Mendocino County Today: Monday 4/7/2025

Showers | Ocean Sky | Mutual Respect | AVUSD News | Checker Lily | Panther Sports | Future Farmers | Rental Ordinance | Boonville Parade | Structural Changes | Minion Addendum | Courthouse Dog | Earth Day | Sea Pal | Elk 1940 | Brooktrails Scam | Marcott History | Yesterday's Catch | Strip Crowd | Rich/Poor | Wonder Wart-Hog | Just Asking | Wilmer Walkoff | Mayo Eyesore | Gender Curious | Alfred & Herb | SF Changes | Mystic Funnies | Self-Loathing Dems | All Messiah | Dem Done | Four Victories | Trump Tools | De Facto Pres | Fingerprint Archive | Gov Media | Lead Stories | Israeli Excuses | Drunk Texted | Acknowledging Art | Bar Moment

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OCCASIONAL light rain showers continue today. Additional light rain and breezy south wind in Del Norte Tuesday. Warm and dry weather returns to the interior midweek. (NWS)

STEPHEN DUNLAP (Fort Bragg): A drizzly 51F with .49" of fresh rainfall this Monday morning on the coast. Is this the last rainfall of the season, we'll see? We might see a shower today then there is no rain in the forecast for the next 10 days. Mostly sunny with a few clouds is all the forecast offers us currently.

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DENNIS O’BRIEN:

When I crossed the street at one of the intersections near the courthouse demonstration on Saturday, there was a young Ukiah city police officer standing by the corner building, just watching things. As I got closer, I smiled and said hello. He replied (rather pleasantly and feeling a need to explain) that they were just there because someone had reported there were people in the streets. I smiled again and told him I think you folks are doing a good job and thanked him. A few others nearby also thanked him. He looked at us, seemed genuinely touched, and said “Thank you, I appreciate that.”

Now, I know that things don’t always go that well. I’ve experienced it firsthand. And I know there are some who believe that violence will be necessary at some point somewhere. But there’s a lot to be said for starting out treating each other with mutual respect. I daresay that there are many officers who agree with the protesters, who believe in the law but not in dictators.

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AV UNIFIED NEWS

Dear Anderson Valley USD Families,

Yeanette Guadalupe Camarillo Balandran

June 22, 2010 - March 27, 2025

It is with profound sorrow and a heavy heart that I share the news of the passing of our beloved student, Yeanette Guadalupe Camarillo Balandran, who left us far too soon on March 27, 2025. In her short time with us, Yeanette touched lives within our school community. Her bright smile, kind spirit, and joyful energy will never be forgotten.

Friends, family, and educators gathered this past Friday and Saturday to honor Yeanette’s memory, and the ceremonies served as a reminder of the profound impact she had on all of us. Her passing leaves a deep ache in our hearts, and we know that the loss is felt by her friends, classmates, teachers, and all of us who had the privilege to know her. We extend our deepest condolences to her family and loved ones during this incredibly difficult time. Please know that as a school district we are here to support one another. Let us lean on each other and honor Yeanette’s memory by holding her in our hearts and continuing to show the love and care that defines our close-knit community.

We are thankful to our counseling team and to the support of the Ukiah USD counseling team, who were present to support our students as they processed their grief on Friday before break. We will continue to offer support to our school community in the coming weeks.

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School Site Council / DELAC Meeting & Dinner Thursday, April 10 4:00-6:00

School Site Council / DELAC Agenda

Join us in the AVHS Library!

Committee Members: Please mark your calendars. It is this Thursday!

Everyone is invited. Join us for an update on the district and Taco Bar afterwards!

4:00 - 5:10 - School Site Council / DELAC / Student Leadership meeting

5:15 - 6:00 - Taco Bar in the AV Jr/Sr High cafeteria for participants

We will be reviewing our successes and areas for growth, district-wide.

We’ll be making some decisions about supports for students in 25-26 and planning how to allocate our limited funds as we strive to do great things for kids in 25-26

Childcare will be provided, if needed, by our awesome AVHS Student Leadership team.

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FFA News

There is a LOT happening with FFA this Spring! (Thank you to Ms. Swehla and Mr. Bautista; I am using portions of your Facebook posts.)

California State Speaking Finals - Two AVUSD Students in the Top 24!

April 1 was an awesome day!

Mariluna and Zoe competed at the California State FFA Speaking Finals in Sacramento.They are in the top 24, in the state, in their particular contest!

Mariluna competed in the Spanish FFA Creed, El Credo.

Zoe competed in the Impromptu Speaking contest.

We are so proud of how they have represented AV FFA!

Discovery FFA Members (8th grade) presented and interviewed about their agriculture research projects. We will hear about the results later this week at the CA State FFA Conference.

California State Leadership Conference

FFA Students: High Schoolers at state speaking conference and 8th graders who shared their projects and discussed them, Award Winners from the California State FFA Leadership Conference

We are so proud of our students (and our teachers too), who represented our chapter at the State FFA Agriscience Fair! These students have put in countless hours researching, testing, and presenting!

Fifteen FFA members attended. Voting delegates attended to delegate business, FFA members and Ms. Swehla were on a live interview panel about our chapter. Members went to the career fair and loved the first session!

Mr. McNerney was honored as a Star Administrator for his awesome involvement in our FFA programs, at the CA State FFA Conference too. Way to go, Mr. McNerney!

Amalinalli Sanchez-Preciado & Violleth Gutierrez placed 1st in Social Systems, Division 2 with their project “Inside the Vineyards: Exploring the Perception and Challenges of Wine Grape Field Workers” and has officially qualified for the National FFA Agriscience Fair!

Xiomara Cornejo and Allison Tovar earned 2nd place in Environmental Science & Natural Resource Systems, Division 2 with their project “From School to Compost: Investigating the Composting Rates of Various School Paper Waste”

Analee Gatlin & Estrella Serna-Chavez brought home 3rd place in Animal Systems, Division 2 with their project titled “Equine Reception to Essential Oils: A Study of Reduction of Anxiety Behavior.

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Vacancy on the Board of Trustees

Saoirse Byrne has resigned from the Board due challenges around scheduling conflicts. We in AVUSD are deeply grateful to Saoirse for her leadership on the board. She has kept the importance of outdoor instruction and the building of creativity and free expression at the forefront of our conversations. Her passion for student learning and her fresh perspective have been a great benefit to the district.

If you or someone you know might be interested in joining the Board of Trustees, please review this Board of Trustees Vacancy document and let us know!

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Anderson Valley Education Foundation Opportunities for High Schoolers

Don’t miss these internship opportunities! For quick access, check out this Internship Job List. Deadlines are approaching so students who have not yet begun looking at these internships should do so ASAP.

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Summer School

Summer School will be June 23-July 22

8:30-12:30 / ASP 12:30-5:30 Transportation provided

(bus leaves for the day at 3:00 p.m.)

AVES will provide activities including sports, crafts, science, art, and field trips. Here is the AVES Summer School flier

AV Jr High will provide fun learning activities. (More info coming soon.)

Sr High School provide credit recovery opportunities (More info coming soon.)

If you would like to be more involved at school, please contact your school’s principal, Mr. Ramalia at AVES or Mr. McNerney at AV Jr/Sr High, or our district superintendent, Kristin Larson Balliet. We are deeply grateful for our AVUSD families.

With respect,

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AV UNIFIED SPORTS NEWS

Happy Spring Break, AV!

Here are some important updates regarding AV Athletics as we head into the final stretch of the school year:

For the most current game schedules, please visit the AVHS Athletics page: https://www.avpanthers.org/apps/pages/index.jsp?uREC_ID=3815652&type=d&pREC_ID=2469804

Boys Volleyball is gearing up for the final stretch of league play.

Tennis is hitting its stride.

Track and Field will have their first major competition of the season next Wednesday in Lower Lake.

Junior High Soccer has a couple of games under their belt and is preparing for a busy spring schedule.

Junior High Softball—our brand new team—is getting ready to compete against Ukiah city league teams and some familiar NCL III opponents.

AVHS Football will return this spring with 10 practices from May 19th to May 30th. These practices are required for all students interested in playing football in the Fall of 2025.

We will host a Sports Awards Ceremony for all High School athletes on May 20th in the AVHS Gym. We’ll be celebrating team awards, all-league selections, and other outstanding achievements.

Lastly, all athletes planning to participate in fall sports for the 2025 school year must have their paperwork completed by May 20th.

Have a great break, Panthers!

— AV Athletic Director John Toohey

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AV FUTURE FARMERS

We’re so proud of our students who represented our chapter at the California State FFA Agriscience Fair! Their hard work, curiosity, and dedication to agricultural research truly paid off.

Amalinalli Sanchez-Preciado & Violleth Gutierrez placed 1st in Social Systems, Division 2 with their project “Inside the Vineyards: Exploring the Perception and Challenges of Wine Grape Field Workers” and has officially qualified for the National FFA Agriscience Fair!

Xiomara Cornejo and Allison Tovar earned 2nd place in Environmental Science & Natural Resource Systems, Division 2 with their project “From School to Compost: Investigating the Composting Rates of Various School Paper Waste”

Analee Gatlin & Estrella Serna-Chavez brought home 3rd place in Animal Systems, Division 2 with their project titled “Equine Reception to Essential Oils: A Study of Reduction of Anxiety Behavior.”

These students have put in countless hours researching, testing, and presenting! Their success is proof that passion for ag science makes a difference!

Help us congratulate them on this incredible achievement!

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PAUL ANDERSEN:

Following up on MCT, here’s the response I got after reaching out to Ted Williams on the STR non-hearing. Also, the city of Point Arena has a short term rental ordinance. It limits them to 7% of housing stock, which is 10 licenses today.

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Ted,

Why is there nothing for the South Coast, where STR’s (Short Term Rentals) are a REAL problem? Very disappointed. Is anyone in County Government watching out for us? You’re supposed to be our County Supervisor, but to not advocate for the South Coast to be included in something this important is really sad. We haven’t seen you out among your constituents here in quite a while.

Paul Andersen

Point Arena

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Good Morning Supervisor Williams and Mr. Andersen,

Our intention is not to exclude the South Coast from participation in conversations regarding short term rentals; however, since the regulations we are working on are solely for the inland areas of the County, we focused on areas that have a higher density of residential development and short term rentals that are outside the Coastal Zone boundary (subject to Division I, Inland zoning code). We reviewed several short-term rental platforms and identified that the majority of short term rentals on the South Coast are within the mapped Coastal Zone boundary which is not included in the scope of the ordinance amendment we are working on.

Given the large area of the south coast that is in the Coastal Zone, as shown on the map here, and not in the inland area we felt that a specific meeting on the South Coast was not warranted at this time.

Please note that there is a zoom participation option for the April 30th meeting and I encourage any individuals that wish to participate to tune in to that meeting.

Thank you,

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KEITH LOWERY:

The issues with Mendocino County CEO and BOS started years ago under the direction of the former CEO Carmel Angelo. And yet she and her “legacy” go unscathed.

The current CEO unfortunately worked for years under Angelo and took on some bad habits without the manipulative political skill set of Angelo.

There absolutely needs to be significant structural changes in the CEO’s office with more checks and balances.

The BOS should resolve the Cubbison case in an Expedited manner.

The CEO should resign or be terminated.

The BOS should also call on the resignation of the District Attorney, Dave Eyster by writing a formal letter to the State of California Attorney General Office.

Cooperation with the State Auditors and be transparent on how money is moved around. The CEO raids the funding for Child Welfare on a consistent basis.

The Director of Social Services and the Deputy Director of Child Welfare need to have more authority over their budgets with the ability to prevent the County CEO from moving dollars to other non general fund departments.

These type of actions will begin to build trust with the public that these elected or appointed officials are supposed to serve and also begin to show that they are good stewards of taxpayer dollars.

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WARNING TO SUPES CANDIDATES

Editor:

I wish to add something to my original letter advocating for voters replace current Fifth District Supervisor Ted Williams in 2026, in which I closed with some advice for anyone thinking of challenging him.

If anyone cares the original letter is here: https://theava.com/archives/263988#5

And the additional advice is this: Williams recruits minions, he finds anti-social losers who have some kind of weird hero worship of him. Yet these losers have some veneer of credibility. But they are truly sucking up to their “hero.” I saw it when Ted and I were aligned with our roles in the Albion-Little River Fire District. And when we each ran in 2018, and when John Redding challenged him in 2022. The man (Ted) is amoral and so creepy at his core. It’s quite pathetic and surreal. But he deploys these minions to write Letters to the Editor and comment in online discussion groups that are created and (ahem) ”moderated” by his allies. But I’m warning you this IS a thing you will face. But again I believe if you maintain laser sharp focus on the man’s failings, he can be defeated. So for the good of your District and the County, please get busy, thank you

Chris Skyhawk

Fort Bragg

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DA EYSTER (facebook):

Something new and special is underway at the Mendocino County District Attorney’s Office.

With the two finalists for the job being shown in this post, the “something special” refers to the Mendo DA bringing onboard a courthouse facility dog as a member of his staff.

A courthouse facility dog is a professionally trained assistance dog that provides emotional support and comfort to vulnerable individuals, especially children, during stressful legal proceedings.

A final “employment interview” for each of the canine candidates will be taking place at the end of this week. More background information, including a formal introduction, will be in the offing once a final selection is made.

A READER NOTES:

Is DA Eyster attempting to show a warm and cuddly side to the public? Who knows, or cares? But it might be good if the District Attorney publicly answered questions and explained his actions, including his failed attempt to prosecute Auditor Chamise Cubbison and former Payroll Manager Paula June Kennedy on felony charges. Eyster must also allow the public to comment on his social media posts.

Mark Scaramella asks: Who’s paying for this? Asset forfeiture funds? Has the DA submitted any reimbursement requests to the Auditor?

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EARTH DAY FESTIVAL

Saturday, April 19, 12-5pm

Noyo Food Forest’s 16th Annual Earth Day Festival

Saturday, April 19 from 12-5pm

Fort Bragg High School — 300 Dana Street

This year’s Earth Day Festival features:

• Opening with Tribal Elder, Edwina Lincoln, member of Round Valley Indian Reservation in Covelo. Not to be missed.
• Live Music with headliners The Runabout and Bella Rayne, plus 2nd Hand Grass with Gene Parsons
• Performances by Circus Mecca
• Local Vendors & Artisans selling earth-friendly goods
• Giant Plant Sale
• Hands-On Environmental Activities for all ages
• Delicious Food & Bicycle-Powered Smoothies
• Local Nonprofit Booths showcasing their powerful work
• Upcycled T-Shirt Press — bring a shirt for a fresh design!
• Natural Dying Egg Station — bring your own hard boiled eggs!
• Bike Rack Station — ride and park your bike safely with Mendocino Coast Cyclists.

This FREE event is open to all (adult donations encouraged).

Please observe school campus rules: no dogs, alcohol, drugs, or smoking.

More information: NoyoFoodForest.org

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THE FISH-AND-CHIPS JOINT THAT EMBODIES NORCAL’S FISHING CULTURE

‘I’ve been around the fish and everything so long’

by Matt LaFever

Sea Pal Cove Restaurant isn’t just a fish-and-chips joint. It’s the crispy, salty heart of Fort Bragg. Owner John Schnaubelt, born into a family of fishers, turned his family’s fish-fertilizer business into a no-frills seafood hotspot, serving up golden-fried rock cod caught fresh off the Mendocino coast (don’t worry, the fish fertilizer is long gone). At its center, a roaring fireplace repurposed from an old fertilizer vat brings locals and tourists together to feast.

Built on grit and deep-fried perfection, Sea Pal Cove began with scavenged kitchen gear and Schnaubelt running on two-hour naps instead of a full night’s sleep. Today, with 18 beers on tap and a burger perfected over six months, it’s a constantly bustling fixture of the town’s Noyo Harbor.

Set among working fishing boats, a Coast Guard station and a handful of waterfront businesses, Sea Pal Cove’s street-facing facade is decked out with kitschy dock netting, old life preservers and buoys in a nod to the harbor’s deep-sea fishing roots. The kitchen operates out of a small outbuilding with a welcoming order window, where customers line up, especially at lunchtime.

The menu is simple and affordable. A burger basket goes for $8.95. A basket of fish-and-chips made with locally caught rock cod costs a reasonable $17.50. After ordering, customers grab a picnic table on an old dock overlooking Noyo Harbor, where seals and otters glide through the water — Sea Pal Cove has no indoor seating.

For the past 14 years, Schnaubelt, along with his family, which has deep roots in Fort Bragg’s fishing industry, has been the force behind Sea Pal Cove, making it more than just a place to eat.

A family legacy on the Mendocino coast

The Schnaubelt family’s Fort Bragg roots run deep. John’s grandfather, Ed, was a driven entrepreneur who built a trucking company before moving north in 1947. He settled in Fort Bragg, where he built both a home and a fishing boat that became part of Noyo Harbor’s fleet, first captained by Ed and then captained by his son, Rick. Today, John’s mother, Yvette, still lives in the house Ed built.

On Yvette’s side, the family’s ties to the sea are just as strong. Her Portuguese heritage traces back to generations of fishers, including her Uncle Manuel, who ran boats out of Noyo Harbor. Rick followed the same path but left fishing when the vacant Paladini plant — once the largest fish wholesaler on the West Coast — became available. He bought it, setting the stage for a new chapter in the Schnaubelt family’s history at the harbor.

Growing up in the heart of Noyo Harbor

In 1974, Rick renamed the plant Schnaubelt Fisheries and shifted from the open sea to the docks. For nearly two decades, he processed and packaged the daily catch that came through the harbor. When new regulations prohibited dumping fish processing waste into the ocean, Rick adapted, turning the waste into fertilizer and creating a new source of income.

Schnaubelt Fisheries’ fertilizer found a strong customer base among Mendocino County’s unregulated cannabis growers. John recalls childhood delivery runs, “driving up to all these weird places,” dropping off fertilizer to remote farms. The fertilizer operation continued until 2024, nearly 30 years after the fish processing business shut down, when demand declined alongside the shrinking cannabis industry.

Schnaubelt grew up immersed in life at Noyo Harbor. As a child, he spent hours playing under the docks, searching for Coca-Cola bottles. The first vehicle he learned to drive was a forklift used for hauling pallets.

Over the years, he worked nearly every job in the harbor: deckhand, iceman packing fish for shipment, boat mechanic. He also managed operations at Schnaubelt Fisheries, overseeing fish processing, fertilizer production and everything in between. Eventually, he even became the captain of two Noyo Harbor fishing boats, the Blue Pacific and the Calpella.

A discount fryer launched Sea Pal Cove

In the late 2000s, John was managing the family’s fertilizer plant and barely scraping by. His parents were blunt: “You’re not going to get rich. You’re not going to do anything. You’ll barely be able to pay the bills.”

In keeping with the Schnaubelt family tradition, John felt the urge to start his own business. His vision? A fish-and-chips spot in Noyo Harbor serving fresh, local seafood to the community.

“It took me a little while to make it happen because I had no money,” John admitted. With a discount fryer salvaged from a closed Quiznos at a gas station, he set up shop in the same shack that now houses Sea Pal Cove’s kitchen.

In 2011, he quietly opened the restaurant’s doors, serving his first fish-and-chips basket with no grand opening — just a simple “Open” sign. “At the start of Sea Pal, there were a lot of fishermen in the harbor, and a lot of them came down for food,” he said. “That’s actually how it all began.”

At Sea Pal Cove, few things beat gathering around the roaring fire on the open-air deck, soaking in the ocean air over a fresh meal. In true Noyo Harbor fashion — where nothing goes to waste — that fire pit started as a metal tank for processing fish guts. John originally put it there to burn construction scrap, but customers loved it. “We’re out there, and we’re burning stuff, and customers really liked it,” he told SFGate.

The burger is by customer demand, too, in a way. Schnaubelt and his dad were longtime fans of the burgers at the town’s bowling alley, spending many afternoons there, drinking beer and enjoying a meal together. When it closed, John recalls, “We wanted a bowling alley burger, and other people did too.” Determined to re-create that iconic burger, they spent weeks experimenting over the grill, fine-tuning spices, sauces and cooking times until they got it just right.

Over three hours, John’s 49 years in Noyo Harbor spilled out like the tide, memories blurred, details sharp. “I’ve been around the fish and everything so long,” he mused, dates fading in a life spent on the docks. As he traced Sea Pal Cove’s origins, he often paused, surprised by his own recollections: “I haven’t thought of that in years.”

Our chat ran so long, he even spilled a family secret. The name “Sea Pal” came from an attic find at the old Paladini plant: thousands of cans labeled “Sea Pal Fancy Pacific Shrimp Meat.” The Schnaubelts saw potential and made it their own. Sea Pal fertilizer spread across California, and its logo still stands at the restaurant today.

As I sat with Schnaubelt on the bustling dock, Sea Pal Cove’s success was undeniable. A Fort Bragg peewee baseball team filled the tables, parents and kids celebrating after a game. Tourists snapped harbor photos. Even after lunch, a long line snaked away from the counter. Schnaubelt never boasted, but the scene spoke for itself — the hum of customers, the salty aroma of fried seafood. Reflecting on years of growth, he put it simply: “It started very small and got bigger every year.”

Sea Pal Cove Restaurant, 2390 N. Harbor Drive Fort Bragg. Open Sunday through Thursday, 11 a.m.-11 p.m., Monday through Wednesday, 10 a.m.-10 p.m.

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ANOTHER E-BAY POSTCARD OF SEMI-LOCAL INTEREST

Elk, circa 1940. The mill burned in 1936: this photograph probably dates from a few years later. (Marshall Newman)

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FROM THE ARCHIVE: The County’s Longest Running Scam? Still Running?

by Bruce Anderson (March, 2012)

THE BROOKTRAILS SCAM was on the Supes agenda this week. Supervisor John McCowen raised the issue last year by pulling from the consent calendar the County’s routine authorization to sell tax defaulted properties at auction. Most of these properties were unbuildable vacant lots sold repeatedly over the years to mostly unsuspecting buyers. If a property owner failed to pay the property taxes for five consecutive years, the County can sell the property at auction to recover the back taxes, fees and penalties. And another sucker is stuck with an unbuildable Brooktrails lot. McCowen objected that buyers of the postage stamp sized Brooktrails lots were not being told that most of the lots were effectively unbuildable because of steep terrain and a lack of sewer and water hookups. McCowen’s colleagues apparently didn’t share his concern that the County was complicit in an on-going scam; the vote was 4-1 in favor of continuing to flim-flam.

HERE’S HOW IT WORKS: The tax defaulted lots are bought for a song by speculators, some of them local, who market them in San Francisco or Los Angeles or on the internet. It seldom occurs to the urban purchasers, often immigrants and mostly first time property buyers, to ask if basic services like sewer and water are available. The speculators have paid $5,000 or less for the lots and resell them at up to a 1,000% mark up, collecting the down payment and monthly payments until buyers either belatedly visit their vertical country estates or otherwise realize they have been had and stop making payments. And of course they stop paying the property taxes as well. Which is where the County again becomes the owner of the lots and again sells them to unscrupulous real estate salesmen who again sell them on the internet. The speculators are spared foreclosure costs. They simply wait to pick up the property cheap at the inevitable County tax sale and the scam starts all over again.

BUT THE REAL ESTATE market being what it presently is, even the vampires aren’t buying — forty of the Brooktrails lots failed to sell at last year’s auction. And the scam, as comprehensively reported by Linda Williams in the Willits News, is far worse than McCowen seems to have suspected. The County, as part of the “Teeter Plan,” pays 100% of the taxes and assessments on the lots up front and then waits for taxes, penalties and interest that never arrive. Properly managed, the County profits from the Teeter Plan because a 10% penalty charge is added to each tax delinquent property, plus 18% annual interest on the total unpaid balance. Most owners eventually get caught up and if not, their property is sold at auction by the County which owns them after they default. But now that the lots aren’t selling, the County’s Teeter is tottering.

MOST OF THE PROPERTY TAX is owed to the County, but each vacant lot is assessed $120 every year by the Brooktrails Community Services District to pay for water and sewer services that will never be delivered to most of these lots. To reduce fire danger, Brooktrails requires owners of the vacant lots to keep the brush and weeds cut back. If they don’t, Brooktrails does the work and adds that to the tax bill, adding up to a $1,000 or more to the cost the County has to pay up front. And Brooktrails wants to raise the fire assessment another $60 a year, bringing the total assessments for sewer, water and fire to $180 per vacant lot. Do the lot owners get to vote on this tax increase? No, only the residents of Brooktrails get to vote. The absentee lot owners (including the County of Mendocino) have paid out millions of dollars for services they will never enjoy and you can bet the homeowners who are benefiting will have no problem voting to make the absentee lot owners pay 50% more than they do now. But in an increasing number of cases, it is the County that pays the bill via the Teeter Plan.

THE SAME PEOPLE who said nothing about the mismanaged Teeter Plan and the “excess earnings” scam — the County Treasurer, the Auditor Controller, the Assessor and the CEO — also kept quiet about the Brooktrails scam as it unraveled. Twelve tax defaulted Brooktrails lots failed to sell at auction in 2008; 33 failed to sell in 2010; 41 failed to sell in 2011 and 74 were up for sale this year in 2012. For reasons that are not yet explained, there was no tax auction in 2009, but the steady increase in lots that were not selling should have alerted our highly paid County officials who were supposed to be guarding the County’s financial well being. If McCowen, reinforced by the excellent digging and reporting by Ms. Williams in the Willits News, had not raised the issue and demanded an explanation, the problem would have continued to grow and continued to be swept under the rug.

THE BROOKTRAILS SCAM BEGAN AROUND 1962 and continues to this day. The original developers, including former County Supervisor John Mayfield, Jr., took advantage of a short lived loophole in State law that allowed developers of rural subdivisions to sell four times as many lots as they had water for. The “Brooktrails Vacation Village” was never supposed to have more than 25% of its homeowners present at any one time. The State closed the loophole, but too late to stop Brooktrails and Shelter Cove, another sprawling rural subdivision on the Northcoast with mostly unbuildable lots.

BROOKTRAILS WAS UNDER A WATER MORATORIUM for several years, but a couple of years ago the State said they would allow 24 additional water connections. The Brooktrails Board of Directors quickly jacked the connection/installation fee to nearly $24,000 each (!), thereby making it more expensive to build a new home than to buy one of the numerous existing homes perennially for sale in Brooktrails. But with only 24 water connections and more than 4,000 vacant lots, it isn’t hard to see that nearly all of the lot owners, and the County, will be left holding the bag.

THE REAL DANGER FOR THE COUNTY will kick in when the owners of the 4,000 plus vacant lots realize that only the first 24 willing to pay the exorbitant connection fees will ever be able to build on their lots. The current agenda item will give the Supes the chance to order staff to schedule a public hearing to discontinue the application of the Teeter Plan to Brooktrails. But the lots will still represent an on-going scam of near criminal proportions. At least the County will no longer be subsidizing Brooktrails by paying the water, sewer and fire assessments out of the County’s general fund with little or no hope of getting the money back through tax-default auctions.

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SUE MARCOTT:

We are Sue and Kris Marcott. Our family moved to Philo in 1962 and helped restore and manage an old restaurant that Mom named “The Last Resort.” From there, we moved to Boonville and ran “The Valley Inn,” which is now The Buckhorn.

The following year, our folks purchased Witherell’s Grocery Store & gas station in Yorkville and turned it into a Mexican restaurant, appropriately named “Leo’s Yorkvilla.”

Many may remember the tacos and Dad’s endless floor show. Mom (Barbara) was the cook and Dad kept everyone entertained.

Dad also became the postmaster for a few years and was known as the Mayor of Yorkville.

We drove to AVHS in our purple Model A. We were cheerleaders and on the Pep Squad, where we made lifelong friends, who we still keep in contact with.

In 2015, Sue moved back to the old homestead and worked at the Yorkville Market (previously Leo’s Yorkvilla) for several years. She currently plays keyboard with “Dean Titus and the Bootjack 5.” Kris lives in Monterey and visits monthly.

We are forever grateful to have been able to grow up in this beautiful valley and we wouldn’t change a thing.

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CATCH OF THE DAY, Sunday, April 6, 2025

AURESSIA ARMSTRONG, 44, Santa Clara/Ukiah. DUI-alcohol&drugs.

SERGIO BAUTISTA-VAZQUEZ, 31, Concord/Ukiah. DUI, false information.

ROBERT CONKLIN, 62, Ukiah. DUI-alcohol&drugs, controlled substance, paraphernalia.

KARIN JUDD, 64, Philo. Disorderly conduct-drugs&alcohol.

KEEGAN KNIGHT, 34, Ukiah. Controlled substance with two or more priors, paraphernalia, probation revocation.

DARRELL PIKE JR., 30, Hopland. Indecent exposure, resisting.

MEGAN SPAIN, 32, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.

ANTHONY TOLBERT, 36, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol, parole violation.

CHAD TURLEY, 53, Ukiah. Failure to appear, probation revocation.

JEREMY WOEHRLE, 53, Petaluma/Ukiah. DUI-any drug.

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DEBORAH WHITE:

Here’s a photo of yesterday’s demo on the Strip. After looking forward to it for days, I actually didn’t go because the thought made me too anxious as the time neared. I get another, better chance this Friday at a Social Security office near where I work, way off-Strip.

I loved all the photos on social media--especially my wonderful family and my old stomping grounds in Mendo County.

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THE GAME IS RIGGED

by Tommy Wayne Kramer

It’s not easy being you and me, especially when we look around and see what a breeze of a bowl of cherries life is for rich cats and poor dudes. And their wives and old ladies.

`Think of it: When the alarm goes off at 5:45 in the a.m. us worker bees have to wake up, get out of bed, drag a comb across our head(s) and face two hours of freeway commute, then eight hours slogging away at soul-deadening jobs with no pensions, no glamour, no respect. And then we drive home in the thickest traffic of the day.

Next: Eat some, TV some, and don’t forget to set the alarm.

But what if you’re rich? Or poor?

They tumble out of bed any old time they want, such as mid-afternoon, and crawl off to fetch a Bloody Mary or a 40-ouncer. Then back in bed.

You or me? Try rolling in to work around two o’clock, hammered, blowing a one point eight on the breathalyzer, and see how fast we get fired. But who ever heard of a rich dude getting fired? Same for a lazy unemployable loser.

And that’s just one disadvantage we fight against every day of the year. What follows is a depressing list of other ways the richest and poorest have the game figured out:

1) Never have to worry about inflation.

2) Other people raise your kids.

3) Don’t have to pay rent (wealthy chumps live in Daddy Warbucks’ old mansion; loser moves in with his old lady on welfare.)

4) Never get fired.

5) Not let your wife get a job.

6) Wife has no need for a job.

7) On a first-name basis with local judge.

8) Flunk out of college; a badge of honor for a rich guy, an inevitability for public school kid with a 3.8 GPA but can’t spell “Diploma.”

9) Marry your cousin.

10) Stand in line at the airport.

11) Get addicted, either as wealthy opium fiend or impoverished crackhead.

12) Never have to pay your lawyer.

13) No need to apply for a job.

14) No need to suffer through a job interview.

15) Drive a beater car; 2025 Bentley with a missing fender from playing Car Polo with debauched friends, ‘83 Hyundai with blue plastic tarp in window(s).

16) Have as many kids as you want, with anybody.

17) Gamble, either at Monte Carlo or with Lottery tickets.

18) Start drinking in the middle of the day, or earlier.

19) Never a poor performance review from the boss.

20) No commuting or traffic congestion worries.

21) Never pay taxes.

And as my dear old pappy once told me, “The best thing about being poor is that you never have to worry about leaving the car keys in your other pair of pants.”

'I Didn’t Know That!'

A) Were you aware one of the biggest salt mines in the world is in Cleveland, Ohio? Actually, the tunnel leading into it is in Cleveland; the salt mine itself is 1800 feet below Lake Erie.

B) In 2008 California voters approved a $33 billion initiative for high-speed rail running north and south. You probably are aware it hasn’t been built because you know it’s in California where nothing gets built.

But did you know that in the same time period China has built 23,000 miles of high speed rail?

C) It’s legal to litter roads and highways in California if it’s chicken feathers, but only from live chickens.

D) Did you know that If a teenage girl deletes a selfie photo, Facebook’s ever-alert system is programmed to presume the girl is in a fragile emotional state and unhappy with her looks. So it responds by sending her wagonloads of beauty product ads, weight loss tips, etc. Very classy.

E) Did you know a goldfish can break dance on your living room carpet, but only for 15 to 20 seconds?

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IS IT?

Editor:

Just two quick questions. Is asking for the end of the killing of tens of thousands of Palestinian men, women and children showing support for terrorist organizations? Or is it a simple, reasonable humane request?

David Heaney

Petaluma

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GIANTS PUSH WIN STREAK TO SEVEN with drama-filled defeat of Mariners

By Shayna Rubin

San Francisco Giants outfielder Mike Yastrzemski knows all about the complicated dimensions Oracle Park’s outfield presents. He is well aware of how difficult it is to make the catch Seattle’s Victor Robles made in the right-field corner.

But when Robles crashed into and over the short wall in foul territory to snag Patrick Bailey’s high fly ball in the ninth inning Sunday, Yastrzemski was focused on Luis Matos, who had drawn a leadoff walk.

“I was more so concerned about the runner,” Yastrzemski said. “I wanted Matos to tag because I’ve seen the ball stay fair so many times and I know how tricky that corner can be.”

Matos did tag and had originally moved around to third, but was sent back to second by the umpires who ruled the ball had gone out of play. After a delay of several minutes as Robles was tended to, the Giants’ most even-keeled hitter, Wilmer Flores, met the intense moment by knocking closer Gregory Santos’ first-pitch sinker into the gap between first and second base to score Matos and secure for the Giants a 5-4, walk-off, series-sweeping win.

“Leave it up to Flo,” manager Bob Melvin said. “That’s a guy you want in those situations. He knows what to expect, he knows how to handle it. Wasn’t trying to do too much — hole open between first and second — it’s not a surprise, but he’s done it so often.”

It’s another chapter in what thus far has been a stellar bounce-back season for Flores, who has his legs back under him after undergoing season-ending knee surgery last year. Not only does Flores lead the Giants with four home runs and 12 RBIs, he’s re-established himself as the primary designated hitter in Jerar Encarnacion’s absence and emotional anchor for a team in complete lockstep through the season’s first nine games.

The hit was Flores’ 13th walk-off RBI and ninth walk-off hit of his career, a testament to his nonchalant heroism.

“I try not to be a hero, I guess,” Flores said. “Stay in the moment and think about the process, which was staying inside the ball and try not to think about bringing the runner in. Thinking about the process.”

Added Yastrzemski: “He’s as pro as it gets. I’m not surprised by it. That’s the thing that’s been lost in the game the last few years — how important veteran presence is. Flo has been in every situation you could ever imagine and that’s what happens when guys get up in those moments. He doesn’t feel it as a big moment, it’s just another at-bat.”

The second walk-off of the series against Seattle secured consecutive sweeps for the Giants — they swept the Astros in Houston — and bumped their record to an MLB-best 8-1. The only other time the Giants won eight of their first nine was in 2003, when they finished with 100 wins.

With the Dodgers losing earlier Sunday, the win put the Giants percentage points ahead of L.A. for first place in the National League West. Watching the standings is a fool’s errand in early-April, but it’s notable given expectations that the Giants would be buried by the Dodgers, San Diego Padres and Arizona Diamondbacks all year.

Before the late drama, the Giants’ seventh straight win nearly slipped away. Camilo Doval got a shot at the save — closer Ryan Walker was unavailable because he had pitched the previous two days — but the Mariners erased their one-run deficit.

Doval fell back into the bad ninth-inning habits that surfaced last season. Robles hit a one-out single and advanced into scoring position on Julio Rodriguez’s grounder. After Cal Raleigh was intentionally walked — he was 3-for-4 at that point — Robles stole third and Doval got burned on a 2-2 slider at the bottom of the zone against Randy Arozarena, who lined it into left field to score the tying run.

“Give Arozarena a lot of credit, that was a really good pitch he hit,” Melvin said.

Doval’s second blown save of the year nearly negated a well-executed game on the offensive end for his team. The Giants had to make an in-game adjustment to hit the other way against Mariners starter Bryan Woo (an Alameda High School alum) that paid off in the fourth inning.

“Kind of had to, that guy’s fastball is on you,” Melvin said. “To try to pull him, you have to guess and time it up that way. He was throwing the ball by us at the top of the zone. Had the sinker, it’s two completely different pitches. And you’re seeing some really weird swings.”

Down two in the fourth inning, Willy Adames and Jung Hoo Lee hit opposite field singles to set the stage for Heliot Ramos, who shot a ball to shallow center-right field. Yastrzemski, watching Ramos’ at-bat from the on-deck circle, was inspired and hit an opposite-field, three-run home run to give Giants a two-run lead.

“I got beat by (Woo’s) fastball three times in the first at-bat. At that point I told myself I wasn’t going to get beat,” Yastrzemski said. “Watching Ramos’ at-bat in front of me was huge because shooting the ball the other way was all you needed to do in that situation and that’s all I tried to do.”

Julio Rodriguez and Raleigh hit solo home runs off Jordan Hicks to give the Mariners that early two-run lead. They happened amid a struggle between Hicks and home plate umpire D.J. Reyburn. Hicks was coming off a start in Houston in which he plowed through six scoreless innings by being able to work the corners of the zone with a sinker averaging 98 mph. On Sunday, Reyburn was calling a tight zone and wasn’t giving Hicks the same leeway.

Hicks, and at times Bailey, stole moments with Reyburn between innings to make their frustrations heard. Hicks finished 5 1/3 innings with three earned runs on six hits with five strikeouts and one walk.

“I saw some pitches that weren’t going our way,” Hicks said. “I was trying to have a fair game and didn’t want to let frustrations build up. I feel like I did a good job navigating through that. Everybody stayed on the same page. BoMel was working on him and Patty was working on him, so it’s baseball. Nobody is going to be perfect. Glad we could get the dub today.”

Randy Rodriguez has been Melvin’s go-to reliever with runners on and came into the game having stranded four of the six runners he had inherited. He was tapped in the sixth inning to clean up another mess: two runners on that Hicks left behind. Ryan Bliss, though, hit an RBI single to chip the Giants’ lead to one run.

The Mariners threatened again in the eighth inning with back-to-back singles to lead off by former Giant Donovan Solano and Mitch Garver. Left-hander Erik Miller induced a pop up and an inning-ending double play to preserve the lead. That lead disappeared in the ninth inning, but the Giants aren’t easily beaten these days.

“When you lose a lead in the ninth, it’s a little demoralizing,” Melvin said. “To be able to come back the next inning and do it again, shows what we’ve developed here, a certain identity that we can win those close games and any kind of game.”

(sfchronicle.com)

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EYESORE 2025: PEEKABOO!

by James Kunstler

Behold the lovely new Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Building at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota. Complements the nearby parking deck! It’s a cancer research center, designed by HDR Architects, Omaha. Certainly has that American heartland tumor spirit! The promotional literature says, “the COVID-19 pandemic significantly influenced the design.” The building is intended to symbolize “hope and progress,” it says. Strange to relate, the percentage increase in cancer cases in the USA from 2021 to 2024 (the latest fully projected year) is approximately 12.6 percent. Could that have anything to do with the Covid-19 vaccines? Perhaps researchers in the Kellen Building can figure that out. By the way, in July 2021, Mayo Clinic announced that all staff, regardless of work location, were required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. They were dead certain it was the right thing to do.

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FOUR COMMENTS

Lesbians aren’t necessarily transgender. But, both transgender men, and, transgender women, can identify as lesbians - according to AI. Did that iron it out for you? You’re certainly not necessarily wrong, but you also, certainly, aren’t necessarily right. Hopefully that settles it, since “it is nobody’s business but theirs.”

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What does the “L” stand for? What does the “G” stand for? What does the “B” stand for? It is a bit odd that all the other letters seem to be ignored and you focus right in on the “T.”

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What’s the “T” then, if not trans?

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Someone is bewildered alright. LGBT is not an anagram for transgender.

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IF YOU REALLY LISTEN, YOU CAN HEAR SAN FRANCISCO CHANGING

by Carl Nolte

I woke up in the middle of the night. Couldn’t sleep. Insomnia, maybe. Or the tariffs. Or Greenland. Worrying about the world is the enemy of sleep. So I got up and looked out at the city. It’s a nice view: Noe Valley, Twin Peaks, a bit of the northern edge of San Francisco, a hint of the Marin hills. It’s an urban view. The houses are all close together, like Europe maybe.

But it was 4 o’clock in the morning and there were only streetlights and traffic signals, blinking through the cycle, green, yellow, red. There was almost no traffic — a stray car heading up a long hill. Not even a bus. The city usually hums with sounds. Traffic, noise. But there was not even a siren.

I realized standing there in the dark that I was looking out at a sleeping city. It was as quiet as it ever gets. San Francisco is not the City That Never Sleeps. San Francisco has a different rhythm, and what I was seeing was a sleeping city.

By sunrise it had come awake, a new day, midweek in springtime. The empty streets were now full. There were buses and Muni railcars, rumbling around the corner. The big garbage truck came as usual, grinding down the street, early rising neighbors were out on their way to school, or to an appointment or work.

For those of us still at home, the newspaper was on the doorstep, other news was on the television. News, traffic and weather, sports on the half-hour. Check your email, click on texts. Barely time for a quick breakfast. Pay attention, people, the city was awake. Gotta go. I’m late already.

That’s the morning rhythm of the city we see now. It’s different than it was even five years ago. It’s a different city, and you can feel it if you listen to its rhythms.

Like a lot of us, I listen and watch all the time and wonder. I see the city going to work in the mornings, hopeful for a new day. I see the city at noon, not so sure of itself as it was. The city is quieter, newer people out. Lunch is not the social ritual it was back when lunchtime was part of the rhythm of the city. I miss that myself. I miss the secret lunches in out-of-the-way places on the waterfront. I miss the once-in-a-blue-moon big lunch with a martini. A bit of an occasional treat no electronics can ever replace.

So I decided on a midweek spring break: lunch in North Beach for a change. Sand dabs at Sotto Mare on Green Street, and later a visit to some Telegraph Hill alleys and an Italian bookstore, even an April shower in one of the best parts of older San Francisco.

By midafternoon the rhythm of the city shifts as the day’s work winds down.

I never thought I’d miss the evening commute, but I do. I don’t miss the crowds or being jammed in the Muni subway like the proverbial sardine in a can. Nor do I feel nostalgic about standing up on BART all the way to Rockridge. But I do think the ebb and flow of commuting was part of the rhythm of the city. We all saw it and felt its power. The city ran on its rhythms.

Commuting was an ancient tradition in the Bay Area, revolving first around the old ferries and then the highways and bridges. Now that daily pattern has changed, maybe forever. I check the traffic reports on TV every morning, a news habit of a lifetime. The Bay Bridge toll plaza is jammed at rush hour Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, almost empty on Friday. For better or worse, the Bay Bridge is the main street of the region, and the old five-day week is gone.

The mix of people seems to have changed, too. In my unscientific travels I’ve noticed more older people around — and more small children. Fewer people in between. It would take an urbanist to figure all this out, but here are some numbers that affect life in the Bay Area — in the past five years enrollment at San Francisco State University has dropped by 20%, at Cal State East Bay by 25% and Sonoma State by 30%. A scary trend.

And recent Chronicle research showed San Francisco is losing more than its share of people in their 20s. The reason: housing and nightlife. Not enough of either. It means a different vibe for a city that once celebrated with flowers in its hair.

But maybe I’ve been looking for the rhythm of the new city in the wrong places. I’d been walking the Financial District, shopping in Union Square, wandering the colorful alleys of North Beach. I should have been south of South of Market, checking out Mission Bay. Every time I come through there it’s different. The people are different, and so is the life of the city.

I’ve watched it grow, turned up my old-school nose at the look of the place. It’s not San Francisco enough, I told myself. But now, I have to admit: Thrive City, Chase Center and all that is what we’ll remember of these times.

I spent most of the day looking for the rhythm of the city, with mixed results, as you can tell. After dinner that day I sat watching the nightfall. It was the same view as I had seen in the dark of early morning. The spring light was good, a few clouds behind Twin Peaks. Gradually, one by one, the lights came on over the city. And very slowly the city shifted into a different rhythm. A new day tomorrow.

(SF Chronicle)

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WHY DO DEMOCRATS DESTROY THEIR OWN?

From Glenn Greenwald to Joe Rogan to Tulsi Gabbard to countless others, Democrats seem to reserve special loathing for their own

by Matt Taibbi

On Thursday, I filed a $10 million lawsuit against California congresswoman Sydney Kamlager-Dove, who in opening remarks at a House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee hearing called me a “serial sexual harasser.”

The instant the words hit my ears, I remembered what Gabe Kaminsky reported last year: that Biden administration officials, during a briefing about the State Department’s same Global Engagement Center we were here to discuss, told members of another Congressional committee that “unsavory conduct in Russia“ meant my reporting was “not to be trusted.” This followed a New York Post report on a document showing GEC officials strategizing responses to me and Kaminsky.

Did these members get the same briefing? Did they not know that story had been outed, or did they know it was outed and decide to proceed anyway? That would be mendacious and lazy. It went downhill from there:

For the rest of the session members thundered about hypocrisy on speech. Pramila Jayapal of Washington State, whom I’ve covered favorably in the past (also unfavorably), called it the “height of hypocrisy” to discuss the “fabricated censorship of conservatives” when the Trump administration is “launching the largest attack on free speech” in decades.

“Let’s talk about real threats to free speech,” she said. “This month, Secretary Rubio launched ‘catch-and-revoke,’ a horrifying program fueled by AI to monitor student visa holders’ social media accounts for pro-Palestinian views, and mark them for deportation…”

I don’t agree with Jayapal about many or even most things, but if she’d engaged with me, I’d have noted I too opposed the Antisemitism Awareness Act and the Trump Executive Orders that use the definition of antisemitism written by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA). If asked, I’d have shared some of her concerns while pointing out many of the global censorship bodies I spent years researching (like the EU with its Digital Services Act) not only target anti-immigration protesters and nationalists, but outlaw the very causes Jayapal professes to care most about. For instance, Palestinian activism can be “illegal content“ thanks to the same IHRA formula under the DSA, which still has a profound impact on speech on American platforms. It could have been interesting.

Everything you need to know about modern Democrats, particularly so-called progressives, is encapsulated in the fact that instead of turning to the witness with a lifetime of First Amendment advocacy, Jayapal opened the floor to Nina Jankowicz, a former Homeland Security official who came within a hair of becoming America’s first “Disinformation Governance” chief.

“Ms. Jankowicz, to clarify for my Republican colleagues,” Jayapal began (independents don’t exist in Congress, even when we sit in witness chairs), “is it true that the Constitution guarantees lawful permanent residents the right to free speech?”

While Jankowicz answered in the affirmative, my first thought was about a 2006 case filed against the Departments of Homeland Security and State over the so-called “ideological exclusion provision” of the PATRIOT Act, which was endorsed by both parties and used to bar immigrants for speech reasons long before Trump. It was a provision politicians had a chance to change for years, and didn’t.

Then I thought of the ACLU’s February 2016 efforts to investigate a new DHS “Countering Violent Extremism” program, and how coordination with that “CVE task force” shortly after became a responsibility of Barack Obama’s new “Global Engagement Center,” when he signed its executive order in March 2016. That was the whole point of this hearing, to ask if GEC and DHS took that authority to investigate ISIL and al-Qaeda and abused it by turning it inward, to target “peaceful protest” of Americans. But why would a progressive Democrat ask me about that, when a high-profile former DHS official was available?

“Is it true,” Jayapal said, “that engaging in peaceful protests is protected by the First Amendment?”

“That’s right, Congresswoman.”

I felt like screaming: Why can’t we have both? Why can’t we protect the right to protest and get rid of this horrendous digital censorship apparatus? What is it about Democrats and this issue? The party once had civil libertarians in its ranks. Where did they go?

Then I remembered how the hearing began. This is just who they are.

All political groups try to neutralize their critics, but the Democrats’ habit of turning on their own supporters, and casting them as monsters and moral reprobates in elaborate PR campaigns, is unique. If you make the mistake of trying to understand it, as I did for years, it can consume your life. No longer wondering why is what allowed the quick response this time.

Since 2017 I’ve been in a club that includes Glenn Greenwald, Joe Rogan, Jimmy Dore, Tulsi Gabbard and a long list of others, including non-Americans like Julian Assange and others whose cases are still unfolding. Commonalities include accusations of sexual indiscretion, secret affiliation with Russia or some other foreign power, and financial corruption. Enemies are always evil, not mere disagreers. That vehemence is what stands out. They don’t just excommunicate, they hate. It’s the only sincere part left. Not getting hopes up, but maybe now we’ll find out why?

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JD Free:

The Left is tribal. It needs to believe that its people are good and anyone who disagrees is evil. There is no Left otherwise.

The moment someone strays from the plantation, it is absolutely necessary to condemn them as evil. If the Left did otherwise, it would have to defend the rightness or wrongness of positions on merit. They know its a house of cards. if they really believed they were right, they would welcome dialog.

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ON-LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

The Democratic Party hasn’t been worth a plugged nickel since the Kennedys were assassinated, and even then we were still grappling with people like George Wallace and Orval Faubus, who were desperately trying to save the original Party that vainly tried to maintain the genteel matriarchal Old South and all the hypocritical gussied up evil that went along with it. There was a time when the party had potential, but now it should die, and its champions driven into the wilderness like feral pigs.

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CALIFORNIA ATTORNEY GENERAL ROB BONTA:

“We secured four early court victories against the Trump Administration last week. First, after co-leading 18 attorneys general in filing an amicus brief in National TPS Alliance v. Noem, a federal district court granted a motion to postpone, blocking the Trump Administration from unlawfully terminating the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) designation for Venezuela while litigation continues. Second, another federal district court issued a preliminary injunction blocking the Trump Administration from conducting unlawful mass terminations of federal probationary employees who live or work in California. Third, still another federal district court granted a temporary restraining order that immediately restores $11 billion in critical public health funding, including $972 million to California. Finally, our motion to enforce a preliminary injunction over continued disruptions to FEMA funding was granted, ordering the Administration to fully reinstate FEMA funding.”

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GAVIN NEWSOM IS THE DE FACTO PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES RIGHT NOW

by Joe Mathews

Meet the real president of the United States.

His name is Gavin Christopher Newsom. He is chief executive of America’s richest and most populous state.

And in this peculiar moment, that makes him the real president, by default.

Sure, there’s a guy living in the White House who some people call president. But real presidents swear an oath to execute the laws and to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution. Donald Trump violates the laws and the Constitution constantly, thus abandoning the post to which he has elected.

In response, Newsom has effectively assumed the presidency, though the public doesn’t yet understand this. One common complaint is that Newsom is distracted by issues beyond California. Another dig is that he is pursuing future presidential ambitions.

But those gripes miss what’s really going on. Newsom isn’t running for president; he’s acting like the president, not a governor, because the country needs someone to act like a president.

One area of focus for Newsom is preserving American governing capacity, even as Trump and Elon Musk dismantle U.S. government agencies. The most recent example is Newsom’s announcement that he is co-chairing a coalition called America Is All In, which will pursue environmental and climate policies nationwide despite the national government’s meltdown.

Newsom is also taking a presidential role in the ongoing response to the Los Angeles County fires. In the aftermath of blazes, Trump has ceaselessly played politics, behaving like a petty local political boss or a deranged California governor. He is attacking federal emergency response and tying emergency assistance to unrelated partisan demands, like California adopting a voter identification system.

Newsom, in response, is rising above Trump’s provocations like a real president by touting federal assistance to the state and defending and praising the federal agencies that Trump vilifies.

In foreign affairs, Newsom trumps the impostor in the White House. While Trump trashes longstanding American allies and junks alliances, President Newsom has been building new ones. Amid Trump’s threats to impose tariffs and use military force against Mexico, Newsom struck a deal with the governor of the Mexican state of Sonora on climate and economics. America’s real president also made a similar environment and economy agreement with 21 Brazilian states.

Such deals come on top of Newsom-signed deals with Canada, New Zealand, Japan, China, Australia, the Netherlands, South Korea, Sweden and Norway.

California now has more real allies than the United States.

Let me say here that Newsom would not be my first pick as the de facto U.S. president in this time of crisis. (I’d rather call Jerry Brown out of retirement.) And, because the broken U.S. constitutional system is beyond rescuing, I often wish that the governor were focused on saving California by establishing it as an independent country — a prospect more than 60% of Californians support.

But Newsom has instead chosen to stick up for the American system — like a president would. Indeed, when he does take shots at Trump these days, he’s often defending the Constitution in the process. After Trump and Musk blew up the U.S. Department of Education, Newsom issued a statement defending the constitutional system: “This overreach needs to be rejected immediately by a co-equal branch of government. Or was Congress eliminated by this executive order, too?”

When California won a legal appeal in federal court, preserving the state’s ban on large-capacity magazines for guns, Newsom framed it as a victory for the rule of law.

“When the executive branch disagrees with a court ruling,” Newsom said, “the answer isn’t to ignore it — it’s to appeal to a higher court. We did that. We won. That’s how law and order works.”

Newsom’s controversial new podcast, with its pluralistic mission — “tackling tough questions, engaging with people who don’t always agree with me, debating without demeaning” — is of a piece with his defend-the-system presidency.

Members of his own party have rightfully criticized Newsom for failing to challenge the far-right figures who appear as guests. (Newsom’s surrender to anti-trans ideology was ugly). But the gambit makes sense if you’re a president seeking consensus in a polarized country. On the podcast, he isn’t really interviewing anyone — he is presiding, since even MAGA strategists like Steve Bannon are the real president’s constituents, too.

Intriguingly, many Trump acolytes see a real threat in Newsom’s podcast and, thus, his unofficial presidency. Right-wing journalist Megyn Kelly called for MAGA figures to stay off the podcast.

“I don’t like to see it,” Kelly said. “The better he will get, the better he’ll do, the more he’ll understand how to appeal to people who are more right-wing or independently minded but on the right.”

In other words, a real president, seeking to represent the whole country, is a powerful threat to the relentlessly divisive occupier of the White House

(Joe Mathews writes the Connecting California column for Zócalo Public Square.)

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BILL KIMBERLIN: The FBI fingerprint archive before computers.

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ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY #2

“In Lindke v. Freed, a unanimous opinion issued on March 15, 2024, the United States Supreme Court provided critical guidance to clarify the line between private and government activities conducted on social media. The Court held that posting, deleting comments, and blocking viewers or commenters — even on a government official’s personal social media page — can be considered government action when the official (1) has authority to speak on behalf of the government entity about the subject of the post, and (2) purports to exercise that authority through his or her social media activities.”

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LEAD STORIES, MONDAY'S NYT

Stocks in Asia and Europe Plunge as Trump Says Tariffs Will Stay

Judge Calls Mistaken Deportation of Maryland Man a ‘Grievous Error’

Mass Protests Across the Country Show Resistance to Trump

Inspectors Say More Than 100 Chemical Weapons Sites Could Remain in Syria

Alex Ovechkin Scored No. 894 ‘In Theater And In Style.’ His Next Goal Will Be Even Grander

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IT'S NOT ABOUT HOSTAGES. It’s not about Hamas. It’s not about terrorism. Those aren’t the reasons, they’re the excuses. The excuses to expel Palestinians and turn more Palestinian land into Israeli land. That’s all this has ever been about. Anyone who says otherwise is lying.

— Caitlin Johnstone

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ACKNOWLEDGING ART

by David Yearsley

In American academic institutions it is now common practice, though by no means universal, to begin conferences, convocations, and even the occasional concert—though not yet, in my experience, sporting events—with land acknowledgements. These lay out in broadest terms the original residency of indigenous people and their displacement. Plans for restitution to the dispossessed or of the often disfigured land itself do not figure in these utterances.

Increasingly, emails, even those conveying the most banal administrative info like when the next faculty meeting is to take place, contain a link to the university’s official land acknowledgment. These declarations often include vague gestures towards engagement with the issues raised by the profession of guilt. Even if a few faculty members are working vigorously to help right some of these myriad wrongs, one can bet that the president and trustees are much more concerned with the state of the endowment than with the rights of real people long since removed from their lands.

It is not only the theft of the land that deserves, indeed demands, acknowledgment, but also what it brings forth, whether locally or from distant regions. Where do the precious metals for this laptop or that EV come from? A QR code affixed to every Tesla and MacBook Pro should link to a website that accurately catalogs the elements inside, their geographic origins and environmental consequences, like a surgeon general’s warning for the health of the planet. Companies would opportunistically describe their sourcing and supply chains in egregiously green terms, but at least these might foster a greater awareness of globalization’s insatiable and destructive reach.

The composition of our cars and computers would rightly be followed by an account of their decomposition—where they end up and what becomes of them, from the plastic dumping grounds of Turkey to the electronics graveyards of Ghana.

Many in the upper classes assume that they have the right to know where their wine is from, and also if those pre-Trump tariff blueberries consumed in winter came from Mexico or points farther south? Labels inform us of the select ingredients listed on that box of artisanal crackers, but also comprehensively catalog the contents in Doritos Cool Ranch Tortilla Chips in a litany that begins benignly enough with corn, but before the benediction of disodium guanylate runs through such miracles of science as monosodium glutamate, maltodextrin, corn syrup solids, sodium acetate, disodium inosinate, and the Holy Trinity of Artificial Colors—Red 40, Blue 1, and Yellow 5.

Thus art improves on nature. Deaf to the truth that birds were the first singers, and remain the best, many people hold that human-made instruments produce superior music. Yet in eloquent mottoes that adorned their instruments, makers often acknowledged their debt to the materials they used. A favorite of mine describes the transformation of wood: “Dum vixi tacui: mortua dulce cano“ (While living I was silent; dead, I sing sweetly).

Industrial production put an end to such rhetorical and ethical niceties. For more than a century the piano served as the middle-class entertainment center, felling elephants and ebony in vast numbers. According to National Association of Piano Dealers 261,197 pianos were sold in 1904, compared to 22,000 cars. Five years later annual sales of pianos had climbed to 364,545.

We are long past the piano’s zenith as a cultural commodity. Units sold has now dipped below 30,000 annually, yet upper-end firms like Steinway still tout their exotic veneers in Mahogany, Walnut, Kewazinga Bubinga, East Indian Rosewood, and Macassar Ebony. Many of these are threatened woods.

The Italian virtuoso, Maurizio Pollini, who died a year ago last week, was a Steinway Artist. His endorsement helped to sell pianos, and he was richly rewarded by the firm in kind and in cash. The company signed him on in 1960 after he won the Warsaw International Chopin Competition at the age of eighteen. That year he affirmed that “Steinway grand pianos are the best in the world.” In a storied career across six decades he appeared in the world’s most famous concert halls on pianos with “Steinway & Sons” stenciled in gold letters on the cheek of the instruments so that the audience couldn’t help but see the brand name.

Higher up the luxury ladder than even Steinway, and costing three times as much, latecomers Fazioli want nearly $300,000 for their 10-foot concert grands. Their advertising touts their soundboards taken from trees in the “Valley of Violins” in the mountains of northern Italy a hundred miles from their factory. It is from these same carefully managed forests that Antonio Stradivari drew the wood for his famed creations, by far the most expensive musical instruments by weight ever made.

Yet can these fragile valley hillsides sustain the nearly two hundred giant instruments that the Fazioli company makes each year?

Instead of only a brand name on the side of the piano, a QR code would tell audiences of the sources of the precious materials used in its fabrication and also remind us of the condition of the ecosystems where the woods for the soundboard and veneers came from.

Other necessary news would also be imparted. In October of 2018, a devastating storm, nicknamed Vaia, laid waste to much of the red spruce forest of the Val die Fiemme, home to the “Forest of Violins.” Yet Fazioli’s production schedule continued undeterred.

People generally come to concerts for a mix of uplift and distraction. In the ritual of the concert, art not only improves on nature, but helps escape it. Musical evocations of alpine vistas, woodland walks, cathartic thunderstorms, goodly shepherds and their goodly sheep, and oracular birds are better than the real thing—less dirty, less taxing, less violent, and seemingly less perishable. A trip to the concert hall is not meant to be a guilt trip, though charity performances of Handel’s Messiah in the mid-18th century to BandAid in the late 20th century play on the feeling of music lovers for those in distress.

In dutifully listing their products’ ingredients, companies like Fazioli would capitalize on kindred sensibilities, doubtless asking audiences to pay into environmental funds that would probably do little to combat threats to the ecosystems their business relies on. Even in museums, institutions not so exposed to commercial considerations, the sourcing of materials for antique instruments is still rarely acknowledged. This must change. We need to know what environmental costs and crimes make possible those captivating musical strains, the very ones so intent on soothing our spirits and our consciences.

(David Yearsley is a long-time contributor to CounterPunch and the Anderson Valley Advertiser. His latest albums, “In the Cabinet of Wonders” and “Handel’s Organ Banquet” are now available from False Azure Records.)

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