Mendocino County Today: Thursday 1/9/2025

By AVA News Service on January 9, 2025

DRY WEATHER is expected to continue as high pressure dominates. Gusty NE winds continue in SE Lake County into this morning. Chilly mornings are possible with skies clear this morning and Friday morning. A weak system is expected Friday with high pressure building back in late this weekend. (NWS)

STEPHEN DUNLAP (Fort Bragg): On the coast this Thursday morning I have 40F under clear skies. Good buddy Steve Paulson at KTVU says we might stay dry for the rest of January, we'll see.

Another Gualala sunset with UFO effects (Randy Burke)

THE LATEST TWIST: CUBBISON DISMISSAL DECISION TO COME AFTER JAN 22 PRELIMINARY HEARING

by Mike Geniella

Superior Court Judge Ann Moorman and attorneys agreed Wednesday to move ahead with a long-awaited preliminary hearing on criminal charges facing suspended Auditor Chamise Cubbison before the court decides whether to toss the case.

Cubbison and co-defendant Paula June Kennedy, the County of Mendocino’s former Payroll Manager, have waited 15 months for a preliminary hearing – typically the first major step in a criminal case – to be conducted while attorneys, judges, and the court wrangled over details surrounding a contentious case laced with county politics.

Cubbison attorney Chris Andrian and Fred McCurry, a county Public Defender representing Kennedy, agreed to argue their motions to have the case dismissed at the conclusion of an expected two-day preliminary hearing Jan. 22-23.

“This makes sense,” said Judge Moorman. Earlier in the week, after a day-long hearing on defense motions to dismiss the case, Moorman said she was leaning toward hearing prosecution evidence before ruling on the defense bids to stop the case from going to trial.

At issue is the possible role of retired Auditor Lloyd Weer in an office decision to allow Kennedy to use an obscure payroll code for extra pay over a three-year period because of unpaid hours during the Covid pandemic, and determination whether the collapse of an internal county email archival system hampered review of evidence that might have helped explain what happened.

On Wednesday during a Zoom meeting, Judge Moorman agreed to a new defense proposal to argue the merits of dismissing the case at the conclusion of the preliminary hearing later this month. The arrangement includes having testimony from three key witnesses given at a day-long hearing included as evidence at the preliminary hearing, along with a court-ordered transcript.

Concurring was Special prosecutor Traci Carrillo, a former Sonoma County prosecutor and criminal attorney hired by Mendocino County District Attorney David Eyster to try the Cubbison case. Carrillo received a $10,000 retainer and is receiving $400 per hour for her work under the terms of a contract Eyster reached with her.

On Monday, former Auditor Weer denied any direct approval of extra pay for Kennedy as her hours began to exceed the allowable compensatory time off for department managers. Weer acknowledged, however, that he had multiple meetings about the issue with Cubbison, and others. Weer also admitted meeting once with Kennedy about the pay issue, when she noted other county employees in similar positions were able to collect extra pay. During an investigation by sheriff’s Lt. Andrew Porter, Weer had denied discussing the extra pay issue directly with Kennedy.

Lt. Porter admitted he had preserved a single email between Kennedy and Cubbison, when he had access to all the emails among the two, and Weer. Later, the archival system collapsed, and defense attorneys argued, and prosecutor Carrillo agrees, that a full record is now impossible to obtain.

Key points that became clear from Monday’s testimony from Weer, Porter and IT Manager/Deputy CEO Tony Rakes include:

Cubbison did not personally benefit from the extra pay.
Kennedy’s workload was not doubted, and there is no evidence that the extra pay was wrongly earned.
Weer was still in charge of the Auditor’s Office when the extra pay started being made.
Rakes and other county officials for years were aware of nagging internal email-related archival issues, and that until recently, there was no official county email retention policy.

In October 2023 Eyster charged Cubbison and Kennedy with a single felony count of misappropriation of public funds, accusing them of conspiring to use a so-called 470 pay code to cover the extra pay. Kennedy contends Cubbison authorized her use of the code. Cubbison, whose relationship with Kennedy is now strained, denies she conspired with her former colleague, and contends that any agreement was reached between Kennedy and Weer. In documents on file, internal pay memos submitted by Kennedy cite the extra pay “per Lloyd” and later, “per Lloyd/Chamise.”

Within days of Eyster’s criminal filing, the county Board of Supervisors suspended Cubbison without pay or benefits. The board did not grant the elected official an opportunity to publicly explain her action before acting. The lack of due process is the basis of pending civil litigation Cubbison has filed against County Supervisors.

FORT BRAGG: Year in Review and Looking Ahead to 2025

As we conclude 2024 and welcome the new year, we reflect with pride on a year filled with progress, resilience, and collaboration in Fort Bragg. From enhancing public safety and infrastructure to supporting local businesses and fostering community connections, we have achieved a great deal together.…

https://www.city.fortbragg.com/home/showpublisheddocument/6289/638719507093959595?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery

LINDY PETERS, City Council, Fort Bragg, California:

Several members of our Community have voiced concern over possible I.C.E. deportation raids occurring in our Hispanic Community. I believe these concerns are valid and have asked that we re-introduce a City Resolution that offered protection and support from these very same threats back in January of 2017. It passed unanimously. This item will be on the agenda for our first meeting of the New Year. This Monday 6 pm at Town Hall.

THREE ANDERSON VALLEY FIREFIGHTERS and one AV fire engine are joining firefighters from Humboldt and other Mendo departments to form a six-vehicle strike team convoy to rush down to the horrible fires in the Los Angeles area to back up the current crews. Several local Calfire crews have also been sent as available. The Mendo/Humco Team will meet in Petaluma with a Strike Team Leader from Santa Cruz on their way south on Thursday. As of Wednesday night, the ferocious winds were expected to decrease a little, but the firefighting will last for weeks. Strike teams typically commit to up to 14 days on scene with 24 hours on / 24 hours off daily schedules.

THE LATEST TURMOIL at KZYX continues in the aftermath of the firing of long-time station operations guy Rich Culbertson. Some long-time programmers are complaining that current station management is moving towards what they see as a more “top-down” structure without taking listeners’ or programmers’ opinions into account. (Although that particular pattern is baked in at KZYX going all the way back to station founder Sean Donovan.) Reportedly the station’s internal programmer listserves (one for programmers themselves and one for management notices to programmers) have also been “taken down.” This is all occurring in the midst of the station’s slow-mo transition to their new studios in Ukiah.

CONFESSION: As a little joke/test I flipped one of the Ukiah pics in yesterday’s MCT showing cars driving on the left side of the road as they approached Ukiah on State Street. I wanted to see if anyone would notice because in the past commenters have been pretty quick to point our minor photo errors, moreso than text errors. At least Jim Armstrong and Adam Gaska seem to have noticed so far, on the record at least. Otherwise it is typical of the skein of wires and traffic on much of State Street just outside the downtown area.

(Mark Scaramella)

Fire is the devil’s only friend. — Quaker maxim

“I pay $50,000 a year in property taxes, and there’s a fire hydrant across the street with no water.”

— Burned out resident of Pacific Palisades

Extreme winds from the north and northeast will continued to blow into the Los Angeles region through Wednesday morning, bringing gusts of up to 80 mph as firefighters battled a series of large, devastating fires.

“We’re still in the stronger wind period” Wednesday afternoon, said Mike Wofford, a meteorologist at National Weather Service, noting that wind gusts Wednesday morning reached 75 mph in the La Cañada Flintridge area and 65 mph in the foothills of the San Gabriel mountains.

But while red flag warnings will be in effect for Los Angeles County and much of Ventura County until 6 p.m. Thursday, the strongest winds are forecast to taper off Wednesday afternoon as an ocean breeze blows onto the coast.

MENDOCINO COUNTY FIRE SAFE CREW A POINT OF PRIDE

Mendocino County Fire Safe Council Crew:

Mentorship, Stewardship, and fighting fires before they start.

The Mendocino County Fire Safe Council offers a number of programs to help homeowners and communities become more resilient to wildfire. These services include free home inspections, education and video series, help with community organization, low-cost reflective address signs and even some grant opportunities.

They also make a lot of fuel-reduction work happen, and a point of pride for the MC Fire Safe Council is its highly trained professional five-person crew, which has been doing fuel-reduction work around the county as part of the organization since May of 2022. A large portion of the crew’s activity is heavy yard work, from weedeating to thinning shrubs and limbing trees, for the DSAFIE program (Defensible Space Assistance for Income-Eligible seniors and persons with disabilities). Crew members also deliver Community Chipper Days, after community members have done the limbing and pruning themselves, and assist at Community Work Parties (funded by Measure P), and they can be found working on larger grant-funded roadside fuel-reduction projects as well. They also occasionally do contract fuel-reduction work for other nonprofits including Sherwood Firewise Communities.

For more information about Mendocino County Fire Safe Council programs, visit the newly renovated website at firesafemendocino.org

KATY!

Katy’s Giving A Talk

If you’re a fan of mineral springs, from tiny ones bubbling by the side of the road to big fancy ones like Orr Hot Springs take a Saturday drive over to Lake County Jan 11 at 2 p.m. and have local historian Katy Tahja tell you tales about the mineral springs of Lake and Mendocino Counties.

Go to the Ely State Stop and Country Museum at 9921 Soda Bay Road in Kelseyville.

ED NOTES

YEARS AGO, when I was more mobile than I am now, a friend of mine built me a bicycle out of spare parts, a bike perfectly designed to transport my bulk over all kinds of terrain. I rode it everywhere in San Francisco through rain, through the occasional heat, through hurtling traffic, rode it often down to the Bay to watch the Giants from the free view area out in right field, pushed it up Nob Hill, coasted down Russian Hill. That raggedy machine got me to every part of San Francisco and back again. The bike guy who used to have a fixin’ kiosk down on the Embarcadero — the authority on bikes — congratulated me on my homemade two wheeler. “Your bike is way cool,” he said.

THEN came a bad omen. It was the same week that my computer was stolen. It contained the nearly completed manuscript of a book I was writing. Ripped off by a Senior Citizen burglar, I suspected. Undeterred by the theft, which had made me briefly suicidal, I did an exercise self-exorcism, a sure cure for anything that feels like it might be depression.

I HOPPED on my patchwork bike, rode through Golden Gate Park past Hippie Hill, slowly making my way through the drunks and the dope dealers at Stanyan and Haight to BookSmith on Haight, where I leaned my bike against a telephone pole outside while I browsed the stacks inside for maybe 20 minutes. I hadn’t lock it. Why would I? It had no value. Except to me. When I came out of the bookstore my bike was gone.

WHICH WAS MY OWN FAULT in a neighborhood where street people steal urine samples and sell them to French tourists as Frisco chardonnay. But you couldn’t give that bike away at a garage sale, let alone sell it. It was too decrepit. Functional, though, and that’s why it was gone. For weeks afterwards, I scanned the streets for derelicts on bikes. Nope. Gone.

THE DAY OF THE THEFT I strode officiously through the masses of junkies and drunks strewn here and there along Haight Street looking for my bike, but most of the likely suspects were too impaired to walk let alone ride a bike. It was gone, as gone as my computer with months of my work on it. Someone probably smoked my bike, but what became of my computer remains a mystery.

A FRIEND sends along a copy of a notarized affidavit filed by a man named Erik Anthony Slye, of Gallatin County, Montana: “I Erik Anthony Slye, being first duly sworn upon oath, depose and say that jury service would entail undue hardship on me and that I request to be excused for the following reasons: Apparently you morons didn’t understand me the first time. I cannot take time off from work. I’m not putting my family’s well-being at stake to participate in this crap. I don’t believe in our ‘justice’ system and I don’t want to have a goddam thing to do with it. Jury duty is a complete waste of time. I would rather count the wrinkles on my dog’s balls than sit on a jury. Get it through your thick skulls. Leave me the fuck alone.”

I’VE OFTEN WONDERED if starthistle was Weed World’s ultimate menace, a botanical juggernaut inexorably marching on the unsuspecting villages of the Northcoast, impervious to all efforts to extinguish it. Then I read a letter-to-the-editor from Robin Jeavons of the famous Willits gardening family, in which she said “land infested with star thistle is struggling to regain health,” that the weed produces “an excellent honey,” that spraying it with herbicides “kills off honey bees.”

HONEY BEES, as most of us know, are those crucial little creatures upon which much of our food depends during its pollination stage.. Ms. Jeavons also recommended a couple of books she says caused her to view Weed World with the respect it deserves: How To Enjoy Your Weeds by Audrey Wynee Hatfield and Reading the Landscape of America by May Theilgard Watts.

CAR BREAK-IN, FRISCO DIVISION: Plain clothes San Francisco cops staked out a car at Middle Drive and Bowling Green Drive in Golden Gate Park. There were several items of value in the vehicle including a backpack, computer and an iPad, all of it visible. The officers were confident that a smash and grab thief would likely be along soon. Sure enough, he appeared, did his thing and was immediately arrested. A subsequent search of the suspect turned up hard drugs and items from a theft committed nearby earlier in the day. The guy had been arrested FORTY-NINE TIMES, including THIRTY-ONE TIMES for felonies. He was booked for burglary, possession of stolen property, theft and a narcotics violation. The cops figured this guy was committing “several robberies a day. And would soon be out doing his thing.”

FROM THE FINE PRINT in a recent local Anthem/Blue Cross health insurance bill:

“Your payment is due on 12/01/2024 as indicated on the attached invoice, unless otherwise specified in your Group Agreement and/or Evidence of Coverage. Failure to pay the Total Amount Due will result in termination of your coverage. Unless otherwise specified in your Group Agreement and/or Evidence of Coverage, you have a 30 day grace period. The date your grace period begins is the first day after the last day of paid coverage. If we do not receive your premium payment on or before the last day of your grace period, your coverage will be cancelled as explained in your Group Agreement and/or Evidence of Coverage. The cause of cancellation will be for non-payment of premium and your health status or need for health care services will not be considered. Any partial payment of the total amount due will not be sufficient to remove your coverage from the grace period and prevent cancellation. Coverage will continue during the grace period; however, you are still responsible to pay unpaid premiums and any copayments, coinsurance or deductible amounts required under the plan contract. Anthem will not provide benefits for any services received on or after the date your coverage ends. Any claims paid for services received after coverage ends will be retroactively denied and you will be responsible for the billed charges, unless not allowed by law. If we are required to pay for claims received after the date that coverage ends, you will be responsible for any premiums through the last day that services were received. We may pursue collections action against you if you do not pay the premiums to us.”

URGENT – DO YOU KNOW THIS PERSON?

If so, it is Vital to call either Coastal Seniors (707-882-2137) OR Mendocino Sheriff’s Dispatch 24/7 (707-463-4086). He has stolen 60+ Gallons of Fuel from our buses, once on Christmas early morning and again on January 8th early morning, including vandalizing the bus to do so. These thefts have SERIOUSLY JEOPARDIZED the ability to transport passengers to their important medical appointments on the next day!!! PLEASE – We urgently and respectfully request our community to help identify this person as quickly as possible!! This would be Very Much Appreciated!

CATCH OF THE DAY, Wednesday, January 8, 2025

TRAVIS BONSON, 44, Ukiah. Parole violation.

TIMOTHY CARMACK, 59, Fort Bragg. County parole violation.

SOL GONZALES, 47, Ukiah. DUI.

PAUL MARTINA, 43, Santa Rosa/Ukiah. Under influence, paraphernalia.

RICARDO MEDINA, 28, Ukiah. Failure to appear, probation revocation.

JULIAN MONTANO-ZARAGOSA, 35, Boonville. Domestic battery.

KAILEE POZZI, 34, Santa Rosa. Mandatory supervision violation.

KEVIN QUIJADA, 28, Hopland. Disorderly conduct alcohol&drugs, paraphernalia, petty theft, resisting.

CLINTON SALLEE, 35, Fort Bragg. Concealed dirk-dagger, failure to appear.

LILLIAN SAYAD, 20, Willits. Domestic battery, paraphernalia.

NATHANIEL SCHLEIF, 24, Redwood Valley. Domestic battery.

ANTHONY WALKER, 37, Ukiah. Domestic battery.

DOUGLAS WHIPPLE III, 38, Ukiah. Controlled substance without prescription, parole violation.

PURE BLOODS

Editor,

RE: online comment of the day…

Ha! “pure blood.” There you have it folks. All those unfortunate sheeple who got the clot shots now “have it coming.”

Ah, the arrogance and unlimited paranoia of the anti-mRNA club. Just a spinoff of the Q-anon tribe.

What makes you feel more warm and fuzzy? The feeling of superior intelligence that you outwitted Dr. Fauci or your glib arrogance of knowing that you’re different from the mass hoards of folks who didn’t do enough “of their own research”?

I eagerly await the next conspiracy (excuse me, government coverup) that sets you apart from your neighbors.

Kirk Vodopals

Navarro

“WHEN I PLAYED PRO FOOTBALL, I never set out to hurt anyone deliberately — unless it was, you know, important, like a league game or something.” — Dick Butkus

“Butkus hit me so hard my body almost liquefied. He helps me up and says ‘You Ok?’

I said, ‘Yeah, of course.’

He says, ‘Well if you’re OK, why are you in our huddle?’

He’d hit me so hard I’d followed him into the Bears huddle. He turned me around and sent me back.”

— Denver Broncos running back Floyd Little

STEVE TALBOT

I am very pleased to say that my film ‘The Movement and the Madman’ has been broadcast on national television in Vietnam. It aired in two-parts in primetime on December 28 and 29, 2024. Translated into Vietnamese, of course. This comes as we enter the 50th anniversary (2025) of the end of the war in Vietnam (April/May 1975). An appropriate time to review the history and the impact that terrible conflict has had on both countries…and to be grateful for the peaceful and normal diplomatic relations we now have.

During this time of remembrance and reconciliation, I encourage you to view my film and to share it with others. You can find it easily on PBS Passport, Amazon Prime, and Kanopy.

I plan this year to do more speaking engagements with the film, especially on college campuses.

My film debuted on the PBS series American Experience. More later about upcoming repeat broadcasts.

On a personal note, this broadcast of my film in Vietnam feels like it completes a 50-year circle in my life. In January and February, 1974, at the invitation of journalists in Hanoi, I went to North Vietnam with David Davis and Deirdre Elena English as antiwar activists and young filmmakers to document what life was like there. The Paris Peace Agreement had been signed the year before, all the American POWs had been released, and the ferocious bombing of the north had stopped. It was one of the most memorable, sobering and intense experiences of my life. Seared in my memory. Dave Davis did the camera work with a 16mm Eclair lent to us by the famed cinematographer Haskell Wexler. Our filmed report first aired as a series of stories on what was then KQED‘s nightly news show, ‘Newsroom.’ Fifty years later, I used some of that evocative and rare color footage in The Movement and the “Madman”. And now that film has been broadcast nationwide in a reunited Vietnam at peace with the United States.

TAX LOOPHOLES COST STATE AND ITS CITIES $107 BILLION BUT GET LITTLE SCRUTINY

by Dan Walters

Among the hundreds of bills introduced in every session of the California Legislature, a few deal with what state officials term “tax expenditures,” which requires some explanation.

The term refers to provisions in personal and corporate income taxes and sales taxes that exempt specific financial transactions from levies that otherwise would be applied. They have exactly the same fiscal effect as direct appropriations in the budget, which is why they are dubbed “expenditures.”

While many loopholes reflect a broad public and political consensus that they serve positive purposes — such as making prescriptions drugs and most grocery store foods tax-free — others provide subsidies to special interests with political clout.

My personal favorite among the latter was enacted about 35 years ago at the behest of Silicon Valley interests. It exempted custom computer programs from sales taxes, generally benefiting corporations willing to pay millions of dollars for such software, while continuing to tax off-the-shelf programs such as Quicken or TurboTax purchased by ordinary consumers.

It’s certainly not California’s largest tax loophole, costing state and local governments $119 million a year in lost revenue, but it exemplifies the narrow focus of many exemptions.

The software loophole estimate comes from an annual report issued by the state Department of Finance that gets scant public, media and political attention even though, as this year’s version confirms, the accumulated effect on state and local government revenues is $107 billion, counting only exemptions of $5 million or more.

“The result: California’s $204 billion of estimated General Fund revenues (excluding transfers) in 2024-25 would be roughly 45% greater if there were no personal income, sales and use, or corporate income tax expenditures in state law,” Jason Sisney, a fiscal consultant for the Legislature, says in an analysis of the data.

Over time, the number and size of tax expenditures has tended to increase because they often enjoy political support from their beneficiaries, while there’s little or no pressure on governors or legislators to reduce or eliminate those with little or no rational basis, such as the custom software exemption.

The legislation creating it was carried by a Silicon Valley legislator, now deceased, known for his laments about the state’s parsimonious attitudes toward vital education, health and social services.

What happened a couple of decades ago in the state Board of Equalization, which was then the collector of sales taxes, is another illustration. State law taxes hot prepared foods, such as those served in restaurants, or offered by delis, but exempts cold prepared foods — for reasons lost in antiquity.

The owner of a theater chain asked the board to exempt popcorn from the hot food tax, arguing that while it may be warm when purchased, it’s cold by the time theater patrons return to their seats. The board granted the exemption.

The new report lists the income tax exemptions for employer-provided medical care and pension contributions, totaling $29 billion in reduced revenues, as California’s two largest tax expenditures. Other personal income tax biggies are exemption of some Social Security benefits ($5.5 billion) and capital gains on inherited properties ($5 billion).

The largest corporate income tax provision, valued at $3.1 billion, limits taxation on the revenues of multinational corporations, an issue that has kicked around the Capitol for at least 50 years with several iterations.

Among the newer items on the list are income and sales tax credits for motion picture and video production ($213 million) and a sales tax exemption for menstrual products ($28 million) and children’s diapers ($81 million).

Each year, the governor and the Legislature spend months negotiating thousands of items in the state budget. With $107 billion at stake, perhaps they should spend some of that time reviewing off-budget tax expenditures.

(CalMatters.org)

ARTICLE ON CA'S DELTA TUNNEL RATED TOP STORY of 2024 by Sacramento News & Review

by Dan Bacher

I’d like to let you know that one of my stories about the Delta Tunnel for the Sacramento News & Review, Sacramento’s alternative news publication, made it to number one of the list of the 10 top stories of the year.

“Based on reader feedback, web analytics, SN&R’s storytelling history and the broader community conversation, here are the top ten stories for 2024 that we think are worth a second look if you missed them the first time,” wrote Scott Anderson, editor of the publication.

“Sacramento News & Review's Top 10 Stories of the Year -

“1. Sacramento judge rules DWR lacks authority to issue revenue bonds to finance the Delta Tunnel’ by Dan Bacher (News)

“Dan Bacher has been a journalist in Northern California for 41 years now, and that might partly explain how he managed to break what, in reality, is one of the state’s biggest political, environmental and cultural stories of the year. The sad fact is that so many experienced newspaper editors and reporters in the Sacramento Region have left the industry that our competing newsrooms don’t appear to have a clue about this. Governor Gavin Newsom’s proposed Delta Conveyance Project, better known as “The Delta Tunnel,” would be the largest public infrastructure project built in California in two generations. It is also the state’s most-universally opposed infrastructure project in living memory. For environmentalists, indigenous tribes, historic legacy towns and an array of small business owners, the Delta Tunnel is just the Owens Valley all over again — a massive water heist, an act of habitat destruction and a governmental decision to re-victimize Native Americans by erasing parts of their culture and spiritual inheritance again. So, who wants the Delta Tunnel? A handful of distant agri-billionaires and special interest groups, some of whom are mega-donors to Gavin Newsom’s political coffers. It would be hard to imagine an ongoing news story where the stakes are higher. Through the dogged, old school work of stalking commission meetings, state hearings and court appearance, Bacher was able to break the story for SN&R that the Newsom Administration doesn’t even have a legal mechanism to pay for building the embattled $20.1 billion tunnel, even as it pushes ahead on trying to break ground.”

NOW YOU KNOW!

Awoke early and went to Chinatown in Washington, D.C. for a ginseng drink, and then to Pentagon City Fashion Centre for a kim chee steak sandwich at Charley’s. Afterwards, took the Metro to Visionworks at 13th & G to check on the two pairs of eyeglasses ordered. She was emailing me as I entered; we laughed at the serendipity. Always identified with that which is prior to consciousness, the “eternal witness” is aware unendingly of all thoughts and actions, which is proof that the real you is not affected by anything at all. Meanwhile, Partnership of California paid for most of the optometry bill. The California EBT came in on the fourth. The social security increase for the new year is also in, and auto-deposited into the Chase checking account. Continuing to stay room and board free at the homeless shelter, while various social service groups look out for a suitable subsidized apartment. Am playing Powerball and MegaMillions every draw. Now you know the mystery!

Craig Louis Stehr, craiglouisstehr@gmail.com

ON-LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

Say what you will about the Dems, they accepted Trump’s victory in the November election, didn’t file frivolous lawsuits in federal courts charging rigged machines, didn’t call up the Pennsylvania AG demanding he “find” 130,000 Democratic votes, didn’t enlist teams of “alternative electors”, and certified the vote without massive whining and — rioting.

In other words, they acted like adults regarding losing the presidential election. Republicans could learn a thing or two about that kind of adult behavior.

IS YOUR DOCTOR LOADED?

Editor:

I share the concerns expressed in the CalMatters article headlined “A California recovery program keeps watch on addicted health workers — but not doctors” and I want to emphasize that Consumer Watchdog supports a new diversion program for physicians. However, we oppose any approach that allows the Medical Board of California to neglect reporting board-referred participants and enables the program to shield participants from appropriate disciplinary action.

I was propelled into this work after the loss of my fiance due to a botched surgery by a substance-abusing doctor. I am aware of the necessity for Medical Board transparency. Since the public does not have access to information about whether their physician has a substance abuse problem, we rely on the Medical Board to maintain this information. We must hold our Medical Board accountable, urging them not only to report recidivist physicians they refer to a state program but also to review participants who fail to meet program standards.

Over its 27-year history, the diversion program saw less than 10% of participants self-refer. The vast majority of physicians are referred by the Medical Board in lieu of discipline, and it is vital that board receive information about their progress.

Michele Monserratt-Ramos

Los Angeles

RURAL HOSPITAL SAYS RELIGIOUS LAW SUPERSEDES STATE IN CALIFORNIA ABORTION CASE

2 Humboldt County women say doctors deserted them when it mattered most

by Matt LaFever

Providence St. Joseph Hospital in Eureka, Humboldt County‘s largest city, has become California’s fiercest battleground for the clash of religious freedom, abortion access and rural health care. The Catholic hospital is accused of denying life-saving abortion care on four specific circumstances described in lawsuits from patients and California Attorney General Rob Bonta. In its defense, the hospital has argued that the attorney general’s commands to follow medical care laws violate its religious principles, saying state enforcement infringes on its constitutional right to religious freedom.

The attorney general’s clash with the Catholic hospital unfolds in rural Northern California, where maternal care has dwindled over the past 20 years, leaving expecting families with few options. Humboldt County now has just one labor and delivery center. Amid accusations that the hospital refused medically necessary procedures, residents are left asking: If something goes wrong, will they get the care they need?

‘It Is Just Horrible’

The public first became aware of allegations against Providence St. Joseph in September 2024 after Bonta filed a civil suit against the hospital due to the experience of a former patient.

According to court documents, Anna Nusslock and her husband, Daniel, married in 2020 and began trying to start a family. After enduring the heartbreak of multiple miscarriages, their fortunes shifted in November 2023 when they learned they were expecting twins. Nusslock’s pregnancy was classified as “high risk” due to her age (she was 35 at the time), her history of pregnancy loss, the challenges of carrying multiples, and a rare umbilical cord anomaly. Eureka lacks care providers with specialized training to guide patients in Nusslock’s position, so a maternal-fetal medicine expert at the University of California, San Francisco “began following her care,” according to the filing.

On Feb. 16, 2024, Nusslock experienced severe cramping, pain and bleeding. Following her doctors’ guidance, she visited the St. Joseph emergency department “repeatedly” over the next week to monitor her twins, according to Bonta’s lawsuit. Despite persistent pain and bleeding, she was told by staff each time that fetal heartbeats were detected and thus sent home.

On Feb. 22, while cooking dinner, Nusslock felt a sudden gush of discharge and feared something was seriously wrong. She contacted St. Joseph, where Sarah McGraw, the on-call doctor that night, advised her to stay home unless her symptoms worsened. Nusslock agreed, the lawsuit recounts, but by 2 a.m., she was enduring painful contractions and “passing several golf ball-sized blood clots.” At that point, McGraw instructed her to go to the emergency department.

When Nusslock arrived at St. Joseph, she could “barely walk” and was still passing blood clots. An ultrasound confirmed her worst fear: One of her twins was gone. The twin’s amniotic sac had ruptured at just 15 weeks, and there was no chance of survival.

The other baby’s amniotic sac remained intact, and a heartbeat was detected. When Nusslock asked McGraw about the possibility of survival, the doctor allegedly said she wasn’t sure and would need to consult UCSF for confirmation. After consulting with UCSF, McGraw delivered the devastating news that there was “almost no chance” the second twin would survive.

UCSF specialists concluded that prolonging the pregnancy posed significant risks to Nusslock’s health, including hemorrhaging and infection, concerns McGraw had also noted in her admission notes for Nusslock, per the lawsuit. The recommendation from UCSF was to consider an emergency abortion procedure or otherwise induce labor.

Through the fog of grief, Nusslock told McGraw she would abide by UCSF’s recommendation and proceed with immediate abortion care. That is when McGraw informed her that per St. Joseph’s policy, “she was not permitted to provide such care,” whether abortion or induction. Hospital policy dictates that McGraw could not intervene “as long as fetal heart tones were detectable unless there was a (more) immediate threat to Anna’s life.” The lawsuit alleges that after McGraw said this to Nusslock, she told her patient, “I know…it is just horrible.”

“It did not matter that Anna’s doctors all agreed that there was only one recommended course of treatment, to which Anna has consented,” the court documents recount, noting the hospital had appropriate staff and resources to perform either an abortion or an induction.

McGraw first recommended Nusslock be medevacked to UCSF, over 200 miles south, for emergency care. Concerned about the cost and being separated from her husband, Nusslock asked if driving to UCSF was an option. McGraw warned, per the lawsuit, “If you try to drive, you will hemorrhage and die before you get to a place that can help you.”

Instead, McGraw presented an alternative: Mad River Community Hospital, a small hospital in Arcata. The lawsuit states Nusslock and her husband were offered an ambulance, but they declined for fear of the cost, and that the “risks involved with declining” medical transport were never discussed. The worried couple drove the 12 miles to Mad River in their own car — but not before being given a bucket and towels by a St. Joseph nurse “in case something happens in the car.” Nusslock and her husband were not informed that their exit would mean Nusslock was leaving “against medical advice” and that St. Joseph was discharging her as its patient.

When they arrived at Mad River, Nusslock’s bleeding and pain had intensified, and it was clear St. Joseph had not informed the staff of her pending arrival. She and her husband waited in the emergency department, and by the time she was finally admitted to labor and delivery, she had passed an “apple-sized blood clot.” She was immediately prepped for surgery, but on the operating table, Nusslock felt a “sudden intense pressure and pain,” the lawsuit describes; she had delivered one of her twins. A doctor at Mad River provided abortion care for the other baby. Nusslock was discharged later that afternoon.

‘California Is The Beacon Of Hope’

California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s civil suit against St. Joseph alleges multiple violations of state law based on Nusslock’s experience. McGraw, the on-call doctor who treated Nusslock, is not a named defendant, though the suit does account for unnamed other parties who may have facilitated the alleged violations on the part of the hospital.

The complaint centers on claims the hospital violated California’s Emergency Services Law, which requires care for life-threatening conditions, including those related to pregnancy. It alleges St. Joseph wrongfully denied care to critically ill pregnant patients if a fetal heartbeat was detected, rather than providing treatment to stabilize the emergency. It further alleges the hospital violated Emergency Services Law guidance around patient transfers, saying Nusslock’s transfer from St. Joseph to Mad River “starkly illustrates these failures.”

The suit further alleges St. Joseph violated the Unruh Civil Rights Act, which prohibits denying “full and equal” services based on pregnancy, and accuses the hospital of unlawful business conduct, stating each instance of care denial or transfer failure constitutes “unlawful, unfair, and/or fraudulent” practices under state law.

Bonta issued a forceful statement in a September news release about the civil suit, framing his legal fight with St. Joseph within a larger national context. Since the conservative Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, Bonta declared, “California is the beacon of hope for so many Americans across this country trying to access abortion services since the Dobbs decision. It is damning that here in California, where abortion care is a constitutional right, we have a hospital implementing a policy that’s reminiscent of heartbeat laws in extremist red states.”

Less than a month after Bonta filed his lawsuit, St. Joseph signed an agreement with the state of California, committing to adhere to the Emergency Services Law. This means the hospital can no longer withhold abortion services when a person’s life is “in serious jeopardy.” St. Joseph also agreed to comply with patient transfer requirements, ensuring emergency care is provided before transferring a patient.

For Nusslock, though, the damage is already done. She is “deeply traumatized,” the lawsuit states, and dealing with “tremendous anxiety, grief, and depression” after her treatment at St. Joseph. “Anna continues to relive the trauma of being forced to leave Providence Hospital during a medical emergency and the fear for her life when she was told she could not receive the emergency treatment she needed.”

The Struggles Of Rural Parents

While Bonta’s lawsuit may have wrung some concessions out of St. Joseph, maternal care in California’s rural regions remains a serious problem.

Pregnant people in Humboldt County and California’s other rural regions face greater challenges than those in urban areas. Pregnancy care in rural California is on the decline, with eight counties in the state’s rural north lacking any hospitals with obstetric services or birth centers. Infant mortality rates in these areas consistently exceed the state average. With birth centers few and far between, rural mothers have found themselves utilizing emergency departments for care or forgoing a hospital altogether.

On Oct. 31, 2024, things got even worse for Humboldt County: Mad River Community Hospital’s labor and delivery department shut its doors. That is where Nusslock eventually received the abortion care that likely saved her life. In a news release, CEO Douglas Shaw explained the decision as a practical fiscal matter. “Over the past four years, volumes have declined significantly to the point where we are performing, on average, less than 25 births per month. We used to average 60-plus births per month, which was necessary to fund the service line. At our current volume, the L&D has been sustaining a seven-figure annual loss for the past several years.”

Shaw named several factors that contributed to the closure, including “inadequate and stagnated reimbursements rates under Medi-Cal, unfunded mandates for seismic compliance, and other significant challenges for rural healthcare.” He continued, “The continuation of L&D service will jeopardize the hospital’s continued viability in the community. We are working with local hospitals and clinic providers to facilitate the absorption of our L&D volume.”

‘Shocking And Inhumane’

On Dec. 12, 2024, a second woman came forward alleging denial of medical services by St. Joseph during three traumatic pregnancy losses. In a civil suit filed under the name “Jane Roe,” the plaintiff is described as having a similarly devastating experience to Nusslock’s. On Dec. 12, 2022, she was 17 weeks pregnant when her water broke. She rushed to St. Joseph, where she was diagnosed with the same condition, known as “previable preterm premature rupture of membranes,” that Nusslock would later be diagnosed with. St. Joseph staff told Roe the baby would not survive.

This was Jane Roe’s third pregnancy loss due to a ruptured membrane. All of her miscarriages occurred around 17 weeks, and she’d sought treatment for all of them at St. Joseph. Based on her first two miscarriages, both of which significantly endangered her life, she knew St. Joseph would not provide the emergency care necessary to prevent possibly fatal hemorrhaging or infection.

The third time, per the lawsuit, Roe endured “19 hours of agony” before she “spontaneously delivered her deceased baby in a hospital toilet.”

The civil suit does not hold back: “Providence St. Joseph’s treatment of Plaintiff on these three occasions was shocking and inhumane. It was also illegal.” The complaint echoes Bonta’s lawsuit by accusing the hospital of failing to meet its responsibilities under the Emergency Services Law and Unruh Civil Rights Act to provide care to patients at risk of life-threatening harm. It also faults the hospital for infliction of emotional distress, argues Roe was denied her constitutional right to privacy when she was denied the ability to choose abortion care, and argues St. Joseph’s actions amount to unfair business practices.

Higher Gods

On Dec. 23, 2024, attorneys for Providence St. Joseph finally responded to Bonta’s suit, filing a motion to dismiss all allegations. They argued that the state’s attempts to require the hospital to provide life-saving abortion care violate the hospital’s religious identity and First Amendment rights. The motion side-stepped the Nusslock allegations in Bonta’s civil suit, instead attacking the attorney general’s authority to enforce health and safety codes at all.

St. Joseph’s attorneys argued Bonta’s enforcement of the Emergency Service Law exceeded the authority of the California Department of Public Health, which regulates hospital emergency care. They contended he misapplied the Health and Safety Code regarding patient transfer duties. In response to discrimination claims, the hospital asserted Bonta’s evidence shows it provides care to pregnant patients and argued its faith-based abortion policy isn’t discriminatory. The attorneys further stated that penalizing the hospital for its policy would violate its constitutional rights to religious freedom and free expression.

St. Joseph’s motion made a bold claim: The hospital answers to higher authorities than the state of California. It argued that the attorney general cannot enforce state laws, codes or regulations on Catholic institutions because they are bound by the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services set by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The motion insisted the hospital has a “First Amendment right to apply faith-based policies” and that complying with state laws would amount to St. Joseph “forsaking its Catholic identity.”

The directives issued by U.S.-based Catholic bishops make the church’s perspective on abortions crystal clear: “Abortion (that is, the directly intended termination of pregnancy before viability or the directly intended destruction of a viable fetus) is never permitted.”

Despite the obvious tension that exists between St. Joseph Hospital’s Catholic directives and California’s laws protecting abortion access, a spokesperson for Providence Northern California told SFGATE these forces are not at odds.

Chamia L. Chambers, director of communications for Providence Northern California, wrote in an email that for over a century, the hospital has provided “emergency care to pregnant patients that is consistent with state and federal law as well as with the hospital’s mission as a faith-based health system.”

When asked whether the allegations in the Bonta and Roe lawsuits have prompted reviews of the hospital’s emergency procedures, Chambers said, “We regularly review our policies and procedures and have rolled out enhanced training to address the provision of emergency care to pregnant patients.”

Chambers framed the litigation as an opportunity to enhance the hospital’s practices. “We are always looking to improve care, and we believe the enhanced training and education being rolled out now is an important step in continuing to provide high-quality emergency care and carrying out the healing tradition of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange, who founded St. Joseph Hospital Eureka over 100 years ago,” she said.

‘This Is Not Acceptable’

Ellie Titus, the mother of a 3-year-old daughter, calls Ferndale, California, home — just a half-hour south of Eureka. Hearing about the harrowing experiences of Anna Nusslock and Jane Roe deeply unsettled her. “It really grabbed my attention and horrified me,” Titus said, spurring in her a fear about raising a family in Humboldt County under such circumstances.

So, Titus took action. She began gathering others in the community who shared her unease about abortion access in Humboldt County. What started with collecting email addresses has evolved into Humboldt Abortion Access Advocates, a grassroots group dedicated to making the county’s health care facilities meet the needs of its pregnant population.

The collective is “a group of people who are following the case and want to support each other and support others in our community who may need help accessing health care, or need help with transportation,” Titus said.

“We as women in Humboldt County are really in kind of an unacceptable position with this religious hospital as our only hospital labor and delivery option,” she continued.

“The problem isn’t that it’s religious per se,” she said. “It’s that they allegedly have been, you know, denying life-saving health care to women.”

She criticized St. Joseph’s reliance on Catholic doctrine for medical decisions, saying it has left local women “in quite a limbo.” She said there’s a contradiction between the hospital’s public messaging, which claims its “doors are open to everyone,” and its fight “to be able to deny abortions when they don’t think they’re acceptable.”

Ultimately, Titus stressed the dire stakes. “This is the only hospital with a birthing center that we have left,” she said. Other hospitals and health clinics exist that can provide abortion care in general but not during delivery; St. Joseph is the only hospital that still has a labor and delivery unit. “So if you’re pregnant and you have emergency symptoms here,” Titus said, “you are going to St. Joe’s, and you don’t have another choice. And I don’t think that’s an acceptable status quo.”

Some local politicians are joining Titus in the fight to change that status quo. Natalie Arroyo, Humboldt County’s 4th District supervisor representing Eureka and nearby communities, told SFGate she has spent the past year meeting with “health care providers and medical institution leaders” to explore ways county officials can expand local health care access.

California Senate President Pro Tempore Mike McGuire, who represents the North Coast, strongly condemned St. Joseph’s policy. “Denying a patient medically urgent abortion care is egregious, unacceptable, and against the law here in the Golden State,” McGuire said. Chris Rogers, the State Assembly representative for California’s North Coast, was similarly blunt: “Providence St. Joseph’s policy put the life of their patients at risk. They failed these women during what I can only imagine was one of the worst moments in their lives,” Rogers said.

Gilda Gonzales, CEO of Planned Parenthood Northern California, which has served Humboldt County for 10 years, voiced strong support for Bonta’s case in a statement to SFGate. “We know the pressing need for all health care services in rural communities,” Gonzales said. “If providers are allowed to deny care that they can deliver and is in the best interest of the patient, lives will be at risk. This is not acceptable.”

On Jan. 27, 2025, attorneys for Providence St. Joseph Hospital and from Bonta’s office are scheduled to meet before a superior court judge at the Eureka courthouse to address the hospital’s recent proclamation that it is bound by theocratic laws that supersede the state’s. In the audience will be people like Ellie Titus, who faces a medical system that could prove unwilling to take care of her in her time of need.

“The women of the county are kind of the guinea pigs in a way,” Titus said. “And it’s a really scary feeling.”

(SFGate.com)

Waves breaking below the Golden Gate Bridge at Fort Point. (1969)

WHO WAS THE ZODIAC KILLER?

I covered the case for decades; here are my final thoughts

by Kevin Fagan

My first brush with the Zodiac Killer saga came in May 1996, in the form of a thick beige envelope plopped on my desk by the newsroom mail staff. Having just covered the Unabomber’s reign of mail-bomb terror for nearly a year, including traveling to Montana for his arrest the month before, I was wary of big packages from people I didn’t know.

But this one seemed harmless. So I opened it. Inside was a thick, handwritten book attempting to prove that Unabomber Ted Kaczynski was also the Zodiac.

That was about as believable as saying my granny was the Zodiac. One mailed bombs, the other stabbed and shot people. The personality profiles were radically divergent. But I made a couple of calls to cops and FBI agents to get some cautious quotes about them looking into the concept, and batted out a short story basically knocking down the theory.

That’s when the floodgate of tips started pouring in.

They came by the hundreds, saying “Z,” as sleuths call him, was their father, their brother, Charlie Manson, the weird guy down the road, a group of cops, some dude in Scotland, and more. Nobody had covered the Zodiac beat since the Chronicle’s Duffy Jennings in the 1970s. “Hmm,” my editor at the time said. “That’s a lot of tips you’ve got. I guess you’re on the Zodiac beat now.”

Since then, the torrent has never stopped.

It’s been 28 years, and as I retire this week from the newspaper, I’ll leave behind two brimming boxes and thousands of electronic files I’ve collected from people who have either named suspects they believe are the Zodiac or say they’ve cracked the spooky ciphers the killer sent to the Chronicle and others in letters bragging about his awful handiwork. The Zodiac was only a sliver of my job — I actually specialized in homelessness, along with crime and, well, most of the things a reporter who’s been doing this gig for more than 40 years gets around to. But the Zodiac? It brought the most mail, emails and phone calls.

Some tipsters not only identify a suspect but swear the person confessed to them. Others say their guy resembles the sketch police put out back in the day (which looks like most straight-laced men from the 1960s).

Others say they found weapons, diaries or other evidence that proves their case. Some of the tipsters are former law enforcement officers, others bang out books on their research, others cobble up their ideas in letters or emails between work shifts. It is literally endless.

And this is a case that is more than half a century old now— the only law enforcement-confirmed attacks he pulled off came in 1968 and 1969, leaving five dead and two men wounded. Except for his last victim, a taxi driver in San Francisco, the Zodiac shot or stabbed couples in lover’s lane settings in Napa and Solano counties, then mailed his infuriating letters to newspapers proclaiming that he was collecting “slaves” for his afterlife, and taunting the cops to find him. Fear billowed through the Bay Area until the early 1970s, when confirmed letters finally ceased and other monstrosities came along to grab the public’s attention.

The Zodiac — and police are certain it’s a “he,” given the profile characteristics and the overwhelming scarcity of female serial killers — is America’s Jack the Ripper, and I am convinced the avalanche of theories and interest in the case won’t end until official investigators nail down a suspect with absolute certainty. Amateur investigators can’t have the definitive last word. It has to be the official ones, meaning the FBI or police departments in San Francisco, Solano and Napa counties, where he left his victims. The Zodiac’s reign of terror is a true-life, legal issue, not some TV movie or novel. Law enforcement and the courts are the deciders on these things. It’s over when they say it’s over.

The problem is that investigators only ever named one man, Arthur Leigh Allen of Vallejo, as a suspect before DNA and other technologies entered the detectives’ toolkit. Allen died of heart disease in 1992, and while there were scads of witness accounts and evidence linking Allen to the case, police couldn’t lace it all together before his death. So no arrest.

DNA and fingerprints used to solve cold cases now are too scant for the “Z” killings, despite breathless assertions in some quarters of the media over the years, and this leaves the investigation details open to interpretation even though dozens of films, articles and books have fingered Allen. Those include a recent Netflix series that featured my fine colleagues Robert Graysmith and Rita Williams.

Some people got irritated that I didn’t write about their theories, but the newspaper is a filter, not a spillway. I couldn’t name suspects who were likely innocent — even if they were dead — and I depended to a large degree on what my sources in law enforcement said.

And so far, despite all the tips, the only rock-solid, law enforcement-verified scoop that has emerged in this mystery in the past three decades came in 2021. That’s when I broke the story about how a code-breaking team from the United States, Australia and Belgium cracked the Zodiac’s vexing “340” cipher. The FBI confirmed the solution to me, we published, and within minutes the story was picked up around the world. That’s how explosive the interest remains.

And the answer to the cipher? Just more taunts and craziness: “I hope you are having lots of fun in trying to catch me,” the Zodiac wrote. “I am not afraid of the gas chamber because it will send me to paradice (sic) all the sooner because now I have enough slaves to work for me.” The word “crazy” is considered improper in polite journalism. But this stuff from Z is crazy. And did that cipher solution satisfy the sleuth world? Not really. I still get scads of emails and packages from people who scoff at it and offer their own version.

Our library shows I have written 57 stories about the Zodiac since that first clip in May 1996, along with doing spots in TV and film documentaries. It is indeed a fascinating case, with more twists, theories, guesses, personalities, tragedies and scary, unanswered questions than most. And I should know.

I have written about more murders than I can count in what has been a long career — the Night Stalker, the kidnap and killing of Polly Klaas, the massacres at Columbine High and in Las Vegas, the 9/11 terror attacks, the unsolved Doodler killings of 1974-75 — and I’ve witnessed seven executions. When I was a very young police reporter, it was thrilling in that way true crime thrills movie-goers and readers; you feel awful for the victims, of course, but there is an exhilarating challenge in chasing clues and tying up mysteries. But as I got older, the thrill wore off.

For many years now, it’s just been achingly sad. There are actual people involved in these tragedies — real deceased people leaving behind grieving friends and family, real relatives and friends associated with the killers, and the killers themselves who were innocent babies at one time and somewhere along the way got warped. Murder is anything but infotainment, but that’s how a lot of people regard it unless and until they’re forced to grapple with the genuine horror.

People ask me all the time who I think is the Zodiac Killer. Well, I’m not the guy to ask. The cops are. The Chronicle long ago turned over all the letters and other solid evidence from the verified 1968-69 killings to the San Francisco Police Department, so all I have in that regard is those thousands of tips in files.

Someday, perhaps DNA technology will advance enough to nail down an identity, or something solid will pop up that finally convinces officials that the mystery is solved. But know this: I won’t be at the Chronicle to report it.

I am happily retiring Jan. 8 from the paper, and as I leave, I leave behind my files. The overwhelming majority of the amateur sleuths who have reached out to me were polite, sincere and intelligent. But I have also been stalked, threatened and badgered for not anointing some tips as the absolute truth — and I’m done.

So if you have new tips, please send them to the paper. Not me.

(SF Chronicle)

MITCH CLOGG

I was a student pilot. I had soloed, as directed by my instructor. Now I could fly alone, but no passengers (unless it was my instructor). I could practice flying my Tri-Pacer alone, and I did. What the hell. Had an airplane, might as well use it. I saw a lot of cool things. Worst part was, when I saw something unbelievable, I was by myself. To this day I regret some of the solitary memories I hold from then, things too strange, too gorgeous to be believed if you didn’t see them with your own eyes. The time the Appalachians of western Maryland were in full fall color, and a rainstorm had turned to freezing rain, and the tree leaves, all the countless colors, had clear ice sparkling on them, as if they were all glass. Stupendous! That was one.

One sunny Sunday, I flew down over Washington, just sightseeing. In downtown D.C., the government buildings have copper “rooves” (how I was taught to say it and spell it). Copper weathers to green, much like the green of dollar bills—a coincidence, no doubt.

So there they all were, the things I’d seen on class trips—the Capitol, White House, Washington Monument (we had an older one in Baltimore), national cathedral, mall, Lincoln Memorial, Jefferson memorial, Smithsonian Institute—the whole sugaree. The stench around Washington was way less, then. It seemed worthy to be called “town” then, more than “city.” Corruption and scandals happened, but they were routine, nothing like today’s criminal nightmares.

So: a classic, modern capital, copper green and white marble columns everywhere, all framed by the Potomac River, the Chesapeake Bay, the Atlantic Ocean (if I’d had another thousand-or -two feet of altitude), and there’s the Baltimore-Washington Expressway.

One New Year’s Eve, when I was alone, driving my VW Karmann Ghia , that highway was coated with “black” ice (you see right through it, like the autumn leaves, that time). I had a party to go to in Washington and a date waiting for me in D.C. I was the only car I saw on the expressway, midnight coming, and I drove like I was on a sheet of ice, which I definitely was.

But I’m airborne now, and In the distance is the skyline of Baltimore, forty miles away, where I just came from.

So I’m like fly, fly, fly, and everything’s cool, and suddenly there’s a plane right near me on the left. Whatsis!?

It was a World War II fighter, like a Mustang or one of those, a prop job. The pilot was military—dark glasses, some kinda pilot helmet and suit—I can’t remember. He was looking across to me and making a furious gesture, like DOWN! DOWN! Pointing at the ground. I had no idea what to do. I thought, this is the federal city. He’s like a cop. Does he want me to land? WTF? (I was only a year or three out of the army.)

I pushed in the throttle a hair and pointed north, toward Baltimore. I hope he doesn’t shoot. Let’s see if he falls back.

He did. I went home and landed at Rutherford Field, our little dirt runway, only slightly rattled. End of story.

That’s the kind of student I was. A poor one. I don’t mean money. I still had some inheritance left. I was, ever and always, a bad student. “Attention Deficit Disorder” - “Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder” were terms that hadn’t been invented yet. I didn’t know why I procrastinated so reliably, so irresistibly. Still don’t, actually. All I know is ADD and ADHD are shitty names for such a hellacious, disabling disease. ‘Swhy I’m 86. I knew I had to live a long time to get anything done. I had to procrastinate, then failfailfail until I got ‘er done. Gotta keep living. Still haven’t got ‘er done.

So anyway, I got home and looked at the Baltimore-Washington Sectional Chart. (That’s “map” in FAA.) What I should have done before taking off, it I’d planned anything. (“Planned”? Isn’t that what normal people do?”) There on the chart was downtown Washington, with the federal part of downtown heavily outlined, differently colored and hashmarked so you couldn’t miss it: RESTRICTED! You gotta be way high up—forty-, fifty-thousand feet—if you fly over this. Otherwise, go the hell around! Sectional Charts have wealths of information on them. If you study them.

But isn’t it wonderful that as late as the 1960s they still had WW2 fighter planes ready to scramble, in case some threat to national security, like me in my blue-and-white Piper Tri-Pacer, flies over?

Could this possibly be real? It was on a Trulia real estate site in a New England town not to be named. I cannot be more specific, to avoid legal hassles. It’s 10,000 square feet on 6 acres, 9 BRs, 9 baths. Priced at $3,670,600. (What could that final $600 possibly signify?) Some builder gave steroids, Mescaline, and ketamine to the notion of a neo-Georgian house, and this is what you get in that state of “dissociative anesthesia.” (Or perhaps more like aphasia.) Note the three fountains arbitrarily deployed so as to defeat their purpose as focal points. Note the unnecessary brick planting boxes for the cedar shrubs. Note the chimney runs interrupted by windows. Note the blank wall first floor beneath that. Note the triplex fake Georgian windows above the front entrance (scary!). Note the fanlights at left with no windows in them. We have absolutely lost it.

Thanks to Wayne Maglione for the nomination.

(James Kunstler)

A PIECE OF GREEN PEPPER

fell

off the wooden salad bowl:

so what?

— ‘Haiku Ambulance’ by Richard Brautigan

THIS OLE HOUSE

This old house once knew my children
This old house once knew my life
This old house was home and comfort
As we fought the storms of strife
This old house once rang with laughter
This old house heard many shouts
Now she trembles in the darkness
When the lightning walks about

Ain't gonna need this house no longer
Ain't gonna need this house no more
Ain't got time to fix the shingles
Ain't got time to fix the floor
Ain't got time to oil the hinges
Nor to mend the window pane
Ain't gonna need this house no longer
I’m getting ready to meet the saints

This old house is gettin' shaky
This old house is gettin' old
This old house lets in the rain
This old house lets in the cold
On my knees I’m gettin' chilly
But I feel no fear or pain
'Cause I see an angel peekin'
Through a broken window pane

This old house is afraid of thunder
This old house is afraid of storms
This old house just groans and trembles
When the night wind flings its arms
This old house is getting’ feeble
This old house is needin’ paint
Just like me it’s tuckered out
But I’m getting’ ready to meet the saints

— Stuart Hamblen (May 1954)

WAKING UP TO LOS ANGELES ON FIRE

by Caroline Mimbs Nyce

The smoke delayed the sunrise. Or, rather, the sun rose on time, but it was hidden, choked out by a column of black. The neighbors across the street had texted — they’d tried knocking on our door, but we hadn’t heard. They’d received an evacuation warning from the county, and were headed out of town. It must’ve been sent in error, we thought, because our home was still a few zones over from where the evacuations had started. But we packed the car just in case. I threw in my notebooks, the dog crate.

A little before 7 A.M., I ran down the block to take a photo. I felt something on my tongue, and plucked a small bit of ash from my mouth. By 9 A.M., the ash was falling more steadily, quietly, like snow flurries.

Los Angeles is currently encircled by fire. To the west, the Palisades Fire has torn through Malibu, burning to the edge of Santa Monica. To the east, the Eaton Fire has blown down from the mountains into Altadena and Pasadena. To the north, the Hurst Fire is sweeping through the suburban neighborhood Sylmar. More than a thousand buildings are estimated to have burned, and tens of thousands of people have been evacuated. At least two are dead.

Living in California means preparing for such circumstances. None of us flinch at the sight of smoke. The fires get named quickly and are suddenly familiar. We know what masks to wear; the air purifiers are running. “Anyone who has ever spent fire season in Los Angeles knows some of its special language,” Joan Didion wrote in The New Yorker, in 1989.

And yet this event feels distinct. We are in a new age of wildfire, which I’ve been reporting on for the past few years. Traditionally, such fires burn in the areas where homes meet forest — that’s where the “wild” in the name comes from. But, more and more, such fires are starting to spill farther into small towns, suburbs, and the edges of big cities — even in unexpected places, such as New York. In California and beyond, climate change has worsened fires, making them bigger and more unruly. Los Angeles, one of the country’s largest and most sprawling cities, feels dangerously small.

So far, I’m not in the evacuation zone. A few of my New Yorker colleagues are, and have had to leave. Friends have begun to call, and tell us they’ve lost their homes. One said he had forgotten his passport, but he had the family dog, and he’d managed to save his child’s beloved stuffed walrus (named “Walrus”). They’d rebuild with that, he told me.

(newyorker.com)

BREAKING: Donald Trump pounces to exploit the tragic ongoing California wildfire for cheap political gain by attacking the governor as "Newscum" and bragging that he'd have handled it better.

But there's one HUGE problem with Trump's boast...

"As of this moment, Gavin Newscum and his Los Angeles crew have contained exactly ZERO percent of the fire. It is burning at levels that even surpass last night. This is not Government. I can’t wait till January 20th!" the president-elect wrote in one Truth Social Post.

Meanwhile, Newsom and California's brave emergency responders are working around the clock to save lives and homes. In a time when we should all be united, Trump is seeking to divide us.

"NO WATER IN THE FIRE HYDRANTS, NO MONEY IN FEMA. THIS IS WHAT JOE BIDEN IS LEAVING ME. THANKS JOE!" Trump wrote in another post.

It should go without saying, but Joe Biden is not responsible for Mother Nature.

"The fires in Los Angeles may go down, in dollar amount, as the worst in the History of our Country. In many circles, they’re doubting whether insurance companies will even have enough money to pay for this catastrophe," Trump wrote.

"Let this serve, and be emblematic, of the gross incompetence and mismanagement of the Biden/Newscum Duo. January 20th cannot come fast enough!" he added.

It's not surprising that Trump would callously weaponize a natural disaster to attack his political enemies — but there's a glaring problem with his rhetoric.

Just this past September, Trump threatened to withhold federal wildfire aid from California if he won the election unless Newsom diverted more water to farmers.

"If he doesn’t sign those papers, we won’t give him money to put out all his fires,” Trump said at the time. "And if we don’t give him all the money to put out the fires, he’s got problems."

In other words, Donald Trump wants to make California's fires even worse, not solve them.

— OCCUPY DEMOCRATS

MEGYN KELLEY BLASTS LA’S FEMALE FIRE CHIEF FOR ‘FOCUSING ON DIVERSITY’ INSTEAD OF PLANNING FOR DISASTER

by Bethan Sexton

Megyn Kelly has accused Los Angeles‘ female fire chief of ‘focusing on diversity’ instead of planning for disaster.

The former Fox journalist slammed Kristin Crowley for prioritizing DEI training over preparing for wildfires.

Her comments come as the City of Angels has been engulfed a series of deadly blazes, which have so far killed two people and blitzed through more than 11,800 acres.

The wildfires are being fueled by Santa Ana winds of up to 60mph, which Kelly described as ‘predictable’.

‘In recent years LA’s fire chief has made not filling the fire hydrants top priority, but diversity,’ she fumed on The Megyn Kelly Show. ’Diversity is at least among the top priorities for the Department.’

She referenced an interview in which Crowley expressed her desire to boost the number of women and LGBTQ+ people in the fire service.

‘Who gives a st if the fire chief is gay I’m sorry but who gives a flying fig about who she likes to sleep with? Can you fight the fking fires madam?, that’s the relevant question,’ Kelly continued

‘We don’t care about your lady parts and we don’t care who you want having access to them. Can you fight fires? Can you make sure there’s water in the fire hydrants?’

She added that Crowley should have been more prepared given that Ventura County is currently experiencing a huge drought.

‘I don’t care who turns you on and you know why they have only a hundred women in a squad of 3,300?’ Kelly asked.

‘Women tend to be smaller and not as strong and unless you lower the requirements to become a firefighter most women can’t pass the test, trust me.’

She described Crowley’s push for inclusivity as ‘an absurdity’ and mocked her previous comments about how she has trained staff.

‘I don’t give a s**t about how you’re taking care of somebody inside the firehouse, take care of me and my home and my kids and my animals when the fires hit, that’s your real job,’ Kelly raged.

The ongoing fire currently devastating the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles is now the most destructive in the state’s history.

After officials counted over 1,000 structures being destroyed in the inferno, it quickly overtook the second-most destructive - 2008’s Sayre Fire.

Statistics kept by the Wildfire Alliance indicate the Sayre Fire destroyed 604 structures in Sylmar, the northernmost suburb of the city.

The wildfires are rapidly spreading across Los Angeles with firefighters conceding they remain powerless to contain the flames because of strong winds.

At least 70,000 people were ordered to evacuate — a number that kept changing because evacuation orders were continually being issued, officials said.

Experts say that heavy rains from El Niño last year fueled vegetation growth in Los Angeles area, which had since dried out and become highly flammable.

Once ignited, strong winds then fanned the flames.

Southern California was battered by ‘devil winds’, formally known as Santa Ana winds, which are warm and gusty northeast winds that blow from the interior of region toward the coast.

DailyMail.com has contacted LAFD for comment.

(Dailymail.com)

LEAD STORIES, THURSDAY'S NYT

New Wildfires Strain L.A. as Others Burn Unchecked

Trump Asks Supreme Court to Halt His Sentencing in N.Y. Criminal Case

Alito Spoke With Trump Shortly Before Supreme Court Filing

Nation’s Leaders Will Gather to Honor Carter at Washington Cathedral

Hostage Is Found Dead in Gaza Tunnel, Israel Says

Please Don’t Eat Your Christmas Tree, Belgium Urges the Public

THE NEW YORK TIMES COMMENTS SECTION IS HILARIOUS AND DEPRAVED

All the Americans against free speech, gathered in one humorously pretentious place

by Matt Taibbi

Mark Zuckerberg released a video yesterday, promising less censorship and more free speech. Let’s posit that it was insincere, that he doesn’t actually care about the First Amendment, is in it for the money, hopes to kiss Donald Trump’s ring, and plans on turning Facebook into a boobs-and-cagefighting Broscape of the type many perceive Twitter/X to have become under Elon Musk’s leadership.

These would all be potentially valid complaints, should any turn out to be true. However, Zuckerberg today said just two things of substance, insofar as Meta/Facebook users are concerned. One, he would “get rid of fact-checkers and replace them with community notes.” Two, he promised to “dramatically reduce the amount of censorship on our platforms.” That’s really it. Visible Community Notes instead of invisible checking regimes, and less censorship, in particular government censorship.

What kind of person is opposed in principle to less censorship? Readers of the New York Times, apparently! One of this site’s readers chuckled about the predictably mortified Times article (“Meta Says Fact-Checkers Were the Problem. Fact-Checkers Rule That False”) being filled with commenters “rending their garments over a prospect of an Internet full of propagandized idiots.” I looked and found a perfect cross-section of upper-class genitorture enthusiasts begging for harder, firmer content domination. The Washington Post headline was nearly as Onion-ish as the Times (“Meta ends fact-checking, drawing praise from Trump,” putting “free expression” in scare quotes in the sub-head), and its nearly 5000 comments were equally revealing. “User generated notes?

The prisoners are now guarding the prison!” wrote one Post reader, who apparently sees life as a prison with insufficiently empowered jailers. Reaction to the Zuck story showed why “content moderation” is popular with this demographic. In 2016, Zuckerberg was heavily criticized for refusing to suppress “newsworthy” content. “Zuckerberg proves he is Facebook’s editor by allowing Trump’s hate speech,” was typical pre-election commentary, in The Guardian. When Trump won, corporate outlets put blame not on Democrats for running a lousy candidate, but on Russians, racism, and… Facebook. “Donald Trump Won Because of Facebook,” declared New York. “Here’s How Facebook Actually Won Trump the Presidency,” cried Wired. “Facebook’s failure: did fake news and polarized politics get Trump elected?” was The Guardian’s complaint. These were the same people who jumped for joy when Barack Obama won the “Facebook election” of 2012:

In his video on Monday, Zuckerberg cited press pressure as part of the reason for proposed changes. “After Trump first got elected in 2016, the legacy media wrote nonstop about how misinformation was a threat to democracy,” he said. Meta tried to address such concerns “without becoming the arbiters of truth,” he said, but fact-checkers “have just been too politically biased and have destroyed more trust than they’ve created, especially in the U.S.”

One would think “legacy media” outlets covering Zuckerberg’s video address might mention this. No luck: neither the Washington Post nor the Times mentioned the “legacy media” comments. Both papers’ readers, in other words, were served a curated version of reality that snipped out uncomfortable details. And God, do they wish the whole world could be like that! A sample of the yuppie-authoritarian fare in both papers’ comment sections, complaining about loosened restraints and begging for more whip-cracking…

https://www.racket.news/p/the-new-york-times-comments-section

‘OUTRAGEOUS’: NYT REJECTS PAID AD FROM QUAKERS THAT CALLS ISRAELI ATTACK ON GAZA ‘GENOCIDE’

“Palestinians and allies have been silenced and marginalized in the media for decades as these institutions choose silence over accountability,” said the secretary-general of the American Friends Service Committee.

The American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker organization, announced Wednesday that it has cancelled planned advertising with The New York Times after the outlet rejected one of the group’s proposed ads that read: “Tell Congress to stop arming Israel’s genocide in Gaza now! As a Quaker organization, we work for peace. Join us. Tell the President and Congress to stop the killing and starvation in Gaza.”

AFSC alleges that after receiving the text of the ad, the Times suggested they swap the word “genocide” for the word “war.” The word war has “an entirely different meaning both colloquially and under international law,” the Quaker group wrote.

AFSC said they rejected this proposed approach and then received an email from the outlet’s “Ad Acceptability Team” which read, in part, according to AFSC: “Various international bodies, human rights organizations, and governments have differing views on the situation. In line with our commitment to factual accuracy and adherence to legal standards, we must ensure that all advertising content complies with these widely applied definitions.”

“New York Times Advertising works with parties submitting proposed ads to ensure they are in compliance with our acceptability guidelines. This instance was no different, and is entirely in line with the standards we apply to all ad submissions,” a spokesperson for the Times said in an email to Common Dreams.

AFSC counters that a number of entities and individuals, such as the international human rights organizations Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have determined that Israel is committing genocide or acts of genocide in Gaza.

“The New York Times advertises a wide variety of products and advocacy messages on which there are differing views. Why is it not acceptable to publicize the meticulously documented atrocities committed by Israel and paid for by the United States?” said Layne Mullett, director of media relations for AFSC, in a statement.

Joyce Ajlouny, general secretary of AFSC, said that “the refusal of The New York Times to run paid digital ads that call for an end to Israel’s genocide in Gaza is an outrageous attempt to sidestep the truth. Palestinians and allies have been silenced and marginalized in the media for decades as these institutions choose silence over accountability.”

The AFSC has been a loud voice calling for a cease-fire and ending U.S. military support for Israel. For example, in April, the group announced a Tax Day campaign, a day of action where people held events and met with their members of Congress to demand they stop voting to spend U.S. tax dollars on military assistance to Israel.

Claude Debussy and Igor Stravinsky, 1915 (photograph by Erik Satie)

31 Comments

Chuck Artigues January 9, 2025

Why would the people of Greenland give up their healthcare to be ruled by the likes of stupid orange head, especially if they examine how he treated the people of Puerto Rico in their hour of need.

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Stephen Dunlap January 9, 2025

I beg to differ with my friends on the city council – “sanctuary cities” are BS – break the law, go to jail, or more, period

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John McKenzie January 9, 2025

I had no idea John Carroll Lynch was the Zodiac but I do know that Megyn Kelly has no clue how fire hydrants and water systems work.

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- John Kriege January 9, 2025
  
  That mislabeled photo sent me on a google chase, too.
  
  Reply
- Norm Thurston January 9, 2025
  
  The photo was taken from the movie “Zodiac”, where he played the role of primary suspect Arthur Leigh Allen.
  
  Reply
  - Chuck Dunbar January 9, 2025
    
    Whoops! Thanks, guys, for catching this one for us.
    
    Reply
  - monicahuettl January 10, 2025
    
    Thanks, Norm. I noticed the same, and was just about to google the movie cast for confirmation, and point it out here. You saved me the trouble.
    
    Reply
- Do Not Comment January 9, 2025
  
  Megyn Kelly famously and emphatically declared “Jesus was white!”
  
  Sick, depraved, racist, genocidal maniacs.
  
  Reply
  - George Hollister January 9, 2025
    
    For what it is worth, Jesus had Bedouin ethnic roots.
    
    Reply
Julie Beardsley January 9, 2025

There is a lot to potentially comment on, but I feel it’s important to raise a particular issue.
According to the “Local Government Records Management Guidelines” enacted by the State of California in 2006, local governments must preserve their records and this includes electronic records – including emails. This is usually done by backing up the day’s electronic data every evening, and this data is supposed to be stored in a facility away from the County to prevent loss. For example, Los Angeles County used to house their archives in Anaheim, until it became obvious that a disaster like an earthquake in Los Angeles County was too close to Orange County, so I believe the archives are now housed in Arizona. (Not completely sure about the details, but you get the point). It is really unheard of to have the archival system “fall apart” and to have specific emails deleted unless they were deleted on purpose, i.e., maliciously. I would remind readers that former Auditor Weer was allowed into the County buildings and allowed to access the County’s secure electronic system, while no longer an employee. (He was subsequently hired as extra-help shortly after this). Ms. Cubbison allowed him to come into secured County buildings to help her understand her job as the new Auditor. I do not fault Ms. Cubbison for wanting help, but she should have known better than to allow a non-employee, (even a former one), to access the secure system. My question then is, who deleted these emails? It seems to me that if there was mis-coding on a payroll sheet for wages legitimately earned by an employee, it is Mr. Weer who should be questioned, since he okay’d the time sheets. This certainly does not rise to the level of witch hunt against poor Ms. Cubbison, who I personally believe would be justified in asking for compensation from the County for the damage that has been done to her career and reputation. I sincerely hope Judge Moor, with her very astute wisdom and experience, decides to dismiss this fiasco so Ms. Cubbison may get on with her life.
Just my two cents – Julie Beardsley

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Harvey Reading January 9, 2025

FROM THE FINE PRINT in a recent local Anthem/Blue Cross health insurance bill:

And to think, some people don’t consider Mangione a hero…

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Ava Maria January 9, 2025

❤️‍🩹 L.A.

Airbnb providing free, temporary lodging to people in need.

Über providing free rides, up to $40.00, to people in need.

Let’s remember this, folks.

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Ava Maria January 9, 2025

On Tuesday, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced a series of changes to Facebook and Instagram that will considerably dial down the level of content moderation on those platforms.

Wul, yeah…s’about time…i.e. I sent a note of condolence to my I.G. friends in Italy when ‘Gordo’ their labrador passed —it was a sad time. IG came down hard on me for using insulting language — for calling their dog ‘fatso’. ‘Gordo’ is a term of endearment.

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- Chuck Dunbar January 9, 2025
  
  Zuckerberg capitulates to Trumpism and the Gods of Riches. Let’s have more trash-talk, hate, treachery and falsities spread all over America and the world. Content moderation was far, far from perfect, but at least was some attempt at internet sanity and reason and civility. Let’s make the internet more hellish than ever.
  
  Reply
  - Ava Maria January 9, 2025
    
    Zuck, X, You Tube, etc. should focus more on their content — not mine.
    
    Reply
  - Chuck Dunbar January 9, 2025
    
    This says it well, a subtitle from The Intercept regarding this issue and Zuckerberg:
    
    “Billionaires gonna billionaire — and lick the boots of whoever will bring them more riches and impunity.”
    
    Reply
    - Do Not Comment January 9, 2025
      
      And let’s not forget another thing billionaires do, funding “opposition” news in order to control it. For example, the Neoconservative terrorist billionaire Pierre Omidyar funding… The Intercept.
      
      Reply
  - Marshall Newman January 9, 2025
    
    +1
    
    Reply
- monicahuettl January 10, 2025
  
  Maybe now I will be able to post on FB about giving away composted horse manure. My attempts in the past were deleted with the message that I was not allowed to “sell dead horses” on FB. When you file an appeal, you get no response. And last year, FB was deleting legitimate news stories, including posts by MendoFever. Here is a link to an article from a British reporter, Charlotte Tobitt about this.
  
  https://pressgazette.co.uk/publishers/digital-journalism/facebook-spam-posts-independent-small-news-publishers/
  
  Reply
Call It As I See It January 9, 2025

Couple of issues,

1- It’s becoming clear in Mike Gienella’s reporting that Lloyd Weer should have been charged instead of Cubbison. I believe I said this over a year ago. With that being said, I don’t think there was even a crime here. Kennedy did the work, people got paid. We would expect Weer or Cubbison to make sure a plan was put in place for employees to be paid. Once again, this was a plan between the BOS and DA Dave.

I didn’t comment on Mark’s pictures because I see it up close and personal everyday. The empty buildings where the homeless try and make their living quarters. The continuing road work that seems to leave the street in worse shape that it was prior to the work. Drive behind Safeway on Main St. and you’ll need to get your shocks replaced and your tires balanced. It’s been in this condition for five years. At work everyday I watch cars turn into oncoming traffic or run over the curb because the City of Ukiah’s Streetscape poorly designed the corners

I should have noticed, Mark. But in my defense, why subject myself to negativity. And I don’t say that because of your pictures. You’re right to point out this obvious deterioration.

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Harvey Reading January 9, 2025

ARTICLE ON CA’S DELTA TUNNEL RATED TOP STORY of 2024 by Sacramento News & Review

Good for Dan. That underground peripheral canal diverion plan should have been trashed long ago. Guess the pols wanna completely eliminate fish from the Delta and the Sacramento River system.

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Harvey Reading January 9, 2025

“On Jan. 27, 2025, attorneys for Providence St. Joseph Hospital and from Bonta’s office are scheduled to meet before a superior court judge at the Eureka courthouse to address the hospital’s recent proclamation that it is bound by theocratic laws that supersede the state’s. In the audience will be people like Ellie Titus, who faces a medical system that could prove unwilling to take care of her in her time of need.”

Screw their “theocratic” nonsense. If they don’t provide the services, they should not not be in business.

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- Do Not Comment January 9, 2025
  
  Religions should not be involved in science-based health care. Why on Earth should anyone have to trust someone who believes there’s an angry, judgmental old man living in the sky who tortures humanity with trials and tribulations? Especially when they are part of an organization that paid a third party (John Jay College/CUNY) to investigate itself only to discover that 4% of its clergy are child molesters. That’s one 1 out of every 25.
  
  Reply
  - George Hollister January 9, 2025
    
    Find the person without a religion, and let me know about it. I have not met this person. Psychopaths get a pass.
    
    Reply
    - Lazarus January 9, 2025
      
      Thomas Paine was to of said, “My own mind is my own church.”
      That works for me and I was an Alter boy…
      Be well,
      Laz
      
      Reply
    - Harvey Reading January 10, 2025
      
      Obviously, you use the term, “religion”, VERY loosely. It seems to me that you make up scenarios as you go, scenarios that always agree with your pet assertions…
      
      Reply
Katherine Houston January 9, 2025

Even more interesting than the renowned musical subjects of the 1915 photo is that it was taken by Erik Satie, a great composer in his own right.

Reply
Koepf January 9, 2025

THE LATEST TWIST: Will Mike Geniella finally get his man: David Eyster, the district attorney of Mendocino County?

Reply
- Bruce Anderson January 9, 2025
  
  Typical mis-read by Colonel Von Umlaut, with whom all issues are personalities..
  
  Reply
Julie Beardsley January 9, 2025

I don’t ascribe malicious intent to anyone. Intentional. Not malicious.

Reply
Ava Maria January 9, 2025

Mitch

Read, recently, if diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder/Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder” a person will procrastinate, reliably, and the cause is DEPRESSION.

Reply

Mendocino County Today: Thursday 1/9/2025

31 Comments

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