Mendocino County Today: Saturday 4/26/2025

Showers | Souza Missing | Mayor Allman | Prescribed Burn | Barrel Dumping | Memorial Service | Flynn Chat | Big Sticky | Pension Funding | Plant Sale | Circle Dance | Glass Menagerie | Bridge Work | Speakeasy Soiree | Family Softball | Noyo Race | Left Heart | Yesterday's Catch | Richardson Crystals | Dead Moth | Derwinski Poems | Marco Radio | Policy Coverage | Giants Lose | Funny Name | Medi-Cal Funding | Parking Posts | NOAA Cuts | Candidate Hilton | 1866 Migrants | Be Alcoholic | Working Man | Dehydrated Water | You're Welcome | Lead Stories | Stoopid Question | American Jacobins | Peace Plan | Adolf Dinner | Last Step | Political Science | Our Home

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SHOWERS activity continues through the day, tapering off by Sunday afternoon. Breezy northwest winds will develop along the coast and exposed ridges through Sunday. A dry warming trend is expected Sunday through mid next week. (NWS)

STEPHEN DUNLAP (Fort Bragg): A cloudy 47F with a scant .05" of rainfall from early yesterday morning. Let's give the rain another chance to show up today as we have a 70% chance of what will be wrap around showers coming in from the east as the bulk of the system has moved ashore in So Cal. Clear skies & cool temps thru Thursday then another chance of next NEXT Friday again, we'll see?

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WHERE’S CLIFFORD SOUZA?

On Thursday, April 24, 2025 at approximately 4:15 A.M., the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office was informed of a possible missing person / overdue motorist in the area of Gualala. The missing person was identified as 74-year-old Clifford Souza of Gualala. Souza was reported to have last been seen on 04/23/2025 when he left his home and was driving to Martinez. Souza was expected to return to his home in Gualala during the evening of 04/23/25, but never arrived.

Mendocino County Sheriff's Deputies immediately began checking Souza's cell phone and vehicle location data. Souza's gray 2021 Ford Ranger pickup was equipped with Ford Pass, which allows authorized vehicle user(s) to track vehicle activity, status, and location when active. All of Souza's vehicle and cell phone activity on 04/23/25 appeared to have been occurring in Sonoma County. The Sonoma County Sheriff's Office was notified of these findings and a BOLO (Be On the Look Out) for Souza was issued to neighboring counties and law enforcement jurisdictions.

A "Silver Alert" was initiated utilizing the California Highway Patrol's (CHP) ENTAC (Emergency Notification and Tactical Alert Center) based upon Souza's medical history and possible "at risk" status. Additional "All Points Bulletin" (APB) alerts were sent out to neighboring state, county, and city agencies utilizing secure law enforcement notification platforms which allow more sensitive / personal information to be shared with confidentiality.

Sonoma County Sheriff's Office Deputies conducted routine roadside searches of potential highways and Sonoma County roads that Souza may have been travelling on 04/23/25 based upon limited cell phone activity and movement tracked by cellular service companies. The California Highway Patrol deployed a helicopter to search the coastal state Highway 1 and cliff edges from the area of Bodega Bay in Sonoma County to the area of Gualala in Mendocino County with negative results. Additional air operations from a United States Coast Guard helicopter were also utilized, but neither Souza nor his vehicle were located before nightfall on 04/24/2025. Search efforts continue today on 04/25/2025 but have not been successful in locating Souza or his vehicle.

Souza is described as a white male adult with gray hair and hazel eyes, approximately 6'00'' tall, 220 pounds, wearing a dark-colored shirt or jacket and tan pants. Souza's vehicle is described as a gray 2021 Ford Ranger with California license plate #77443E3. Refer to the attached Silver Alert from the CHP for additional details and information.

This is an active missing person investigation and anyone with information regarding the whereabouts or who have had contact with Clifford Souza on 04/23/25 or 04/24/25 are encouraged to contact the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office Dispatch Center at 707-463-4086 (option 1). Information may also be provided anonymously by calling the non-emergency tip-line at 707-234-2100.

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TOM ALLMAN NAMED WILLITS MAYOR after Mayor Larry Stranske Steps Down

by Sydney Fishman

At the Willits City Council meeting Wednesday evening, Larry Stranske announced he will resign from his position as mayor but will remain on the council. He said he was stepping down due to health issues. 

Following the announcement, the council held a vote and elected Councilmember Tom Allman to serve as the new mayor of Willits. The mayor is chosen annually in a vote among councilmembers so Allman will serve for the rest of the year.…

https://mendovoice.com/2025/04/tom-allman-named-willits-mayor-after-stranske-steps-down/

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PRESCRIBED BURN TODAY on Lower Tenmile Creek Near Laytonville

Planned Understory Burn will instead be a pile burn due to wet weather

Mendocino County, CA– Torchbearr, in collaboration with The Eel River Recovery Project, local landowners, and the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) will conduct a prescribed burn on lower Tenmile Creek today, April 26 and tomorrow April 27th, 2025. Plans for a 15-acre understory broadcast burn have changed due to moist weather conditions, and instead the crew will conduct pile burning in the area. The burn unit is located west of Hwy 101 approximately 7 miles north of Laytonville. During burning, smoke may be visible in the area. Saturday’s pile burn will be led by qualified Burn Boss Scot Steinbring of Torchbearr and staffed by fire professionals, with permission from CAL FIRE, pending an approved burn plan, burn permit, smoke permit.

Funding for the Tenmile Creek Watershed Forest Health Project is provided by CAL FIRE’s Forest Health Program as part of California Climate Investments (CCI), a state-wide program that puts billions of Cap-and-Trade dollars to work reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, strengthening the economy, and improving public health and the environment – particularly disadvantaged communities. The cap-and-trade program also creates financial incentives for industries to invest in clean technologies and develop innovative ways to reduce pollution. CCI investment projects include affordable housing, renewable energy, public transportation, zero-emission vehicles, environmental restoration, more sustainable agriculture, recycling, and much more. At least 35% of these investments are located within and benefitting residents of disadvantaged communities, and low income households across California. For more information, visit the California Climate Investment website at: www.calclimateinvestments.ca.gov.

Contact: Alicia Bales abaleslittletree@gmail.com or Patrick Higgins phiggin@sonic.net

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BAY AREA COMPANY LINKED TO NEAR 'DISASTROUS' DUMPING OFF U.S. 101

Had the materials reached water, they “would have had a huge environmental impact.”

by Matt LaFever

A string of illegal hazardous waste dumps along Highway 101 in Mendocino County has been tied to a now-defunct Bay Area construction business, according to Caltrans officials. The agency is working with the California Highway Patrol to investigate, and they're asking the public for help.

On Monday, 19 barrels containing hazardous waste were removed from an embankment south of Leggett, near the Empire Camp Rest Area, Caltrans said in a news release. The cleanup cost is estimated at $30,000.

“Luckily, we've avoided any major environmental hazards thus far,” said Caltrans District 1 Hazardous Materials Manager Danny Figueiredo in the press release. “At the cleanup site on Monday, the materials were only 10 feet away from dropping over a cliff with a drop of about 50 to 75 feet right into the creek. The creek has fresh running water, with fish, and that would have been disastrous.”

This marks the fourth illegal dump site discovered since November. Two others were found in Hopland and one more in Laytonville.

Caltrans spokesperson Manny Machado told SFGATE in an email that the total cost of cleanup across all four incidents has reached $60,000.

Figueiredo told SFGATE on a phone call that investigators recovered names and addresses from the containers found near Leggett, including a manufacturer’s label and shipping information “similar to the other dumpings.”

“I called the manufacturer. They asked for some information. I gave them the information,” Figueiredo said.

The manufacturer launched its own inquiry and traced the barrels to an old customer “in the construction business of some sort,” Figueiredo said. The manufacturer told Figueiredo it “hasn’t sold any products to them since 2011,” he told SFGATE.

Figueiredo said the materials found “definitely look like they could be that old. They are either left over or already mixed. The drums are fairly old and beat up from being dumped over the bank.”

Figueiredo wouldn’t divulge more details, citing the active investigation into the illegal dumpings, but he confirmed to SFGATE that at least two or three of the incidents trace back to a business in the East Bay city of Livermore.

“Unfortunately, that business is out of business,” he said. “However, there could be responsible parties still out there.”

Officer Christian Zepeda with the California Highway Patrol’s Garberville Office confirmed there is “currently an active investigation” and that CHP is following “two specific leads.”

Zepeda told SFGATE that two materials found at the dump sites were SK-2000, a glue-like adhesive, and cellulose, commonly found in roofing insulation.

According to a manufacturer’s safety data sheet, SK-2000 can produce “irritating vapors” and cause “mild irritation of contaminated tissues.”

Zepeda added that investigators have been unable to locate any eyewitnesses to the dumpings. License plate reader cameras have also proved unfruitful. At this point in the case, all information gathered by CHP investigators has come from the barrels themselves, he said.

Machado said that these materials "would have had a huge environmental impact" if they had reached a waterway.

Caltrans is asking the public to report any information about this pattern of illegal dumping in Mendocino County by calling the CHP at (707)932-6100.

(SFGate.com)

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AMERICAN LEGION POST 385 MEMORIAL DAY SERVICE

Evergreen Cemetery, Boonville

At 11 AM

Monday, May 26th 2025

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FLYNN WASHBURNE: White Courtesy Phone

People: I’m reading, on KNYO, through the entire corpus of Flynn Washburne’s stories in the AVA over the years, for the second time. Once, in real time, as they appeared in the paper, and now by stepping through the archive. I’m up to July 13 of 2016 for this Friday’s show.

If you know how to contact Flynn Washburne, or you have a clue about it, please tell me. I want to arrange to talk to him on my show, live, on the phone. Thanks.

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

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PENSION FUNDING, AN EXCHANGE

Norm Thurston:

A READER WRITES: The County is tapping $3.3 million of the “Retirement Contribution Reserve”. The County has chronically underfunded the retirement system for years. That $3.3 million should not be used to pay off the retirement bonds. Instead, it should be used as an additional contribution to the under-funded retirement system (but maybe not until the current volatility in the financial markets has stabilized). The comment that infers that current retirees’ benefits can be reduced is not true. The “California Rule” guarantees that retirement benefits for government employees cannot be reduced. Of all the current and retired participants in these systems, current retirees are the most vulnerable, and any attempt to take away what they have legally and contractually earned would not hold up in court.

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Ted Stephens:

Norm – I don’t see how you can say the county has “chronically underfunded the retirement system for years”.

Since I have been watching, and during the time I served, we have been paying an average of about 50 cents per dollar of county employee payroll when you included the debt service on the pension obligation bonds. Now, without including the pension obligation bonds, it is an average a bit over 41 cents per dollar of county payroll.

That is independent of the social security, medical and all the other benefits we pay our county employees.

Where in the private sector could you ever see such a high payroll load? The answer is you couldn’t. No business could survive that kind of payroll load. It is not sustainable.

Twice we did Pension Obligation Bonds to cover the pension debt, making the plan completely funded, moving the debt over to the taxpayers. We got rid of goofy things like “excess earning” (there never were any excess earnings, that was Moral Hazard talk). We had state level pension reform (PEPRA in 2012) to fix the problem going forward. When I was on the board I had them stop negative amortization and shorten the amortization of any funding mistakes (all requiring larger employer contributions). All of this was supposed to make us “pay as you go” as the system was originally designed and pay off the debt so we would finally have solid benefits for our retirees.

Our pension plan should be priced to not incur any debt. Any mistakes should average out. We should pay for the benefits earned today and be 100% funded.

All that said, since I left about 8 years ago the debt has gone up about $8MM per year. The total debt is now about a quarter of a Billion dollars for our small county.

We are, and have been, putting in a tremendous amount of money into the plan. The unfunded pension liability has still been growing in a period of remarkable investment returns. It is pretty clear to me that this isn’t sustainable and it isn’t right. For about 20 years I have been told it is getting better, it is fixed now, and the unfunded liability still continues to grow.

Unfortunately, giving more money to the plan has proven to be like tossing a quart of whisky to a drunk to sober up.

Some may say “well, the funding ratio is about the same, it hasn’t gotten much worse” (it is about 74%), but the liability and unfunded liability have become larger and larger. Not a single employee or employer dollar has ever gone into the plan since I have been watching; benefits paid have always been larger than the total combined contributions going in.

If the county went bankrupt I don’t know how any “California Rule” could be honored. Where would the money come from? From my experience I don’t think this is on a glide path to end well for any of us.

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CIRCLE UP, COASTIES!

Circle Dance this Sunday, April 27th, from 3-5pm at the Mendocino Community Center.

No previous experience or partners necessary! All dances are taught before each dance.

Dance is one of the oldest ways in which people celebrate community and togetherness, and the circle is the oldest dance formation. Circle Dance mixes traditional folk dances with new choreography's set to a variety of music both ancient and modern. Dances can be slow and meditative or lively and energetic.

Circle Dance groups are a grass roots phenomenon, with hundreds of dance circles in the US, England, and throughout the world. The Mendocino group has been dancing every month for over 30 years. As one dancer put it, “We are doing what people have been doing for millennia, on beaches, in forest glens, around campfires-- dancing together in circles to express joy, passion, solidarity, pain and faith.”

For more information on Sacred Circle Dance go to "http://www.CircleDancing.com

For local info contact Devora Rossman at drossman@mcn.org or 937-1077.

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MENDOCINO THEATER COMPANY PRESENTS: THE GLASS MENAGERIE

A Poignant Exploration of Family, Memory, and Illusion

by Tennessee Williams; directed by John Craven; and starring Vincent Keene, Felicia Frietas, Carolyn Gondek and Jimmy Lilly

May 1 thru June 1, 2025

https://mendocinotheatre.org/the-glass-menagerie-by-tennessee-williams-directed-by-john-craven

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JACK PETERS CREEK BRIDGE: Crews took advantage of a break in the weather last week [early April] to pour concrete for the new bridge section on Route 1 near the community of Mendocino. The $15.5 million project will continue with approach work at both ends of the bridge, barrier, utility and drainage installation, and falsework removal. Motorists should anticipate 10-minute delays, 24-hours a day, until the project's anticipated completion in Fall 2025. (Caltrans District 1)

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THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF MENDOCINO COUNTY'S 1920s SPEAKEASY SOIREE

Transport yourself to the 1920s at our Speakeasy Soiree and explore the history of bootlegging in Mendocino County. Join us at Barra of Mendocino Winery & Event Center to enjoy music from the era and a delectable menu fashioned from the favorite foods of "notorious" bootleggers by chef Matthew Allison. The Ukiah Players Theatre will perform local bootlegging stories. There will be a live and silent auction filled with unforgettable Mendocino County experiences. The auction continues to support the opening of the Held-Poage Memorial Home Museum and the Historical Society’s effort to catalog its extensive collection. We invite you to dress in 1920s attire, however it is not required. See you there on Sat. May 17, 2025 at 5 P.M.

This year there will be quick check-in and check-out. Go to the Event Page (https://www.facebook.com/events/3939313896387677/)

Tickets are on sale until May 2nd

$100/General Admission

$1000/Table of 8 - In addition to supporting the HSMC, your table will include priority seating close to the auction stage, and special extras at your table as a thank you!

To buy tickets contact us: 707-462-6969 or info@mendocinocountyhistoy.org

Another way you can help support the HSMC is by becoming a sponsor for this event!

There are three sponsorship levels:

Gold $1000 - Business name on printed media for the event, business name on social media advertisements, and recognition at the event.

Silver $500 - Business name on social media advertisements and recognition at the event.

Bronze $250 - Recognition at event.

If you would like to support the HSMC in this way, please contact us: 707-462-6969 or info@mendocinocountyhistoy.org

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MENDOCINO LAND TRUST

2025 Noyo Headlands Race — Promoting Health & Wellness in Mendocino County

We are proud to host the 9th annual Noyo Headlands Race https://runsignup.com/Race/CA/FortBragg/NoyoHeadlandsRace — a fun run/walk event in Fort Bragg, CA. We are thrilled to invite your business/organization to support the event, promoting health and wellness in Mendocino County.

Date/Venue: Saturday, August 9th, 8 am - 1 pm | Noyo Headlands Park, Fort Bragg.

Last year, 141 participants, aged 6 to 82, ran/walked the race across 4 different categories. Several dozen community members, including race volunteers, came out to support the participants. The race was proudly supported by 32 local sponsors. Together, we raised funds for MLT in support of land conservation, wildlife habitat protection, and creating trails and public access in Mendocino County. This year we'll have 5K and 10K runs, a 5K fun walk, a half-mile kids' race, and the return of the half marathon!

We are reaching out to you today in hopes that your business/organization will support this event as a sponsor. The sponsorship allows your business/organization to leverage your support into advertising that will reach a wide and diverse audience. Please refer to the sponsorship levels and benefits below for your consideration. Your sponsorship is tax-deductible and supports MLT’s mission. Please click here to support the event. If you wish to mail your sponsorship donation, our mailing address is: Mendocino Land Trust, PO BOX 2058, Fort Bragg, 95437.

You won’t want to miss out on this amazing opportunity to connect with community members and visitors who care about health, wellness, coastal trails, and public access in Mendocino County.

Thank you for your support.

Sincerely,

Sanjeep Karki, Development Manager, Mendocino Land Trust (707) 962-0470 mendocinolandtrust.org

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CATCH OF THE DAY, Friday, April 25, 2025

MANUAL AMADOR, 50, Willits. Suspended license, registration tampering.

JUAN GAMEZ-ESTRADA, 24, Willits. DUI.

SOREN GREGSON, 50, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.

NATHANIEL HAYES JR., 32, Ukiah. Probation revocation.

TIAHNA MCGOVERN, 41, Ukiah. Controlled substance, paraphernalia, failure to appear.

MICHAEL MENKE, 32, Ukiah. Controlled substance, paraphernalia, failure to appear.

ABRONICIO MOOLIRA, 55, Caspar. Probation revocation.

ROBERTO MORALES, 24, Ukiah. Probation revocation.

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DEAD MOTH

by John Sakowicz

for Roger Schoenahl

If I look down at the windowsill

where the window and window screen
are held in place

I see the small moth—

the place where the moth was trapped

I see the broken white wings

I see the trail of white powder
left by the moth
in its fury about being trapped

Imagine the slow agony
The deliberate lack of progress
The moth's wings beating against the glass
The power of these wings at work!

Imagine the last weak feint

The thin wings reduced now to litter

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TWO POEMS by Steve Derwinski

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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 5pm or so. 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 until showtime, or any time, such as:

Christianity has changed since I was a boy. I guess there was always a little bellowing and exhorting, but there's lots more guns and swords and fireworks and smoke machines and rotating laser lights and sweaty wrestling now, apparently. (You might have to click the sound on.) https://www.instagram.com/p/DI1vVGzRpMZ/

Blacklight baseball. Sedate, by comparison to church, see above. https://theawesomer.com/glow-in-the-dark-baseball/769028/

And "Nothing upsets a pickle-lover more than a dull, soggy pickle." For awhile my mother cooked for a family where either the man or the woman was an heir to the Heinz pickle fortune, at one of their vacation ranch places, which was a twenty minute drive from where she lived then. Once when I was visiting her she took me out there when nobody was around; there was something she had to do, or to put there, or to get. The place was a sprawling single-level ranch house made all of heavy timbers, and you could hear the electronic vermin-repelling devices as you were driving near. You had to turn them off from a master panel. The shrieking inside was deafening from just outside. https://www.weirduniverse.net/blog/comments/follies_of_the_madmen_621

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

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GIANTS’ OFFENSE CAN’T DELIVER Justin Verlander first win in 2-0 defeat

by Susan Slusser

Justin Verlander does not yet have a win with the San Francisco Giants, but for the second outing in a row, he did enough to claim one.

Verlander went six innings and allowed two runs Friday night, but the Giants’ lineup got just one man past first base in his six innings, and that was via a wild pitch. Texas starter Nathan Eovaldi, himself light in run support this season, struck out seven in his six innings of work and the Rangers topped San Francisco 2-0 with little fuss.

San Francisco has a cheery 17-10 record, but four of those losses have been shutouts and the Giants’ .310 on-base percentage is 17th in the majors, their .228 average is 22nd. Their frustrations Friday included a bad call against Jung Hoo Lee, their top hitter, leading off the ninth; an inside pitch hit Lee’s bat as he swung at it and went foul, but Austin Jones, umpiring behind the plate at Oracle Park for the first time, called it a strikeout even after a huddle with the rest of the umpires.

It was Lee’s second odd interaction with an umpire in two weeks after Phil Cuzzi accused Lee of trying to signal for an ABS challenge in Philadelphia. Manager Bob Melvin said he thought Lee was trying to get out of the way of the pitch rather than swinging and noted that foul balls don’t fall under replay review; Lee, with Justin Han interpreting, said he was trying to avoid the pitch but did swing and it hit his bat, leaving him baffled about why it was strike three. Jones thought it hit Lee’s hand, but Lee said if that had been the case, “I would have been on the floor not being OK.”

Lee then went into detail about how each at-bat is important, especially in the ninth, and how badly he’d wanted to reach base.

“I just don’t understand why that call was made,” Lee said. “If there was a replay that could have happened, I think it would have been nice, but what the umpires kept on saying was I went for the swing and then it hit my hand. ‘That’s why we can’t review it, because the strikeout call was already made, we can’t make a call for a foul. So I don’t know where the basic standard would be for an umpire right now.”

Verlander’s last time out, Sunday at Anaheim, he was in line for his first victory when Ryan Walker blew his first save of the season. Verlander’s allowed seven hits, three walks and three runs over his past 12 innings and struck out 11. “I think Verlander is just being Verlander right now,” Lee said.

“Going in the right direction,” said Verlander, who added that he’s still trying to clean some things up out of the stretch in particular.

Texas clearly had a plan for Verlander: swinging at the first pitch. The first hit he allowed, Jake Burger’s leadoff double in the third, was on a first-pitch slider; he advanced on a groundout and scored when Wyatt Langford doubled on another first-pitch slider.

He was onto the Rangers’ approach from there and retired the next seven batters he faced, and the next score came thanks to some balls off infielders’ gloves. Josh Smith, leading off the sixth, hit a bouncer that ticked off Willy Adames’ glove at shortstop and initially was ruled an error. Then, after a ground-rule double by Langford, and with the infield in, Joc Pederson’s roller went off Tyler Fitzgerald’s glove and sent in Smith. Verlander got Marcus Semien to hit into a double play to end it.

The Giants had their final shot to give Verlander a W in the bottom of the sixth, but Eovaldi struck out Adames, Lee and Matt Chapman.

Randy Rodriguez worked two innings and extended his scoreless appearance streak to 11 this season, helped by a strikeout-double play, with Patrick Bailey nailing Josh Jung at second. It took replay review to get the call right, ending the seventh.

Rodriguez’s 11 scoreless outings are the most by a Giants pitcher to start the season since 1901 and one of 16 in big-league history to do so; Baltimore’s Yennier Cano was the most recent, with a 17-game streak in 2023.

Walker, trying to iron out a wonky slider, worked the ninth. Melvin has said that Walker and Camilo Doval will be sharing the closer role depending on usage; the spot Walker appeared in Friday was more about giving him a shot to get right in a game situation.

“That was big for him,” Melvin said. “He pitched really well, had command of his fastball, got a bad swing on a slider. Whenever you have a couple of tough outings, it’s nice to have one where you go out there with a little less pressure and throw the ball like you’re capable.”

Before the game, Walker said his stride length was off slightly and he was working to address it. Friday night, he worked a 1-2-3 inning with two strikeouts, one coming on his slider.

On a chilly evening at Oracle Park, a number of well-hit balls died right at the wall in left center, despite a breeze blowing out that direction. The most painful of those, for San Francisco, was Adames’ blast in the first, which looked and sounded like a homer off the bat. The team needs to get Adames, the No. 2 hitter, going. The team’s major offseason addition is batting .204 with one home run.

Every matchup with Texas comes with a Bruce Bochy undercurrent. Bochy, who won three rings as the Giants’ manager and another with the Rangers, said before Friday’s game that he’s grateful to be in town for Brandon Crawford Day honoring his former shortstop. He said he texts president of baseball operations Buster Posey now and then, sometimes about fishing, and the two caught up behind the batting cage before the game.

(sfchronicle.com)

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BIDEN LET CALIFORNIA GET CREATIVE WITH MEDICAID SPENDING. TRUMP IS SIGNALING THAT MAY END

by Kristen Hwang

In 2022, California made sweeping changes to its Medi-Cal program that reimagined what health care could look like for some of the state’s poorest and sickest residents by covering services from housing to healthy food. But the future of that program, known as CalAIM, could be at risk under the Trump administration.

In recent weeks, federal officials have signaled that support for creative uses of Medi-Cal funding is waning, particularly uses that California has invested in such as rent assistance and medically tailored meals. Medi-Cal is California’s name for Medicaid.

The moves align with a narrower vision of Medicaid espoused by newly confirmed Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services head Dr. Mehmet Oz, who said during his swearing-in ceremony that Medicaid spending was crowding out spending on education and other services in states with the federal government “paying most of the bill.”

“This one really bothers me. There are states who are using Medicaid — Medicaid dollars for people who are vulnerable — for services that are not medical,” Oz said.

It also fits with broader GOP calls to slim down the federal government. Medicaid is under scrutiny as part of a GOP-led budget process in the House of Representatives that calls for $880 billion in cuts over 10 years to programs including Medicaid.

“The messaging that we want to go back to the basics of Medicaid puts all of these waiver programs in jeopardy,” said John Baackes, former chief executive of L.A. Care, the state’s largest Medi-Cal health insurer.

CalAIM is authorized under a federal waiver that allows states to experiment with their Medicaid programs to try to save money and improve health outcomes. Under the waiver, California added extra benefits for high-cost users to help with food insecurity, housing instability, substance use and behavioral health challenges.

Roughly half of all Medi-Cal spending can be attributed to 5% of high-cost users, according to state documents.

But in March, the federal government rescinded guidelines supporting Medi-Cal spending for social services. It also sent states a letter in April indicating that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services would no longer approve a funding mechanism that helps support CalAIM, although that money will continue until 2026.

Together, these moves should worry states that operate programs like CalAIM, said Kathy Hempstead, senior policy officer at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

“Under the Biden administration states were encouraged to experiment with things like that: To prescribe people prescriptions to get healthy food, to refer people to community-based services,” Hempstead said. “This administration is not receptive at all to … that vision of the Medicaid program.”

In a press release, CMS said it is putting an end to spending that isn’t “directly tied to health care services.”

“Mounting expenditures, such as covering housekeeping for individuals who are not eligible for Medicaid or high-speed internet for rural healthcare providers, distracts from the core mission of Medicaid, and in some instances, serves as an overly-creative financing mechanism to skirt state budget responsibilities,” the press release states.

These signals from the federal government apply to future applications for Medicaid changes, and do not change California’s current programs or funding. The state’s CalAIM waiver expires at the end of 2026, and another similar waiver that supports California’s efforts to improve behavioral health care expires in 2029.

According to a statement from the Department of Health Care Services, the agency that oversees Medi-Cal, all programs “remain federally approved and operational.”

“We appreciate our Medi-Cal providers and community partners, and together we will push full steam ahead to transform our health system and improve health outcomes,” the department said.

Physician assistant Brett Feldman checks his patient, Carla Bolen’s, blood pressure while in her encampment at the Figueroa St. Viaduct above Highway 110 in Elysian Valley Park in Los Angeles on Nov. 18, 2022. Photo by Larry Valenzuela, CalMatters/CatchLight Local

Paul Shafer, co-director of the Boston University Medicaid Policy Lab, said decades of public health research show that people have worse health outcomes that require more expensive treatment when their social needs aren’t met.

“We’ve spent the last few decades in public health and health policy, arguing that so much of health and medical costs is driven by environmental factors — people’s living conditions, income, etc.” Shafer said.

But, Shafer said, programs like CalAIM are relatively recent and the research hasn’t had enough time to show whether paying for non-traditional services saves money.

For example, California’s street medicine doctors who take care of people who are homeless say that their patients often cycle in and out of the emergency room — the most expensive point of service in the health care system. They have no place to recover from medical procedures, no address to deliver medications, and the constant exposure to the elements takes years off of their lives, doctors say.

CalAIM gives them options to help their clients find housing.

The federal government’s decision not to fund programs like this in the future is a “step backward,” Shafer said.

“I think we can all read the tea leaves and say that that means they’re sort of unlikely to be renewed,” he said.

(CalMatters.org)

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SURPRISE ATMOSPHERIC RIVERS, TOXIC SEAFOOD: HOW NOAA CUTS COULD IMPACT CALIFORNIA

by Anthony Edwards & Jack Lee

Coast Guard rescue missions failing after running into unexpected currents. Surprise atmospheric river storms flooding downtown San Francisco. Seafood contaminated by unseen algal blooms.

California scientists fear these scenarios, and more, are possible under the Trump administration’s recommendation to reduce the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s budget by $1.7 billion.

Several scientific programs in California are slated for significant reductions or elimination if the budget proposal is pushed through Congress. Scientists say the cuts would hamper weather forecasting, disrupt critical ocean data collection and decimate climate research.

One of the programs at risk is the Central and Northern California Ocean Observing System. The association receives roughly $3.3 million annually from NOAA to manage instruments that monitor winds, water levels, ocean currents, heat and other data critical for business, forecasts and safety.

“It’s confusing that this work is slated for elimination when it so clearly aligns with many of the administration’s priorities around commerce, shipping, trade and national security,” said Alex Harper, deputy director of the Central and Northern California Ocean Observing System.

Dick Ogg, a commercial fisherman in Bodega Bay, utilizes the data to maximize his salmon and crab catch. Information on water temperatures, currents and potential harmful algal blooms is fed into predictive modeling Ogg says is critical for his business.

“If we don’t have that (data), we’re back to the Wild West where we just basically guess and hope that we’re right,” Ogg said.

Buoys, pier stations and sub-surface gliders measure oxygen, pH and salinity levels in the water, key data for aquaculture businesses such as Hog Island Oyster Co. in Tomales and Humboldt bays, which has five restaurants in the Bay Area and employs more than 300 people.

“I rely on integrated ocean observation systems,” said Terry Sawyer, vice president of Hog Island Oyster Co. “I have to have models that help make decisions about what my labor, production and market availability is going to be.”

The Coast Guard also utilizes data from high-frequency radars operated by the ocean observing system to perform life-saving search and rescue missions. Radars, located along the California coast, measure the direction and speed of ocean currents in high precision. In 2024, the Coast Guard Sector San Francisco saved 254 lives and assisted 789 people.

Researchers at California’s ocean observation networks also monitor and predict harmful algal blooms, said Clarissa Anderson, a biological oceanographer at UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography. For the fourth year in a row, toxic algae is affecting marine life off the Southern California coast.

Without data provided by the systems, “we would not have any situational awareness around the bloom right now that has killed 1,200 mammals, over 200 dolphins, (and) four to five larger whales,” Anderson said. People who eat contaminated seafood can experience vomiting and diarrhea or, in severe cases, even death.

This data is also vital for weather predictions in California. National Weather Service forecasts rely on high-quality measurements provided by the National Ocean Service, in addition to atmospheric observations. These units are two of six NOAA line offices that could be cut under the Trump administration.

“You can’t just have the weather service,” Anderson said. “You need the ocean service and the weather service. The two work together.”

NOAA could be reshaped through multiple paths in the coming months.

A White House document lays out the Trump administration’s priorities for the 2026 fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1. The budget proposal would “support a leaner NOAA that focuses on core operational needs, eliminates unnecessary layers of bureaucracy, terminates nonessential grant programs, and ends activities that do not warrant a Federal role,” according to the Trump administration.

The budget proposal must be approved by Congress and will likely be heard in May, House Appropriations Chairman Tom Cole, R-Oklahoma, told Bloomberg.

But cuts could come sooner. Researchers are anxiously waiting to learn if they will receive promised funds for the remainder of this fiscal year.

A continuing resolution signed by President Donald Trump on March 15 keeps NOAA funding generally at levels set during Joe Biden’s presidency, but doesn’t dictate how money is distributed. In the meantime, it has been up to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick — head of the department that manages NOAA — to personally approve any expiring contracts over $100,000.

Last week, several of NOAA’s regional climate offices went offline for two days before Lutnick signed a contract extension.

NOAA has until late April to submit a spending plan for the rest of the 2025 fiscal year, according to the Congressional Research Service. In the coming days, staff at NOAA-funded offices said they expect to learn how much money their unit will receive for the rest of this fiscal year. Some offices could receive a large cut or perhaps be eliminated altogether.

Funding for many programs in California is set to expire in the coming months.

NOAA instruments could be pulled out of the ocean “as soon as the summer,” said Harper, the deputy director of the Central and Northern California Ocean Observing System.

The administration has already taken steps to downsize NOAA, firing National Weather Service meteorologists, cutting millions in project funds and officials are considering cutting leases for dozens of agency buildings.

The proposed cuts could eliminate, or seriously reduce, NOAA funding to research institutions across the country, including UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography. In 2024, the center received $41.7M from NOAA for research.

“Scripps maintains critical ocean and atmospheric observations that are vital for enhancing public safety and economic security,” said Margaret Leinen, Scripps director and vice chancellor for marine sciences at UC San Diego. “These programs have been maintained with strong bipartisan support and we urge continued investment in NOAA.”

Scripps researchers rely on NOAA observations, including satellite data, to make forecasts for atmospheric rivers. These plumes of moisture fuel storms that contribute to California’s most damaging landslides and floods. Improved forecasts help inform officials when to release or retain water from reservoirs before rain arrives.

The agency is also a key sponsor for the Atmospheric River Reconnaissance program, which collects measurements from aircraft, buoys and weather balloons during atmospheric rivers. This data feeds into weather models and improves extreme rainfall predictions.

Scripps leads the Cooperative Institute for Marine, Earth and Atmospheric Systems, a collaboration between NOAA and nine California academic institutions. The consortium supports research aligned with NOAA’s goals and the training of students.

There are 16 NOAA-funded cooperative institutes across the country. The Trump administration proposes eliminating funding for all of them.

“Collaborations between universities and NOAA are powerful partnerships,” said Eric Palkovacs, professor and director of the Fisheries Collaborative Program at UC Santa Cruz, by email. “They leverage the expertise and resources on both sides to do cutting-edge research.”

The Fisheries Collaborative Program, which is partly funded through the Scripps-led cooperative institute, tracks and predicts how fish populations respond to environmental changes and to fishing.

“This work is important for the sustainable management of fisheries along the West Coast,” Palkovacs said. “If NOAA was to stop supporting this work, I do not know where the resources to support this research would come from.”

(SF Chronicle)

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CALIF. REPUBLICAN GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE TOURS SF DOWNTOWN, CALLS IT 'INFURIATING'

by Anabel Sosa

Steve Hilton, a former Fox News host from Britain with Silicon Valley ties announced Monday that he is running for California governor. After a launch event in Southern California, Hilton made his way north for his first campaign stop: a visit to San Francisco’s downtown.

The 55-year-old Republican, who recently said he would “attack the bloated bureaucracy” of California as governor, visited the Bay Area city to get an up-close glimpse at homelessness in the city’s downtown area, according to his campaign.

He took the visit as an opportunity to blast Newsom and the city’s housing policies.

“It’s just infuriating, because it’s all avoidable and preventable. All of it,” Hilton said in a clip he posted on X of his walking tour, which happened Wednesday and apparently took him through the SoMa neighborhood. Standing near the corner of Sixth and Mission streets, one of the city’s more troubled intersections, Hilton pointed out the Salesforce Tower visible up the street as a “symbol of San Francisco’s tech economy and the billionaires, side by side with this totally unacceptable failure of policy. It’s not a human failure — it’s not these people’s failure — it’s the government’s failure that we’re in this situation.”

In another clip he posted from his walkabout, Hilton wrapped his arm around a woman, embracing her as he pet her dog and talked about the city’s failed approach to drug use and housing. The woman was mostly silent, nodding and agreeing at times. In both clips, he walks and talks to the camera almost as if he’s a TV reporter. At one point, Hilton exclaims that the housing situation in San Francisco is the fault of “ridiculous ideological zealots."

Hilton moved to Silicon Valley in 2012 for a public relations job his wife, Rachel Whetstone, got at Google; she has also worked at other area tech companies including Netflix and Uber, according to the Los Angeles Times. Hilton went on to host a television program on Fox News starting in 2017 and also created an organization called Golden Together to develop policy ideas for California. He now lives in Atherton, a famously upper-class enclave south of San Francisco, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. (The Chronicle and SFGATE are both owned by Hearst but have separate newsrooms.)

Gov. Gavin Newsom is termed out next year, which has led to a flurry of candidates announcing their gubernatorial runs. That includes nine high-profile Democrats, such as former Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra and former Rep. Katie Porter. There’s also the long shadow of former Vice President Kamala Harris, who is expected to announce whether she will run by the end of the summer.

Hilton is the second prominent Republican candidate to announce a bid, after Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco. It will be an uphill battle for a Republican to win the seat, which hasn’t happened since Arnold Schwarzenegger’s reelection in 2006.

During his Wednesday walking tour, Hilton, who was accompanied by Tom Wolf, a housing advocate and self-described recovering addict, acknowledged that the conditions of San Francisco streets are “good compared to what we’ve seen on other occasions.”

“As always, I will meet with any serious political candidate or elected official regardless of party affiliation to discuss solutions to the ongoing homeless and drug crisis in San Francisco and beyond,” Wolf said to SFGATE in an email.

During the first week of his campaign, as California was boosted up to the fourth largest economy in the world, Hilton has continued to lambast the state, posting that it’s “last in nearly every measurable metric.” After his walk around SoMa, Hilton held a “policy forum” at Financial District restaurant Toy Soldier, which he began by asking the gathered attendees, “Are we going to save California? Are we going to make California golden again?”

(SFGate.com)

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I MET TOO MANY YOUNG PEOPLE, especially when I was working for Open City, just smoking marijuana within a two year period who were intelligent at first and after two years of marijuana they just came around, they go (in stoned voice), “Hey. Hey, how you doing?”

I’m going to be one of the first to say that marijuana is very ultimately destructive…it’s much more harmful than it’s ever been exposed to have been. Because I’ve seen it through people…I like drunkards, man. Because drunkards, they come out of it, and they’re sick, and they spring back. They spring back and forth. But even the light drug freaks, they’re just, (stoned voice), “Okay, okay.”

It’s like all mind circulation has been cut-off…So, yeah, I’m anti-drugs. Put me down. It’s a very lousy way to go. Just out of what I’ve seen, I can’t go it. Be an alcoholic. If you’ve got to be anything, be an alcoholic.

— Charles Bukowski

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ON-LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

The last 25 years has seen a economic roller coaster of "squeeze, release…..squeeze, release" - especially for the lower classes. The Dot.Com bubble, 9-11, the 2008 downturn, curious equity flow issues, the rise of the crypto scams, the Plandemic, etc. While some are saying be patient, I think Trump 2.0's honeymoon is drawing to a close. The actions coming out of the administration are too little, and way too late - and the wrong ones - to help out a totally beaten down blue collar worker.

There's little to no resilience left in many parts of the economy, at least in terms of supporting the higher standard of living we've enjoyed in the U.S. for the last 80 years. It appears that several sharp lurches downward are imminent, and I think tariffs will be the catalyst/scapegoat blamed when it fact the foundation has been crumbling for decades. I think the only thing left to debate is whether the policies have been intentional to bring about a crash, or more "organic" as how other collapses of civilizations are described.

The working man won't care about the causes - he'll just be in reaction mode, and that probably won't be pretty.

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YOU’RE WELCOME (OR NOT?)

Insufficient loyalty

To this King who wants to be

Destroyer of Democracy

In the Home Of The Brave

And The Land Of The Free

Defying the Courts

Breaking the system

He Illegally deports

Those who’ve dissed him

Who is next?

You might wonder

Ponder your exit?

Maybe down under?

Australia and

New Zealand too

And even Canada

Will welcome you

— Elvin Woods

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LEAD STORIES, SATURDAY'S NYT

Mourners Bid Solemn Farewell to Pope Francis

Will Pope Francis Be Made a Saint?

Trump Meets With Zelensky in Rome, White House Says

How Trump Plays Into Russia’s Hands, From Ukraine to Slashing U.S. Institutions

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WHERE THINGS STAND

by James Kunstler

“In order for a system to be stable, it requires negative feedback, also known as consequences.” —Barrie Drain

“Fighting fascism,” for the American Jacobins who lead the Democratic Party, means opposing any attempt to flush the corruption out of the entrenched bureaucracy, just as their pet phrase “our democracy” actually refers to the matrix of grift and despotic activism that drives their political operating system. That is exactly how and why the USAID was so crucial to spread captured taxpayer spoils as NGO salaries for the gender studies grads to play “activist,” so as to inflict their special brand of sadistic power madness over the land — to keep the game going.

Now, USAID is scattered to the winds and all they have left is their installed base of federal judges and the horde of lawfare lawyers who feed them bogus cases to halt the remaining work of Mr. Trump’s executive branch clean-up operation. Remember: Robespierre, leader of the Jacobins in the French Revolution, was a lawyer. Their version of defending “our democracy” in 1793 was the Reign of Terror that sent at least 17,000 political opponents to the guillotine.

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) is the Democrats’ Robespierre. He is promising his own reign of terror when his party recaptures Congress in the 2026 “midterm” election. Norm Eisen is his chief lawyer and legal strategist. His sole aim is recapture power in order to restore the Democrats’ sadistic regime of thought-control and the money-flows that feed it. That’s where things stand for the moment. You can sense how this tension is tending toward something that looks like civil war.

The game now is to goad President Trump into any kind of executive action in defiance of this legal insurrection that would subject him to impeachment after January 2027, when a new Congress is seated, theoretically with a Democratic majority. There are several flaws in the Raskin / Eisen plan-of-action. One is their supposition that the Democratic Party is popular enough to win a Congressional majority in 2026, or that they will enjoy the installed devices of electoral cheating to achieve victory no matter what.

The party is currently blundering wildly in support of obviously insane actions that a vast majority voters oppose, such as stopping the deportation of illegal immigrants, allowing men to compete in women’s sports, and opposing proof of citizenship in federal elections. Which is to say that the voters are onto exactly how crazy and destructive the Democratic Party has become.

The question is: what can be done about this lawfare insurrection. An easy solution would be for Congress to pass a law restricting the power of federal judges to issue orders that affect the nation as a whole outside their own designated districts. Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Charles Grassley has introduced the Judicial Relief Clarification Act of 2025. Grassley argues that nationwide injunctions, which allow a single district judge to block federal policies across the country, represent judicial overreach and disrupt the constitutional balance of powers.

In the House, Rep. Darrel Issa (R-CA) has introduced the No Rogue Rulings Act of 2025 (HR 1526, passed on April 9) to complement Sen. Grassley’s bill. The Constitution is somewhat vague about the composition of a federal judiciary below the Supreme Court, and essentially leaves the matter to Congress to set parameters for the power of federal judges. Congress can also alter or abolish districts, such as the DC federal district from which so much partisan Democratic Party lawfare has emanated under political activist Judges James Boasberg, Amy Berman Jackson, Tanya Chutkan, and Beryl Howell (all of them involved in the sadistic prosecutions of J-6 defendants).

The bills from each house next must go through a reconciliation process that boils them down to a single piece of legislation that can be sent to Mr. Trump for the presidential signature. The House passage is likely assured. The hang-up is that under Senate rules, the Democrats could mount a filibuster that would require 60 votes to break. The Republicans only control the chamber by a 53 to 47 majority, and no Democrats have signaled any intention to vote in favor of such a bill. In any case, the entire process would take months and might not succeed at all.

A much simpler remedy would be for the Supreme Court (SCOTUS) to rule in any of a number of cases now on their docket that the lawfare antics of the federal judges amount to interference with an independent executive branch — in short, that the judiciary can’t usurp the executive powers of the President, which include the conduct of foreign policy, the ability to manage personnel in executive agencies, and certain issues around the spending of taxpayer dollars.

A different sort of remedy would be the application by the DOJ of federal statute 18 USC 371, Conspiracy to Defraud the United States against Norm Eisen and his colleagues-in-lawfare for attempting to maliciously bury the executive branch in litigation for the purpose of nullifying the executive powers of the president. Beyond all that is the abyss: a nullified election, a paralyzed chief executive, and a constitutional crisis that has the potential to lead to civil violence. The Democrats seem willing to go there, perhaps even avid for it.

The Jacobins of 1793 were mad for blood, too, and they spilled a whole lot of it. By the summer of 1794, the blood was finally spouting out of their own necks… and then the Jacobin reign of terror came to a sudden and complete end. Heed their example.

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MY DINNER WITH ADOLF

by Larry David

Imagine my surprise when in the spring of 1939 a letter arrived at my house inviting me to dinner at the Old Chancellery with the world’s most reviled man, Adolf Hitler. I had been a vocal critic of his on the radio from the beginning, pretty much predicting everything he was going to do on the road to dictatorship. No one I knew encouraged me to go. “He’s Hitler. He’s a monster.” But eventually I concluded that hate gets us nowhere. I knew I couldn’t change his views, but we need to talk to the other side — even if it has invaded and annexed other countries and committed unspeakable crimes against humanity.

Two weeks later, I found myself on the front steps of the Old Chancellery and was led into an opulent living room, where a few of the Führer’s most vocal supporters had gathered: Himmler, Göring, Leni Riefenstahl and the Duke of Windsor, formerly King Edward VIII. We talked about some of the beautiful art on the walls that had been taken from the homes of Jews. But our conversation ended abruptly when we heard loud footsteps coming down the hallway. Everyone stiffened as Hitler entered the room.

He was wearing a tan suit with a swastika armband and gave me an enthusiastic greeting that caught me off guard. Frankly, it was a warmer greeting than I normally get from my parents, and it was accompanied by a slap on my back. I found the whole thing quite disarming. I joked that I was surprised to see him in a tan suit because if he wore that out, it would be perceived as un-Führer-like. That amused him to no end, and I realized I’d never seen him laugh before.

Suddenly he seemed so human. Here I was, prepared to meet Hitler, the one I’d seen and heard — the public Hitler. But this private Hitler was a completely different animal. And oddly enough, this one seemed more authentic, like this was the real Hitler. The whole thing had my head spinning.

He said he was starving and led us into the dining room, where he gestured for me to sit next to him. Göring immediately grabbed a slice of pumpernickel, whereupon Hitler turned to me, gave me an eye roll, then whispered, “Watch. He’ll be done with his entire meal before you’ve taken two bites.”

That one really got me. Göring, with his mouth full, asked what was so funny, and Hitler said, “I was just telling him about the time my dog had diarrhea in the Reichstag.” Göring remembered. How could he forget? He loved that story, especially the part where Hitler shot the dog before it got back into the car. Then a beaming Hitler said, “Hey, if I can kill Jews, Gypsies and homosexuals, I can certainly kill a dog!” That perhaps got the biggest laugh of the night — and believe me, there were plenty.

But it wasn’t just a one-way street, with the Führer dominating the conversation. He was quite inquisitive and asked me a lot of questions about myself. I told him I had just gone through a brutal breakup with my girlfriend because every time I went someplace without her, she was always insistent that I tell her everything I talked about.

I can’t stand having to remember every detail of every conversation. Hitler said he could relate — he hated that, too. “What am I, a secretary?” He advised me it was best not to have any more contact with her or else I’d be right back where I started and eventually I’d have to go through the whole thing all over again. I said it must be easy for a dictator to go through a breakup. He said, “You’d be surprised. There are still feelings.” Hmm … there are still feelings. That really resonated with me. We’re not that different, after all. I thought that if only the world could see this side of him, people might have a completely different opinion.

Two hours later, the dinner was over, and the Führer escorted me to the door. “I am so glad to have met you. I hope I’m no longer the monster you thought I was.”

“I must say, mein Führer, I’m so thankful I came. Although we disagree on many issues, it doesn’t mean that we have to hate each other.” And with that, I gave him a Nazi salute and walked out into the night.

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POLITICAL SCIENCE

by Randy Newman (1972)

No one likes us, I don't know why
We may not be perfect but Heaven knows we try
But all around, even our old friends put us down
Let's drop the big one and see what happens

We give them money but are they grateful?
No, they're spiteful and they're hateful
They don't respect us so let's surprise them
We'll drop the big one and pulverize them

Asia's crowded and Europe's too old
Africa is far too hot
And Canada's too cold
And South America stole our name
Let's drop the big one
There'll be no one left to blame us

We'll save Australia
Don't wanna hurt no kangaroo
We'll build an all American amusement park there
They got surfin' too

Boom goes London and boom Paree
More room for you and more room for me
And every city the whole world 'round
Will just be another American town

Oh, how peaceful it will be
We'll set everybody free
You'll wear a Japanese kimono
And there'll be Italian shoes for me

They all hate us anyhow
So let's drop the big one now
Let's drop the big one now

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LIVING ON THE CLIFF’S EDGE: THE PUEBLO PEOPLE, POPE FRANCIS AND THE FATE OF THE EARTH

by Jeffrey St. Clair

“If we approach nature and the environment without [an] openness to awe and wonder, if we no longer speak the language of fraternity and beauty in our relationship with the world, our attitude will be that of masters, consumers, ruthless exploiters, unable to set limits on their immediate needs. By contrast, if we feel intimately united with all that exists, then sobriety and care will well up spontaneously.”

– Pope Francis, Laudato Si’: On Care for Our Common Home,

On the day Pope Francis released his encyclical on the fate of the Earth, I was struggling to climb a near-vertical cliff on the Parajito Plateau of northern New Mexico. My fingers gripped tightly to handholds notched into the rocks hundreds of years ago by Ancestral Puebloans, the anodyne phrase now used by modern anthropologists to describe the people once known as the Anasazi. The day was a scorcher and the volcanic rocks were so hot they blistered my hands and knees. Even my guide, Elijah, a young member of the Santa Clara Pueblo, confessed that the heat radiating off the basalt had made him feel faint, although perhaps he was simply trying to make me feel less like a weather wimp.

When we finally hurled ourselves over the rimrock to the top of the little mesa, the ruins of the old city of Puyé spread before us. Amid purple blooms of cholla cactus, piñon pines and sagebrush, two watchtowers rose above the narrow spine of the mesa top, guarding the crumbling walls of houses that once sheltered more than 1,500 people. I was immediately struck by the defensive nature of the site: an acropolis set high above the corn, squash and bean fields in the valley below; a city fortified against the inevitable outbreaks of turbulence and violence unleashed by periods of prolonged scarcity.

The ground sparkled with potsherds, the shattered remnants of exquisitely crafted bowls and jars, all featuring dazzling polychromatic glazes. Some had been used to haul water up the cliffs of the mesa, an arduous and risky daily ordeal that surely would only have been undertaken during a time of extreme environmental and cultural stress. How did the people end up here? Where did they come from? What were they fleeing?

“They came here after the lights went out at Chaco,” Elijah tells me. He’s referring to the great houses of Chaco Canyon, now besieged by big oil. Chaco, the imperial city of the Anasazi, was ruled for four hundred years by a stern hierarchy of astronomer-priests until it was swiftly abandoned around 1250 AD.

“Why did they leave?” I asked.

“Something bad happened after the waters ran out.” He won’t go any further and I don’t press him.

The ruins of Puyé, now part of the Santa Clara Pueblo, sit in the blue shadow of the Jemez Mountains. A few miles to the north, in the stark labs of Los Alamos, scientists are still at work calculating the dark equations of global destruction down to the last decimal point.

This magnificent complex of towers, multi-story dwellings, plazas, granaries, kivas and cave dwellings was itself abandoned suddenly around 1500. Its Tewa-speaking residents moved off the cliffs and mesas to the flatlands along the Rio Grande ten miles to the east, near the site of the current Santa Clara (St. Clair) Pueblo. A few decades later, they would encounter an invading force beyond their worst nightmare: Coronado and his metal-plated conquistadors.

Again, it was a prolonged drought that forced the deeply egalitarian people of Puyé — the place where the rabbits gather — from their mesa-top fortress. “The elders say that the people knew it was time to move when they saw the black bears leaving the canyon,” Elijah told me.

Elijah is a descendant of one of the great heroes of Santa Clara Pueblo: Domingo Naranjo, a leader of the one true American Revolution, the Pueblo Revolt of 1680, which drove the Spanish out of New Mexico. Naranjo was half-Tewa and half-black, the son of an escaped slave of the Spanish. That glorious rebellion largely targeted the brutal policies of the Franciscan missionaries, who had tortured, enslaved and butchered the native people of the Rio Grande Valley for nearly 100 years. As the Spanish friars fled, Naranjo supervised the razing of the Church the Franciscans had erected — using slave labor – in the plaza of Santa Clara Pueblo.

Now the hope of the world may reside in the persuasive powers of a Franciscan, the Hippie Pope, whose Druidic encyclical, Laudato Si’, reads like a tract from the Deep Ecology movement of the 1980s, only more lucidly and urgently written. Pope Francis depicts the ecological commons of the planet being sacrificed for a “throwaway culture” that is driven by a deranged economic system whose only goal is “quick and easy profit.” As the supreme baptizer, Francis places a special emphasis on the planet’s imperiled waters, both the dwindling reserves of freshwater and the inexorable rise of acidic oceans, heading like a slow-motion tsunami toward a coast near you.

Climate change has gone metastatic and we are all weather wimps under the new dispensation. Consider that Hell on Earth: Phoenix, Arizona, a city whose water greed has breached any rational limit. Its 1.5 million residents, neatly arranged in spiraling cul-de-sacs, meekly await a reckoning with the Great Thirst, as if Dante himself had supervised the zoning plans. The Phoenix of the future seems destined to resemble the ruins of Chaco, with crappier architecture.

I am writing this column in the basement of our house in Oregon City, which offers only slight relief from the oppressive heat outside. The temperature has topped 100 degrees again. It hasn’t rained in 40 days and 40 nights. We are reaching the end of something. Perhaps it has already occurred. Even non-believers are left to heed the warnings of the Pope and follow the example of the bears of the Jemez.

Yet now there is no hidden refuge to move toward. There is only a final movement left to build, a global rebellion against the forces of greed and extinction. One way or another, it will either be a long time coming or a long time gone.

(This is excerpted from The Big Heat: Earth on the Brink. Jeffrey St. Clair is co-editor of CounterPunch. His most recent book is An Orgy of Thieves: Neoliberalism and Its Discontents (with Alexander Cockburn). He can be reached at: sitka@comcast.net or on Twitter @JeffreyStClair3.)