Mendocino County Today: Tuesday 4/29/2025

By AVA News Service on April 29, 2025

STEPHEN DUNLAP (Fort Bragg): 41F under clear skies this Tuesday morning on the coast. Our forecast is for cool & clear thru Thursday then maybe a shower on Friday.

A QUICK PASSING TROUGH will bring increased cloud cover and a slight chance for mountain showers on Tuesday. Dry weather returns on Wednesday with temperatures warming well above normal through Thursday. (NWS)

Fishmas in Potter Valley (Leland Horneman)

LOST WALLET IN WILLITS

Hi Mendocino County community: A sad thing happened today and I lost my wallet at the Patriot Gas Station in Willits. Most important is just the wallet, because it has sentimental value to me and has some of my favorite photos in it. The wallet is light brown leather and says Miles and Louie (a brand) in faint letters. This is embarrassing but I was in such a rush that it was on the top of my car and it fell off. It could be anywhere near that Patriot gas station. I also left my name and number with the cashier there. It has my driver's license inside identifying my name, Sydney Fishman. Please DM me (facebook) and let me know if you found it!

HELP FEED THE PEOPLE!

The AV food bank needs volunteers on the 2nd and 4th wednesdays every month at the grange.

Morning shift to pack groceries and unload the truck. A strong back is a plus!

Afternoon shifts to hand out groceries and register newcomers. Spanish speaking is a plus!

For more info, leave a message with your email address at 707.397.0716

WHERE’S BRITTANY ADKINS?: AN UPDATE OF A 2020 CASE

On April 26, 2025, investigators from Fort Bragg PD and Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office conducted a search of a 24-acre property on Dorffi Rd, south of the City of Fort Bragg. Investigators were assisted by the MCSO Search and Rescue team and two volunteer cadaver K9 teams from Crescent City Police Department. This was in an ongoing effort to locate any information regarding to location of Brittany Adkins, reported missing on November 13, 2020 by her family who had last contact with her prior to their missing person report. Adkins family believed she had last been in in the “Fort Bragg area”, which is why was initially reported to Fort Bragg PD.

The missing person’s case is currently being investigated by FBPD Special Investigator Wes Rafanan, who reviews all FBPD cold cases and missing persons cases. Over the course of the past year, Investigator Rafanan developed information in which a search of a large property south of the City of Fort Bragg was required. Due to the probable cause uncovered, a search warrant was granted to search the entire 24-acre property. The current residents on the property had given their consent for law enforcement to search as well and have been completely cooperative.

In all, fifteen Search and Rescue members, four FBPD officers, an MCSO detective, and two Crescent City PD volunteer cadaver dog teams participated in the hours’ long search of the rugged terrain, some of which was completely inaccessible. Despite their efforts, no evidence was located.

While no evidence of Adkins’ current whereabouts or status was found, this exhaustive search eliminated a possible location and answered several questions. This is an ongoing investigation.

Anyone with information on this incident is encouraged to contact Special Investigator Rafanan of the Fort Bragg Police Department at (707)961-2800 ext 219.

This information is being released by Chief Neil Cervenka All media inquiries should contact him at [email protected].

ANNEXATION CHALLENGES

Editor,

Over the past couple weeks I have received a lot of calls from residents regarding the annexation the City of Ukiah is proposing. When these discussions began my understanding was the initial move on this seemed to be driven by a need for the consolidation of water agencies within the Ukiah Valley.

Recently the proposed map of the annexation was made public, along with it were many questions which have yet to be answered. It became clear that this annexation will likely have serious implications for the county. Based on this map I also have concerns the city may be picking locations of revenue and cutting out locations which could be an expense.

One thing is certain, there will be lost revenues to the county, and we will likely see reduced services within the proposed annexation areas.

Business leaders in farming, construction, and manufacturing are seriously concerned regarding the proposal and there are a lot of questions which will need to be answered.

I am concerned this annexation could be a lose-lose for everyone and may have a negative effect on all of Mendocino County due to the reduction in revenues from businesses as well as a reduction in services for those annexed into the city.

These impacts will be felt from Gualala to Round Valley. This isn’t simply an issue for the residents of the Ukiah Valley; it will likely affect every resident of the county in one form or another.

This process has been moving at a very rapid pace. Clearly, we are on the edge of a very large decision which could have implications we are not yet aware of.

Therefore, I am hopeful we take an eyes-wide-open approach while looking at these proposals. I am also hopeful we can take a step back and deeply study what the impacts will be for the residents in the unincorporated areas as well as those within the proposed annexation. I am certain there will be a balancing point we can find, I’m also certain it will take some work to find it.

Thank you

Sheriff Matt Kendall

Ukiah

BROOKTRAILS FIRE RESILIENCY GRANT GETS DOGE’D

by Sarah Reith

A federal grant for large-scale fuels reduction and home hardening in Brooktrails has been canceled, along with the entire program that funded it, as part of the government’s cost-cutting efforts. The Building Resilient Communities and Infrastructure, or BRIC fund, was a FEMA grant that was supposed to “promote climate adaptation and resilience” in the face of “growing hazards associated with climate change,” according to the Cal OES website. Mendocino County was expecting close to $50 million which would have gone to retrofit 750 homes with ignition-resistant construction materials, hire crews to reduce fuels on about 1,500 acres, reduce invasive plants, and put grazing animals to work on another 300 acres, all in and around the Brooktrails area. County leaders and residents are now looking for other ways to fund the improvements, which they think would have provided a significant boost to fire safety and workforce development.

“It was a key grant that was finally orienting money the way we think is most important,” said Scot Cratty, Executive Director of the Mendocino County Fire Safe Council. “The most vulnerable thing in a wildfire is our homes. So if we make them resilient to wildfire, that’s the most effective way to save lives and structures.”

Fire awareness has long been a part of life for residents of Brooktrails, who mounted an exemplary evacuation in 2022 during the Oak Fire. Brian Ferri-Taylor says when he moved into the neighborhood in 1981, one of the first things he heard was that “if a fire ever crowns in Brooktrails, we’re all toast.” He received some sense of security back then, along with a map detailing eight evacuation routes. All was well until 2017, when wind-driven flames raged for weeks in Mendocino and Sonoma counties. At that point, a major discovery was made about the Brooktrails evacuation maps: “There’s only one way out,” Ferri-Taylor reported. “So 2017 was a real slap upside the head wakeup call.”

Since then, Brooktrails has approved an annual assessment to maintain the FirCo Road and Willits Creek Trail, a couple of private routes that emergency vehicles can use to get into the neighborhood and respond to a disaster. In that event, both lanes of Sherwood Road would be available to residents trying to escape.

“Brooktrails is one of the top thirteen most dangerous communities in the state,” according to Third District Supervisor John Haschak. He said county staff has been working on the “landscape level” grant for several years. The county recently received approval for $3.5 million for the planning phase of the grant. “Since we received the first phase, we expected to receive the second and third phases, because that’s how these programs work,” Haschak reasoned. But earlier this month, FEMA sent out a press release headlined, “FEMA Ends Wasteful, Politicized Grant Program, Returning Agency to Core Mission of Helping Americans Recovering from Natural Disasters.” An update on April 21 stated that, “As the program is concluding, the Fiscal Year 2024 BRIC funding opportunity is cancelled, no applications submitted will be reviewed and no funds will be awarded.” Funds that have not been distributed will be returned to the Disaster Relief Fund or the U.S. Treasury, and only recipients whose projects have started construction will be able to “expend all associated funds.”

Haschak says the county has already spent some of the money it received, and he doesn’t know if it will be reimbursed. The county also spent about $50,000 on consultants to write the grant. “The consequences are that we won’t have that extra safety that we were counting on, because of the high risk nature of this area,” he said. Also, “There was going to be an economic development part to it, because we were going to have to have people come in and do the retrofitting of these houses. That is a skill set in itself…and the fuel reduction on the landscape level was going to be big.”

Cratty says the grant would have gone a long way towards developing a workforce that knows what it takes to make homes more resistant to fire. “A lot of little things,” he enumerated: “just changing out the vents we have, enclosing decks and steps, creating a five-feet clearance around the homes. Caulking and flashing, and replacing wooden fence segments that are right next to the home . Those things are all fairly inexpensive and doable and increase our safety a lot, and we don’t have a workforce that knows how to do them, currently.” In addition to injecting millions of dollars’ worth of work into Brooktrails, Cratty believes the grant would have paid for local workers to get trained on skills that will continue to be in high demand as state regulations about fire safety and building codes tighten up, insurance demands get more strenuous, and homeowners seek contractors who can do the work efficiently and are also savvy about the requirements of working on grant-funded projects so they can help people retrofit their homes. The loss of this grant, he predicted, “is going to deprive us of an economic development step that we really need to get the whole county ready.”

Haschak says the county has received money for the research phase of a state grant to build a proper paved road in Brooktrails leading to the highway. Ferri-Taylor, the Brooktrails resident, said the community is pursuing small-scale safety projects, including expanding an emergency alert system and maintaining vegetation along Sherwood Road. Residents are all in on Mendocino County Fire Safe Council chipper days. The Brooktrails Fire Department is holding a flea market on June 28, where educational materials about the importance of fire safety will be available to residents. But “there’s $50 million worth of work and local job creation and training that’s, we’re going to have to find another way,” he said. “I don’t know what that is yet.”

Instead of getting $50 million in structural improvements and economic development to prevent disaster, Brooktrails is holding a Fire Department flea market, just to keep getting by.

For more information about how you can make your neighborhood more resilient to wildfire or start a neighborhood Fire Safe Council or Fire wise Community, visit the Mendocino County Fire Safe Council at www.firesafemendocino.org.

Billy Dock at Yorkville in Mendocino County - Pomo - 1925

DETECTING AND CONFRONTING ERROR:

The Potter Valley Project and Our Future Water (In?)Security

by Phil Williams

Our community – in a larger sense than perhaps many of us first imagine – is facing an existential question regarding our future water security. This question is being posed, not at our own initiative or design, but by circumstance. As many of us may know, even though we may not all fully apprehend its consequences, PG&E is surrendering the Potter Valley Project. How we will answer the only question that really matters will require the best from each of us.

Years ago, my grandmother, a remarkable woman of deep faith, encouraged me to pursue an education and to “never stop learning, Philip.” In a note that is now tucked into her old Bible on my bookshelf, she observed six virtues of knowledge. The first counseled that the honest pursuit of knowledge would allow me to “detect and confront error.” What follows is just that.

For over 120 years, the entire Russian River watershed, from Potter Valley to Jenner, has directly benefitted from PG&E’s storage, release, and diversion of Eel River water into the Russian River watershed. Once those waters met PG&E’s uses, partly for hydropower, and landed in the Russian River watershed, it was considered abandoned flow under California water law. Many of us – almost all of us – perfected appropriative water rights predicated on these foreign waters. Those of us relying on those waters have no right to insist on PG&E continuing to provide them. When they are gone, our appropriative water rights to that water are inchoate.

In anticipation of PG&E’s surrender of the Potter Valley Project, with tremendous foresight, decades ago certain leaders took steps to ensure our community would be well-positioned to meet this moment and created the Mendocino County Inland Water and Power Commission. We are all better for their efforts. Recently, those of us who find ourselves having inherited their vision have been laboring – and labor is the proper term here – to secure the most favorable terms the reality of our circumstances permit. One result of those labors is a memorandum of understanding between IWPC, Sonoma Water, the Round Valley Indian Tribes, California Fish and Wildlife, Humbolt County, and environmental groups on the Eel River. This MOU secures our ability to divert Eel River water for up to fifty years, and, more importantly, establishes a regime – constructs a framework – creates an ecosystem – that allows us to build on that success and that partnership for our longer-term collective water security. Given the circumstances, this is, I earnestly counsel, our only true imperative when it comes to the Potter Valley Project.

On April 4, 2025, the Mendocino, Sonoma, Lake, and Marin County Farm Bureaus published an open letter to President Donald J. Trump and his kakistocracy. The letter denigrates the elegant, durable solution the MOU frames out, complaining that the group that negotiated the MOU did not invite the signatories to bless it with their extensive knowledge and expertise in these matters. The letter goes so far to invite President Trump to sabotage PG&E’s decommissioning plan – a plan which includes the continued diversion of water into the Russian, and, instead, urges the Bureau of Reclamation to assume ownership and responsibility for the Potter Valley Project.

I detect three primary errors in the letter and offer them for our due consideration, believing that by confronting them head-on we may avoid the communal immolation the letter tempts us toward.

The first is the energy behind the letter – what is an injudicious and imprudent yielding to fear. This energy is expressed in two distinct ways. First, my good reader, if one has to publish an open letter to the President of the United States and a significant portion of his Cabinet, then one simply does not have the juice – the experience – the wherewithal – required to be heard otherwise. Now, in our history there have been populations that have had to resort to this tactic – women, African-Americans, homosexuals, immigrants – because they have been institutionally disenfranchised. These are hardly those circumstances. Second, this is simply not how one develops or even affects a major water project. One should know to pick up the phone or send an email to the correct person requesting the kind of discrete, focused, and informed meeting where these types of issues are thoughtfully addressed. The letter betrays a fundamental misconception of how to get important things – like our future water security – done in the real world.

I believe fear explains the tactic. Unfortunately, however, it does not excuse it. We are all afraid – some of us are simply refusing to yield to it. In these times it will be a quiet courage and an unyielding (though not naïve) faith that count.

Second, while the letter rightly acknowledges the fundamental importance of continued Eel River diversions, it simultaneously “urges” the President to prevent FERC (how to do so within the bounds of our Constitution is not clear) from approving PG&E’s decommissioning plan – the very plan that provides for those continued diversions.

Compounding the incoherence of its stated policy preference, the letter is uninformed by facts and circumstances. The facts include that PG&E owns the assets of the Potter Valley Project, including Scott Dam, Cape Horn Dam, the associated infrastructure, and the water rights. It’s PG&E’s stuff, folks, and we simply do not get to dictate to them what to do with it. That’s how things like the 5th and 14th Amendments work.

The circumstances include elements in Humboldt County, including environmental groups, which insist on Scott Dam coming down and do not seem to care whether there is any continued diversion at all. These folks include extraordinarily-litigious and well-financed elements like Pacific Coast Federation of Fisherman’s Association.

The letter insinuates we did not fight hard enough – that we somehow, for some reason – an absence of courage or conviction, perhaps? – yielded to these elements. Here I am not being defensive nor am I engaging in apologetics – I simply know what Herculean effort has gone into this to get us this far. As an infantryman who fought in Iraq, I am far too used to those who stayed out of the fight to criticize those who fought. This blemish on human nature and manly virtue is nothing new – it is, however, no less tiresome.

The prudent course required that we ask how best to deal with these energies. As much as they may insult our own legitimate interests in water, these competing energies are an important variable in any calculus that leads to any real and enduring solution. Rather than counsel the prudent path, the letter beckons us, Siren-like, to return the insult as if their interests were somehow necessarily subordinate to our own. This potential future only guarantees conflict. This potential future only results in tragedy – tragic because the resulting catastrophe will have been of our own making.

This regime of conflict is the governing regime in other areas of the state – I counsel my neighbors in the strongest possible terms to avoid that future. It is a future where executive directors, engineers, consultants, and, yes, lawyers, make boatloads of money and guarantee perpetual employment in the Sisyphean task of endlessly fighting over every drop of water while the end user – the family trying to buy a home, the irrigator, the harvester, the business owner, the kid at the park – suffers.

The current path is a path toward a future where competing interests to Eel River water are recognized and provided for and which is the best guarantor of our collective water security. Thus the letter is as ill-conceived as it is uninformed by reality.

Finally, in the crescendo of its folly, the letter “urges” Reclamation to assume ownership and responsibility of the Potter Valley Project, citing Reclamation’s expertise in federal water management and dam operations as “the best path forward.”

Perhaps. One wonders whether the authors are familiar with Reclamation’s cost allocation policies, and with the fact that, yes, Reclamation does do large water projects – and does them rather well – but it does not do so for free. In fact, the cost of providing what would be federal project water, both in capital obligations and any attending water service or repayment contract terms, would exceed by several factors the likely cost of the present course the MOU provides. It would certainly be entire orders of magnitude more costly than the rates currently paid by our friends and neighbors in Potter Valley. Once again, one need only cast one’s eyes and mind beyond the borders of Mendocino County or read something other than social media to understand the significant cost implications of Reclamation operating a future water project. This the letter does not even begin to address.

To beat the horse dead, the letter also fails to grasp the structural realities Reclamation and its water contractors and end users regularly deal with. Reclamation does not operate in an administrative vacuum. As a bureau in the Department of Interior, its sister agencies, notably U.S. Fish and Wildlife, are able to influence decisions made at the policy level that manifest themselves in decreased water reliability – those of us who work in this arena describe it as a one-way knob. Furthermore – and under the critical, well-financed eye of those who are currently our allies but who would now be our outright opponents – Reclamation’s every action would be subject to indefatigable challenge under the Endangered Species Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, and the Clean Water Act, not to mention the tome that is Federal Reclamation Law, which is itself, as the Central Valley Project experienced in1992, subject to “improvement” based on national politics. These constraints would very likely lead our home to operate under the same constant water insecurity as our neighbors, for example, south of the Delta, where, for the third year in a row, and after the third year of record or near-record precipitation, can count on only receiving perhaps 40% of what their contracts with Reclamation provide. Bear in mind they pay for 100%, regardless of the allocation.

The only thing the letter manages to get right is that we must raise and modernize Coyote Valley Dam. And here when I say “we” I mean Mendocino County. The greater Ukiah Valley’s water future is entirely dependent on accomplishing this. Anything – any effort, any talking point, any other interest – that distracts from our ability to recover from the grave mistake our forebears made 70 years ago must be unapologetically treated as a clear and present danger to our collective water security. It’s just math, folks, plain and simple – it's addition and subtraction. Tens of thousands of acre-feet of water will come. We must have somewhere to put it. Right now we do not.

An ill-conceived idea, born of fear and animated by a lack of information about the relevant facts, circumstances, and law – essentially concocting an alternate reality – results in something that is as unwise as it is existentially dangerous. It may seem harsh to offer these observations in public – much rather would I have had this discussion in private with my friends and neighbors in Mendocino County Farm Bureau leadership. With all my heart I hoped the letter would go quietly into the night. But the public repetition of the letter’s existence, pleas, and substance, such as it is, unfortunately demands a public rebuttal given the gravity of the sin. My sincere and earnest hope is that my offering will counsel more thoughtful, constructive, and informed participation from men and women of the requisite moral fiber to meet the moment.

Error, undetected and unconfronted, can pervert the truth and – worse – undermine our belief in and paralyze our pursuit of the truth. These times do indeed demand the best from each of us – I suggest we now have a glimpse of what the worst looks like and that, from this thalweg, we have nowhere to go but up.

(Philip A. Williams lives just outside Ukiah; a former infantryman with two tours in Iraq, he is a registered Republican and holds a Master’s in Public Administration, a Juris Doctor, and a Master of Laws in water; he has been practicing water law across the state for over ten years, with significant experience in major federal water projects and Reclamation law, very much of which has been spent defending and advocating for California agriculture. He dedicates this writing to his children and their friends, whose future home he is wholly and unapologetically committed to securing.)

WENDY READ: May Day protest in Boonville. Noon to 2

SIGN HERE

by Andrew Lutsky

I was stunned on Sunday morning to read in Mike Geniella’s piece about construction beginning on the new courthouse that the sage leaders of the City of Ukiah and Mendocino County have hatched a plan to demolish Alex Thomas Plaza to make room for commercial development.

Some apparently wish to use the money from the sale of the plaza to fund the demolition of the old courthouse and construction of a new (smaller and I'm guessing with fewer amenities) Alex Thomas Plaza at that location.

Deputy City Manager Shannon Riley, whose lovely and unique shop Shoefly and Sox is located across the street from the courthouse, is a "proponent" of this plan, according to Geniella, who stated "Proponents — it is not an idea solely of Ms. Riley — favor creating a Healdsburg-style plaza there. The current Thomas Plaza is a center of public activities but it is not the town’s historic center. Riley and other relocation proponents believe [the current plaza] offers a higher potential for commercial development, perhaps a hotel, according to the theory. If so, a sale could substantially diminish the city’s costs to move the plaza."

I'm guessing the "proponents" behind this plan do not spend much if any time at Alex Thomas Plaza, which is easily one of the most pleasant places to be in all of Ukiah.

No one in Ukiah who enjoys the plaza had anything to do with the courthouse debacle, and we will not sacrifice one square foot of our public square to accommodate our leaders' shenanigans.

I started a petition to oppose this plan, I hope you will read and support it and share. Thank you. https://chng.it/LYc7DRCXTk

TRYING TO REMAIN CALM

Is this normal?

I've been seeing my regular Social Security retirement benefit payments appear in my account by the first of every month since I qualified last year. Now I read, just tonight, two days before the end of the month, that's not happening this time, that there's a special payment schedule for May, where payments are going out like this:

If you have received Social Security since before May 1997: May 2

If your birthday falls between the 1st and 10th of any given month: May 14

If your birthday falls between the 11th and 20th of any given month: May 20

If your birthday falls between the 21st and 31st of any given month: May 27

I was born on the 12th, so apparently that means my May payment won't be coming till /May 20/, three weeks after I expected it. That's gonna be hard on me and Juanita and probably millions of other people. Is this something that happens normally just in May, or will it be like this from now on, or will there be another schedule entirely for June, that we'll only hear about at the very end of May? Is this just one result of Musk and Trump et al. having twisted the head off the government like a ketchup cork?

I'm trying not to freak out here, but wow.

Marco McClean, [email protected]

40TH ANNUAL BOONTLING CLASSIC 5K FOOTRACE

The race kicks off on Sunday May 4, 2025 at 10 am and will be held at the Anderson Valley Elementary School in Boonville.

Everyone who registers for the race is automatically entered into the post-race raffle and a chance to win prizes from our many generous Anderson Valley businesses, including the Boonville Hotel, Sobo Sushi, Disco Ranch, Wickson, Jumbo's Win-Win, the AV Brewery, Toulouse, Navarro, Brashley, Witching Stick, the Apple Farm, Chris Bing and Jan Wax, and many others. All proceeds from this event will be donated to the Anderson Valley Food Bank.

After the race, folks can stay to enjoy the Day of the Child festivities at the AV Elementary School.

You can sign-up ahead of time at https://runsignup.com/boontlingclassic or register the morning of the race, starting at 8:30 a.m.

Ribbons will be given to the top three placers in each of the ten age divisions, as well as plaques for the first man/woman/non-binary finishers. In addition, a post-race drawing will be held with awesome prizes generously donated by local Anderson Valley businesses!! All process will go to the Anderson Valley Foodbank in Boonville, CA. We are once again partnering with the AV SkateparkProject to create custom printed Boontling Classic t-shirts as a fundraising project for the skatepark.

We hope to see you all for an awesome day of running in scenic Anderson Valley!!

Zane Colfax, Race Director, 707.472.8217

‘DUETS’ CONCERT FOR MOTHER’S DAY at Willits Center for the Arts - May 11, 2025

Don’t know what to do for Mom on Mother’s Day? Looking for that one-of-a-kind experience? Look no further! Treat her to a musical world tour at The Willits Center for the Arts presenting ‘DUETS’ , a musical adventure featuring four different ‘duets’ from the region’s finest musicians. Spencer Brewer and friends return to the Willits Center for the Arts (WCA) for this unique musical journey. It’s sure to be an amazing concert as well-known area musicians’ pair up on WCA's grand piano, violin, saxophone, vocals, and traditional Chinese instruments. Performers include Ben Rueb & Margie Rice, Barney McClure & Roseanne Wetzel, Spencer Brewer & Wenbo Yin and Katrina Hu, Lita Li & Hannah Cheng.

Well known Ukiah musician and producer Spencer Brewer finds great satisfaction in putting unique musical events together. “Finding the right artists across a myriad of styles and matching them with a great venue allows for wondrous moments to happen,” Spencer remarks, adding that the DUETS concept showcases musician's talents in new ways. “When a duet or small ensemble come together, each player brings to their sound, their life experience, and their voice to the table. An ensemble allows for moments of brilliance between the players.” He continues, “Coming up with the concept for a Mother's Day concert composed of different styles with a variety of artists and instrumentation was a blast! This fun afternoon of exceptional classical music, jazz, funky boogie, soulful renditions and original compositions will leave listeners enriched.”

Enjoy this musical afternoon with friends, neighbors, and good cheer, all to benefit the Willits Center for the Arts. Charcuterie and special pastries from Willits’ own Crafthouse Baking and the Cheesecakery will be served, along with sparkling wine and other beverages.

Presale tickets are $25 online at willitscenterforthearts.org and at the gallery desk, and $30 at the door the day of the concert. Doors open at 3:30 on Sunday May 11, and music begins at 4pm in the Great Room at the Willits Center for the Arts, 71 East Commercial St. in Willits. For more information call 707-459-1726.

KELLEY HOUSE MUSEUM:

An elevated view of the first bridge over Big River taken by Ira C. Perry, who worked in Mendocino from about 1880 to 1895.

Toll Bridge over Big River, c. 1881. (Gift of Margaret Kelley Campbell)

The bridge was built by the Big River Bridge Company, composed of Spencer W. Hill, a Mendocino rancher; Isaac P. Smith, a trader living in Little Lake Township; and Peter S. Palmstream, the man who operated the ferry this bridge would replace. The company held the franchise to build the bridge and then collect tolls from 1861 to 1878, when it became a free bridge. In 1864, the toll was 50 cents for a 6 horse team/driver, 15 cents for a single horse/rider, 5 cents for each head of cattle while for sheep the fee was 2 cents. In 1882, the original bridge was replaced by a new one using Howe trusses.

The third Mendocino Lumber Company Mill is visible on the flat in the background. Standing next to the mill's boilers is the "million-brick" chimney, which came down in the 1906 earthquake. Workers' dwellings line the road to the mill. The flat is strewn with cut tree trunks, deposited there by the river during high water.

CATCH OF THE DAY, Monday, April 28, 2025

NICHOLAS BJORKLUND, 30, Willits. Shoplifting, contempt of court.

SKYLER DAUSMAN, 42, Ukiah. Probation revocation.

ASTORGA DURAN, 23, Ukiah. DUI, leaving scene of accident with property damage.

CHRISTIAN GUTIERREZ-GARCIA, 31, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol, petty theft, probation revocation.

TONY HANOVER, 19, Ukiah. Controlled substance, paraphernalia, probation violation.

MARK SMITH, 32, Ukiah. DUI suspended license for DUI, contempt of court, disobeying court order, failure to appear.

WIDESPREAD POWER OUTAGE HITS SPAIN AND PORTUGAL

The blackout hit critical infrastructure like airports and caused transportation disruptions across the two countries. The cause of the outage was unclear.

by Jonathan Wolfe, Amelia Nierenberg, Azam Ahmed, Rachel Chandler & Catherine Porter

A major power outage hit Spain and Portugal on Monday afternoon, abruptly shutting down daily activities, halting trains and subways, cutting off traffic lights, closing stores and canceling or delaying some flights.

Hours after the power shut off around 12:30 p.m. Central European time, stranding tens of millions of people across the Iberian Peninsula, officials remained at a loss as to the cause, though several denied any foul play.

“At this point, there are no indications of any cyberattack,” António Costa, the president of the European Council, wrote on X after communicating with the leaders of Spain and Portugal, who both assembled emergency meetings. “Grid operators in both countries are working on finding the cause and on restoring the electricity supply.”

By Monday evening, with the help of electricity funneled from Morocco and France, parts of northern and southern Spain had flickered back to life and Spain’s national power company, Red Eléctrica, said power was being progressively restored across the country. Later Monday night, the president, Pedro Sánchez, said, “Practically 50 percent of the electricity supply has been restored.”

(NY Times)

SUPERVISOR TED WILLIAMS: (Good reminder to have a supply of water, food, medicine, batteries (first learned from my daughter who is in the outage with an estimate of one week):)

Brussels (CNN) — In an unprecedented wave of cyber assaults, critical infrastructure across Europe was targeted early Monday in what officials are calling one of the largest coordinated cyberattacks in history. European Union cybersecurity agencies have pointed to Russian state-backed groups as the primary suspects behind the widespread disruptions.

Power grids, financial institutions, airports, and healthcare systems across more than 15 countries were affected. Several major European banks reported temporary outages, and airports in Frankfurt, Paris, and Madrid experienced system failures that caused extensive flight delays. Emergency services in parts of Germany and Poland were forced to revert to analog communications after losing digital capabilities.

“This is a direct attack on European sovereignty,” said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at a press briefing. “We will respond with unity, strength, and resilience.”

The Kremlin has officially denied involvement, dismissing the accusations as “baseless and provocative.”

At the same time, NATO forces reported unusual naval movements in the North Atlantic. According to U.S. European Command (EUCOM), at least six Russian naval vessels, including two destroyers and a submarine, were detected maneuvering near critical undersea cable routes between Europe and North America. Additional allied naval assets have been deployed in response to what a senior Pentagon official described as “a significant and deliberate show of force.”

“This pattern of behavior is deeply concerning,” said Admiral James Thornton, commander of NATO's Allied Maritime Command. “We are closely monitoring all maritime traffic and are prepared to safeguard transatlantic security.”

INSENSITIVITY, AN ON-LINE COMMENT:

Sometimes people can unknowingly be hurtful and dismissive. When my husband was first diagnosed with aggressive prostate cancer, a colleague told him it was no big deal, everything would be fine. After it metastasized and he was on testosterone suppression, another (female) colleague joked how now he knew what menopause was like. He didn’t think it was funny. Women expect menopause, this was due to deadly cancer. He fought through and it is remarkably in remission but his oncology docs think the probability of return is a matter of time. Or maybe he’ll be in that 5%. Recently he had a conversation about lifespan with a financial advisor he was consulting who assured him that prostate cancer was the good kind because you die of something else. It is very upsetting when people say these things. No, people do die of prostate cancer, suffering from treatment isn’t funny and you don’t know if everything will be OK. When you hear people say they have cancer, commiserate, say you’re sorry to hear it, let them talk, ask questions…..but don’t tell them everything will be OK. Meanwhile, we live every day grateful for that day. He is healthy and active and life is good. You can’t predict the future or live in worry. That is suffering.

GOOD ENOUGH? WARRIORS’ JIMMY BUTLER WAS GREAT when it counted the most

by Ann Killion

Good enough.

That’s what Jimmy Butler said he was.

But it sure looked like a lot more than just good enough. When Butler soared high — Michael Jordan-esque high — in the final seconds of Monday’s game to corral a rebound and secure a Warriors victory in Game 4, he was downright spectacular.

“Just the elevation,” Steve Kerr said, “It looked to me like he was just head and shoulders above everybody, and that’s a massive team they have out there.

“That’s what makes Jimmy who he is. He makes so many big plays.”

When Butler came down with the rebound and was fouled, he tucked the ball under his arm like a trophy and wagged his finger at the Rockets, Dillon Brooks in particular. He sank two free throws to give the Warriors not only a 109-106 win in the bruising, nasty battle, but a possibly insurmountable 3-1 lead in the series.

The Rockets trudged off the court demoralized and upset. They had succeeded in getting the Warriors to play their game for most of the first half, wallowing in the muck of pushing and shoving, techs and flagrants. Yet despite that, and despite leading for much of the second half, the Warriors now have three chances to win one game, beginning Wednesday in Houston.

“(Close out games) are always the hardest ones, especially a team like Houston,” Kerr said. “The two-seed, 52 wins, big-time team. They’ve got a lot of pride, a great coach. They’re going to be ready.”

But the Warriors will be ready too. Because they have Butler back.

Golden State Warriors’ Jimmy Butler III reacts after being fouled by Houston Rockets’ Dillon Brooks leading to 3 free throws in final minute of Dubs’ 109-106 win in NBA Playoffs’ First Round Game 4 at Chase Center in San Francisco on Monday, April 28, 2025.

Butler missed all of Game 3 and most of Game 2, landing on his tailbone and suffering a deep contusion in the early stages of the second game last Wednesday.

“A lot of pain,” he said of his last few days, which have included constant treatment.

“And then I woke up today and I was good enough.”

But for much of the game it looked like Butler wasn’t going to be able to summon Playoff Jimmy. He had just four points in the first half and wasn’t moving with his usual fluidity or authority.

“The first three quarters he couldn’t move,” Draymond Green said. “I’m not sure how he started moving in the fourth quarter, but the first three quarters he couldn’t move. Yet he never complained. He stuck with it.

“And, when it was most important, when the time was right, everybody on our side looked to get him the ball. And when you get him the ball he makes great things happen. For himself and for others.”

Butler said his body had finally started to warm up. He was magnificent in the second half, scoring 23 of his team-leading 27 points, 14 in the fourth quarter. He was a perfect 12-for-12 from the line, 10 of those free throws coming in the second half.

“You start to move a little bit better, you gain confidence, people start talking to you,” Butler said, “and good things happen.”

By “people” Butler meant, “Dillon Brooks started talking.”

“It helps when somebody lights a fire under you,” Stephen Curry said.

In the second quarter, as the Rockets shot free throws, Butler and Brooks jabbered at each other and lip-readers caught a few choice words from Butler. As they ran back down the court, Butler knocked Brooks to the ground and after a Warriors turnover that Brooks took the other way, Butler fouled him hard at the basket. Brooks missed both his free throws, sticking with a trend in the series: the Rockets have missed 35 free throws in the first four games.

“I don’t like Dillon Brooks,” Butler said. “We’re never having fun. I’m a fierce competitor. He’s a fierce competitor. There ain’t nothing fun about that.”

When general manager Mike Dunleavy made the case that the Warriors should trade for Butler, the word he often used was “competitive.” Butler is, indeed, an extraordinarily fierce competitor, who can summon an even greater fire in the biggest moments.

“Sheer will and determination,” Curry said. “For him to gut through that first half and get the wheels going in the second half — on both ends of the floor — it’s why he means so much to us. A gutty performance, for sure.”

This playoff run is different from the Warriors’ past postseasons because of Butler’s impact. Because of his unique game and command of the court and the moment. All of that was on display as he launched his sore body into the air over larger men to get the basketball and close out the game.

“It looked like he was coming in in slow motion,” Kerr said.

“It’s just his presence,” Green said. “What he does for this team is humongous. My favorite play was that last rebound. I looked up and I thought it was (Jonathan) Kuminga out there flying. It was Jimmy.”

When the final buzzer sounded, Butler and his comic foil Buddy Hield celebrated on the bench, while Curry and Green wrapped their arms around each other in a bear hug. There was so much joy and celebration in the moment, it almost looked like the Warriors had won the series.

Because they almost have.

Because Jimmy Butler wasn’t only “good enough” to play, he was great.

(sfchronicle.com)

BAY AREA SUPERSTAR DROPPED FROM FESTIVAL BILL DUE TO ISRAEL COMMENTS

by Timothy Karoff

After a university canceled her performance over her political statements, Kehlani has gone online to respond.

The R&B singer-songwriter was slated to perform at Slope Day, an annual concert at Cornell University, on May 7. Last week, Michael Kotlikoff, Cornell’s president, shared a statement announcing that the university was disinviting the artist from the event, citing her past statements on Israel and Gaza.

“In the days since Kehlani was announced, I have heard grave concerns from our community that many are angry, hurt, and confused that Slope Day would feature a performer who has espoused antisemitic, anti-Israel sentiments in performances, videos, and on social media,” Kotlikoff wrote.

According to the Cornell Daily Sun, a student group called Cornellians for Israel circulated a petition condemning Kehlani’s selection and urging the university to bring another performer to the event.

Kehlani, who uses she/they pronouns, has been vocal in their support for Palestinians on social media and in their work. In the music video for their track “Next 2 U,” the words “long live the Intifada” appear on the screen. (“Intifada,” which translates to uprising, refers to Palestinian popular movements against Israeli occupation of Gaza and the West Bank.) In a video the artist shared on social media in May 2024, Kehlani called out other musicians for their silence on the conflict in Gaza, saying, “It’s f—k Israel, and it’s f—k Zionism and it’s also f—k a lot of y’all too.”

This week, the artist responded to the Slope Day cancellation.

“I am being asked and called to clarify and make a statement yet again for the millionth time that I am not antisemitic nor anti-Jew. I am anti-genocide,” Kehlani said in a video statement shared on social media. “I am anti the actions of the Israeli government. I am anti an extermination of an entire people. I am anti the bombing of innocent children, men, women. That’s what I’m anti.”

Kehlani grew up in Oakland and attended Oakland School for the Arts. Alongside Kim Petras and Tinashe, they’re one of the headliners of SoSF, San Francisco’s new Pride music festival, which is scheduled to take place at Pier 80 on June 28. Last November, they performed at the Chase Center.

The news comes at a time when universities are under heightened scrutiny from the federal government. The Trump administration canceled $400 million in grants to Columbia University, citing the elite university’s handling of campus protests against Israel’s war in Gaza. Cornell is on a list of 60 universities the administration is investigating over claims of discrimination against Jewish students. Earlier this month, the administration froze $1 billion in federal funds for Cornell. In March, Immigration and Customs Enforcement began moving to deport some international students who were involved in the protests, including Mahmoud Khalil, a green card holder at Columbia University whom the agency detained without a warrant.

(SFGate)

’60 MINUTES HOST SCOTT PELLEY BLASTED for biting the $5 million hand that feeds him in an on-air outburst

by Rachel Bowman

Veteran 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley has been slammed for his on-air rebuke of his CBS bosses.

Pelley, who makes an estimated $5 million per year, used the broadcast's final segment on Sunday night to address the sudden resignation of the show's executive producer, Bill Owens.

However, he quickly pivoted to condemning CBS parent company Paramount Global for taking a more active role in the show's journalism claiming their interest is a desperate bid to secure political favor from the Trump administration.

'Bill resigned Tuesday. It was hard on him and hard on us, but he did it for us - and you,' Pelley told viewers. 'Our parent company, Paramount, is trying to complete a merger. The Trump administration must approve it. Paramount began to supervise our content in new ways.'

'No one here is happy about it' Pelley revealed about the extra supervision that corporate leaders are imposing. He also noted how in quitting, Owens proved he was 'the right person to lead 60 Minutes all along.'

Pelley was blasted online by critics who claimed his outburst showed he was ungrateful to the company that he's been with for decades and pays his massive salary.

'When you work for wages, you ride for the brand. Don't like what you're doing? Quit. Scott Pelley bit the hand that feeds him and should be frog marched from the studio,' one person said.

'This show has been nothing but fraudulent the past eight plus years. This editorial by Scott Pelley jumps the shark,' said another.

'Find someone who loves you the way Scott Pelley loves himself,' a third person said.

'If Pelley believed a word of this then he should resign. He won't though because it's all nonsense. He knows it and we know it,' added a fourth.

Others called out Pelley for failing to address the other recent scandals 60 Minutes and CBS have been involved in.

'Scott Pelley and the entire 60 Minutes team… total frauds. After the Harris interview editing debacle, for that clown to sit there so sanctimoniously and claim a transgression was visited upon the righteous 60 Minutes staff,' said on person.

'Such a naïve final minute that showed just how out of touch they are with reality. No mention of the doctored Kamala interview, the loss to Trump on the court case, the coverup of Biden’s mental acuity, or any other way their ”reporting” was biased. Fire all of them and start over,' another said.

The live commentary was a rare glimpse into the internal battles at 60 Minutes, an institution that has built its reputation on fearless reporting for nearly six decades and Pelley's on-air statement was an unusual peek behind the scenes at the inner turmoil viewers seldom get to see.

Pelley made clear that although no stories had been blocked outright, Owens believed the creeping corporate oversight had crossed a red line and was undermining the very foundation of journalistic integrity.

'None of our stories has been blocked,' Pelley declared, 'but Bill felt he lost the independence that honest journalism requires. No one here is happy about it.

'Stories we've pursued for 57 years were often controversial, lately the Israel-Gaza war and the Trump administration. Bill made sure they were accurate and fair—he was tough that way.'

The corporate storm swirling around CBS comes as Paramount Global races to finalize a high-stakes merger with Skydance Media, a deal that reportedly hinges on receiving the green light from federal regulators under the Trump administration.

At the same time, the network remains embroiled in an eye-popping $20 billion defamation lawsuit filed by Trump himself, who claims the show manipulated an interview with Vice President Kamala Harris last fall to paint her in a more favorable light.

Trump has claimed the network cut down Harris' 'word salad' answer to a question about the Israel-Hamas conflict. By doing so, he claims the network was helping the Democratic nominee secure the White House.

Employees at the network, though, have said they were simply trying to fit Harris' answer into their one-hour broadcast.

Owens, 58, who had been with CBS News for decades and served as only the third executive producer in 60 Minutes' 57-year history since 2019, walked away from the show last week.

In his resignation, Owens cited corporate interference as the breaking point, saying it had 'become clear that I would not be allowed to run the show as I have always run it - to make independent decisions based on what was right for 60 Minutes, right for the audience.'

Owens - a respected figure who recently helped overhaul CBS's Evening News - went on to promise that '60 Minutes will continue to cover the new administration,' and 'future' ones as well.

'The show is too important to the country,' Owens ultimately declared, weeks after sources told DailyMail.com how the bigwig was 'feeling the pressure' brought by the Trump lawsuit.

He reportedly added during a '60 Minutes' staff meeting last Tuesday: 'It's clear the company is done with me. It has to continue, just not with me as the executive producer,' Owens said.

(DailyMail.uk)

YOUR MIND IS ON VACATION

by Mose Allison (1962)

You sittin' here and yakkin' right in my face
I guess I'm gonna have to put you in your place

You know if silence was golden
You couldn't raise a dime
Because your mind is on vacation and your mouth is workin' overtime

You quotin' figures and droppin' names
You tellin' stories about the dames
You're over laughin' when things ain't funny
You tryin' to sound like a big money

You know if talk was criminal
You'd lead a life of crime
Because your mind is on vacation and your mouth is workin' overtime

You know that life is short
Talk is cheap
Don't be makin' promises that you can't keep
You don't like this little song I'm singin'
Just grin and bear it
All I can say is if the shoe fits, wear it

If you must keep talkin'
Please try to make it rhyme
Because your mind is on vacation and your mouth is workin' overtime

FRITZIE ZIVIC

My mother didn't want any of us to fight, especially me since I was the baby, but the other kids would pick on me. They'd say 'you think you're tough because your brothers are fighters.' My mother, who died when she was 93 years old, never said a bad word in her life. When I'd come home from having a fight with some kid, she'd ask me why did I hit him? I would tell her he swore at me. She'd say 'what did he say?' I'd tell her he called me a 'sunuva.' She'd say 'you should've hit him again'…

…If I had to live my life all over again, I'd be a professional fighter again. I'd be a little more careful with my money, though. The trouble with me was that I was an easy touch. I still am. I'd be at a bar, having a beer, throw down a ten or twenty dollar bill on the bar and someone would always come along and say 'how you doin', Fritzie, gee. I'm a little short, can I borrow twenty until Saturday?' I'd give it to him, and you know how it was, Saturday never came.'

LEAD STORIES, TUESDAY'S NYT

Secret Deals, Foreign Investments, Presidential Policy Changes: The Rise of Trump’s Crypto Firm

All Authors Working on Flagship U.S. Climate Report Are Dismissed

Trump Recasts Mission of Justice Dept.’s Civil Rights Office, Prompting ‘Exodus’

House Passes Bill to Ban Sharing of Revenge Porn, Sending It to Trump

Mark Carney Wins New Term as Canada’s Prime Minister on Anti-Trump Platform

Amazon Launches First 27 Project Kuiper Internet Satellites

ON-LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

All these tough MAGA guys need their own beauticians: Trump gets his face with orange paint, Vance has his eyes done up in kohl and Hegseth needs to get prettified in his own make-up room. The Trump cabinet is starting to look like an over-the-hill glam rock band.

— Jeffrey St. Clair

DAILY KOS:

…On January 17, 2025, three days before Trump was inaugurated as president of the United States, the Trump meme coin was launched. The lack of a public announcement by Trump initially led to concerns that the cryptocurrency was a scam and might have no association with the president-elect.

…Hours after its launch, Trump announced that he was launching the Trump meme coin. Initially, the value of the crypto coin spiked to $74, but as Trump’s popularity has floundered during his failing presidency, the coin has fallen to an all-time low of around $8. Until today.

…Trump announced that the top 220 “investors” in the Trump coin would receive special access to the White House at an “intimate private” dinner. The price of the Trump meme coin doubled almost immediately.

Of course, the White House had no comment on the ethical implications of an openly pay-for-presidential-access scheme.

The memecoin is just one of several ways in which Trump and his family are positioning themselves to cash in on crypto. Trump’s sons launched a separate crypto company last year called World Liberty Financial, which is launching a digital token known as a stablecoin that is pegged to the value of the dollar.

Trump has also been pushing forcefully for deregulating cryptocurrency and creating a strategic reserve of cryptocurrency (tacitly from currency confiscated from criminal enterprises).

The clear and present danger of the nation’s top executive selling access is nauseating in itself, but the fact that he doesn't even try to hide the corruption is mind-boggling.

There is, in fact, a leaderboard that shows who the top buyers are. This president is telling the world that access to the president is available to anyone who wants to line his pockets.

In another time, this would have been the end of not only his presidency, but probably his life eating with sharp utensils and wearing anything but a standard issue orange jumpsuit.

NOW YOU KNOW

by James Kunstler

“Being mean or telling the truth is indistinguishable to far too many peoople.” — Mike Thompson on X

Woke liberalism is exactly what Christopher Lasch predicted in The Revolt of the Elites, published in 1995 the year after his early death at 61. Lasch saw how the juvenile idealism of Boomer hippiedom would slide into the narcissistic, sado-masochistic degeneracy of open borders, drag queen story hours, Covid-19 despotism, DEI racism, showbiz Satanism, censorship, forever wars, and now, the legal insurrection of lawfare.

In doing so, Lasch also predicted the “mass formation psychosis” described by Belgian psychologist Mattias Desmet, spawned by a crisis of meaning and purpose in the thinking classes of Western Civ. And now you know exactly how come a place like Boston, with its concentration of “elites” in universities, computer tech, and medical research displays a batshit-crazy dedication to ideas bent on destroying our political culture: the American republic.

The word republic derives from the Latin, res publica: the public thing, the idea of a state dedicated to the common good. By “state” you can infer both a group of people in a certain place, but also the set of conditions they dwell in. You can’t have a common good without a common culture, which means a general agreement among citizens on values in that certain place — which is our country, the USA.

You can’t overstate the importance of shared ideas and values in that enterprise of being a nation, we-the-people in our particular place. The juvenile idealism of Boomer hippiedom wrecked the crucial idea of a common culture, and I will tell you exactly how that happened. Two crusades: first, the civil rights campaign, and second, stopping the War in Vietnam, defined the era.

The first of these climaxed in twin landmark legislative acts designed to abolish Jim Crow racism: the Civil Rights Act of 1964, prohibiting discrimination in public places, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which prohibited unfair obstacles to voting. The idealism in that moment of history was extreme. The dominant old-school Liberal ethos displayed a sense of triumph. Its cardinal belief in human progress was validated in the new law-of-the-land. We were supposedly entering a utopia of racial harmony.

It proved to be a huge disappointment, a failure. In some fundamental ways, black and white America could not agree on certain values, especially language and behavior. These matters were so hypersensitive that discussing them became taboo, and when someone dared to — such as the rogue journalist Tom Wolfe in his book Radical Chic, which made fun of the cultural elites trying to socialize with the Black Panthers — he was buried in the most extreme censorious opprobrium by the elite good-thinkers of politics, academia, and the cultural media. They couldn’t believe old Tom dove clear through the Overton Window the way he did, head first.

In fact, a big segment of black America after 1965 became much more overtly separatist and oppositional, while white America became more frantically confounded and depressed by it. The result was the elite’s solution to that quandary: multiculturalism! Which basically meant: we don’t need a common culture in the USA. (We don’t need an agreement about values, language, and behavior.) Each group in America can have its own menu of these things. This accomplished two ends: it allowed criminal behavior to explode; and it allowed the elites to excuse themselves from any serious further attempts to manage the res publica. The people of the ghettos were free to do their thing; while the elites turned their full attention to Boomer careerism and Gordon Gecko style financial moneygrubbing.

As for the crusade to end the War in Vietnam, that was also an epic failure, never properly acknowledged. In fact, no one in the USA, no party or faction, ended the war. We simply lost the War in Vietnam. We just never said so, and still don’t. It ended in ignominy, with the last remnants of US officialdom in Saigon having to be rescued by helicopter from the roof of the American Embassy. The so-called “gooks” in their black pajamas beat the giant American “grunt” army with its bottomless supply of attack helicopters and napalm. Chalk up another “L” for old school Liberalism.

You can’t overstate how demoralizing this was. And so. . . the serial reenactments of our forever wars of recent decades, mostly botches and failures despite our vaunted “defense” establishment, our glorious war technology, and our fake commitment to “spreading democracy.” We simply need to prove that we can’t possibly lose wars against more primitive people — though we have lost repeatedly, the fiasco in leaving Kabul in 2021 being even more ignominious than the flight from Saigon. This can only be understood, finally, as a species of national neurosis.

As was absolutely everything about the George Floyd riots of 2020, Wokery-in-action, with the torching of cities, the looting flash-mobs, and the tearing down of statues honoring American heroes. Try understanding that as the latest chapter in civil rights egalitarianism gone awry, starting with the sanctification of the druggie thug George Floyd, who so perfectly personified the failures of multiculturalism. (What were his values? Ever ask yourself that?)

Now, try (if you can) to understand what the election of Mr. Trump represents: the drive to restore a viable American common culture, to re-set our agreement on values, to repair the broken res publica. And note how wildly that is resented and opposed by this corrupt and degenerate residue of idealism gone to hell (literally), this ragtag and bobtail of Democratic Party elites, consumed in their mass formation psychosis, addicted to lying and violence, and furious that they are no longer in command.

So, now you know how all this works. An American common culture matters, and if we can’t put it together, we’re sunk. This is our chance to put it together.

WHAT’S PREVENTING A UNITED FRONT AGAINST THE TRUMP REGIME?

Establishment Democrats Are Blowing the Fight Against a Fascist Trump

by Norman Solomon

America desperately needs a united front to restrain the wrecking ball of the Trump regime. While outraged opposition has been visible and vocal, it remains a far cry from developing a capacity to protect what’s left of democracy in the United States.

With the administration in its fourth month, the magnitude of the damage underway is virtually impossible for any individual to fully grasp. But none of us need a complete picture to understand that the federal government is now in the clutches of massively cruel and antidemocratic forces that have no intention of letting go.

Donald Trump’s second presidential term has already given vast power to the most virulent aspects of the nation’s far-right political culture. Its flagrant goals include serving oligarchy, dismantling civil liberties, and wielding government as a weapon against academic freedom, civil rights, economic security, environmental protection, public health, workers’ rights, and so much more.

The nonstop Trumpist assaults mean that ongoing noncooperation and active resistance will be essential. This is no time for what Martin Luther King, Jr., called “the paralysis of analysis.” Yet the past hugely matters. Repetition compulsions within the Democratic Party, including among self-described liberals and progressives, unwittingly smoothed the path for Trump’s return to power. Many of the same patterns, with undue deference to party leaders and their narrow perspectives, are now hampering the potential to create real leverage against MAGA madness.

“Fiscal Conservatism and Social Liberalism”

Today, more than three decades after the “New Democrats” triumphed when Bill Clinton won the presidency in 1992, an observation by Washington Post economics reporter Hobart Rowen days after that victory is still worth pondering: “Fiscal conservatism and social liberalism proved to be an effective campaign formula.” While campaigning with a call for moderate public investment, Clinton offered enough assurances to business elites to gain much of their support. Once elected, he quickly filled his economic team with corporate lawyers, business-friendly politicians, lobbyists, and fixers on loan from Wall Street boardrooms.

That Democratic formula proved to be a winning one — for Republicans. Two years after Clinton became president, the GOP gained control of both the House and Senate. Republicans maintained a House majority for the next 12 years and a Senate majority for 10 of them.

A similar pattern set in after the next Democrat moved into the White House. Taking office in January 2009 amid the Great Recession, Barack Obama continued with predecessor George W. Bush’s “practice of bailing out the bankers while ignoring the anguish their toxic mortgage packages caused the rest of us,” as journalist Robert Scheer pointed out. By the time Obama was most of the way through his presidency, journalist David Dayen wrote, he had enabled “the dispossession of at least 5.2 million U.S. homeowner families, the explosion of inequality, and the largest ruination of middle-class wealth in nearly a century.”

Two years into Obama’s presidency, his party lost the House and didn’t regain it for eight years. When he won reelection in 2012, Republicans captured the Senate and kept control of it throughout his second term.

During Obama’s eight years as president, the Democrats also lost upward of 900 seats in state legislatures. Along the way, they lost control of 30 legislative chambers, while the Republican share of seats went from 44% to 56%. So GOP state legislators were well-positioned to gerrymander electoral districts to their liking after the 2020 census, making it possible for Republicans to just barely (but powerfully) gain and then retain their stranglehold on the House of Representatives after the 2022 and 2024 elections.

Hillary Clinton in 2016 and Kamala Harris in 2024 ran for president while sticking to updated versions of “fiscal conservatism, social liberalism,” festooning their campaigns with the usual trappings of ultra-mild populist rhetoric. Much of the media establishment approved, as they checked the standard Democratic boxes. But opting to avoid genuine progressive populism on the campaign trail meant enabling Trump to pose as a better choice for the economic interests of the working class.

Mutual Abandonment

The party’s orientation prevents its presidential nominees from making a credible pitch to be champions of working people. “It should come as no great surprise that a Democratic Party which has abandoned working class people would find that the working class has abandoned them,” Senator Bernie Sanders tweeted immediately after the 2024 election. “While the Democratic leadership defends the status quo, the American people are angry and want change.”

But there’s little evidence that the party leadership wants significant change, beyond putting themselves back in power. Midway through April, the homepage of the Democratic Party seemed like a snapshot of an institution still disconnected from the angst and anger of the electorate. A pop-up that instantly obscured all else on the screen featured a drawing of a snarling Donald Trump next to the headline: “We’re SUING Trump over two illegal executive orders.” Underneath, the featured message proclaimed: “We’re rolling up our sleeves and organizing for a brighter, more equal future. Together, we will elect Democrats up and down the ballot.” A schedule of town halls in dozens of regions was nice enough, but a true sense of urgency, let alone emergency, was notably lacking.

Overall, the party seems stuck in the mud of the past, still largely mired in the Joe Biden era and wary of opening the door too wide for the more progressive grassroots base that provides millions of small donations and volunteers to get out the vote (as long as they’re genuinely inspired to do so). President Biden’s unspeakably tragic refusal to forego running for reelection until far too late was enabled by top-to-bottom party dynamics and a follow-the-leader conformity that are still all too real.

On no issue has the party leadership been more tone-deaf — with more disastrous electoral and policy results — than the war in Gaza. The refusal of all but a few members of Congress to push President Biden to stop massively arming the Israeli military for its slaughter there caused a steep erosion of support from the usual Democratic voters, as polling at the time and afterward indicated. The party’s moral collapse on Gaza helped to crater Kamala Harris’s vote totals among alienated voters reluctant to cast their ballots for what they saw as a war party, a perception especially acute among young people and notable among African Americans.

The Fact of Oligarchy

Pandering to potential big donors is apt to seem like just another day in elected office. A story about California Governor Gavin Newsom, often touted as a major Democratic contender for president in 2028, is in the category of “you can’t make this stuff up.” As reported by Politico this spring, he “is making sure California’s business elite can call him, maybe. Roughly 100 leaders of state-headquartered companies have received a curious package in recent months: a prepaid, inexpensive cell phone… programmed with Newsom’s digits and accompanied by notes from the governor himself. ‘If you ever need anything, I’m a phone call away,’ read one note to a prominent tech firm CEO, printed on an official letterhead, along with a hand-scrawled addendum urging the executive to reach out… It was Newsom’s idea, a representative said, and has already yielded some ‘valuable interactions.’”

If, however, you’re waiting for Newsom to send prepaid cell phones to activists working for social justice, telling them, “If you ever need anything, I’m a phone call away,” count on waiting forever.

The dominance of super-wealthy party patrons that Bernie Sanders and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have been railing against at “Fighting Oligarchy” rallies has been coalescing for a long time. “In the American republic,” wrote Walter Karp for Harper’s magazine shortly before his death in 1989, “the fact of oligarchy is the most dreaded knowledge of all, and our news keeps that knowledge from us.” Now, in the age of Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Mark Zuckerberg, the iron heel of mega-capital is at work swiftly crushing democratic structures, while top Democrats race to stay within shouting distance of the oligarchs.

A paradoxical challenge for the left is that it must take part in building a united front that includes anti-Trump corporatists and militarists, even while fighting against corporatism and militarism. What’s needed is not capitulation or ultra-leftism, but instead a dialectical approach that recognizes the twin imperatives of defeating an increasingly fascistic Republican Party while working to gain enough power to implement truly progressive agendas.

For those agendas, electoral campaigns and their candidates should be subsets of social movements, not the other way around. Still, here’s one crystal-clear lesson of history: it’s crucial who sits in the Oval Office and controls Congress. Now more than ever.

Fascism Would Stop Us All

A horrible reality of this moment: a fascist takeover of the government is within reach — and, if completed, any possibility of fulfilling a progressive agenda would go out the Overton window. The words of the young Black Panther Party leader Fred Hampton, murdered in 1969 by the Chicago police (colluding with the FBI), ring profoundly true today: “Nothing is more important than stopping fascism, because fascism will stop us all.”

But much of the 2025 Democratic Party leadership seems willing to once again pursue the tried-and-failed strategy of banking on Trump to undo himself. Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer, the party leaders in the House and Senate, have distinctly tilted in that direction, as if heeding strategist James Carville’s declaration that Democrats should not try to impede Trump’s rampage against the structures of democracy.

“With no clear leader to voice our opposition and no control in any branch of government, it’s time for Democrats to embark on the most daring political maneuver in the history of our party: roll over and play dead,” Carville wrote in late February. “Allow the Republicans to crumble beneath their own weight and make the American people miss us.” (Evidently impressed with his political acumen, the editors of the New York Times published the op-ed piece with that advice only four months after printing an op-ed he wrote in late October under this headline: “Three Reasons I’m Certain Kamala Harris Will Win.”)

As for the Democratic National Committee, it probably had nowhere to go but up in the wake of the chairmanship of Jaime Harrison, who for four years dutifully did President Biden’s bidding. Now, with no Democratic president, the new DNC chair, Ken Martin, has significant power to guide the direction of the party.

In early April, I informed Martin that my colleagues and I at RootsAction were planning a petition drive for the full DNC to hold an emergency meeting. “The value of such a meeting seems clear for many reasons,” I wrote, “including the polled low regard for the Democratic Party and the need to substantively dispel the wide perception that the party is failing to adequately respond to the current extraordinary perils.” Martin replied with a cordial text affirming that the schedule for the 448-member DNC to convene remains the same as usual — twice a year — with the next meeting set for August.

The petition, launched in mid-April (co-sponsored by RootsAction and Progressive Democrats of America), urged the DNC to “convene an emergency meeting of all its members — fully open to the public — as soon as possible… Business as usual must give way to truly bold action that mobilizes against the autocracy that Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and their cronies are further entrenching every day. The predatory, extreme, and dictatorial actions of the Trump administration call for an all-out commensurate response, which so far has been terribly lacking from the Democratic Party.”

No matter what, at this truly pivotal time, we must never give up.

As Stanley Kunitz wrote during the height of the Vietnam War:

In a murderous time

the heart breaks and breaks

and lives by breaking.

It is necessary to go

through dark and deeper dark

and not to turn.

While reasons for pessimism escalate, I often think of how on target my RootsAction colleague India Walton was in a meeting when she said, “The only hope is in the struggle.”

WE ARE DEALING WITH a deranged, unstable pathological liar who’s getting away with it. And the question is: How does he get away with it, year after year? Because the Democratic Party has basically collapsed. They don’t know how to deal with a criminal recidivist, a person who has hired workers without documents and exploited them, a person who’s a bigot against immigrants, including legal immigrants who are performing totally critical tasks in home healthcare, processing poultry, meat. Half of the construction workers in Texas are undocumented workers. So, as a bully, he doesn’t go after the construction industry in Texas; he picks out individuals.

Where are the Democrats on this? Look at Senator Slotkin’s response to the State of the Union. It was a typical rerun of a feeble, weak Democratic rebuttal. She couldn’t get herself, just like the Democrats in 2024, which led to Trump’s victory — they can’t get themselves to talk specifically and authentically about raising the minimum wage, expanding healthcare, cracking down on corporate crooks that are bleeding out the incomes of hard-pressed American workers and the poor. They can’t get themselves to talk about increasing frozen Social Security budgets for 50 years. 200 Democrats supported raising the income cap, but Nancy Pelosi kept them, when she was speaker, from taking John Larson’s bill to the House floor. That’s why they lose. Her speech was so vague and general. They chose her because she was in the national security state. She was a former CIA agent. They chose her because they wanted to promote the losing version of the Democratic Party, instead of choosing Elizabeth Warren or Bernie Sanders, the most popular polled politician in America today. That’s who they chose. So, as long as the Democrats monopolize the opposition and crush third-party efforts to push them into more progressive realms, the Republican, plutocratic, Wall Street, war machine declaration of war against the American people will continue. We’re heading into the most serious crisis in American history. There’s no comparison.

(Ralph Nader)

THERE’S A WORD FOR THAT: KAKISTOCRACY, n.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kakistocracy

THE US HAS COMMITTED ANOTHER huge massacre of civilians in Yemen, this time bombing a detention center full of African migrants in Saada. Some 68 people have reportedly been killed, making this Trump’s worst massacre in Yemen since his terrorist attack on a Hodeida fuel port killed 80 people earlier this month.

Trump’s massacres of civilians in Saada and Hodeida are much more evil than anything he has done in the United States domestically, but they’ve received almost no attention from the media or from Democrats because in the eyes of the empire Yemenis don’t count as human beings and killing them is normal.

— Caitlin Johnstone

FUNERAL BLUES

by W.H. Auden (1938)

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

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

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

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

27 Comments

George Hollister April 29, 2025

BROOKTRAILS FIRE RESILIENCY GRANT GETS DOGE’D

Two things: $50,000,000 is a lot of money, and Brooktrails, like everyone else, should be taking care of their fire hazard issues themselves. How about Brooktrails forming a fire hazard reduction district?

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Chuck Dunbar April 29, 2025

A CAT STORY

Once in a while a boring activity, like standing in line and waiting with other folks, leads to an interesting small-town conversation. The other day I was in Fort Bragg at Mendo Litho, our fine printing shop with great service and staff, always a busy place. The woman in line beside me and I somehow began talking about cats and our love for them, which led to the best cat story I’ve ever heard.

She had once lived in Phoenix for some years, and knew a cat that lived nearby named Sherman. She told me in starting her story that Sherman the cat had a life-long pass on the Phoenix bus system. Naturally, that cued my interest. Her fascinating tale: Every morning for at least several years, Sherman would walk to a nearby bus stop and board the bus, riding the entire 2-hour city circuit. Then, ride over and back at the same bus stop, Sherman would hop-off the bus and return home. She said that Sherman had found a sitting spot on the bus where he could watch the many city sights. All the route bus drivers and many passengers knew him well from his daily bus rides.

We both laughed at this fine story of a kitty who loved his bus rides. I promised to share her story with my wife and others. As we parted, my cat loving friend said with feeling, “Don’t forget, his name was Sherman!” So that’s the story of Sherman the cat who loved to ride the Phoenix bus.

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CrazyKat April 29, 2025

Most of nearly 74 million who get Social Security benefits receive them on Wednesdays throughout the month. For instance, if your birthdate falls between the first and 10th of the month, you are paid on the second Wednesday of the month, which is May 14; between the 11th and 20th, you’re paid on the third Wednesday (May 21), and if you were born after the 20th of the month, you get paid on the fourth Wednesday of the month (May 28), according to the Social Security Administration’s calendar [https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10031-2025.pdf?ftag=MSFd61514f]. [Info from: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2025/04/27/social-security-payments-schedule-2025/83253939007/%5D

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David Stanford April 29, 2025

The Potter Valley Project and Our Future Water (In?)Security

by Phil Williams

Phil, very nicely put in to a format for the laymen & laywomen to understand, what do we need to do next??????

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- George Hollister April 29, 2025
  
  Phil never mentions a drought in our future, which there certainly will be. In that event, without Lake Pillsbury, Lake Mendocino will go dry, along with the MF of the Eel, and the Upper Russian. This will impact everyone who uses Eel River water including Marin County. The option of doing a seismic retrofit for Scott Dam was never considered, or a scientific assessment on salmonids. These options were never considered, because Jared Huffman did not want them considered. Fear? It’s reality.
  
  Reply
  - Eric Sunswheat April 29, 2025
    
    Retrofit of Scott Dam is impractical and mostly impossible. When it was constructed, bedrock could not be found on one end for the key way. It is built on mud, doomed for failure with seismic shock. Are you feeling lucky….
    
    City of Ukiah is mostly likely trying to commandeer the Ukiah Valley in its city limits, to perfect its water rights. It’s been found that the annual groundwater recharge and aquifer storage is adequate, that flow from Lake Mendocino may not be beneficial use even during extended droughts, at risk to downstream users, unless the city extends its footprint, and development, with increased water demand.
    
    As far as the County of Mendocino tax base revenue stream loss from proposed annexation, the County is under $800,000 state audit, to document financial malfeasance clarity, make accountable the officials responsible, and if necessary, break up the County to be divided among Sonoma, Lake, and Humboldt counties, among more drastic options, unless the Grand Jury finds a spine first.
    
    Reply
    - George Hollister April 29, 2025
      
      The estimated cost of doing a retrofit with fish ladder is less than dismantling it.
      
      Reply
  - Harvey Reading April 29, 2025
    
    Take the dam out. Then get your human monkey population down to the carrying capacity of its habitat. Quit subsidizing local ag interests at the expense of fisheries…even if that enrages the wannabe dictator in DC.
    
    Reply
Chuck Dunbar April 29, 2025

TRUMP FLAILING

“Trump Vowed To End Wars, Equalize Trade. He’s Delivered Something Else”
Politico 4/29/25

“In just over three months, Donald Trump has threatened to annex sovereign territories, hedged on his commitment to America’s oldest alliances and slapped tariffs on much of the world — unilaterally ushering in a new and uncertain global order. But at the 100-day mark of his second term, the ‘Art of the Deal’ author has yet to deliver the big pacts he promised.

‘The president’s foreign policy orientation is both popular and makes sense: end wars, secure the border and fair trade. That’s how he got elected,’ said Ian Bremmer, the president of the Eurasia Group, a nonpartisan risk-assessment firm in New York. ‘But he is trying to do everything at once and his implementation has been disastrous so far. That’s a big piece of why his approval ratings have shot down.’
Peace in the Middle East. And in Ukraine. New trade deals around the globe. Trump’s campaign bluster suggesting that all these things would be easy underscored his hyperbole and an impatience that has run smack into reality since he retook the White House. But it’s not for lack of trying. Returning to the office with four years of presidential experience, Trump has attempted to drive an even more maximalist agenda, striving to fulfill his most ambitious promises, employing power politics to extract concessions from allies and adversaries alike.

‘Because the guard rails were gone, because there was no one to guide him or steer him in the way that was in the first term, he came out of the blocks acting upon the perspective that he’s had about the world for the last 40 years. He went out and implemented it,’ said Ivo Daalder, the president of the nonpartisan Chicago Council on Global Affairs. ‘In the process, he’s destroyed the most important commodity the United States has had for the last 80 years, which is trust. Allies thought our values and interests mostly coincided and all of that’s gone…’ ”

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Craig Stehr April 29, 2025

The American social security administration awarded me a $3500 judgement because over the course of one year, I proved that there was an inconsistent cooking situation at the homeless shelter in Ukiah. This of course increased my checking account balance over the $2,000 limit. An independent group in Georgia reported the overage to the social security administration. A letter arrived saying that because my checking account was over the limit, that future SSI disbursement would be reduced in order to recover the payments which had already been made, which I was not entitled to because I was over the $2,000 limit. Additionally, the letter stated that even if I was over the limit due to social security disbursements, I would still be penalized. This is insane!
Item #2: I am ready to leave Washington, D.C. because I have completed my being supportive of the Washington, D.C. Peace Vigil for the sixteenth time, beginning in June of 1991. I need a place to go to upon arrival in the Golden State. Obviously, the American experiment in freedom and democracy owes me at least a senior housing situation. This is sane!
I want to be contacted and given cooperation as soon as possible. Thank you very much.
Craig Louis Stehr
Adam’s Place Homeless Shelter
2210 Adams Place NE #1
Washington, D.C. 20018
Telephone: (202) 832-8317
Email: [email protected]
April 29th @ 1:00 p.m. EDT

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- Mazie Malone April 29, 2025
  
  Craig,
  You can appeal the overpayment!!
  That 2,000 limit rule bummer
  Good luck
  
  mm 💕
  
  Reply
  - Eric Sunswheat April 29, 2025
    
    Good thoughts Mazie!
    Unfortunately the new lean and mean Social Security policy is to recover overpayments immediately, not to incrementally skim from each monthly issuance, so there may not be a monthly check forthcoming for awhile.
    
    If Craig made a mistake, it was to not withdraw funds immediately, to keep bank savings below the monthly roll over trigger level of $2K. Craig is smart, and crowing about how America owes him, while dining at Whole Foods.
    
    Will be interesting to read how this turns out, what with planning preparations on tap, for his plane ticket back to Mendo via the Sonoma County Airport.
    
    Reply
    - Mazie Malone April 29, 2025
      
      Eric,
      
      Yes could have used the overpayment for plane ticket and move in costs. I warned of getting an overpayment. Expectations suck. lol 🤣🤘
      
      mm 💕
      
      Reply
- Jim Armstrong April 29, 2025
  
  “…inconsistent cooking situation at the homeless shelter in Ukiah.”
  My God, Craig, how have you borne it all?
  
  Reply
Bob Abeles April 29, 2025

The panic piece that Ted’s graced these pages with today is not an actual CNN report. You’d think he’d be a bit more careful when re-posting random stuff he found on the intertubes.

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- Call It As I See It April 29, 2025
  
  Bowtie Ted’s political career has been him lying. Why would he care now? Three things certain in life, death, taxes and Bowtie and Photo-Op Mo lying to constituents.
  
  Reply
- George Hollister April 29, 2025
  
  Other outlets have said the same things as CNN. This will take some sorting out to get to the best evaluation. Yes, Europe is in panic mode, as maybe they should be. Putin is a psychopath on the war path, and Trump wants them to take the lead in dealing with it.
  
  Reply
  - Bob Abeles April 29, 2025
    
    Except CNN didn’t say it. Or write it.
    
    There is a clear tell that immediately makes the story suspect: CNN is not a wire service. They don’t contribute stories to what little remains of the print media.
    
    Digging a little deeper, you’ll find that nothing in the story is true. For example, Ursula von der Leyen didn’t hold the press conference reported in the story, nor did she utter the words attributed to her. Instead, she delivered remarks in Valencia lambasting the Trump administration for its attacks on education and its erratic trade policies. Here is a sample of what she did say, “Controversial debates at (European) universities are welcome. We consider freedom of science and research as fundamental, not only because it is a core value for us but also because this is how excellence and innovation thrive.”
    
    Doing a search on the first sentence of the phony story brings up references to it as a piece of disinformation that has been making the rounds on social media.
    
    Whether or not Putin is a psychopath is beside the point. Ted was taken in by an obvious piece of fiction to the extent that it triggered him to shout it from the rooftops. It clearly brings his judgement into question.
    
    Reply
- Norm Thurston April 30, 2025
  
  Right after I saw that post, I checked online: CNN, AP, BBC. Not even a hint of what had been posted in the AVA.
  
  Reply
Bruce McEwen April 29, 2025

First the fridge, then the dryer. Only a few years old, got the fridge during Covid lockdown to replace one that wore out after 12 years; the dryer was replaced maybe a year earlier; but, at any rate way too early for a fail, and when the repairman came from the nearby service agency, he turned out to be an Afghanistan immigrant who had been interpreter for the US Army soldiers. Outstanding young bloke and I eagerly helped with finding what was ailing the fridge and soon discovered I might have saved a costly service call on a barely expired warranty, by doing it myself. When he was finished and the fringe was purring happily I introduced him to the dryer and he listened to its complaints and said he’d come back and see to it but he was summoned to a class, called to warn me of the delay …and I haven’t heard from him since. However, I took his advice and looked into the dryer (w/ YouTube help) and now my appliances are back in service… but I worry about that repair technician and fear he may have been swept up… Allah forfend they send back for the Taliban to, uh, to well I don’t know but I owe this guy a big thank-you—damn!

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Ted Stephens April 29, 2025

Compared to Phil Williams I am probably part of the kakistocracy. Maybe not very much in the know, and pretty clumsy, but I certainly hope we can find a better imperative than the current MOU.
The current MOU makes little sense to me. It may make make sense if the water wasn’t already being used.
In the instant case you have water use that has been established for 120 years. Development has gone from nothing to everything in that period, based on that water use. To give that water use now to native Americans, in another watershed, and pay them each year for restoration, and for sometimes use, doesn’t make sense.
Our original ranch house is most likely on an old Indian mound, should I pay the Pomo tribe restitution and annual rent for use of our home site? How about for your home?
I would love to ride my horse over the hills from Ukiah and see Anderson Valley filled with elk and Billy Dock is his native village, but, as Dorothy said, we aren’t in Kansas anymore.
I think the reference to Trump and his kakistocracy made me defensive from the start. The AVA described “Orange Monster” and his cabinet might not be perfect, but we elected him and a bunch of elected senators, mostly attorneys, confirmed the appointments. I don’t think we would be better for having the intellectuals rule and a serf like me to just abide. Our founding fathers were on to something, as was Bill Buckley when he said “I am obliged to confess I should sooner live in a society governed by the first two thousand names in the Boston telephone directory than a society governed by the two thousand faculty members of Harvard University”.

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- Kimberlin April 29, 2025
  
  Here is Bill Buckley on Vietnam… “The time to introduce the use of tactical nuclear arms was a long time ago, in a perfectly routine way, then there was not a suspicion of immediate crisis, of panic. In 1964, Senator Goldwater was burned in oil not even for advocating the use of low-yield atomic bombs for defoliation, but for reporting that the plan was under consideration by the Pentagon. Everyone got so worked up at the idea, that nobody thought to ask the question: Why not? The use of limited atomic bombs for purely military operations is many times easier to defend on the morality scale than one slit throat of a civilian for terrorism’s sake…”
  
  I will take university folks any day. “Why Not?”
  
  Reply
  - Jim Armstrong April 29, 2025
    
    Why not?
    The dropping of the first conventional bomb on Vietnam by the United States was illegal and unconscionable.
    There is not a term to describe the millions that followed.
    The rest of what Buckley said is nonsense.
    
    Reply
    - Chuck Dunbar April 29, 2025
      
      +1
      
      Reply
Harvey Reading April 29, 2025

BAY AREA SUPERSTAR DROPPED FROM FESTIVAL BILL DUE TO ISRAEL COMMENTS

Life in what is rapidly becoming the FSA…

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Betsy Cawn April 30, 2025

There seem to be two sorts, one that thinks nothing of destruction as a reasonable means, one that does. disagreements about what kind of bomb are still proponents of inflicting death and pain in harmony with “might makes right.”

And they’ll kill anything, there are no limits. All the armies and navies and housekeepers and roadmakers, plowing through the fragile ecosystem over our dead bodies by the millions while men in suits sit at gleaming tables in secured facilities decide which torture to unleash today via Signal.

It doesn’t matter what level of authority they inhabit, the wielding of it electrifies their minds and the utter satisfaction of watching massive explosions destroy jungles and reefs and elementary schools. Then they have “talks”? And somebody doesn’t go along with the others and more bombing. Who are these faux human beings?

Reply
- Chuck Dunbar April 30, 2025
  
  Put bluntly and well, Betsy. Thank you for your words.
  
  Reply

Mendocino County Today: Tuesday 4/29/2025

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