Mendocino County Today: Wednesday 3/19/2025

FROST ADVISORY remains in effect until 9am this morning.…Frontal system will generate strong and gusty southerly winds this afternoon. Rain and high mountain snow is also forecast for this afternoon and evening. Periods of rain expected Thursday through Saturday, mostly for Del Norte and Humboldt Counties. (NWS)

STEPHEN DUNLAP (Fort Bragg): Increasing clouds & 37F this Wednesday morning on the coast. A quick shot of rain returns this afternoon then maybe a bit more on Friday. Warmer temps & some spring like showers are in the long range forecast for next week, we'll see.

South fork of the Gualala River before the storm (Randy Burke)

GEORGE CHILTON GAINES

June 16th, 1929 - February 3rd, 2025

George Chilton Gaines died after a brief illness on Monday, February 3rd, 2025, at his home in Philo, California, surrounded by his family. He was the best of men, and he lived the best of lives.

George was born in Fayetteville, West Virginia on Sunday, June 16th, 1929 to Betty Chilton Gaines and Ludwell Ebersole Gaines. He was the third of five children who were great friends throughout their entire lives.

He married Mary Moore Thompson on August 16th, 1951, and they had six children and 73 years of fun together. They lived in Charlottesville, Cincinnati, Brussels, Finchampstead (England), Monaco, San Francisco, and Philo, California. He planted trees in all those places.

Like his father before him, George attended Lawrenceville School (1947) and Princeton University (1951). He graduated from the University of Virginia Law School in 1954 and was the fourth consecutive generation in his family to practice law.

In the early ‘60s George entered the business world and, in 1963, moved his family to Brussels where he worked for C&I Girdler before becoming Vice President and European Manager for General Mills Corporation. In 1970 they moved to England where he was a partner at Russell Reynolds Associates and established their European practice. He founded his own management consulting firm, Executive Partners International Corporation (“EPIC”).

In 1984, Mary Moore enrolled at seminary in San Francisco, so off they went to discover yet another new place. George went to work at Korn Ferry but big city life was not his cup of tea. Shortly after living through the 7.1 magnitude earthquake from within the Transamerica Building, he bought a guest ranch in the Anderson Valley and never looked back.

While Mary Moore served as Rector of St. James Church on California Street, George hosted many family reunions, and regaled countless guests and friends at Highland Ranch: riding, making hooch, singing, playing the banjo, and serving first-rate food and drink. George was also a Cincinnati Reds fan who suffered all his life from their lack of pitching.

He is survived by his wife of 73 years, Mary Moore; his brother Stanley (Gay); his children Caroline, George Jr (Andrea), Meg (Margaret), Mary Moore (Paul), Jim (Terryl), and Christian (Jill); his grandchildren Sarah, David, Martha, George III, Joanna, Taylor, Reed, Grace, Emily, Ian, Lila, Lola, Luke and Emery; his great-grandchildren Sarah, Teddy and Linnea; and many adored nieces and nephews. We were so lucky to have him, and for so many years.

A Celebration of Life will take place at the Philo Church on Saturday, June 14th at 11:00 a.m.

HUGO ROOT:

Kandeda Trefil — Dr Trefil’s wife and Galina’s mother — turned me in to the FBI for being the Unbomber. The FBI visited and questioned me about 2 months before they caught Kaczynski. Needless to say, I dont go around blowing people up — or harming people at all (or animals). The FBI agents were very polite and professional. I told Sheriff Craver about this incident and he was horrified someone would think I was the Unabomber. It’s my opinion that the Trefil family has their own worldview and approach to reality. This may diverge greatly from that of others.

LOCAL POLITICAL GROUPS SEEK TO UNDO COUNTY FINANCE DEPARTMENT MERGER

by Sydney Fishman

The Mendocino County Farm Bureau, the Mendocino Women’s Political Coalition and the Mendocino County Democratic Central Committee have launched a petition asking the county to rescind its decision to consolidate the auditor-controller and treasurer-tax collector positions into one department.

The petition, posted on Change.org, calls for the positions to be restored to two separate departments. It was published earlier this week, had 42 signatures Sunday morning and was gaining momentum on Facebook, where community members are sharing it.…

https://mendovoice.com/2025/03/local-political-groups-launch-petition-to-reverse-consolidation-of-county-finance-departments/

FORT BRAGG ATTORNEY TIM PERRY, commenting on the latest disclosures in the Cubbison affair civil case and the County attorney’s response: “Jacobs [attorney for the County] called the new Cubbison’s filings ‘improper.’ She contended they … ‘are drafted in a way to negatively portray the County in the eyes of this court, clearly with the intent to prejudice and bias your honor against the County’.”

There is an old lawyer’s truth I learned when I first began practicing many years ago: “If the facts are on your side, argue the facts. If you haven’t got the facts, argue the law. And if you don’t have the facts and you don’t have the law, attack the opposing lawyers.” Looks like the County’s lawyers are down to that last option.

MEASURE B COMMITTEE HEAVYWEIGHTS CRUNCH THEIR NUMBERS

by Mark Scaramella

What follows is a verbatim transcript from the Feb. 26, 2025. Measure B Committee Meeting (with a few editorial remarks). The exchange about financing the County’s new Psychiatric Health Facility now under construction on Whitmore Lane just south of the Ukiah City Limits which is expected to open before the end of 2025. The exchange was between Measure B committee chair Sherrie Ebyam and County Behaviorial Health Director Dr. Jenine Miller. Unfortunately, this meaningless jumble of words is typical of the Measure B committee discussions and what passes for intelligent discussion of serious matters.

Sherrie Ebyam was appointed to the Measure B committee by Third District Supervisor John Haschak. According to her appointment application Sherrie Ebyam is a “Former math teacher for 18 years and school district Director of Business Services for 10 years.” In support of her appointment Willits City Councilman Larry Stranske said that Ms. Ebyam is “someone who has financial knowledge.”

Dr. Jenine Miller, Mendocino County’s Behavioral Health Director, has a PhD in Psychology.

Ebyam: “Telecare [a Bay Area Behavioral Health Services outfit who submitted a bid that was accepted by Dr. Miller a couple of years ago to provide staffing for the County’s new Pysychiatric Health Facilty now under construction on Whitmore Lane south of Ukiah] is not going to— there is no RFP from Telecare anymore?”

[RFP is “Request for Proposal” not the proposal itself. Telecare submitted their, apparently now withdrawn or declined, proposal in response to a Mendocino County RFP. That proposal has been used as the basis for parking and staffing estimates for the design and layout of the new PHF.]

Miller: “Correct.”

[ms note: This is the first we’ve heard that the Telecare bid (not an “RFP,” but a response to an RFP) has disappeared. The obvious next question should have been: Well, who’s going to staff the PHF now? Has another RFP been released? Is there another bidder interested in the work, especially since psych techs are hard to come by because most of the license/qualified locals are already employed by the Schraeders and more will be needed when the new jail wing opens next year on top of the several dozen that will be expected to staff the PHF. Instead, Ms. Ebyam stumbled into some numbers she pulled from somewhere in the ether.]

Ebyam: “The one [bid] that they [Telecare] did submit was— the estimated cost was about $6.8 million. For the whole— everything. $6.8 million. Telecare. $6.8 million. Which the county cost was $3.9 million, $6. — OK? $3.9 million is the total county cost. So you just mentioned the $1.8 which— is that number—? And I know these numbers are going to fluctuate. But let’s say those numbers are cut in stone. For purposes of discussion. If the county cost was $1.8 million, that’s $2.1 million short from the $3.9 million from the county cost in Telecare’s RFP.”

Miller: “We have to add the $1.8 plus the realignment. Wait. Plus the $1.3, right? Because we are already paying the $1.3. We pay every year $1.3.”

Ebyam: “But the $1.8 would be Measure B. And the $1.3—”

Miller: “Correct. Correct.”

Ebyam: “Right?”

Miller: “Correct.”

Ebyam: “What about the additional on top of that? Because $1.8— $1.8 and $1.3 is $3.1. We’re looking at $3.9, there’s $.8 million. Where would that come from?”

Miller: “Right. That is not the conversation we’ve had. Right? It could be anywhere from $1.8 to $2 million plus dollars to operate a PHF. We knew that going in and that has always been the reason for the reserve. The hope is that you get a provider that can make up those dollars in the end if they are billing other counties, they are billing Medicare appropriately. It isn’t becoming a big deficit on the county.”

Ebyam: “OK, so is it reasonable to think that trying to create a long-term expenditure plan to use the Measure B cost at $1.8 million for PHF?”

Miller: “I think it’s realistic. Can we say— It’s an estimate. Everything in budgeting is an estimate. Right?”

Ebyam: “Right.”

Miller: “So I think we can estimate. We know that there’s going to be a cost of $1.8 and we don’t have to worry about it.”

Ebyam: “Ok.”

Miller: “And a good business practice makes it so we don’t have to worry about it. But I think we still have to estimate a deficit, an operating deficit, so that we never get to a point where we don’t have the funding.”

Ebyam: “No. I hear that. But at the same time, using that number, $1.8, because I look at the draft budget for next year, all the revenues total just under $3 million, which leaves $1.2 million for everything else. That’s not a lot. Unless you were using the reserve. Which is a whole other discussion. So I’ll leave that alone.”

No charts were presented. Nobody else in the room expressed any confusion about the numbers or the mythical “long-term expenditure plan.” Again, these are the top two people on the Measure B committee, speaking on the record at a public meeting.

LAKE COUNTY CALLS FOR ACCOUNTABILITY IN PG&E DAM REMOVAL

by Monica Huettl

The fight to save Lake Pillsbury took center stage at the February 25, 2026, Lake County Board of Supervisors meeting, as officials urged PG&E and state and federal agencies to reconsider the planned decommissioning of Scott Dam. Frustrated by years of exclusion from key water policy discussions, Supervisors Eddie Crandall and Bruno Sabatier warned that losing the reservoir could have dire consequences—threatening water security for 600,000 people, crippling local agriculture, and increasing wildfire risks. With PG&E’s final surrender application pending, Lake County leaders are demanding answers, accountability, and a seat at the table before it’s too late.…

https://mendofever.com/2025/03/19/lake-county-calls-for-accountability-in-pge-dam-removal/

STAKEHOLDER MEETINGS FOR INLAND (DIVISION I) SHORT-TERM RENTAL ORDINANCE

Mendocino County Department of Planning & Building Services will host 5 stakeholder meetings to discuss current and future policies on short-term rentals (STR) and their impacts to local communities, real estate, and tourism.

County Planners will provide a brief presentation with information on current short-term rental policies, adjacent jurisdictions’ policies, and common concerns, followed by a round-table conversation to elicit ideas for a future ordinance. Meetings are in-person events with a virtual option provided during the April 30, 2025 meeting only.

Meeting Dates / Times / Locations

Fort Bragg: Wednesday, April 9, 2025, 6:00 pm
Fort Bragg Veterans Hall, 360 N. Harrison St., Fort Bragg

Anderson Valley: Monday, April 14, 2025, 6:00 pm
Boonville Veterans Hall, 14470 Highway 128, Boonville

Willits: Wednesday, April 16, 2025, 6:00 pm
Mendocino County Museum, 400 E. Commercial St., Willits

Covelo: Wednesday, April 23, 2025, 3:00 pm
Round Valley Library, 23925 Howard St., Covelo

Ukiah: Wednesday April 30, 2025, 6:00 pm
Conference Room C Mendocino County Administration Center, 501 Low Gap Road, Ukiah

and virtual participation via Zoom:
https://mendocinocounty.zoom.us/j/86173760912
Phone one-tap: +16694449171,,86173760912# US

For more information visit https://www.mendocinocounty.gov/government/planning-building-services

The "Gulf of Sea Ranch" MAGA beware! (Randy Burke)

A SOCIAL WORK JOURNEY OF RESILIENCE AND DEDICATION

Social work is a profession that calls to people for a variety of reasons, but the common thread is people wanting to help others. March is Social Work Appreciation Month and a time to recognize those that have chosen this helping career.

One such individual is Daisy Alam, a Family & Children’s Services Social Worker with the Mendocino County Department of Social Services, who has been serving the Mendocino Coast since 2015.

Daisy’s path to social work was not a conventional one. At age 31, while managing a Starbucks in San Francisco, she confronted her past trauma that led her to a trauma group hosted by her church. “It was the first time I became aware of the maladaptive trauma patterns that I was unconsciously living out,” she shares. That twelve-week program ignited a passion within her. “I realized I wanted to help others the way I was helped and work in the child welfare system.”

Her journey of self-discovery took her across the country and beyond. She traveled to Michigan to receive training in facilitating groups for adults who experienced childhood sexual abuse, completed a California Certified Sexual Assault Counselor training, and worked as a sexual abuse counselor in San Mateo. She then moved to Hawai’i to continue her journey of self-discovery by reconnecting with her roots. There, while working as a bank manager, she made the life-changing decision to enroll in the University of Hawaii Manoa’s psychology program—becoming the first in her family to earn a college degree. Encouraged by a church elder, she pursued a master’s in counseling at Wayland Baptist University.

Daisy’s social work career began as a psychiatric social worker with a nonprofit serving severely mentally ill adults on Oahu, but her true calling was child welfare. She and her husband made the bold decision to relocate, and when Mendocino County was the first to respond to her job applications, she knew it was meant to be.

Since then, Daisy has worked tirelessly to support children and families on the Mendocino Coast. She is an investigating social worker in the Emergency Response unit, a forensic interviewer for the county and law enforcement, an advocate for trauma-informed care, and a mentor to fellow social workers working toward licensure. Her efforts have been instrumental in connecting the department with local providers for clinical and non-clinical supervision, strengthening the social work community.

“I am interested in how trauma affects not only the mind, body, and heart, but the spirit as well,” Daisy shares. This holistic approach underscores her dedication to healing and resilience, not just for the individuals she serves but for the social work profession as a whole.

“Mendocino County Department of Social Services is committed to supporting our social workers in their pursuit of higher education and licensure,” says DeNeese Parker, Department Director. “This increases our ability to respond to child welfare cases with a high level of professionalism, additional resources, meet State requirements, and ultimately reduces the number of children in the foster care system—building stronger, more resilient families.”

Beyond her professional commitments, Daisy and her husband are active members of the Fort Bragg community. Whether enjoying a good book at local cafés or embracing the beauty of the Mendocino Coast, she prioritizes mindfulness and self-care—an essential practice in such a demanding field.

Daisy’s journey is one of resilience, heart, and faith. Her unwavering dedication to social work and the families she serves is truly inspiring.

This Social Work Appreciation Month, we celebrate Daisy Alam and all social workers who make a profound difference in their communities.

The Mendocino County Department of Social Services is currently recruiting Social Worker positions in Family & Children’s Services and Adult & Aging Services. To explore these opportunities, please visit Mendocino County Careers or call (707) 468-7080 to speak with a Social Services staff member for assistance with the application process.

DISCOVERY NUMBER 4,789

The Most Secluded Towns in Northern California's Rustic Anderson Valley

by Jon Dykstra

Nestled in the rolling hills of Mendocino County, California’s Anderson Valley is a tranquil haven brimming with secluded charm and natural beauty. Far from the hustle and bustle of city life, this picturesque region is dotted with small towns that offer a peaceful retreat among towering redwoods and lush vineyards. Whether you’re seeking a quiet getaway or considering a move to a close-knit community, Anderson Valley’s hidden gems provide the perfect setting to unwind and reconnect with nature. From the vibrant hub of Boonville to serene enclaves nestled high above the valley, each town has its unique allure and secrets waiting to be discovered. Join us as we count down ten of the most secluded towns in Anderson Valley, each offering a slice of rustic California life that feels worlds away from the ordinary.

Holmes Ranch: Secluded Country Living

Holmes Ranch is a peaceful community of around 200 residents, offering a true taste of secluded country living. Nestled high above the valley floor, this area is known for its private residences surrounded by oak woodlands and panoramic vistas of Anderson Valley. The main attractions include hiking through serene forests, horseback riding along scenic trails, and simply enjoying the tranquility of nature. The community is primarily residential, with many residents engaged in agriculture, small-scale farming, or telecommuting. What makes Holmes Ranch secluded is its sprawling properties set along winding roads, providing ample space and privacy for those looking to escape urban life. The lack of commercial development preserves its quiet atmosphere, making it an ideal retreat for solitude seekers.

Holmes Ranch is located just off Highway 128, near the town of Philo in Anderson Valley. Its hillside position offers sweeping views of the valley below, yet its location off the main road keeps it tucked away from the more frequented areas. The seclusion comes from the private roads and larger property parcels, which limit through traffic and maintain the area’s peaceful ambiance. Visitors can reach Holmes Ranch by turning onto Holmes Ranch Road from Highway 128, navigating the scenic, winding roads that climb into the hills above Philo.

The Deep End: Navarro’s Remote Regions

“The Deep End” is a local term affectionately used to describe the far western reaches of Navarro, where the population is sparse and natural beauty is abundant. With an approximate population of fewer than 100 residents, this area offers solitude amid ancient redwood groves and along the meandering Navarro River. Activities here revolve around nature—hiking through the redwoods, fishing in the river, and exploring hidden trails that few tourists ever find. There are no major industries, but a few artisan craftspeople and small-scale farmers call this remote region home. The Deep End’s seclusion is due to its distance from major towns and the dense forests that envelop the area, creating a sense of being worlds away from civilization. The lack of cell service and limited amenities reinforce its off-the-grid appeal for those seeking a true escape.

Located toward the western end of Anderson Valley, The Deep End stretches closer to the Pacific coast, enveloped by the Navarro River Redwoods State Park. Its remoteness is accentuated by the winding sections of Highway 128 that cut through dense redwood forests, with few signs of human habitation. To get there, you would travel west on Highway 128 from the town of Navarro, venturing deeper into the towering redwoods until the forest seems to swallow the road. The journey itself, through the dappled light beneath the redwood canopy, is part of what makes visiting The Deep End a uniquely secluded experience.

Signal Ridge: High Above the Valley

Signal Ridge boasts some of the highest elevations in Anderson Valley, with a small community of around 50 residents who enjoy unparalleled views and crisp mountain air. This remote area is prized for its stunning panoramas of vineyards, forests, and on clear days, even the distant Pacific Ocean. Residents and visitors can indulge in hiking, birdwatching, and enjoying sunsets that paint the sky with breathtaking colors. The community is largely residential, with some engaged in viticulture due to the unique high-altitude terroir. What makes Signal Ridge secluded is its elevation and the rugged roads leading up to it, which deter heavy traffic and maintain its quiet atmosphere. The sparse population and distance from commercial centers provide a peaceful retreat away from the valley’s busier areas.

Signal Ridge is situated north of Philo, accessible via winding mountain roads that ascend from the valley floor. Its location high above Anderson Valley contributes to its seclusion, as the steep and narrow roads limit access and preserve its tranquil environment. To reach Signal Ridge, travelers take Greenwood Road from Highway 128, then navigate the scenic, uphill journey that offers glimpses of the expansive landscapes below. The drive, while requiring careful attention, rewards visitors with solitude and some of the most magnificent views in the region.

Hendy Woods Community: Living Among Giants

The Hendy Woods community is a small enclave near the famous Hendy Woods State Park, with an approximate population of 100 residents who relish living amidst ancient redwoods. The area offers direct access to serene hiking trails under the majestic trees, lazy days along the Navarro River, and opportunities for picnicking in quiet groves. With tourism centered around the state park, some locals are involved in hospitality or park services, but the overall vibe remains peaceful and laid-back. The community’s seclusion is due to the dense redwood forest that surrounds it, muffling the sounds of the outside world and providing a natural barrier to busy life beyond. The limited development and small population ensure that the tranquility of the redwoods remains undisturbed.

Situated just off Highway 128 near the town of Philo, the Hendy Woods community lies adjacent to Hendy Woods State Park. The thick canopy of redwoods and minimal signage make the area feel hidden, even though it’s not far from the main road. Access is typically via quiet, narrow lanes that wind through the forest, enhancing its secluded feel. Visitors can reach the community by turning off Highway 128 onto Greenwood Road or one of the smaller side roads leading to the park, where the towering redwoods guide the way to this peaceful haven.

Anderson Valley’s Hidden Hamlets Along Highway 128

Scattered along Highway 128 are numerous tiny settlements and hidden spots that epitomize the seclusion of Anderson Valley. With populations often numbering just a handful of residents, these hamlets offer a glimpse into a slower pace of life. Activities are simple yet fulfilling—exploring local art galleries tucked away from sight, visiting roadside fruit stands, or enjoying impromptu conversations with friendly locals. There is little to no industry, save for small family-owned businesses and artisanal crafts. The seclusion comes from their off-the-map locations, sometimes accessible only by unmarked roads, making them hidden gems even to those familiar with the valley. The lack of commercialization and the intimate scale of these hamlets preserve their untouched charm.

MENDOCINO COUNTY WAY BACK WHEN: Boonville Racing, 1957 (Ron Parker)

BOONVILLE MAKES HISTORY

by Bruce Anderson, Eyewitness

Boonville made history simply by showing up at Kezar Stadium on that Saturday night of October 29, 2011.

Stuart Hall School made half that history but they may have wished they hadn’t shown up.

The history?

The first 8-man football game ever played at the new Kezar pitted Anderson Valley’s country boys against Stuart Hall’s city sophisticates, with the city boys coming out on the short end of the bombs-away 64-39 final score.

The break-through contest was played under the lights on a perfect late fall evening at the “New” Kezar, as Kezar Two is known in the city. Until it was torn down in 1989 and became the far more user-friendly, open-all-night track and field it is today, the mammoth, Roman Coliseum-like, Kezar One, old Kezar, was probably best known as the pre-Candlestick home field of the San Francisco 49ers.

The Anderson Valley Panthers probably didn’t know that their demolition of Stuart Hall occurred on the same oval that also saw the best-attended high school football game ever played in the United States, the 1928 city championship game between Polytechnic and Lowell high schools. More than 50,000 people packed into Old Kezar for that one, won by Poly, whose ghostly remnant of a gym still looms up across the street from New Kezar.

Salvador “Chava” Gutierrez kicked off for the Panthers Saturday night, booting the ball deep into Stuart Hall’s end zone, as he would do all night. The Panthers stuffed Stuart Hall’s speedy running backs and, two plays after the Panthers got the ball, Marcos Espinoza ran right over two Stuart Hall defenders and was in for the score.

Thirty seconds into the game we had them 6-0 as our point after attempt failed.

Chava Gutierrez again booted the ball deep into the Stuart Hall end zone with Scott Johnston making a great tackle on the return man.

Garret Mezzanatto, after some tough runs by Marcos Espinoza to put the Panthers mid-field, completed a long and perfect pass to the ubiquitous Omar Benevides, who was just barely brought down at the Stuart Hall 4 yard line. Stuart Hall’s defense, lead by a well-nourished kid identified as “The Tank,” managed to hold the Panthers to no gain over four plays.

At the end of the first quarter the game was tied at a sedate 6-6, and well into the second quarter Stuart Hall was up 12-6. But with 4.46 left in the first half, on another perfect pass from Mezzanatto, this one to sure-handed Jason Sanchez, it was 14-12 Panthers.

Omar Benevides, with three futile defenders trying vainly to bring him down, bulled into the Stuart Hall end zone for another score.

The game was tied at 20-20 when Mezzanatto, and this kid can really air it out, threw the football in a perfect spiral fifty yards down field to the inevitable Chava Gutierrez, who’d left the defender some twenty yards behind him was in for another six points for the Boonville visitors.

At the half, Boonville was ahead, 26-20, and Stuart Hall was visibly feeling the pain from the unremitting punishment they were taking from the Boonville boys.

Stuart Hall is a well-coached team. They were bigger than most of the Boonville boys, and their two running backs were just as fast as our running backs, both of whom are fast by any standard.

The difference in the game was the pure ferocity of Boonville’s eight. By the beginning of the 4th quarter the Stuart Hall defenders were slow to get up. They’d been pounded hard for three quarters, especially by Gutierrez and Omar Benevides, who play both ways. When Gutierrez and Benevides weren’t putting fearsome hits on Stuart Hall’s ball carriers, they were running for touchdowns or catching touchdown passes from their strong-armed quarterback, Garrett Mezzanatto.

There were also many outstanding plays by Jason Sanchez, Scott Johnston, Keven Kisling, Eduardo Torrales, and Sam Arab as Boonville pulled away.

Anderson Valley 64-39.

Notes: Considering that Kezar is two-and-a-half hours south of Boonville, an impressive number of Valley fans made the trek, including the Toraleses; the Gutierrezes; Raul and Quince Malfavon; Jennifer Espinoza; Renee Wyant; Palma Toohey and her husband Dennis, dad Bill Holcomb and son John Toohey had Boonville coach; Ben Anderson; Kent Rogers and Neva Dyer; Joe DeFrenne; Itsel Perez and Monica Alvarez.

It’s fair to say of a game that ends 64-39 that it was action-packed. This one certainly was. Both teams marched up and down the field all night while beyond the Stanyan Street goal post men dressed as giant Little Bo Peeps and her sheep made their way into the Halloween festivities at the nearby Kezar Pavilion. Several people from Boonville’s fan contingent remarked on their visit to perhaps the most exciting McDonald’s franchise in the world at Haight and Stanyan. The street visuals aren’t those seen much in Boonville.

Old Kezar Stadium appears in the movie, Dirty Harry. The psycho killer that Harry is after works as a custodian at the stadium.

Saturday night’s game represented Stuart Hall’s homecoming festivities, although Stuart Hall is an all-male school, a fact noted by the absence of cheerleaders on their side of the field. The home team turned out quite a large crowd. Their breezy program contained descriptions of the student body as “our guys,” as in “Our guys master the great subjects…” and so on. The program didn’t say what the cost of tuition is, but it’s at least $30,000 a year, then the San Francisco private school average. It has doubled since. There are 160 “guys” enrolled at Stuart Hall taught by 30 teachers, three-quarters of whom “have advanced degrees.”

The eight valiant Boonville cheerleaders were much admired, we noticed, by the younger late-night joggers. Us older folks admired them too for their youth, beauty and energy.

Assistant coach Jesse Slotte, the heavily decorated soldier badly wounded in Iraq, now lives in Elk Grove (near Sacramento) in a house a veteran’s group deeded over to him. Slotte was a star running back a few years ago at Cloverdale High School.

Mezzanatto threw two of the most perfect long passes I’ve seen from a Boonville quarterback since, since, since… Tony Pardini back in the early 1970s. Coach John Toohey, ably assisted by Todd Capuzelo and Jesse Slotte, has put together a fine team. Capuzelo, incidentally, once coached the young Tom Brady when Brady was in his early high school days.

The Panther team these three coaches have put together is enormously entertaining. Stuart Hall was no push over. They played hard, but our team played harder the whole way, meaning they were game-ready.

The Panthers played another tough team the following Saturday afternoon in Point Arena. Point Arena had beat us earlier in the year. The winner would go to the playoffs. It too was a good one.

THE KNIGHT FAMILY

In honor of March being Women’s History Month, during our History Makers program we will be making crafts inspired by women artists featured in our collection, along with some fun information here.

This week the Knight Family.

Native baskets vary in shape, size and purpose. Some baskets have very utilitarian purposes such as cooking and storing food, while other baskets are highly decorated and used as gifts or for ceremonial and commemorative purposes. Each basket represents special knowledge and skill of the basket maker, their ancestors and their community.

Mary Knight Benson (1877-1930)

Mary Knight married William Ralganal Benson around 1894, and as a couple they worked collaboratively in making and selling their highly valued Pomo baskets to both Anglo American collectors and world class museums like the Smithsonian Institute during the peak collecting era of 1890 to 1930.

The Mendocino County Museum’s collection of Knight family baskets were donated to the Museum in 1981 by Virginia Knight Buck, Mary Knight Benson’s niece.

Nellie White (1856-1942)

Nellie White was a Pomo basket maker, who was born in Point Arena on the Mendocino Coast in 1856. She had two daughters and taught them basket weaving including the traditional three-stick basket design. When her daughters, Rhoda and Emma married the Knight Brothers she moved to the Yokayo Rancheria located near Ukiah in 1905.

Rhoda Somersal Knight (1890-1958)

Rhoda Somersal Knight was born in Manchester on the Mendocino Coast to Nellie White and Jack Somersal. She married Stephen Knight around 1904 and moved to the Yokayo Rancheria (near Ukiah), where she had three children. Rhoda was an expert weaver of the three-stick coiled baskets known as one of the more difficult traditional designs that had been passed down for generations in her family.

Back row (L-R): Mary Knight Benson, Myrtle Sanford McCoy, Bell Hildreth Variel, Rhoda Somersall Knight, holding baby Dennison Knight, Front Row (L-R): Virginia Knight Buck, Theresa Variel, Francis Variel, Loretta Variel Head.

(Mendocino County Museum)

CATCH OF THE DAY, Tuesday, March 18, 2025

LINDA ALMOND, 66, Ukiah. Probation violation.

ELIZABETH ARNOLD, 39, Lucerne/Ukiah. Petty theft conspiracy.

MATHEW CHAILLE, 42, Ukiah. Domestic battery, witness intimidation, domestic violence court order violation.

TIMOTHY ELLIOTT, 52, Covelo. Concealed dirk-dagger, probation revocation.

CHADLEY GOTTSIMMONS, 41, Calpella. Under influence.

KELLI HALL, 37, Ukiah. Cruelty to child-infliction of injury, probation violation.

MATTHIAS HOFSTADLER, 34, Fort Bragg. DUI.

GLENN JENKINS, 50, Ukiah. Controlled substance with two or more priors.

JESSE LIDDLE, 51, Redwood Valley. Probation revocation.

BRADLEY NELSON, 43, Rohnert Park/Ukiah. Domestic abuse.

DAVID OSBOURN, 56, Ukiah. Failure to registered as transient.

JOHN PALACIOS, 56, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.

SARAH SIMON, 48, Lucerne/Ukiah. Petty theft with two or more priors, controlled substance, paraphernalia, conspiracy.

PROBLEM SOLVED

The Last Word

Nirvikalpa Samadhi is the mind absorbed in the Absolute.

Stop identifying with the body and the mind, and your problem is solved.

Craig Louis Stehr, craiglouisstehr@gmail.com

Once a bustling Russian settlement, Fort Ross State Historic Park preserves the southernmost Russian outpost in North America. Established in 1812, it provided agricultural support to Russian settlements in Alaska and was home to Russian, Native Alaskan, and local Indigenous communities. Today, visitors can explore reconstructed buildings, including a replica Russian windmill and the historic Rotchev House, one of the only remaining original Russian structures from this era.

California’s state parks offer a glimpse into many cultures and histories — find more here: https://ow.ly/InQG50UTK6k.

DEMOCRACY UNDONE

by Elvin Woods

Surrendering power
To this wannabe King
They kneel and cower
And kiss the ring

Boost his ego
With lavish praise
Never say no
To justice delayed

Mitch and Chuck
Chickens and eggs
We've been plucked
Wings and legs

Donald's reign
Has just begun
Just a little pain
While Democracy's undone

CLIMATE JUSTICE ADVOCATES URGE CALPERS TO DIVEST FROM FOSSIL FUELS AT SACRAMENTO PROTEST

by Dan Bacher

Despite the LA fires brought on by extreme climate conditions predicted by fossil fuel company scientists 50 years ago due to oil and gas burning, CalPERS continues to fund new extraction and pipelines even in their $100 billion sustainability fund.

On a cold and at times rainy day, the Invest in Communities Not Fossil Fuels demonstration took place in Sacramento at the CalPERS headquarters on 400 Q St. from 11 am–1 pm on March 17. The participants called on the CalPERS board to completely divest from fossil fuels.

Among public pensions, CalPERS is the nation's #1 funder of the fossil fuel industry, according to Fossil Fuel California. The California Public Employees Retirement System provides over $27 billion to fossil fuel corporations that are building coal plants, oil pipelines and fracked gas wells— more than any other public pension in the country.…

https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2025/03/18/18874599.php

HOW-TO: A TO-DO LIST

Editor:

Here’s a to-do list for every voter and nonvoter:

Research any particular federal government position to find out what key job responsibilities they achieve regularly to help average Americans (i.e., us).

Identify a federal or state government position or office and thank them (through email or personal contact) for the incredible effort they give on a daily basis through great dedication.

Buy local as much as you can to help offset the economic damage being wrought on our own people because of tariffs.

Follow multiple sources of news to make sure you get a complete perspective on the issues at hand and not fall prey to disinformation.

With family, remember and share stories of our own immigrant roots and have empathy toward newcomers who are living with fear and feelings of isolation.

Dana Parnay

Healdsburg

ON-LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

The only time I’ve ever seen a grizz was, in all places, New Mexico; he had wandered down from the tail end of the Taos mountains (the Rockies), and was laying dead on the shoulder of the interstate, poor thing. No idea what he was doing so far south.

The sun had just just risen; what stuck me was the light on his fur as I passed. That light seemed to ripple with reds, and golds, and amber; it was absolutely beautiful, that fur, bearskin coats must’ve been a handsome sight to see.

CALIFORNIA’S MEDI-CAL SHORTFALL HITS $6.2 BILLION WITH ‘UNPRECEDENTED’ COST INCREASES

by Ana B. Ibarra

The hole in California’s Medi-Cal budget seems to be bigger than what state officials reported just last week.

California health care officials told the Legislature on Monday that the state will need another $2.8 billion to be able to pay Medi-Cal providers through the end of the fiscal year.

That’s on top of a $3.4 billion loan that the administration told lawmakers last week it needed to make “critical” payments for Medi-Cal, the state-federal health insurance program for low-income people.

Combined, that’s $6.2 billion in spending above what was projected in the budget Gov. Gavin Newsom signed last summer. Almost 15 million Californians have health care coverage through Medi-Cal, also known as Medicaid.

“With the loan and these additional funds, the administration anticipates being able to manage expenditures for the remainder of the current year,” said Michelle Bass, director of the Department of Health Care Services, which oversees Medi-Cal.

Bass told legislators in a budget hearing that several factors are contributing to the higher-than-anticipated spending, including an increase in pharmacy costs, but also more growth in enrollment than the state projected. For one, the state underestimated the number of immigrants without legal status who would sign up to the program in the last year.

Bass said the department had about one month of data regarding new policies before it had to make projections for the budget Newsom signed.

“These changes were unprecedented, and all happened at once,” Bass said.

The developments include:

More immigrants without legal status enrolled in the program than expected. Over the last 10 years, California has expanded Medi-Cal coverage to undocumented people in different age groups. The final group, adults ages 26 to 49, were allowed to apply for Medi-Cal starting Jan. 1, 2024. In January, Bass’ department estimated California would spending $2.7 billion beyond what it budgeted due to the cost of covering care and prescriptions for newly enrolled immigrants. According to updated estimates from the administration, it costs the state about $8.5 billion from the general fund to cover immigrants who are in the country without legal authorization.

Also starting on Jan. 1, 2024, more seniors were able to sign up for Medi-Cal after the state stopped counting certain assets, such as cars, homes and savings when considering someone’s eligibility. Now, like everyone else, seniors’ eligibility is based on their income.

The program has seen higher overall enrollment due to pandemic-related flexibilities. California’s overall Medi-Cal population ballooned during the COVID-19 pandemic when the federal government temporarily suspended income eligibility checks to keep people insured during the national emergency. The number of people who dropped off the program after the pandemic was smaller than the department assumed.

Bass said other states are also going over budget, noting health care spending in general is increasing across the U.S.

Going over budget has vexed some state Republicans who say the governor and Democrats over-promised when they decided to expand Medi-Cal services to all low-income immigrants. Democrats have come out in defense of the expansion and the state’s efforts to keep people covered during the pandemic.

“The things that you’re talking about means that we have been successful,” Assemblymember Pilar Schiavo, a Santa Clarita Democrat, told Bass during Monday’s hearing. “We have been successful about keeping people covered, about making sure that they have access to health care.”

Schiavo added that California’s current shortfall is solvable, but less so are the potential cuts to Medicaid that Congress is currently weighing.

House Republicans recently voted to advance a proposal that could result in cuts of $880 billion to a group of programs, largely Medicaid, over the next 10 years. According to some estimates, that could translate into annual losses of $10 billion to $20 billion a year for California, an amount that state officials have said the state would not be able to backfill.

(CalMatters.org)

SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION TO REQUIRE IN-PERSON IDENTITY CHECKS FOR NEW AND EXISTING RECIPIENTS

In an effort to limit fraudulent claims, the Social Security Administration will impose tighter identity-proofing measures — which will require millions of recipients and applicants to visit agency field offices rather than interact with the agency over the phone.

by Fatima Hussein

WASHINGTON — In an effort to limit fraudulent claims, the Social Security Administration will impose tighter identity-proofing measures — which will require millions of recipients and applicants to visit agency field offices rather than interact with the agency over the phone.

Beginning March 31st, people will no longer be able to verify their identity to the SSA over the phone and those who cannot properly verify their identity over the agency's “my Social Security” online service, will be required to visit an agency field office in person to complete the verification process, agency leadership told reporters Tuesday.

The change will apply to new and existing Social Security recipients.

Retiree advocates warn that the change will negatively impact older Americans in rural areas, including those with disabilities, mobility limitations, those who live far from SSA offices and have limited internet access.

The plan also comes as the agency plans to shutter dozens of Social Security offices throughout the country and has already laid out plans to lay off thousands of workers.

In addition to the identity verification change, the agency announced that it plans to expedite processing of recipients’ direct deposit change requests – both in person and online – to one business day. Previously, online direct deposit changes were held for 30 days.

“The Social Security Administration is losing over $100 million a year in direct deposit fraud,” Leland Dudek, the agency’s acting commissioner, said on a Tuesday evening call with reporters — his first call with the media. “Social Security can better protect Americans while expediting service.”

He said a problem with eliminating fraudulent claims is that “the information that we use through knowledge-based authentication is already in the public domain.”

“This is a common sense measure,” Dudek added.

More than 72.5 million people, including retirees and children, receive retirement and disability benefits through the Social Security Administration.

Connecticut Rep. John Larson, the top Democrat on the House Ways and Means Social Security Subcommittee, said in a statement that “by requiring seniors and disabled Americans to enroll online or in person at the same field offices they are trying to close, rather than over the phone, Trump and Musk are trying to create chaos and inefficiencies at SSA so they can privatize the system.”

The DOGE website says that leases for 47 Social Security field offices across the country, including in Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, Florida, Kentucky and North Carolina, have been or will be ended. However, Dudek downplayed the impact of its offices shuttering, saying many were small remote hearing sites that served few members of the public.

Many Americans have been concerned that SSA office closures and massive layoffs of federal workers — part of an effort by President Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency to shrink the size of the federal government — will make getting benefits even more difficult.

Musk has pushed debunked theories about Social Security and described the federal benefit programs as rife with fraud, and called it a “Ponzi scheme” suggesting the program will be a primary target in his crusade to reduce government spending.

Voters have flooded town halls across the country to question Republican lawmakers about the Trump administration’s cuts, including its plans for the old-age benefits program.

In addition a group of labor unions last week sued and asked a federal court for an emergency order to stop DOGE from accessing the sensitive Social Security data of millions of Americans.

(AP)

“Why are women… so much

more interesting to men

than men are to

women?”

— Virginia Woolf

NEW TROVE OF KENNEDY FILES OFFERS FEW REVELATIONS SO FAR

(Oswald Still Did It.)

A tranche of documents tied in some way to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy was released late Tuesday. No major new details were found immediately, but scholars said it would take time to sift through them all.

by Adam Nagourney

A new trove of government files about the assassination of President John F. Kennedy was released to the public late Tuesday under an order from President Trump. Scholars hope the flood of papers will resolve — or at least shed light on — the final questions about an event that traumatized a nation and remains the subject of conspiracy theories six decades later.

The release, which came in the early evening, consisted of 1,123 PDF documents, according to the National Archives, including typewritten reports and handwritten notes. Most of them were shorter than 10 pages. Mr. Trump, in teasing the release on Monday, said there would be no redactions — but an early review found that some information appeared to have been blocked out.

— NYT

HOW TO FILE YOUR OWN FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUESTS

Public records are a key part of Racket’s library project—not just for the stories we cover, but as a resource to help you access the records that matter to you. I figured talking to a guy with “FOIA” as his vanity license plate would be a good place to start. Allan Blutstein helps run a site called FOIA Advisor. It’s a labor of love among Blutstein and two others that he jokes is funded by his credit card. All three are involved in conservative politics for their day jobs, but FOIA Advisor is for anyone.

It has a roundup of FOIA news, FOIA-related court cases, links to searchable FOIA regulations for federal agencies, samples of FOIA appeal letters by conservative and liberal groups, FOIA letter-generator sites, and electronic reading rooms where you can access records and see what other people are requesting.

The reading rooms are helpful. For one, their FOIA logs remove the need to FOIA all FOIA requests as I did back in the day. Blutstein also says they can be tremendously helpful in crafting your own request. Blutstein should know. He worked at the Justice Department responding to FOIA requests. He was also principal legal counsel for FOIA staff at the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Financial Stability. Now, he’s director of FOIA operations for the America Rising Corporation. Our conversation with him, edited for clarity and brevity:

Racket (Greg Collard): Which features of FOIA Advisor are most popular?

Allan Blutstein: Our summaries and postings of court opinions. There are hundreds of federal court FOIA cases issued every year and we try to keep on top of that. My former office of the Justice Department also summarizes cases, but they’re usually a month or two behind and they don’t post the actual decision. They will give long summaries. I’m not sure if that’s for trademark intellectual property purposes or why they won’t post the actual decision. So I think that’s our most popular feature. And also just daily news, what’s happening in the government and the world. And some educational resources that we have.

GC: What are the types of things that people are most interested in getting information about?

Allan Blutstein: All sorts. We’re mostly geared toward the federal Freedom of Information Act. While we don’t track state court decisions — we simply can’t keep up — if anyone asks us a question about a state law, we’ll do our best to steer them in the right direction. The other day, a rather significant decision was issued about whether [DOGE] records are subject to Freedom of Information Act requests. We’ll see how that one plays out. I imagine the administration might fight the district court on that, but the department that gets the most requests every year is DHS. Far and away they get more than half of all federal FOIA requests. Immigration records are particularly popular. The Department of Justice and the Department of Defense are also quite popular with FOIA requesters. At DOJ, the FBI and all the law enforcement agencies get lots of requests, including from prisoners who want to re-litigate their criminal cases.

GC: They have a lot of time to file.

Allan Blutstein: They have a lot of time and some of them are quite good. I was impressed when I was at the Department of Justice. Some became jailhouse lawyers. They were quite good.

GC: Say someone wants to get information on how federal Title I funds are spent on certain schools… What’s your advice on how someone should start? Should they file a FOIA request immediately?

Allan Blutstein: That’s a good example. I would say go on the Department of Education’s website. Financial information is not typically controversial and a lot of it will be posted online. So I would start there. Really for almost any type of request, I might first go to an agency’s electronic reading room to see what they’ve posted. If nothing’s there on the website, I might look at their FOIA logs if they’re published. This is a list of requests that other individuals have filed. They’re often posted online. If you are interested in something, it’s likely that someone else also has an interest and they may have already requested records. That’s helpful just to get an idea of what an agency has and what other people have asked for. And also to help you craft a request. You can just copy what someone else has done or just ask for a file that’s already been processed. Just ask, “I’d like request number 255 that you received two months ago.” And you can just feed them the information, which makes it very easy. You’ll get much quicker turnaround times if you just piggyback off someone else’s request than inventing your own.

Now, there are some strategies. You’ll get better as a requester as you do more. You’ll learn what a burdensome request is that might make agencies push back. Your requests don’t need to include a lot of legalese. You don’t need a lot of definitions. They don’t have to be five pages. You don’t need long introductions. You don’t have to explain why you want the records. Agency personnel generally don’t ask. There are very few circumstances in which they need to know legally. So, a lot of background isn’t necessary. You want the person on the other side to understand what you’re asking for. Sometimes some context helps. FOIA personnel don’t know everything that’s happening in their own agency. The Pentagon is a big place. They may not know about the document that you’re interested in. So providing some background to facilitate the search is a good idea. But your request should be reasonably specific. Some requesters in the business are looking for publicity. So they will include a long explanation at the front because they want reporters to pick it up, but that’s not for the average person. They’ll ask the agency to expedite their requests and argue why they’re entitled. They’ll argue why they’re entitled to be considered reporters, and they’ll argue for a fee waiver all upfront. They’ll include long definitions. They’ll remind the agency of what the response time is, and they’ll remind the agency that if they make redactions, if they withhold information, to explain why.

I tend not to include all these reminders, having been on that side. The agency knows the law. Law firms or lawyers who might be getting paid to make the request tend to include what I call “fillers.” It’s just perhaps to impress the client, but it’s really irrelevant. I would say skip it.

GC: Can you explain electronic reading rooms for people who may not be familiar with what they are?

Allan Blutstein: Before the electronic age — the old days, in the 70s and 80s — federal agencies had actual libraries where the public could visit. Now, federal agencies have on their websites FOIA pages. FOIA Advisor has a list of all the reading rooms. You can just click the links where agencies are required to post certain information as well as frequently requested information. And so that could save you quite a bit of time. I would say don’t hesitate to send a request. The government is not tracking you. They will not retaliate. This is a legal right that citizens and non-citizens have to ask for records.

That doesn’t necessarily mean that you will obtain all the records that you asked for, but there’s no harm in requesting. You might have to wait a while. And that’s another key piece of advice: be patient. Although there are legal deadlines, those are more often not met. Those who have not made requests before might have trepidation about whether their requests are public. Will their names be publicized? Will I upset a government official? And the answer to that last one is no, at least at the federal level, FOIA requests are employing 6,000 people, so keep them coming.

GC: There are 6,000 people that deal only with FOIA requests?

Allan Blutstein: Yeah. The data just released for fiscal year 2024 shows that full-time FOIA staff increased from about 5,000 the previous year to a little over 6,000. Now that’s changing rapidly [because of government cutbacks].

GC: So does that worry you for fulfilling public records requests? Is it going to be a challenge to get public information?

Allan Blutstein: It will be at some agencies that are not exempt from both the federal hiring freeze and from recent layoffs. So I think DHS should be OK, and DOJ. But you mentioned the Department of Education. It looks like they’re trying to reduce their workforce by 50% and they may try to shutter it all together. So I think response times to requests this year will increase at many agencies. In fact, there was a news story where someone made a request to OPM and an employee quipped, “Good luck with that. They just fired the privacy staff,” or something along those lines. So wait times are likely to increase at the federal level.

GC: When you’re filing local requests, say with your local school board or town hall, what should that approach be? Should you file FOIAs immediately or talk to staff first? At least in my experience, sometimes it’s a different process to get what you want.

Allan Blutstein: Generally the FOIA process is an arm’s length transaction, and so personalities don’t have a lot to do with it. That might be different with local officials. If an office is particularly small, maybe you can get on the phone first and just ask, “Hey, can you help me out?” Or, “What’s the best way to get this type of information?”

I tend not to do that, but I think reporters do. They’re just more comfortable dealing with people like that. It’s sort of a double-edged sword. With local agencies, they may get fewer requests, so you’re not waiting as long, but they have collateral duties, so they’re not dedicated. They’re not sitting at their desk processing requests all day. It certainly helps to be friendly. I try to do that. They are human beings on the other side, and I was there. Saying please, the thank you’s — don’t harass them every week asking for an update. There’s something to be said for that. Being professional and courteous is good advice.

GC: Fees are sometimes a big issue (and were, especially before electronic records). Do you get a lot of questions about having to pay fees?

Allan Blutstein: The government in recent years collected about $2 million in fees, but that’s a fraction of 1% of what it costs to process and run the FOIA system, which is over $600 million. So they’re not collecting that much. The ordinary requester, Joe Requester, who’s just curious about getting some records, they are charged only after two hours of search time. So if the records can be retrieved in less than two hours, they’ll get that information for free. Duplication costs only apply if you’re getting hard copies. You’ll pay 10 or 15 cents a page, but you’ll get the first 100 pages for free. I would say duplication fees, in this day and age, are usually nothing. If you’re a commercial requester intending to use the records for profitable purposes, they will get charged for review time. Also, if an attorney or anyone needs to review the records to redact them, they’ll get charged as well.

You can apply for a waiver of fees under certain circumstances. There’s no waiver on the federal level for indigency. That might be a reason for a waiver at the local level. I hear more complaints on the local level about fees, especially here in Virginia. It really varies by state. If you’re asking for years worth of emails, voluminous records, you are more likely to incur a fee. So at the federal level, if an agency misses their response deadline, they forfeit the right to collect certain fees.

Reporters, members of the media, are a favored fee category. They will not be charged for search time so reporters are essentially getting records for nothing. And there are a few other preferred fee categories. If you’re making a request for an educational institution, for instance, a university professor doing research or a non-commercial scientific institution.

GC: What’s your advice for people on the local level who are asked to pay, say, 25 cents a page?

Allan Blutstein: Well, oftentimes if you want to inspect the records as opposed to getting copies, that might be an option. So you can for no charge, look at the records first and then determine what you’re willing to pay for. Because often their requests might be broad. You’re asking for records about a subject matter that may be emails that contain certain search terms and what you get back might be more than you expected. You may be getting back responsive but irrelevant records that you’re not interested in. So before paying them, perhaps you can inspect them. There are certain states where you must be a resident to get records. Virginia is one of them. Tennessee, Delaware, Arkansas, Alabama.

GC: Really?

Allan Blutstein: Yeah, it’s more of an inconvenience because you can always find a proxy requester to make the request for you. Tennessee is particularly stringent. They will ask for a driver’s license as proof of your residency if they have any reservations. Now, there are exceptions for reporters who have business or cover stories out of state. But I’ve had trouble making requests to the states that I mentioned. I’ll have to find a friend. Or there is an organization called Muck Rock that will help requesters find proxies. So I don’t know how effective the restriction really is.

GC: What do you think of those exceptions for reporters, being treated differently than the average citizen? Is that fair?

Allan Blutstein: The subject of fees has come up at the federal level. The National Archives has a federal FOIA advisory committee that I served on for one two-year term. The idea of changing the fee structure has come up. I think the most popular idea was just to have a flat fee — everyone should pay just a modest flat fee amount because I think employees don’t want to deal with all the fee issues that come up. What category are you in? Do you qualify for a fee waiver? So instead of fighting about all that, a flat fee for everyone might be more convenient. On the other hand, if one requester is asking for thousands of pages and another is asking for just a few, a flat fee doesn’t seem to be fair in that situation.

I’m probably an outlier on this issue. I don’t think there should be preferred fee categories. If you’re getting free research time as a reporter or another preferred fee category, I don’t know what prevents that individual from submitting lots of requests and requests that involve quite a bit of search time. I know there’s an argument that the records reporters obtain are for the public interest, that they’re doing good oversight work. I understand that, but it’s also contributing to backlog requests and delays. I don’t know if fees are really the root of the problem.

Others will argue that the $600 million budget the government spends to process requests is a drop in the bucket compared to what they’re spending and that it’s outweighed by the public benefit. I understand that, but at some point, that becomes real money. The number of requests filed every year keeps increasing. The Department of Justice just released the latest data for 2024, and the costs for processing requests were $601 million, as well as $55 million for litigation costs (see breakdown by agency below). The number of requests increased from about 1.2 million in FY 2023 to 1.5 million in FY 2024.

The response times are not getting better. It’s difficult work. Attracting people to this field is not easy, I imagine less so after these mass layoffs. But I don’t think I have an answer. And this advisory committee hasn’t come up with any recommendations yet, so I suppose that’s why there’s still status quo. Congress did try to incentivize agencies to improve their response times by cutting off their ability to collect fees if they were late. But I’m not sure that works. Agencies don’t get to keep the money that they’re charging. It all goes to the General Treasury for the most part. So agencies don’t really care about the money per se. They’re not motivated.

GC: So what is your recommendation?

Allan Blutstein: I’ll stick to my guns. I think there should be some sort of flat fee structure, maybe by the volume of records. And I would keep the waiver principle, get rid of the categories, the fee categories, but allow people to apply, ask for a waiver in the public interest. In other words, these records are not for private benefit. I’m not going to make money off of these records. They will shed light on an important government operation. And so in that situation, there would be no fees. There are organizations that send out thousands and thousands of requests under the guise of being representatives of the news media because they have a website. They’re not traditional reporters, but they nevertheless qualify for preferred fee status. And you really want to avoid flooding the government with thousands and thousands of requests. I go back and forth on it. There are no limits on how many requests someone can file, but at some point it’s venturing into the vexatious territory. That’s a hard line to draw. So some states have provisions where you can cut off a requester for being vexatious, but they’re very controversial and I don’t see the federal government enacting anything along those lines.

GC: Thank you.

TRUMP’S MOB-BOSS OFFER TO US JEWS: ACCEPT “PROTECTION”—OR ELSE

by Dave Zirin

In 1988, the Saturday Night Live crew performed a skit about a game show hosted by Tom Hanks called “Jew, Not a Jew.” Contestants would look at a photo of a celebrity with an anglicized name and guess whether that person was a “Jew or not a Jew.” It was great comedy, written by the Jewish comedian and future senator Al Franken. Now we have this same question voiced by Donald Trump, and it’s deadly serious. Trump has long maintained that there are good Jews and bad Jews. The good Jews are the ones who fund his campaign and worship him for being, in his words, the Jews’ “big protector.” In contrast, the bad Jews, the ones who oppose him, “need their heads examined.” Last year, he said menacingly, “if we were to lose in 2024, Jews would be to blame.”

A week ago, Trump threw more kindling on the fire, saying that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, an enthusiast of the Israeli occupation, was not only “not Jewish,” he was “a Palestinian.” I asked Rabbi Alissa Wise, the founder of Rabbis for Ceasefire about the implicit threat in this cocktail of bigotry. "Trump in one fell swoop used Palestinian as a derogatory slur and—as a non-Jew—elevated himself to arbiter of who is the right and wrong kind of Jew,” Rabbi Wise said. “This has gotten Jews murdered by authoritarian leaders like himself. Woe to the Jewish institutions, like the Anti-Defamation League, that continue to kiss his ring, playing Russian roulette with both Jewish and Palestinian lives."

Schumer’s response, suffice it to say, was not to reply, “No, I’m not Palestinian. I don’t have that privilege.” Instead, after gutting the Democratic caucus, he hightailed it out of the Capitol for his book tour, a book about antisemitism. This is, of course, Schumer’s version of antisemitism, personified more by college students fighting for Palestine than the authoritarian renouncing his claim to his faith. Either way, he shouldn’t have rushed. The tour has now been cancelled due fear of protestsorganized by what was until recently his own base.

Today’s Christian nationalist sees Judaism not as a faith or culture, but as a political marker. Step on the wrong side, and these Christian Zionists—a group that outnumbers Zionist Jews—will nullify your Judaism.

Trump’s mentor Vladimir Putin is fond of saying that Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy and “ethnic jews” are “not Jewish.” This sentiment that our Judaism is fraudulent has also long been echoed by far-right Jewish Zionists who feel attacked in our critique of autocracy. Trump’s former Israeli Ambassador David Friedman once informed me, much to the surprise of my Bubbe, that I was not, in fact, Jewish. These pompous, self-appointed arbiters of Judaism agree with what Trump said last year to former White House adviser and fascist sympathizer Sebastian Gorka: "Any Jewish person who votes for Democrats hates their religion."

People like Ambassador Friedman reject the proud Jewish saying that we are “two people, three opinions.” They prefer one opinion and will disappear the other person if necessary. Rabbi Brant Rosen, whose anti-Zionist Tzedek (meaning Justice in Hebrew) congregation was recently profiled on NPR, said to me, “The ‘good Jew/bad Jew’ trope has been a hallmark of Christian antisemitism for centuries. Now we’re seeing it revived by Christian nationalists, with fealty to a Jewish ethno-state serving as the new inflection point. What I find truly chilling is the extent to which some Jewish leaders, politicians, and organizations are willfully playing into it. This is a sick form of collaborationism—and certainly won’t keep Jews safe.”

It beggars belief that anyone thinks shuffling like a nebbish into the strongman’s embrace while sacrificing a sizable portion of our community will ensure our survival. But our safety as Jews—and the safety of all of us—is even more imperiled now that “fighting antisemitism” has become the rationale for Trump’s post-constitutional order. This regime’s basis for having a secret police disappear Palestinian rights activists without due process for criticizing Israel is “fighting antisemitism.” The defunding of universities, the outlawing of academic departments, and the firing of Jewish professors is all part of its struggle to “fight antisemitism.” Then, clearly feeling itself after the extrajudicial arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, the White House tweeted with a bully’s swagger, “Shalom Mahmoud.” It read like a nightclub comic, pimping our faith for a cheap laugh.

“The rightwing theft and misappropriation of the language of antisemitism has emptied it entirely of concern for Jewish safety and turned it inside out so the fascists and antisemites can use as a shield for their own violent agenda,” Stefanie Fox of Jewish Voice for Peace told me.

Jewish Voice for Peace has been a frontline organization against the Israeli occupation. But even Israeli publications like Haaretz are pointing out that these policies actually endanger us. It doesn’t matter.

When Trump tells Schumer that he, as Great Leader, has revoked the senator’s Jew card, it is a warning aimed well beyond the senator. When Elon Musk financially backs Germany’s far-right Alternative für Deutschland party, it is a warning. When the Sieg Heil–saluting Musk says that George Soros is behind the protests at Tesla dealerships, it is a warning. And especially when the Trump administration hires and appoints brazen antisemites, it’s a warning to every Jew in the United States who rejects his protection racket.

Consider the deputy press secretary for the Department of Defense, a 26-year-old nepo-baby named Kingsley Wilson. The daughter of the former Trump adviser who was too much of a conspiracist for NewsMax, Steve Cortes, Wilson has tweeted out Nazi slogans and even praised the lynching of Leo Frank, a Jewish factory owner in Georgia who was hanged in 1915 on false charges of raping and murdering a young girl. He was posthumously pardoned in 1986. Frank’s murder spread fear throughout immigrant Jewish communities who thought they had found safe harbor from the anti-Jewish violence of Eastern Europe. “Get him like Leo Frank” was the sort of thing my immigrant grandfather heard walking the streets of Brooklyn as a child—and Frank’s guilt is still maintained on Neo-Nazi message boards. Both the Department of Defense and Wilson have refused to comment on the contention that the deputy press secretary’s Leo Frank obsession has been drawn from the darkest corners of the Internet.

The people who Trump has chosen to run the military are telling us what they think through their silence and through her employment. They are saying that their Christian-nationalist acceptance of us is conditional upon fronting for the lie that this group of antisemites are shredding the Constitution to fight antisemitism. That is why it’s so threatening to their project when Jews refuse to have our faith weaponized, and we chant, “Not in our name.”

We need to amplify testimonials like that of Columbia student Jonathan Ben-Menachem who wrote an article titled. “I Am a Jewish Student at Columbia. Mahmoud Khalil Is One of the Most Upstanding People I Have Ever Met.” Ben-Menachem reminds us what Khalil told CNN last spring: “I believe that the liberation of the Palestinian people and the Jewish people are intertwined and go hand-by-hand, and you cannot achieve one without the other.”

When Jews and Jewish organizations occupied Trump Tower last week, leading to 100 arrests, Fox News was beside themselves. Anchor Harris Faulkner fumed on-air that these Jewish protesters “hate Jewish Americans.” Her normally cool demeanor cracked, saying that these protests are what happens “when you have open borders.” I reached out to Faulkner to ask for evidence that these Jewish American protesters “hate Jewish Americans” or what she meant by invoking “open borders,” but she did not reply. Faulkner may have delivered her lines poorly, but the allegations make sense in Trumpworld. The unconstitutional immigration policy this administration is enacting is being done in the name of Jewish safety. But it is also a warning that our own citizenship is revocable, that our loyalty is suspect, and that the borders can always close with the “bad Jew” on the other side looking in.

For decades, a minority of Jews have been telling hostile family and friends that our safety does not exist by the grace of the Israeli Occupation, that our only salvation is when we are in solidarity with the oppressed and refuse to allow our culture, religion, and history as a tool to subjugate others. The choice now for American Jewry has never been more clear: We can cower in the clutches of an administration that treats us like trash, or we can stand with those outside our faith pleading for us to call out the latest set of Big Lies: the lie that we are more secure when our rights are forfeited, the lie that victimizing others will keep us safe, and the lie that this collection of Jew-hating bigots gives a damn about antisemitism. The truth is that they hate us. We should have some pride and return the favor. Jew, not a Jew? Once a joke. Now an open threat.

IT FOUGHT TO SAVE THE WHALES. CAN GREENPEACE SAVE ITSELF?

The storied group has a remarkable history of daring protests and high-profile blunders. It faces a reckoning in North Dakota.

by Karen Zraick

Greenpeace is among the most well-known environmental organizations in the world, the result of more than 50 years of headline-grabbing protest tactics.

Its activists have confronted whaling ships on the high seas. They’ve hung banners from the Eiffel Tower. They’ve occupied oil rigs. A (fictional) activist even sailed with Greenpeace in an episode of “Seinfeld,” in hopes of capturing Elaine’s heart.

Now, Greenpeace’s very existence is under threat: A lawsuit seeks at least $300 million in damages. Greenpeace has said such a loss in court could force it to shut down its American offices. In the coming days, a jury is expected to render its verdict.

The lawsuit is over Greenpeace’s role in protests a decade ago against a pipeline near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in North Dakota. The pipeline’s owner, Energy Transfer, says Greenpeace enabled illegal attacks on the project and led a “vast, malicious publicity campaign” that cost the company money.

Greenpeace says that it played only a minor, peaceful role in the Indigenous-led protest, and that the lawsuit’s real aim is to limit free speech not just at the organization, but also across America, by raising the specter of expensive court fights.

The suit comes at a time of immense challenges for the entire environmental movement. Climate change is making storms, floods and wildfires more frequent and more dangerous. The Trump administration has commenced a historic effort to overturn decades of environmental protections. Many of the movement’s most significant achievements over the past half-century are at risk.

And in recent years the potential costs of protest have already risen.

The International Center for Not-for-Profit Law has tracked a wave of bills proposed since 2017 that toughen penalties against protesters. Many became law in the wake of the demonstrations against the pipeline at the center of the Greenpeace case (the Dakota Access Pipeline) and also the Black Lives Matter movement, which rose to prominence after the murder of George Floyd in 2020 by a police officer in Minnesota. More recently, the Trump administration has moved to deport international students who protested the war in Gaza.

Sushma Raman, interim executive director of Greenpeace USA, has called the trial in North Dakota “a critical test of the future of the First Amendment.”

Energy Transfer, one of the biggest pipeline companies in the country, has said that the lawsuit is over illegal conduct, not free speech. “It is about them not following the law,” the company said in a statement.

Founded in Vancouver in 1971, Greenpeace was hugely successful early on at what is now called “branding,” with its catchy name and daredevil stunts. But it has also faced major challenges: infighting, missteps, legal battles and questions about how to widen its base and remain relevant as it became an institution.

The larger environmental movement has grown, but also has struggled to gain attention in an increasingly fractured media landscape and as it has pivoted to the issue of climate change, which can be less tangible than previous targets of activism, like say opposing logging or oil-drilling in specific places.

“What they made their name on was the media spectacle, especially the ability to conduct a high-profile action that requires incredible tactical organization,” said Frank Zelko, a history professor at the University of Hawaii at Mānoa and the author of “Make It a Green Peace! The Rise of Countercultural Environmentalism.” That became “less efficacious” over time, he said, as competition for eyeballs grew and spectacular images, whether real or not, abound.

Greenpeace was founded as an offshoot of the Sierra Club based on the principles of ecology and anti-militarism. But pulling off daring stunts in pursuit of those principles, while also operating as a worldwide professional network, has always been a delicate balancing act.

After friction and fights for control of the organization in the late 1970s, Greenpeace International was established in the Netherlands as the head office, coordinating the activities of independent Greenpeace offices around the world, including Greenpeace USA.

The activities of its American branch are at the center of the lawsuit. Greenpeace International says its role was limited to signing one open letter. Greenpeace International has also countersued Energy Transfer in the Netherlands, seeking to recoup its legal costs under European laws that essentially allow it to challenge the Energy Transfer lawsuit as a form of harassment.

In Greenpeace’s Washington office, the Energy Transfer case has contributed to turbulence in the group’s highest levels.

In early 2023, the organization celebrated the appointment of Ebony Twilley Martin as sole executive director, calling Ms. Twilley Martin the first Black woman to be the sole director of a legacy U.S. environmental nonprofit. But she left that role just 16 months later, a development that two people familiar with the matter said was in part over disagreements about whether to agree to a settlement with Energy Transfer.

Born in ‘60s Upheaval

Greenpeace was born out of a moment of fear and upheaval, amid the Vietnam War, the nuclear arms race, acid rain and smog blanketing cities. Rex Weyler, 77, an early member, chronicled the history in his 2004 book “Greenpeace: How a Group of Ecologists, Journalists and Visionaries Changed the World.”

In Vancouver, Mr. Weyler met Bob Hunter, a columnist for The Vancouver Sun, and Dorothy and Irving Stowe, older Quakers who had left the United States in protest over war taxes and weapons testing. They were meeting like-minded people who saw a need for an ecology movement that would employ nonviolent direct action, following the examples of Mohandas K. Gandhi in India and the civil rights movement in the United States.

They would soon become an offshoot of a more traditional environmental group, the Sierra Club, after a disagreement over protest tactics.

Their first campaign was a mission to block U.S. nuclear weapons tests on Amchitka, a volcanic island in Alaska. An idea this group had floated within the Sierra Club — to sail a boat to stop the bomb — had been reported in The Vancouver Sun, though the head office of Sierra Club in San Francisco had not approved that plan.

“The Sierra Club was not amused when they saw this story, because they said, ‘You know, a lot of our members are just tree-huggers, and they don’t care about nuclear disarmament,’” said Robert Stowe, son of Dorothy and Irving and a behavior neurologist. “Had the Sierra Club agreed to do this, Greenpeace could probably never have been founded.”

The name Greenpeace came up during a planning meeting, when Irving Stowe said “peace” at the end of the gathering and another activist, Bill Darnell, replied offhandedly, “Make it a green peace.”

“Greenpeace” was emblazoned on the fishing boat they used. Irving Stowe organized a concert by Joni Mitchell, James Taylor and Phil Ochs to raise money for the trip.

The boat set sail in September 1971. The Coast Guard intercepted it, and the vessel never reached Amchitka. But the stunt garnered considerable public attention, a core part of the group’s strategy in the years since.

‘Save The Whales’ Era

Greenpeace’s next campaign is perhaps its most well known: saving the whales.

The idea came from Paul Spong, who had studied orca whales and argued that the highly intelligent creatures were being hunted to extinction. That led to a copiously documented, dramatic sailing expedition to confront Soviet whaling ships.

A worldwide moratorium on commercial whaling has been in place since 1986. Greenpeace and other groups who worked on the issue have claimed it as a major victory.

The group also tried to stop seal hunting in northern Canada, a controversial move that alienated a large number of residents, including in Indigenous communities. Greenpeace Canada apologized to the Inuit people for the impacts of the campaign in 2014, and the organization said it did not oppose small-scale subsistence hunting.

The ship Rainbow Warrior, a crucial vessel in the anti-whaling campaign, was added to the fleet in 1978. That ship was protesting French nuclear testing in the Pacific in 1985 when it was bombed by agents for the French spy agency D.G.S.E., killing Fernando Pereira, a photographer, and igniting international outrage.

France later apologized and was ordered to pay $8 million in damages to Greenpeace, and reached a separate settlement with Mr. Pereira’s family.

A new Rainbow Warrior is now one of three Greenpeace vessels in operation. It is sailing this month in the Marshall Islands to “elevate calls for nuclear and climate justice,” the group said, and to support research on the effects of past nuclear weapons testing.

Growing Pains

By the 1990s, Greenpeace’s attention-grabbing environmentalism was capturing the imagination of a new generation of people like Valentina Stackl, 39, who learned of its exploits as a girl in Europe. She worked with Greenpeace USA from 2019 to 2023.

“The idea of Greenpeace ships, and save the whales and hanging off a bridge or something like that was truly magical,” she said. “And on the best days Greenpeace really was like that. Of course, there’s also the slog of the day-to-day that is less sparkly.”

One constant concern was fund-raising: Greenpeace USA is largely funded by individual donations, which can fluctuate. Tax filings show its revenue has been stable in recent years.

The group’s priorities shifted to climate and how to incorporate what is known as “environmental justice,” the fact that pollution and other environmental hazards often disproportionally affect poor and minority areas. The historically mostly white and male-dominated organization had to grapple with how to increasingly collaborate with a diverse range of other groups. And it had to reckon with historical tensions with Indigenous communities over its whaling and sealing campaigns, as well as other missteps.

One of those mistakes occurred in Peru in 2014, when there was an uproar over a Greenpeace action that damaged the Nazca lines, ancient man-made patterns etched in the desert. Activists from Greenpeace Germany entered the restricted area to place a protest message about renewable energy. The Peruvian cultural minister called it an act of “stupidity” that had “co-opted part of the identity of our heritage.”

The organization apologized, and the episode prompted Greenpeace USA to adopt a formal policy on interactions with Indigenous communities, according to Rolf Skar, the group’s campaigns director. In short, Greenpeace would not get involved in struggles led by Indigenous people unless specifically asked to do so.

That policy has come up in this month’s trial in North Dakota. Greenpeace argued that it had offered support in the Dakota Access Pipeline protest only after it was asked to do so by Indigenous leaders, and did not seek any major role in the demonstrations.

On Monday in a courtroom in the small city of Mandan, N.D., jury members are expected to start hearing closing arguments, after which they will consider Greenpeace’s fate.

(NY Times)

THE GREAT RUSSIAN WRITER and philosopher Fyodor Dostoevsky once wrote to his beloved Maria:

"On the street where you live, there are nine women more beautiful than you, seven women taller than you, nine women shorter than you, and one woman who claims to love me more than you do. At work, a woman smiles at me every day, another tries to lure me into conversation, and the waitress at the restaurant sweetens my tea with honey instead of sugar… but still, I love you."

And after marriage, Maria proved to be a devoted wife. She endured his illness, poverty, long journeys, and absences, standing by his side through every hardship. When she lay on her deathbed, Dostoevsky whispered to her: "Even in my thoughts, I have never betrayed you."

ANTI-TESLA, ANTI-MUSK

Since President Donald Trump’s inauguration, more than a dozen violent or destructive acts have been directed at Tesla facilities, according to court documents, surveillance photographs, police records and local media reports reviewed by The Washington Post.

The incidents come as Elon Musk has rocketed to prominence as Trump’s best-known backer and as a conservative provocateur in his own right.

The ire directed at the tech billionaire online has increasingly spilled into real life, with vandalism directed at Tesla storefronts, charging stations and vehicles.

In March several Tesla superchargers at a shopping center in Littleton, Massachusetts, were set ablaze. Vandals in Maryland also spray-painted “No Musk” on a Tesla building, alongside a swastika-like symbol.

In February, a man brandishing an AR-style semiautomatic weapon fired at a Tesla storefront in Salem, Oregon.

Just a few weeks earlier, investigators say, the same man attacked the same dealership by throwing molotov cocktails at Tesla vehicles and through the store window. He caused an estimated $500,000 in damage, according to court documents.

LEAD STORIES, WEDNESDAY'S NYT

Musk’s Role in Dismantling Aid Agency Likely Violated Constitution, Judge Finds

Judge Blocks Policy That Would Expel Transgender Troops

Rebuking Talk From Trump, Roberts Calls Impeaching Judges Over Rulings Improper

Putin Agrees to Limits on Energy Targets but Not Full Ukraine Cease-Fire

The Social Security Administration Says It Will Stop Allowing Changes Made by Phone

Highlights From Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore’s Return to Earth

Two Men Found Guilty in Theft of $6 Million Gold Toilet

THERE IS NO FORCE more potent in the modern world than stupidity fueled by greed.

— Edward Abbey

JOE BIDEN AND THE AUTOPEN

A fight about Joe Biden’s pardons may escalate into a larger question about the last presidency

by Matt Taibbi

On Saturday, January 18th, two days before Donald Trump’s inauguration, Racket published “Goodbye to Joe Biden, and Whoever Was President the Last Four Years.” From the piece:

“Years ago, Republican Congressman Tom Graves wondered about the legality of the “autopen,” a mass-signing machine first used by the Obama administration, though George W. Bush created the mechanism. When Obama approved an extension of the PATRIOT Act, for instance, he “directed the use of the autopen to sign it,” putting a staff secretary in charge of his signature. Though Biden’s use of the tool was said to be rare, the larger problem is the competency issue exposed by Hur’s report and episodes like the “walk-backs.” There’s abundant evidence Joe Biden either couldn’t or didn’t have much of a say in thousands of documents bearing his signature… Was he capable of giving a machine or anyone else signing authority?”

This morning, Donald Trump on Truth Social declared Joe Biden’s pardons “VOID, VACANT, AND OF NO FURTHER FORCE OR EFFECT” because “they were done by Autopen.” Biden, he wrote, not only didn’t sign his own documents, but “more importantly, he did not know anything about them”:

As noted in Obama-era coverage of the autopen, federal officials have long been anxious about its use, fearing exactly this sort of challenge to the legitimacy of White House documents. That makes coverage today describing the autopen as “ordinarily uncontroversial” odd. The autopen was and is highly controversial, with aides concerned about the requirement of a president’s physical presence for documents. Back in 2011, Slate noted that the same Office of Legal Counsel under George Bush that devised infamous torture memos hesitated to use the device, and “even President Bush never utilized an autopen,” noting Bush “flew through the night to get to the White House in time to sign the Terri Schiavo bill.” Article 1, Section 7 of the Constitution describes how bills must be “presented” to the president:

Some outlets are now insisting Trump is relying on a Heritage Foundation analysis in addition to a New York Post story from last week, which claimed an unnamed Biden aide was using the automatic signature device for the last president in a way that was “past protocol.”

I’m not sure about that. I heard from a congressional source in December that incoming investigators had raised this question, and that the issue that would need to be resolved was how cognizant Biden was of auto-signed documents. Whether or not Trump has the ability to declare pardons “void, vacant, and of no further notice or effect” is obviously another matter. Experts quoted today seem unanimous that he cannot. Either way, Trump’s salvo brings to the forefront a major unanswered question about the Biden presidency: who made executive decisions in the last four years?

(racket.news)

WHY “PRO-ISRAEL, PRO-PEACE” ADVOCATES CLING TO GENOCIDE DENIAL

by Norman Solomon

Israel’s renewed assault on Gaza comes several months after both Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch issued reports concluding without equivocation that Israel was engaged in genocide. But very few members of Congress dare to acknowledge that reality, while their silence and denials scream out complicity.

In a New York Times interview last weekend, the Senate’s Democratic leader Chuck Schumer put deep moral evasion on display. Among the “slogans” that are used when criticizing Israel, he said, “The one that bothers me the most is genocide. Genocide is described as a country or some group tries to wipe out a whole race of people, a whole nationality of people. So, if Israel was not provoked and just invaded Gaza and shot at random Palestinians, Gazans, that would be genocide. That’s not what happened.”

Schumer is wrong. The international Genocide Convention defines genocide as “acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group” -- with such actions as killing, “deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part,” and “imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group.”

Such actions by Israel have been accompanied by clear evidence of genocidal intent -- underscored by hundreds of statements by Israeli leaders and policy shapers. Scarcely three months into the Israeli war on Gaza, scholars Raz Segal and Penny Green pointed out , a database compiled by the Law for Palestine human rights organization “meticulously documents and collates 500 statements that embody the Israeli state’s intention to commit genocide and incitement to genocide since October 7, 2023.”

Those statements “by people with command authority -- state leaders, war cabinet ministers and senior army officers -- and by other politicians, army officers, journalists and public figures reveal the widespread commitment in Israel to the genocidal destruction of Gaza.”

Since March 2, the United Nations reports , “Israeli authorities have halted the entry of all lifesaving supplies, including food, medicine, fuel and cooking gas, for 2.1 million people.” Now, Israel’s horrendous crusade to destroy Palestinian people in Gaza -- using starvation as a weapon of war and inflicting massive bombardment on civilians -- has resumed after a two-month ceasefire.

On Tuesday, children were among the more than 400 people killed by Israeli airstrikes, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu proclaimed that “this is only the beginning.”

It’s almost impossible to find a Republican in Congress willing to criticize the pivotal U.S. backing for Israel’s methodical killing of civilians. It’s much easier to find GOP lawmakers who sound bloodthirsty .

A growing number of congressional Democrats -- still way too few -- have expressed opposition. In mid-November, 17 Senate Democrats and two independents voted against offensive arms sales to Israel. But in reality, precious few Democratic legislators really pushed to impede such weapons shipments until after last November’s election. Deference to President Biden was the norm as he actively enabled the genocide to continue.

This week, renewal of Israel’s systematic massacres of Palestinian civilians has hardly sparked a congressional outcry. Silence or platitudes have been the usual.

For “pro-Israel, pro-peace” J Street, the largest and most influential liberal Zionist organization in the United States, evasions have remained along with expressions of anguish. On Tuesday the group’s founder and president, Jeremy Ben-Ami, issued a statement decrying “the decision by Netanyahu to reignite this horrific war” and calling for use of “all possible leverage to pressure each side to restore the ceasefire.” But, as always, J Street did not call for the U.S. government to stop providing the weapons that make the horrific war possible .

That’s where genocide denial comes in. For J Street, as for members of Congress who’ve kept voting to enable the carnage with the massive U.S.-to-Israel weapons pipeline, support for that pipeline requires pretending that genocide isn’t really happening.

While writing an article for The Nation (“Has J Street Gone Along With Genocide?”), I combed through 132 news releases from J Street between early October 2023 and the start of the now-broken ceasefire in late January of this year. I found that on the subject of whether Israel was committing genocide, J Street “aligned itself completely with the position of the U.S. and Israeli governments.”

J Street still maintains the position that it took last May, when the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to halt its military offensive in Rafah. “J Street continues to reject the allegation of genocide in this case,” a news release said.

It would be untenable to publicly acknowledge the reality of Israeli genocide while continuing to support shipping more weaponry for the genocide. That’s why those who claim to be “pro-peace” while supporting more weapons for war must deny the reality of genocide in Gaza.

(Norman Solomon is the national director of RootsAction.org and executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy. The paperback edition of his latest book, War Made Invisible: How America Hides the Human Toll of Its Military Machine , includes an afterword about the Gaza war.)

Peggy Cummins and John Dall in *Gun Crazy* (1950)

THIS IS TRUMP'S GENOCIDE. Trump is just as culpable for what happens in Gaza as Netanyahu. Just as guilty as Biden was during the last administration.

Trump signed off on the reignition of the Gaza holocaust. He spent weeks sabotaging the ceasefire and then gave the thumbs up to the resumption of the genocide. He did this while bombing Yemen and threatening war with Iran for Israel.

I don’t know why Trump has done these things. Maybe it’s all for the Adelson cash. Maybe Epstein recorded him doing something unsavory with a minor during their long association and gave it to Israeli intelligence for blackmail purposes. Maybe he owed somebody a favor for bailing him out of his business failures in the past. Maybe he’s just a psychopath who enjoys murdering children. I don’t know, and it doesn’t really matter. What matters is that he did it, and he is responsible for his actions.

Trump supporters will justify literally anything their president does using whatever excuses they need to, but they are only revealing how completely empty and unprincipled their political faction is. They are unthinking worshippers of power who go along with whatever the president tells them to. By continuing to support Trump even as he continues Biden’s legacy of mass murder in the middle east, they are proving themselves to be mindless stormtroopers for the empire in full view of the entire world.

You can still support Trump if you hate immigrants and LGBTQ people and want lower taxes for the obscenely wealthy, but there is no legitimate reason to support him on antiwar or anti-establishment grounds. He’s just another evil Republican mass murderer president.

— Caitlin Johnstone

TWELVE SONGS: IX

by W. H. Auden

April 1936

Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.

Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbling on the sky the message He Is Dead
Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves,
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.

He was my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and my Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last for ever: I was wrong.

The stars are not wanted now: put out every one;
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun;
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood.
For nothing now can ever come to any good.

12 Comments

Harvey Reading March 19, 2025

LAKE COUNTY CALLS FOR ACCOUNTABILITY IN PG&E DAM REMOVAL

Tear the damned thing down before the brainless mutant from outer space gets involved…

Harvey Reading March 19, 2025

Well, MCT for this day was a generally depressing collection. Too bad it simply reflects our putrid reality…we did it to ourselves.

Call It As I See It March 19, 2025

Your in luck Caitlin Johnstone, there are a group of Republicans who are introducing a bill to make Trump Derangement Syndrome an actual mental illness. Time to get fitted for the white jacket with extremely long arms.

Fred Gardner March 19, 2025

Dostoevsky advised “Don’t fall in love with a woman who demands asparagus in January.” Now that our asparagus is coming from Mexico and Peru, it’s available all year round. Nice thick spears –organic, if you so choose–recently on sale at Oliver’s in Santa Rosa for $3.99/lb. Are we lucky or what?

- Jane Does March 19, 2025
  
  FYI
  
  Espáragos/Asparagus
  
  Homegrown, right there on site at Gowan’s Oak Tree in Philo
  
  $5.25 per pound
  
  Saw them, yesterday…enourmous…
  
  In Season Produce in Philo, CA | Gowan’s Oak Tree (picked fresh, days ago)
  https://gowansoaktree.com/
  
Chuck Dunbar March 19, 2025

Thank you, Falcon, for that fine photo–baby lamb and mom in green grass field–Spring comes!

Paul Modic March 19, 2025

stoned spring garden howls
oozing dawn pleasures pulsate
dreamy coffee smiles

Steve Heilig March 19, 2025

BUYERS’ REMORSE (Already)
(Or, Oops, we got conned again)
Consolidated Polling

Trump Job Approval
Overall – 49%-43% to 47%-47% (6 pt swing against Trump)
Hispanics – 42%-47% to 34%-56% (17 pt swing against Trump)
18-29 year olds – 48%-43% to 43%-45% (7 pt swing against Trump)
Independents – 41%-45% to 41%-46% (1 pt swing against Trump)

Trump Job Approval For Jobs and The Economy
Overall – 49%-37% to 43%-47% (16 pt swing against Trump)
Hispanics – 41%-36% to 32%-58% (31 pt swing against Trump)
18-29 year olds – 51%-33% to 40%-45% – (23 pt swing against Trump)
Independents – 43%-35% to 38%-49% – (17 pt swing against Trump)

- Steve Heilig March 19, 2025
  
  “He’s Crashing The US Economy – Trump took one of the strongest American economies in history and crashed it in a few weeks. The economy is slowing, our stock markets are have lost tens of trillions in value, the Fed is not lowering interest rates, he is vaporizing our scientific/research ecosystem central to our prosperity, his tariffs have caused higher prices here at home and angered our trading partners and allies throughout the world. Consumer confidence is at the lowest point in 45 years, his standing in the polls is falling fast and voters have come to believe, rightly, that Trump = tariffs = higher prices = more struggle for their families. We appear to be in the midst of the one of the greatest economic policy failures in American history.
  
  Trump’s Ukraine strategy to be the single greatest foreign policy failure in our history, a geopolitical catastrophe for America and the free world. In recent weeks Trump has torched our alliances and for all intents and purposes left NATO, acts that leave America far more exposed and vulnerable to a hostile attack than we’ve been in generations; he’s made extraordinary concessions to Putin only to have Putin show up an hour late for their call yesterday and then to basically throw Trump into the corner like a ragdoll. Due to Trump’s idiocy and/or fealty to Putin, America has gotten nothing in return for all these unilateral concessions we are making to Russia including the incredibly unconstitutional and illegal elimination of our global pro-democracy communications channels and the ending of USAID. As a result Putin is far stronger today, Trump/America/The West is far weaker and a global war on the European continent far more likely.
  
  It is too early to declare this part of Trump 2.0 a failure but let’s review all the Trumpian not winning in recent weeks – persistent, daily losses in courts of all kinds even with Republican judges; a loss in the Supreme Court and a new rebuke from John Roberts; the forced reinstatement of tens of thousands of government workers illegally fired; the forced re-opening of USAID, an agency that was illegally and unconstitutionally shuttered; growing loud public opposition in states and districts across the country to the carnage this wild assault on the US government has brought to communities in all 50 states; growing, organized opposition in the scientific and higher ed/research communities; and in general a growing awareness of the “you have to be fucking kidding me” nature of what Trump and Musk are doing to the country.” – Simon Rosenberg
  
Mike Jamieson March 19, 2025

Reply to CIAISI
The author of that bill has been arrested for soliciting sex from a minor. The bill was proposed in the Michigan state legislature.
(Legislation to designate TDS a mental illness.)

- Steve Heilig March 19, 2025
  
  Yep. The perverts tend to stick together – so many of them in the MAGA cult that it almost seems part of the job description for Trumpworld – and the truth about them tends to eventually come out.
  
Jane Does March 19, 2025

Asparagus in Philo

Homegrown
At Gowan’s Oak Tree

$5.25/lb.

Nye Ranch Farm, in Fort Bragg, has homegrown Asparagus, too

12 Comments

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