responsible for buying nearly all its foreign sales of oil.)
Freeland's dramatic departure - the fifth minister to step down in 12 months - and her jibe about the government's reliance on 'costly political gimmicks,' such as Trudeau's plan to send a $250 cheque to most working Canadians, was a devastating blow.
And Trump, who has never had any time for Trudeau, twisted the knife by renewing his running gag about Canada becoming the 51st US state, referring to Trudeau as 'Governor' of the 'Great State of Canada' and suggesting Canadians would 'save massively on taxes and military protection'.
That was even after Trudeau had endured the humiliation of hot-footing it down to Mar-a-Lago in late November to kiss the ring. His decision to dispense with the usual protocol and wait for a formal post-inauguration state visit backfired as it made him look somewhat desperate.
Insiders told Fox News that Trump even jokingly mentioned the 51st state idea at the dinner, embarrassing Trudeau. He might feel further humiliated that some Canadians say they like the idea of merging with the US.
Perhaps summing up how the President-elect really feels about Trudeau, Elon Musk, now Trump's 'first buddy' and a close ally, recently described the Canadian leader as an 'insufferable tool'.
But beyond the international embarrassments, Trudeau was creating problems of his own at home.
His government's heavy-handed Covid-era restrictions thoroughly antagonized his critics and culminated in a standoff with hundreds of truckers who descended on Ottawa in January 2022 to protest these vaccine mandates. Their demonstrations ground the city to a halt.
Trudeau responded by invoking Canada's 'Emergencies Act' for the first time in the nation's history to subdue the allegedly 'illegal and dangerous' protest blockades. Nearly one year ago, a federal judge ruled that the Liberal government's response was unreasonable, unconstitutional and unjustifiable.
And as Trudeau public image crumbled, there was failure in his private life.
In August 2023, he and his wife Sophie called time on their 18-year marriage - just two days after Trudeau appeared at a news conference with a bandage on his forehead.
He said he'd bumped his head playing with their children but the timing looked odd and there had been whispers for years – denied by the couple – that the marriage was on the rocks. Trudeau firmly repudiated claims that he'd had affairs in the past, but Sophie was evasive when asked by an interviewer in 2015 if there had been infidelity.
'I can tell you right away that no marriage is easy,' she said evasively to The Globe And Mail newspaper. 'I'm almost kind of proud of the fact that we've had hardship, yes, because we want authenticity. We want truth.'
In truth, the Trudeau star was fading long before then – his endless wokery veering into self-parody.
In 2018, even he realized he'd gone too far when he corrected a female member of the audience who'd used the word 'mankind' at a political meeting of young people. 'We like to say 'peoplekind' not necessarily 'mankind',' he corrected her. 'It's more inclusive.' He later claimed he'd been joking but few believed him.
Trudeau later supported a Canadian Senate bill to make the country's national anthem gender neutral by removing the word 'sons', and wrote solemn essays for women's magazines on how he would turn his two sons into sexism-fighting feminists.
And he faced allegations of hypocrisy when it emerged in September 2019 that he had worn 'blackface' (skin-darkening makeup) at least three times when he was younger. It's difficult to imagine progressive Trudeau tolerating such a woke transgression by any of his political opponents.
In one snap, he was elaborately costumed as Aladdin for an end-of-year 'Arabian Nights' party at a smart private school in British Columbia.
His fellow teachers barely bothered to dress up for the 2001 event, but Justin Trudeau had gone for it, donning a white robe, theatrical turban and even dark make-up on his hands, face and neck.
In another picture, taken some years earlier, he was barely recognizable under an Afro wig and blackface while attending high school.
At other times, he wasn't so much politically-incorrect as stunningly tactless, such as when he was filmed singing Bohemian Rhapsody by a piano in a London hotel, two days before the Queen's funeral in 2022.
Last, but certainly not least, were the three ethics scandals that damaged his carefully-honed image for scrupulous rectitude: in 2017, Canada's ethics commissioner criticized him for accepting a family vacation on the private island Bahamian island of Aga Khan, a billionaire religious leader who claims to be a direct descendent of the prophet Muhammad and whose foundation has received millions from Trudeau's government.
Then in 2019, another commissioner found Trudeau had inappropriately tried to influence a criminal prosecution of a Quebec-based engineering firm, which was facing fraud and bribery charges.
He was in trouble a third time in 2020 over his government's decision to grant a $912 million contract to a charity with links to his family.
So many toe-curling scandals and so many remarkable recoveries.
Some will surely say the biggest mystery about the demise of Justin Trudeau's political career is why it took so long to happen.
(DailyMail)
A DEADLY APATHY
by David Shulman
This winter in Israel-Palestine is a dark one, and not because the days are shorter. We have war crimes, man-made famine, and ethnic cleansing in both Gaza and the West Bank. Since early October the army has intermittently stopped humanitarian aid — i.e., food — from entering the northern part of Gaza, which has a population of some 200,000 or more. Much of that population has now been forcibly displaced toward the tent cities farther south, but it seems that tens of thousands of Palestinians are still hanging on in Jabaliya and Beit Lahiya, where the fighting and the bombing continue. Brigadier General Itzik Cohen, who is in command in the Jabaliya arena, has claimed that there are no civilians left in the north of Gaza. Oddly, many of these nonexistent ordinary people are being killed nearly every day. Here is one egregious example.
On October 29, after four soldiers were killed in Beit Lahiya, the army bombed a five-story apartment building; it claimed that a “lookout” had been sighted on the roof. Nearly 100 people died, at least 20 of them children, and we have no count of the wounded. An obscene question arises: Was it worth it? For a lookout? But I can't help asking myself: For this we created a Jewish state?
Judging by reports from the field, the plan seems to be to maintain Israeli control of northern Gaza indefinitely and — if the apocalyptic Messianists have their way — to settle it with Jews, as if nothing has been learned from the bitter experience of the past. We even have a high-ranking theorist of the current catastrophe in Gaza — retired major general Giora Eiland — who thinks that besieging a city or a country is perfectly legitimate under the rules of war, even if innocents who can't or won't get out die of starvation or illness. It seems that his plan for Gaza has now become the government's plan.
What comes next? I fear that it will be full-scale war with Iran. Reports from early December describe the situation in Beit Lahiya as unthinkable misery — rotting corpses in the ruins, no food, no water, no place to hide, no let-up in the bombings — while mass starvation has taken hold in the south of Gaza, partly because local criminal gangs commandeer the supply trucks that manage to get through the blockade.
Let's put aside, for the moment, the hard-hearted rationalizations that are all too prevalent among Israelis, such as “It's all the fault of Hamas,” or “They started it,” or “Our soldiers’ lives come first,” or “Our enemies want only to destroy us,” or “All Arabs are Hamas.” (This last one is common among Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's supporters and very close to his stated view of the Palestinian Authority.) What is striking, and horrific, is the fact that Israel has embraced cruelty and atrocity as a normative mode of waging war. It's not as if there was no cruelty in the army's rules of war before October 7, 2023. But since that date a dark miasma has enveloped the collective conscience of this country. If you watch the evening news on the mainstream Channel 2, or listen to government ministers and members of the Knesset, or even if you simply pay attention to accidental encounters with passersby, you usually perceive a blank indifference to the huge civilian casualties in Gaza, in Lebanon, and — in particular — among Palestinians in the West Bank. The government sets the tone; the army, although at odds with Netanyahu, follows suit; the Jewish supremacists marshal biblical texts proving the joys of revenge. For them, and for many others in Israel, tens of thousands of dead Palestinian civilians in Gaza are an acceptable price to pay for a reckless, savage war.
Needless to say, there are also many Israelis who are sickened by this idea and who have the courage to speak out or write against it publicly. But Netanyahu's autocratic state has made pursuing an endless war a self-fulfilling (in the case of Netanyahu, also self-serving) goal in the complete absence of any rational plan to end it. Eternal war is supposedly justified by the existential danger that this government has itself created, or recreated, after several decades in which Israelis felt reasonably secure, largely because of the peace agreements with Egypt and Jordan.
Not once in the course of the last 14 months have I heard the well-meaning reporters and commentators on Channel 2 utter a single syllable of sorrow, let alone remorse, at the mounting count of Palestinians killed in Gaza.
The statistics published by the Gaza Health Ministry or the human rights organizations still active there —perhaps inexact or inflated, as the army likes to claim — are almost never noted on the TV and radio news and only minimally reported in the press. Maybe remorse, or even polite regret, is too much to expect from a country at war.
Did the British and the Americans show any empathy with the victims (some 25,000) of the Dresden bombings of February 1945? Empathy is usually focused on individuals, not on groups. But still: believe it or not, the Palestinians are our sisters and brothers, and someday, if the Israeli state survives, they will be our partners in making peace. There is no other way forward. What we are experiencing now in Israel is a profound failure of our shared humanity, a deadly apathy of the soul. Worse still is the taste for killing and inflicting pain that has infected so many, beginning at the top.
(New York Review of Books)
Are Young White Men The New Oppressed Minority?
Okay, as one of the new crop of “bro-whisperers” let’s take some calls here on my new podcast, let’s try to see what makes young men feel underappreciated today, and specifically why they are becoming MAGA youth, more every year.
What is wrong with you men? We hope to find out, starting now, first call:
“Yeah, hi bro-whisperer, I…”
“Wait a minute, do you watch porn?”
“Of course!”
“Okay, well that’s probably your first problem. Stop. Call back when you’re a week or two ‘clean,’ okay? And that’s what you all should do, call when you’re clean and off porn and then we’ll talk.”
(No further calls came in, that day, week, or ever. Where were the disaffected men? Oh right…)
Not that I’m necessarily anti-porn, like Captain Esteemed, it’s just that I’ve had some experience and oh yeah, I should send in my porn story, but let me just paraphrase:
Two years ago I looked at porn twice, that was down from maybe 12 times the previous year.
Last year I got a new computer and didn’t want to infect it, so I’m happy to announce that
I just had a porn-free year, whoopie, I did it mom!
So like the reformed alcoholic, am I now going to judge those enjoying their sweet smartphone distractions?
Maybe, but that wouldn’t be cool…
Congratulations. It’s worth noting that the two largest purveyors of porn are owned by genocidal Zionists.
Onlyfans is owned by Leonid Radvinsky. He’s made over $1billion from Onlyfans in only the last three years. He is the top contributor to AIPAC, funding them with millions of dollars.
Pornhub and its associated sites are owned by Ethical [sic] Capital Partners, which is headed by Solomon Friedman, a rabbi who lived and trained in the genocidal Zionist state.
In 2002 when the IDF was attacking Ramallah (West Bank), they took over three television stations and broadcast porn on them. They started on a Saturday morning when kids were most likely to be watching without parental supervision.
VITA/Taxes
When Kym Kemp (RedHeadedBlackBelt) put up a notice about the VITA program, where the accounting students do the taxes for other students and community members, I signed right up. On the day of the appointment I went to the Cal Poly Humboldt (formerly HSU) campus early, found Seiman’s Hall, looked around for some legal parking, and bought a day pass for $3.50 from a friendly student working at a parking kiosk.
(I went shopping and then hung out with Ray Evans for an hour at the yogurt shop. He creates film projects for public access TV, and takes part in the finals production with the university film students, sharing his technical expertise as well as playing the older guy in their productions. I had met him a month earlier when he spotted me in the Co-Op as a possible older guy actor for a student production.)
I drove back to campus and found the room, a technology center with long tables covered with computers, and they assigned me my guy. He took my tax papers, driver’s license, Social Security card, and disappeared. I should have brought a book but entertained myself talking to another tax filer and his partner, as well as with the professor in charge, a tenured PhD who answered some tax-related questions.
The student ran my info on a computer program and came back, a few more students reviewed the results, printed out a copy for me to sign, sent that to the government, and fifteen minutes later the IRS computers had accepted it as correct. I hurried home after two hours, done with taxes for another year. (And didn’t owe shit.)
As I walked back to my car, I said enthusiastically to a few random students walking toward me, “Rock on! You are our FUTURE!”
They didn’t seem like they were exactly up for the responsibility, oh well.
Reckless driving
I don’t condone dangerous driving or reckless driving and the offenders are many. But it’s also rude to obstruct faster drivers. Large trucks get a pass, they can’t get back up to speed on grades. But the majority of people seem to ignore the buildup of cars behind them. The law states yield to 5 or more but, common courtesy on the rural roads should be to yield to anyone who is behind you. Just move outta the way. Stress free and back to business. You’ll never have to get passed dangerously if you force them to pass safely. Think about that…
Bullying with a vehicle is NOT ok. Pulling over when SAFE to do so in the drivers opinion, is ALWAYS the right thing to do. But bullying someone to do so, is NEVER ok. Remember that SoCal family driving 101 north of Willits, bullied into pulling over in an unsafe spot and their car went in the river where they ALL died? The bully driver just kept going. Its never ok to bully, especially in a car. Grow up.
100% agreed. And as the leading driver has the full control of the situation, they can pull over safely at their discretion.
Tailgating is NEVER okay, even behind a poker, even for a truck. You might flash headlights to request a pullout, that’s all. If your car or truck has modest acceleration, the technique to pass is to begin the process while the approaching vehicle is an appropriate distance ahead so that when it passes your speed is sufficient then to pass, still from a safe distance behind. From further back one also has a much better of the road ahead, which makes the safe method much easier.
“Trump Tough.” Only gay men look and dress like this. Not a smudge on shirt or pants and darling, real men don’t need gyms, they work.
So being in shape makes you a gay man? Wow, what a ridiculous statement and the most interesting thing is all the Libtards on this thread will not comment negatively towards you because this is really about your hate for Trump. If this was a Biden shirt being worn the animals on this thread would tear you apart.
Going to work and getting your hands dirty is a thing of the past. This new generation thinks you can work from home and cries when you mention they may have to go in to the office. You know who has pushed this, the Biden Administration. Free money and stay home. They used Covid to push this policy.
Trump supporters are the blue collar men and women who put in a hard days work to provide for their families. That’s who voted for him and left the Democrats. As you put it, the real men. Your statement defames gay and lesbian people, it also defames women. Real women work too. Real Americans work, they come in all colors and genders.
For the record, Covid happened during the reign of the golden wonder, and he made the policy. BTW,I didn’t see any of the provocations you attribute to Mr. K. No insult intended, Call, but you seem unhinged. What’s making you so unhappy? Trump won, so why are you still thumping us? The victory of this clown show is certainly causing us libtards some anxiety, as it is all rational Americans, but we’re still smiling.
Not unhinged. Just can’t stand ridiculous statements. Like your’s. Covid started in Trump’s term, but he did not hand out money to drive up inflation. The money he gave out was to businesses. Your boy, Sleepy Joe gave it to citizens and a lot went to scammers. Kept schools closed, which our children lost years. Businesses were crushed as his energy plan to shut oil down drove up prices. And don’t get me started on the border and crime. Just because Trump won doest’t make all this go away. Trump is tasked to fix it. And Jurgen, today’s youth are weak and that includes your princess AOC. Obviously you don’t own a business and have to try and hire them.
Why don’t you Libtards learn from a good ass kicking? But no, just keep talking trash.
I get the impression that in your mind, anyone who is anti-Trump has to be pro-Biden. I would venture to guess that you won’t find many AVA readers who are even slightly pro-Biden. I’m sure many readers voted for Harris but not many with enthusiasm. You have a very simplistic vision of the political spectrum. Your Overton window is a narrow one. I encourage you to look that up.
I am one of those tight-lipped reluctant voters for Harris et al, who is bewildered by the implication that I doing so automatically places me among “anti-Trumpers.” My total shock, with 75 years of political engagement — that DJT has been elected and given the keys to our kingdom — threatening to commandeer other countries using military might, activate US troops to conduct mass deportations, and destroy the network of “social” safety nets — knows no limits. Daily barrages of patriotically framed (red, white, and blue) settings where verbal belligerence is now “normal” and meaningless word-hurling babble displace entirely any discussion of presidential competence.
How can it be that almost a hundred million “citizens” and advantitious agitators (pimping their own government products) can be so deluded? The best I can do over here in Upper Lake is politely avoid the topic in all its hugeness when I see friends and neighbors at the post office.
In today’s edition, Mr. Kunstler forecast how “the political Left and the deep state blob behind them might look, in desperation, for other ways to prevent Donald Trump from getting sworn in.” That certainly hasn’t happened, only to heighten my dismay. Congressional confirmation of his success followed by the new king charging out of the pen (riding the uncontrollable bull, EM) and into the arena filled with happily complicit toreadors and showers of shredded constitutions and bills of rights.
The new circus will make us or break us, when they take the bread away: how many homeless, hungry, unhealthy, illiterate, addicted, psychotic, lonely, helpless people are there now, in this best of all possible worlds?
I suggest wearing pink ear plugs to the next W March, or the next Inauguration…never too late to start. Smile.
Another 4 years of hearing Panama and Canada mispronounced have me fit to be tied. Torture!
One thing we are learning in progressive steps is the eventuality of huge numbers of people being uprooted and displaced due to extreme weather events caused by global warming conditions in the atmosphere and ocean currents. We are a nation that recently aggressively stiff-armed migrating peoples. We have a tough learning period ahead.
There’s no conflict here, CIAISI.
Trump was one of Roy Cohn’s twinks. https://media.vanityfair.com/photos/5c4b4108a358ac6e49188fd5/master/w_2240,c_limit/roy-cohn-sundance-film-opener.png
When asked why he loves the YMCA song by The Village People so much, Trump said it was because the song is “the gay national anthem.” https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-gay-national-anthem-ymca-b2033188.html
After YMCA and Hold On I’m Coming (cough), Trump likes showtunes.
And finally, take a look at a picture of Trump’s first wife. Case closed.
In a couple of weeks, Musk will be president. Oops, sorry, I mean Trump will be president. What will you complain about then? That Palestinians still exist?
Elon Musk is one of the most bizarre men on the fact of this earth. He may be smart, in a way, and is surely rich, but he is one crazy, weird, monstrous person. And now–how the hell did this happen?”–he will soon be at the center of American power and decision-making.
God help us, God save us, from such men. Where have all the true statesmen gone? This is a time when we really need them….
They’re out there, in the younger generations, but they’re being denied the opportunity to lead by a bunch of dinosaurs that don’t know when to retire and are into it for the money. Nancy Pelosi, we thank you for your service, but please step down and let the new generation take over. The dinosaurs don’t need to die in office (RBG). They’re the reason we have Trump but still won’t get out of the way. Katie Porter, AOC, the young progressives are the leaders we need now. They will carry the fight to these fascists, authoritarians, and oligarchs trying to seize our democracy.
Yep, well-said and true, Jurgen.
I’ll complain about your moronic statements.
Think about it, my first statement was sticking up for gays, lesbians and women. As I predicted, all of you Libtards start attacking me because you think I’m the president of the Trump Fan Club. Including the Editor.
You all must hate James Carville and Van Jones, now. They are saying you need to learn from this past election. But don’t worry, Dementia Joe just gave Crooked Hillary and Soros’s son medal of honors. So you got that going for ya!
Of course I hate James Carville and Van Jones. They’re both Democrats, and Democrats are genocidal war criminals. So are Republicans. So is Trump. Are you incapable of basic reading comprehension? You’ve let yourself get so buried in the cult that you’ve reconstructed history in your mind – and in this new history of yours Trump never sent stimulus checks to people. You don’t even remember how he insisted that his signature be on the checks.
Gays, lesbians, and women are just fine in my book – unless they vote for Democrats or Republicans, in which case they’re just pro-genocide and pro-war criminal – just like you.
New York Times Today:
Fight for a North Carolina Court Seat Drags On
Samuele Landi On The run
Ezra Klein Interview/ Oliver Burkeman’s “Meditations For Mortals.”
Prius Economy
MOHAMMAD MOSSADEGH
Thank you.
I think all the wordsmiths on this page should be hammering out gold plated epigrams and silver tongued encomiums of purple prose for the up-coming Inaugural Ball, rather than all these snide verbal salads dressed in sarcastic vinaigrette. Tickets are worth a million each and so the best and brightest flatterers will strive to excel in adulation for the Triumph of Trump, like one of those ancient Caesars when they entered Rome on gilt chariots driving a hord of slaves laden with treasure before them and legions of honor following in train, by rank in precedence….
Sup Mulheren: “working tirelessly” is not something you can say about yourself.
Now back to the rest of MCT.