Mendocino County Today: Saturday 5/24/2025

Cloudy | Floating Lanterns | Loser Motion | Scholarship Recipients | Driftwood Removal | Closed Doors | College Graduates | MCN Bought | Time Maiden | FB City Council | Fire Breaks | Hendy Redwoods | MCBG Director | Classicann | Vintage Stroll | Photo Contest | Palestine Posters | PV Rodeo | Breast Health | Memorial Service | Unity Club | S&K Gallery | More Reading | Minnie Smith | Flame Fanning | Yesterday's Catch | Political Climate | Border Patrol | Marco Radio | Giants Win | Ebay Pigeons | House Bill | FlushMe App | Online Shopping | Road King | Anti-Chevron Day | Ice Fox | Billionaire Tax | Save Democrats | Lead Stories | White Genocide | Stumblebum Legacy | Ask Jonah | Battle Anthems | Bull Photo

---

SLIGHTLY WARMER weather is forecast for the interior Saturday. A weak front brings a chance of light rain to Humboldt and Del Norte Counties Sunday along with a cooling trend. A warming trend is expected for the next week into the weekend. (NWS)

STEPHEN DUNLAP (Fort Bragg): 43F under clear skies this Saturday morning on the coast. Today will be mostly clear with a light breeze. The fog is trying to rebuild on Sunday then more so on Monday so an increasing chance of cloud cover later this weekend. More of the same for next week.

---

FESTIVAL OF LIGHT AT LAKE MENDOCINO FRIDAY EVENING

Text and Photos by Karen Rifkin

Over 1,000 community members showed up Friday afternoon at Lake Mendocino to launch paper lanterns from the south boat ramp at the Festival of Light sponsored and organized by the Greater Ukiah Business and Tourism Alliance.

“We organized this event to bring community together, to create a space where we could find common ground and be together in unity and harmony, and to create a place of peace in a world that does not have peace in it right now,” says Katrina Kessen, GUBTA’s executive director.

“Going into the Memorial Day weekend, some honored those who have given their lives. We had people here tonight who put lanterns out for those they have lost — kids, dads, mothers. Others wrote on their lanterns about their hopes, their dreams, their passions.”

Katrina Kessen, executive director of the Greater Ukiah Business and Tourism Alliance, and Jake Bernie.

“It was all one big beautiful balance of joy and peace and sadness and hope.”

As darkness enveloped the lake, the lanterns (illuminated by electric candles inside) created a pathway of light that extended from the boat ramp all the way across to the lake’s eastern side.

---

TIM PERRY (Fort Bragg attorney, commenting on the County’s motion to move the Cubbison case to Marin County):

This motion is a loser. It doesn’t even pass the red face test – “Can I argue this without total embarrassment?”

First, Judge Moorman, not a jury, will decide the basic question of whether the County had the right to suspend Cubbison. So jury bias is a straw man. The county knows it has no chance of removing Judge Moorman for cause based on a claim she is biased, so it is trying to achieve the same result by moving the case to another county.

Even in criminal cases where there is much more solicitude to protect defendants against a biased jury pool, transfers such as this are very rare. Here there is apparently no objective evidence of a biased jury pool nor, more importantly, that the usual procedures of questioning potential jurors to assure they have an open mind would be insufficient for the County to get a fair trial. Although this case may be sensational in revealing the County administration’s incompetence and malfeasance, it has not been sensationalized by the press. The facts are shocking, that’s all.

Worse, to the extent the County fears an award of damages for violating Cubbison’s civil rights to a fair hearing, it is shooting itself in the foot. Lawyers representing plaintiffs try very hard to get cases heard in urban areas rather than rural counties like ours, because it is an article of faith that juries in rural areas give much lower damage awards. Are the county’s attorneys ignorant of that?

The County’s defense has been one Hail Mary after another for two-plus years. The Supervisors need to settle the Cubbison case now rather than running up more fees and losing anyway. Either they are getting terrible advice or — more likely in my view — they don’t want to face the music. At $125,000/year for a cushy part-time job the five could just kick in a year’s pay and get this over and done.

PS. Take a look at Darcie Antle’s Linked-In profile: “ABOUT: Experienced Restaurant Owner with a demonstrated history of working in the wine and spirits industry. Skilled in Wineries, Food & Beverage, Retail, Customer Satisfaction, and Hospitality Industry. Strong operations professional with a Master of Science (MS) focused in Health Services Administration from St. Mary’s College of California.” Clearly a highly qualified government executive.

---

AV WINEGROWERS SCHOLARSHIPS

This past week, we were proud to award scholarships to four inspiring local high school students (one unable to attend), made possible through funds we raised combined with the generous support from American AgCredit and @AtlasVineyardManagement.

Each of these students showed focus, leadership, and determination as they worked to overcome challenges in their lives.

To be eligible, applicants needed to have a parent working in the Anderson Valley wine industry—a community whose hard work helps make some of the finest cool-climate wines in the world. We’re honored to give back to the families who help make this region so special.

Keily plans to pursue construction management

Cinthia is heading into nursing and business management

Julian is aiming for a career in law enforcement

We couldn’t be more excited to see what’s ahead for them!

---

DRIFTWOOD REMOVAL AT NOYO BEACH

In preparation for this year’s Fireworks event, the City is authorizing individuals to hand remove driftwood washed ashore at Noyo Beach.

Beach wood removal will be allowed between May 23, 2025 and June 30, 2025 by persons who abide by the following conditions:

• Wood removal from the beach may take place during daylight hours.
• Persons removing wood shall follow all park rules displayed on beach property signage at all times.
• Persons removing wood shall be respectful and cautious of all citizens on the Noyo Beach and shall use safe work practices at all times, especially near citizens and pets.
• Persons removing wood shall do a site cleanup at the end of each day to ensure that any litter or debris gets removed from the site.
• This notice does not permit any closures of the beach or give persons removing wood any more right to any area of the beach or trails than other citizens using the beach and trails.
• No person shall drive any motorized vehicle beyond the limits of the paved parking areas regularly accessible by private vehicles.

(Fort Bragg City presser)

---

LINDA BAILEY:

Interesting to note that [Ukiah Councilmembers] Crane, Rodin and Sher all specified that the City Council had not discussed potential demolition of Alex Thomas Plaza, i.e., no PUBLIC discussion or dialogue. Reminds me of the old song “What’s going on behind the closed doors?”

---

MIKE GENIELLA:

Well, I suspect few people, except those participating, know what’s happening behind closed doors. I do know, however, that creating a public space on the current courthouse site, if the Stalinesaue structure is ever torn down, is not a new idea. Ask Tom Liden and others who, two years ago, were talking about relocating functions of the Mendocino County Museum to the beautiful old limestone courthouse annex and creating a square on the rest of the courthouse site. There is strong community interest in the state of the current Thomas Plaza, and what happens to the current courthouse and its historic site as construction of the new $144 million courthouse proceeds. It seems the time has come for city and county representatives to get serious and begin public discussions so people can weigh in and agree on something that could prove positive in a few years for a struggling downtown.

---

MENDOCINO COLLEGE GRADUATION

Approximately 470 students graduated from Mendocino College in Ukiah this evening with Associate of Arts and Science degrees along with various specialized certificates. It was a joyful event. Congratulations to All!

---

FORT BRAGG BUYS MCN

City of Fort Bragg Finalizes Purchase of Mendocino Community Network to Advance Municipal Broadband Initiative

The City of Fort Bragg is proud to announce the successful closing of its purchase of Mendocino Community Network (MCN) for $300,000—marking a major milestone in the City’s efforts to launch a municipal broadband utility and ensure reliable, high-speed internet access for residents and businesses.The acquisition was approved by both the Fort Bragg City Council and the Mendocino Unified School District Board of Trustees, who have partnered in a shared vision to expand digital equity and modern infrastructure throughout the region.

“This is a historic step forward for Fort Bragg,” said City Manager Isaac Whippy. “The purchase of MCN allows the City to hit the ground running as we build a community-owned broadband system focused on local service, affordability, and future-ready technology. We thank the School District for its longstanding stewardship of MCN and for its commitment to a smooth transition.”

The acquisition of MCN will enable the City to accelerate the development and operation of its broadband utility, which has already secured $10.3 million in grant funding from the California Public Utilities Commission. The initiative aims to provide fiber internet access citywide while retaining the expertise and community trust that MCN has built over decades of service.

Superintendent Jason Morse of the Mendocino Unified School District shared his support for the transition: “The sale of MCN is a benefit not only to the Mendocino Unified School District, but also to MCN and the City of Fort Bragg. I’m glad their quality customer service will continue to serve the Coast.”

The City is working closely with MCN staff to ensure a seamless transition, support for existing customers, and integration into the City’s broadband expansion plans. Preserving MCN’s customer-first values and community roots remains a central focus as the City builds a resilient, forward-looking internet infrastructure.

The integration of MCN operations is expected to be completed over the next three to six months. The City will continue to provide updates to the public throughout the process.

(City of Fort Bragg Presser)

---

“On the pinnacle of the dome there is a beautiful piece of sculpture carved from a block of the indigenous redwood. It represents the beautiful Masonic emblem, the broken pillar, the maiden beside it, with the sprig in her hand, and old Father Time toying with her tresses. The execution of the design is very perfect, and speaks volumes for the skill and ability of the workman who produced it. There it ever stands, visible to all who enter the town or pass through its streets, proclaiming in silent majesty, that grandest of all lessons which the teachings of this worthy fraternity seek to inculcate.”

— Lyman Palmer, History of Mendocino County, California, 1880.

---

FORT BRAGG COUNCIL ADVANCES AFFORDABLE HOUSING, ROAD REPAIRS, AND BROADBAND EXPANSION

by Megan Wutzke

During its meeting on Monday, the council approved several initiatives to improve housing, infrastructure, and public services. The City Council authorized a partnership with developer AMG Associates to apply for $4.6 million in funding for an affordable senior housing project. It also approved the 2025 Pavement Preservation Project, the purchase of Mendocino Community Network to support broadband expansion, and the programming of specific streets for the 2027 Roadway Revitalization Project. The council also reviewed the feasibility of acquiring equipment for in-house pothole repairs. These actions are part of the City’s broader efforts to address housing needs, maintain infrastructure, and enhance public services.

The council approved a partnership with developer AMG Associates to apply for $4.6 million in funding through the State’s HOME Investment Partnerships Program (HOME IPP) for the Hazelwood Senior Apartments project. The 49-unit affordable senior housing development on 2.99 acres will include one- and two-bedroom units for seniors earning 30-60% of the area median income. Funded through a low-interest HOME loan and tax credits, the development will meet energy efficiency standards and align with the City’s Housing Element. Construction is expected to begin in late 2026.

The council has approved the 2025 Pavement Preservation Project, which aims to maintain streets in good condition to prevent them from deteriorating and requiring more expensive repairs in the future. This initiative is based on the City’s Pavement Management Program (PMP), which highlights the importance of preventive maintenance. By investing a smaller amount now in streets that are still in good shape, the City can avoid much higher costs that will arise when those streets eventually begin to deteriorate.

For example, applying slurry seal to a street in good condition costs about $5—$6.50 per square yard, while reconstructing a failed street can cost $114—$145 per square yard, 18 to 29 times more expensive. This cost-effective strategy extends the life of the streets.

The council also reviewed purchasing equipment to allow the Public Works Maintenance Division to perform more pothole repairs in-house. After considering the costs and challenges, such as the lack of storage space for the equipment and the already heavy workload on staff, the council decided it was not feasible. The City will continue to rely on contractors for larger repairs, but will revisit the possibility next year.

Additionally, the council approved the programming of specific street segments for inclusion in the 2027 Roadway Revitalization Project. This project is part of the Local Partnership Program (LPP) fund applications submitted to the California Transportation Commission (CTC). The council authorized this project on November 25, 2024, to confirm the list of streets originally approved for the 2027 project and potentially add streets that were previously left off the 2025 list. They also discussed the inclusion of Azalea and Pentitini Streets, which were designed for the 2022 project but couldn’t be included due to budget constraints. The council also considered adding underground utility work along Oak Street as part of the project, in coordination with the City’s Water Master Plan recommendations.

The 2027 project is being programmed well in advance, with CTC funding and programming decisions scheduled for June 2025. Following CTC approval, the City will move forward with the design phase of the project, which is expected to go to bid in January 2027.

The council has approved buying Mendocino Community Network (MCN) for $300,000 and authorized the City Manager to complete the deal. This purchase will help speed up the City’s broadband project using MCN’s existing network and customer base. The City will pay for the purchase through a loan, with payments spread over the next five years, without affecting the General Fund.

(Ukiah Daily Journal)

---

FIRE BREAK PLAYS VITAL ROLE IN STOPPING RIDGE FIRE

by Sarah Reith

Last fall, neighbors working with the Mendocino County Fire Safe Council pitched in to help a landowner maintain a strategic fuel break that did exactly what it was supposed to do – provide an opportunity to safely stop a wildfire from getting into the larger community.

The five-acre Ridge Fire broke out at the top of Pine Mountain, eight miles outside of Willits, on the afternoon of May 6. No structures were damaged, and no injuries were reported, though the fire expanded rapidly and the whole incident was a close call. It didn’t get widespread attention precisely because, thanks to that fire break, it was not much of an event.

That’s exactly what the Fire Safe Council strives for: creating conditions where newsworthy events are not fire-related.

That wasn’t the case in 2017, when the Redwood Complex Fire was visible from the Pine Mountain ridgeline. Tom Varney was among the residents who fled before wind-driven flames. When he got back, he saw that CAL FIRE had cut a line through the forest bordering the meadow behind his house, down a steep hillside almost to the Willits end of Tomki Road. That work was part of a 500 acre-plus CAL FIRE treatment.

At the time, he was not pleased. The firefighters’ bulldozers had pushed down hundreds of trees, which then had to be cleaned up. Still, he explained, “The fire wasn’t close in 2017, several miles away, but this was the most strategic place we could try to do an auxiliary fire break if the wind had shifted and the fire started coming north. This would have been our place where we would have made a stand to try to keep it from heading down into Willits.” Over the next seven years, he picked away at the mountain of foliage.

On September 20 of 2024, a Mendocino County Fire Safe Council work party brought neighbors from all over the area to give the effort another big push before fire season began. The work parties are a Measure P-funded program that allows the Fire Safe Council to augment volunteer efforts with a five-person paid work crew, chipper, and tools, all at no direct cost to the beneficiaries. Fire Safe Council employees also help to organize the event and offer tips about how to promote fire safety. An important feature of the community work parties is that their location is determined using very local knowledge of what the greatest risks to the community are. They can focus on vulnerabilities that large-scale projects might miss.

The day of the work party at Varney’s homestead, Angie Herman extolled the work her neighbor had done to maintain fire resiliency on his property. “It’s amazing, how much work he has done,” she said, pausing from her uphill climb with the chainsaw she had been using to limb up the trees. “We really want to support that. And the fact that this was a fire break, we may as well maintain it. It’s here already. So that’s kind of what we’re doing. We’re cleaning up what’s grown back, and what he couldn’t get to.” She was convinced that the effort would also benefit the rest of the community. “It definitely helps,” she declared. “Anywhere we can get a break in the vegetation. It all helps. It’ll slow things down, it’ll provide access. I’d like to see a few more of these.” CAL FIRE agrees. Shane Lamkin, CAL FIRE Mendocino Unit Public Information Officer, relayed that the maintenance and regular vegetation removal on the site, the kind of work they would like to see landowners performing regularly, created a safe space for their crew to work from and contain the fire.

When the Ridge Fire broke out on May 6, it moved fast. Varney was outside getting some work done in the early afternoon when he saw flames moving across the green grass on the slope. “I was down there trying to put it out with a shovel,” he recalled. It was “very smoky, and very traumatic. I was working on it for a while, and it started getting hot on my foot. I looked down, and saw my pant leg was on fire. That kind of freaked me out a little bit,” he acknowledged. He extinguished himself and went back to work. When the fire started heading for much drier grass, he called the fire department, and got three: the Little Lake Fire Protection District, the Brooktrails Fire Department, and CAL FIRE, which stopped the fire at five acres in under an hour.

“If it had jumped the area where we did the Fire Safe Council cleanup and that fire break, it would have gone down the hill, and I don’t think they would have put it out for hours,” said Randy McDonald, another neighbor who is always fire ready. While Varney was fighting the flames in the grassland, McDonald was dousing them closer to the house, with water from his 400-gallon water tank. “I need a bigger one,” he laughed. He mostly uses it to keep the dust down on the roads, but he’s deployed it three times now on a fire. “I did put all the attachments on it,” he said, including a 400-foot hose and all the nozzles. He also installed a mechanism to fill it quickly at his house. “It’s been a lifesaver,” he added.

Varney believes that without the fire break, the flames could have easily torn into the woods, where the terrain is not easily accessible and landowners have installed locked gates across narrow, treacherous roads. He says the early-season fire made him realize how much of a help the neighborhood work party was, both in helping with physical safety and creating a sense of community. “One person came all the way from Brooktrails,” he reported. “I was amazed that I met some people I didn’t even know, and they were willing to go to someone’s property and help with the fire defense…People who realized, we’re all in the same boat.”

McDonald commended his neighbor, saying, “This guy takes great care of his property.” But as the wind picked up and pushed embering tanoak leaves ahead of the main fire, he thought back to 2017. It was a time before well-organized work parties with organizational backing had become as fashionable as they are today, when things got out of hand with disastrous results. “When you’ve got fire and you’ve got wind, you’ve got troubles,” he said. “They all start small, and then they get bigger.”

---

REDWOODS OF MENDOCINO COUNTY - A WALK IN HENDY WOODS

by Justine Frederiksen

There are plenty of ways to see redwoods in Mendocino County, but some of the best views of those majestic trees can be enjoyed right from your car.

Take the drive on Highway 20 between Willits and Fort Bragg, a twisting route to the coast that offers some of the best pullouts in the state of California, as any one of the dozens of places you can stop to let other vehicles pass can also give you some of the most impressive views of redwoods — all readily available to anyone willing to just take their foot off the gas pedal and “brake for trees.”

Another free (minus the cost of gas, of course) and even more immersive way to enjoy redwoods is to drive Highway 128 between Philo and Highway 1, a route that offers less twists and even more trees. So many trees, in fact, that some sections of Hwy. 128 feel more like a sea of redwoods than a strip of pavement.

And when you pull off that pavement, especially at a particularly large pullout just a few miles from the bridge spanning the Navarro River, you are just steps away from one of the most beautiful redwood groves you are ever likely to have all to yourself — as long as you can ignore all the evidence that other motorists used those redwoods as restrooms, of course.

So if you’d prefer walking in a redwood grove that offers proper restrooms for all to use, you can drive about 30 minutes along the trees and vineyards to Hendy Woods State Park. You do need to pay to enter, but the experience is well worth the cost, since Hendy Woods offers one of the fastest and flattest treks from parking lot to forest I’ve ever taken.

“Hendy Woods is the definitive forest-bathing forest — I really feel bathed,” my friend declared as we headed into Hendy Grove, referring to what the Japanese call shinrin-yoku, defined by Wikipedia as “the practice of spending time in nature, particularly forests, to promote mental and physical well-being.”

Even the drive to the day-use parking lot in Hendy Woods feels like a forest immersion, then once you park, it takes only a few steps (technically a few dozen, but it doesn’t feel like it) from your car to shake off all of the modern world and sink completely into the realm of silent and accepting giants.

Hendy Woods offers 80 acres of these “ancient redwood groves,” and for the next several months, visitors can learn more about the towering trees and the special ecosystem they help create by joining the free “Forest Ecology Walks” offered on Saturday mornings.

Interested participants are asked to meet at 10:30 a.m. in the Day Use Picnic Area. All ages are welcome, but children must be accompanied by adults. There is no charge for the walks, but a day use fee per vehicle is charged to enter the park.

(Ukiah Daily Journal)

---

MENDOCINO COAST BOTANICAL GARDENS ANNOUNCES SEARCH FOR EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR SUCCESSOR

Executive Director Molly Barker to retire this fall

After more than eight years of inspiring leadership and a distinguished career spanning nearly four decades in public horticulture, Molly Barker, Executive Director of Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens (MCBG) has announced her retirement, effective September 26, 2025.

Molly’s love of plants and public landscapes was inspired by her grandfather, a landscape gardener. She moved to Northern California, where she earned her first degree in Plant Science from the College of the Redwoods in Eureka.

Molly spent 17 years at the iconic Filoli Historic House & Garden in Woodside, California, where she served in many roles in the Horticulture Department and as Director of Education. During her tenure, she developed a fall-blooming camellia—Camellia sasanqua ’Peter Horeni’ named for a dedicated Filoli volunteer and certified by the American Camellia Society. She was also Executive Director at Casa del Herrero, a historic landscape in Santa Barbara.

In 2016, Molly returned to the redwoods and coastal landscapes of her early years—as Executive Director of Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens. Over the past eight-plus years, she has guided the 47-acre “Flowerland to the Sea” through a period of growth, renewal, and deepened community connection. She brought her extensive experience to MCBG, stewarding a place where rhododendrons, heaths, heathers, camellias, conifers, native pine forests and coastal prairies flourish side by side. Molly also strengthened the Gardens’ ties with the American Public Gardens Association (APGA), where she has been a highly engaged member for 32 years.

“We are deeply grateful for Molly’s leadership, dedication to staff and stewardship of the Gardens,” said Tim Gage, President of the MCBG Board of Directors. “We will miss her dearly, but we are optimistic about the future of the Gardens and the opportunities that lie ahead.”

MCBG has launched a search for a new Executive Director to guide the organization through its next chapter. The position details and application process are available on the MCBG website at www.gardenbythesea.org/jobs. The Board of Directors is committed to identifying a dynamic leader who will build upon the strong foundation laid by Molly and advance the organization’s mission.

The Board invites qualified candidates to apply for this unique leadership opportunity and looks forward to ushering in the next chapter of growth and innovation at MCBG.

About the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens

Nestled along the breathtaking Northern California coastline, Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens is a nationally recognized nonprofit public garden. Our mission is to engage and enrich lives by conserving plants in harmony with our coastal ecosystems while preserving public access to the coast. We are home to diverse plant collections, stunning landscapes, and a passionate community of visitors, volunteers, and members.

www.gardenbythesea.org | 707-964-4352 | 18220 North Highway 1, Fort Bragg, CA 95437

---

---

CALL FOR VENDORS FOR 'FB VINTAGE STROLL'

For the last two years, Lost Coast Found and the Larry Spring Museum (LSM) have hosted a curated vintage market featuring local collectors one day per year in the LSM Commons. This year they invite fellow retailers to join with the goal of creating a critical mass of vendors that will attract buyers near and far for a day of fun pursuing treasures from the North Coast!

For retailers, this is a great opportunity to invite your collector friends to display their curated items on the sidewalk outside your shops, attracting more attention to the 'Stroll'.

The event will take place Saturday June 28h from 11 til 4. Participants will be listed in a map created especially for the day, plus other promotional materials like flyers and digital promo. We hope to get this event listed on Visit Fort Bragg and the Visit Mendocino websites in order to attract out of town collectors and perhaps make this a yearly occurance.

Fee to participate is $20 per participant to be used to pay for a graphic designer to design flyers and create the map, printing promo materials and distribution.

Deadline to be included in the map is May 25th.

To sign up or For more info contact: Megan from Lost Coast Found 707-364-9828

---

2025 BACKYARD GARDEN PHOTO CONTEST

For the second year, the Fort Bragg Garden Club will sponsor the Backyard Garden Photo Contest to complement the popular Sidewalk Gardens to Bragg About contest. All individual gardeners from Westport to Gualala are eligible to enter. 

A photo exhibit, Celebrate Our Gardens, will present all entries and the award winners of Sidewalk Gardens to Bragg About on Monday June 9, at Fort Bragg Presbyterian Church, 367 S. Sanderson Way, 6:30pm—8:00pm. A People’s Choice Winner of the Photo Contest will be chosen at the event. 

One photo each may be entered by individual gardeners from Westport to Gualala from May 24—May 31, 2025. All entries must be in landscape format (i.e. horizontal view) as a JPEG at least 300dpi with the garden address in the JPEG title. Submit to [email protected]. 

---

EXCEPTIONAL PALESTINIAN POSTER EXHIBIT

You are invited to an exhibition of Palestinian Poster Art depicting freedom, friendship, the struggle to live on land and the end of genocide. These remarkable posters express through color and design a spectrum of heart, grief, creativity, resilience, and struggle.

Many of the posters come from the Palestinian Poster Project Archives, dating back to the nineteenth century, founded as a means of building international solidarity for the human rights of Palestinains.

This isn’t only a show, it is also a way for those of us who are moved to show this solidarity

There will be reception tonight 5-7pm and Sunday morning 11:30-1:30pm at the Mendocino Art Center, 45200 Little Lake Road, Mendocino, 95460

Refreshments and snacks will be served.

Hosted by Mendocino for Palestine

---

POTTER VALLEY RODEO BRINGS THE WILD WEST TO MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND

by Matt LaFever

The 79th annual Potter Valley Rodeo returns this Memorial Day weekend, May 23–25, bringing three days of small-town charm, thrilling rodeo events, and lively community festivities to Main Street.

Festivities kick off Saturday morning with the “Memorial Day YOUR Way!” parade hosted by the Potter Valley Youth & Community Center at 11 a.m., celebrating the unique ways locals commemorate the holiday. At noon, the Potter Valley Fire Department gets the wood pits blazing for its famous chicken barbecue at the firehouse.

This year’s Junior Rodeo promises to be the biggest yet, with events like mutton bustin’, steer riding, and mini bull competitions. Visitors can also watch teams compete in the woodcutting showdown or test their skills in the axe-throwing area. Dozens of vendors will be on-site offering food, apparel, custom hats, jerky, and vintage treasures.

Saturday night features the Ranch Bronc & Bull Riding Chute-Out, sponsored by Mendo Munitions, followed by the Starlite Dance with live music from Court ‘N’ Disaster.

Sunday brings the CCPRA Rodeo, showcasing top-tier talent from across California in bull riding, barrel racing, and team roping. Families won’t want to miss the children’s animal scramble or the mouth-watering Beef & Lamb BBQ.

Admission is $15 per day, with kids under 10 free. For a full schedule, visit pottervalleyrodeo.com.

(Mendofever.com)

---

JUST LYMPHING ALONG

Lymph Immune & Breast Health Workshop at the Shala Mendocino

Your lymphatic system is silently working every day to keep you alive, resilient, and radiant.

But here’s the truth no one tells you:

Most of us are walking around with stagnant lymph. We’ve never been taught to care for our breast tissue until it’s a problem. Our immune systems are taxed, and we don’t even know the signs.

On June 1, I’m offering a Lymph, Breast & Immune Health Workshop at the Shala in Mendocino that will give you the tools and understanding that Western doctors often overlook.

10am-12pm: Lymphatic Health

Discover how to move and nourish your “river of life”: your lymph (Rasa). Learn practical tools for detox, vitality, and immune support.

1pm-3pm: Breast & Immune Health

Understand what your body’s signs mean. Learn self-exams, gua sha, Ayurvedic tools, and how to deeply care for your breast and immune health.

Enroll and Receive:

Jade Gua Sha Tool (value $15)

Garshana Gloves (value $20)

Ayurvedic Breast Balm (value $35)

($70 in gifts; yours free with enrollment)

Live + Online options available.

CEUs available for Yoga Instructors.

Justine Lemos [email protected]

---

---

UNITY CLUB NEWS

by Miriam Martinez

Before we go our separate ways to see family and friends; before the heat of Summer sets in; before Fire Season returns in ernest, come to the June Unity Club meeting on June 5th, at 1:30, in the Fairgrounds Dining Room. Mary Ann Grzenda and Alice Bonner will serve as our hostesses, providing snacks, coffee and tea. We will revisit some ideas from May’s meeting, and enjoy time together socializing.

Great News from our Lending Library: the “$5 a bag of books” Sale will continue for May until the end of July. Try new authors. Read that Baldacci book you missed somehow. Pick up some children’s books for the grandkids. For $5 you can’t go wrong. The Library will be closed August and September, in preparation for the County Apple Fair. If all goes well, it will reopen around the second week of October.

---

JANE HEAD:

Heidi Endemann and husband Don have lived on the Coast of Gualala for over 50 years. I was privileged to see her artwork at least 40 years ago, at the beautiful St. Orre's restaurant near Anchor Bay and was mesmerized by her work. She is the consummate artist, honing her European painting craft to create her visually exciting canvasses. With the preparation of an archaeologist, an engineer, an historian, and an exceptionally clear vision, she continues to create masterpieces.

She and her husband have owned art galleries in downtown Gualala and on the property which they designed and built.

After Don's passing, Heidi continues the legacy of bringing not only Heidi's work but other talented artists and ceramicists to the Coast. She is still reinventing and creating a new vision by combining her own studio with a gallery of fabulous artwork. Renamed S and K gallery and studio.

Her Gallery is open on weekends by appointment only.

Heidi has an opening for new works every August. For information, please go to her website: SKgallerygualala.com, or call 707-884-3581. You won't be disappointed.

---

POINT ARENA POET LAUREATE TO READ IN WILLITS

The Starlight Lounge Poetry Series returns to the Willits Community Theatre on Saturday, June 14, at 7 p.m. with a featured reading by Blake More, according to a press release from the series organizers.

More, who serves as the Poet Laureate of Point Arena, is a prolific artist whose creative portfolio spans poetry, murals, video art, and education. As highlighted in the press release, she’s a longtime teacher and regional coordinator with California Poets in the Schools, and hosts two local radio shows on KZYX and KGUA. She also organizes a monthly poetry and jazz series and serves on the Mendocino County Poet Laureate Committee.

Her most recent book, DystopiaUnplugged: Please Talk Back, blends her signature style of experimental poetics with urgent cultural commentary, the release notes.

The event will take place at 37 W. Van Lane in downtown Willits. A $10 donation is suggested, but organizers emphasize that no one will be turned away for lack of funds. Following More’s reading, the mic will open for local poets to share their work.

This installment of the Starlight Lounge Poetry Series is supported in part by a grant from Poets & Writers, a national nonprofit dedicated to uplifting the literary arts.

More information about Blake More’s work can be found at bmoreyou.net, as listed in the event announcement.

(mendofever.com)

---

UKIAH BACK WHEN (Ron Parker):

---

FANNING THE EMBERS

AVA:

When did you change your masthead? Are you no longer fanning the flames of discontent? Just wondering.

Timothy P. Furey

Longtime reader.

ED REPLY: The flames ate my fans, and reality has made most of us flame fanners, making my slogan redundant.

---

CATCH OF THE DAY, Friday, May 23, 2025

CHARLES ANDERSON, 58, Ukiah. Suspended license.

DANIELLE DAVIS, 32, Eureka/Ukiah. Controlled substance, paraphernalia.

FERNANDO HEREDIA-CASTRO, 42, Ukiah. Failure to appear.

JESSICA STEPHENS, 35, San Francisco/Ukiah. Disobeying court order.

ASHLEE WILSON, 36, Fort Bragg. Stalking and threatening bodily injury.

---

“IN A POPULISTIC CULTURE like ours, which seems to lack a responsible elite with political and moral autonomy, and in which it is possible to exploit the wildest currents of public sentiment for private purposes, it is at least conceivable that a highly organized, vocal, active, and well-financed minority could create a political climate in which the rational pursuit of our well-being and safety would become impossible.”

– Richard Hofstadter, The Paranoid Style in American Politics

---

BILL HARPER: Humboldt Honeys have nothing on this babe. Driving gloves, hairdo, no power brakes, no power steering, three on the tree with probably no syncro in first and reverse.

---

MEMO OF THE AIR: Good Night Radio all night Friday night on KNYO and KAKX!

Soft deadline to email your writing for tonight’s (Friday night’s) MOTA show is 5pm or so. If that’s too soon, send it any time after that and I’ll read it next Friday.

Memo of the Air: Good Night Radio is every Friday, 9pm to 5am PST on 107.7fm KNYO-LP Fort Bragg and KNYO.org. The first three hours of the show, meaning till midnight, are simulcast on KAKX 89.3fm Mendocino.

Plus you can always go to https://MemoOfTheAir.wordpress.com and hear last week’s MOTA show. By Saturday night I’ll put up the recording of tonight’s show. You’ll find plenty of other educational amusements there to educate and amuse yourself with until showtime, or any time, such as:

A sound panorama. With adorable nosemouth dog. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aj8ztkXFZow

Buddhist monuments in Myanmar. https://nagonthelake.blogspot.com/2025/05/buddhist-monuments-in-myanmar.html

And why they make us look at the farmhouse. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/rAmcdQrUb0I

Marco McClean, [email protected], https://MemoOfTheAir.wordpress.com

---

GIANTS SCORE RARE WIN AGAINST LEFTY in Roupp’s duel with Nats’ Gore

by Shayna Rubin

WASHINGTON — Left-handed starters have been the San Francisco Giants’ downfall all season. So Washington Nationals lefty starter MacKenzie Gore, boasting an MLB-leading 13.4 strikeouts per nine innings, presented a familiar challenge.

The Giants’ stated goal, relayed by manager Bob Melvin before the game, was to bump Gore’s pitch count up as soon as possible to get to the Nationals’ less fearsome bullpen.

Gore had other plans. He tallied nine strikeouts over six scoreless innings. Feeling pain after getting hit in the leg by a comebacker, Gore started losing his command in the seventh inning. Gore’s bad luck was the Giants’ opening as they finally got to Washington’s bullpen, scoring twice that inning in a 4-0 win to open a three-city trip on Friday night. The Giants are now 5-12 in games when a lefty starts.

“We’ve done it all year. That’s our sweet spot, for whatever reason,” manager Bob Melvin said of getting to the bullpen. “(Gore) is pitching a great game and somebody’s going to blink first. Obviously with him coming out of the game we did a good job with the bullpen at the end. It’s what we do. We jump on bullpens. I would never want someone going out with an injury, but we did better work after he left.”

The Giants had managed two hits and a walk off Gore leading up to the seventh, but tides shifted when he walked Jung Hoo Lee and went down 2-0 to Matt Chapman.

That’s when trainers approached the mound and pulled Gore for reliever Jackson Rutledge, who walked Chapman. Wilmer Flores hit into a double play, advancing Lee to third, and Willy Adames didn’t waste the opportunity, hitting an RBI single up the middle for the game’s first run. Then Rutledge walked three batters in a row — Casey Schmitt, Mike Yastrzemski and Patrick Bailey — to score another run and put the Giants up 2-0.

The late surge doesn’t happen without Giants starter Landen Roupp, who went toe-to-toe with Gore and delivered one of his best starts of the year.

The Nationals stacked nine left-handed hitters (a few of them are switch-hitters, batting left-handed) in the starting lineup and Roupp was efficient against it through six innings. Pounding the zone, he limited baserunners to five (four hits, one walk) through the first six innings. Roupp relies heavily on his curveball, but without his best one this day, Roupp needed his sinker, changeup and little-used cutter to keep Nationals lefty hitters on their toes.

“Just, with a lot of lefties, you hang a curveball (and) you get hit hard,” Roupp said. “I was confident in my changeup and cutter today.”

Incorporating his changeup and cutter more into his mix is one of a few ways Roupp has turned things around this month. He’s made a concerted effort to loosen up before he starts, opting to chat with teammates throughout the day instead of staying hyper-focused on the task at hand. He’s also been better about pounding the zone, not trying to trim at the strikezone’s edges when he’s down in the count. He has a 1.64 ERA in four May starts compared to a 5.10 ERA in six April starts. Shutting down a lefty-heavy lineup was another big step for the second-year pitcher.

“This game gives me more confidence than the last one just because of that reason,” Roupp said. “In the past I haven’t been that good to lefties because I’ve never had four pitches. Really throwing all my pitches tonight really helped.”

Perhaps a bit off kilter after sitting through the long top of the seventh, Roupp gave up a leadoff double and walked a batter to begin the bottom of the inning and was removed for Randy Rodriguez, who stranded both runners.

The bullpen advantage skewed heavily in the Giants’ favor. Rodriguez’s clean inning lowered his ERA to 0.83, still best in the National League.

“It really is amazing what he’s done this year,” Melvin said. “Lefties, righties, he has the toughest assignment typically. He’s coming on with guys on base after our starter gave us six innings. A couple guys on base and he gives up nothing. I want to say — it’s not surprising, but it’s very difficult to come in with guys on base and nobody out like that.”

Erik Miller, who certainly knew he would get work on Friday given the lineup, walked pinch-hitter Alex Call in the eighth but retired the mighty top of the order, getting CJ Abrams on a flyball before James Wood hit into an inning-ending double play.

Including Bailey’s walked-in run, the Giants scored three against a trio of Nationals relievers. Flores had an RBI single and Chapman scored on Andrew Chafin’s wild pitch with the bases loaded to extend the lead.

(sfchronicle.com)

---

---

TRUMP TAX BILL DETAILS: MEASURE PASSED BY HOUSE TO HAVE OUTSIZE IMPACT ON CALIFORNIANS

by Shira Stein

Legislation that would blow a hole in California’s health care spending, disproportionately tax Californians and neuter the state’s ability to regulate artificial intelligence passed the House early Thursday.

The bill — the centerpiece of President Donald Trump’s second term — passed 215-214 after an all-night session of the House, which came after a 21-hour committee hearing that began at 1 a.m. Wednesday in Washington.

All Democrats and two Republicans, Reps. Warren Davidson of Ohio and Thomas Massie of Kentucky, voted against the bill. One Republican, Rep. Andy Harris of Maryland, voted present, and two didn’t vote, Reps. David Schweikert of Arizona and Andrew Garbarino of New York.

The bill now goes to the Senate, which will probably make substantial changes before final passage.

“Great job by Speaker Mike Johnson, and the House Leadership, and thank you to every Republican who voted YES on this Historic Bill!” Trump said on Truth Social. “Now, it’s time for our friends in the United States Senate to get to work, and send this Bill to my desk AS SOON AS POSSIBLE! There is no time to waste.”

The bill would cut nutritional assistance spending, repeal green energy tax credits, provide additional funding to crack down on illegal immigration and lower taxes, primarily for the wealthy.

The House-passed resolution would cut nearly $700 billion from Medicaid and $300 billion from federal nutrition assistance, according to the Congressional Budget Office, which also estimated the states would spend an additional $78 billion, on net, to account for those cuts. Changes Republican leadership made to the bill Wednesday to gain the support of more conservative lawmakers were expected to deepen those cuts.

Household resources would decrease by 4% for those in the bottom 10% of income by 2033, and the top 10% would gain 2% in household resources by 2033, the CBO found.

“This is Robin Hood in reverse. Taking resources from where it is most needed — the people who need it most — and giving it to those who need it least: the billionaires in America,” Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, said in a speech on the House floor Tuesday.

Rep. Lateefah Simon, D-Oakland, drew from personal experiences growing up in poverty, recounting the 90-minute bus rides she took as a teenage mother to get $26 worth of food stamps once a month. Those were followed by college, work and, finally, picking up her child.

“If you haven’t been poor, don’t legislate for the poor. Let’s step up and protect Americans who are working with their full bodies, their full spirits,” Simon said during a House Rules Committee hearing Wednesday.

Republicans say the legislation would lower the deficit and shore up the future of these safety net programs.

“After a long week and a long night and countless hours of work over the past year, a lot of prayer and a lot of teamwork, my friends, it quite literally is morning in America,” House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said Thursday. “After four long years of President Biden’s failures, President Trump’s America First agenda is finally here, and we are advancing that today.”

The biggest concern for lawmakers in Sacramento is the effects the bill will have on the state’s budget if people are kicked off Medicaid. The House-passed resolution would substantially reduce federal spending on Medicaid by imposing more scrutiny on enrollees and health care providers, including twice-yearly eligibility checks, reducing funding for states that provide insurance to undocumented immigrants, and establishing work requirements — leaving states to fill the gaps.

California spent about $42.7 billion on Medicaid in fiscal year 2023, and the federal government spent about $81.3 billion. More than a quarter of Californians are on the state’s Medicaid program, including 41% of all children, 49% of adults with disabilities and 41% of people living in nursing homes.

The CBO estimated 7.6 million people nationwide would lose Medicaid insurance, including 1.4 million undocumented immigrants, and 1 million people would lose insurance under the Affordable Care Act exchanges under the proposal passed by the House.

The Republican bill would cut the federal funding match for the Medicaid expansion population by 10% for states that use their own tax revenue to pay for undocumented immigrants to receive Medicaid — one of which is California.

Gov. Gavin Newsom on May 14 proposed scaling back health care benefits for undocumented immigrants. The state had expanded Medi-Cal eligibility to low-income undocumented adults in 2024, but Newsom has proposed barring new enrollees and adding $100 monthly fees for those who have already registered.

The Republican bill would also require that able-bodied adults ages 19 to 64 enrolled in Medicaid work, volunteer or participate in an education program for 80 hours each month. Currently, 92% of Medicaid recipients are already working or caregiving, disabled or attending school, according to KFF News.

An earlier version of the bill would have required states to implement the new work requirements by 2029, but the bill passed Thursday sped up that timeline — to Dec. 31, 2026.

Many vulnerable populations would be exempt from the work mandates, including pregnant women, foster youths, members of Native American tribes, parents or the recently incarcerated.

But Democrats argued that work requirements would result in fewer Medicaid enrollees, not because people wouldn’t be able to meet that standard or be eligible for an exemption, but because the burden of proving either would be insurmountable.

The bill would also block Medicaid funding for gender transition procedures, including puberty blockers, hormone replacement and gender-affirming surgery, for all enrollees. An earlier version of the bill would have allowed for Medicaid funding to be used for adults receiving gender-affirming care.

To compensate for a cut to federal Medicaid funding, states will need to raise taxes, shift funds from other programs or cut benefits, said Rep. Raul Ruiz, D-Indio (Riverside County).

But the legislation hamstrings states from imposing new or increased taxes on health care providers, which states use to pay for their share of Medicaid costs, to keep benefits as they are.

Bay Area taxpayers would also see disproportionate effects from Republicans’ permanent cap on how much of the taxes paid to state and local governments can be written off on federal taxes.

Before 2018, taxpayers could deduct their state and local taxes from their federal income. With the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, Congress capped that at $10,000 each year through 2025. The bill passed by the House on Thursday makes that cap permanent and increases it slightly, to $40,000, for people who make less than $500,000 a year — a cap that would grow 1% annually.

An earlier version of the bill would have capped the deduction at $30,000 for people who make less than $400,000 a year. That version would have brought in $915.6 billion in revenue over the next decade, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation, and would disproportionately affect people who live in high-tax states, such as California and New York.

Seven states received 53% of the value of the state and local tax deduction before the 2018 cap: California, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York, according to the deeply conservative Heritage Foundation.

The California Franchise Tax Board estimated in 2018 that the $10,000 deduction cap would cost Californians $12 billion a year, with three-quarters falling on people with incomes over $1 million and the remaining $3 billion on taxpayers with incomes between $100,000 and $1 million.

The average deduction in 2017, before the cap, was about $13,000 nationwide, according to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center. Only eight counties had an average deduction above $30,000 — with half of them in the Bay Area: San Francisco, Santa Clara, San Mateo and Marin.

The bill also prohibits states and localities from enforcing “any law or regulation regulating artificial intelligence models, artificial intelligence systems, or automated decision systems” over the next decade, effectively neutering any regulation of the industry.

The California Legislature has demonstrated far greater interest and ability in regulating the industry than Congress, where lawmakers have not acted on any major AI legislation despite high-profile hearings on the subject. In California, where Democratic supermajorities in the Legislature can pass bills along party lines, lawmakers and Newsom have approved multiple guardrails on the developing field.

(SF Chronicle)

---

---

CALIFORNIA RESIDENTS SPEND 17% LESS THAN THE AVERAGE AMERICAN ON ONLINE SHOPPING, STUDY REVEALS

by Charlotte Smith

California residents spend $3,007 per capita on eCommerce annually, the eighteenth-lowest in America.

Online retailers’ estimated annual revenue in California is $93.3 billion, with $218.01 generated in eCommerce taxes per capita. Online spending in California is 17% below the national average of $3,639.

New research has revealed the states with the highest and lowest online shopping spending in America.

The study, conducted by third party logistics provider (3PL) GoBolt, analyzed eCommerce revenue per capita across all states to reveal online shopping habits. California findings

California residents rank eighteenth in the U.S. for lowest online spending, with an average of $3,007 spent per capita. This is 17% below the U.S. average of $3,639.

Online retailers generate $93.3 billion in annual revenue in the state, while eCommerce taxes generate $218.01 per capita.

orth Carolina residents spend the least on online shopping, with just $2,232 per capita annually - 39% below the national average. Online retailers’ annual revenue contributes $19.4 billion to North Carolina’s economy, with $106.03 eCommerce taxes generated per capita.

Other states with relatively low online spending include Arizona at $2,677 per capita and Texas at $2,693, both 26% below the U.S. average.

Utah residents spend $2,721 per person which is 25% below the national average, while South Carolinians spend $2,784 annually - 23% below the U.S. average.

Utah turns over $6.99 billion in annual revenue from online retailers. This figure almost doubles in South Carolina, to $12 billion. The eCommerce taxes generated by the states sit at $131.94 and $167.03 per capita, respectively.

Idaho ($2,836), Washington ($2,858), and Rhode Island ($2,879) also rank among the states with the lowest online spending. With significantly smaller populations, Idaho and Rhode Island turnovers are $4.35 billion and $2.61 billion, respectively.

Kansas and Oklahoma complete the bottom ten, with residents spending $2,892 and $2,897 per capita, respectively.

(ExpressPR.org)

---

---

COORDINATED ACTIONS EXPOSE CHEVRON’S DESTRUCTION, HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES BEFORE SHAREHOLDERS MEETING

by Dan Bacher

Imagine a corporation so notorious that there is an international day dedicated to exposing its violation of human rights, environmental devastation and complicity with genocide. That company is the oil giant Chevron.

As part of the international Anti-Chevron Day, climate justice advocates and community members across the Bay Area on May 21 organized simultaneous banner drops across freeway overpasses in San Francisco, Berkeley, and Richmond.

The banner drops took place as Chevron and the Western States Petroleum Association spend unprecedented millions of dollars lobbying to fight the Polluters Pay Climate Superfund Act and other climate legislation in California.…

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/5/22/2323865/-Coordinated-Actions-Expose-Chevron-s-Destruction-Human-Rights-Abuses-Before-Shareholders-Meeting

---

WE ARE WALKING along the path, my dog and I, in the blue half-light. My dog, no longer young, steps carefully on the icy path, until he catches the scent of the fox. This morning the fox runs out onto the frozen pond, and my dog follows. I stand and watch them. The ice prevents either animal from getting a good toe-grip, so they move with the bighearted and curvaceous motions of running, but in slow motion. All the way across they stay the same distance apart — the fox can go no faster, neither can my long-legged old dog, who will ache from this for a week. The scene is original and pretty as a dream. But I am wide awake. Then the fox vanishes among the yellow weeds on the far side of the pond, and my dog comes back, panting.

— Mary Oliver, from "Staying Alive"

---

---

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

Practically, the only thing that can save Democrats is Democrats. And if that doesn’t scare you even sillier than the fact already has, you’ve still got a ways to go.

---

LEAD STORIES, SATURDAY'S NYT

Pivoting From Tax Cuts to Tariffs, Trump Ignores Economic Warning Signs

Vietnam Is Racing to Secure a U.S. Trade Deal. China Stands in the Way.

Trump’s E.U. Tariff Threat Could Cause Economic Damage Beyond Europe

Plastic Spoons, Umbrellas, Violins: A Guide to What Americans Buy From China

Who Won a Seat at Trump’s Crypto Dinner?

Documents Show E.P.A. Plans to Erase Greenhouse Gas Limits on Power Plants

---

SOUTH AFRICA’S RICHEST MAN, the billionaire Johann Peter Rupert, told Donald Trump to his face in the Oval Office that there is no white genocide taking place in South Africa. Rupert told Trump, as he slumped in his gilded chair, that the issue is about crime, poverty, and unemployment, not “white genocide.” Rupert said even though he’s one of South Africa’s most hated men, he sleeps on his own farm with his doors unlocked.

— Jeffrey St. Clair

---

STUMBLEBUM’S LEGACY

by James Kunstler

Bad as it was, “Joe Biden,” the figment president was merely one manifestation of a nation made mad by power-seeking demons, real-live, ill-intentioned human beings driving a runaway political machine, the party of hoaxes, hustles, and hatred. The country is just now struggling to exit a convulsion of mass mental illness. The demons are still there, though, and still hard at work trying to drag you all back into mass formation.

A central mystery is how the news media made itself the enemy of the people, and this conundrum is not at all explained by Jake Tapper and Alex Marshall in their book Original Sin. It’s actually just another hustle with overtones of hoax, like everything else in the evil cavalcade of narratives spun out in the news media’s war on reality. Tapper and Marshall want you to believe that a faceless collective they call “the White House” managed to conceal “Joe Biden’s” well-advanced disintegration from the voting public, and that was. . . that. The media wuz fooled! Goll-lee!

Of course, that fails to explain a whole lot — such as: how come anybody watching daily video clips of “Joe Biden” in action, could not fail to see the broken old puppet he is. Alex Marshall, receiving his “award for excellence” from the White House Correspondents’ Association weeks ago said, “We just missed it.” Yeah, sure. . . . They also apparently missed the programmatic devastation to American society that was carried out in the old stumblebum’s name.

I will give you the key to that conundrum, and then you will understand why all this happened, and why the many lingering demons are still at it in their self-styled “resistance” to America-in-recovery. Mr. Marshall lied, you understand. The media connived with the demons. They were in on the gag the whole time.

If there is any “original sin” in the story, it revolves around Hillary Clinton. This monster emerged as the junior partner to her husband, political wonder-boy Bill Clinton. From the get-go, the narrative painted her as a wife sore-beset by her charismatic husband’s infidelities. (Forget that her only child, Chelsea, is a dead-ringer for her former law partner, Webb Hubbell.) However their connubial affairs worked, Hill and Bill had a deal: when he was done, she would eventually rise to become the first woman president, and they would go down in history as two era-defining, Boomer gen, political wonder-geniuses.

It was a flawed plan. For one thing, Hillary utterly lacked Bill’s political charisma, which was his ability to avidly engage with other people and their issues. Hillary didn’t care much for other people, and only pretended to be interested in their issues. Also, people could easily read that in her demeanor. Nobody was fooled. If anything, she had negative charm, anti-charisma. Her own interests were strictly limited to obtaining power and riches. With enough power, Hillary noticed, you didn’t need charm or charisma. You could simply order people around. But the power couple left the White House broke in 2001, and were caught trying to spirit away some of the presidential dinner-ware.

The next phase of Hillary’s career was fortune-building. The Clinton Foundation was set up in 1997, ostensibly to fund Bill’s presidential library. It would become a fantastic grift magnet in the years to come, taking them from broke-ass-broke to demi-billionaires. Her launching pad was a seat in the US Senate. (She ran and won in New York when she was still First Lady in the 2000 election.)

2008 was supposed to be Hillary’s apotheosis from senator to president. The setup was perfect. The country was tired of Double-ya Bush. The time was exactly right for a woman president. Hillary was the obvious choice by a country mile. Except that she was edged out in the primaries by the Democratic Party’s alternative play for something even more amazing, in a contest of historic firsts, than a woman president — a black president, proving to the world how morally upright the USA had become, America liked how it felt. We were good people, after all!

Barack Obama liked playing his role, and he seemed to have more charisma than Hillary (though he didn’t care much for other people either, really). His sketchy background included a lot of people tinged with Marxism, such as his mentor in Chicago, Bill Ayers, an infamous Sixties radical, rumored to have ghost-written Obama’s books. And he was ensorcelled by big bankers like Robert Rubin of CitiGroup, and by Globalist bigshots orbiting Davos and the WEF.

Yet, Senator Hillary Clinton was still aggregating power as leader of Democratic women voters, a massive base. It was clear that she would remain in the game, aiming for her eventual “turn” in the White House. So, Mr. Obama made a deal with her: he would elevate her to Secretary of State, further fortifying her credentials, and then stand behind her in a 2016 run.

Hillary used her years at State to also fortify the Clinton Foundation’s coffers in various pay-to-play schemes — such as the Skolkovo tech deal with Russia and the Uranium One deal that netted the Clinton Foundation combined pledges of over $275-million, according to Clinton Cash author Peter Schweizer. The 2010 Haiti earthquake crisis was another bonanza for the foundation and its partners. One might also surmise, from the recent DOGE reports, that the fabulous armature for grift that USAID became, spawning countless NGOs, was engineered by Obama appointees like Samantha Powers and Hillary’s State Department machine.

In 2015, Hillary, off-and-running, came to the rescue of the Democratic National Committee. The party was foundering in debt. It entered a joint fund-raising agreement with a PAC called Hillary for America (HFA) and the Hillary Victory Fund. The agreement gave Hillary control over the DNC’s finances, strategy, and staffing decisions that enabled her to snake out Senator Bernie Sanders for the nomination. Hillary’s nomination, the drive toward her “turn,” was when the trouble really blossomed.

Pitted against the rising outsider, Donald Trump, in 2016, Hillary’s lack of charisma was sinking her campaign. So, with a little help from John Brennan at the CIA, Glenn Simpson’s Fusion GPS political media company, the FBI under Director Jim Comey, and lawfare ninja Marc Elias at the Perkins Coie DC law firm, the Russia collusion hoax was dreamed up and put into action.

That was the “original sin” that set up the Party of hoaxes, hustles, and hatred to become greatest lie-spewing operation in US history, with reverberations for the decade-to-come. It also became the greatest ass-covering op in US history, with each successive raft of lies — the Mueller Investigation, impeachment #1, the stolen election of 2020 and installation of “Joe Biden,” the J-6 op, impeachment #2, the Trump prosecutions of 2024 — all requiring successive layers of cover-up and lies.

Since the news media despised Donald Trump, and was convinced by its own bullshit that Hillary would win the 2016 election, they all ran with the Russia collusion story and turned it into RussiaGate. They miscalculated, of course. Mr. Trump won, a stunning surprise, a shock really to everyone, including Mr. Trump himself, who utterly lacked experience running a government and was bamboozled, sand-bagged, and eventually hoaxed into defeat — Covid-19 being the coup-de-grace. The news media had to continue lying to the country throughout and beyond all of that to pretend that they were not equally culpable for all this mischief.

And so, they ran with every deception of “Joe Biden’s” ruinous term in office. Alas for them, the indefatigable Mr. Trump rallied, persevered through the concocted prosecutions cooked up by Norm Eisen, Mary McCord, Lisa Monaco, and the rest of lawfare ninjahood, and is now back in power with an assembled team of appointees who are the Left’s worst nightmare.

What kept it all going — all the lying, gaslighting, deception, prevarication, and sedition — was the lack of accountability. It was a fatal intoxicant. That’s over now, though turning in the direction of justice is necessarily difficult and delicate, considering the elevated level of derangement among the public, the fragility of the national psyche, and the danger signals emanating from the zeitgeist.

It looks like the accounting will begin in earnest now. We are going to find out who was acting behind the empty figure of “Joe Biden,” and who ran the auto-pen. And working backward from there, this will all unspool in one, long, appalling thread of treason.

---

---

BRED TO KILL

by David Yearsley

(Amidst all the pugilistic politics marking Mexican-American relations of late, the Musical Patriot limbers up a column that trotted into the ring of public opinion ten years ago, in May of 2015.)

Although the singing of the American national anthem at sporting events retains vestigial trappings of patriotism, the real point of the exercise is entertainment, the more violent the better. If the anthem is a ritual, it is no longer one of faith in the fatherland but of mortal sacrifice. The thousands in the stadium—and in cases of televised blockbuster events like the Super Bowl, the billions worldwide—watch, listen, and pray that the national hymn will fell the singer like an angry bull goring a grandstanding toreador. Botched or forgotten words, cracked high notes, wandering intonation, suicidal ornamentation: all these draw blood and gleeful jeers. And once this enraged bull of a one-time English drinking song reclad in bombast by a racist Maryland lawyer and amateur poet called Francis Scott Key has the combatant down it stamps and snorts and slashes without mercy. The anthem was bred to kill and kill it does. There is no ear to be cut off the beast and given to the vocalist should he or she survive the ordeal: until a few days ago, the only victory to be had was merely the avoidance of public humiliation.

Thus, when movie star Jamie Foxx stepped into the ring last Saturday before the latest “Fight of the Century” pitting Floyd Mayweather against Manny Pacquiao in Las Vegas all were eager for the first clash of the night: Foxx versus Key. It proved to be far and away the best of the bouts.

But first came the undercard of this slugfest of song: a stocky tenor with the everyman name of Julio Lopez and a neck like a Virginia ham faced off against the Mexican national anthem. The scheduling of this matchup spawned puzzlement and wisecracks from the newsrooms of London to the bars of Mexico City. Though he speaks Spanish, the boxer Pacquiao is from the Philippines, where that language of the former colonizer has all but disappeared.

The silver-haired ring announcer described this seemingly random insertion of the Mexican hymn as a prelude to the “upcoming Cinco de Mayo celebrations” then still three days hence. This was a tenuous pretext at best. There were unconfirmed reports that Tecate beer, one of the sponsors of the fight night, insisted on the singing of the Mexican anthem as a subliminal advertisement for their product. In his 2007 Cinco de Mayo matchup against Oscar de la Hoya in Las Vegas, Mayweather had donned Mexican colors and an outsized sombrero. Saturday night’s Mexican anthem brought back fond memories of that outlandish get-up.

All this theorizing about the reasons for the inclusion of the Mexican hymn was quickly forgotten once the bout got under way. Lopez has gone to-to-toe with his country’s anthem many times in Las Vegas. He’d moved up at last one weight class for the latest rematch against this always-daunting adversary.

The Mexican anthem was contrived in the 1850s in the aftermath of Mexico’s defeat in the war with the United States after which the American Southwest—including Las Vegas and the rest of Nevada—was deeded over to the Anglos. Only a few will enjoy the irony of such macho posturing about Mexican military swagger hymned in the very region lost more than one-hundred-and-fifty years, never mind that its singing comes in the context of continued political resistance to immigration reform. What better way to kick-off a boxing duel than with a paean to the glories of combat? The English translation of the opening stanza runs:

Mexicans, at the cry of war

Make ready the steel and the bridle

And let the earth shake to the core

At the roar of the cannon

And let the earth shake to the core

At the roar of the cannon.

The Mexican hymn assumes the brawling stance of so many anthems born of the nineteenth-century nationalism that repurposed the melodic contours of the church for the unifying imperatives of the state.

Lopez took the microphone and the pair went at it with vicious zeal. The opening uppercut of an arpeggio—ascending rather than descending like its American counterpart, the Star-Spangled Banner—shook the tentative Lopez. He wobbled in the knees and the vocal cords went slack and he nearly collapsed at the descending chromatic scale on the second line: “Y retiemble en sus centros la tierra“ (and let the earth shake to the core), a musical low blow that conjures not only the tremors of battle but also the shudders of the seismically volatile country itself. For a long moment it looked as if Lopez wouldn’t even last the full two-minutes.

Then the woozy crooner gathered his wits and voice and fought his way from the corner, landing several combinations as the hymn lurched towards flat-side harmonies. A whirr of Lopez punches ushered in a rapturous crescendo up to a glancing high B that shook the anthem but did not bring it down. The Himno can take a punch and had the staying power to land a series of body blows in a toe-to-toe exchange that continued past the final bell. All the singer could manage was an exhausted descent to the barely audible reprise of the “roar of the cannon.” The resulting draw left the future of both Lopez and the Himno Nacional Méxicano in doubt. Most hope that retirement beckons for the fighters, and well-deserved decades of poolside relaxation, Tecate in hand. Others yowl for yet another rematch.

Then came the main event. The actor turned vocal pugilist, Foxx looked resplendent in his cream tuxedo, black shirt, and big gold necklace. Gleaming in the spotlights’ blue glare, his face was thick with lubricant meant to lessen the blows to be inflicted by the iron-fisted anthem.

But for all his bravura, Foxx looked uncharacteristically nervous. He later claimed that his earpiece had fallen out just prior to entering the ring. Foxx therefore had to try and find his pitch and bearings directly from the florid Hammond B-3 organ intro and ensuing accompaniment that emanated from distant speakers in the cavernous MGM-Grand Arena. The look of panic on his face only confirmed these claims.

Right at the opening bell, the anthem stunned him and the auditorium hushed in euphoric anticipation of the spectacle of an A-list Hollywood titlist about to crash to the canvas before he had even thrown a punch. This grandstander had wanted to rock out, but was instead being rocked by non-stop blows from his unflappable and merciless opponent. Foxx would later concede that at the start he had been “a little off.”

He was dazed but he did not drop.

Instead, Foxx did what all smart fighters must: he kept his feet moving and dodged knock-out punches with melodic feints and bobs, weaving around the original melody with deft slides and turns. From his distant corner the organ urged him on like Angelo Dundee spurring on Ali.

Indeed, Foxx’s dismal start revealed itself to be pure musical rope-a-dope, as he stung the anthem with jabs and flurries of ornament. The anthem sagged under Foxx’s jubilant assault. His prey, keeping his rival upright for more melismatic combinations and the knockout falsetto right cross on the final “Brave.” With a churchy Hallelujah coda Foxx did a taunting dance above the fallen champion, the seemingly unbeatable menace that had knocked out so many great heavyweights of song.

Francis Scott Key’s worst nightmare was, as he put it, “to associate and amalgamate with the Negro.” Now his greatest work was out for the count as an ecstatic Foxx kicked the last gasp of music out of the blood-spattered Banner and he glared defiantly into the blinding lights, the fans unsure whether to cheer or riot.

Pulling itself up from the mat, with broken nose and bruised ribs the body politic tried to spin the defeat instead as a debacle for Foxx. The movie star’s performance was subjugated to a savage smear campaign. That’s all just so much hype. Promoters are already trying to convince Foxx to climb into the ring with the Mexican Mauler next time out.

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

---