Mendocino County Today: Thursday 1/30/2025

Wet Tonight | Tanbark | Reckless Shooting | Approved Resturant | Hearing Delayed | Jake Wake | For Cubbison | School Street | Broadband Bids | Hamburgler Strikes | Flow Reopening | Smoot Memorial | Road Improvement | MCBG Founders | Coast Redwoods | Reclaiming Woke | Sako Radio | Dance Party | Ed Notes | John Granholm | Still Good | Proud Boys | Eternal Witness | Tom Smyth | Way Back | Yesterday's Catch | Chinese Superiority | U Pick | H1-B Visas | Changing Climates | Self Deport | Long Road | Water Grab | Daring Raid | Water Wars | Shipwrecked Doctors | Hard Work | Lulu Say | Deportation Cookbook | Custer | Border Walk | Super Drought | Clay/Liston | Ira Hayes | Common Ancestry | Midair Collision | Lead Stories | Dozen Dems | Stewardess Checklist | Kennedy Dirt | Soldaderas | Militarized AI | Head Lice

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MOST OF THE DAY will be dry before wet weather arrives late tonight, lasting through the weekend. A series of systems will roll through the area, bringing two distinct periods of rain and mountain snow along with gusty winds through the weekend. Another system will develop by early next week. (NWS)

STEPHEN DUNLAP (Fort Bragg): A foggy 45F on the coast this Friday morning. Enjoy the dry skies today as big rains are headed our way for the next week but total rainfall amounts are now much less than earlier forecast, sure hope so. Where the brunt of rain falls is unknown at this point. Check the amounts on the 10 day forecast to see what they are thinking currently.

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RURAL LIFE AIN’T WHAT IT USED TO BE

On Wednesday, January 29, 2025, at approximately 4:36 AM, Deputies from the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office and Officers with the California Highway Patrol, were dispatched to investigate a report of multiple shots fired in the 400 block of Ellen Lynn Road in Redwood Valley.

When Deputies arrived at the scene, they discovered over fifty (50) cartridges of expended .556 ammunition had been discharged in the roadway. Multiple residences and vehicles were determined to have been struck with bullets from the discharged ammunition. Numerous emergency messages were published by the Sheriff’s Office Dispatch Center to notify the community of the law enforcement activity on Ellen Lynn Road.

Detectives from the Sheriff’s Office also responded to the scene to assist with this investigation. Deputies canvassed the area and contacted residents to check their welfare. Deputies determined there were no injuries reported as a result of the negligent discharge of the firearm. Several people, including children, were in direct danger of the bullets that entered their residences, due to the disregard for the safety of the community exhibited by the suspect(s).

From the evidence located during this investigation, the subject(s) responsible for this incident were believed to have left the area immediately after the shooting occurred.

During this continuing investigation, Sheriff’s Office personnel were in contact with representatives of the Ukiah Unified School District regarding the nearby school on West Road in Redwood Valley. Due to the fact there was no continuing threat to public safety and the large number of law enforcement representatives still in the area, it was decided there was no justification to interrupt the normal transportation and school schedules.

This incident is still being investigated and the suspect(s) responsible for the discharge of the firearm(s) are unknown at this time. Anyone with information regarding this investigation is requested to contact the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office at 707-463-4086.

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CUBBISON PRELIMINARY HEARING DELAYED FOR A MONTH

by Mike Geniella

In a stunning turn, legal proceedings in the criminal prosecution of suspended Mendocino County Auditor Chamise Cubbison ground to a halt Wednesday because of court scheduling conflicts and will not resume until Feb. 24.

The delay means Cubbison and her co-defendant Paula June Kennedy, who have already spent 16 months in legal limbo, will not know whether evidence presented so far by the District Attorney’s Office warrants their case going to trial or dismissed until the preliminary hearing concludes late next month.

Superior Court Judge Ann Moorman said at the end of Wednesday’s court session that pre-paid traveling plans involving county CEO Darcie Antle, a prime prosecution witness, and those of her own forced the lengthy delay.

The surprise announcement came at the conclusion of the fourth day of testimony which ended about 4 p.m. Wednesday. Hearing observers were visibly caught off guard.

Judge Moorman said, “I’m sorry but there really isn’t anything that can be done at this point.”

Witnesses during the preliminary hearing to date have been confined to law enforcement investigators and county staff, including department heads who are familiar with the details behind Kennedy, the County’s former Payroll Manager, paying herself about $68,000 in extra pay over a three-year period during the Covid pandemic. No one at the County level questions if Kennedy worked the number of hours required to single handedly process a complicated payroll for 1,200 county employees while working remotely.

CEO Antle last week testified that she felt it was “almost illegal” the number of hours required for Kennedy to process the County’s payroll. Antle acknowledged her office since 2019 had been locked in a struggle with Weer and then Cubbison over a push to shift payroll responsibility to CEO administrators. Weer and Cubbison were adamant in their opposition, contending independent oversight by the Auditor’s Office was critical, Antle stated.

At issue in the criminal case is who authorized the extra pay: Kennedy herself, Cubbison, and/or retired Auditor Lloyd Weer. Kennedy was a salaried employee not entitled to overtime. Kennedy had exhausted whatever limited compensatory time she earned.

Kennedy blames Cubbison, her immediate supervisor. Cubbison said the extra pay deal was worked out between Weer and Kennedy. Weer initially denied any involvement but later admitted to investigators that he had spoken with Kennedy about her chronic pay complaints and told her to investigate how other County employees were circumventing overtime restrictions for salaried positions.

How long it will take to wrap up the much-delayed preliminary hearing is unclear.

Even if witness testimony is finally concluded in February, time will be needed for final arguments and judicial consideration in this high-profile case laced with local politics.

Only at that point, will Judge Moorman be able to decide whether the District Attorney’s Office has presented enough evidence to move the case onto trial, or grant pending defense motions for dismissal.

In the meantime, there is a pending civil case that Cubbison has filed against the county Board of Supervisors for denying her due process before it suspended the embattled Auditor without pay or benefits.

A major element in that case is whether DA David Eyster, who wrangled with Cubbison over his own office’s spending, targeted the suspended Auditor for prosecution.

County supervisors in 2022, with the behind-the-scenes support of Eyster, overruled opposition from Cubbison and other senior County finance officials and forced the controversial consolidation of the independent Auditor-Controller and Treasurer-Tax Collector offices in hopes of creating a new Department of Finance under board control.

DA Eyster in a newly uncovered memo to former board member Glenn McGourty urged blocking Cubbison’s appointment as interim Auditor or any promotion when Weer retired. In the memo Eyster laid out a three-step consolidation plan in hopes Cubbison would be permanently blocked from leading the consolidated offices. Those hopes were thwarted, however, when Cubbison ran unopposed for election to oversee the combined offices and won.

The latest delay in legal proceedings is one more in a series that even Moorman at one point labeled “unfair” to the defendants.

The politically laced case has dragged on for 16 months. Only last week did it reach the preliminary hearing stage, a crucial first step in a felony prosecution.

Special prosecutor Traci Carrillo, a Sonoma County attorney hired by Eyster at a rate of $400 per hour, this week wrapped up her preliminary hearing case arguments.

Carrillo has been methodical about questioning witnesses and producing documents confirming Kennedy’s pay was not formally authorized. No evidence, however, has yet to be introduced to support any criminal intent, nor that Cubbison personally benefited from the extra pay for Kennedy.

Andrian and Fred McCurry, Public Defender for Kennedy, launched their defense this week by grilling key law enforcement witnesses.

DA Investigator Tom Kiely testified Wednesday he was present when Weer, the retired Auditor, was questioned about his alleged role. Kiely dismissed contentions that Weer had been given special consideration, including being allowed to have his wife present during questioning by investigators.

Kiely also brushed aside suggestions that internal questions had been raised about the quality of the initial investigation done by sheriff Lt. Andrew Porter.

“I think that’s unfair. He didn’t have all the information at first,” said Kiely.

Porter testified during the hearing that Kennedy was the only suspect in the criminal case at first but that later Cubbison became a suspect. Porter acknowledged meeting with DA Eyster about fifteen times during his investigation.

Weer was never the focus of the investigation despite his past efforts as Auditor to secure extra pay for Kennedy, said Porter.

The extra pay for Kennedy began in 2019 when she used an obscure county payroll code that typically is used to cover salary adjustments and miscellaneous expenses. The payments began while Weer was still the Auditor and continued until he retired two years later. Weer claims he never knew about them.

Danielle Grilli, a former Auditor office employee, testified Wednesday that Cubbison seemed “surprised” to learn about Kennedy’s use of the code when an internal probe unfolded.

“She asked me to run a system history,” said Grilli.

Attorney Andrian on behalf of Cubbison has raised the question of why the suspended Auditor, if directly involved in an unauthorized pay scheme, would have triggered a county investigation by reporting a written Kennedy threat to quit and sue.

For now, those and other questions surrounding the controversial case remain unanswered.

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JULIE BEARDSLEY

Thank you Mike Geniella for your great reporting on this! My heart goes out to Ms. Cubbison, who has long been known to be a person of integrity.

FYI - when COVID-19 hit Mendocino County, it was an all-hands-on-deck situation because Public Health had been reduced from over 100 employees doing the good work to make our community healthier, to a skeleton crew of employees. There was no Director, and minimal staff.

With few trained Public Health professionals, the CEO (Carmel Angelo) assigned employees from departments like Social Services to assist with contact tracing and other tasks. It was pretty chaotic. In the first few months, the coding on our time cards changed several times, making for a lot of confusion. No one was called to task because of coding errors.

Every employee has a Supervisor who signs off on time sheets. In the Auditor’s department, it would have been Mr. Weer who was responsible for okaying the time sheets – not Chamise Cubbison. Additionally, the County was supposed to back up all electronic records once every 24 hours, so to assert that the emails in question are lost seems questionable. Even if someone deleted them, there should be a retrievable record that they existed. And if the required back up was not happening, the CEO/BOS should have been aware of this, since this is an extremely important part of running any government, and done something about it.

The BOS should never have removed an elected official without due process, i.e., a hearing. Having done so, they have besmirched Ms. Cubbison’s good name, ruined her career and caused much suffering. I hope this leads to the DOJ investigating Mr. Eyster for instigating this witch-hunt and mis-using the power of his office. And I hope Ms. Cubbison is compensated (at tax-payers expense) for the pain and suffering caused her. And the public must hold the BOS members accountable (and whoever gave them the legal advice) for removing Ms. Cubbison without due process.

And finally, government office is a sacred trust and should not be run like amateur hour. (Either at the local OR Federal level).

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AS THE OLD COURTHOUSE IS ABANDONED AND THE PALACE HOTEL IS UNDER REMODEL, UKIAH PREPARES TO UPGRADE ANOTHER DOWNTOWN STREET

The City of Ukiah is pleased to invite you to the first Public Workshop for the School Street Multimodal Corridor Study. This study focuses on identifying recommended changes and enhancements for School Street, from the intersection of Clay Street to the intersection of Henry Street.

The study aims to:

• Address aging infrastructure challenges and uncover opportunities for improvement.
• Enhance the corridor for all users, including pedestrians, cyclists, and vehicles.
• Support climate-resilient designs while balancing the needs of local businesses.
• Preserve and elevate the unique qualities that make School Street a special place.

Event Details

Please see the attached flyer for additional information about the event.

What: Public Workshop #1 for the School Street Corridor Study

When: Thursday, February 13, 5:30 PM – 7:00 PM

Where: Ukiah Valley Conference Center, 200 S School St

This workshop is an opportunity to share your ideas about the future of School Street. Your input is invaluable in creating a vision that reflects the community’s aspirations. You can learn more about the study by visiting the project website: School Street Corridor Study.

We hope you can attend this first public event and look forward to seeing you there. If you are unable to attend, you can still participate by visiting the project website to share your ideas on the interactive map.

https://ghd.mysocialpinpoint.com/school-street-corridor-study/home

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ADVERTISEMENT FOR BIDS, CITY OF FORT BRAGG MUNICIPAL BROADBAND UTILITY PROJECT

The City of Fort Bragg (Owner) is requesting Bids for the construction of the following Project: Municipal Broadband Utility Project PWP-00130 Sealed bids for the construction of the Project will be received by the City Clerk at City Hall located at 416 N Franklin St, Fort Bragg, Ca, 95437 until February 27, 2025 at 2:00 PM local time.

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I’LL HAVE A HAPPY MEAL, OH AND ALL THE CASH IN THE REGISTER

The Cloverdale Police Department is actively investigating a robbery that took place at the McDonald’s restaurant located at 1149 S. Cloverdale Blvd. on January 29, 2025, at approximately 3:57 P.M.

A male suspect, believed to be in his 20s, entered the restaurant wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt and sandals. He approached the front counter, demanded money, and fled the scene with an undisclosed amount of cash. The suspect was last seen in the 1100 block of S. Cloverdale Blvd.

No injuries were reported during the incident. Cloverdale Police officers are conducting an active investigation to identify and locate the suspect.

The Cloverdale Police Department urges anyone with information related to this case to contact Detective Vanoni at 707-894-2150 or kvanoni@ci.cloverdale.ca.us.

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FLOW UPDATE

As many know, Flow is the younger sibling of the Mendocino Cafe; after the landlords blocked the sale of the business to others in the community (5 days before closing), we opted to close for DEEP Cleaning, plumbing and equipment repairs. We intend to Reopen on Friday, February 7th with Chef Shana Everhart at the Helm, plans for a Fancy Valentines Dinner menu and a Fundraising Whale Watch Event for the Mendocino Elementary/K-8 School(s). There will be Special Grey Whale Mocktails and Cocktails, Finger Foods and Apps; Hours will be late afternoon through Sunset (Spectacular from the Flow Deck) with a Grand Raffle Prize anyone would be thrilled to win: A Spotting Scope (with Tripod) purchased from Out of The World for the ultimate in Whale Watching and/or turned to the sky for Planet Watching!

Meredith Smith merrie@mcn.org

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COUNTY TRANSPORTATION DEPARTMENT LAYS OUT 20 YEAR ROAD IMPROVEMENT PLAN

In order to achieve a plan like the one above, MCDOT (Mendocino County Department of Transportation) would apply the most cost effective methods possible. However, when pavement preservation strategies are exhausted and reconstruction methods are required, then costs-per-mile will be high. MCDOT believes that the projected funding will allow us to apply a combination of half pavement preservation and half-corrective maintenance (reconstruction) methods to treat the 357 miles of main roads at an estimated average cost of $5.5 million per year, over 19 years, and achieve scores of PCI 50 to 70. Because of the major contract methods used for most of the 357 miles of main road projects, the remaining 660 miles of chip sealed gravel roads will receive additional attention from the County Maintenance Crews, and this will raise their condition as well.

Corrective maintenance includes Resurfacing, Restoration, and Rehabilitation (RRR) projects. Such projects range from “full depth reclamation” with up to a foot of grindings with hot oil injection, to thick overlays, such as, the application of new pavement at a thickness of 3 inches of Hot Mix Asphalt that proves to last up to 21 years under moderate traffic loads. A more cost effective RRR treatment includes “cold in place recycle” with only three inches grinding with cold emulsion injection topped with chip seal.

Pavement preservation includes Chip Seals, rubberized Chip Seal micro surface, multi-layer application of all types (Cape Seal).

Much can change in twenty years; roads treated recently may need retreatment before year fifteen. Costs can also change, so projections of what is achievable may vary from year to year. A twenty year plan will be specific only one year at a time. The BOS will be the decision maker for allocating these funds based upon a specific yearly plan presented at a public board meeting, which will consider specific road segments and the most effective treatment for those segments. MCDOT, as required by RMRA, will prepare yearly specific plan and bring them to the BOS. Outlined below is a long-range twenty-year guidance plan listing some 357+/- miles of main roads requiring treatment by name. The BOS may annually review and propose amendments to any long-range plan to provide for the use of additional federal, state, or local funds, and to account for unexpected revenue, or take into consideration any unforeseen circumstances. The plans will need to be submitted yearly to the California Transportation Commission where projects lists can be adjusted or extended based on cost adjustments as bid prices and treatment designs are refined.

MCDOT believes that since we now have an actual and dependable funding source (SB 1 & Prop 69) and known additional RMRA amounts on a sliding scale that will average $5.5 million per year by 2037 with Consumer Price Index stabilizers that it is reasonable to try to map out a long-range plan for an average of $5.5 million per year. It is difficult to pick the order and proposed treatment of a list of named roads projected out fifteen years and there will be many specific details to designate every year, on every road. However, we think such a plan can be made based on what we believe the cost to treat roads is; on average approximately 20 miles per year at an average cost of $300,000 per mile. This cost based on the consultant’s recent report “2017 Pavement Management Program Update”.

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NEW LOST COAST ACQUISITION

by Justine Frederiksen

If you love looking at the Pacific Ocean, then few things could make you happier than driving up Highway 1 along the Mendocino Coast, because that particular stretch of the iconic California highway offers the most ocean in its sweeping views — all of the water with hardly any of the crowds or other signs of civilization that clog the Pacific Coast Highway vistas further south.

And one of the best views on the Mendocino Coast might be its last northern peek of the ocean, that sweeping glance just before the road turns from those rugged Lost Coast cliffs that staunchly refused pavement and heads into the trees, taking you past a forest so thick and so tall you can hardly see the sky anymore, let alone the ocean.

While some might find that wall of trees intimidating, to others it is incredibly inviting, for they know that beyond the forest lies forbidden views of the ocean, rarely seen by today’s humans because walking into those trees is not an option now — but it may be soon.

Because about five square miles of this untamed section of the California Coast with no roads or even trails is now in the hands of the Bureau of Land Management, after being acquired by the Save the Redwoods League in 2021.

In a press release, the BLM describes the Lost Coast Redwoods property as “3,181-acres (about 5 square miles) located at a convergence of the traditional territories of the Sinkyone, Cahto, and Coast Yuki peoples. With more than 2,250 acres (about 3.5 square miles) of second-growth redwood forest and large old-growth trees scattered throughout, this property has been managed for commercial timber production since the 1880s (but was acquired by the) Save the Redwoods League for $36.9 million in December 2021 (and is now) protected from excessive timber harvesting, subdivision, and development.”

When asked whether the public access will include trails, possibly connecting with existing trails reached off of Usal Road in Mendocino County, BLM spokesperson Sarah Denos explained in an email that “the BLM is working on a public access and a recreation plan for the property, including trails, trailheads, restrooms, and campgrounds, etc.

This will involve (the National Environmental Policy Act) and public participation. Until this process is completed, the number and type of recreation facilities, including trails, is undetermined.”

BLM officials also note in the release that “the League has been actively working on restoration and public access projects on the property for over a decade (and that the BLM) looks forward to continuing stewardship of the property with Tribal partners (and that) the future management of the Lost Coast Redwoods is supported by the Lost Coast Redwoods Sustainable Stewardship Endowment established through a $2 million donation from Save the Redwoods League, made possible through the Foundation for America’s Public Lands, the official charitable partner of the BLM.

The endowment establishes a sustained source of funding available to the BLM for stewardship, public access, tribal engagement and in support of long-term conservation for Lost Coast Redwoods.”

(Ukiah Daily Journal)

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IMPEACH TRUMP FOR A THIRD TIME, on KMUD, Thursday, Jan. 30, at 9am.

OUR SHOW  

From Newsweek Magazine, Jan. 24: "Efforts to impeach Donald Trump for a third time are ramping up as he begins his second term as president.

"An effort to impeach Trump has been launched by the non-partisan organization Free Speech for People. 

Our show's guest is John C. Bonifaz, President, Free Speech for People.

"According to the group, which is the parent organization of the "Impeach Trump. Again" campaign, Trump's return to the White House "poses an unprecedented threat to our democracy."

"The group claims that Trump is disqualified from the presidency over his role in the January 6 Capitol riots under the 14th Amendment, which states that anyone, including the president, who takes an oath of office to uphold the Constitution and then engages in insurrection is disqualified from future public office.

"Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges against him related to the events of January 6. A Supreme Court ruling also found that former presidents have broad immunity from criminal prosecution for actions that are considered official duties, putting a significant roadblock in the way of the case against him, which has now been dropped by the U.S. Dept. of Justice.

"However, a report by former special counsel Jack Smith recently found that there was enough evidence to prosecute Trump had he not been reelected.

"Meanwhile, Free Speech for People also claims that Trump violated the emoluments clauses of the Constitution, which limits what gifts and titles federal officials can receive."

KMUD

Our show, "Heroes and Patriots Radio", airs live on KMUD, on the first and fifth Thursdays of every month, at 9 AM, Pacific Time.

We simulcast our programming on two full power FM stations: KMUE 88.1 in Eureka and KLAI 90.3 in Laytonville. It also maintains a translator at 99.5 FM in Shelter Cove, California.

We also stream live from the web at https://kmud.org/

Speak with our guest live and on-the-air at: KMUD Studio (707) 923-3911. Please call in.

We post our shows to our own website and Youtube channels. Shows may be distributed in other media outlets.

Wherever you live, KMUD is your community radio station. We are a true community of informed and progressive people. Please join us by becoming a member or underwriter.

— John Sakowicz

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ED NOTES

OPINIONS that San Francisco is the worst-managed city in the country are as predictable as summer fog, and inevitably cite Muni, about which people have been complaining for 50 years. I used to ride the Muni buses regularly, to and from all areas of the city, and I think Muni’s pretty good. The major lines are so frequent that waits are brief. You can get most places in a timely manner, assuming timely means allowing an extra fifteen minutes or so for traffic. Sure, there are surly drivers and, on every bus, at least one outpatient, but most of the outpatients behave themselves, and for every surley driver there are two jolly ones.

I DON’T CARE if an unhappy person is behind the wheel so long as he doesn’t suddenly decide to drive us all to Tucson or into the bay. And every Muni rider knows to get off the bus when a bunch of Our Nation’s Future get on at a school stop. But so long as the outpatient mutters his timestables or Building 7 delusions to himself, who could possibly be disturbed? Drunks are occasionally obstreperous but violence, given the thousands of people who ride, is rare.

I TYPICALLY RODE the One California. One morning, eastbound, the One was packed with Asians headed for the markets of Stockton Street. At Powell, the aisles of Number One were so jammed that when I stooped to pick up my umbrella I inadvertently butt-blocked two old ladies into two other old ladies, and all four muttered Cantonese curses at me, me, a senior citizen with an honorable discharge and probably the oldest person on the bus, standing with my elderly peers because many of the seated people, the usual insensate young, were plunked down in the senior seats fiddling with their inevitable gadgets. (Who are these blank-eyed beasts!) By the time the over-crowded, eastbound bus gets to Powell, the One California is only a block from becoming a nearly empty bus because almost everyone gets off at Stockton.

SO, there we were lurching down the hill and into each other like so many bowling pins when the driver who I, with my vast knowledge of the Far East pegged as a Filipino, stopped the bus in the middle of the street, stepped out from behind his safety bar and announced, “I’m not leaving until everyone moves back.” Nobody moved, of course, because nobody could move. The bus was that crowded. A tiny Filipina standing among a six pack of old ladies near me shouted, with great maternal authority, “Dribe de bus, driber. We almost dere!” And thirty seconds later we were.

ANOTHER AFTERNOON during the Obama reign, I strode west on Market Street for what I call my Up and Over — up Market, up 17th, down Stanyan, left turn through the gauntlet of dope dealers at Haight and Stanyan, on past Hippie Hill and a couple hundred young derelicts, past the tennis courts, north on 7th to Kaju where the counter girl was deep into her Korean-English Bible, an island of wholesomeness after a traverse of much of The City’s outdoors demographic, from clumps of open air criminals through serene neighborhoods of Whole Foods shoppers.

SETTING OUT from Bush and Kearney, I was soon on Market where, near Fourth and Market, I saw a large placard declaring, “Obama is a cracker.”

LAROUCHIES! I can spot them at a hundred yards. If you don’t know the Larouchites I’ll save you research time by telling you they’re a cult led by a one-time Trotskyite and convicted swindler named Lyndon Larouche who says the whole global show is a conspiracy, a conspiracy which includes the Queen of England as a drug dealer. The Larouchies are so far out even the Building 7 people think they’re whacked.

THAT DAY, two young Larouchies, one black the other white, manned the Larouche table with the inflammatory denunciation of Obama as a “cracker,” a pejorative which made zero sense, but these nuts were defending it.

THE TWO Larouchies were besieged by a half dozen angry black men and a stylish young black woman who was lifting her Nordstrom shopping bag up and down like she couldn’t quite decide whether or not to swing it at the Larouchies.

THE WHITE Larouchie was a bulge-eyed nutcase, a cartoon quality fanatic. The black Larouchie was an apologetic-looking kid who seemed to be having serious second thoughts about his political affiliations in the face of the deluge of insults he was taking from his fellow ethnics. If a pair of uniformed cops hadn’t been standing nearby, the two Larouchies would have been smacked around, I’m sure.

MARKET STREET isn’t the kind of venue where you want to get into arguments with passersby. Or street nuts. Or Larouchites. But I helped myself to a leaflet and, adopting what I thought was the calming therapeutic tone I’d learned as a long time resident of Mendocino County, I announced that I thought calling the president a cracker wasn’t the way to “enhance dialogue.”

THE BLACK Larouchie, nonplussed, stared back at me. The white nut called me a double fascist. “You are a fascist,” he said, “an obvious fascist.” That had been his response to all his critics. But it isn’t right to call the president a cracker, I insisted.

TWO black guys encouraged my line of flab-think. “That’s right,” they said, as I added that Obama was certainly not a cracker, of all things. At which point a round black guy, pointing happily at me, shouted triumphantly at the Larouchies, “See mothafuggas! Even this cracker say you wrong.” I walked on, vindicated.

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JACK SAUNDERS, Mendocino County History

One old photo here is cropped from a larger one in my possession and depicts the interior of Granholm’s mens furnishings store on North Franklin Street in Fort Bragg. It was taken on 22 Jul 1922.

The proprietor, John Isaac Granholm (15 May 1885 - 11 Oct 1926), was a Finnish Swede that immigrated in 1902 and was a prominent merchant in town, though he does not appear in the photo, as he was away on a trip to the old country at the time. His passport photo is the other old one, and an advertisement placed in the Fort Bragg Advocate three days before the store photo was taken is included as well. It is likely that one of the two men that does appear was George Dahl who had worked with Granholm for some time and who later bought the business from Granholm’s widow. The other may have been Eli Mattson who was a clerk in the store for a number of years, including 1922.

On 16 May 1908 Granholm married Anna Hendrickson (1882 - 14 Jun 1936) in Mendocino County. At the time of the WWI draft he reported that his left leg had been amputated above the knee, though why or when is unknown. In 1919, when the opportunity arose, he bought the building housing his store, and at some point he acquired the house at 601 East Pine Street where he and Anna lived. A Google Earth photo of it is included. By coincidence they were actually neighbors of two of my grandfather’s sisters and their husbands. When Granholm passed away he left a nice estate to his widow, something on the order of $26,000. She sold the house and the business and moved to San Francisco, though she returned to visit from time to time and continued to own the building housing the store, then known as Dahl’s. During those visits she apparently stayed in one of the apartments above the store. (I wonder if anyone lives there today…) Anna died in San Francisco, and she and her husband rest together at Rose Memorial Park in Fort Bragg. They had no children.

The building housing the store was expanded to the alley after Granholm and his wife owned it and has housed other businesses over the years. In the late 1930s it was sold to Tom Dornan who moved his hardware store into it, and after his untimely death in 1964 it reopened a year or so later as Day’s Hardware Store. Based on a Google Earth photo it seems to house some sort of arts store today. I was probably in Day’s with my grandfather many years ago, but I have no memory of it.

Perhaps others that see this will have something to add…

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STILL GOOD AT SOMETHING

At 87
I can waste time in more ways
Than I knew there were

— Jim Luther

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WELL I’LL BE DARNED

God Is the Eternal Witness

One time in 1993 at Yogaville in Buckingham, Virginia, a woman asked Swami Satchidananda: “What is God?” The guru replied: “God is the Eternal Witness.”

— Craig Stehr

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CHUCK ROSS, Mendocino County History

I have been blessed with a new mystery. This clipping, dated 1902 says a new town on the Greenwood-Philo road will be named Smythe in honor of surveyor Thomas P. Smythe [sic] The good man’s name was spelled Smyth without the “E” but that never slowed down a newspaper.

So, where was the town of Smythe?

A bit of an introduction to one of our truly historic figures for those of you who are not familiar.

Tom Smyth was born on the Missouri-Arkansas border in 1836, second of ten children born to a minister. He crossed the plains in 1857 and spent the winter in Santa Rosa. He came to Ukiah in 1858 and was present at the naming of the town. He owned a sawmill on Ackerman Creek but surveying was his real calling. He surveyed the lines between Mendocino and Sonoma & Lake counties. In 1890 he left his county position to go to work for Lorenzo E. White. He surveyed part of the railway at Salmon Creek, the Mendocino Railroad from Cuffey’s Cove the line from Flumeville to Rollerville and his great achievement, the railroads of Greenwood, Elk and Alder Creeks. He seems to have been well liked and much respected. In September 1904 Smyth was enroute from Albion to Comptche when his horses bolted, overturning the wagon. He was dragged about fifty feet and seriously injured. He probably never worked in the woods again, and it likely took a toll on his overall health. He died of pneumonia October 1st 1907 and is buried in the northeast corner of the community cemetery at Cuffey’s Cove. Tom Smyth’s map of the proposed railroad was submitted along with the articles of incorporation and a copy is on display in Sacramento.

His grave is adjacent to the Ross family plot at Cuffey’s Cove and I shall be proud to spend eternity as his neighbor. I am just in no rush to move in.

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MENDOCINO WAY BACK WHEN (Ron Parker)

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CATCH OF THE DAY, Wednesday, January 29, 2025

JOSEPH CHRISTMAN, 39, Mendocino. Disobeying court order, failure to appear.

MARCUS DUMAN, 41, Redwood Valley. No license, suspended license for DUI, county parole violation.

JEREMIAH ECKEL JR., 46, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.

VANESSA ELIZABETH, 55, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol, probation revocation. (Frequent flyer.)

BENJAMIN MILLER, 46, Laytonville. Disobeying court order.

DAVID RUSSELL, 33, Ukiah. Failure to appear.

SILAS YOUNG, 42, Willits. Battery, probation revocation.

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GONG HAY FAT CHOI!

I just figured it out. Why all the tech bros have immediately aligned with Trump. Of course I first thought it was to protect their business interests. They all do a lot of business with the federal government and they want to secure their position. Yes, BUT: China is the new us. It clearly is The Rising Empire and it is the real existential threat and they know it firsthand because their businesses are being inundated by Chinese superiority. Whether BYD, or DeepSeek, or TicTok or a new space station all of these internationalist corporate leaders see up close and personal the power of a focused state intent on conquering their world.

Xi Jinping recently told Joe Biden, "We will win because the problem with democracy is time. Democracy is too slow". That is the reason. Corporate America is not a democracy. It is a kingdom. All of these guys are dictators in their companies. Think how their authoritarian power has welded a bunch of regular citizens into a Tesla or a Meta or an Apple with incredible speed.

They see Trump as the dictator who - with their guidance, of course - can compel our social, political and governmental forces to change focus from fish and genders to surviving the quickly coming conquest.

— Michael Nolan

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H1-B VISAS TAKE AWAY JOBS

Editor:

I believe everyone should go online and check out how H1-B visas work. Talk about taking away jobs from American citizens. They get to work here for six years and can bring their spouse and children under 21. The spouse may also apply and be granted permission to work, taking away more American jobs. And the claim that we don’t produce enough “qualified” people by those who hire H1-B workers is complete nonsense. Just ask all the tech workers terminated in the past two years. It would be very interesting to see how many H1-Bs get permanent status here.

Mike Tuhtan

Sebastopol

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BUT IT ISN’T

Editor,

President Donald Trump has called climate change a “hoax,” but we know that scientists have declared it a dangerous reality. But there is another climate change that is of concern: the social-psychological climate of the country.

We, as a nation, have enjoyed — despite ethnic differences — by and large, a positive social-psychological climate. That is rapidly changing with the Trump administration’s mass deportation of immigrants, the firing of federal civil service workers and inspectors general, the cancellation of diversity, equity and inclusion programs, the rollback of legislation to protect the rights of LGBTQ people and the pardons of insurrectionists.

This climate in the U.S. is shifting to one of fear, suspicion, anger, insecurity, disappointment and worry about what shocking actions lie ahead.

Barbara Wilson

San Rafael

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CAROL VALESANO:

Everyone is ramping up their righteous indignation now that the Executive orders have been handed down, and the fresh new hells unleashed daily. I feel compelled to remind everyone it’s all for shock and awe. To overwhelm you so you don’t even know where to start: to leave you so over-stimulated you have to shut down to get by. Even in what seems dire circumstance, it’s OK to have good boundaries and not feel guilty about them.

News, once a day only. Then turn it off and live your life. Hydrate. Sleep. Exercise, you must be strong and you must outlive the bastards.

Get your gardens ready. Get your rain water catchment ready. Get your cans and jars and dehydrators ready. Sharpen your hat pins.

Get your community looking at how resources can be pooled, sharing new resources, like small business and minority business.

Organize your home, get your environment clear of clutter. Figure out where you’d hide Anne Frank.

Don’t spend what you don’t have to, practice being lean in spending habits.

Don’t waste your emotions on these people, it’s a cancer, and hurts you, literally hurts your heart.

We’ve a long road, don’t burn out in the first week, they are intentionally doing this. Don’t play their news cycle or fear mongering game.

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SAVE CALIFORNIA SALMON SLAMS TRUMP’S WATER GRAB FOR CORPORATE AGRIBUSINESS

by Dan Bacher

Los Angeles, CA - On Sunday, President Trump issued executive orders regarding increasing water diversions and withholding aid to California twodays after visiting fire-impacted areas in Los Angeles where he tied disaster relief for California to overriding critical California water quality, Endangered Species Act and Bay Delta protections, according to a statement from Save California Salmon.…

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/1/27/2299480/-Save-California-Salmon-Slams-Trump-s-Water-Grab-For-Corporate-Agribusiness

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TRUMP JUMPS BACK INTO STATE’S WATER WARS

by Dan Walters

It would be impossible to overstate the complexity of water supply management in California.

Hundreds of federal, state and local agencies decree who or what is supplied with water, when and how much will be delivered, and the prices recipients must pay.

Moreover, there are policy differences within those broad categories. For instance, local agricultural water agencies and municipal providers to homes and businesses often have different priorities.

The politics of water are even more convoluted, involving not only the public agencies but seemingly countless outside stakeholders, ranging from developers who need water supply commitments for their projects to commercial fishermen who want to protect spawning salmon.

The proliferation of competing agendas explains why it is so difficult to reach the consensus needed to move policy forward. It’s not unusual for proposed projects and policies to kick around for years, if not decades, before something concrete occurs.

For example, the proposed Sites Reservoir on the west side of the Sacramento Valley now seems likely to be built, but only after 70 years of promotion by backers.

The long-planned expansion of Los Vaqueros Reservoir in Contra Costa County collapsed recently when the East Bay Municipal Utility District pulled out, citing ever-rising costs.

More than six decades ago, state water officials proposed a canal to carry water around the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. After gaining legislative approval, a 1982 referendum blocked construction, and 40 years later, a proposed tunnel beneath the Delta remains stalled by a political stalemate.

Operations of existing of dams and canals are similarly fraught, particularly divvying up water among farmers, municipal users and flows to protect fish and other wildlife as supplies fluctuate due to climate change.

For years, federal and state authorities have sought to reduce diversions by agriculture — by far the largest water users — to bolster habitat flows. Farmers have resisted.

The state has sought “voluntary agreements” from farmers in the San Joaquin River watershed between Stockton and Fresno to enhance natural flows, threatening to order reductions if agreements are not reached. But unilateral action by the state would spark a legal battle over water rights whose outcome could not be predicted.

Another player in California’s high-stakes water game emerged eight years ago when Donald Trump became president for the first time.

He forcefully backed farmers in their conflict with state water managers, ordering the Bureau of Reclamation and other federal agencies to adopt more agriculture-friendly policies.

Four years later, after Trump was defeated by Joe Biden, the policies were reversed. Just days before Biden’s tenure ended, federal and state water managers last month announced a new operational agreement.

This week, when Trump once again became president, he essentially sought to cancel that agreement and reinstate his previous policies. Based on a memo to federal water agencies, he directed them to draft a plan “to route more water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to other parts of the state for use by the people there who desperately need a reliable water supply.”

Trump not only cited farmers’ needs for a reliable water supply but reiterated his belief that a lack of water deliveries to Southern California made it more difficult to fight deadly wildfires — a contention that has no basis in fact. Los Angeles had plenty of water to fight fires, but hydrants ran dry because the system was designed for fighting individual building fires, not massive wildfires, and was overtaxed.

Despite the media splash, it’s doubtful that Trump’s decree will be anything more than a relatively brief pause in efforts to resolve California’s water conflicts simply because they are measured in decades, not any one president’s term.

(Dan Walters is one of most decorated and widely syndicated columnists in California history, authoring a column four times a week that offers his view and analysis of the state’s political, economic, social and demographic trends.)

(CalMatters.org)

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ON-LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

I received the latest newsletter from a local, small family farming operation and was surprised to read they had serious problems finding dependable American workers and ended up hiring two foreign workers (one from Africa and another from India) through an international NGO. Think about that - they could not find TWO dependable Americans for farm labor - and they’re not out in the middle of nowhere, plenty of possible candidates within walking distance. This is not going to improve. Deporting all the people willing to do hard work will not suddenly create a class of hardworking Americans; they’ve never had to do anything hard and now they’re too busy playing games, as intended.

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I SAY

Looking at the attack on my community, I say: there is no ideology of transgenderism.

A transgenderism remains to be created. And it must, in my view, be based on anarchism (autonomy) and on surrealism (liberated imagination).

As i have said in seeking to elaborate a basis for a new book:

On the political plane our models should be radical and feminist: Lucy Parsons, Flora Tristan, Vera Zasulich, Emma Goldman, Rosa Luxemburg, Nadyezhda Krupskaya, Natalya Sedova, Federica Montseny, Shota Galica, Mika Etchébehèhere.

Most of these names are unknown to most people today.

In intellection: Hélène Smith, and from the other (male) side, Yeats, Jung, Joyce, Breton, Chomsky.

Otherwise Trump 2.0 has emerged as a classic fascist regime with one clear flaw: it lacks support from the top ranks of the military.

May i be forgiven for saying this, but the clearest way out would be a coup by Milley, Kelly, McChrystal, and McRaven.

We need a Spínola.

I am concerned personally about Gabbard. I am targeted in my daily life by the Russ. But otherwise I am living my best life.

I believe that My California will become a de facto independent country. But i do not favor secession.

— Steve Schwartz, aka Lulu LaFlamme

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CUSTER

by Peter La Farge (1963)

Now I will tell you buster
That I ain′t a fan of Custers
And the General he don't ride well anymore
To some he was a hero
But to me his score was zero
And the General he don′t ride well anymore

Now Custer done his fightin'
Without too much excitin'
And the General he don′t ride well anymore
General Custer come in pumpin′
When the men were out a huntin'
But the General he don′t ride well anymore

With victories he was swimmin'
He killed children, dogs and women
But the General he don′t ride well anymore
Crazy Horse sent out the call
To Sitting Bull and Gall
And the General he don't ride well anymore

Now Custer split his men
Well, he won′t do that again
Cause the General he don't ride well anymore
Twelve thousand warriors waited
They were unanticipated
And the General he don't ride well anymore

It′s not called an Indian victory
But a bloody massacre
And the General he don′t ride well anymore
There might have been more enthusin'
If us Indians had been losin′
But the General he don't ride well anymore

General George A. Custer
Oh, his yellow hair had lustre
But the General he don′t ride well anymore
For now the General's silent
He got barbered violent
And the General he don′t ride well anymore

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A WALK ON THE BORDER THE DAY AFTER THE NATIONAL EMERGENCY DECLARATION

by Todd Miller

I approached Mirabel Cruz to ask her what she thought of the national emergency declaration for the U.S.-Mexico border, announced by President Donald Trump during his inauguration.

She was at her house on International Street in Nogales, Arizona, where she lives in front of the 20-foot rust-colored wall, the very place that, according to Trump, is suffering a “dangerous invasion.” When he declared the national emergency, there was a rousing standing ovation. I found the enthusiasm startling. Did the attendees at his inauguration know something I don’t? So I came down to walk alongside the wall and take a look. Along the way, I’d talk to residents like Mirabel to hear their thoughts.

“Since you live right here,” I asked her in Spanish, “right on the border, do you think there is a national emergency?” She paused. She looked at me as if the question were ludicrous. It certainly felt ludicrous coming out of my mouth. I wondered if, in that moment, the expression on her face represented the feelings of most people from the borderlands after hearing Trump’s declaration. In the official statement from the White House, Trump declared that U.S. sovereignty is under attack. He claimed that the “invasion” has caused “chaos and suffering over the last four years.” He declared that the “assault on the American people and the integrity of America’s sovereign borders represents a grave threat to our nation.”

“It is very calm here,” Mirabel told me, “There is nothing happening here.” When I asked her if they should send soldiers, she immediately said no. She is from Mexico originally but has been living in her house for 16 years. “Besides,” she said, pointing to a green-striped vehicle leaving a cloud of dust on the dirt road, “Border Patrol is all over the place.”

I thanked her and returned to the border wall to walk. Maybe here I would see something. But it looked the same as it has for years. The area has already been hypermilitarized, and Trump’s declaration would only heap onto it. Through the thick steel bars of the wall, I could see Mexico going on as usual: passing city buses, people walking on the sidewalk, even the sound of children playing at a nearby elementary school. I brought with me Robin Wall Kimmerer’s new book, The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World. I wanted to bring the book because Kimmerer wrote it especially because of the election. Regardless of the outcome, she said, “we would need a vision of a different way forward.” She focuses on the serviceberry, which, she writes, is a gift from the land that shows us how “sharing, respect, reciprocity, and gratitude” are integral parts. When I pulled the book out before my walk, I couldn’t keep my eyes off one quote: “All flourishing is mutual.”

Perhaps it was thanks to this book that I noticed the vegetation growing under and around the border wall, particularly what looked to be vines crawling up through the coils of razor wire, the same sharp wire that was installed during Trump’s last presidency. Indeed, this was Trump’s addition to the wall, a bipartisan creation, starting with Clinton in 1994. As I walked, I came to a place where the vines were so heavy and thick that they weighed the coils down, in some cases to the ground, like a wrestler taking the border apparatus down on a mat. Here, the barbed wire was contorted into odd shapes. Along with shreds of clothing and vegetation, and the wall itself, it looked like an odd sculpture of the mangled 21st century. In this there was even a battle, a supreme drama, between plant life and humans’ most authoritarian elements. Further on, a ripped pair of pants clung to the barbs, hanging and fluttering in the breeze like a shredded flag. A solitary sneaker lay in front of another mound of viny wire, as if someone had lost it while crossing. I wondered where the other one was. Each item had its own profound story. Later, I saw a stuffed animal entrapped in the center of a coil. I stared at it for a long moment because it reminded me of the stuffed toy fox that my six-year-old daughter hugs as she sleeps at night.

Still further down, a paloverde tree’s branches jutted through the bollards, like large old fingers coming through the thick bars. It was a binational plant, flouting the laws of nation-states. All this reminded me of a chunk of steel border barrier I saw several years ago a quarter mile into Mexico after it had been swept in by a vicious flood during the summer rains. I saw it about a year after this happened, and I swear the earth was eating this border wall alive. It was covered with spiderwebs and purple flowers. It was embedded deep into the soil. Will it be gone soon, I wondered, transformed into something else entirely? Even with the national emergency and Trump’s overhyped bravado, there was an aspect of fragility to this border infrastructure. Left alone, it would be overrun by vegetation, unable to survive. Maybe “mutual flourishing” can be an aggressive power, transforming anything in its way.

Meanwhile, as I walked, I noticed that the Border Patrol kept cruising by me, sometimes slowing down. I kept walking, taking pictures, keeping my head down, and jotting in my notebook, looking for the reason behind the national emergency. A Nogales city police car circled back and forth; was I going to be questioned? But no. Even still, the omnipresent cameras didn’t assuage my sense of being in the full heat of the border panopticon. I kept walking. The national emergency declaration was serious. Not only did it call for the deployment of the U.S. military “to support the activities of the Secretary of Homeland Security in obtaining complete operational control of the southern border of the United States,” but it also opened the door for constructing more walls and barriers and more technology, adding another layer to one of the most fortified borders on earth. There was no visible military presence yet, but would it be on the way?

Nogales resident David Sanner, who I talked to near the wall on Morley Avenue—home to many stores and a burgeoning arts district—called the whole wave of Trump executive orders, especially those about the border, “ludicrous and frightening.” He worried about the president going after people with naturalized citizenship, since there were so many people in that situation here. Nogales, he said, is a “sleepy little border town, a lovely town, a lovely community, and now we are the focus of the nation as described by people not from here. They describe it as a war zone. It’s frustrating.”

At the end of my walk, I sat on a bench in a nearby park near the wall and pulled out The Serviceberry. In the passage I read, Kimmerer asks, “When an economic system destroys what we love, isn’t it time for a different system?” She then proposes a new, dare I say, counter-border wall economy, one that includes “the flow of gratitude, the flow of love, literally in support of life.” In that moment, I felt that those subversive plants and humans I had seen and met along the way were a part of that. They might be more important than any executive order.

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IT’S BEEN 30 YEARS SINCE THE 49ERS’ LAST SUPER BOWL WIN. I CAN’T FORGET.

by Ann Killion

Thirty years. Three long, dry decades.

That’s how long it’s been since the San Francisco 49ers last won a Super Bowl.

I always know when we’re close to the anniversary of Super Bowl XXIX, which was played on Jan. 29, 1995. That’s because I have my own, very tangible, flesh-and-blood measuring stick.

My daughter turned 1 month old on that day. She turned 30 last month. Now a married woman with a fulfilling career, she keeps getting older while the 49ers’ last Super Bowl victory keeps getting further and further away.

How long ago was that last Lombardi Trophy hoisting? It happened in a completely different NFL. Bill Belichick was a failed and unpopular head coach with the original Cleveland Browns — he would be fired by Art Modell in a year. Tom Brady was a senior at Serra High and about to commit to Michigan, though he would also be drafted by the Montreal Expos that June.

Patrick Mahomes? He wouldn’t be born for eight more months. Andy Reid was a little known assistant offensive line coach to Mike Holmgren in Green Bay, though a personnel shuffle in part caused by the 49ers trying to hire him as offensive coordinator would raise his profile in a few years.

As for the 49ers, who thought that would be it? A hard stop to the dynasty? The team had finally gotten over the hump of the Dallas Cowboys, beating them in the NFC Championship Game at Candlestick Park. The franchise and its fans had fully embraced the transition to Steve Young who was at the top of his game and, though he was 33, had plenty of years ahead of him, given how little he’d been used in his prime while backing up Joe Montana. As for Montana, even his loyalists had to concede it was over: His Kansas City team had lost to Miami in the wild card and Montana would retire in a few months.

George Seifert was the respected head coach. Mike Shanahan was his savvy offensive coordinator; his kid Kyle was the team ballboy. Eddie DeBartolo still owned the 49ers and was driven to win championships. His legal troubles involving former Louisiana Gov. Edwin Edwards were still a couple of years in the future. Carmen Policy was a polished and respected team president.

The 1994 season was the first year of the NFL’s salary cap and the 49ers had found ways to manipulate it (that first cap was about $34 million, or one year of Nick Bosa’s current salary). Legal ways of manipulation; the charges of 49ers salary cap cheating and subsequent fines made would come three years later. The roster was loaded, not only with core veterans like Jerry Rice, Brett Jones, Tim McDonald and Harris Barton, but with young stars like Ricky Watters, William Floyd and Bryant Young. The 49ers brought in a rash of future Hall of Famers to stack that 1994 roster.

You couldn’t blame the 49ers for feeling smart and savvy — some would say “light years” ahead of most everyone else in the league.

And then, suddenly, they weren’t.

In the next four years, they lost in the divisional round three times and the conference championship once. Three of those losses were to Green Bay, which ascended to the top rivalry spot. The 49ers finally got past the Packers only to lose to Atlanta in the infamous game when Garrison Hearst broke his leg on the first play from scrimmage. Young’s career would end with a concussion in 1998; Rice would leave a year later. DeBartolo’s legal troubles would cause him to give up ownership of the team, ceding control to his sister Denise and her husband John York. And thus began the long, slow decline.

The 49ers finally made it back to the Super Bowl 18 years later, in February 2013 under Jim Harbaugh. For the first time in their history, they lost the ultimate game. (Give the ball to Frank Gore!) Then, under the guidance of that former ball boy Kyle Shanahan, they made two trips in five years, only to come from ahead to lose to Kansas City both times.

Since the 49ers last won a Super Bowl, 14 other teams have won the Lombardi Trophy, including their biggest historical rivals: Dallas, Green Bay, Seattle, the New York Giants and — now — Kansas City. This list includes multiple winners. Since the 49ers’ last victory, the Packers, Rams, Ravens, Steelers, Giants and Buccaneers have all won twice. The Broncos and Chiefs have won it three times. And the Patriots won six, establishing the kind of dynasty that the 49ers and Cowboys were dreaming of back in the 1990s.

That last Super Bowl victory holds a lot of memories for the 49ers franchise. And it carries a lot of personal significance for me. I had watched the NFC Championship win over Dallas on my couch. Within minutes my phone (landline, of course) rang and my editor was asking if I could make it to Miami.

Could I be superwoman? I could, as long as I could figure out how to breastfeed my baby. With infant daughter and husband in tow, and 3-year-old son left behind with his grandparents, we headed to Miami. I bought one Super Bowl ticket, which remains in my daughter’s baby book ($200 All Taxes Included, Gates Open At 3PM). A kind NFL staffer got a press pass for the eight-pound baby (every living human has to have some form of ticket to get into an NFL game).

At halftime, I was able to feed my daughter in an area outside the press box. Hours later, when I made it back to the hotel room, baby girl and her dad were fast asleep and I felt as though I’d pulled off a Super Bowl win of my own.

One of my favorite memories of that night came in the locker room after the game. Seifert had finally won his own Super Bowl, not one that was simply Bill Walsh’s team on autopilot. It was his greatest achievement and he was drenched in Champagne when I bumped into him.

“Congratulations, George,” I said.

“Congratulations to you!” he said. “How’s the baby?”

Anyone who knows anything about NFL coaches and their tunnel vision knows how rare it is for a head coach to have such a human interaction in their biggest moment of personal glory. But that was Seifert.

The baby’s fine, George. She’s all grown up into a fantastic woman. And you’re still the last guy to coach the 49ers to a Super Bowl win.

(SF Chronicle)

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THE BALLAD OF IRA HAYES

by Peter La Farge (1963)

Ira Hayes
Ira Hayes
Call him drunken Ira Hayes
He won't answer anymore
Not the whiskey drinking Indian
Or the marine that went to war

Gather 'round me people
There's a story I would tell
'Bout a brave young Indian
You should remember well
From the land of the Pima Indian
A proud and noble band
Who farmed the Phoenix Valley
In Arizona land
Down the ditches a thousand years
The waters grew Ira's peoples' crops
'Til the white man stole their water rights
And the sparkling water stopped
Now, Ira's folks were hungry
And their land grew crops of weeds
When war came, Ira volunteered
And forgot the white man's greed

There they battled up Iwo Jima hill
Two hundred and fifty men
But only twenty-seven lived
To walk back down again
And when the fight was over
And Old Glory raised
Among the men who held it high
Was the Indian, Ira Hayes

Ira Hayes returned a hero
Celebrated through the land
He was wined and speeched and honored
Everybody shook his hand
But he was just a Pima Indian
No water, no home, no chance
At home nobody cared what Ira'd done
And when did the Indians dance

Then Ira started drinking hard
Jail was often his home
They let him raise the flag and lower it
Like you'd throw a dog a bone
He died drunk early one morning
Alone in the land he fought to save
Two inches of water and a lonely ditch
Was a grave for Ira Hayes

Yeah, call him drunken Ira Hayes
But his land is just as dry
And his ghost is lying thirsty
In the ditch where Ira died

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MIDAIR COLLISION

Officials believe that no one survived the midair collision on Wednesday night of a commercial jet carrying 64 people and an Army helicopter carrying three U.S. service members. near Washington, D.C.

Both aircraft crashed into the Potomac River near Reagan National Airport outside Washington, D.C., and officials said at a news conference on Thursday morning that they had recovered 28 bodies from the frigid, icy water. Emergency responders on Thursday will switch from a rescue to a recovery operation, said John Donnelly, Washington’s fire chief.

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ALISON DE GRASSI:

And this is all he can say. Monster. No sympathy. Nothing.

“The helicopter was going straight at the airplane for an extended period of time. It is a CLEAR NIGHT, the lights on the plane were blazing, why didn’t the helicopter go up or down, or turn, Why didn’t the control tower tell the helicopter what to do instead of asking if they saw the plane,” he [President Trump] said in a social media post. “This is a bad situation that looks like it should have been prevented. NOT GOOD!!!”

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LEAD STORIES, THURSDAY'S NYT

Many Deaths Feared After Plane Collides With Army Helicopter Near Washington

Three Contentious Trump Nominees Will Appear Before the Senate

With Sweeping Executive Orders, Trump Tests Local Control of Schools

Inside the Chaotic Rollout of Trump’s Federal Funding Freeze

Hamas Is Releasing 8 Israeli and Thai Hostages

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THE WASHINGTON POST’S BOLD LOOK AHEAD TO 2028

The solution to the Democrats' problems? The same, but more

by Matt Taibbi

When “The 12 Democrats who make the most sense for 2028” came out in The Washington Post a few days ago, I thought it was a joke, maybe a guest column from Dave Barry (the Post needs to import its humor from Miami). It’s already parodic to be pondering an election four years hence while Donald Trump’s policy Panzers roll through the capital now, crushing careers and sinecures and neoliberal shibboleths like DEI at such a furious pace, you can hear the carnage three states away.

The headline alone is a “While Rome burns” classic. But the text? Good lord.…

https://www.racket.news/p/the-washington-posts-bold-look-ahead

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FORGET THE JFK FILES, THIS IS THE REAL KENNEDY FAMILY BOMBSHELL

by Maureen Callahan

So this is what passes for a “profile in courage” among Kennedys these days: sanctimoniously calling out an inconvenient cousin while ignoring all the sins of your lecherous father — plus your grandfather who lobotomized his own daughter.

And that’s just for starters.

The day before her cousin Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s confirmation hearing to be our Health and Human Services Secretary, Camelot’s would-be princess Caroline Kennedy did something generations of Kennedys have been raised not to do: she turned on one of her own.

Finally, this rotten family is cannibalizing itself.

Before we dive in, let me say: As someone who wrote the book on Kennedy cruelty, I thought I’d heard it all. Not so. Not by a longshot.

Caroline’s son Jack Schlossberg, a 32-year-old under-employed man who posts videos of himself variously lip-syncing in the aisles of CVS and mocking a “working-class” accent, posted this on Wednesday morning, hours before the confirmation hearing: “I wish… everyone knew the story of what [RFK Jr.] did with my uncle John’s corpse.”

“Uncle John’ is JFK Jr., who in 1999 recklessly piloted a small plane into the Atlantic Ocean, killing himself, his 33-year-old wife Carolyn Bessette and her 34-year-old sister Lauren.

Schlossberg continued: “[RFK Jr.] stole it” — John Jr.’s mangled dead body, recovered after days underwater — “or tried to, threatened not to give it back unless he got what he wanted… Unfortunately, the relatives who can confirm this true story are unwilling to come forward.”

Wow. The rats are out, and they’re all named Kennedy.

Should we believe Schlossberg? He has since deleted the post. Perhaps mommy was displeased.

In her Instagram speech, recorded and posted by Schlossberg on Tuesday, Caroline said: “I’ve known Bobby my whole life. It’s no surprise that he keeps birds of prey as pets, because Bobby himself is a predator.”

To be clear, I am no defender of RFK Jr. But for Caroline Kennedy to use the word “predator” when her own father, as sitting US president, got a teenage White House intern named Mimi Alford drunk, led her into his wife’s bedroom, then took her virginity within seconds. “Short of screaming,” Mimi later wrote in her memoir, “I doubt I could have done anything to thwart his intentions” — is beyond belief.

“Predator,” when Caroline’s father then asked Mimi to administer oral sex to an aide while he watched.

When her beloved Uncle Ted was caught sexually assaulting a waitress in a DC restaurant, and decades before had left Mary Jo Kopechne, a 28-year-old campaign aide, to die a slow death at Chappaquiddick.

When her paternal grandfather Joe Sr. was known to rape his daughters’ overnight guests at the family compound on Cape Cod and lobotomized his own young, beautiful daughter Rosemary to conceal his terrible secret — that he had likely been molesting her, too.

So spare us, Caroline. Spare us your faux moral outrage.

Spare us from any illusion that this dynasty hasn’t, at long last, died.

Seriously, why now? Is Caroline’s 11th-hour attempt to stop RFK Jr’s appointment motivated by jealousy, perhaps, after her own failed prospects?

She helped get Barack Obama elected in 2008 for what — a do-little ambassadorship in Japan?

Oh, the slight she must have felt at that.

Remember, this was a woman hailed by the media as the Kennedy family intellectual — until, that is, she started giving interviews littered with “likes” and “you knows.”

Caroline Kennedy makes Kamala Harris seem a jousting wordsmith by comparison.

To my mind, Caroline is spineless and self-interested — someone who could have helped other women but didn’t.

Like, say, RFK Jr’s second wife Mary Richardson, who he tormented and who took her own life in 2012. Mary, who was left disconsolate after discovering Bobby’s “sex diaries” detailing the numerous affairs he’d had with other women.

Mary, whose remains Bobby secretly exhumed from the Kennedy family plot and had reburied far away and alone.

But, like, you know… Caroline, like, didn’t speak out about Bobby then.

Suddenly, now that Bobby’s gone MAGA, he’s a pressing concern — luring, per Caroline, “his younger brothers and cousins… down the path of drug addiction.”

Please.

Addiction runs through the Kennedy bloodline. Caroline’s grandfather Joe Sr. was a legendary bootlegger during Prohibition, so she should really un-clutch those pearls.

Not to mention her own father, who regularly took drugs — speed, mainly — administered by a quack known as “Dr. Feelgood” while he was president of the United States.

“I don’t care if it’s horse piss,” JFK once said. “It makes me feel good.”

But by all means, Caroline, keep lecturing us. Keep hectoring us from your luxury apartment, wearing your designer eyewear and concerned expressions. We’re all riveted.

Here she is on Bobby’s treatment of animals — again, alleged horrors that Caroline was happy to keep quiet about until now.

“He enjoyed showing off how he put baby chickens and mice in a blender” — were they alive or dead? That’s a salient detail conveniently left out — “to feed to his hawks. It was often a perverse scene of despair and violence.”

Let’s talk about the despair that Carolyn and Lauren Bessette’s mother, Ann Freeman, felt when Caroline’s husband, Ed Schlossberg, bullied this poor woman days after she’d lost two of her three daughters in that 1999 plane crash.

It’s documented, ironically, in RFK Jr’s own diaries, which I have seen.

“All the Bessette family knows that Ed hated Carolyn,” Bobby wrote at the time. “[He] did everything in his power to make her life miserable… he bullied, bullied, bullied the shattered, grieving mother.”

So Caroline Kennedy can shove it.

As can her cousin, Maria Shriver, who took to Instagram on Tuesday to praise Caroline’s “courage” and then disabled the comments.

Courage, indeed.

Shriver, who stood by her ex-husband Arnold Schwarzenegger for years, helping him ascend to governor of California, despite his history of groping women. He even knocked up the maid!

You can pipe down, too, Maria.

These sad, sorry excuses for Kennedy women should take their leave. Just as Americans have increasingly abandoned the Kennedys.

A family that gathered to endorse Joe Biden — after that fateful debate, America left doubtless that the old man was senile and infirm — has zero moral or political sway left to offer.

Whether Bobby gets voted in or out doesn’t really matter. The Kennedys have already lost.

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MILITARIZED AI

by Sophia Goodfriend

Last week, a trove of leaked documents offered a glimpse into the role that large technology companies have played in Israel’s war on Gaza. Israel’s military campaigns across Palestine and neighbouring countries have long offered the raw material that tech firms needed to build their experiments in surveillance and algorithmic warfare to scale: kill-chain data. Yet the past fifteen months of war offered Silicon Valley an unparalleled opportunity to refine its products. It happened just in time for a new era of militarised AI.

After Hamas militants breached Israel’s border with Gaza on 7 October 2023 and killed more than 1100 civilians and soldiers, the Israeli army mobilised 360,000 reservists. Some of them held senior positions at Google, Microsoft or Amazon in Tel Aviv. It seems that a few had been working on services with obvious military applications, from cloud computing to large language models. Israel’s constant aerial bombardments and the start of a protracted ground invasion were creating a deluge of data. The army needed more computing power and storage. The mobilised employees asked their companies for help.

Google gave the IDF access to Vertex, which applies AI algorithms to data sets, and Gemini, an AI assistant that the IDF wanted to repurpose to sift through text or audio and recommend operations. Microsoft allowed the Israeli army’s use of Chat GPT-4, accessed through Microsoft Azure, to increase twenty-fold. Amazon expanded the cloud storage for data informing military operations across Gaza. Soldiers described accessing classified information for lethal bombardments on Amazon cloud servers as ‘making an order from Amazon’.

The news may be shocking but it isn’t surprising. Yossi Sariel, the head of Israel’s Intelligence Corps Unit 8200 from 2021 to 2024, has written of ‘empowering the relationship between government and big data companies’. Beyond signing million-dollar contracts with big-tech, Sariel aimed to remake intelligence units in the image of AI start-ups through consulting and joint training. Some soldiers in Unit 8200 worked in what their officers referred to as ‘AI factories’, building up speech-to-text software for Palestinian Arabic, tagging phrases to be flagged in keyword searches, or making classified systems more user-friendly. Some surveillance databases were given nicknames like ‘Facebook for Palestinians’.

In a document self-published on Amazon in 2021, Sariel dreamed of fantastic and ethically dubious AI applications, such as a ‘military Waze’ that could automatically pinpoint targets and guide lethal operations. It seems that Sariel did what he could bring his vision to life. Microsoft was paid millions to host private development meetings and professional workshops for units across Israel’s intelligence agencies. According to +972 Magazine, Microsoft Azure employees were referred to as ‘people who are already working with the unit’ as if they were active soldiers. By the start of the Gaza war, the IDF had a host of AI-assisted targeting systems to guide its bombing spree, and was developing even more.

The partnerships were mutually beneficial. In exchange for technology and expertise, the Israeli army offered companies it worked with access to an unlimited supply of data. Many of the deals contravened Silicon Valley’s doveish mission statements and human rights policies. Some companies denied involvement in Israeli military operations. ‘This work is not directed at highly sensitive, classified or military workloads relevant to weapons or intelligence services,’ Anna Kowalczyk, the external communications manager for Google Cloud, told reporters who asked about the company’s dealings with the IDF in April 2024.

With Trump’s return, other companies have simply abandoned those talking points and embraced militarism. Company boards seem undeterred by employee protests or arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court against senior Israeli officials. Late last year, OpenAI, Meta and Anthropic signed their first deals with the US Department of Defense. These partnerships could deepen following the news that the Chinese company DeepSeek launched an AI chatbot at a fraction of the cost of other AI assistants. Perhaps in a bid to galvanise sponsors for their own dubious business models, some Silicon Valley technocrats warned that China may win the AI arms race.

It remains to be seen what all this investment in militarised AI will deliver, beyond more violence. The Israeli military’s love affair with Silicon Valley has done little to shore up regional security. As a number of Israeli ex-security officials have pointed out, none of the applications developed and deployed in recent years prevented Hamas’s attacks on 7 October 2023. Sariel resigned in September 2024, citing his ‘personal responsibility’ for the ‘intelligence and operational failure’. In fifteen months of war, military experiments with Chat GPT-4 and other generative AI applications from Microsoft and Google failed to achieve any of Israel’s stated war aims in Gaza.

(London Review of Books)

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