Mendocino County Today: Tuesday 3/4/2025

Showers | Bill Heil | Thirsty Marin | Proposed Housing | Illegal Dumping | Mountain Lion | Pomo Family | County Notes | Betty & Val | Ed Notes | Point Cabrillo | Whale Festival | Monthly Housekeeper | Gutter Cleaning | Firesafe Meeting | Museum Events | Climate Action | The Brucelist | Greenfield Ranch | Block Grant | Tanbark Fellow | Student Contests | Walter Gschwend | Yesterday's Catch | War Tragedy | Traitor Vance | Graffiti Vandals | Capital's Stranglehold | Boingy Baxter | N.I.H. Funding | Big Oil | Support Lists | SSA Payments | Producing Freon | Corporate Fascism | Library Education | Ukraine Thoughts | Clown Nose | Full Backrub | Cradle/Grave | War Financing | Lead Stories | Neanderthals | Israeli Occupation | American Oligarchy

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A FAST MOVING FRONT will bring light showers this morning, then taper off through the afternoon. Below normal temperatures expected through the work week. Another system will bring additional showers are expected Wednesday into Thursday. Frost and freezing temperatures are likely Thursday and Friday morning. Dry conditions is expected for Friday and much of the weekend. (NWS)

STEPHEN DUNLAP (Fort Bragg): A cloudy 46F on the coast this Tuesday morning. I'm going with a shower maybe today, less likely tomorrow then maybe a shower on Thursday, BUT, this could change. It does look dry after that into Sunday before we return to a wet pattern next week it looks like.

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SAD NEWS from a reader: I heard from a good source that Bill Heil died yesterday. He was at the center of Albion’s Table Mountain commune back in the day. Few know the past as you do.

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MORE MENDO WATER GOING SOUTH

by Adrian Rodriguez

Marin Municipal Water District officials are throwing their support behind a plan to import more Sonoma water into Marin, setting the stage for one of the larger supply and drought resiliency investments in decades.

On a unanimous vote Tuesday, the Marin district board authorized staff to move forward with design and environmental review for a new pipeline that would tap into an existing aqueduct system to get Sonoma water to Marin reservoirs.

“This is definitely a milestone for us, but it’s not our destination,” said Paul Sellier, the district’s water resources director. “It’s more of a mile marker on our way, and a significant one at that.”

The move is a big step toward fulfilling goals outlined in the district’s water supply “road map” — a strategy devised in response to the 2020-2021 drought. The plan established that the district would need an additional 8,500 acre-square feet of water a year to endure a drought. An acre-foot is about 326,000 gallons.

Sellier said water savings through customer conservation efforts, combined with other infrastructure and system upgrades, have allowed the district to lower that target. The new goal is to add 6,500 acre-feet of water a year, he said.

(Marin Independent Journal)

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87 HOUSING UNITS PROPOSED AT TODD POINT

by Frank Hartzell

In a town starved for affordable and worker housing, the biggest private housing development project in years will be on the agenda of the Fort Bragg Planning Commission on Wednesday, March 12.

The plans are for 87 housing units on 2.7 acres behind the Fort Bragg Outlet store, just south of the Noyo Bridge on the west side of State Route 1 and just north of the Emerald Dolphin Inn.

The project proposes a 107-car parking lot for seven different housing units and asks the city to raise the maximum height of units allowed from 28 feet to 38 feet to serve three-story units. The city is also being asked to allow smaller outside decks than currently allowed.…

https://mendocinocoast.news/87-housing-units-proposed-at-todd-point/

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ILLEGAL DUMPING REPORTING

From Mendocino Waste Management Authority (which has been turned over to City of Ukiah staff): If you see illegal dump sites in your community, be sure to let us know. If you are able to, take a picture, note the exact location using an address, a mile marker, or GPS coordinates, describe the approximate size of the dump site, and identify the illegally dumped materials. Send an email with all pertinant information to [email protected] to report illegal dump sites.

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FORT BRAGG’S CRAFTY MOUNTAIN LION

Mountain Lion Evades Double Electric Fence; Kills Pets at NorCal Homestead. A mountain lion breached a fenced enclosure and killed two goats and a sheep.

by Matt LaFever

In the early hours of Feb. 28, Mendocino Coast resident and biologist Nadia El Adili awoke to a grim scene: two goats and a sheep — all cherished family pets — had been killed by a mountain lion. Despite a double electric fence and a three-sided enclosure, the predator managed to breach their defenses. “We thought it would be safe enough and it obviously wasn’t,” El Adili lamented to SFGATE.

Later that night, the game camera on the rural property captured a chilling sequence: the mountain lion, undeterred by its earlier kill, stealthily returning to the scene.

Nadia and her husband have cultivated a homestead on Fort Bragg’s Airport Road for the past decade, sharing their lives with a variety of animals, including goats, sheep, a dog, and chickens. Their property, while not heavily forested, is part of a region where wildlife sightings are not uncommon.

Reflecting on the incident, El Adili noted the broader implications of human encroachment on wildlife habitats. “As they’re getting less and less habitat, we’re definitely going to have more interactions,” she observed.

Having hiked extensively in the area since 2020, she recounted only one prior mountain lion encounter, during which the animal fled upon seeing her. “They tend to be pretty scared of humans,” she added, acknowledging that while such attacks are rare, they may become more frequent as human development continues to infringe upon natural territories.

In the aftermath of the attack, El Adili reported the incident to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and consulted with neighbors to raise awareness. She hopes that sharing her experience will prompt others in the community to take proactive measures in safeguarding their animals and coexisting responsibly with the region’s wildlife.

Peter Tira, a spokesperson for the CDFW, told SFGATE in a statement the agency’s commitment to assisting residents and ranchers in protecting their pets and livestock from mountain lion attacks. He notes that CDFW employs a full-time wildlife biologist in Mendocino County to provide technical assistance and preventative recommendations. “Attacks need to be reported to us within 48 hours so there is evidence around to confirm it was indeed a mountain lion attack,” Tira advises. He adds that the department will investigate reported incidents, as “sometimes attacks are attributed to mountain lions when other animals – coyotes, even dogs – are responsible.”

When it comes to managing confirmed mountain lion depredations, Tira explains that CDFW issues both non-lethal and lethal depredation permits. However, he stresses that “lethal depredation permits, however, are a measure of last resort as we prioritize effective non-lethal actions.” In cases where mountain lions pose a direct threat to public safety, Tira indicates that these incidents are typically addressed immediately by CDFW’s Law Enforcement Division. He advises that “anyone in an emergency situation fearing for their safety due to a mountain lion should always call 911.”

CDFW claims that mountain lions attacking humans is exceedingly rare. Statistically, a person is 1,000 times more likely to be struck by lightning than attacked by a mountain lion. Since 1890, there have been fewer than 50 verified mountain lion attacks in California, and only six have been fatal. In most cases, the victims were alone at the time of the encounter.

According to the CDFW, the most recent mountain lion attacks on humans in Mendocino County occurred in August 1994, with two incidents reported that month.

El Adili’s background as fisheries biologist on the Mendocino Coast provides her with a unique perspective on the loss of her sheep and goat. She understands the delicate balance between human expansion and wildlife preservation, but also misses her animal friends. “It’s a huge bummer,” she said.

(SFGate.com)

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ELIZABETH KNIGHT: For the new people; The indigenous Pomo people of Anderson Valley continue to thrive. One family in particular, my family, has remained in the area for an impressive eight generations or more. We are still here!! We just moved from Yorkville towards Philo/Navarro.

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COUNTY NOTES

by Mark Scaramella

MENDOCINO COUNTY has quietly, one could say secretly since it’s not listed anywhere else in the County’s organization info, created a new financial department called “fiscal services” with a budget of almost $1 million a year. We have no idea what they do, who runs it, or how much it overlaps with the Auditor or Treasurer offices. There’s also a relatively new department called “payroll services” (at about $600k) which was created in the aftermath of the initial Cubbison-Kennedy debacle. How the payroll function went from an overworked one-person office in the Auditor’s office to an expanded, separate $600k department is a question only the CEO can ansswer. Both of these departments/budgets are distinct and different from the Treasurer-Tax Collector and Auditor-Controller budgets which are themselves still tracked separately, although they were consolidated as the Board directed in 2023. The Auditor-Controller Budget is listed at about $1.7 million, and the Treasurer-Tax Collector budget is listed as around $1.2 million. (The Executive Office budget is a separate $1.1 million.)

THAT’S AROUND $4.5 million a year for various financial services. Yet the Board still can’t get a monthly budget report, nor even a quarterly budget report. Last week they decided to let the CEO provide a budget report only twice a year, and that only with the data that happens to be in the MUNIS computer system at the time of the report, not the actual up-to-date departmental budget status. Last Tuesday, newly seated Supervisors Bernie Norvell and Madeline Cline signaled that they had no interest in current budget status either, saying that requiring the CEO to provide any more than two budget reports per year was just too much to ask the CEO for. CEO Darcie Antle emphasized that even twice a year could only be provided if it came with a caveat that it only would include whatever financial info happens to have found its way into the computer system at the time of the run, never mind if the departments are late in getting it entered. After some extremely undemanding discussion initiated but given up on by Supervisor Ted Williams, the Board agreed to revisit the budget report frequency later, maybe, “if there’s a problem.” Never mind that the whole point of monthly budget reporting is to avoid problems.

IN OTHER BUDGET NEWS, we see that the Sheriff’s office has a $2.2 million overtime budget which was running at about 55% spent as of end of December of 2024. Nobody expressed any interest in this high number even though the Sheriff’s office has staffed up lately and should be running less overtime.

IN HER SUPERVISOR’S REPORT last week, Supervisor Maureen Mulheren told her colleagues that the “Homeless Continuum of Care of which there are about 30 members, are currently seeking a consultant to help them update their strategic plan.” She asked the public or fellow board members for “suggestions for a consultant that could help the CofC have community meetings, work with the board, work with the service providers to come up with an updated strategic plan. I think that’s really important for our community.” Thirty members, and they can’t come up with their own homeless strategic plan (a plan they paid consultant Robert Marbut $60k for a few years ago, but have mostly ignored). The homeless strategic plan is nothing more than a minor update of previous “strategic plans” that emphasize that primary purpose of the “strategic plan” is to get as much money for themselves as possible.

SUPERVISOR TED WILLIAMS asked again about ways to determine if Mendo’s Mental Health Services are effective. Supervisor Mulheren responded that if Williams had attended any Behavioral Health Advisory Board meetings he would know all there is to know about Mental Health services. Williams disagreed saying that he wanted formal contract and performance reviews from the BHAB. This morphed into a discussion of the make-up of the BHAB which no one seems particularly sure of, nor of the process by which appointments are made. Apparently, Mulheren is a member of the BHAB, so she’s very defensive about questions or criticisms. Williams said, “I want someone on the BHAB who will ask what got done and how they rated. The public sees it as a blank check. There are no reports of what was accomplished. We allocate the money and we don’t hear how it went, we don’t see results.” Mulheren replied, “[Board Chair Jo] Bradley can answer those questions for you. We had a session on that. All the numbers were there. There’s an RFP process which is open and transparent. Specific questions should be asked of them. It’s a communications thing. It’s there.”

Supervisor Bernie Norvell asked, “How did Jo Bradley get the job?” Mulheren said she appointed her. “I was chair. I selected her,” then addressing Williams, “You could have said something when she was appointed.”

Williams insisted that his questions are never answered. “I have been stonewalled every which way,” said Williams. “I can’t get the information. It’s frustrating. Where’s the last performance review?”

After some predictably irrelevant blather about confidentiality of some mental health data, Ms. Bradley called in to say that she had been appointed by Williams himself. Williams replied that he had asked for performance info “quite a while ago but problems on board caused delays in trying to get answers.” Bradley seemed to be blaming Williams for not accepting answers that were either provided or offered. “Supervisor Williams does not return my calls,” insisted Bradley. “I was sworn in [as chair] yesterday. We are getting mixed messages.” Bradley insisted that Mental Health funds are State and Fed dollars, not coming out of “county coffers,” apparently meaning that there’s not much need to examine how effectively it’s spent. Bradley added, “We don’t know we’re spending the money until the patient leaves. The process is overwhelming. It takes a lot of learning. It’s hard to understand. We explained it at the last meeting. It makes your head spin. There is an overwhelming amount of info. We don’t make the rules.”

Farm Bureau Director and former Supervisor candidate Adam Gaska called in to say that he’s been trying to get appointed to the BHAB for months and has been denied for unclear reasons time and time again. He still doesn’t know what the appointment process is. “The Supervisors have been precluded from the nomination process,” said Gaska.

And that was how it was left.

AS WE HAVE NOTED BEFORE, the best performance indicator of mental health services is a version of a recidivism rate which would track the number of people who have been released from treatment and then returned and when. Obviously, most severely mental ill patients are not going to be “cured,” but the aim should be to reduce the amount and frequency of services they require. There also should be a way to track the mental health patients/criminals in jail which the Sheriff insists are released with plans and programs to help them stay out of jail. Nobody needs any names or individual information, just a summary of the nature of the “treatment” (e.g., drugs only?) and how long they were on their own before returning. We don’t expect anything like that to ever be asked in Mendocino County. Since the monitors consider the entire process to be “overwhelming” and not locally funded, we get what we get and that’s that and we just have to keep rubberstamping no-bid contracts to the Schraeders. All of this is only for the small subset of mental cases — the severely mentally ill — who are allowed into County covered treatment. The not quite severely but chronically mentally ill who are on the streets or in jail are not even under the purview of the BHAB or the mental health department, other than via the crisis van or crisis hot line. PS. Not one cent of the millions of Measure B dollars designated for mental health and substance abuse treatment has been spent on those services, services which the public was assured would be provided by the Measure when the public voted overwhelmingly for it.

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BETTY MCCORMICK: Happy to see Val Muchowski at the Women’s History Month celebration in Ukiah. Have so much respect and appreciation for all she does…the first event was 1983 in Boonville.

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ED NOTES

BROILER PARTY, TAKE TWO. DA Eyster returned this past January to the Broiler Steak House for another staff party so… Who paid for it? That’s the question of the day.

IT WAS EYSTER’S prior staff celebration at the Broiler that the DA tried to pass off as a staff “training,” charging the festivities to Mendocino County’s long-suffering taxpayers. Ms. Cubbison, elected County Auditor, challenged Eyster’s demand that the County pay for his New Year’s party that ignited Eyster’s failed campaign to oust her, featuring the longest preliminary hearing in County history, fattening the incomes of a raft of lawyers, all of them except Cubbison’s defense attorney, paid for out of the public’s disappearing purse.

AND DARNED if the DA didn’t return for another Broiler party, which may or may not have again been charged to the taxpayers. We’re trying to find out if the DA again tried to ding the taxpayers for this year’s debauch, but if he did, and with the vigilant Cubbison back at her post after her big win over the chiseling lawman, no way is our DA going to get away with it.

MIKE GENIELLA has filed a Freedom of Information Act request to find out who picked up the considerable tab: “Under California’s Public Records Act, please provide documentation of the costs of District Attorney David Eyster’s most recent gathering at the Broiler Steak House in January 2025, and how that expense was covered.”

AND THE COUNTY promptly wrote back: “Request accepted. Referred to District Attorney’s Office, Carmen Macias, administrative manager. Up to 10 days to comply.”

REFERRED, it seems, to the person who threw the party.

OF COURSE it’s entirely possible that Eyster, assuming at the first of the year that his purge of Ms. Cubbison was a done deal, again charged the taxpayers for his annual Broiler debauch. With Cubbison seemingly out of the way, and the beans being counted in Darcie Antle’s, ah, flexible CEO’s office, the chiseling Eyster may have figured he could again write his party off as a “training.”

SOME OF US will remember when the French-owned Roederer Winery workers went on strike here in Anderson Valley, the first and, so far the last strike of farmworkers in Mendocino County.

THE FIELD WORKERS struck when they were suddenly nickel-nosed by the billion-dollar family-owned Roederer right at harvest time when Roederer suddenly announced they’d pay the people who make their huge annual profits possible somewhat less than Roederer had always paid people for picking their grapes. Which had to be picked right now. (They suddenly demanded that the vineyard workers pay the gondola drivers out of their own pockets.)

ROEDERER had sprung the pay decrease on the workers as they’d arrived in the Boonville vineyards at the crack of dawn. But the workers didn’t take the crumb bum pay reduction. They struck. Roederer shipped in workers from over on I-5 somewhere and, when they learned what had happened, they struck, too.

THE BOONVILLE STRIKERS contacted the UFW, and a dramatic union vote was held in the fields with Roederer’s gimlet-eyed French lawyers, flown in from Paris for the occasion, looking on. The workers, unintimidated by a process entirely stacked against them, voted to affiliate with the UFW.

IN A FEW MONTHS, the Anderson Valley UFW leaders had been systematically picked off and blackballed by management, while single union guys were expelled from Roederer’s single guy housing in retaliation for daring to go union, Roederer again had it all their own way.

ROEDERER had hired Littler-Mendleson, a Frisco-based group of union-busting legal gangsters who “advised” Roederer on the finer points of union-busting, including hiring a Mexican stooge to mingle with the workers and spy on who was leaning union. And soon the Wine People all over Mendocino County were holding Littler-Mendleson seminars on how to keep unions out of the fields and, to this day, the Wine People have kept the unions out.

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WHALE FESTIVAL EVENTS

Join the Noyo Center for Marine Science for a variety of special events and exhibits to celebrate Whale Festival and the annual gray whale migration.

For a full listing of events and activities: https://www.noyocenter.org/whale-festival-2025

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REQUEST FOR BID
Housekeeping Services – Anderson Valley Fire Station

The Anderson Valley Fire Department (AVFD) is seeking bids for monthly housekeeping services at the Anderson Valley Fire Station. The selected individual or company will provide thorough cleaning once per month as an independent contractor. All cleaning supplies will be provided by AVFD.

Scope of Work Includes:

• Dusting and sanitizing surfaces
• Vacuuming and mopping floors
• Cleaning restrooms and kitchen areas
• Emptying trash and recycling
• Additional thorough cleaning tasks as requested

Bid Submission Deadline:
All bids must be received by 4:00 PM on March 18th.

Submission Details:
Mail bids to:
AVFD
P.O. Box 398
Boonville, CA 95415

For further information and details, please contact AVFD at 707-895-2020.

AVFD reserves the right to reject any or all bids.

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DUNLAP ROOFING

Seniors: Ditch the Ladder! Let Our Full-Service Roofing Team Clean Your Gutters for Free! Safety first—leave the heights to us. This offer covers most coastal and valley homes.

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MARCH FIRE SAFE POINT ARENA MEETING

Wednesday, March 5
4:45 p.m.
Coast Community Library, downtown Point Arena
RADIO CHECK-IN 4:00 pm. on repeater channel 2

Agenda

• Mendocino Fire Safe Council grant cycle opens March 1st - discuss possible projects (a second repeater?, radios? senior focused emergency preparedness event? cargo container shelving?)
• PGE fuel reduction grants open till March 28: Fuel reduction project footprints should be within 500 feet of a PG&E electric asset, such as overhead electric wires (Does anyone out there live on Windy Hollow? Could be a potential project out your way…)
• Review radio procedures during emergencies - bring your radios
• Discuss possible shelving/organization ideas for the cargo container
• Discuss possible ideas for AARP community grant
• Mendocino County's Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP) is being updated - discuss possible implications for Point Arena
• Possible chipper days in Point Arena
• Any items brought up by meeting attendees…

See everyone Wednesday!

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NATIVE ARTS WORKSHOPS AT GRACE HUDSON--MARCH 8

On Saturday, March 8, the Grace Hudson Museum will offer a “double-header” workshop day featuring Native arts: Miniature Tule Mat and Rope from 10 a.m. to 12, and Pine Needle Medallion Necklace from 1 to 4 p.m. The workshops will be co-led by cultural educators Mandy Macias (Western Mono/Maidu/Ohlone) and Monica V. Arellano (Ohlone Culture Bearer and Language Keeper). Both workshops are suitable for ages 10 and up. Space is limited, so call the Museum at 707-467-2836 to reserve your spot.

The cost for the Tule Mat workshop is $15, and the Pine Needle Necklace workshop costs $25. However, Native Americans can participate for free. Scholarship opportunities are also available; just inquire when you call.

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GRACE HUDSON MUSEUM’S FIRST FRIDAY EVENT TAKES PLACE ON MARCH 7 FROM 5 TO 8 P.M. THE MUSEUM WILL BE OPEN WITH FREE ADMISSION ALL DAY.

This First Friday features music, art, light refreshments, and maybe some early blooming flowers in the Wild Gardens. The musical group Fair Wind will showcase a mix of soft rock, folk, jazz, and more. The Museum’s latest exhibition, “Reclamation: Aboriginal Ancestral Homeland and Resilience of the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe,” highlights history and culture. And the core galleries feature Grace Hudson’s artwork, exquisite Pomo basketry, and Carpenter-Hudson family history.

The Grace Hudson Museum is at 431 S. Main St. in Ukiah. For more information please go to www.gracehudsonmuseum.org or call (707) 467-2836.

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FOR YOUR UNINTENTIONAL HUMOR FILES

Draft Climate Action Plan Public Comment Period

Monday March 3, 2025; Ukiah, CA.- The City of Ukiah is pleased to announce an opportunity for members of the community to provide public comment to aid the City in its development of a Climate Action Plan (CAP).

The City of Ukiah has completed the development of a draft Climate Action Plan and will be soliciting community feedback during a 30-day public comment period starting Monday, March 3, 2025 and ending April 2, 2025.

The City’s CAP is a long-term planning document that outlines measures and actions that support the City’s transition to carbon neutrality by 2045. The Draft CAP identifies strategies that help the community reduce fossil fuel use, promote renewable sources of energy, enhance natural resource and land conservation efforts, and improve the overall efficiency of the City’s transportation and energy systems.

To access this public comment opportunity, please visit us at the City’s website at https://cityofukiah.com/climate-action-plan/ and visit https://cityofukiah.com/climate-resilience/ to learn more about the City’s ongoing efforts to address the climate emergency.

For more information, please contact: Blake Adams, Chief Resilience Officer, City of Ukiah, [email protected]

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A READER WONDERS: “Congratulations? I hear the actor who played you in ‘The Brucelist’ won the Oscar. Are congratulations called for? Where is Emily Post when we need her?”

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MENDOCINO COUNTY LAUNCHES COMPETITIVE PROCESS FOR COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT (CDBG) FUNDING

The County of Mendocino is undertaking a competitive Request for Proposal (RFP) process to allocate funds from the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program Income. This initiative invites eligible applicants to submit proposals for projects that align with CDBG objectives and the County’s community development priorities, focusing on benefiting low- and moderate-income residents.

For the 2025 funding cycle, the County has approximately $600,000 available in CDBG Program Income funds for qualifying projects. Additionally, the County may submit applications for the 2025 California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) CDBG Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) to further support local development initiatives.

“This improved process ensures a transparent, competitive selection of projects that best serve Mendocino County residents and maximize the impact of available funding,” said CEO Darcie Antle. “We encourage eligible organizations to participate and bring forward projects that will strengthen our communities.”

Key dates in the RFP process include:

Proposals that meet CDBG eligibility requirements will be reviewed and scored by County staff, with top candidates presented to the Board of Supervisors for final funding decisions. The County encourages interested applicants to attend the upcoming Applicant Workshop on March 7, 2025, to learn more about the CDBG program and requirements.

For more information and to access the RFP, visit the County’s website (RFPs, CDBG) or send an email to [email protected].

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DEADLINE APPROACHES FOR STUDENT CONTESTS WORTH $6000

With $6,000 in prizes, contest deadline is March 31, at 5 p.m.

Change Our Name, a 501(c)(3) educational nonprofit registered in the state of California is sponsoring their Third Annual Essay Contest and First Ever Video Contest for Fort Bragg High School, Noyo High School students and all high school students resident in Fort Bragg

Each of the two distinct contest offers a $2,000 First Prize and $1,000 Second Prize and both ask students to respond to the prompt: Resolved- “The Name of Fort Bragg Should be Changed” or “The Name of Fort Bragg Should Not be Changed.”

Submissions for the contests will be received only through 5 p.m. March 31. They will be judged in April and prizes awarded in May.

While the Board of Change Our Name supports changing the name of Fort Bragg, a name which currently memorializes a genocidal fort and a Confederate General and slave master, they have enlisted three judges for each contest who are respected in their fields (either writers or video critics) and who are unaffiliated with Change Our Name.

The intent of the contest is to get students thinking about and researching their local name and its history. Submissions will be graded on criteria of creativity, research, and genre skills and not on the argument they choose to pursue.

Complete contest rules can be found at https://www.changeournamefortbragg.com/hs-contest

and a list of some important research tools can be found at https://www.changeournamefortbragg.com/books

In addition our local library has more books and articles of interest.

These contests are solely projects of Change Our Name Fort Bragg, and are neither sponsored by nor affiliated with the Fort Bragg Unified School District nor with Fort Bragg High School or Noyo High School .

Questions should be directed to Change Our Name at: [email protected]

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WALTER GSCHWEND

Postcard caption: “Walter Gschwend: The most legendary wagoneer and spinner of tall tales that Anderson Valley has ever known. — From the collection of Ray Pinoli.”

Walter ‘Bub’ Gschwend lived 1882-1948, and was the son of John Gschwend, Jr. and grandson of John Gschwend. He passed in Boonville at age 65, but does not appear to have been buried in Anderson Valley. (Other family members are interred at the Shields-Studebaker Cemetery near Philo.)

(Marshall Newman)

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CATCH OF THE DAY, Monday, March 3, 2025

ROBERT BASS, 65, Ukiah. Suspended license for DUI.

CODY BATES, 38, Ukiah. Elder abuse resulting in great bodily injury or death.

DYLAN BOEK, 45, Ukiah. DUI.

SKYLER HOLDEN, 34, Ukiah. Under influence.

SHANEA KELLY, 51, Fort Bragg. Assault with deadly weapon with great bodily injury, harboring wanted felon.

MARK PALLEY, 52, Covelo. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.

SIXTO RAMOS-O’CONNELL, 34, Ukiah. Controlled substance, probation revocation.

AYLA WHITMAN, 20, Mendocino. Tear gas.

ANDREA WILLIAMS, 66, Ukiah. Failure to appear, probation revocation.

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ON-LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

The tragedy of war is that the young men and women die fighting each other - rather than their true enemies back home in their capitals. —Edward Abbey

You smug-faced crowds with kindling eye
Who cheer when soldier lads march by
Sneak home and pray you’ll never know
The hell where youth and laughter go

—Suicide in the Trenches

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GRAFFITI VANDALS NABBED IN HEALDSBURG

In the early hours of Saturday March 1, 2025, Healdsburg Police Officers located suspected gang-related graffiti across various locations in the city. Officers immediately began investigating the situation and took reports on several tags consistent with known gang symbols.

At approximately 2:30 AM, Healdsburg Officers were dispatched to the area of Terrace Blvd and Alley 6, where a witness saw two individuals actively vandalizing buildings with spray paint. Officers quickly located and identified two male suspects—one adult and one juvenile—who were found in the vicinity carrying spray paint cans. Other evidence was located connecting the two suspects to the vandalism.

Both individuals were arrested and booked on multiple charges related to their involvement in the graffiti vandalism and suspected gang activity:

23 year old Lucas Elijah Iverson of Willits was booked into the Sonoma County Jail on charges of: Conspiracy, Contributing to the Delinquency of a Minor, Vandalism, Participation in a Criminal Street Gang.

A 17 year old juvenile male of Windsor was arrested and booked into Juvenile Hall on charges of: Obstruction, Conspiracy, Vandalism, Participation in a Criminal Street Gang.

Healdsburg Officers were able to link the arrested suspects to multiple vandalisms at various locations which all occurred overnight.

Residents are encouraged to report any suspicious activity to the Healdsburg Police Department at (707) 431-3377.

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CAPITAL’S STRANGLEHOLD

Editor:

The furor about immigrants is a matador’s red cape concealing decades of job loss, inadequate wages and inadequate support for child care, health care and Social Security to buttress our working class.

Every one of these issues is tethered to our nation’s failure to shelter our politics from the power of America’s great fortunes and corporate sector. Congress is now a wholly owned subsidiary of capital because the Supreme Court has rewarded money with every advantage over citizens. The best legislators must calculate how stringently they can push for the public good before losing the money they require to stay in office. The worst simply open their suitcases.

News broadcasts, now owned by the corporate sector, will not allow ideas to reach a public they consider threatening to profits. Consequently, Americans never hear actual left-wing (Social Democrat) policy alternatives available to our European and Scandinavian allies.

Aging rich people and C-suites have calculated that they can stall action on global warming and die with their toys and power intact before the horrific bill arrives. Alas, the planet will not wait for us. Unless citizens get serious, they will never perceive that the best and the worst serving us do so under the thrall of money, and money always gets the last word.

Peter Coyote

Sebastopol

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HOW THE MONEY’S SPENT

To the Editor:

Re: delayed funding from the National Institutes of Health:

As an N.I.H.-funded researcher and a faculty member at Washington University in St. Louis, I wanted to add further context about how grant money is spent.

When I was a student, I assumed that most grant money was spent on equipment and supplies. But actually in my neuroscience lab, most of the budget, about 80 percent, goes to salaries of the people who work in the lab. That’s because salaries of skilled, highly trained scientists carrying out experiments and analysis are the main costs of research.

Universities invest in lab space and equipment so we can start our labs, but N.I.H. grant funding lets us hire scientists so we can carry out our research. If N.I.H. funding is left to wither on the vine because of these administrative shenanigans, many scientists will be left unemployed.

Martha Bagnall

St. Louis

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BIG OIL SHATTERS ANNUAL LOBBYING SPENDING RECORDS TO ATTACK CLIMATE JUSTICE POLICY IN CALIFORNIA

by Dan Bacher

Oil and gas corporations pumped record amounts of money into fighting California’s environmental justice and climate policies in 2024, according to an analysis by the Last Chance Alliance (LCA).

“Lobbying and influence spending disclosures show that Big Oil spent $6.6 million in the fourth quarter attempting to shape statewide policy measures,” the LCA revealed. “That brings the annual price tag for last year to $38 million, shattering the annual state lobbying record for the industry by 31%, which stood at $26.2 million in 2017.…

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/2/6/2301864/-Big-Oil-Smashes-Annual-Lobbying-Spending-Records-to-Combat-Climate-Justice-Policy-in-2024

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SOCIAL SECURITY PAYMENTS COULD SUFFER INTERRUPTION SOON AS DOGE CAUSES ‘SYSTEM COLLAPSE,’ FORMER COMMISSIONER WARNS—’START SAVING NOW’

by Jason Ma

Former Social Security Commissioner Martin O’Malley, who headed the agency during the Biden administration, urged people to start saving money now because benefits could be interrupted in the next one to three months. He told CNBC that changes DOGE is making to the agency have already caused IT system outages, which he predicted will become more frequent until there is a “system collapse.”

The federal government has never failed to deliver Social Security payments on time, but a former commissioner warned that could happen soon as Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency makes changes and cuts staff.

Martin O’Malley, who led the agency during the Biden administration, told CNBC on Saturday that cuts have already led to IT outages, which he predicted will become more frequent and last longer each time until there’s a total failure.

“Ultimately, you’re going to see the system collapse and an interruption of benefits. I believe you will see that within the next 30 to 90 days,” O’Malley said, adding that “people should start saving now” before payments stop.

The Social Security Administration (SSA) and the U.S. DOGE Service didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

The warning comes as the SSA announced plans to cut 7,000 jobs as part of the Trump administration’s broader push across the federal government to slash staffing levels and trim costs.

But even ahead of those cuts, SSA has already seen a number of departures at senior levels, including regional commissioners and top leadership.

Acting Commissioner Michelle King, who had worked at SSA for three decades, resigned last month after she reportedly refused to grant DOGE access to sensitive Social Security records.

Leland Dudek was named acting commissioner but was soon placed on administrative leave for cooperating with DOGE.

“I confess. I bullied agency executives, shared executive contact information, and circumvented the chain of command to connect DOGE with the people who get stuff done,” he wrote in a since-deleted LinkedIn post that was reviewed by the Wall Street Journal.

Trump has tapped Fiserv CEO Frank Bisignano to serve as SSA commissioner.

Union officials representing SSA workers also told CNBC that staff cuts may impact Americans filing new claims as those often require manual processing, especially as many older applicants are less likely to submit electronic claims.

Charles Blahous, a senior research strategist at George Mason University’s Mercatus Center and a former public trustee for Social Security, told Fortune it’s unclear whether the SSA staff cuts are more likely to result in an interruption of benefits or an increase in improper payments.

That’s because claims for Social Security disability payments involve more hands-on work compared to retirement benefits, which are more efficient, he explained.

“It’s not obvious to me where the choke point will be,” Blahous said in an email. “If the reduced staff err on the side of making sure all claims are processed, improper payments will likely rise. If instead the reduced staff prioritizes preventing improper payments, the risk of processing delays would increase.”

Musk had previous sparked concern about his plans for the safety net after he said tens of millions of dead Americans are receiving Social Security checks—a claim the Associated Press debunked.

And on Friday, he added to fears when he called Social Security a “Ponzi scheme” and described the federal government as “one big pyramid scheme.”

In October, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonpartisan watchdog, said Trump’s policies would hasten the demise of Social Security’s trust fund.

It predicted that the Social Security Board of Trustees would start cutting benefits by 2031 instead of 2034 because the fund that covers the deficit between outlays and revenue would run out of money sooner.

Meanwhile, O’Malley predicted there will be growing concern among Americans about Social Security benefits, which have long been seen as a “third rail” in U.S. politics.

“I think many people throughout the country are going to start bringing a lot of heat to members of Congress who have been facilitating, supporting, aiding, and abetting the breaking of their Social Security and the interruption of benefits that they work their whole lives to earn,” he told CNBC. “These are earned benefits.”

(Fortune.com)

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TRUMP’S AUTOCRATIC MOVES TOWARD CORPORATE FASCISM

by Ralph Nader

Trump has mused publicly about his fondness for Viktor Orbán, Hungary’s “elected” dictator, and how he accomplished commanding control over his people. Trump and his loyal Trumpeteer and Musketeer cohorts are taking an American-style approach, step by faster step, far ahead of the conventional resistance.

Step One is to announce that you are a Strongman ruling by largely unlawful Executive Orders and ignoring the laws that demand congressional action.

Step Two is to dominate the news cycle and expand your own “news” media, such as Trump’s for-profit company Truth Social. Trump is a juggernaut of declarations, attacks on perceived opponents or “woke” activity, and he lies about conditions in the country and the world, and more lies about his false successes. He has regular meetings at the White House with apprehensive reporters who know they are getting played, but relay his sound bites, often unrebutted to the people (such as his false outbursts about U.S. AID’s activities abroad).

Step Three is to always be on the offensive and never admit mistakes or to being wrong or ignorant about anything. This puts the resistance on the defensive, reacting instead of proactively keeping Trump off balance.

This tactic is working to keep the hapless Democrats still in disarray, like “deer-in-the-headlights.” This freeze led to the Democrats’ ignominious defeat on November 5 by the most politically vulnerable GOP presidential candidate ever.

The Democrats blew an opportunity to use the two month interregnum between the election and Trump’s inauguration to hold public hearings in the Senate laying down challenges on very popular agendas opposed by the GOP (to raise the minimum wage, expand the child tax credit, increase social security benefits frozen for over forty years, tax the under-taxed, sometimes zero-taxed, super rich and giant corporations, and crack down on corporate crooks exploiting consumers and workers, especially on health insurance and credit transactions.) Instead, the Democrats disgracefully took their vacations and departed with a whimper on January 20th.

Step Four is to push ferociously plutocratic redirection, disruptions and suspensions of federal agencies so as to benefit enriching the super-rich like Musk and Trump. This means firing the law enforcers against corporate crime, such as major contracting fraud, and stealing from Medicare, Medicaid, and the bloated defense budget.

Step Five is to redirect massive monies (such as from Medicaid) from America’s social safety net to pay for even more military dollars and tax cuts for the rich and big corporations than Trump gave them in 2017. These cuts were never seriously challenged by the Biden Administration or Congressional Democrats like House Ways and Means Chair Rep. Richard Neal (D – MA). This brazen move is so cruel that some GOP Congressional toadies are beginning to quiver since many Medicaid recipients were Trump voters and people are turning out at crowded town meetings to loudly berate the surprised Republicans.

Step Six is to deeply consolidate Der Fuhrer’s power inside government and outside countervailing forces. Trump fired top military generals without cause, pushed out the chief lawyers for the three military services and replaced them with heel-clicking loyalists ready to obey any illegal order in violation of the Nuremberg rules. Remember that the unstable Trump has his finger on the nuclear trigger.

Throwing out competent civil servants in agencies dedicated to helping Americans in need (Meals on Wheels, Head Start) and replacing them with clenched-teeth Trumpers now wrecking or illegally closing down federal agencies (the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau) devoted to auto safety, airline safety, workplace safety, environmental, climate, health protection, pandemic preparedness, and consumer protection from relentless profiteering, and protection of fair labor standards and practices.

Step Seven is using the withholding of federal grants and spewing of propaganda to reduce important research and free speech on university and college campuses, intimidating and suing the corporate owners of the mainstream media to get in line or else face exclusion from the White House press corps and face FCC investigations of the radio and TV business, including NPR and PBS.

Who’s left, you might say, to stop Trump, who is on the road to a deep corporate fascist state?

The answer is: The People, taking their sovereign power under the Constitution to protest with specific demands, and to fully use the courts, give backbone to the media and launch a giant “You’re Fired” march on Washington in the Spring for a groundswell behind Impeachment. Trump is harming all Americans – Red State, Blue State, conservatives and liberals which can bring together a left/right movement changing Congress in the 2026 elections.

He is rescinding huge grants on renewable energy projects mostly going to Red States. He is canceling or suspending millions of government contracts to small business contractors or subcontractors. He is unemploying thousands of their workers every day, fueling inflation with steep tariffs, shaking the stock markets, fomenting chaos, anxiety and dread through American households and the business community itself.

Will Trump get away with what he is wrecking and self-enriching? Trump and his crew of demolitionists, led by the Musk and his poisonous Tusks recognize no boundaries, no legal or moral limits. My sense is NO. This guess is based on the immediate energy, courage and smart defiance by the growing resistance from all backgrounds around the country. Time is of the essence before the next step toward a dangerous police state arrives.

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Clarion Call For Large Organized Rallies Back Home Where The People Are Against The Criminal, Unconstitutional Dictatorship Of The Trump/Musk Ongoing Wrecking Of America And Americans.

Critical Protective Lifelines Are Being Eliminated In All States – Red And Blue – endangering the health, safety, and economic, well-being of Americans – workers, small business, the elderly, the infirm, the children, the air, water, and undermines protection against rising epidemics and violent climate damage to communities. Trump/Musk are slashing emergency services provided by our federal workers from the FAA to FEMA to EPA the monitoring of dangerous hotspots of toxic chemicals.

Trump/Musk are already unlawfully violating contracts and cutting off millions dollars in federal payments for small business contractors. This, of course, harms the workers in these firms. Efforts for cleaner air and water, and key farm programs are being dismantled.

To enrich themselves and other billionaires, Trump/Musk are cutting thousands of skilled IRS investigators focused on big-time tax evasion by the Super-Rich. There is a criminally insane takeover of our government that every day is dictating, without Congressional authority, deadly actions that amount to a dictatorship. Trump/Musk are the “an enemy of the people.” This is not what Trump supporters voted for. They did not vote for a Kleptocracy that goes after people’s programs and that does nothing to stop the hundreds of billions of dollars of corporate welfare, corporate crime against US taxpayers (such as fraud inflicted on Medicare and Medicaid), and bloated big business contracts with Uncle Sam that are now not being investigated.

Saving our country from the cruel and vicious dictatorship seizing our government can only come from the people – Americans of all political backgrounds who show up and speak up at rallies, preferably outside local Congressional offices (with their Senators and Representatives invited) – rural, suburban, urban communities nationwide.. The Trump/Musk overthrow of the existing corporate state, can soon become a Police State. Actions by citizens must expand rapidly before the egomaniacal, openly lying, vengeful Trump throws our beloved country into anarchical convulsions leading to massive disasters.

The Founding Fathers freed America from the tyrant King George III and gave us the Constitution to block any future Kings. Trump, who wants to be a King said, “I have an Article II, where I have the right to do whatever I want as president.”

Respect the trust bequeathed to us from our first Patriots in 1776 and 1783. Mobilize and galvanize NOW.

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I spent three days a week for 10 years educating myself in the public library, and it’s better than college. People should educate themselves. You can get a complete education for no money. At the end of 10 years, I had read every book in the library and I’d written a thousand stories.

— Ray Bradbury

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SOME THOUGHTS ON UKRAINE

by Caitlin Johnstone

As the Trump administration pauses military aid to Ukraine and western liberals continue their shrieking meltdown over Trump hurting Saint Zelensky’s feelings, it’s probably worth reminding everyone that the Russian invasion of Ukraine was indisputably provoked by western aggressions. That’s why so many western experts and analysts spent years warning ahead of time that western aggressions were going to provoke an invasion of Ukraine.

Now, some may hear this and say “Okay but Russia still shouldn’t have invaded even though our western leaders were aggressively provoking them to.” But before you do that it might be a good idea to look inside yourself and ask where that impulse is arising from. Why are you so eager to skip past the part where you criticize your own rulers for their role in starting this war and focus solely on criticizing the leader of an eastern government who has no power over you? What is it inside of you that’s flailing all over the place trying to avoid any forceful scrutiny of the reckless warmongering of your own government and its allies?

The last time a foreign rival placed a credible military threat near the border of the United States, the US responded so aggressively that the world almost ended (if you want to know just how close we came to nuclear annihilation during the Cuban Missile Crisis, look up the name Vasili Arkhipov). Western liberals have been conditioned to insist that Russia should have responded differently to the US empire amassing proxy forces on its border than the US would respond to the same kind of threat on its own borders. The frenetic mental contortions needed to justify this ridiculous double standard are only possible because the west is saturated in domestic propaganda manipulating the way they think about the world.

It makes sense for there to be criticism of Russia for its role in this war, and for people to be horrified by the nightmare that’s been happening in Ukraine these last few years. What makes absolutely no sense whatsoever is for western liberals (or “progressives” or whatever they want to call themselves) to assign ZERO PERCENT RESPONSIBILITY to their own government and its allies for their extensively documented role in sparking this conflict and ONE HUNDRED PERCENT RESPONSIBILITY to a foreign government with no power over them. That’s pathetic, bootlicking behavior, and it’s utterly inexcusable.

Stop performing mental gymnastics to defend the abuses of your rulers. Have a little dignity for god’s sake.…

https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2025/03/04/some-thoughts-on-ukraine/

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FAREWELL TO VOLODYMYR ZELENSKY, THE GEICO LIZARD OF THE NEW WORLD ORDER

Thanking God that the era of mandatory applause for neoliberal mascots is finally over. Can Greta Thunberg come to the White House next?

by Matt Taibbi

From the BBC’s “Starmer gives Zelensky ‘full backing’ in warm No 10 welcome” today:

Sir Keir Starmer has told Volodymyr Zelensky he has “full backing across the United Kingdom” as the two met in Downing Street.

The Ukrainian president told the prime minister he was happy his country had “such friends” after arriving in the UK in the wake of a White House meeting with US President Donald Trump that descended into a row between the two leaders…

I read that headline as “Starmer gives Zelensky ‘full backrub’,” which might have been more accurate. The Zelensky World Tour for the last week now includes punking the White House, lecturing America for its insufficient billions, getting yelled at for having “no cards” by a furious Donald Trump (who took offense “on Putin’s behalf,” not the taxpayer’s, according to the New York Times), then instantly backtracking on X and opening the door to a NATO-less solution. Afterward, he fled across the pond to England, where he offered to resign in exchange for NATO admission before dismounting into the arms of Starmer, who eased urgency toward a settlement by pledging to stand with Ukraine “for as long as it may take.”

Zelensky’s transformation from affable populist to Anne Applebaum’s idea of a sex symbol was off-putting even before he started appearing before swooning legislators around the world wearing his trademark wan face and “I Saved The World From Putin and All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt” costume. We just spent three years turning a fixable local issue into a test case for a new ethos of imperial intransigence, one that apparently requires constant weeding of unbelievers and full control of media to preserve “democracy.” Zelensky may not have started as a hawk for this global Misinformation is Murder movement, but once he realized selling the idea was a requirement for NATO’s billions, he threw himself into the role with gusto. Now, he’s refusing to give up the part.

Many readers were offended last week by my irreligious attitude toward Ukraine’s president. Those of us who won’t salute this NATO-crafted character actor are apparently “careening into full-on MAGA paranoia,” no better than “comrades” and “fellow travelers” in Vladimir Putin’s figurative if not literal employ. The former comedian is now reprising Ben Kingsley’s Marvin role as the Mandarin, playing tough-guy mascot for transnational bureaucrats whose idea of a good joke is getting Americans to pay to correct their own wrong opinions. Maybe he’s doing what he has to do for his country, but seriously, fuck him. And fuck Starmer, for that matter.

If you’re not offended by the whole affair, you should be. Recapping…

https://www.racket.news/p/farewell-to-volodymyr-zelensky-the

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UKRAINE AID

The United States is temporarily suspending all military aid to Ukraine, according to a senior administration official, who said the aid would not resume until President Trump determined that Ukraine had demonstrated a commitment to peace negotiations with Russia. The order takes effect immediately and affects more than $1 billion in arms and ammunition in the pipeline and on order. Mr. Trump’s directive also halts hundreds of millions of dollars in aid that Kyiv can use only to buy new military hardware directly from U.S. defense companies. The decision comes amid the fallout of a heated Oval Office meeting on Friday between Mr. Trump and President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine.

— NYT late Monday

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Trump’s halting of weapons aid to Ukraine stands in contrast to his administration’s approach to Israel in its war against Hamas in Gaza. On Saturday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he was using an “emergency authorization” to bypass Congressional approval to send $4 billion of arms to Israel, including orders of nearly 40,000 2,000-pound bombs — powerful weapons that U.S. military officers say are unsuitable for urban combat.

— NYT late Monday

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LEAD STORIES, TUESDAY'S NYT

Beijing Retaliates After Trump Sets Steep Tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China

Trump Suspends Military Aid to Ukraine After Oval Office Blowup

In Speech to Congress, Trump Is Expected to Boast About DOGE Cuts and Ukraine

How a Plan for Reparations Became a Debt Trap for Marijuana Retailers

U.S. Superstar Ilona Maher and Her Impact in England

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NEANDERTHALS were not the primitive, unintelligent brutes they were once thought to be. Recent research has revealed that they were highly adaptable, intelligent hominins who lived across Europe and parts of Asia for over 300,000 years. They created sophisticated stone tools, controlled fire, made clothing from animal hides, and even produced cave art—evidence of symbolic thinking.

Genetic studies show that Neanderthals interbred with early modern humans, meaning many people today still carry Neanderthal DNA. These genetic traces influence everything from immune system function to hair and skin traits.

Far from being an evolutionary dead end, Neanderthals were a successful human species who thrived in harsh Ice Age environments. Their extinction remains a subject of debate, with factors such as climate change and competition with Homo sapiens playing possible roles. Each new discovery reshapes our understanding of these fascinating relatives.

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SLO-MO ETHNIC CLEANSING IN HEBRON

by Ken Jones

“Tell our story!” the man in the checkpoint cage yelled, in English. He and a crowd of Palestinian Muslim men were jammed together waiting to be checked out, one at a time, by an Israeli soldier in a glass booth so they could go into Hebron’s Ibrahimi Mosque to pray. Such daily and routine humiliation is the hallmark of the Israeli occupation.

I was in Hebron (Al-Khalil) for two weeks recently as part of a Community Peacemaker Team (CPT) delegation. Every day, we accompanied or heard testimony from people living there who were living under the guns of the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) and the aggressive hostility of the 800 settlers who claim that the city of 200,000 was given to them by their god. Every night, I kept a blog trying to capture one of the many stories we heard of the oppression.

Hebron is in the southern part of the West Bank. It hasn’t gotten the genocidal Gaza treatment that Jenin, Tulkarem, and Nur Shams are now getting. But, as someone said to me, “We are waiting our turn.” It may be that the tanks and bombs will come to Hebron too, but at the moment, what is happening there is the decades-long grind of military occupation and settler colonialism.

The stories we heard are gruesome. And everyone has one. Most men have been taken to prison and tortured. It’s common to have your home broken into in the middle of the night by soldiers who yell, beat everyone, and kidnap fathers, sons and daughters, taking them away to unknown locations, with no charges, and for an undetermined time. Entire homes are demolished regularly. Land is stolen. Movement is restricted. Surveillance is constant and pervasive. These stories don’t make the news. They have become too normalized.

Here are a couple of stories that may give a glimpse of what daily life is like in Hebron.

One day, a 20 year old woman told us about her year in prison. She recounted the horribly dirty and crowded conditions, the scarcity and bad quality of the food, the strip searches, the beatings, the constant verbal abuse.

She said the hardest thing that she witnessed was when women from Gaza were brought in. They wore bloody clothes and their hijabs had been stripped away from them. They were given no beds, nothing to clean themselves with. They were given dirty clothes that had been deliberately contaminated with lice. When they went to the bathroom, they were taken by male soldiers.

Then she told us the story of Oct 7, 2024, the one year “memorial” of the Gazan attack on Israelis. An officer entered women’s rooms and gave them 30 seconds to cover themselves before soldiers came in. When the soldiers came, they put zip ties on the women’s hands, blindfolded them, and took them out. They made them lie face down on muddy ground, beat them, cursed hatefully at them, and brought police dogs out to terrorize them. While this was going on, soldiers went into their cells, took all of their clothes, and set off tear gas grenades in their cells. Then they put the women back in their cells.

On another day, an older man who was living in a family home handed down through generations told us of the daily harassment he has been subjected to by settlers living next to his house. Protected by the IOF, they are taking pieces of his land every day. They have poisoned his sheep, stolen his olives, and destroyed over 250 olive trees.

His home is frequently used for family gatherings. During one of these recent gatherings, a large group of settlers burst into the house and started assaulting people. Some of them were dressed as soldiers. There were many injuries, windows were broken, and cars damaged. Then they stopped an ambulance from getting to the house.

Settlers have attacked his family in the fields and farm with stones, have brandished guns, and beaten them with sticks. They have driven jeeps right into the house, dumped bulldozers full of trash at their front door. Soldiers have tear gassed the inside of their home and flown drones overhead frequently.

The story we heard at the village of Um Al-Khair in the South Hebron Hills is emblematic of what is happening all over the West Bank. The village consists largely of descendants of refugees from the 1948 Nakba.

Immediately next to the village is a settlement of some 500 Israeli families and nearby, a military base. The teens from the settlement act as front-line vigilantes. They roam around with sticks and pepper spray making life miserable and tense for the people of the village. They have broken into homes and beaten women, damaged the village water pump, and even herded sheep right into village homes.

Whenever the villagers complain to the police about such attacks, the police say they have been told by the settlers that the teens are being attacked by the Palestinians. The police threaten to arrest the villagers if they keep making these calls.

We were walked to a recently demolished house where a couple of young Palestinian men were sitting, looking sadly at the ruins. Three rooms and a water tank were all jumbled up in piles. One of the men told us his 60-year old mother, who owned the house, had been thrown to the ground when she yelled about her house being destroyed. There was nothing the son or mother could do about it. Their family is now crowded in with a next door neighbor. In June, Israel had demolished 10 homes in one morning in the village.

We were told that Israeli law forbids people from rebuilding a demolished home in the same site. There is, in fact, a settler organization in Israel named Regavin that flies drones over newly demolished homes to report to the military any Palestinian attempt to rebuild. Still, the son and villagers are planning to rebuild the home.

Our village guide talked about the trauma of it all, especially for the kids. He said, “It is very hard for us to live in this condition. These people are not neighbors, they don’t care about us at all. They treat their dogs better than they treat us.” He worried about the mental health of his five young daughters and all of his friends living there.

We walked down to the paved road that was put in for the settlement. It was put over a dirt road that had been there since Jordan controlled this territory many years ago. Israel now defined the paved road as the border of the village, beyond which they and their goats and sheep were not allowed to “trespass.” Simple as that, their pasture land was stolen. Soldiers also put a gate at the beginning of the road so that they can close off entry and exit into the village whenever they choose.

We walked past some sapling trees, supplied by the Jewish National Fund, that settlers had just planted right next to villagers’ houses. The obvious purpose of planting the trees was to establish a claim to the land.

We saw the electric lines leading to the settlement. The villagers can’t use that electricity. They have power only from a small number of solar panels. We also saw the now repaired water pump from which they are allowed to draw from only 2 days a week, for a total of 6 hours. We saw the surveillance camera up on a pole overlooking the village. “They are watching us all the time,” our guide said.

We were told about the sounds of gunfire from the military firing range that was put illegally on their land. I imagined how threatening that must be, especially for the children.

All of this pressure in Um Al-Khair is one big systematic slow motion ethnic cleansing campaign, designed to push the villagers off their land. The intention is not just to demolish homes, land rights, and mental health. It’s meant to demolish hope.

But from what I could see, Palestinians will never give up hope. Every story of injustice we heard was told with a spirit of determined resilience and resistance – sumud, as it is called there. No Palestinian we met was planning to leave or submit. Everyone appeared to be carrying on with life, with joy and humor, and with healthy relationships, despite the danger and indignities they were suffering. They refuse to live in fear. As one person said, “That’s what they want, for us to be afraid. They want us to leave. We will not fear and we will stay until this occupation is over.”

As has often happened to me when I visit places that are on the receiving side of U.S.-sponsored violence and oppression, I was struck during this visit by the strong and enviable character of the Palestinians we met. They are not defeated, their spirits are not broken. They are warm, generous, dignified. I always felt safe and cared for around them, even though I, as an American, had no right to expect such treatment. The only times I felt fear and coldness were when I was around Israeli soldiers or settlers. That’s telling.

The stories and voices of Palestinians have always been purposefully suppressed by the powers that be in the U.S. and the West. As has the truth about how Palestinians have been treated for over a hundred years. The genocide in Gaza has burst that bubble of shadows and lies and revealed the ugly truth of the Zionist project all over Palestine. It is a cancer.

Hebron is still a vibrant place, bustling with life. May its countless stories be heard, may its occupation end, may its people be free. And the same for all of Palestine.

(CounterPunch.org)

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