Mendocino County Today: Sunday 3/2/2025

Iris | Showers | Fire Landscaping | Apartment Fire | Speaking Contest | AV Events | AV Athletics | Baby Pelican | Ordinance Rejected | Pet Ben | Eel Dams | Council Meeting | Pronunciation Guide | Show Rehearsals | Clouds | Ed Notes | Byrd Baker | Burl Evans | Yesterday's Catch | Pharma Ad | Open Mic | Rain Gear | Marco Radio | Hypocrite Party | Dear Z | Kyiv Independent | The Donald | Lawsuit Dismissed | Hair Soup | Cannabis Addiction | Butterbean Promo | Natural Paradise | Men Only | Lead Stories | Switched Sides | Unconcealed Carry | Ukraine Deal | Enough | Sickening Spectacle | Check Wallet | Heroin Addict | Barter | Insect Jury

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SHOWER activity through tonight, with lingering showers into Monday morning. Below normal temperatures are expected today through mid week. Another frontal system will bring additional precipitation by mid week. (NWS)

STEPHEN DUNLAP (Fort Bragg): Scattered showers & 47F with .18" from overnight showers this Sunday morning on the coast. Showers today then clear Monday. Rain Tuesday then dueling forecasts the rest of the week, I am leaning drier than wetter. We'll see.

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APARTMENT FIRE IN UKIAH

by Matt LaFever

A fast-moving fire tore through a Ukiah apartment complex Friday night, destroying nine units and displacing 37 residents, but miraculously resulting in no injuries or loss of life.

The Ukiah Valley Fire Authority received multiple calls reporting the blaze at 8:29 p.m. at the apartment complex at 151 Lovers Lane, Battalion Chief Eric Singleton said. When the first crews arrived, they encountered heavy flames engulfing two buildings and threatening a third. Trees in the courtyard were also burning, adding to the intensity of the fire.

Firefighters immediately called for mutual aid response, bringing in reinforcements from Redwood Valley, Hopland, Potter Valley, Willits, and Cal Fire. Crews launched an aggressive attack, working quickly to knock down the flames.

“The fire started on the first floor, outside on a patio, and then moved up the structure, into the second floor and attic,” Singleton said. “Once it got into the attic, it ran the common attic space, spreading rapidly across the building.”

Eight upstairs apartments were completely gutted, along with one downstairs unit. A third building sustained heat damage, with broken windows and bubbled paint, but firefighters were able to prevent the flames from spreading inside.

Despite the scale of destruction, Singleton emphasized the positive outcome. “For as fast as this fire moved, not having any major injuries or loss of life is a huge win. Life is the one thing you can’t replace.”

As crews battled the flames, Pacific Gas & Electric shut down power to the affected buildings. The fire also damaged the complex’s main gas meter and water main, leading to further disruptions. Millview Water District had to cut off water service to the entire complex due to a broken line.

The Red Cross responded swiftly to provide aid to displaced residents. “They mobilized immediately,” Singleton said, working hard to find the dozens of displaced residents resources in the aftermath of the fire.

Firefighters remained on-site long after the flames were extinguished, escorting residents into damaged apartments to retrieve essential belongings, including medications.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation, though officials believe it was accidental in nature and originated outside on a patio.

The apartment complex, which Singleton described as low-income housing, was home to many vulnerable residents. “People were really concerned about what was going to happen to them,” he said. “It’s already hard when you’re struggling, and then something like this happens.”

While the fire was devastating, Singleton reiterated that it could have been far worse. “At the end of the day, everyone got out safely. That’s what matters most.”

(MendoFever.com)

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Two AV FFA members participated in the Golden State speaking contests this evening.

Mariluna placed 3rd in the Spanish Creed Blue Division. Zoe competed in the Impromptu Speaking. She did not place but is ready for regionals next week.

Great job ladies!

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ANDERSON VALLEY VILLAGE List of Events

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AV ATHLETICS

This Monday, our boys’ volleyball team will face Round Valley at home at 6:00 PM. Then, on Thursday, they’ll be back on the court against Ukiah, also at 6:00 PM.

In track and field, we have our opening scrimmage for field events only this Friday in Middletown.

Tennis is going strong, and junior high softball and soccer will kick off practices this week!

One small school, five competitive teams, this spring is shaping up to be our biggest in a decade! Lets Go Panthers!

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SUPES DUMP WATER HAULING/COMMERCIAL WELL PROPOSED ORDINANCE THEY APPROVED 2 YEARS AGO

by Jim Shields

On the Tuesday, February. 25th meeting of the Board of Supervisors, the Supes after a 27-month delay, finally took action on a proposed Commercial Well/Water Hauling Ordinance that they provisionally approved back in July of 2022. Back then the proposed ordinance was ordered by the Board to be sent to the Planning Commission for review, discussion, and a recommendation for the BOS.

Since the Observer’s deadline is Tuesday, the same day the Supes met on this issue, I can only briefly report that by a 4- 1 vote (Haschak opposed), the Supes rejected the proposed ordinance with this curt motion: “Direct staff to cease working on this project due to insufficient resources.” I’ll have more for you next week on this issue. In the meantime, here’s some background on this unfortunate development:

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Commercial Well Ordinance Stuck In County Counsel’s Office by Jim Shields (Nov. 8, 2022)

I want to share with you a letter I sent to Supervisors John Haschak and Glenn McGourty regarding a draft ordinance that would regulate private sector groundwater wells whose owners sell, or plan to sell water commercially, as well as individuals or entities that transport water from these commercial groundwater wells to customers. First I’ll give you a summary of the proposed ordinance, and then provide the letter that sets out a problem that no one was aware of.

Here are highlights of the proposed ordinance.

Under this proposed Ordinance, individuals desiring to sell water will be required, among other things, to:

• Apply for a Minor Use permit;
• Obtain a Mendocino County Business License, which must be renewed annually;
• Obtain a well permit for each proposed source well;
• Perform a hydrologic well test on the source well;
• Install a water meter on the well;
• Keep various records regarding water production and sales; and
• File various reports with the County regarding well operation and sales. Individuals or entities engaged in transporting water for sale to customers will be required, among other things, to:
• Not transport water to a commercial cannabis operation that does not have a state license or a state provisional license and either a county permit or an application in active review by the county cannabis department.
• Not transport water from a water supplier to a separate parcel without first obtaining a Mendocino County Business License, to be renewed annually.
• Keep a tracking log of all purchases and deliveries that shall include: Date, location, volume, of the water purchase. Date, location, volume, of each water delivery.

The name and contact information of the person to whom the water will be delivered and the date of delivery. The intended use of the water.

• Not transport water after 10 p.m. or before 5 a.m. unless such transport is for road work or logging operations.

These are just highlights of the two main provisions found in the draft Ordinance. I sent the following letter on Nov. 1st to Supervisors Haschak and McGourty; it is self explanatory, and it definitely describes the problem:

Hi John and Glenn,

As you are aware, from September 2021 through July 2022, I served, along with approximately six other appointees, on a committee working under the auspices of the Board of Supervisors Ad Hoc Drought Committee comprised of the two of you.

The charge given our committee was to prepare a draft ordinance that would regulate private sector groundwater wells whose owners sell, or plan to sell water commercially, as well as individuals or entities that transport water from these commercial groundwater wells to customers.

It should be noted that the impetus for developing this ordinance occurred last year (2021) during extreme drought conditions when the local cannabis industry was in a record state of over-production, coupled also with record usage of both legal and illegal sources of water, some of which is transported by water trucks. We all remember the public outcry surrounding those issues.

At the July 12, 2022 BOS meeting, the Board voted 4-1 to approve the draft ordinance prepared by the committee, and forward it to the Planning Commission for further review. Specifically, according to the July 12, 2022 minutes,

“Upon motion by Supervisor Haschak, seconded by Supervisor Gjerde, IT IS ORDERED that the Board of Supervisors accepts the draft ordinance and forwards [it] to the Planning Commission for review.”

A little over a week ago, I contacted Supervisor Haschak and asked him if he was aware of the status of the Planning Commission’s review of the draft ordinance. He said he had no information at all on the matter. I told John I would contact Planning Commission Chairwoman Alison Pernell and attempt to find out the status of the review. John said he would also immediately look into the situation and get back to me.

I spoke with Alison on October 26th and she informed me that the draft ordinance has not been forwarded to the Commission and she had no knowledge of its status or why it had not been forwarded to the PC. She also said she would make inquiries about the matter and would get back to me.

She called me a short time later on October 26th and informed me that PBS Director Julia Krog told her that the draft ordinance was in the County Counsel’s office for review which is estimated to be completed by sometime in February of 2023. A few minutes after speaking with Alison, John Haschak got back to me with the same information.

I find this turn of events to be surprising as well as unacceptable.

This County just renewed its declaration of a local emergency due to drought conditions and imminent threat of disaster in Mendocino County. Yet it appears that in instances such as this critical matter, there doesn’t seem to be any corresponding sense of urgency to get something done that is of the highest priority. This situation has not been caused by either of you, our committee, or the Planning Commission. I’m asking for your help in breaking the logjam at the County Counsel’s office so that the draft ordinance can be expeditiously forwarded to the Planning Commission, as was the intent, I believe, of the Board’s action at the July 12th meeting.

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UKIAH SHELTER PET OF THE WEEK

Ben is a spirited goofball who would love a home with lots of toys and room to play. He can be a little wary of some strangers, but after some sweet talking and treats, he’s your best friend! Ben sees little fury or feathered animals — such as cats and chickens — as things fun to chase. So, no small animals for this guy. Ben knows sit, and after some basic obedience training, he will be the best boy and an awesome companion. Mr. Ben is 1 year old and 62 adorable pounds!

To see all of our canine and feline guests, and the occasional goat, sheep, tortoise, and for information about our services, programs, and events, visit: mendoanimalshelter.com.

Join us the first Saturday every month for our Meet The Dogs Adoption Event at the shelter.

Please share our posts on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mendoanimalshelter/

For information about adoptions please call 707-467-6453. Making a difference for homeless pets in Mendocino County, one day at a time!

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DON’T DO IT

Editor:

Lake Pillsbury, Lake Mendocino and the entire Russian River watershed depend on water from the Eel River dams. For years, politicians have cried save water, use rain barrels, go solar, go hydropower, go green energy, save ecosystems, and be the California examples, the guardians of nature. Now we are being forced to watch as two beautiful lakes and a beautiful river system are destroyed.

They are not going to save the fish, wildlife and fauna that exist from this 100-year-old ecosystem. And cannabis farms can grow acres and drain watersheds up north without watershed studies. Bears, deer, otters, salmon, bald eagles in these rivers and the two beautiful lakes will be brutally sacrificed, killed, dehydrated and starved instead of saved.

This is the opportunity of a lifetime to build a green hydropower dam and use the Eel and Russian river ecosystems systems equally. Don’t sacrifice one to save the other, but build an equal future of water for all without killing a local dream of people caring about all of nature.

Catherine Lair

Ukiah

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LISTEN UP, FOG EATERS!

Special Point Arena City Council Meeting, 2pm, Wednesday, March 5, 2025.

Closed session: “Public employment, City Manager.”

ED NOTE: Better work on your spelling too, kid.

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EXPIATION OF THE WEEK

Everyone, I made a mistake in my recent newscast on Chamise Cubbision returning to work and I mispronounced Darcie Antle’s name. CEO Antle’s name is pronunciated An-tel. I should have known this because I interviewed her. These kinds of mistakes aren’t acceptable, but unfortunately, they can happen, particuarly in the absence of a check list to use on deadline.

To reduce their frequency, I’m crowdsourcing a KZYX News Pronunciation Guide. This will help me, it will help the KZYX Newsroom as we grow, and it will be available to anyone who creates content in Mendocino County.

It is an easy way to help rebuild local news and it costs nothing but your willingness to contribute a few minutes of your time.

(Elise Cox, KZYX newswoman)

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VARIETY SHOW REHEARSAL PREP SHEET 2025 TECH

We will be having tech rehearsals a week before the Variety Show on Saturday March 8th and Sunday March 9th from 11am to 4pm. Please make sure that you have scheduled a day and time that works for everyone in your act, and confirmed this time with Captain Rainbow 472-9189 or Sarah Ryan 841-oo43.

It is important that you HAVE YOUR ACT TOGETHER. The tech rehearsal is a great opportunity to get experience on stage with the lighting, props and sound that you will have the night of the show. Please think about how you want your act to look and sound before you arrive at rehearsal. Don’t hold back! Our crew is very experienced and we have a lot of options and creative approaches to support your vision! Also consider how you will want to enter and exit the stage.

If you have recorded music in your act, you will need to bring it on either a CD or thumb drive (you will leave it with us and can get it back after the show). You can also email your digital music file to dsbaas@gmail.com. If emailing, make sure to do this at least a day before your tech rehearsal and confirm by text that it was received (David Baas 812/824-1751). If you have props in your act make sure to bring them to rehearsal. This is important so backstage crew can plan how to set up and breakdown for your act.

If your act includes animals, please consider what they will need to be comfortable. Please know that the Grange will be very crowded and noisy the night of the show. Make sure you also bring whatever you need to clean up after your animal in the event of an accident (or an on-purpose).

We are excited to welcome your act to The Variety Show!

WE WILL HAVE SHOW TICKETS FOR SALE DURING REHEARSAL!!

Performers are given a ticket for the night of the show in which they are performing. Each performer can buy 2 tickets for family and friends during rehearsal. Tickets are $15 to $25 sliding scale for adults and $5 for children under 12 years old. Physical tickets need to be presented at the door the night of the show.

Night of the show: Do not drive through the parking lot to drop off props or instruments, pull right up to the rear stage door, unload then park. To get a seat join the line in front of the Grange and enter with your tickets when the doors open. There is no seat saving, please respect this.

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ED NOTES

A READER ASKS: “How come you’re always taking pot shots at liberals? Aren’t you a liberal?” No, the editor sniffed, I’m not a liberal. How dare you? I’m a person of the left, a person who thinks it all pretty much comes down to economics, a question of who has what, with the great task being to take the money from the major haves to run the whole show in the true interests of all of us, those true interests being lifetime guarantees for everyone of food, shelter, work, medical care, education, effective mass transportation, affordable ball game tickets, and decent in-home assistance for grams and gramps. “But,” cry The Libs waving their videos of the Gandhi movie, “wouldn’t that mean a violent revolution?” Gratifying as it would be to put Donald Trump and other undesirables up against a wall, the basics of life could easily be accomplished simply by returning to the 95 percent tax on the big incomes we saw in this country up through the Truman years. That won’t happen any time soon because we’re represented by people who are funded by the super-rich, as are all major media all the way down to the Santa Rosa Press Democrat with their EJ Dionnes and David Brookses. What we’re left with are The Libs. They claim to represent the good and the true, but they don’t. They are major obstacles to the fundamental changes we need. The Libs focus on gender, sex, race and, in San Francisco, even foreskin issues, because that way they can avoid talking money. Unfortunately for US, there isn’t a left in America because the political right has shoved the discussion so far over to the advantage of the rich that a minority of financially secure, neener-neener, highly irritating, NPR-type people — Democrats — have somehow become the “left’’ when they’re barely liberals in any traditional sense of the term. Think this analysis is off? This country was criminally looted in 2008 and what did Obama do? He appointed the crooks who did the looting to “save” the system while his Justice Department went after Lance Armstrong, a bicycle racer, and Barry Bonds, a baseball player.

I USED TO BIKE to the ballpark from the Inner Richmond up, then down through the Presidio, east along Crissy Field, on through Aquatic Park, then the always fascinating tourist mobs of Fisherman’s Wharf, along the Embarcadero, and finally to 3rd and King, home of the (former) world champion Giants, a phrase I still wasn’t not quite used to, and one I can’t think about without lamenting my late brother, Ken, certainly among the most loyal Giants men in all of Northern California all the way back to the Giants at Seals Stadium. Really, how many people listen to ball games on the radio?

Wherever Ken is I hope he saw that championship season in 2010. It was cold and windy the whole way on that Saturday I went to the game, but not cold enough to deter two naked men on bikes at the Ferry Building. A sign on one guy’s bike said something about a world nude tour to protest fossil fuel. The Saturday crowd mostly reacted to the naked men with chuckles, but family groups were more disapproving. A black couple with three small boys in tow waited to cross the street a few feet from the naked guys. I’d also paused to monitor crowd reaction. As the naked guys remounted their bicycles and sped off across the street, one of the small boys said, “Momma, is those faggots?” Mom, unhappy at the unclothed spectacle, replied grimly, “I don’t know what they’re trying to prove,” as Dad remarked, “There’s probably a lot more of them in this city.”

The game that day was a 10-2 rout by the Reds, over in the first inning. Lincecum, one of the best pitchers in the game if not the best at the time, looked loaded to me, lost, not his usual overpowering self. Stoners don’t adopt the stoner look to play pretend-sies. Long hair and, on older men without much hair, those appalling little ponytails that translate: “Hey! I’m cool. I smoke the bazooka!” I prayed to the baseball gods that Lincecum hadn’t resorted to a pre-game pipe, but forgave him if he had, the pressures on the kid being so large and unrelenting. He said after the game that he thought he was “thinking too much.” Thinking too much can be dangerous in all kinds of contexts, but Tim quickly got back to not thinking and enjoyed another good year.

Yeah, now that you ask, it would be fine with me if there was a rule change that decreed you had to slide at home plate on close plays, although the collision that took poor Buster out was all the way within the traditions of the game. (Blocking the plate is now illegal since that terrible collision.) Much as I sympathize with Posey, I thought the subsequent vilification of Scott Cousins by a ton of baseball big shots for running over the popular Giants catcher was outrageously unfair to Cousins, a rookie and barely on a big league roster who simply did what ballplayers do in that situation — run over the catcher. Saturday,

I sat up in View, the nosebleed seats. I’d only scored the ticket the previous day, and felt lucky to get it because the game was sold out. But I like it up there in the View with its vistas of the Bay, the big, slow boats hauling mast-high containers of plastic flowers from China to WalMart, the afternoon sun on the Berkeley-Oakland hills. The only drawback was the kid sitting next to me, a certifiable moron who kept up a running commentary to the apparently unrelated young woman seated next to him. He’d ignored me, but then I’m not a young woman. The young woman had made the mistake of asking the lad who he was. So he told her for the next hour, never once asking her a question. When Lincecum was yanked early on, as everyone around rolled their eyes and said a silent “Thank God,” the tedious youngster departed, but not before he’d told the captive girl (and all of us for rows around) that he was a college student from San Jose whose favorite tv show was Jersey Shore, a remark neatly revealing the true state of higher education in this country. He went on to say that he got “a hundred bucks a gig for d-jaying.” Then he named the songs he liked, a list so long it took him most of an inning to recite them. When he got into monologues about his fave pizza toppings it occurred to me he might be nuts, so I took a closer look. The boy did have a glazed look to him, but by that assessment lots of people would have to be declared 5150. As it is on the streets, it’s the luck of the draw at the ballpark.

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THE MENDO WHALE BUS

Local woodcarver Byrd Baker and Jacqueline McAndrews in 1976, standing in front of Baker’s Land Rover and Whale Bus with a sign that reads, “Crusade to Save God’s Whales.” Jackie and Byrd were activists in the Mendocino Whale Wars environmental action movement. This photograph, taken from an elevated position, may have been made from the MacCallum House water tower on the south side of Ukiah Street.

Behind them is Baker’s home and studio, known as the Red House and located on the north side of Ukiah Street near the Post Office. Baker lived here from 1975 until at least 1979. According to then MHRB Chair Margo Farrar in 1989, “Byrd Baker lived in the Red House and started the whale war when he was there. He sculpted huge redwood carvings with a chain saw, right out in front of his house. On weekends he’d go down to the Headlands and lecture the tourists. He’d say, ‘God’s whales! You have to help save God’s whales!’”

In the background on the right, the light-colored structure seen on the northwest corner of Calpella and Lansing Streets has a sign on the side of the building that reads, “Mendosa’s Building Materials.” In 1933, this structure (originally built as a saloon and pool hall) was purchased by Mendosa Brothers, who also owned Mendosa’s Market on the east side of Lansing Street. (Photographer: Tom Cahill)

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CATCH OF THE DAY, Saturday, March 1, 2025

ALEXANDER AARON, 45, Covelo. DUI-alcohol&drugs.

JAKE BUTLER, 27, Ukiah. DUI-alcohol&drugs, resisting, failure to obey lawful order from law enforcement.

STEFFEN CANTUA, 29, Willits. DUI-alcohol&drugs, controlled substance.

ALEXANDRA CASTRO, 39, Willits. Failure to appear, probation revocation.

REBECCA IRBY, 39, Laytonville. DUI-alcohol&drugs, resisting.

DEVIN KESTER-TYLER, 32, Ukiah. Controlled substance with two or more priors, unspecified offense.

DANIEL KOWALSKY, 55, Fort Bragg. Under influence, loitering, probation violation.

TASHA ORNELAS, 36, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.

OSCAR PALMA-SOLANO, 40, Willits. DUI.

MARGARET PHILLIPS, 31, Oakland/Ukiah. DUI.

ANTONIO THOMAS, 45, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol&drugs.

DANARI WILLIAMS, 27, Berkeley/Ukiah. Conspiracy.

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SECOND OPEN MIC AT INNERBLOOM (GARBERVILLE, FEBRUARY 22)

by Paul Modic

Tanya came over for a pre-party and we drank a glass of wine, read a dialog, sung some songs, and warmed up for the open mic. The highlight was when Kate got on drums and Tanya free-associated a rap with dance, very impressive. Arpeggio sung some songs, I read poems, Kate and I read some dialogs, and there was dancing.

Jayme Delson came by later and lead a discussion about his project of trying to save the world, or at least Southern Humboldt, with the “millions of dollars” he says are available, but not being spent on the right things.

I wasn’t sure what to make of him, he wants to build a homeless village at the community park, an idea I disagreed with, let’s keep nature natural, please. He talked the same rap as in his facebook posts, I guess idealism isn’t just for the young.

I met Jayme forty-eight years ago on his first day in Garberville, he’s been around NoHum and SoHum ever since, and it looks like he’s one of those who don’t care much about money. He’s just been evicted from his rental when his landlord got foreclosed, and though he’s a real estate broker he hasn’t gotten a property out of escrow in the last year.

Probably in a year he’ll be saying the same things and nothing will have changed, he gave me a copy of his manifesto/project and maybe if everyone were like Jayme the world would be a better place?

It was interesting when the open mic turned into a panel discussion and Jayme was all over the place, trying to articulate and solve all the world’s problems at once and recruit folks as avid as him, but he should work on his delivery. He took up more time than any of the performers, his act a performance also, and it was hard to look away or walk away. It was unexpected when the frivolity and fun of the artsy evening took a serious turn, inspiring response from everyone and a song by Arpeggio about eating the rich.

So to recap: Tanya performed some of her poems and songs then rocked her rap, Jayme ranted, Kate read dialogs with natural talent, I read some poems, Arpeggio played his songs, and we all went home in the drizzly February night planning to come back next month.

(The Sustainable Village: A 21st century agrarian, craft, and small business based village providing homes and employment to all in need. Facebook: The Sustainable Village TheSustainableVillage.org Jayme@humboldt1.com)

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MEMO OF THE AIR: The marriage of Bette and Boo.

”Why were you so mean to Soot. And why did you call her Soot?”

Marco here. Here’s the recording of last night’s (Friday, 2025-02-28) 7.5-hour-long Memo of the Air: Good Night Radio show on 107.7fm KNYO-LP Fort Bragg (CA) and KNYO.org (and, for the first three hours of the show, also 89.3fm KAKX Mendocino). Local announcements, poetry, theater, fantasy, science fact and fiction, journalism, tragedies and travesties large and small, two shams of a mockery, and, uh, like that: https://tinyurl.com/KNYO-MOTA-0633

Coming shows can feature your story or dream or poem or essay or kvetch or announcement. Just email it to me. Or send me a link to your writing project and I’ll take it from there and read it on the air.

Besides all that, at https://MemoOfTheAir.wordpress.com you’ll find a fresh batch of dozens of links to not-necessarily radio-useful but worthwhile items I set aside for you while gathering the show together, such as:

Led Zeppelin – Houses of the Holy (full album) if it had been made in 1950. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXa27GmLjEw

Singing in a reverby stairwell. There was a big bath/shower room in the dorm building where I lived in the fall of 1976 that sounded like this, where the reverb seemed louder than the original sound. A difficult bowel movement echoed down the corridors, and then, of course, there was the flushing and the water turning on and off. A boy a few doors down from me used to play guitar and sing in there at night. His acoustic guitar had a metal bridge from a Fender Strat on it, the kind with each string independently adjustable for height and intonation, and I’ve never seen another guitar like it. The mass of the metal did not color the sound, or maybe it did and I couldn’t tell because of the bathroom. Another very rare feature on some guitars, that I admire, is when there’s an end-fret where the nut usually is, and the nut is behind it not holding the strings up but with deep grooves so it only separates them; the fret holds them all up at exactly fret height. I read where you can get something close to this by cutting the grooves down in a nut that’s in the normal place and gluing a fret-thick section of guitar wire against it and the neck. Or, I’ve seen pictures of a mechanical nut that has a separate roller for each string, so there’s no friction. You can see how this would improve tuning, and help it stay in tune, because no binding there to make a tension difference. Anyway, here: She’s pretty and she has a pretty voice, also her mother. https://myonebeautifulthing.com/2025/02/24/lauren-paley/

Meanwhile, two-and-a-half million years ago as we see it now (“Hey, Lucy, I’m home”), here’s M31, the Great Galaxy in Andromeda. A trillion stars there, most of them a million times bigger than our whole Earth, just like the Sun is. And that’s one galaxy; there are a trillion more, just in /our/ universe. So have some perspective on your moral outrage over, say, which public bathroom someone uses, depending on their fleshy plumbing, speaking of bathrooms, see above. It’s just a bathroom. If there are partitions around the toilets inside, that should be enough. And there should be real mechanical spigots in the sinks, not electronic lab experiment tricks that tease you into dwelling there, waving your hands in random gestures until one works and a single second of water comes out and shuts off again, then you wave again the same way and it doesn’t work this time, so you have to learn a new gesture, like pigeons pecking at a food lever that also doesn’t work. The electric soap dispenser puzzle too. And don’t get me started on the hand-dryer hot air thing as loud as a jet engine. I just dry my hands on my shirt now, or run them through my hair and put on a fresh rubber band in back, from my thumb-drive pocket. Be prepared. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2aCFTYiJ4k

And Lambrini Girls: No Homo. (via b3ta) “…delves into the struggles of internalized homophobia and the journey toward self-acceptance. The song addresses the quiet shame and unspoken guilt associated with queerness, highlighting the internal conflict between desire and self-rejection. It critiques societal pressures that demand conformity, portraying how individuals often police themselves to fit heteronormative standards. The track progresses from the initial denial of same-sex attraction: ‘I like your face but not in a gay way,’ to eventual acceptance: ‘I like your face and it’s in a gay way.’ This evolution underscores the band’s message that embracing one’s queer identity leads to joy and pride over repression and shame. Musically, the song features a 90s punk-influenced, surf-rock bounce, adding a lively and cheeky tone to its serious subject matter.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7aoE40OeyqA

Marco McClean, memo@mcn.org, https://MemoOfTheAir.wordpress.com

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DEAR PRESIDENT ZELENSKY,

All I can say is
‘Long as we're Americans
We won’t let you down

— Jim Luther

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THE KYIV INDEPENDENT: NEWS FROM UKRAINE, EASTERN EUROPE

A Ukrainian news source highly recommended by friends of and in Ukraine: https://kyivindependent.com

The global backlash against the President and Vice-President in multiple new sources and reporters from BBC, the (UK) Guardian, and our only trusted “outlet” for real news and information — the Anderson Valley Advertiser — are at the very least solacing to this lifetime anti-war activist and mourner for the profound moral injury inflicted by the treacherous Executive Branch yesterday in the Oval Office. But solace will hardly stop the onslaught of fear and confusion unleashed by our unelected king and his hand-picked band of marauders.

Ironically, the Lake County Board of Supervisors chose to hope that one of Trump’s illogical executive orders will result in cancellation of US agencies responsible for protection of our already troubled waters, overriding the claims of faux river keepers in Humboldt and Mendocino counties, and restoring the economic bulwark of water “users” depending on releases of Eel and Russian River irrigation flows in the summer time.

(via Betsy Cawn)

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ISRAEL AID VOTE LAWSUIT DISMISSED

by Sage Alexander

Earlier this month, a class action lawsuit levied against congresspeople Jared Huffman and Mike Thompson was dismissed by a federal judge.

“This case is dismissed for lack of jurisdiction,” Judge Vince Chhabria ofthe United States District Court for the Northern District of California wrote in his decision Feb. 10. “Even in the highly unlikely event that the plaintiffs could establish Article III standing, the case nonetheless presents a nonjusticiable political question.”

The plaintiffs, who filed the lawsuit surrounding the representatives’ votes in support of aid for Israel, say they plan on filing international claims next.

In the dismissal, Chhabria cited Corrie v. Caterpillar, a lawsuit against the American company for providing the Israeli military bulldozers paid for by the U.S. government, which were used to destroy several houses in the Gaza Strip, killing Palestinians and an American peace activist in the process.

In 2005, a district court granted a motion to dismiss filed by Caterpillar, upheld in 2007 by an appeals court.

The decisions surrounded the political question doctrine — basically, finding the issues raised were not the courts’ jurisdiction to decide on matters that should be determined in the political system.

The lawsuit, filed last month, was under the Ninth Amendment of the Constitution, which protects rights that are not otherwise mentioned. It surrounding an April 20, 2024 vote to approve military aid to Israel, the Israel Security Supplemental Appropriations Act, allocated $26.38 billion for military aid to Israel, with 366 members voting in favor, 58 opposed and 7 abstaining.

On Jan 23, the court ordered the plaintiffs to show cause why the case should not be dismissed.

“At first glance, this lawsuit appears to be a frivolous attempt to get the Court involved in a pure foreign policy issue,” Chhabria wrote then.

He said it appeared to lack standing in Article III of the U.S. Constitution, which requires plaintiffs to demonstrate a “distinct and palpable injury” and trace it to the conduct of the person they are suing.

The initial complaint noted symptoms for the plaintiffs, who hail from California, including bouts of uncontrollable weeping, inability to sleep, distractions from work, despair for the future of their children and humanity, inability to experience joy, feelings of guilt, social isolation and anxiety.

The lead plaintiff Seth Donnelly responded (after the law firm withdrew “based on a breakdown in the attorney-client relationship”) to the order, writing, “As plaintiffs, we are not asking this Court to make ‘foreign policy,’ thereby abridging the ‘political doctrine’ and separation of powers. We are asking this Court to intervene when our Congresspersons have unconstitutionally used our tax dollars to fund genocide. The Ninth Amendment gives us a reserved right to have our tax dollars used in a manner consistent with the Constitution,” he wrote in response.

While the initial lawsuit included Reps. Jared Huffman and Mike Thompson, later the activists who filed the lawsuit, Taxpayers Against Genocide, said in a press conference they planned to add other California politicians and plaintiffs to the case, reaching just under 2,000 plaintiffs across 18 counties as of last week.

In a press conference live streamed last week, the activists said they plan to file a report with the United Nations Human Rights Committee in April and will explore other international legal remedies.

Huffman’s press office refused to comment on the dismissal, citing a policy surrounding litigation. Thompson’s press office did not immediately return an email request for comment, but earlier wrote in a statement to the Times-Standard that he understands it has been the civilian population that has paid the cost of Hamas’ terrorist attack on Israel and he remains gravely concerned about the scale of civilian loss in this war.

“Achieving peace and securing the safety of civilians won’t be accomplished by filing a lawsuit,” the December statement said.

(Eureka Times-Standard/Ukiah Daily Journal)

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CANNABIS ADDICTION IS RISING IN AMERICA. REDDIT IS HERE TO HELP.

The social media platform has become an unlikely bastion of free mental healthcare.

by Lester Black

Last year, Katherine decided she wanted to quit smoking cannabis. The 32-year-old student felt “trapped” by marijuana, feeling like she needed the drug as soon as she woke up just to feel normal. So she went to her doctor, seeking treatment and some kind of help. But her doctor had nothing for her.

“She basically said, ‘Unless you’re doing a harder drug, I don’t think there are resources … sorry, there’s nothing I can do,’” Katherine, who was granted anonymity in accordance with Hearst’s ethics policy, recently told SFGATE.

Without any formal help available, Katherine went searching for support and eventually stumbled upon r/leaves, a Reddit forum dedicated to people who are trying to quit consuming cannabis. She started by simply watching as thousands of people shared their stories of addiction, failure and occasionally success. Before long, she was posting every day, enjoying the benefits of an online support group that is 360,000 strong.

The subreddit may be one of the internet’s most unexpected places for free mental health care. Embedded within a platform more known for heavy sarcasm that can sometimes border on vile, r/leaves is sincerely and thoughtfully helping thousands of people quit smoking cannabis. It’s like a Narcotics Anonymous meeting that’s accessible 24/7 and accompanied by emojis.

For the past 14 years, r/leaves has grown alongside, and possibly because of, America’s increasing commercialization of cannabis. Between widespread cannabis stores and the proliferation of intoxicating hemp, the majority of Americans can now likely buy the drug seven days a week. For many of them, this expanded access to the drug has been a welcome convenience at best and inconsequential at worst, but for a small minority of users, ubiquitous legal cannabis has plunged them into the dark corners of addiction.

‘I know I’m not in this alone’

At his lowest point, Dave Bushnell started rationing the food in his apartment. He was spending so much money on cannabis and other drugs that the Boston marketing executive started buying a 5-pound bag of rice as soon as he got his paycheck just to make sure he would have something to eat after he spent the rest of his money on drugs.

“I was an addict, and I don’t use that word carelessly,” Bushnell told SFGATE. “I was using alcohol, I was using weed, I was using hallucinogens and occasionally opioids. … Even though I was using other things, the thing I realized was my real issue was weed. That was my drug of choice. I didn’t really have a love of any other things.”

That was the 1980s. It would take nine years of trying and a stint of rehab before Bushnell could get sober. Weed was easily the hardest thing to quit.

“Cannabis just changes the tint on your whole life over time, so it can be very, very tough to undo that,” Bushnell said.

It was this experience that led him to create r/leaves in 2011, a year before America entered the age of modern legal weed. He saw that states like Washington and Colorado were on the verge of legalizing marijuana, and in a fit of what he called “marketing compulsion,” he created r/leaves as a space for “people who want to stop and are finding it difficult.” The name is a masterful pun for a group of people trying to walk away from the cannabis plant, as well as a nod to r/trees, a subreddit dedicated to a love of cannabis that currently has 2.1 million members.

Bushnell launched r/leaves by writing a post on r/trees explaining that as a recovering addict, he wanted to “provide a place for people who have made the decision that they want to quit, or are trying to sort through that decision for themselves.” His post got a flood of encouraging comments, and within a few hours, people were flocking to Bushnell’s new subreddit to share about their own difficulties with pot.

Fourteen years later, the subreddit is a home for testimonials of every kind, from the mundane to the weird to the serious. It even provides what is essentially live support for its members. Someone can post about struggling through a sleepless night or feeling like they’re about to break and smoke a joint, and within minutes, dozens of people will offer words of friendly encouragement.

The overwhelming positivity is by design. Bushnell and 12 other moderators enforce a strict set of rules that includes banning any discussion of other drugs or supplements and encourages people to be “kind, courteous, and supportive.” Members are asked to focus on only sharing their own experiences. Bushnell’s team uses an auto-moderating program to help keep the subreddit on track, which flags about 20% of the 1,500 daily pieces of content (5% gets taken out for good).

One of the most common discussion topics is withdrawals, which can be very rough for some heavy cannabis users who attempt to quit. In the subreddit, people share their struggles with a variety of symptoms, including panic attacks, depression, anxiety, terrible dreams, nausea and heavy sweating.

“My heart is beating so fast and I feel like I can’t breathe at all,” one post from a year ago read. “I’m on day 3 with zero weed, can anyone comfort me and tell me that these symptoms are normal? Or should I be concerned and go seek medical advice from somewhere? I’m nauseous, I’m shaky, I’m anxious about everything in my life and I just feel weird overall.”

Within an hour, people were reassuring the woman that she was experiencing normal withdrawals and was most likely OK. A little while later, she edited the post, saying, “I feel so much more relaxed now that I know I’m not in this alone and that other people are having somewhat similar symptoms. I think I was mid-panic attack when I made this post earlier, but I’ve calmed down a little bit since then. I was just shocked that the symptoms were this physical and I didn’t prepare my self for it at all.”

‘Everyone says it’s not real’

Ten years ago, Dr. Smita Das was working at an in-patient rehab facility in Palo Alto. During a group meeting of people struggling with substance abuse disorders, a man stood up and shared that he was there for cannabis use disorder.

“All of the other patients chuckled under their breath,” Das recalled to SFGATE.

“I thought it was very brave. They said, ‘Everyone says it’s not real, but I lost my family and my job and I’m here because I can’t do anything without this drug,’” added Das, who is now a medical director in psychiatry at Lyra Health and an associate professor at Stanford University School of Medicine.

The scene captures the duality of cannabis addiction: It’s absolutely capable of destroying lives, yet there’s a persistent skepticism that it exists at all. Only 51% of Americans thought cannabis was definitely addictive when asked in surveys conducted in 2018 and 2019. Even amongst people who believe the drug can be habit-forming, there’s a common myth that cannabis lacks the physiologically addictive properties shared by other drugs. For example, a Florida State University health website currently states that “marijuana is not physically addictive” and is instead just “psychologically addictive.” This is wrong, according to Das, who said there is overwhelming scientific evidence that cannabis is physically addicting and in many of the same ways as other drugs like alcohol or cocaine.

This is likely driven by THC, the most common intoxicant found in cannabis products, according to a 2021 review article in the Journal of Neurochemistry. THC affects our brain’s dopamine system, which partially controls feelings of pleasure and reward. These are the same brain circuits that are implicated in addiction to nicotine, opiates and alcohol. Quitting cannabis after habitual use can make someone feel depressed, irritable or anxious as well as cause headaches and stomach pain, according to a 2021 article in the journal of Addiction.

Notably, CBD, the second most common active compound found in cannabis, does not appear to have the same effects on dopamine. The World Health Organization determined in 2017 that it did not have any potential for abuse.

Both of these cannabinoids — the chemical compounds contained in the cannabis plant — interact directly with our body’s endocannabinoid system, a widespread neurological network that affects nearly every physiological process in human bodies, including how we sleep, eat and metabolize food. Habitual cannabis use changes how this system operates, which is likely the reason heavy users experience withdrawals when they try to quit. Heavy THC use can also reduce the amount of REM sleep, the sleep cycle period in which we most commonly dream, which can then produce one of the most telltale signs of quitting cannabis: wildly intense dreams and nightmares. R/leaves is filled with stories of debilitating nightmares; one user last year said as soon as they fall asleep they “wake up because of these dreams. I feel like I am going insane!”

While marijuana’s habit-forming traits are clear, understanding how many people are addicted to weed is not. That’s partially because the very definition of cannabis addiction, or cannabis use disorder (CUD) as it’s now medically called, is controversial. Psychologists evaluate CUD by using an 11-point test published in the latest edition of the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V). It asks questions like whether a person is using more cannabis then they intend to, and whether they are continuing to use the drug even after experiencing physical harm because of it. Researchers using this definition found that 30% of cannabis users in 2022 had CUD, which translates to 7% of all U.S. adults having the disorder. The researchers also found that CUD rates had increased 10% between 2017 and 2022. For comparison, 11% of Americans adults ages 18 and older are estimated to have alcohol use disorder.

However, cannabis advocates and even some medical doctors feel the current CUD criteria is too broad, making it so people who have control of their cannabis use would still be characterized as having CUD. Advocates also say the DSM definition would categorize anyone using cannabis regularly as part of a treatment plan for a medical condition, like Alzheimer’s disease or autism, as being addicted, which is as strange as saying a diabetic is addicted to insulin. The harms of cannabis use and cannabis addiction are also clearly lower than other drugs such as alcohol, which kills 178,000 people a year in the U.S. and has withdrawal symptoms that are potentially deadly, while deaths linked to cannabis use are exceedingly rare.

Yet arguments over the exact number of people who have CUD, or the medical definition of CUD, do nothing for those who identify themselves as addicted.

“I have had patients who lost partners or spouses, had patients who had to leave their home and have essentially become homeless and are couch-surfing because their cannabis use just got to be too much,” Das said. She loves that r/leaves is connecting people, because peer support is an important tool for overcoming addiction. The subreddit reflects that, with a continually growing user base on Reddit — and an offshoot outside of the platform that has its own dedicated community as well.

‘There was nowhere to go’

It’s 2 p.m. on a Thursday, which means it’s time for #leaves_lounge, the Discord channel partnered with r/leaves, to open for the second time of the day. Discord is a social network that allows large groups of people to chat over text or video. Within seconds on this late January afternoon, a #leaves_lounge member posts: “Hey folks 👋 feeling rather isolated today. Getting sober from multiple things is making it hard to socialize with familiar people.”

The discussion takes off. Hundreds of people are online, each sharing their own stories and encouraging other people trying to quit marijuana. Bushnell said a team of 16 volunteers oversees the Discord channel, which has 13,000 members. Each daily session averages 700 participants. Bushnell said in some ways, the Discord has become even more helpful than the subreddit.

“I think that kind of chat is the future for us,” Bushnell said. “It’s those live meetings on Discord that really inspire people.”

Today, one user shares how they’re going through a “very annoying cycle” where they throw out all of their cannabis only to go back to their legal cannabis store and buy more. Two minutes later, another user replies: “It’s s—t at first no one can deny that, just gotta remember why you keep quitting and drag yourself through hour by hour.” Another person later replies that “i’m actually so glad my state doesn’t have recreational [cannabis stores].”

That increased access to cannabis has been a major part of the struggle for Katherine, the 32-year-old who has been trying to quit for a year. She lives in a Canadian city where legal pot shops are plentiful. “Now it’s as easy to get as groceries,” she said.

“It’s made me really sympathize with alcohol addicts because it’s so easy where I’m at. It’s like Starbucks now; there’s legal cannabis on every street corner, and I’m of age and it’s really easy to pick it up,” she continued.

Katherine has had multiple relapses over the last year. It’s always the same sativa pre-rolled joints that she goes and buys when she falls back to the drug. But she’s been sober for over 50 days now and feels stronger than she has ever before. She has an accountability partner from Switzerland whom she met on r/leaves and talks to at least once every two days, and she credits the community for helping her stay strong.

“I don’t think I would have gotten this far without the subreddit, because I don’t have anyone else to talk about this with,” Katherine said. “I don’t have anyone else in my life who I feel comfortable talking about this with. My doctor couldn’t help, and there was nowhere to go.”

(SF Chronicle)

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“The biggest joy for me in all of this has been the way people take to me. I’m meeting so many people now, and I don’t know who most of them are. But I try to be nice to everyone I meet, and most people are nice to me. I know I have limitations as a fighter.

What I do now is fifty percent fighting and fifty percent promotion, but I give a hundred percent to both of them. And the fat jokes don’t bother me. All they do is give me the opportunity to prove people wrong, and I love proving people wrong, especially when they look down on me.”

— Eric ‘Butterbean’ Esch

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BUT THE LOVE OF WILDERNESS is more than a hunger for what is always beyond reach; it is also an expression of loyalty to the earth, the earth which bore us and sustains us, the only home we shall ever know, the only paradise we ever need — if only we had the eyes to see. Original sin, the true original sin, is the blind destruction for the sake of greed of this natural paradise which lies all around us — if only we were worthy of it.

— Edward Abbey, Desert Solitaire (1968)

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FROM 1953 to 1970, United Airlines offered a men-only flight featuring cıgȧrṣ, cocktails, and full steak dinners.

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LEAD STORIES, SUNDAY'S NYT

U.K., France and Ukraine to Develop Cease-Fire Plan to Present to U.S.

Europe Is Left With Hard Choices as Trump Sours on Ukraine

‘Why Don’t You Wear a Suit?’: A Right-Wing News Outlet Questions Zelensky

In N.Y.C.’s Ukrainian Enclaves, Trump’s Rebuke Stirs Complex Feelings

Israel Halts All Aid Into Gaza as Cease-Fire Expires

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SUSAN GLASSER IN THIS WEEK’S NEW YORKER:

With Friday’s extraordinary televised fight in the Oval Office between President Trump and President Volodymyr Zelensky, we all saw clearly something that has been unfolding over the past couple of weeks: the United States of America has switched sides in the war between Russia and Ukraine. The country is no longer on the side of Ukraine.

This is a momentous shift by Trump, one that has implications not only for Ukraine’s very survival, but for the survival of America’s partnership with its European allies.

Last week, I wrote my column about what I called Trump’s Putinization of America, both in a foreign-policy sense—as in, actually pivoting toward Russia—and also in the sense of deploying an array of Putin-like tactics at home.

This week, we see that shift even more clearly. On the third anniversary of Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, Donald Trump—even before he fought with Zelensky today—directed the United States to vote with Russia, Belarus, and North Korea at the United Nations…

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TAIBBI & KIRN

Matt Taibbi: All right. Welcome to America This Week. I’m Matt Taibbi.

Walter Kirn: And I’m Walter Kirn.

Matt Taibbi: Walter, how are you doing? You look okay. You look a little tired.

Walter Kirn: A little okay. Well, I recovered from the mystery illness, deep state didn’t manage to get me with their super bug. Then I went on-

Matt Taibbi: You shoot at the king, you best not miss.

Walter Kirn: Damn right. Oh, I’ll come back with Iron Man immunity. And what happened next? I lived in a hotel for two weeks while I tried to finish a long piece for County Highway, which I’ve just about done. Then I got back to my little apartment here in Las Vegas, and I have just sort of recouped my energy and can’t wait for spring, man. Because I’m one of those Leo born August types who need sunshine, sort of like… There’s a Raymond Chandler story where there’s a man who lives among orchids and they give him life. He’s sort of an older fellow.

Matt Taibbi: Oh, yeah. That’s The Big Sleep.

Walter Kirn: The Big Sleep, yeah. And I’m like him. I need sunshine. I must have it. And I’ve not been getting it.

Matt Taibbi: I fully understand this. So when I lived in Russia, I used to live in kind of a famous building called… It’s one of those wedding cake skyscrapers you might’ve seen in pictures. So in winter in Moscow, you might see the sun for a half an hour a day.

Walter Kirn: Ooh, that’s brutal.

Matt Taibbi: And that’s in the rare instances when the clouds are not completely covering the city. It’s very thick there. So by my last year there, my window didn’t face east, so I couldn’t see the sun at all. I would have to go and run to another person’s apartment just to look out the window, just to see the sun for a fraction of the day to keep from losing my mind. So that was one of the main reasons I moved home, actually, is that I couldn’t take it anymore, not seeing the sun.

Walter Kirn: Yeah, my daughter had that problem at Harvard, which is one of the shortest sun cycles on the East Coast out there, high in the north, and also out into the ocean. And it was a real problem for her. At home, I have a lamp that shines on me all day while I read and so on, but I don’t have it down here. So I’ll roll through it, but it doesn’t cause me to feel bleak or anything, it’s just a kind of real low ebb. And spring comes with a just punch. Then I become manic. So if you want to know about all the psychological cycles that run this guy, those are the main ones. But yeah, and living two weeks in a Vegas hotel and seeing the earthy side of human behavior, I guess I would say.

Matt Taibbi: Well, especially in Vegas hotels, which are designed not to let you see sunlight, so yeah.

Walter Kirn: They are, they are. They’re designed not to let you see sunlight. I think that the glass has got… It filters out everything that produces life on earth. And you see the same guys walking with different wives every morning kind of, if that makes sense. And you wonder if we’re a species that really should be dabbling in democracy and things like that.

Matt Taibbi: Well, I think we are, and that’s a good segue to this week. So on Monday when we did the show, we were talking about media stuff and kind of scrambling to find something media to talk about. We sure don’t have that problem this week, as just massive galactic stories taking place this week. And I have to say, the dénouement to this situation in Ukraine is going to come for a lot of people as a major shock. It’s a hugely disillusioning story that will force you to reexamine decades of propaganda that we’ve all been getting, including me. I think there were things that I was not understanding about the nature of America’s relationship to the world that are now becoming clear.

I think basically the American people have been screwed and plundered to prop up the sort of imperial project around the world, and Europeans have been primary beneficiaries. We’ve talked about this before, Walter, about this dichotomy in politics between people who prioritize the needs of empire and those who prioritize the needs of the country. America became essentially a state that ignored almost completely its national concerns in favor of its imperial role. And in doing so, it ended up plundering its own population, not just in terms of the lives, because we sent a lot of young men and women to fight and die for causes that had nothing to do with their own, but also financially.

And this is all coming out now, in what’s now a full-blown trade war with Europe that’s erupted in the last couple of days, Trump is going to slap a 25% tariff on the EU, but that’s only part of the story. So it’s a little convoluted, but let’s just start with the fact that when this comes out, this is going to come out on Friday, it’s probably going to be the same day that Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrives in Washington ostensibly to sign an agreement. Now, let’s just look at a quick tape of how BBC was announcing this deal.

Clive Myrie: In the last hour, Ukrainian officials have said a deal has been reached between Kiev and Washington on the joint exploitation of Ukraine’s mineral resources. Now, the country is rich in oil and gas as well as raw materials as this map shows. Full details haven’t yet been made public of the deal, but an agreement could be signed later this week and have consequences for the war with Russia. Donald Trump says president Zelenskyy might travel to the White House this Friday. Well, in a moment, we’ll speak-

Matt Taibbi: So we can stop there. That’s the headline agreement is that Zelenskyy is coming here to sign a deal that is not about peace, but really about money. And the idea is that they’re signing over rights for mineral and petroleum exploration and other things to United States companies. Not to the United States directly, but to US companies, and that’s another separate issue.

No sooner was that deal struck, and it’s reported to be worth $500 million, but that’s really in question how much this stuff is really worth. It’s being sold as that much. The European Union offered its own deal. If we could look at number five, and we don’t have a video on this, it’s just an article. So essentially, the EU came to Zelenskyy after these negotiations, which have been going on for a couple of weeks with Trump, and they’re offering their own deal for a mineral exploration. The larger umbrella issue here is that the United States essentially wants to be paid back for all the weapons that it sent. And in return, it’s offering some loose guarantees of security. Although, as we’ll see, they’re not overt and it has nothing to do with NATO.

Europe is now trying to step in and offer its own deal, so it’s got its own implicit security guarantee. But as we’ve seen, Ukraine is likely going to reject the EU deal and is going to accept the American deal. And what this tells you, and this is going to almost inevitably be followed by the end of the war, is that this war really had nothing to do with Ukraine. It was between the United States and Russia. We are deciding now that it’s going to be over and we want to be paid back. I’m not sure how I feel about that, because I’m not sure how much Ukraine had agency at the beginning of this whole thing to even enter the war, but whatever.

Walter Kirn: Stop for a second. Why?

Matt Taibbi: Well, I think they were pressured by us to fight rather than negotiate at the start. So it’s a little bit weird to demand recompense, and we’ll see how this was all received later on. Now, this same week, hostilities and the tensions between the United States and the EU just grew and grew and grew, and we saw this really in a number of different settings.…

https://www.racket.news/p/transcript-america-this-week-feb-d05

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TRUMP IS ROOTIN’ FOR PUTIN

by Maureen Dowd

It was a sickening spectacle: the man who tried to upend democracy bullying the man who is fighting for democracy.

The air seemed to turn flame red as the TV stars-turned-pols sat side by side in elegant yellow armchairs and had the wildest dust-up ever televised from the Oval Office.

“This is going to be great television — I will say that,” President Trump noted. The Ukrainian ambassador, Oksana Markarova, hung her head in her hands.

It looked like a setup. Vice President JD Vance, a malign presence who has said he does not care a fig about Ukraine, chided Volodymyr Zelensky for not being grateful enough to America, i.e. Trump.

“Have you said, ‘Thank you’ once this entire meeting?” Vance pressed Zelensky, who has thanked America over and over.

Trump barked at Zelensky, “You’re gambling with World War III” and wagged a finger at him: “You’ve got to be more thankful because, let me tell you, you don’t have the cards. With us, you have the cards, but without us, you don’t have any cards.”

Pretty rich for a draft dodger to lecture a man whose name has become synonymous with wartime bravery. (Trump once said that avoiding sexually transmitted diseases was his personal “Vietnam.”)

When a reporter asked what would happen if Russia broke the cease-fire again, Trump snapped, “What if anything? What if a bomb drops on your head right now?”

The bust of Churchill so beloved by Trump watched over the three men as they sparred. Can you imagine F.D.R. petulantly ordering Churchill to be more thankful? Can you imagine Churchill’s chilly disdain for Trump’s protection-racket demand for Ukraine’s minerals?

As though this weren’t enough humiliation, a member of the president’s new handpicked press pool, Brian Glenn of the right-wing Real America’s Voice, asked Zelensky, “Why don’t you wear a suit?” And then, “Do you own a suit?”

(He was echoing Trump, who mocked Zelensky when he arrived, saying “Ooh, you’re all dressed up.” The Ukrainian president had on black pants, top and boots, similar to what Elon Musk wears at the White House.)

Even though we should be used to it by now, it was still shocking to see Trump parrot the view of Vladimir Putin, a murderous tyrant who wants to swallow Ukraine in a fit of nostalgia for the Soviet Union. Trump insisted that they were fellow victims.

“Let me tell you, Putin went through a hell of a lot with me,” Trump said, as though they were Army buddies. “He went through a phony witch hunt where they used him and Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia.” U.S. intelligence agencies found that Russia meddled in the 2016 election on Trump’s behalf.

“You see the hatred he’s got for Putin,” Trump said of Zelensky. “It’s very tough for me to make a deal with that kind of hate.”

The president doesn’t understand why Zelensky is not happy with Putin for invading the smaller country and beating the bejesus out of it, for decimating a generation of young Ukrainian soldiers, for breaking cease-fires and committing war crimes.

Zelensky deserves our thanks. He has endured so much, keeping the David versus Goliath dream alive, exposing the weakness of the Russian military and basically taking it on the chin for the rest of Europe to keep Putin from gobbling up more territory.

But instead of being gracious, Trump booted Zelensky out of the White House, leaving the hero’s lunch on a tray in the hall, torpedoing his existential fight to save his battered country and Ukrainian lives.

Republican lickspittles like Lindsey Graham and Jim Banks praised Trump and trashed Zelensky while Russian leaders rejoiced. “The insolent pig finally got a proper slap down in the Oval Office,” said Dmitri Medvedev, the former Russian president and Putin toady.

A cascade of gobsmacked Western leaders wrapped Zelensky in a warm online embrace. “Today, it became clear that the free world needs a new leader,” said Kaja Kallas, the European Union’s top diplomat. France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, posted, “Il y a un agresseur: la Russie.”

European leaders had tried to guide Trump in the days before Zelensky arrived, but Trump is wedded to his demented dream of a troika of strongmen — himself, Putin and Xi Jinping — astride the world.

Macron and Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain came to Washington, humoring Trump. Starmer grandly delivered a cream envelope with an “unprecedented” invitation from King Charles III for a second state visit, perhaps to Balmoral.

A real king soothing the ego of a hooligan who thinks he’s a king.

All the flattery did not soften up Trump. It puffed him up. Everyone is so obsequious around Trump that he now gets huffy at the least pushback. He can make any claim, no matter how outrageous — that Ukraine started the war with Russia, that Zelensky is a “dictator.” But if anyone points out that he is wrong, he blows a gasket.

After Trump flew off to Mar-a-Lago, Zelensky did an interview with Bret Baier on Fox News. He did not apologize when Baier asked him if he should. “I can’t, you know, change our Ukrainian attitude to Russia,” he said, adding that Putin wants to “kill us.”

He said the meeting came a cropper because he talked honestly about the need for security guarantees. “We just want to recognize the reality, the real situation.” He added that everybody is “afraid that Putin will come back tomorrow.”

Trump does not do well with reality; he tries to impose his own on the rest of us.

Zelensky said that Trump told him he wanted to be in “the middle” of the negotiations. But the Ukrainian president demurred: “I want really him to be more at our side” because “the war began when Russia brought this war to our country.” About Ukrainians, he said: “They just want to hear that America on our side and America will stay with us, not with Russians.”

Seems simple. Unless Trump’s art of the deal is all about truckling to Putin.

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“HOW INTERESTING can one person be? I didn’t know I was writing a memoir. I was writing about the world I lived in, as I felt it and saw it.

It helped me tremendously that I was working full time as a chef. I didn’t have the luxury of time to think about why I couldn’t or shouldn’t write, and I didn’t have the luxury of thinking it was more important than what I was doing at work. I didn’t want to make myself look any better than I was. It was very easy to make it into a poor me book. I was not afraid to look like an asshole if I was one or am one. Otherwise it had a predicable story arc.

I want to keep reminding people exactly how reliable and unreliable the person is who’s talking to them. I didn’t want to talk down. When I was a heroin addict, I spent a Christmas Eve in the snow on the sidewalk, selling my books and records. Having been a heroin addict was extremely valuable. You never think anything is beneath you.”

— Bourdain on writing Kitchen Confidential

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ON-LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

I live in a small farming village where we barter most services. Everyone has goods or services to barter, in my opinion. I had a new ceiling fan put up and it cost me Two chuck roasts, a pork loin, a chicken and a dozen eggs.

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