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WET WEATHER moves out of the area later today. Drier and warmer weather forecast Sunday into early next week. Wet weather returns mid to late next week. (NWS)
STEPHEN DUNLAP (Fort Bragg): Overnight rain brought .29" more rainfall, a cloudy 49F this Saturday morning on the coast. Maybe a shower this morning then clearing skies by midday lasting thru Tuesday. More rain returns for later next week. Periods of sneaker waves are forecast into mid next week, be careful near the shore, they are sneaky.
BATTLE LINES DRAWN months before PG&E submits final application to decommission Potter Valley hydropower plant
People from Humboldt to Marin counties gathered in Cloverdale to express skepticism about future water management strategies sparked by the plant’s impending shutdown
by Amie Windsor
More than 200 people from Humboldt to Marin counties packed the Cloverdale Veterans Memorial Hall Thursday night for a town hall meeting about how PG&E’s planned shutdown of its Potter Valley hydropower plant would impact the region’s water supply.
The controversial project involves the removal of the Scott and Cape Horn dams and PG&E’s nearby hydroelectric facility in Lake County, with PG&E saying it won’t shut down the plant and begin dam removal until 2028 at the earliest.
Residents and some elected officials are concerned the project will spark the potential loss of water from the Eel River to the Russian River that individuals from Mendocino, Sonoma and Marin counties have relied on for more than 100 years.
“This plan is unacceptable,” said Cloverdale Fire Protection District Chief Jason Jenkins. “As a fire chief, I’m here to say this does not protect our community.”
Bronte Edwards, a first generation sheep farmer from Sebastopol, said the project is setting farmers “up for failure,” and told leaders that if “you don’t have our backs, we will organize.”
But Sonoma County Fourth District Supervisor James Gore and others, including engineers from Sonoma County’s water agency, say the plan, while not perfect, will provide the region with enough water to meet public safety, residential and business needs.
“We are here because 10 years ago PG&E decided the [Potter Valley] project wasn’t economical,” Gore told the crowd. “Those of us impacted have been fighting like dogs to figure out what is best for our communities.”
The back-and-forth comes as a key date approaches: July 29 marks the deadline for PG&E to submit and distribute its “final surrender application and decommissioning plan” with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which has final say over the project.
The public comment period for the draft plan has closed. Local leaders connected to the project say the power company has no plans for town halls, but they have discussed holding additional public forums so the public can understand how the future tear down of the power plant would affect their communities.
The two-basin plan
For nearly a decade, leaders from neighboring counties, Native American tribes and nonprofits have worked together to figure out how to handle the hydroelectic plant’s impending decommissioning.
Seven entities — Sonoma County, the Mendocino County Inland Water and Power Commission, Humboldt County, the Round Valley Indian Tribes, Trout Unlimited, California Trout, and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife — formulated a solution known as a two-basin plan.
Currently, water diversions caused by opening the Scott and Cape Horn are controlled by PG&E, which holds water rights related to them. Through contracts, the power company allots flows into the Potter Valley Irrigation District and Eel River, providing water into Mendocino and Sonoma counties.
Once the dams are decommissioned, the approved two-basin solution would go into effect.
David Manning, environmental resources manager with Sonoma Water, the county’s water agency, told town hall attendees, the two-basin plan would divert an amount of water from the Eel River to the Russian River “not dissimilar” to what is currently flowing.
In other words, periodic releases totaling 30,000- to 40,000-acre-feet of water that are now flowing from the Eel River to the Russian River would keep coming … but at different times of the year.
Those releases would begin once the dams are decommissioned — a process that requires the aforementioned federal approval. A joint powers authority called the Eel Russian Power Authority would be responsible for managing the new diversions under the new set of rules.
Some say those new rules are too stringent and won’t bring water to Sonoma County when it’s most needed.
At the Cloverdale meeting, they voiced concerns that a bulk of the water would be released during the wintertime, when water isn’t a scarcity ― and that the county lacks adequate facilities to store it.
John Volpi, a Petaluma farmer and Geyserville business owner echoed most people’s concerns: “We need storage. It’s common sense.”
Manning and his colleague, Donald Seymour, principal water agency engineer at Sonoma Water, don’t fully disagree. But they also noted that Sonoma Water has storage projects in the works, including aquifer storage recovery and expansions of irrigation ponds, that allows the agency to store more water than what Lake Mendocino currently holds.
Manning says, “These things need to happen simultaneously. There’s not going to be enough storage. That’s going to take time.”
And there is time. Manning says PG&E hopes “to begin taking action [on the project] in 2028.”
But the caveat, he added, is that projects this size take time.
“There is no set schedule. All we can do is the steps required,” he said.
“This is not a global solution,” echoed Gore, who has been part of the project for most of his career, said. “But it is a solution.”
Few fear the solution more than Cloverdale Mayor Todd Lands, who organized Thursday’s town hall. Over the past few weeks, Lands has whipped his constituency — a working class community of just over 7,000 residents — into a frenzy, voicing concerns they’ll have to choose between showers or dishes, gardens or front lawns.
‘Extremely worried’
“We are extremely worried we won’t have a reliable water supply,” Lands told the crowd of 200-plus.
A laundry list of “unavoidable adverse effects” of the Potter Valley hydroelectric plant decommissioning include curtailed water diversions to Mendocino County’s Potter Valley Irrigation District, short-term algal toxins and algal blooms in the Eel River, short-term loss of recreation opportunities and loss of fire suppression capabilities as Lake Pillsbury is replaced by the Eel River.
Affecting Sonoma County more, PG&E writes, “there may be unavoidable adverse impacts to water reliability and cost, economic opportunity — particularly farming and ranching — recreation value in the Russian River watershed and community way of life because diversions to the East Branch Russian River would no longer occur under the propose action.”
A representative from PG&E did not attend the Thursday night meeting to explain these potential outcomes … or anything else about the power company’s project.
Requests for comment to PG&E were not returned.
In all, the meeting ran nearly three hours. At times, things got personal.
“What would your dad do if they tried to shut his vineyard water off?” Andy Springer asked Gore, whose family has long been in the wine business in Alexander Valley. Springer once ran against Gore for Fourth District Supervisor.
“He’d tell you to shut up,” a frustrated Gore replied. “Don’t you talk about my dad.”
(The Press Democrat)
THE 32ND ANNUAL ANDERSON VALLEY VARIETY SHOW
by Terry Sites
Kicking off the 32nd Annual Anderson Valley Variety Show was one of the better opening acts in living memory. There always has to be a dilemma that needs fixing. This year Captain Rainbow’s beloved tuxedo went missing (and how does he fit into it year, after year, after year, after year?). Anyway a search was undertaken with the intrepid and always helpful Justin Laqua rising to the occasion. Apparently the area under the stage is infested with alligators, termites and who knows what other scary adversaries.
Descending, Justin found a magical trunk (of course). Inside… what else?…the missing tuxedo! Case closed. But wait. Along the line somewhere an under stage flood complicated matters requiring the use of a gigantic pipe wrench conveniently located on the wall by the side of the stage. Every year the side of the stage is themed with this décor manufactured by Gail Meyer - this year a whole lotta useful tools. Any whoooooo, Justin saved the day (or night) in all its block-lighted glory. So, “See you later alligator.”
Tuxedo restored, Captain Rainbow joined forces with Singing songbird Sarah Ryan who served as glamorous Co-MC for the night and we were off to the races. A first timer was the first act out of the chute. Skip told us a cozy campfire tale. Cody and Michelle followed with a Tom Petty song that had us stomping and singing along. Next up, the Banana Squad took current events to a new level as they made a “banana split” out of a certain tech villain who has “gone bananas.” Three Charlie’s Angels style troupers with banana guns ablaze “creamed” tech man with their whipped cream loaded banana guns. Good riddance.
An entirely different generation of “Psychedelic Relics” Judy Basehore, Kathy Borst, Barbara Lamb and Lynda McClure reminded us, “If your health is in decline just take 10 pills and you’ll be fine.” A whole other take on the drug-culture. At this point things got serious as we listened to the names of those we had lost over the past year. Everyone knew at least one someone on the list and everyone knew that some day they would be on it (God willing and the creeks don’t rise and if the Variety Show perseveres). Rest in peace “Dusties.”
Black Sugar Rose with Charlene on banjo and her partner on guitar sang an old timey love song “If You Leave Before Me” — most appropriate after the Dusties. The Boont Tribe demonstrated in a hilarious way how words would be pronounced if phonics ruled the world. An enigmatic man named “Mitcho” with a stand up bass gave us a slightly x-rated rendition of what must have been an original called “Piggies Don’t Care - nose like a shovel, brain like Einstein, no filters! - piggies don’t care”. Lots to think about there.
They always like to have an animal act each year and this year they struck gold. Rad and Cat (Spydell) of the Pixie Dust Ranch were a tremendous audience favorite. Rad is a magnificent peacock and Cat is his devoted owner. Rad was rolled out onto the stage on an ornamental cart that served as a regal throne. Cat worships Rad and her tales of how she accommodates his special needs as they travel around the county visiting kids and grown-ups alike was riveting. Only in Anderson Valley.
Finishing the first half of Saturday night “Catfish in a Can” featured the Real Sarahs, both Ryan and Larkin, with Catfish Jack on harmonica and a smoking hot band. They all reminded us that “We can-can, yes we can-can, if want to if we want to we can-can. I know darn well we can work it out.” Amen and Awoman.
After the intermission, “The Amazing Eva”, a tiny, young aerialist, truly did amaze us. No more than 10 years old, her routine was complex and death defying. Under her coach “Mr. Bones” of Circus Mecca she worked the silks like an angel. We were transported with wonder at what the human body can be trained to do.
Following Eva “Get Out of Dodge” reminded us again of the times we live in. A devil-horned gentleman sang his own praises while two guys in masks worn sideways but facing front (interesting) backed him up. Once again “the one who shall not be named” strutted and fretted across the stage while we the reviled him. The horny guy apparently struck a responsive negative chord within us.
On to the 50/50 raffle. Big winner of the night was Nadia Berrigan who is fondly known as “Miss B’ by the legions of art students she has inspired over her many years of service as the art teacher at AVHS. When asked what she would buy with the over $500 she won she coolly replied, “Probably plywood.” Practical.
W.Dan Houck reined in the unruly raffle crowd with a great “shaggy dog” story. He led us around and around until finally confiding that the hero of his story was “cutting the same baloney that I’m feeding you.” Well really.
Next the “Graveyard Grifters” drifted in playing a guitar and musical saw. An apparition appeared looking a lot like Caspar the Friendly Ghost in a cowboy hat to occasionally rap out rhythms on a snare drum. Spooky. I know Cobb played the saw, another guy played the guitar and the under-wraps ghost was a woman.
Finally it was time for the Major Mark Scaramella’s portion of the show. Always cerebral-ish in his approach, this year he decided to test a random audience member on recall of obscure Rodney Dangerfield jokes. “Like Dangerfield, I get no respect,” he said. Intending to flummox the unsuspecting volunteer the Major unknowingly met his match in Ras Smith. Born and raised in the Valley by brainiacs Gwyn and the late Larry Smith, Ras is young but not to be trifled with.
Responding accurately to all but one of Rodney’s “groaners,” Mark challenged him to double or nothing with a couple of slight of hand manual dexterity tests. Low and behold, Ras succeded on the second one and doubled and Mark forked over the prize money and ended up with nothing! Chalk one up for the Millennials.
We really needed to calm down after this unlikely upset. Fortunately Yvonne and her “Life’s Heartbeat” settled us. Beginning in the dark (so we had no idea what we were listening to) as they lights went up we still really had no idea. Yvonne was patting with her fingers and palms on a hollow metal object popularly called a “hand pan.” It was mesmerizing and a little bit like steel drums but with a softer and rounder tone.
“Hillshake” from Redwood Valley with Andy on the Bass and Clay on the slide guitar treated us to some of their very own kind of rocking music and leading us to the final act of the night - “Mac-K and the Red Eyed Knights”. Keevan Labowitz is Mac-K a rapper with an East African influence with two high school teachers- Arthur and Nate M. backing him up. He extolled us to “Rise-Up” as he paced the stage like a caged Lion. It was a high-energy way to close out the night’s showing of Anderson Valley (and beyond) talent.
Of course the Grange must be heartily thanked for providing the Venue and so many of the volunteers who make the Variety Show possible. Also all the special event people who do the lighting, stage managing, food vending, money collecting, sound boarding, etc. All must be commended and thanked. Thanks to the Pit band Michael and Leslie Hubbert and Chris Bing for his sound effects. Thanks to Abeja in her Airline Stewardess Guise - special award for best disguised participant. We loved that 80’s floppy bow blouse! And to the rest of you - time to start planning your act for the 33rd Annual Variety Show.
JIM SHIELDS
I’ve always advised people to take politics seriously but never lose your sense of humor as it helps you keep a more rounded perspective and promotes healthier minds, at least that’s my story. In keeping with that theme, this Saturday if you time check out:
Jim Shields Talks To Supe Haschak On KPFN This Saturday, March 22nd at 12:30pm. District 3 Supervisor John Haschak will appear on KPFN 105.1 on “This & That” with Jim Shields and his partner-in-crime Mendocino Mike.
They will be talking about all the recent happenings at Board of Supervisors meetings with the exception of the infamous Cubbison affair, since the Supes have been gagged by their legal brain trust who played a large role in creating this mess in the first place. There still will be lots of other topics up for discussion, however.
14 MENDOCINO COUNTY STUDENTS TO HEAD TO SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA TO COMPETE IN STATE SCIENCE FAIR
by Sarah Stierch
Fourteen Mendocino County students will head to Southern California in April to compete against peers from across the state in the 74th California Science & Engineering Fair, the Mendocino County Office of Education announced Wednesday.
The competition to enter the state science meet took place at the 39th annual Science & Engineering Fair and STEAM Expo at Mendocino College in Ukiah on Saturday. The event brought science and engineering enthusiasts of all ages together for an afternoon of hands-on activities and learning experiences.…
SUPPORT FISHING SUPPORT
If you’d like to support a request by Tribes, Asm Roger, and north coast fishing, this item will be heard on Tuesday (with public comment via zoom, in person, phone):
Board Of Supervisors, March 25, Item 4c
Discussion and Possible Action Including Approval of Transmission of a Letter of Support for Assembly Bill 263 (Rogers)
(Sponsor: Supervisor Williams)
Summary Of Request:
Karuk and Yurok Tribes, along with California Coastkeeper Alliance are sponsoring AB 263, authored by Asm Rogers, which would allow the emergency regulations adopted by the State Water Resources Control Board that are currently in place on the Scott and Shasta River Watersheds to remain in effect until permanent rules establishing and implementing long-term instream flow requirements are adopted.
Mendocino County has long relied on the fishing industry to support its local economy, and the historic inequitable management of our state’s water system has discounted and ignored important tribal cultural and economic uses of water and dependance on healthy aquatic ecosystems. This bill is critical to protecting salmon populations in the Scott and Shasta Rivers and, in turn, protecting keystone environmental species and critical resources for tribes and the fishing industry.
We have been asked to submit a letter in support of this legislation. At time of submission, RCRC has not taken a position. On March 18, the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors passed similar support.
REPORT FROM A SMALL FARM IN BOONVILLE
Petit Teton Monthly Farm Report - February 2025
Dear friends,
Our newly minted Secretary of Agriculture declared that to beat the high cost of eggs, every American should raise backyard chickens. Hmmmm, have you purchased your chickens yet? How about the organic chick feed, the coop, and the heat lamp, etc? Are you keeping your babies in the bathtub or the closet or on the kitchen floor? Or are you lucky enough to have a backyard in which owning chickens is legal? Oh, but roosters aren’t! Often at least one is a rooster. Do you know how to “process” the rooster or spent hens? Sigh. You get the point…STUPID order…one among many.
Yesterday we picked up our first batch of 20 chicks and feed from our local farm supply. The total cost was $350. In our experience usually one or two chicks in each batch die. The survivors will only start laying small eggs around six months of age. After one month, and just before picking up our second batch, we move the first ones to a small coop outdoors away from the grown chickens, and run an extension cord to power a heat lamp until they’re strong enough to be let out into a small enclosure. Over the course of the six months we buy many bags of chick feed. Once mature enough they are moved to their own adult coop in a field of their own so they can work out their pecking order, then we let them mingle with the older chickens. Most of the time they won’t intermingle and each group will return to its own coop, where they’re shut in for the night. Everyone loves chicken, including all the night roamers; plus dogs, bobcats and hawks, which can attack during the day. Speaking of which, that’s why it’s good to have a rooster. They warn of danger and tell the hens where there’s food as well as making sure that the eggs are fertile. Lots of fun in your backyard!
This month has made up for our dry January. Everything is growing fast with all the water. In the next few days, when the temps are predicted to be close to 80 degrees, we expect all the trees to burst into bloom and everything to grow rapidly. We also expect to be doing endless days of weed whacking once the rains have stopped, still a ways away since more rain is predicted. It’s beautiful, rain or shine, and as always you are most welcome to visit.
Be healthy and happy and skip chicken raising; buy those expensive eggs when you can.
Happy Spring resistance…
Nikki Auschnitt and Steve Krieg
Boonville
SUPERVISOR BERNIE NORVELL:
Tuesdays meeting agenda…
I cannot argue that there is not a lot of meat in this agenda. However, staff is in in the middle of budget building, Meeting with department heads to hear their needs. Hip camps was given back to planning and building and we should see that come back soon. Cannabis in on for Wednesday’s GGC meeting. There are in fact three closed session items on Tuesday’s agenda, 6a, 6b, 6c. We were told at the last BHAB meeting that the RFP for a PHF service provider was in the review process, per Dr. Miller. Homeless encampments have not been forgotten and are being worked on. The county’s CORE program is new and still being worked on. I hope to have some updates to share soon.
UNITY CLUB NEWS
by Miriam Martinez
Spring came in with gentle rain and a few freezing nights. The Wildflowers should be exceptional this year. The Unity Club meeting will be held on April 3rd at 1:30 in the Fairgrounds Dining Room. It will be part Wildflower Show and part Program. The Budget will also get some time. Our program will be presented by Superintendent of Anderson Valley Unified Schools, Kristen Larson Balliet. The title is “ABC - Reporting Challenges and Successes”. Our Hostess team will be Liz Dusenberry, Ellen Fontaine, Janet Lombard and Jo Atley. They will provide snacks and beverages.
The Annual Wildflower Show will be held May 3rd & 4th in June Hall. Preparations are under way. The Plant ID classes will begin Tuesday April 1st (no joke) in the Library (Home Arts Bldg.) from 2 to 4. There will be 4 sessions with the 5th week devoted to Wildflower collection.
A sign up sheet will be circulated for members to participate in various roles during the set up, bottle cleaning, booth person, greeting table, Silent Auction, and break down of the room after Monday’s Elementary School visit to the Show. This is a major fundraiser, so member participation is vitally needed. We will have a special presentation on Saturday, the 3rd, on “Sudden Oak Death.” We expect a good response from Wildflower Show visitors and membership alike.
Our Lending Library will be open as usual Tuesdays from 1 to 4 and Saturdays from 12:30 to 2:30, except when the Fairgrounds are rented out for special events.
School will be on Spring Break so I will definitely see you at the April 3rd meeting at 1:30 in the Dining Rooms. Enjoy all the beautiful blossoms around you.
A-BIT-&-A-BITE
Author & Local Historian, Katy Tahja, Visits Museum!
Thursday, March 27, join us at 12:30 for our, A-Bit-and-A-Bite, lunch hour program at the Mendocino County Museum. Author and local historian, Katy Tahja, will share her experience researching and writing books on local history including, An Eclectic History of Mendocino County, and Logging Railroads of Humboldt and Mendocino Counties. The, A-Bit-and-A-Bite, program is part of an ongoing series of fun, casual, spotlights on County History. Light snacks are provided, and all are welcome. Sponsored by the Friends of the Mendocino County Museum.
For more information: For more information, please visit www.mendocinocounty.org/museum or call (707)234-6365.
3 BEDS 2 BATHS - HOUSE
Single family home. 3 bedroom 2 bathroom house available for rent April 1st. Front and backyard with parking available. Kerosene unit heater . Located in town. NO PETS. $1000 deposit. DM me (facebook) for application information.
Selma Soto-Rhoades
HOUSE TO SHARE IN NAVARRO
We have a large fully furnished house in Navarro and have two rooms with attached baths to rent. Both rooms are furnished and available April/May. We also have the master bedroom in the house, but are onsite only part of the year.
Tenants will be responsible for normal household maintenance, and minimal upkeep of the property. Each room will rent for $1,000 per month including utilities and wifi. We would prefer no pets but exceptions can be made. Those interested will have to fill out an application, sign a lease and provide owners with references.
Call or Text, Dennis (facebook)
ED NOTES
THE GROWING opposition to Trump too often focuses on his obvious unfitness, that he’s an idiot and so on, but the people behind him, the people running him aren’t idiots and they aren’t incompetent, and they’ve already, in less than three months, successfully gotten US far down the road to a kind of government we don’t recognize and, hopefully, won’t tolerate. This really is a rolling coup, and the Magas aren’t leaving office now that they captured it.
WHAT’S ENCOURAGING about the growing opposition to Trump, the great unifier, is the broad cross-section of Americans he’s unified. Against himself. It may be the wildest wishful thinking, but I think we may be headed, at last, to a Maidan-like uprising this summer, mass permanent rallies in all the major cities that drive these people out of office.
BUT, BUT, BUT… They have the cops, they have the Army, they have the Proud Boys.
DO THEY? Trump’s brown shirts aren’t even a sliver of the population, and already in Seattle and Portland the forces of righteousness have more than held their own against the Trumpian militias.
COPS? Elements thereof probably, but not unified departments. In Portland the cops didn’t intervene when the militias were pounding on counter-protesters, but protesters still held their own. Trump sympathies among police forces are stronger in suburban and rural areas than they are in cities where police forces include large contingents of ethnic minorities, most of whom are emphatically not Magas. Ditto for Army units.
THE CLOSEST we’ve come to mass opposition lately occurred during the Occupy Movement, and that was two decades ago, ignited by the 2008 federal bailout of the crooks atop the mega-banks. The crises we face today multiply by the day, and again it’s the captive federal government doing the igniting.
OCCUPY SAN FRANCISCO, in my experience, was fun. The neo-Occupy presently taking shape across the United States is shaping up as massive and much more serious, and certainly more enduring, than Occupy.
MY OCCUPY MEMORIES: Occupy SF was looking pretty scruffy that Thursday, less scruffy Friday, and even less scruffy Saturday, but the Chronicle exaggerated just how scruffy anyway. While I was making my solidarity visit at Justin Herman Plaza, foot of Market Street, the Porta Potties were being attended to and the Reverend Cecil Williams, getting about with a cane, and his rail thin wife, the poet Janice Mirikitani, the thinnest woman I’ve seen outside a hospital, seemed to be inspecting the food tent, which has always looked spotless to me, sometimes with fancy spreads that look like they’ve been catered.
A FEW of the usual walking wounded were shuffling around, and one suddenly blurted, “And another thing! I’m not gay!” The two bocce lanes had been cleared of tents, not that anyone had ever much bocce-ied on them, Justin Herman Plaza bearing no resemblance to the busy humanity and flower beds of a real plaza. The Occupiers enlivened the otherwise dead and foreboding swathe of unrelieved concrete.
A SENIOR CITIZEN walked by with a sign that said, “My Own Left Wing Theory.” I asked him for a copy. “I’m out,” he said. Nearby was a placard that began, “Wisdom is the ability to aspire through one’s own creations…” A man identified only as Brian was scheduled at 11:30am to deliver a lecture called “Restorative Justice.” I wanted to hear what Brian meant by restorative justice. It was exactly 11:30. No Brian. Brian never did appear and justice will be restored on that glorious day that capitalism is reconfigured to serve us instead of us serving it.
OF COURSE there were a lot of marginal people in this Occupy camp, but millions more people are being marginalized, which is why today’s neo-Occupy has resonated with so many, and is steadily, in the Age of Trump, angrily resonating with millions more Americans.
EVERY TIME I visited Occupy SF there were as many conventional people present as street people. A quartet of uniformed airline workers, while deliberately positioning themselves a few feet from the main body of the camp, distributed leaflets outlining their work site beefs, and an articulate man named Richard Kreiger was on camera with the omni-present media vultures. Kreiger did a lot of Occupy’s talking, which is a good thing because he stays on message, which is that American capitalism has become cruel and oppressive, if it wasn’t already which, of course, depends on both your perspective and bank account. Contrary to what a lot of media and pundits are putting out, there are a lot of smart, creative people involved with Occupy, and they aren’t fooling around and they’re not going away.
SF, LIKE MENDOCINO COUNTY, is teeming with self-identified “progressives,” a Rorschach-like term that seems to mostly translate as a spiffier kind of liberal, but a liberal who can be depended on at election time to vote for conservative Democrats. Myself, I don’t see a whit of evidence that San Francisco is any more progressive in public policy than retro Mendocino County is. In Frisco, even the communists call themselves progressives (as they always have), but these days it’s a place where “progressives” erect high rises for zillionaires while defending the rights of suicidal drunks and dopers to die on the streets. What we really have in SF is not a politically progressive population but a concentration of comfortable people whose true priorities are food, fashion and arse tattoos.
BLACK FRIDAY was a representative Frisco event, funny as all heck in a sort of dancing-to the-apocalypse way. At Union Square, a couple hundred people were marching against mindless consumption as thousands of mindless consumers poured in and out of the high end emporiums. And here come the Women In Black scaring the little kids — “Mommy, are they dead?” — while a delegation of animal people, one of whom seemed to be draped in a pile of mutilated coyotes, protested fur coats. Do they still sell fur coats? I haven’t seen one on a live person since 1950.
REMEMBERING RICKY
March 19, 2025: Eleven years ago today, Deputy Sheriff Ricky Del Fiorentino was murdered in the line of duty in Ft. Bragg Ca.
Today we gathered to remember him and his service to our communities. This gathering included Family members, community members, members of the judiciary including lawyers from the prosecution and defense bar as well as several deputies and police officers.
Many folks spoke about their memories of Ricky and how he had touched their lives in one form or another. Ricky enforced the law with a strong yet kind hand and was respected by all who onew him.
Ricky was a loved member of our community. From coaching sports to teaching children to fish Ricky meant many things to many people.
Thank you to all who still speak of this good man and keep him in your memories.
Sheriff Matt Kendall
THE FILMING OF EAST OF EDEN
James Dean was the Timothée Chalamet of his generation. If you have somehow missed Timothée’s rising star, think young Brad Pitt or Leonardo DiCaprio. So when the handsome, moody hunk arrived in Mendocino in late May of 1954 to star in Elia Kazan’s production of “East of Eden,” people took notice. It’s good that they did because it was the beginning of his meteoric film career and he was killed in a car accident a little over a year later. When he was cast as Cal Trask, Dean was a 23-year old aspiring actor who had recently gained admission to the prestigious Actors Studio in New York, where some of his fellow thespians were Marlon Brando, Eli Wallach, and Julie Harris. He had landed a few bit parts in movies and TV shows like “General Electric Theatre,” but this was his first starring role.
“James Dean in Mendocino: The Filming of East of Eden,” originally published in 1994, was recently reprinted by the Kelley House due to popular demand. Compiled and edited by local historian Bruce Levene, the book gives a behind-the-scenes look at the filming, the actors, the local extras, and the many Mendocino scenes preserved on celluloid. The movie was adapted from the final part of John Steinbeck’s epic 1952 novel and tells the story of a wayward young man seeking his own identity even as he vies for the affection of his religious and controlling father against his favored brother. That he takes up with his brother’s girlfriend does nothing to improve the complex dynamics in the dysfunctional family.
This retelling of the Cain and Abel story was set in Monterey and Salinas, but Warner Brothers couldn’t film it there because those towns no longer looked like they had in 1917. Mendocino did and, furthermore, there were almost no TV antennas that had to be taken down during the shooting. Dr. Preston’s imposing house [which stood where the Mendocino Art Center is now] was featured prominently in the film, even as the town’s beloved Dr. Preston himself lay on his death bed in an upstairs room. Many of the cast members stayed in the Little River Inn, which today still boasts a James Dean Suite.
Not that Dean evinced any fondness for the place while he was a guest there; he mostly kept to himself, affecting an unsociable demeanor like his role model, Brando. Refreshingly different was his co-star, Julie Harris, already a Tony-award-winning actress on the New York stage, who loved the inn, got to know all the staff members there, and even helped out in the restaurant on occasion. She mingled with the extras during shootings and was friendly with Mendocino shopkeepers, gaining a popularity with the locals that foreshadowed that of Angela Lansbury 30 years later.
Many of the local folks who were cast as extras are no longer whinnying with us, but their reminiscences about that fun chapter in their lives are preserved in the book. As are many action photos of all the players, both stars and the local talent. Understandably, the Hollywood presence was obsessively covered and commented upon in the local media — in those days the “Beacon,” the “Advocate-News,” the “Paul Bunyan News,” and the “Santa Rosa Press Democrat” — and every snippet is included. Ron Silva’s piece, “JD and JC,” is reprinted from his “The Mendocino Stories.”
The Warner Brothers crew left Mendocino on June 2nd and headed for Burbank to film the interior scenes of “East of Eden,” which were completed by the end of August. In early 1955, the movie premiered in New York City, not Mendocino, perhaps because there was no venue sufficiently large here. Celebrities galore were present, as were all the film’s stars except Dean, who was off in Los Angeles steaming up the camera lens in “Rebel Without a Cause” with Natalie Woods. John Steinbeck was also at the premiere, and his favorable response was quoted in the “New York Times”: “I was overwhelmed with what they have done. I think it might be the best film I ever saw. I think it’ll be a classic.” Indeed it is a classic and you can read all about it in “James Dean in Mendocino.” Purchase it at the Kelley House for $20.
(kelleyhousemuseum.org)
R.D. BEACON
Over the years, Dick’s place was a hangout the local loggers, and timber owners, remembering back to 1962, when myself, and Jerry Philbrick, few others, would belly up to the bar, Pete chickie was the bartender and owner, he’d make sure we’d stay out of trouble, the local cop was Sam Costa, and usually he was gone by 5 PM, we take the hottest cars and 10 out, that’s powerful, down to the bank building west of the bar, and race from their down to the local gas station, loser would buy the drinks for the whole bar my car was Plymouth, Jerry’s car, but Chevrolet few truckers would come in, and join the party, if we were inclined to go out to dinner we find our way down the road, and the town a little river, and go up to see Little River Inn, only with the candy bar or sometimes Rod Holder, depending on how late, those were the good old days, sometimes we go north, will place called Freddie’s, on the outskirts, Fort Bragg shall send it out, pretty rowdy spot, from the air for food, would make it up to the Piedmont hotel, in the middle account best Italian food on the coast, Piedmont burned out and they did not rebuild, Freddy’s is now a gas station, most of the old time, bars are long gone, if you drank in Fort Bragg, in the old days, the cops wouldn’t bother you, they would let you sleep it off in your car, not today they take you off to jail, today it’s about money, if you want a party you wanted to, it at home, but don’t make too much noise, for the new bleeding heart neighbors, people have moved in from the East Coast, will complain to the cops, and you’ll either ended up with the ticket, or overnight in the county jail, the new people just won’t mind, their own business, and most of them, came to California for the, free money and all the other free stuff, they could get in the neighborhood, if you mention the word job, or work, they’ll run the other way, times are changing, and writings on the wall, the ones that are not supposed to be here, are being gathered up, and shipped south of the border, the other day, I was listening to the two-way radio, as I was going to Boonville, it sounded like ice, had come to Mendocino County, they were gathering up, the illegals, local government is failed to realize, the Fed is in charge, and it’s about time that we got our housecleaning, I noticed in the news last night there were protesters in San Francisco, my only question how many of those people don’t have, a work permit, that’s green card, to be here, and how many have green cards that is supposed to have jobs here, but still protesting, what we do around the world, could somebody failed to tell him that they don’t have, the same rights as American citizens, they do not have the right to peaceful assembly, they do not have the right of freedom of speech, they do not have any American rights, because they are not American citizens, and should be deported their green cards revoked, this student visas revoked, and be put on a plane and shipped back to their country of origin, never to return to America, the other day I heard somebody tell me that was on a student visa, that they gotten all these rights in America, I explained carefully to the, that those rights don’t automatically show up for them just because their fear they have to be a citizen, to enjoy the rights that we all have here, I told the individual who was seem to be a little old to be honest student visa, that was attending a local college, that you should watch himself, for the rights of Americans, don’t automatically become the rights of a visitor, he has the right to leave town, he has the right to be kicked out of the country, and he does not have the right of freedom of speech, or peaceful assembly, he was surprised he thought it was automatic, just like he thought getting free healthcare, was also automatic, told him there’s a big change, and he better go somewhere else, otherwise is good and output of federal jail somewhere and we might just throw the key away, just like it is in other countries.
MENDOCINO BOTANICAL GARDENS
Check out this adorable pairing! What’s more perfect for the first day of spring? Johnny Jump-ups and ladybugs welcome the new season at our garden by the sea.
CATCH OF THE DAY, Friday, March 21, 2025
EDGAR CORIA, 46, Gualala. Murder with infliction of bodily injury with firearm.
SADIE GRAVLEE, 26, Elk. Conspiracy, probation revocation.
PATRICK HILBUN, 72, Fort Bragg. DUI, suspended license for DUI, probation violation, failure to appear.
BENJAMIN HOFF, 42, Ukiah. Failure to appear, probation revocation.
ARACEL MARTINEZ-SANCHEZ, 23, Gualala. Domestic battery.
JASON MODDER, 38, Ukiah. Stalking and threatening bodily injury, battery.
JULIO NAJERA-LEON, 32, Elk. Petty theft with priors, conspiracy, probation violation,
ERIC OWEN, 53, Ukiah. DUI with blood-alcohol ove 0.15% with prior, no license.
PETER SMITH, 48, Redwood Valley. Controlled substance while armed with loaded firearm, felon-addict with firearm, ammo possession.
DIEGO VALLEJO, 21, Ukiah. Failure to appear.
LAKE COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS’ ‘SPECIAL MEETING,’ FRIDAY, MARCH 21, 2025
by Betsy Cawn
The Lake County Board of Supervisors today is conducting an in-person-only “Special Meeting” to provide a “Training Workshop” on “Organizational Effectiveness Future Focused Governance.”
The meeting is being held at the Robinson Rancheria conference center, in Nice.
The morning session, on “Organizational Effectiveness,” covers the “Executive Leadership Model / Next Steps,” “Future Focused Governance / Best Practices,” and “Priority Setting / Vision 2028 Review.”
Ironically, one of the top ten goals of the “Vision 2028” document — created as an instrument of authority for the members of the Board of Supervisors, following the 2015, 2016, and 2017 disasters — is: ”2. Maintain a transparent County government that is responsive, efficient, and fair.”
The afternoon session will focus on “Priority Setting / Vision 2028 Review,” which includes a review of “Procedure, Protocol & Rules Manual - Review and Discussion (time permitting).”
“Visioning” and “re-imagining” Lake County were created as political strategies to re-focus the attention of the Board of Supervisors and the Administration on achieving 10 lofty goals, which largely served to corral the agencies and departments that serve the public — after assuring their continuity as “implementers” of “governance” leadership designs, aligned with federal and state mandates that drive the majority of actions taken by the elected officials. The current document has no legal authority, and the Administration at the time demanded that all of the Supervisors “pledge allegiance” to its promises.
Because the County coffers took a major hit after the Valley Fire in 2015, due to the County’s non-compliance with the federal Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000, the County’s Chief Administrative Officer declared that the County would have a $5M deficit and would have to cut essential public services to keep the government afloat.
Sheriff’s patrols, being not a required function of the Sheriff’s Office, were simply ended as a public service.
Proposals to reduce the beloved Library services were foreclosed by the fact that our Library system was created with its own property tax revenues that cannot be touched by the BoS.
Many public “hearings” were held to let citizens advocate for those treasured and valued public services that the Administration said would no longer be available.
Due, however, to some backfilling trickery by the Assessor-Recorder’s office, the aftermath of the Valley Fire resulted in greater property tax revenues and the deficit scare was resolved.
Activists in communities affected by these horrific disasters came together to rethink the priorities and directions of government operations. In 2016 the County’s second Municipal Advisory Council was formed, followed in 2017 by three more in our Supervisory District 3 (“Northshore”), where today’s hallowed event is taking place.
A sixth and seventh Municipal Advisory Council have emerged since. Unfortunately, the sixth was ill-formed by the District 4 Supervisor, and only recently realized its structural authority to develop local solutions to major issues in Scotts Valley. Last year a seventh such organization was created — with lots of jurisdictional back and forth between Supervisors in District 4 (Michael Green) and District 5 (Jessica Pyska), plus “feedback” from the major Tribal nation in Kelseyville’s Big Valley (Big Valley Band of Pomo Indians) and business-focused Kelseyville dundees.
The unspoken disconnect between “Vision 2028” and the “leadership model” is its unofficial nature. As a broad “policy” document, it has no authority of its own. Each item needs to be supported by reference to local legislation (“Municipal Codes”) and ties between top-level Ordinances and the Lake County General Plan. The 2008 edition of our current General Plan lacks little relevance to current county realities, and was never designed to actually “implement” its impossible goals and policies.
In the years since Vision 2028 was created, the Board of Supervisors has invested quite a lot of our tax dollars to developing “leadership” skills, and in the past two or three years individual Supervisors have become active members of committees or boards of directors in the National Association of Counties’ regional “leadership” and California State Association of Counties’ “management” programs.
In line with “updating” our Natural Hazard Mitigation Plan and Emergency Operations Plan (“chop, chop,” in 2017 and 2023), and now the General Plan (and eight local area plans), the Board of Supervisors definitely need to take action to resolve long-standing organization problems, and find resources to meet the needs of 20,000 Older Adults in Lake County — now threatened by the loss of “meals on wheels,” IHSS workers, Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid revenues.
Let’s hope the next “Vision” we create has valid underpinnings in our next annual budget allocations, and actionable General Plan goals and policies that will ensure the survival of our body politic and its hard-pressed tax payers.
MEMO OF THE AIR: Good Night Radio all night tonight on KNYO and KAKX!
Soft deadline to email your writing for tonight’s (Friday night’s) MOTA show is 6pm or so. And if that’s too soon, send it any time after that and I’ll read it next Friday.
Memo of the Air: Good Night Radio is every Friday, 9pm to 5am PST on 107.7fm KNYO-LP Fort Bragg and KNYO.org. The first three hours of the show, meaning till midnight, are simulcast on KAKX 89.3fm Mendocino.
Plus you can always go to https://MemoOfTheAir.wordpress.com and hear last week’s MOTA show. By Saturday night I’ll put up the recording of tonight’s show. You’ll find plenty of other educational amusements there to educate and amuse yourself with, such as:
“You possess a magic something…” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0d5eGGDs44
“I’m a dangerous loaf of bread. C’mon, sang it, people. The Enemy hates it!” Church has changed since I was a boy. (You might have to click the sound on.) https://www.instagram.com/p/DHJGRoYuqdX/
And Camilla Sparv will be 82 in June. https://www.vintag.es/2025/03/camilla-sparv.html
Marco McClean, memo@mcn.org, https://MemoOfTheAir.wordpress.com
BILL KIMBERLIN:
Tonight I visited a very strange place called Emilia’s Pizzeria. This is no ordinary pizza place. There is only one Chef and he only makes 30 pizzas a night. The Chronicle called it “eccentric”. I was prepared to call him “the pizza Nazi” from an old Seinfeld episode but he wasn’t. Far from it. It’s named after his daughter and Keith is the real deal. His efforts have been called, “a dead ringer for any of New York’s legendary coal-oven pizzerias.”
You must order your pizza at 8:55am of the morning you intend to dine. After ordering this morning I choose a 7:29pm pick-up and was waiting at those out door tables at 7:27. There are no indoor tables. I am going to reheat it for a little later tonight, but I normally do not allow sample bits on the way home, in this case I broke my rule so as to give an honest immediate opinion. Wow, limp and juicy, unlike normal thin ones that tend towards dryness. We shall see later this evening but I am hopeful. I asked Keith if he had sold 30, he paused and said, “26 I think.”
PG&E ASKS CALIFORNIA REGULATORS FOR RATE INCREASE TO BOOST SHAREHOLDER PROFITS
by Julie Johnson & Danielle Echeverria
Pacific Gas and Electric Co. on Thursday asked state energy regulators to increase shareholder profits because of the high risk of doing business in California after a historic year of rate hikes sent utility bills soaring.
In filings submitted to the California Public Utilities Commission, PG&E asked that it be allowed a 11.3% return for investors, up a percentage point from the current limit.
Called a return on equity, it’s a percentage of company revenues that is reserved for shareholders and designed to help investor-owned utility companies like PG&E attract investments in California’s energy system.
If approved, PG&E’s proposal would increase residential customer bills by about $5.50 per month, the company said. The rate hike would take effect starting in January 2026 at the earliest.
The request came amid statewide concerns about high electricity bills. Last year, PG&E increased electricity rates on five separate occasions and lowered electricity bills once — which meant average residential customers paid about $440 more annually compared with 2023. The dramatic rise prompted hearings with California lawmakers and regulators about how to lower bills.
Starting this month, PG&E customer bills rose by about $3 for average households, an increase meant to cover rising transmission service costs and repay the utility company for state-mandated vegetation management work the company completed in 2021.
The company said that it expected overall bill increases to be in the 2-4% range through 2026.
Some of the revenues are paid to shareholders in the form of dividends, and the rest is reinvested in the company. In 2024, PG&E reported $2.47 billion in profits. Of that, $86 million went to shareholder dividends. The rest was reinvested in the company for projects like power line maintenance and inspection programs. PG&E said its dividend is the lowest in the utility industry.
There are mechanisms in place to ensure utility companies like PG&E aren’t driving up expenses to boost profits. If companies spend more than state regulators approve, they must reduce the amount given to shareholders to cover those cost overruns.
Even so, ratepayer advocates have argued that state regulators have failed to limit utility spending. PG&E and other utility companies are able to go back to regulators to ask for more when projects, which are often budgeted years in advance, cost more than anticipated.
In the filing, PG&E company officials said that the increase is warranted because its investors in California’s energy system are taking significant risks — and expect to be compensated for that.
Among those risks, PG&E cited inflation and disruptions to the supply chain, which can increase prices and interest rates. The company also noted that climate change has increased the costly impact of storms and wildfires, and state law holds utilities liable for damage caused by their equipment, even when the companies acted prudently.
PG&E also said that some of the major policy shifts underway by the Trump administration could drive the cost of doing business higher.
Californians are paying some of the highest electricity rates in the country — and often struggling to afford them. As of December last year, about 1 in 5 households served by PG&E, Southern California Edison or San Diego Gas & Electric were behind on energy payments, according to the state.
Next month, Californians can expect a credit on gas and electric bills as part of the state’s Cap-and-Trade program, which requires polluters to pay for state climate investments.
The credits, which will amount to about $125 for residential customers who receive both electric and gas service, are automatically applied to customer bills in the spring and fall and are meant to offset rate increases due to the state’s cap-and-trade program that aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The credit is $58 for electric-only customers and about $67 for gas-only customers.
(SF Chronicle)
“She [Marilyn Monroe] was very serious at The Studio. People write and say now that Lee [Strasberg] favored and coddled her, but that is bullshit. I had my problems with Lee, but that is not true. What Lee did was he took her seriously, which she deserved. I was as dubious and snotty as others when I saw her come in. I didn’t take her seriously. That’s on me. I was wrong. She never drew attention to herself. She concentrated on everything and everyone, and she was very sweet to me. She wanted very, very strongly to be a good actress. To be a good person. Now, do I know anything about her personal life? Her tragedies or dreams? No, but who does? Marilyn came in as a serious student and she did her work. That’s not a juicy story, so we peck at her corpse and take a piece of skin here, a piece of skin there, and put together an image, a portrait that satisfies our need to feel better about our own lives. Our own lives in which we are not beautiful and magical and fragile and very, very serious about becoming better.”
— Barbara Baxley on Marilyn Monroe/Interview with James Grissom/1989
MUWEKMA OHLONE TRIBE CALLS FOR THE RETURN OF THE SAN FRANCISCO PRESIDIO
Rematriating the historic fortress would be America’s most significant #LandBack initiative to date
San Francisco, CA — The Muwekma Ohlone Tribe of the San Francisco Bay Area is submitting a formal presidential request to return the federally-run San Francisco Presidio property to the supervision of the tribe — a move which would reduce federal taxpayer spending and constitute one of the most significant rematriations of Indigenous land in U.S. history.
The tribe’s request comes on the heels of President Donald J. Trump’s recent executive order to dissolve the Presidio Trust, the federal agency tasked by Congress with redeveloping the former military base in 1996. The tribe is also co-hosting, with indigenous advocacy organization the Lakota People’s Law Project, a petition where the public can express their support.
“This is an opportunity for President Trump to do what the state of California has failed to do,” says Muwekma Ohlone Tribal Chairwoman Charlene Nijmeh. “Not only will returning the Presidio to Indigenous care be the right thing for our people and for the land, but it will also save the federal government — and taxpayers — money.”
For decades, the Presidio Trust has served as a lucrative base of patronage for the political machine led by former Senator Diane Feinstein and Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, who both have made their homes within blocks of this section of San Francisco.
According to Nijmeh, both elected officials have been staunchly opposed to the tribe’s 45-year struggle to reaffirm its federal status. When the Tribe submitted a Right of First Refusal to the federal government during the decommissioning of the military installation in 1992, both women were opposed.
“I don’t want an Indian Tribe in my City,” Feinstein told the former tribal chairwoman at the time, a statement that Nijmeh says still offends tribal officials today.
“Despite widespread support for our tribe from their constituents, Senator Feinstein, Speaker Pelosi, and Rep. Zoe Lofgren have always opposed our attempts to gain federal recognition and rematriate the Presidio,” Nijmeh says. “Four county Democratic party committees have passed formal resolutions in support of our renewed federal recognition. Now, as the current administration works to eliminate the Presidio Trust as part of its effort to streamline the federal workforce, we stand ready to offer a cost effective, environmentally and culturally responsible solution to filling the stewardship void.”
The Presidio was historically inhabited by Ohlone ancestors for countless generations. Returning it to the tribe’s care represents not only a chance to rectify historical wrongs but also an opportunity for a cultural renaissance for the indigenous communities of the Bay Area.
MY DEAR FRIEND STEVE
by John Arteaga
My dear friend and writing critic Steve, a retired English teacher, wishes that I would write some more positive, hopeful columns. I too wish I could do so, but right now it seems like we are so obviously in the midst of an ongoing coup d’état of our several hundred-year-old experiment in democracy, that It’s kind of hard to ignore this reality when it is, more and more, in one’s face and of immediate concern.
As the consequences of the Trump/Musk co-presidency are starting to be felt all over the country, one would think that public opinion would be rapidly turning against the chainsaw and wrecking ball tactics of these two monumental egomaniacs, and indeed, there is evidence that people are finally starting to wake up to the inescapable economic and social consequences that WILL occur when mass firings happen on such an enormous number of people working in all branches of the government (except the military). Apparently both of these guys are afflicted with the same absurd hubris, where they believe that they know more than the experts in each and every field of expertise, which thus somehow justifies the completely extralegal activities of their storm troops of teenage tech bro devotees, whom they have sicced on just about every agency (with special emphasis on those which provide services for regular people). Locally, the Anderson Valley senior center, which has for years provided delicious and nutritious meals and Meals on Wheels over there, has suddenly seen their federal budget axed. The irony of these couple of idiot billionaires scouring the federal budget for opportunities to skinflint relatively inexpensive but hugely important-to-many-people expenditures like this in order to come up with trillions of more tax breaks for the morbidly rich is apparently lost on The Donald and his boss, the world’s richest man.
We’re going to see a lot of really painful cuts like that in such vital services as NPR; the essential federal grants to struggling public radio stations like our own KZYX, and thousands of other valuable federal investments in our society, that add so much to our quality of life but do not directly benefit TrumpMusk. And why are they so avid about cutting all these services? MORE TAX BREAKS FOR THE FILTHY RICH!
What is with these billionaires anyway? As the great writer and lecturer Michael Parenti once said, “There’s only one thing that the ruling class has ever wanted, and that is everything!” With a few notable exceptions, the ultrarich seem to share a common characteristic; an absolute rancor for taxes of any kind, never mind that they receive a disproportionate share of the bounty that grows from the enormous investment in civil infrastructure that facilitates the ability of their workers to arrive at their jobs and for the shipment of their goods. It only makes sense for those who benefit from their much greater use of public infrastructure to pay a higher tax rate than the average worker.
Republicans, throughout my life, have relentlessly pushed this fairytale about taxes; often referred to as ‘trickle down’, their relentless obsession posits their completely fictional notion that cutting the taxes of the superrich will inevitably result in those people investing in new plants, equipment etc., thus producing more jobs.
There are detailed graphs about the actual results in the economy going back a number of decades. The fact is that there has NEVER been an instance where cutting taxes for the wealthiest has resulted in ANY economic boom. Quite the opposite; there is a very clear pattern of Republican administrations, who ALWAYS slash the taxes of the wealthy, also invariably are represented on economic graphs with a descending line. On the other hand, that same graph over time will show that each time a Democrat is elected, almost invariably they raise the taxes of the rich slightly, and the GDP or whatever other economic graphs you care to consider, are represented with an ascending line, an economic boom, greater GDP, lower unemployment, less inflation.
And really it’s what you might expect; if you lower the tax rate for the fortunate few, they will be happy to rake that off the top, whether or not they have any interest in expanding their corporate operations or creating more jobs, whereas if you INCREASE those rates, it becomes more fiscally prudent to leave the money in the company (where it can finance the construction of new plants and equipment etc.), and take it out after retirement through deferred compensation, at a lower tax rate.
Taxes are an interesting subject that people should think about more. The Republican orientation when speaking about taxes, is to muddy the water, mush us all all together under the generalized term of ‘taxpayer’, as if the tax rate change for one group will automatically do the same for rest. Taxing systems are not some kind of natural phenomenon; ideally they are man-made decisions about the flow of wealth through the society, where to encourage, where to discourage, made by the will of that all the members of that society.
Unfortunately, in the post Citizens United reality we are burdened with today, the insane, out-of-control wealth disparity in the US gives us an incredibly slanted pinball machine, where the world’s richest man, for basically chump change to him, is able to purchase a position of authority arguably higher than the actual elected president.
This wealth disparity is expressed in so many areas! The fact that principled Republicans who, for instance, were a hard NO to installing a drunken, woman abusing white Christian nationalist to be in charge of the DoD, were forced to tuck their tail between her legs and vote for Hegseth after they were advised that Musk would promote a well-funded primary challenger at their next election if they didn’t go along with this odious appointee.
It is hard to see a way out of this political morass, but short of a legislative reversal of Citizens United, there are things that could be done; why couldn’t everyone in the country be given a credit card for political contributions, each election cycle, with 100 or $200 to spend on them?
That might actually do something to address the situation that we have today, where the ideological far right, almost exclusively funded by the superrich, enjoys an enormous megaphone, their viewpoint is promulgated far and wide, across the fruited plain, where a progressive speaking voices are basically nonexistent, thanks to the economic might of the giant hedge funds who have bought up just about every radio and TV station and dictated that they give daily hosannas to capitalism and the interests of the top one percent.
Maybe its wishful thinking, but ideally the tax rate would not tap out at the relative pittance of 170 grand or so, where it should just be getting started at higher rates.
Instead of these silly steps (tax brackets), it would make so much more sense to have a smooth curve of income to tax liability, where every dollar more you make puts you in a minutely slightly higher tax rate, with the rates for those at the very top of the income scale, making millions a year, being back closer to what it used to be when the country really WAS great; at 90% or so.
They’ll still have more money than they know what to do with, and we could have a much better society for the rest of us.
For this and other articles, go to; https://inarationalworld2.blogspot.com/2025/03/my-dear-friend-and-writing-critic-steve.html
John Arteaga is a Ukiah resident.
THE ANTI-IMPERIALIST LEFT is what MAGA and right wing “populism” pretend to be. We actually oppose the empire’s warmongering — not only when Democrats are in power. We actually want to defeat the deep state — we don’t applaud billionaire Pentagon contractors like Elon Musk taking power. We actually oppose the establishment order — because the establishment order is capitalist. We actually stand up to the powerful — we don’t offload half the blame onto immigrants and marginalized groups.
The anti-imperialist left is also what liberals pretend to be. We actually support the working class. We actually stand up for the little guy. We actually want justice and equality. We actually support civil rights. We actually oppose tyranny.
Everything the human heart longs for lies in the death of capitalism, militarism and empire, and yet both of the dominant western political factions of our day support continuing all of these things. This is because westerners spend their entire lives marinating in power-serving propaganda which herds them into these two mainstream political factions to ensure that they will pose no meaningful challenges to our rulers. All political energy is funneled into movements and parties which are set up to maintain the status quo while pretending to support the people, with the illusion of political freedom sustained by a false two-party dichotomy in which both factions serve the same ruling power structure.
Of course, what mainstream liberalism and right wing “populism” have to offer that anti-imperialist socialism does not is the ability to win major elections with successful candidates. This is because generations of imperial psyops have gone into stomping out the anti-imperialist left in the western world, and because only candidates which uphold the status quo are ever allowed to get close to winning an election. This doesn’t mean mainstream liberalism or right wing “populism” are the answer, it just means our prison warden isn’t going to hand us the keys to the exit door.
At some point we’re going to have to rise up and use the power of our numbers to force the urgently needed changes we long to see in our world. Everything in our society is set up to prevent this from ever happening. That’s all the two mainstream political factions are designed to do. That’s why they both have phony “populist” elements within them which purport to be leading a brave revolutionary charge against the establishment, while herding everyone into support for the two status quo political parties. And that’s why the anti-imperialist left is everything they pretend to be.
— Caitlin Johnstone
“Acts of kindness, I believe, are our way of letting the world know we’re delighted to be a part of it; we’re grateful; we’re sensitive. There was once a sign in a hospital reading ‘A baby’s birth is God’s way of letting us know the world should go on,’ or something like that. And I think that each of us—through our unique acts of kindness—can express that we think the world should go on—nicer and smoother. Kindness is an art form.”
— Alec Guinness/Interview with James Grissom/1991
LEAD STORIES, SATURDAY'S NYT
How a Major Democratic Law Firm Ended Up Bowing to Trump
Paul Weiss Deal With Trump Faces Backlash From Legal Profession
What to Know About Paul Weiss, the Law Firm That Gave In to Trump
The Nonprofit Caught in the Fray of Trump’s Attacks on Big Law
Trump Revokes Security Clearances for Biden, Harris, Clinton and More
What Is DOGE? Trump Says One Thing, Government Lawyers Say Another.
AMONG POLITICIANS and businessman, Pragmatism is the current term for "To hell with our children."
— Edward Abbey, A Voice Crying in the Wilderness (1990)
DONALD TRUMP’S WAR ON ANTI-SEMITISM IS THE LAST THING WE JEWS NEED
Not long ago, conservatives laughed at the idea that words are violence. Now, they’re embracing the same concept. Is that a good idea, morally or politically?
by Ben Kawaller
Have you heard the news? Donald Trump, a man known even among his supporters for being uncouth, amoral, transactional, and dishonest, has proclaimed himself ”the best friend Jewish Americans have ever had in the White House.” This should be just terrific for us.
Yes, this modern-day Cyrus is “prohibiting anti-Semitism,” in the stilted verbiage of the Department of Homeland Security, which detained Mahmoud Khalil, a Syrian-born grad student and permanent legal resident who’d organized protests against the Israeli government at Columbia University. Though no charges have been filed against Khalil, he was apprehended by federal agents on March 8th and shipped to an ICE facility in Louisiana to await deportation. Deportation proceedings are now on hold, and the case has been transferred to New Jersey.
Khali’s offense, according to DHS, is that he “led activities aligned to Hamas.”
I know what you’re thinking: “aligned to”? Setting aside the fact that the people in charge of national security can barely wield a preposition, it seems that Donald Trump’s plan for ridding the country of antisemitism is to trample on people’s constitutional rights in the name of protecting the Jews. What could go wrong?
Trump’s anti-antisemitism spree was evidently motivated by the eruption of anti-Zionist activity that cropped up on university campuses all over the country following Hamas’s October 7th attack on Israel. For all I know, some of these demonstrations may be advocating for peaceful coexistence between Jews and Arabs. What has broken through on the internet, though, is footage of keffiyeh-wrapped students agitating, whether they realize it or not, for the destruction of the world’s only Jewish state.
Israel has so far withstood the objections of American college students; the primary effect of these protests seems to be that life is now intermittently unpleasant on campuses—for Jews in particular, but for everyone, really. And while the kids engaging in this revolutionary cosplay may feel they are changing hearts and minds, it’s also true that they’ve caused millions of Americans to associate the Palestinian cause with college students avoiding their homework by shrieking into loudspeakers while dressed as Levantine bank robbers.
Now, though, the government risks making them look like freedom fighters, as opposed to the procrastinating adolescents they are underneath their costumes.
Ironically, that’s not a description that would seem to apply to Mahmoud Khalil. For one, this grandson of a Palestinian refugee had the dignity to show his face while protesting, presumably because he has a sincere belief in the righteousness of his cause.
Perhaps that stab at basic empathy makes me a threat to national security as well. Cheerleaders of Khalil’s deportation see things in black-and-white, rights be damned: as Hannah E. Meyers puts it in City Journal: “Manhattan is home to one less terror-supporter.”
Meyers’s article, “Mahmoud Khalil Doesn’t Deserve to Be in the U.S.,” lays out as well as any other I’ve found the case for detaining Khalil, and yet fails to identify a single crime he has committed. Rather, it’s all guilt by association: he has “helped propel” episodes of “anonymous violence,” and has led a movement that “has involved everything from erecting encampments on school property to directing death wishes at Zionists[.]”
So this is where we are. The same camp that thirty seconds ago couldn’t spill enough ink bemoaning campus “safetyism” is calling for heads to roll because a bunch of kids camped out and…wished?
To be fair, Meyers also points out that Columbia saw a mob of crazed anti-Zionists overtake one of its halls, committing property damage and traumatizing a custodian in the process — and while criminal charges were initially dropped, the school has since punished the students involved, at the behest of the Trump administration. (Whether or not the disciplinary proceedings of a private university is the federal government’s business is a whole other topic; I’ll stick here to the obvious assault on the First Amendment.)
What is most vexing about all of this—aside from, you know, said constitutional rights abuses—is that the left has spent the past decade or more punishing wrongthinkers, often destroying people’s livelihoods by unfairly labeling them sexist, or racist, or transphobic. The election of Donald Trump offered a glimmer of hope that, for all the malignancy he represents, we might at least get a rest from the relentless censorship of politically incorrect views. But no: now we just have the right playing the same game, using the cudgel of antisemitism to intimidate anyone who dares to speak against the state of Israel on a college campus.
And for Christ’s sake, can we not admit that a person could be moved to express sympathy for Palestinians without being motivated by hatred of Jews? For many people, the Israel–Palestine conflict looks like a wealthy, powerful country subjugating a stateless and relatively powerless people, and that’s all they need to know. How we got to that place might complicate or even negate that overall impression, but most people just don’t care enough to learn the history of Israel, and so there you have it.
“From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” sounds inspirational, not genocidal — that’s why kids chant it. Is it not possible that the administrators hauled before Congress to answer for whether or not “calling for the genocide of Jews” constituted “protected speech” were hemming and hawing not because they hate Jews, but because they recognize the absurdity of charging a twenty-year-old with genocidal intent for chanting something that sounds like a Woody Guthrie lyric?
Fair: not all the chanting on college campuses is so anodyne. Woody Guthrie certainly never called for a global intifada. The point is that opposition to Israel runs the gamut from people who oppose its current government’s expansionism, to Islamist lunatics who want the entire country along with the rest of Western civilization expunged from the map. Does anyone trust the Trump administration to attend to the nuances of these views?
I increasingly see talk of the “Woke Right,” of which this current moral crusade is an exemplar. Of course we have seen anti-Israel protesters spouting Islamist slogans. But the underlying assumption here—that vocal critics of Israel are closeted Hamas supporters—follows the same logic as charging critics of DEI with racism. Intent doesn’t matter: if the effect seems to harm the Jews, it must be antisemitism.
Finally: words are words. Conservatives have rightly spent the past decade or so scoffing at the idea that words are violence. Is their argument really that words aren’t violence when it comes to race, sex, or gender identity, but God forbid one Jew should hear a slogan?
Why do this? Why invite such obvious charges of hypocrisy when they could easily take the approach summed up by Ben Sasse, president of the University of Florida, in the wake of similar episodes of student unrest? Sasse made clear that the school would punish any episodes of violence, but that the right to express anti-Zionism would always be protected. His words are like a balm: “Our Constitution protects the rights of people to make abject idiots of themselves.”
It’s a right you would think President Trump would hold sacred.
(Ben Kawaller was the host of the sociopolitical interview series Ben Meets America and the 2024 election series Swing State Debates for The Free Press. His writing and video reporting have also appeared in Los Angeles Magazine. You can learn more about his work here.)
JUDGEPOCALAPSE NOW
by James Kunstler
“Those who cheered as J-6 American prisoners were locked in solitary for 18 months without trial, now suddenly fight tooth and nail for foreign terrorists’ ‘due process.’“ — Buck Sexton
Impeachment would be too mild for the claque of Woke-activist federal judges attempting to nullify the executive branch with hectoring writs against any and all sorts of executive actions. If simply bounced off their benches, they could just take up new careers as NPR legal commentators or transsexual pole-dancers. Rather, what you’ve got here is an obvious seditious conspiracy, plain for all to see, orchestrated by the same legal Nosferatus as RussiaGate, the 2020 election, and the J-6 witch hunt.
The catch is, this time it is discoverable and subject to prosecution because the party running this legal insurrection no longer has its hands on the levers of power in the DOJ and the FBI as it did when they ran the aforementioned ops. And so, the mighty silence emanating from those two agencies just now should tell you something: namely, that cases are being carefully constructed to finally bring these despicable caitiffs to real and chastening law.
If you want to know one paramount reason for institutional failure in our country, look to the evil enterprise that calls itself “Lawfare.” It originated as a blog launched on September 1, 2010, founded by three key figures: Benjamin Wittes, Jack Goldsmith, and Robert Chesney. Over time it evolved into an activist operation, The Lawfare Institute, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to (cough cough) “Hard National Security Choices,” and run under the shady umbrella of the Brookings Institution.
The point of Lawfare is self-evident in its name: it is an instrument of warfare against a perceived enemy which, for the past decade, has been the political faction led by Mr. Trump, the once-and-current chief executive of the federal government. Mr. Trump is a danger to the bureaucratic arm of the federal government because he has defined it as a racketeering operation and moved decisively to end its depredations. Lawfare is the praetorian guard of the permanent DC bureaucracy, including especially its rogue intel actors, who function as enforcers for the Democratic party that largely staffs the bureaucracy.
Norm Eisen, a Brookings senior fellow, is the chief operational strategist for the Lawfare enterprise. He has been active in all its ops, capers, and mind-fucks since Mr. Trump came on the scene in 2015 vowing to “drain the swamp” (i.e., end the racketeering). Norm Eisen holds leadership roles in two subsidiary Lawfare orgs: States United Democracy Center and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW). Eisen’s broader connection stems from his history of orchestrating legal challenges against Mr. Trump — advising the Mueller investigation, drafting impeachment articles, and leading CREW’s 200-plus lawsuits in Mr. Trump’s first term.
Now, following the Biden interregnum, Norm Eisen leverages a network of nonprofits (ACLU, Public Citizen, etc.) and left-leaning judges to file hundreds of new lawsuits to thwart the MAGA clean-up effort under Elon Musk’s DOGE. Tax filings show that CREW’s funding, in part, comes from George Soros’s Open Society Foundations. Item: during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, CREW received $432,000 in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans from Newtek Small Business, which evolved into a financial holding company after acquiring National Bank of New York City in January 2023, rebranded as Newtek Bank.
The money-laundering through multitudinous foundations, NGOs, and “non-profits” is the essence of the Democratic Party’s racketeering mode in league with federal bureaucracies such as USAID that dispensed billions of dollars to a vast network of activist recipients. Translation: it provides salaries (often six-figures) to party foot-soldiers whose only duties are to move the money through the organizational layers and to be available for such party tasks as ballot harvesting, vote-counting, and organizing riots.
This is the mischief that Mr. Trump seeks to put an end to, and so he must be thwarted at all costs by those whose lifeblood depends on the ongoing rackets. The so-called “Resistance” alliance between the Democratic Party and the bureaucracy seeks to prevent reform by any means necessary. Since they no longer control potent executive agencies such as the DOJ and the FBI for intimidating and punishing their enemies, their only recourse is the federal judiciary and its officers of the courts, that is, lawyers and judges practicing Lawfare.
The federal judges are political appointees, such as John J. McConnell from the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island, who was a personal injury lawyer (i.e., “ambulance chaser”) and major Democratic Party doner, giving nearly $700,000 to party causes, and serving as Rhode Island Democratic State Committee treasurer. Judge McConnell issued a wide-ranging restraining order against the DOGE-advised freeze of federal funding launched in February of this year. McConnell’s daughter, Catherine, is a senior policy advisor at the U.S. Department of Education, appointed by President Joe Biden in 2022. See how that works?
Similarly, James Boasberg, a RussiaGate cast member, and as a presiding judge in the DC federal court in sixty J-6 cases. Independent journalist Laura Loomer alleges that Judge Boasberg’s daughter, Katherine, works for Partners for Justice (PFJ), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that is dedicated to defending “criminal illegal aliens and gang members,” including opposing their deportation, and that it receives significant funding from U.S. government grants, such as those from USAID. Judge Boasberg notoriously issued a restraining order last week against the deportation of Tren de Aragua gang members labeled by the DOJ as a terrorist organization. See how that works?
Now, the difference between Lawfare and the practice of law is that Lawfare trafficks lavishly in lies to do its business in the courts and actual law practice is supposed to be dedicated to ascertaining the truth in matters that come before the courts. Lawfare is grounded in dishonesty — as is its main client, the Democratic Party. That is exactly why Judge James Boasberg went along with FBI Director James Comey’s false warrant applications in the FISA court that enabled the RussiaGate operation to do its dirty business. Thus, the grand orchestrator of the Lawfare enterprise as a whole, Norm Eisen, is a sort of Father-of-Lies.
Remember beyond all this sturm and drang stands an essential principle: the truth is sturdy and untruth is fragile. Like you, I am standing by to see what eventually comes out of the Trump DOJ in the way of cases that might definitively settle this mighty battle between Lawfare and the law.
ON-LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY
Let me ask you something, Jim [Kunstler] Did you see Laura Ingraham’s interview with the great man? Are you as incredulous as I that anyone, anywhere, could regard him as qualified to be a school crossing guard in a town with no traffic, let alone president? Can there be any trace of doubt left that the guy is indeed, in George Will’s wonderful phrase, “a bloviating ignoramus”? My own favorite moment was when he marveled at son Barron’s having figured out how to turn his laptop back on after “Mr. Trump” had turned it off.
“AS DEMOCRACY is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.”
― H.L. Mencken, On Politics: A Carnival of Buncombe
R.I.P. Deputy Sheriff Ricky Del Fiorentino. A memorial sign on Highway 1, just south of Pudding Creek, serves as a reminder of his ultimate sacrifice. Del Fiorentino’s name was also added to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington D.C.
“We are extremely worried we won’t have a reliable water supply,” Lands told the crowd of 200-plus.”
Then move. Obviously, if that is your worry, you wouldn’t have exceeded the carrying capacity of your habitat. Humans are the dumbest outcome of evolution so far…and self-entitled to boot.
Agree! Ever since my halcyon UC Berkeley days, we’ve all heard about the environmental consequences of dammed rivers. “Tear ‘Em Down” was the rallying cry. So finally, one of the oldest and smallest hydro facilities in NorCal is closing and folks are crying foul – Poor us! Maybe over all those decades we should have at least attempted to envision the realities of what would inevitably happen down the road while we were handing out ag permits willy-nilly to all those wineries, many if not most owned and operated by corporate entities. Hardly “farmers…”
Having viewed our esteemed editor’s dreadful prognosis I have to ask are we back on track to repeat the last century with an economic crash and Great Depression by 2029?
Coolidge is highly regarded by advocates of smaller government and laissez-faire economics; supporters of an active central government generally view him far less favorably. His critics argue that he failed to use the country’s economic boom to help struggling farmers and workers in other flailing industries, and there is still much debate among historians about the extent to which Coolidge’s economic policies contributed to the onset of the Great Depression, which began shortly after he left office. Scholars have ranked Coolidge in the lower half of U.S. presidents.
Other indicators are lining up in synchronization with the 1920s, Netanyahu goes into Gaza and stacks bodies like Hitler went into the Balkans and stacked bodies like cordwood. Will we sit by like the “good Germans” and watch recent history repeat itself?
“AS DEMOCRACY is perfected…”
That’s the quotation of the year– H.L. Mencken was a genius of foresight. (I’d venture to say he was “awesome” in predicting the future, but I read yesterday’s AVA, and I know better now.)
Mencken predicted Trump
The writer said one day the ‘White House will be adorned by a downright moron’
H.L. Mencken, seen here celebrating the end of prohobition, would have likely enjoyed commenting on a Trump presidency. ( FRANK MILLER )
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By G. Jefferson Price III
There’s a delightful exercise in the imagination of how H. L. Mencken, the iconic iconoclast of the early 20th century, would have viewed the election of Donald Trump to the presidency.
So much of the scorn that Mencken heaped on the politicians of his day appears startlingly relevant to the politicians of today. He would have reveled in Mr. Trump and the upheaval he has caused in the American body politic.
One of Mencken’s quotes widely circulated since the Trump upset is from a column he wrote 96 years ago predicting that, “On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.”
The moron observation was the last line of a column that appeared July 26, 1920, in the Baltimore Evening Sun, a newspaper Mencken helped found, excoriating both candidates for president in the campaign of that year: Republican Warren G. Harding and the Democrat James M. Cox, both politicians from Ohio, where Harding served as a U.S. senator and Cox as governor.
Apart from the ascendancy of a moron — though that may be too benign a designation for the danger that Mr. Trump represents — there were plenty of other similarities between the political campaign season of 1920 and the one just concluded, and perhaps some lessons to be learned.
Neither man won his party’s nomination easily. Harding was nominated on the 10th ballot in a deal agreed in secret by the party bosses who picked him over 11 other candidates. Cox — competing against 15 other candidates — didn’t get the Democratic nod until the 44th ballot. There also was a third candidate in the presidential race, Eugene Debs, running for the fifth time as a Socialist from a federal prison cell where he was serving a 10-year sentence for violation of the Sedition Act of 1918 in his opposition to U.S. involvement in World War I. Debs garnered 3.41 percent of the popular vote that year, similar to the 3.3 percent Libertarian Gary Johnson got this time around.
The 1920 election occurred against a backdrop of events similar in some ways to the American condition of the past several years, including racial strife, fear of terrorism and a growing trend toward isolationism following World War I.
As in the recent election, neither of the two top candidates was particularly respected or revered. In that 1920 column, Mencken asserted: “It seems to be quite impossible for any wholly literate man to pump up any genuine enthusiasm for either of them. … No one but an idiot would argue seriously that either candidate is a first-rate man, or even a creditable specimen of second-rate man.”
Harding was a favorite whipping-boy of Mencken, who often referred to him by his middle name Gamaliel and the incoherence of his public expressions as “Gamalielese.”
Mencken’s denunciation of Harding’s 1921 inaugural speech as “the worst English I have ever encountered” could easily apply to the evidence of an unhinged mind manifest in Mr. Trump’s Twitter twaddle: “It reminds me of a string of wet sponges; it reminds me of tattered washing on the line; it reminds me of stale bean-soup, of college yells, of dogs barking idiotically through endless nights. It is so bad that a sort of grandeur creeps into it. It drags itself out of the dark abysm (I was about to write abscess!) of pish, and crawls insanely up the topmost pinnacle of posh. It is rumble and bumble. It is flap and doodle. It is balder and dash.”
As always, Mencken declared Harding’s comments were directed at “a great horde of stoneheads gathered around a stand … the sort of audience that the speaker has been used to all of his life, to wit, an audience of small town yokels, of low political serfs, or morons scarcely able to understand a word of more than two syllables, and wholly unable to pursue a logical idea for more than two centimeters.”
Harding won the 1920 election by a landslide with 404 electoral votes, and he was a very popular president until he and his administration were wracked with scandals, including the Teapot Dome scandal and revelations of his prolific extra-marital affairs with various women (sound familiar?), including one that produced a daughter a year before he won the presidency.
Harding died in a hotel suite in San Francisco on Aug. 2, 1923 — 29 months into his presidency. He was only 57 but suffered from various infirmities that his doctors had warned him could be fatal if he persisted in his aggressive womanizing. There was some speculation Harding may have been poisoned. His wife, Florence, who was in the room when he died, refused to allow an autopsy.
G. Jefferson Price III is a journalist who spent 35 years at The Baltimore Sun where he was a reporter, foreign correspondent, editor and columnist
With the perspective of last century’s example to show us what to expect as all the pieces start coming together again perhaps we can devise some way to forstall the calamity of another Great Depression, another holocaust, and another final world war… what say ye, vicar?
I really don’t have any answers, at least yet. We shall see. At least partly, it looks like there will be a great deal of self-destruction occurring. Thanks, Mr. Bruce, for a fine history lesson from 100 or so years ago. We’re surely not the first to deal with unfit leaders.