Mendocino County Today: Monday 6/16/2025

Sunny | Zinnias | Fatal Fire | Appreciation Picnic | AVUSD News | New Deputies | Patient Portal | AV Grange | No Annexation | Pudding Creek | Eyster Play | Local Events | Professional Advice | Summer Concerts | KZYX Benefit | Big Log | Yesterday's Catch | Giant Pickups | It's Bad | Losing Coverage | Imperial Arrogance | Anti-Nuclear Vigil | Giants Lose | Shot Putter | SF Surprises | Man's Magazine | Healthy Democracy | Rich Aunt | Dem Reset | Gold Commode | Mass Deportations | Wild Musical | Sexless Spy | Peculiar Farewell | Lead Stories | Fish Cake | Israel/Iran | Home Murder

---

INCREASING AFTERNOON BREEZES and some fire weather concerns in southern Mendocino and Lake County this week. Warmer temperatures and minor HeatRisk concerns midweek. Cooler temperatures and light rain possible late week. (NWS)

STEPHEN DUNLAP (Fort Bragg): I have 48F under overcast skies this Monday morning on the coast. The satellite shows fog from Fort Bragg to the south, so that's likely the overcast. Our forecast calls for sunny skies & a moderate northwest wind the next few days.

---

---

FATAL FIRE ON GURLEY LANE, OUTSIDE FORT BRAGG

On Thursday, June 12, 2025 at approximately 1:25 A.M., Deputies with the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office were advised of a fully-involved structure fire in the area of Gurley Lane in the township of Mendocino. Deputies responded from the area of Highway 20 in Fort Bragg.

Initial reports indicated a female occupant was residing in the dwelling, but it was unknown if she was still inside the residence. Sheriff's Deputies responded code 3 (lights and sirens) from the Fort Bragg area and arrived within minutes. Upon arrival, Deputies observed a single-story dwelling fully engulfed in flames. Due to the intensity of the heat and active fire, Deputies were unable to safely approach the burning structure without risking injury. As fire department personnel and equipment arrived on scene to extinguish the blaze, over two-thirds of the structure had already been consumed by fire. Fire department crews worked vigorously to extinguish the flames and protect a second dwelling on the property that was only feet away.

As fire crews continued to extinguish the fire and sift through the burned debris, the body of a deceased person was discovered buried beneath burned material near one of the entrances to the structure. Due to the condition of the decedent’s remains, investigators have been unable to positively identify the victim at this stage of the investigation.

Sheriff's Deputies requested a fire investigator from the Ukiah Valley Fire Authority to assist in determining the cause and origin of the fire. The fire investigator arrived on scene just before sunrise on Thursday, June 12, 2025 to begin his investigation. It was determined later in the morning by the fire investigator that there was no evidence of criminal activity related to the fire and no evidence of any fire accelerants. The official cause and origin of the fire are still being investigated.

This incident is still under investigation and pending identification of the decedent and notification of the next of kin. An autopsy is being scheduled for this coroner's investigation to determine the official cause and manner of death.

Anyone with information regarding this investigation is requested to contact the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office Dispatch Center at 707-463-4086 (option 1). Information can also be provided anonymously by calling the non-emergency tip-line at 707-234-2100.

---

FIRST RESPONDER PICNIC, BOONVILLE

Nice First Responder appreciation picnic at the park yesterday. Well attended and AV Chief Andres Avila made a great presentation to our Cal Fire team. Thanks for all that both AVFD and Cal Fire provide for our Valley!

---

AV UNIFIED NEWS

Thank you for a wonderful year in AVUSD. As a new administrative team, Mr. McNerney, Mr. Ramalia, and I are deeply grateful for the warm welcome and for the community’s grace as we have learned about all that makes Boonville magical. Our close-knit community’s traditions, collaborative relationships, and the unmatched support of its school district and students are unique and remarkable.

As we close out the school year, we want to thank every parent, every friend, every staff member, and every community member who has contributed to the wonderful things that our students have accomplished in 2024-25.

I will not be sending out weekly updates over the summer, but will update the community at least once a month. That said, the district office staff and I will be in the office throughout most of the summer, so don’t hesitate to reach out to us if you would like to talk!

I would like to take a moment to thank staff members who are departing. We will be hiring for open positions, but each of these people is someone who can never be “repaced.” Please read below and take a moment to thank those who have had an impact on your child, if possible! They will always be in our hearts!

Thank You, John Toohey!

Mr. Toohey had taken a job in Lake County. He has shared that this was a very difficult decision for him, as he grew up in AVUSD and his ties run deep. He looks forward to returning to the humanities classroom and will likely be living in Lake County. He will be a benefit to his new district and plans, also, to remain in contact with AVUSD to support a smooth transition for a new Athletic Director. Thank you, John, for the amazing sports programs and your commitment to our student athletes. You will be deeply missed!

Thank you, Alexys Bautista!

Mr. Bautista was here for just one year as a teacher, but what an impact he made! We are so grateful for his work with the Leadership class, as well as all things agriculture and FFA. He has brought new ideas to the already awesome program, and so much energy and enthusiasm! Mr. Bautista has taken a job at a private school in Temecula, where he will head up the agriculture department. They are so fortunate to have him!

Thank you, Dave Ramalia!

Principal Mr. Ramalia came to support AVES in October and brought with him kindness, fun, and a commitment to kids. We are so thankful to Mr. Ramalia for the endless hours he has spent leading the elementary school. It is such a pleasure to see the positive relationships with students as he crosses the campus. He’s like a rock star to the kids. Mr. Ramaila, you will never be forgotten!

Thank you, Yuridia Cruz!

Ms. Cruz also grew up within our district. She is full of school spirit and has been a regular participant in almost every family engagement activity. Whenever and wherever she has been needed, she has shown up with a smile on her face and a commitment to making the activity the best it can be! Mrs. Cruz takes the time to truly know students, colleagues and families. She is deeply appreciated and will very much be missed.

Thank you, Sarah Crisman!

Mrs. Crisman has been teaching music in our district for many years, starting at AVES. She has built a CTE pathway program that includes digital music and instruments. On several occasions this year, small groups from her class have performed for significant events, including a “last day of school” mini-concert on the Senior Lawn. As the music teacher, Mrs. Crisman has built years-long relationships with students. Mrs. Crisman is loved by her students and colleagues, and will never be forgotten in AVUSD!

Chirstina Gianelli

Mrs. Gianelli has served as the coordinator of the After School Program at AVES. Hardworking and committed to the students and the program, her long hours of planning and her efforts at organizing myriad activities and materials has been greatly appreciated. Mrs. Gianelli, you will be missed!

Thank You, Kira Brennan!

Ms. Brennan is retiring! We are deeply grateful to Mrs. Brennan for her passion for student success and her hard work for many, many years in AVUSD. This year, Mrs. Brennan established the Bike Club, which highlights her commitment to kids as well as one element of the legacy she leaves behind in our district. Thank you, Mrs. Brennan, for your service and for all you have done for kids throughout your career.

K-12 Summer School

Summer School will be June 23-July 22

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

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

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

AV Jr High will provide fun learning activities, credit recovery, and an opportunity for students who have turned in their work to raise their grades in math! If your child has been recommended for summer school it is very important that they attend!

We Value ALL Our Families: Immigration Support and Updates

Please find links to additional information for families below:

Mendocino County Office of Education: Immigration Resource Page

Immigration and California Families: State Immigration Website

National Immigration Law Center: “Know Your Rights” (English | Spanish | Additional Languages)

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

With respect,

Kristin Larson Balliet, Superintendent

Anderson Valley Unified School District

[email protected]

---

TWO NEW SHERIFF’S RECRUITS

The Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office is pleased to announce the graduation of two Law Enforcement Academy graduates on Friday 06/13/2025 at College of the Siskiyous in Weed, CA.

Academy Recruits Saulo Hernandez and Luis Vazquez were sponsored by the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office and completed their 6-month basic academy training last week. The graduating class from College of the Siskiyous had 24 academy recruits, many of which were sponsored by other regional law enforcement agencies.

Deputy Hernandez and Deputy Vazquez will begin their field training programs, which will include approximately 18 additional weeks of training and mentoring by Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office training officers.

Please join Sheriff Kendall in congratulating Deputy Hernandez and Deputy Vazquez in their accomplishment of graduating from the basic law enforcement academy.

---

PORTALS TO HELL

Dear Editor,

Data and whatnot…

I recently encountered a modern phenomenon called the “Patient Portal.” For those rare individuals who have never encountered this juggernaut, it is an on line experience for tracking medical records and care. They are typically tricky to fill out to completion without having to do and redo, perhaps starting over completely time and again. If your blood pressure was an issue before, well, it is significantly higher now.

Then you make the mistake of asking yourself what all this extensive data collection means and how pervasive it really is, and really: What and Who does it serve. Anyone able to answer that question? Anybody? Thought not, and please don’t tell me that it’s the modern way.

12% of world electricity supply is consumed by these data behemoths. In the USA alone there are over 5,000 of them nationwide with 56% of them dependent on fossil fuel for the energy supply. Is this necessary or even wise? Yet its projected consumption is forecast to increase by 2% per year for the next decade.

So next time you are filling out some inane online form you have something else to consider.

Sincerely,

Tim McClure

Fort Bragg

---

HOME ON THE GRANGE: In Anderson Valley, Hippies, Old-Timers Return to Farming Roots

by Lisa Morehouse

Every month, the Anderson Valley Grange holds a pancake breakfast at their Grange hall in the town of Philo. A team of volunteers prepares pancakes, eggs and bacon for the 100 or so community members who show up.

In the kitchen during January’s breakfast, a man known as Captain Rainbow called out “Danger, danger!” as he pulled sizzling bacon out of the oven.

As a trio of local musicians played, Erich Jonas mixed a hyper-local pancake batter. It includes flour from the Mendocino Grain Project, which he called “absolutely perfect for this local feast,” and just about half a can of the best beer from the Anderson Valley Brewing Company.

“And so here we go. We’re going to add this magic ingredient, just enough to wet the batter down so it’s not sticky,” he said, while whisking.

Grange halls like this one have been around for more than 150 years — the Grange began as a fraternal organization for farmers. Even though farming — and Grange membership — are down to a fraction of what they were decades ago, many rural towns still rely on Grange halls as community centers.

“Whether it’s doing a holiday dinner or hosting a local food bank, it’s a place where people can do what’s most natural to us, which is focus on our cooperative dynamics and community,” Jonas said.

In the Anderson Valley, many people credit this place for bringing together groups of people that were once really divided.

The Order of the Patrons of Husbandry, better known as the Grange, was founded in 1867 as a social and educational organization for farmers. It gained membership as Grangers banded together to fight the high prices that grain elevators and railroads were charging to store and transport their crops. Their non-partisan political advocacy began with issues like regulating the railroads and making sure mail was delivered to rural areas for free.

Captain Rainbow explained, “The farmers essentially created the Grange as like a co-op, and they had some power in numbers like a union.”

The Anderson Valley is an agricultural community. Dozens of vineyards line Highway 128, and they grow a lot of cannabis in this region, too. But wine and cannabis didn’t dominate the Valley when Captain Rainbow arrived here in the early 1970s.

“When I first came here, the economy of the valley was sheep farming, and apples, and logging, pretty much.”

He said he wore a loincloth, lived up in the woods with some other back-to-the-landers, and didn’t come into town too much.

“In those days, if you were a hippie, you weren’t particularly welcome here,” he said. “The nickname of the bar was ‘the Bucket of Blood,’ and it was pretty renowned for being a pretty rugged spot. I didn’t go in the bar for about 10 years because it was chainsaw haircut time if you did.”

Rainbow still has the long hair — now gray, pulled back in a neat ponytail.

Back then, the only affordable place in town to hold an event was at the old Grange hall, built in 1939.

“It had a really nice old fir dance floor, and a big barrel stove with a bunch of firewood to warm the place up, and a little tiny goofy stage,” Rainbow said. “That’s where we’d have our rock and roll parties and do our little plays and our clown shows.”

Rainbow said the Grange membership back then was made up of old-timers who were a little reluctant to rent out the hall to hippies.

“But they didn’t have any money either,” so they grudgingly relented. “And you know what?” Rainbow said, “We loved that building, too, so we did take care of it.”

But one morning in 1985, Rainbow heard some terrible news: the Grange hall burned down. News spread fast, and people from across the valley went to see the damage.

“There was nothing left,” Rainbow said. “I mean, it was just a pile of gray and black charred stuff. It was gone.”

As Anderson Valley’s Grangers planned to rebuild the hall, the hippies begged them to include a stage and a wooden floor for dancing. They even made a bargain with the Grangers, one they never thought they’d have to keep: if the insurance money ran out, they would help the Grangers rebuild the hall. The insurance money didn’t last, and so, working one day a week, it took this incongruous group of volunteers six years to build the new Grange hall.

“This was, to me, the nut of a coming together of different groups of people who needed each other,” Captain Rainbow said. “They needed us to do the work for free, and we needed them to provide this space and this place and the possibility that we could have a dance hall again.”

Even if a hippie had a bad encounter with an old timer at the Bucket of Blood saloon the night before, Rainbow said, “The next day, hungover, both of you would be hanging sheetrock together, and you’d find out that, hey, you’re all right.”

Instead of drinking or talking politics, they were building something together.

“I gained a lot of friends in the valley that way. I’m not sure this holds for everyone else in the valley, but for me, that was the time things opened up, because we were engaged in a common purpose. Rather than looking at our differences, we were looking at our samenesses,” Rainbow said.

As the Anderson Valley Grangers saw their peers getting older, they looked around at the younger volunteers who were showing up with skills and interest, and they saw something else: potential Grange members.

Captain Rainbow remembered, “One day, one of those guys came up to me and said, ‘Hey, you know, you want to join the grange?’ And my eyes got big, and I went, ‘Really?’ And they asked other people who had been volunteering, as well, to become members. We couldn’t believe it. We went, ‘What? You’re kidding. You really … you want us? You want us?’ And they did.”

Both sides had to compromise a bit. When they became members, the hippies had to go through some rituals, learn the secret handshake, and the password. This new contingent wasn’t going to go all in for the traditions of a fraternal organization, but Captain Rainbow and others learned the origins of many of these rituals and began to understand.

“The secret handshake and all that stuff came about because they would go to Washington D.C. and lobby for farmers’ rights,” Rainbow said, “and they had to know who was a Granger.”

Soon enough, Captain Rainbow found himself appointed Grange Master, and he’s been involved ever since.

These days, people know the Anderson Valley Grange Hall for its annual Variety Show and as a place to hold meetings, dances and quinceañeras, but it still has agricultural connections.

The reality of this was on full display in early March. The parking lot was packed before the official start of the event at the hall.

Local food groups rented out the Grange hall for a day of education and seed and scion exchanges.

Amid grafting workshops, people walked in carrying containers full of seeds and grocery bags with cuttings from trees — young shoots, called scions.

On one side of the Grange hall, tables were covered with scion wood. Barbara Goodell, one of the event’s organizers, pointed out many of the varieties she saw:

“Nuts, grapes, figs on this table. There’s apples, peaches, persimmons, plums, all kinds of things. Anything that you can graft, it’s here.”

Grafting lets growers join two different plants together into one — like a hearty rootstock with a scion of a really delicious apple variety.

“It’s not rocket science, necessarily,” Goodell said. “It’s putting two sticks together in the right way.”

The other side of the hall was all about seeds, including seed libraries for each of Mendocino County’s library branches.

Kat Wu and Sab Mai came up from San Jose. They chatted with Jini Reynolds, a Grange advocate and leader, about how to save seeds from their small home garden.

“The important thing about saving seeds is to mark down what kind of climate you grew it in, the things that made you successful, like the soils or did you have a raised bed, so that other people in your community can then understand how they can grow,” Reynolds said.

She encouraged Wu and Mai to look for resources in their own region, too.

“I’m with the Grange, and we’re a national organization. So you have Granges down in your area, too. Maybe put together some kind of seed exchange so that you can all share information,” she told them.

Reynolds is a member of another Grange in Mendocino County, about an hour away from the Anderson Valley hall. There are seven community Granges in Mendocino County.

When Reynolds moved to a one-acre farm in Mendocino County 50 years ago, she’d attend parties and PTA meetings at the local grange hall, but had no idea what “Grange” meant. As she learned more about the organization, she got more committed.

Starting about 15 years ago, there was a lot of tension within California Granges. Rifts widened over values, leadership and property. Many groups in California broke away from the national Grange.

During this time, Reynolds said, she studied Grange history and bylaws. She decided to help the organization grow and change it from within.

“I’m now kind of like a cheerleader for the Grange,” Reynolds said. “Because I see that — even clear across the nation, not just California —all of us are looking at, ‘How do we live sustainably? How do we keep our community centers? Where do we get the support?’”

Now, she’s president of what’s called the “Pomona” — the regional Grange serving Mendocino and Lake Counties, and she’s helping state granges rebuild their membership. She’s also on the diversity team of the national Grange.

In the early days, the Grange helped farmers organize and fight railroad moguls. The needs for today’s rural communities are different. Many Granges are modernizing their halls to be emergency shelters. Reynolds pointed out that members can get discounts on propane and can attend practical workshops.

“Come on down and learn how to do CPR. Come on down and learn how to handle that ham radio. Come on down and learn this skill on how to put new gravel in your driveway,” she said.

Mendocino County Grangers even started a retirement facility that houses 170 people.

In rural California, one concern comes up again and again: fire. One that stays with Reynolds is 2017’s Redwood Complex fire. The disaster killed nine people. It destroyed 350 homes and 36,000 acres, and required thousands of people to evacuate. When roads opened back up, Reynolds said she was the one with the key to the Redwood Valley Grange, which was still standing. She let PG&E in to get the propane turned back on, she said.

“I told my husband, ‘I can’t close the door to the Grange,’” she said, with emotion creeping into her voice. “All of my neighbors were going back to see if they had a house or not, or whether their farms were there anymore, whether they had anything left at all, and they were driving right past the Grange.”

Reynolds said that she, her husband, and other volunteers made brownies and coffee, and put out a sandwich board, saying, “Come on in.”

“And all of a sudden, people were bringing food down there,” she said. “Red Cross was outside, FEMA was in the room and they started answering people’s questions.”

Families were able to reconnect and find each other after the fire.

“This is all because of a Grange hall. If we didn’t have the Grange hall, none of this would have happened.”

Nationally, the Grange was at its peak in the 1950s, with over 850,000 members. That dropped a lot over the decades, as farmland was paved over for suburbs, and membership in civic organizations declined.

But the last few years have seen membership grow incrementally.

California has 120 Granges, and in the last year alone, seven Granges opened — some brand new, some brought back to life or reorganized, since the state-wide rift. Reynolds said, revitalizing the Grange is her calling. She’s working to reestablish Granges in Fort Bragg and Upper Lake — communities in Mendocino and Lake Counties — in the coming months.

She said she knows that the Grange needs to be truly inclusive to keep growing and represent all the people living in rural areas. As someone with Paiute ancestry, that’s dear to her heart. She pointed out that the National organization has changed language, like “Grange Master,” to “President.” A number of Granges — including in California — have a majority Latino population. And California’s state Grange is translating all documents into Spanish.

“It’s going to be a while, but we’re working on that. And as far as the indigenous people,” she said, getting emotional, “we’re working on that.”

Thinking about the future of the Anderson Valley Grange, Captain Rainbow gets a little nostalgic. “When my generation came in and became part of the Grange, the old-timers, they needed us. And now, I’m a geezer now!” He called his peer group new old-timers.

Though the Anderson Valley Grange Hall fills up for dances, pancake breakfasts and seed exchanges, the chapter hovers between 40 and 50 members, and many of them are from Rainbow’s generation.

“We need some fresh blood,” Rainbow said. Although, he said, “there’s still some folks who are coming and want to do small-time agricultural farming,” he worries there won’t be enough, or that they won’t have the same spirit.

“But who knows, things evolve. They change. And who am I to claim that I know what’s going to happen or what’s right,” he said.

“Why I came here was a sense of place,” he said.

Hopefully, he said, the Grange can remain “a focal point for this sense of place,” and continue to be a space that brings people together in the Anderson Valley.

(Produced with support from the Food and Environment Reporting Network. It’s part of Lisa’s series California Foodways.)

---

SHERIFF VS. ANNEXATION

The city’s annexation proposal would put an unnecessary burden on our law enforcement officials, with the current proposal being opposed by Sheriff Kendall. “This annexation will be a lose-lose for everyone… including a reduction in services for those annexed in the city.” It’s important that we ensure that our vital law enforcement resources aren’t further strained with this proposal. For more information on annexation, you can go to noukiahannexation.com.

---

---

DAVE EYSTER & HIS INVISIBLE FRIEND

by Tommy Wayne Kramer

A PLAY IN ONE ACT

Cast of Characters:

DAVE EYSTER
Mendocino County District Attorney

BUNNY
Dave’s invisible childhood friend

BUNNY: Dave? Dave? Dave it’s me. Dave! Dave wake up!

DAVE: Huh? Whaa? Dave’s not here.

B: No Dave, you’re Dave. You’re here. Dave it’s me, Bunny. Dave! Wake up! It’s your imaginary friend Bunny!

D: Dave’s not here. He’s not taking calls and I’m not returning messages. Dave’s not me anymore. I’m not me anymore either, now that I think of it but I can’t think or I wouldn’t have gotten me into this mess. So tell Bruce Anderson I’m not here and I’m not returning messages and to quit calling me and demanding an interview. Tell him Dave’s not here!

B: Right. Of course. Has, uhh, Bruce Anderson over at that Boonville newspaper thing been calling you, Dave? Recently?

D: All the time! He’s leaving messages in my teeth, in the fillings of my teeth! All day long he’s yelling at me. Somebody’s got to tell him Dave’s Not Here!

B: Umm, Dave, you maybe should know that Bruce Anderson had an operation last year. Surgery. Surgery on his throat and now he can’t talk. He’s mute.

D: What?!? Say that again! What?

B: He can’t talk. He isn’t sending you messages in your fillings because he’s unable to speak.

D: Why, why … am I in heaven? No more that guy, that guy you know, calling me up? No more? Did I die and go to heaven?

B: Look, Dave. He can’t hurt you any more. No one can hurt you. I’ll protect you. Don’t worry about him. Just get some rest and forget about your problems. They’ll seem small in the morning.

D: I can’t sleep. All I do is toss and turn.

B: What about the Oxycontin? Isn’t that helping you sleep? With the Southern Comfort and Raley’s gin?

D: Arrgh. Out of oxycontin. All gone. No more refills. I’ll never sleep again.

B: Refills? Like at a pharmacy? Don’t be silly. What about the evidence locker? Lots of confiscated pills in there. Oxycontin, Nembutol, Fentanyl. What about Fentanyl? Didn’t Ukiah cops just bring down 6000 Fentanyl pills over on West Clay Street? They’re in the evidence locker and you’ve got the key.

D: Uggh. Fentanyl. Hurts my stomach. I take fentanyl and I get these nightmares; Mike Geniella chasing me around the courthouse throwing typewriters at me and shouting Portuguese curses at my unborn grandchildren.

B: Hmm. No point trying Melatonin or CBD juice.

D: Don’t make me laugh.

B: Dave, you worry too much. This is all going to pass. It’s all going to melt away and you’ll be retired and living on a beach with the fattest pension the county can’t afford, not with the way you bankrupted it. So smile and feel good. Don’t worry, be happy!

D: OK, one last thing that’s got my orifices leaking. What about TWK and that column he’s got for next week telling the Board of Supervisors to fire me. Then what? What about my pension and my happy future if that happens?

B: Oh Dave, just listen to yourself! That’s crazy talk. The Board of Supervisors can’t fire you. You’re an elected official! They can’t touch you.

D: (Exhales big sigh.) Oh Bunnykins, that’s great. Wow. Thanks.

B: Especially because there’s precedent.

D: Huh?

B: Precedent. Like if another elected official got fired and it wasn’t contested then it turns into a ruling or decision-type thing where it’s the new law. At least I think that’s how it works. Like what you did when you had the Board fire Chemise Cubbison, even though she’s an elected official. Illegal as can be. The board obviously couldn’t do that, but now that you’ve established precedent it’s smooth sailing. Next stop: Sunny beach in a country with no extradition agreements.

D: Huh. Guess I’m smarter than I thought. Get Bruce Anderson on the line.

---

LOCAL EVENTS (this week)

---

AT THE DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN RESOURCES

the man said:

You live in the country.

You’ve removed yourself from the labor market.

You’re not available for work commensurate

with your qualifications.

You quit your last job pulling green chain

at the lumber mill.

You worked at gardening. You were a woodcutter,

a chauffeur, a caretaker.

You were idle for weeks.

In sum, if you want to be a writer

you must move to the city.

— Don Shanley, Stewarts Point, February, 1970

---

SUMMER CONCERTS AT THE MENDOCINO COAST BOTANICAL GARDENS

Symphony Of The Redwoods is presenting two world class acts at the Mendocino Coast Botanical Garden FREE of charge with garden admission on Sunday, June 29th. at 12 noon virtuoso flatpicking guitarist Dan Crary will perform and at 2:30 PM, internationally recognized Kitka Women’s Vocal ensemble will take the stage.

Each concert takes place on the large event lawn of the Mendocino Coast Botanical Garden.

Wine, tea, coffee, and cookies will be for sale benefiting Symphony of the Redwoods and Arts Explorers.

This event is made possible by the hard work of the Symphony of the Redwoods and their generous sponsors.

For more information please visit symphonyoftheredwoods.org

---

KZYX MUSIC FESTIVAL

I am coproducing a benefit music festival for KZYX with Jeff Zolitor, this festival will take place on August 9th in the back of Caspar Community Center. We are looking for volunteers for set up and break down, drink servers, and tip collectors.

Please let me know if this interests you. Below is the line up for the day.

• Brittle Season Trio - 7:50 -
• The Real Sarahs w/ Alex DeGrassi & David Hayes - 6:45 - 7:35
• Steven Bates - Solo Acoustic - 5:40 - 6:30
• The Appalucians - 4:30 - 5:20
• Frances\Ford - 3:20 - 4:10
• 2nd Hand Grass - 2:10 - 3:00
• R.O. Shapiro - 1: 00pm - 1:50

Cheers,

Aaron Ford, [email protected]

---

---

CATCH OF THE DAY, Sunday, June 15, 2025

MICHAEL BARNES, 54, Willits. Failure to appear.

STEVEN HENSLEY, 64, Fort Bragg. Petty theft with priors.

MICHAEL MENDEZ, 32, Ukiah. Probation revocation.

SHEILA OWENS, 33, Ukiah. Failure to appear.

JUSTIN QUINLIVEN, 32, Laytonville. DUI with blood-alcohol over 0.15%, possession of firearm with certain misdemeanor convictions, controlled substance, probation revocation.

DANIEL ROCKEY II, 34, Covelo. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.

PRISCILLA RONCO, 40, Ukiah. Paraphernalia, parole violation.

HECTOR SOLIS, 35, Ukiah. Petty theft.

---

ON-LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

Giant pickups that are never used for work are an insult to those who labor with those little pickups to feed their families and not their ugly egos.

---

---

CUTTING THE SAFETY NET

Editor:

Proposed federal cuts to Medicaid and food programs will have devastating consequences for our community and communities across the country. While I heard one Republican declare they had cut $721 billion in “waste, fraud, and abuse” and no one would lose coverage, the Congressional Budget Office estimates 7.6 million people will lose Medicaid coverage, and 3.9 million more will lose coverage from changes to the Affordable Care Act.

When people lose coverage, their health care needs don’t disappear. But rather than getting preventive care, many will become sicker, ending up in emergency departments with uncovered care that hospitals will need to pay for. Rural hospitals and community health centers rely on Medicaid billing to keep their doors open. When rural hospitals shrink services or close their doors, that means job losses not only for their employees but for the businesses that support them.

As community members lose access to these benefits, demand for services from organizations like Ceres Community Project and Redwood Empire Food Bank will go up. Yet our budgets are also impacted by federal cuts.

The response will take all of us, coming together as donors and volunteers to ensure everyone has the care they need to be healthy.

Cathryn Couch

CEO, Ceres Community Project

Sebastopol

---

THINGS TO WATCH THAT ARE NOT DONALD TRUMP

NASA TV’s a good one, way out there where even the boogeymen can’t getcha. Instead, there are scientists, engineers, astronauts, people from a hundred different countries, rational people (that alone is a welcome relief), men, women, young, less young and weightless all, calmly going about their space business in the International Space Station, learning, learning, learning in a rare environment where “upside-down” doesn’t happen.

I was in the army when Sputnik went aloft and put the USSR ahead of us in what we didn’t realize until then was The Space Race, a sibling of the arms race. The space race was based on science and truth. The arms race was based on lies and hatred-for-profit, the two faces of Janus-faced America.

That was October, 1957. Sputnik flew for exactly three months until its batteries ran down, it stopped sending back its little space-bleat, and it fell back through the fiery atmosphere, all twenty-three inches of it. It was, to the U.S., like a message in a bottle. It startled the bejesus out of us, and in what seemed mere minutes, JFK stood before microphones and announced that America intended to put a man on the moon before the end of the decade! (I’m talkin’ decade of the sixties, actually; Russia touched the moon first with another launch that made it to the surface of the moon, also a little space craft with no people—"Luna 2".) It’s not like we were any Triple-Crown-Type winner, but we made good on Kennedy’s promise. It seemed like another glorious instance of American arrogance—way, way better than the A-Bomb. It was an example of imperial arrogance—the good kind, the beneficial kind, the rare kind of imperial arrogance.

Okay, so NASA: good distracter. “Trump” is never heard.

What follows this is the first few words of my unfinished novel, “Gold.” I do not know if I should do this. If it helps me finish (I have to treat myself like a child), maybe I’ll put more installments up. Anyway (he takes a deep breath), Gold, Page One:

It Is A Lingering And Artful Kiss Marie Kronhausen gives husband Hugh as she leans against his car door, his old Porsche. It is mild and sunny. He has the top down. She wishes she were going with him. She wishes she were wearing shades. Her eyes are dangerously full. This was her idea, after all, him taking time off to “think about things.” Not suitable for her to cry.

“Go, darling.” Steady voice. She unconsciously tightens her grip on the car, a full-body clench to keep from showing her true feelings.

He knows no better than she what the results of this solitary journey might be. “I love you,” he says and puts the car in reverse. She watches, still standing in the driveway, as he backs down it, eyes facing rear, onto the street, puts it in gear, points east and hits the gas. She is still standing there when he reaches the end of the block and turns. His rearview mirror says “objects in mirror are closer than they appear.” “Not this time,” he mutters as Marie shrinks and vanishes from the mirror.

(Mitch Clogg)

---

READY!

Parabrahman

I am continuing to hold steady in Washington, D.C. at the Adam's Place Homeless Shelter. Just left the William R. Thomas Memorial Anti-Nuclear Vigil in front of the White House. We were not required to move yesterday, to accommodate the military parade and the celebration of President Donald J. Trump's 79th birthday.

I am ready to leave the homeless shelter at my earliest convenience. I am seeking others for a spiritually based eco-revolutionary movement on the planet earth. I've got $2,000 dollars in the bank plus California EBT. The health is very good at age 75.

Contact me here:

Craig Louis Stehr, [email protected]

---

GIANTS FALL 5-4 TO DODGERS after trading Sunday starter in Devers deal

by Susan Slusser

LOS ANGELES — Sunday was a wild one for the San Francisco Giants, whose scheduled starting pitcher was shipped off in a trade before the game and who used a pitcher later in the day who hadn’t even been on the 40-man roster at the start of the day.

All that and the Giants were playing for a share of first place against their top rivals, the Dodgers. Even with all the pregame upheaval, San Francisco gave it a good go in the rubber match of the series before falling 5-4, the Dodgers jumping two games ahead in the NL West.

Even once the game started, the news didn’t stop: Casey Schmitt, who’d hit grand slams each of the previous two games, left the game in the third after fouling a ball off his ankle in the second inning. Schmitt has been filling in at third with Matt Chapman (hand sprain) on the IL, but three-time All-Star Rafael Devers, acquired Sunday, is by trade a third baseman, though he’d been at DH all year with Boston.

Manager Bob Melvin said that an X-ray of Schmitt’s ankle showed no fracture; he’ll be re-evaluated Tuesday.

The Giants scored three runs in the fourth off Dustin May, with Christian Koss chipping in an RBI single and Jung Hoo Lee a two-run triple, but Willy Adames flied out to end the inning. They had another shot in the fifth when Dominic Smith walked and Tyler Fitzgerald doubled with two outs, but Smith was held at third.

In the eighth, Daniel Johnson, little used since being called up June 4, cracked a pinch-hit homer off Kirby Yates. It was his first with the Giants; he hit four with Cleveland in 2021.

“Not only was it a home run, it was a deep at-bat where he saw some pitches,” manager Bob Melvin said, “He hasn’t played a lot here recently, to be able to come off the bench and do that, shows that he’s working hard to stay ready in any any role that we need him in.”

The Dodgers scored one in the first off Sean Hjelle, suddenly thrust into the starting spot when Kyle Harrison was included in the Devers trade earlier in the day, and former Stanford player Tommy Edman added a solo homer off Hjelle in the second.

Hjelle, who’d never before made a big-league start, had no qualms about taking the ball despite the late notice, finding out at 3:40 p.m. with a 4:10 p.m. game time. He said he told Melvin to “empty the tank, just run me. If you think I’ve still got a couple pitches left, then keep me out there. Squeeze me dry. We got an off day tomorrow. We’ll reload. We all be fine.”

Hjelle didn’t know why he was getting ready early initially, he said, “When I was first told, no, I didn’t really have an inkling. And about 10 minutes or so later, I saw Kyle go out onto the field to get ready to warm up, and then I saw him come back to the clubhouse, and Jordan Hicks came back from Bob’s office. So they were saying their goodbyes. So I put two and two together on that one.”

Lefty Joey Lucchesi, who’s from Newark, popped up in the bullpen in the third, though no transaction had been announced, and he entered the game in the fourth. He gave up singles to Shohei Ohtani and Mookie Betts in the fifth and with one out, Ryan Walker took over. Walker surrendered a two-out homer to Andy Pages, a dagger of a three-run shot.

“We battled today,” Melvin said. “It’s one pitch to Pages on a bad pitch on a slider, other than that, with the group we had out there today, and then Casey coming out of the game, it doesn’t look like a full lineup. I thought we battled really well right down to the end, I’m so proud of the way they played today, with a lot of the emotions and everything that was going on right before the game.”

(sfchronicle.com)

---

---

SAN FRANCISCO IS FULL OF SURPRISES, SOME GOOD, SOME BAD

by Carl Nolte

I was thinking of a June day in the mountains and a long pull through some rough country. We’d stopped at a small creek, tired, out of breath. We could see the way ahead in the distance, a high pass miles away. Very discouraging. “Relax,” my hiking companion said, “We’re halfway there.”

That’s where we all are just now. It’s mid-June and the summer solstice comes on Friday. It’s the longest day of the year, a time the ancients celebrated the turn of the season. You can mark it yourself — 7:42 p.m., not long before sunset.

Halfway there. It’s been an interesting year, history swirling like storm clouds. Presidents, protests, flags, riots. Sometimes, though, you have to turn off the television news, put down the newspaper and just go for a walk. Live your life. See how things are halfway there.

We had mild expectations for 2025 when the year began, a new administration in City Hall and hope for San Francisco’s recovery from the doldrums of the last couple of years.

So I looked around town a bit and I was surprised; things are looking up. But still a ways to go at the halfway point.

The biggest surprise was a weekend visit downtown for a Sunday errand. I headed for Union Square on a slow Muni ride. Typical long wait for the weekend streetcar and then lots of stops and starts.

Downtown seemed a bit empty, but everyone expects that. We’ve all heard the sad stories about vacant stores, seen the homeless in the shadows, heard the rumors.

But I was surprised to discover Union Square full of life — full of children on a Sunday afternoon. The San Francisco Recreation and Park Department and a business group had set up a kids’ playground in the heart of the city. There was a kids’ reading room with an assortment of books, a “recess stand” offering crayons and paper to draw pictures, and kid-size tables and chairs. There were hula hoops and pingpong sets.

It was a bit of a shock to a seasoned San Franciscan. Union Square had always been a bit solemn, a formal kind of place, important.

That was the ideal, but in recent years Union Square had slipped, had developed an air of vague unease, the kind of urban space one walked through quickly. There were always people hanging out, watching. You know the kind. Don’t make eye contact.

But it had changed this spring. It was different, better.

I went back a few days after my Sunday visit. It was midweek and people were sitting at small tables with blue and yellow umbrellas taking the sun. A small café on the Powell Street side, offering coffee and light snacks. Not many kids around but adults playing pingpong and other games next to the Dewey monument. It was a mix: tourists and locals on their lunch break. The park was clean, too.

In a way, Union Square is classic San Francisco in the heart of the city: cable cars, shops, the grand old St. Francis Hotel. And now it has a European flavor that wasn’t there before.

The real life in the city is not downtown, of course. It’s in the neighborhoods, up and down the hills, out in the Sunset, in Chinatown and all the way out on Third Street, where the downtown towers are off in the distance, like a separate city.

No matter how well you think you know it, San Francisco is full of surprises. An afternoon walk took me up the local hill. There was a surprise there, too: Neighbors had seeded the hillside in early spring, and now the hill was alive with flowers.

There was a knot of people at the top of a set of stairs watching something. That can’t be good, I thought. What is it? I asked. “Owls,” a woman said. “Great horned owls, four of them. They’ve made a home in these trees.”

The woman had binoculars and there they were, big birds, sitting on a broken branch, as solemn as judges. I’ve seen seals in the bay, raccoons in the backyard, coyotes down the street, but never before urban owls.

Halfway there. I felt good about the city; good vibes and good omens. But after my visit to Union Square I rode a taxi up Market Street. We stopped for traffic halfway up Market, almost to the Castro, and out the window I saw a man writhing on the ground, on a Wednesday afternoon in broad daylight. An overdose, maybe.

A woman with a dog walked by. A man walking by himself glanced at the man rolling on the street and walked by. Nobody did anything. We may be halfway toward building a better city, but there is a long way to go.

(SF Chronicle)

---

---

CALIFORNIA ATTORNEY GENERAL ROB BONTA:

What we are seeing in Los Angeles and across the state is the hallmark of a healthy democracy: teachers, faith leaders, workers, business owners, and neighbors exercising their First Amendment right to peacefully speak up and stand together in community. We are also seeing a President who is looking for any pretense to place military forces on American streets to intimidate and quiet those who disagree with him.

This week, we secured a temporary restraining order blocking the Trump Administration from unlawfully deploying the California National Guard to Los Angeles and directing it to return control of the Guard to Governor Newsom. While an appeals court later issued a decision allowing the troops to remain deployed in LA until a court hearing next week, we remain confident in our case. We believe the law is on our side and we will continue to make our case in court.

The right to peacefully call out injustice and demand accountability from those in power embodies everything we stand for as a nation of the People, by the People, for the People. As California’s Chief Law Enforcement Officer, I will always defend and enforce our U.S. Constitution and all laws in our state and nation. I will always hold all people — especially those in power — accountable when they break the law.

In solidarity,

Rob Bonta

---

---

“NO KINGS DAY” WAS HISTORIC. Now We Need a Powerful – and Independent – Movement Against Trump

by Norman Solomon

The huge decentralized turnout for No Kings Day has shown that grassroots power can be a major force against the momentum of the Trump regime. The protests were auspicious, with 5 million people participating in 2,100 gatherings nationwide. Activists are doing what the national Democratic Party leadership has failed to do – organize effectively and inspire mass action.

What we don’t need now is for newly activated people to catch a ride on plodding Democratic donkeys. The party’s top leadership and a large majority of its elected officials are just too conformist and traditional to creatively confront the magnitude of the unprecedented Trumpist threat to what remains of democracy in the United States.

Two key realities are contradictions that fully coexist in the real world: The Democratic Party, led by the likes of Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, is in well-earned disrepute, having scant credibility even with most people who detest Trump. And yet, Democratic Party candidates will be the only way possible to end Republican control of Congress via midterm elections next year.

Few congressional Democrats have been able to articulate and fight for a truly progressive populist agenda – to directly challenge the pseudo-populism of MAGA Republicans. Instead, what implicitly comes across is a chorus of calls for a return to the incremental politics of the Biden era.

Awash in corporate cash and milquetoast rhetoric, most Democratic incumbents sound inauthentic while posturing as champions of the working class. For activists to simply cheer them on is hardly the best way to end GOP rule.

With top-ranking Democrats in Washington exuding mediocrity if not hackery, more and more progressive organizers are taking matters into their own creative hands, mindful that vocal reframing of public discourse can go a long way toward transforming public consciousness and the electoral terrain. The Occupy movement did it early in the 2010s. The Bernie Sanders presidential campaigns did it later in the decade. The Black Lives Matter movement did it several years ago.

In contrast, playing follow-the-leader by deferring to the party hierarchy is a trip on a political train to further disaster. The kind of leadership now exemplified by Schumer and Jeffries amounts to the kind of often-devious partisan maneuvering that dragged this country into its current abyss, after protracted mendacity claiming that President Biden was fit to run for re-election.

Today, realism tells us that the future will get worse before it might get better – and it can only get better if we reject fatalism and get on with organizing. Republicans are sure to maintain control over the federal government’s executive branch for another 43 months and to retain full control over Congress for the next year and a half. While lawsuits and the like are vital tools, people who anticipate that the court system will rescue democracy are mistaken.

The current siege against democracy by Trump forces will be prolonged, and a united front against them will be essential to mitigate the damage as much as possible. The need is to engage in day-to-day pushback against those forces, while doing methodical groundwork to oust Trump’s party from the congressional majority in 2026 and then the White House in 2028.

But the need for a united front against Trump should not blind us to the political character of aspiring politicians. Widely touted as the Democratic Party’s next presidential nominee, Gov. Gavin Newsom is a cautionary case in point. Outside of California, few are aware that he has repeatedly vetoed state legislation that would have helped domestic workers, farm workers, undocumented immigrants and striking workers.

Last weekend, under the breathless headline “Newsom Becomes a Fighter, and Democrats Beyond California Are Cheering,” The Hill senior political correspondent Amie Parnes wrote that he “is meeting the moment, Democrats say” – “he’s punching back, and he’s going on offense.” Newsom provided clarity when he said in a June 10 speech, “If some of us can be snatched off the streets without a warrant – based only on suspicion or skin color – then none of us are safe. Authoritarian regimes begin by targeting people who are least able to defend themselves, but they do not stop there.”

Yet touting Newsom as a working-class hero would be a tough sell. He signaled his elitist proclivities months ago when he sent prepaid phones to 100 heads of major corporations along with notes inviting them to use the speed-dial programming to reach him directly. “If you ever need anything, I’m a phone call away,” Newsom wrote to a tech firm CEO. No such solicitude has gone to advocates for the millions of Californians in desperate economic straits while he pushes to slash the state’s social safety net.

The Democratic Party will need a very different orientation to regain support from the millions of working-class voters whose non-voting or defection to Trump last fall put him back in the White House.

Progressive populist agendas – such as enhanced Medicare for all, increases in Social Security benefits, higher taxes on the wealthy, free public college tuition, and measures against price-gouging – appeal to big majorities of working people and retirees. But the Democratic Party is mostly run by people who want to remain on the neoliberal pathway that led to Trump’s electoral triumphs. The same approach still dominates in mass-media debates over how the party might revive itself.

In effect, the Democratic establishment keeps insisting that the way to get out of the current terrible situation is the same way that we got into it in the first place – with the party catering to corporate America while fueling wars with an ever-bigger military budget and refusing to really fight for people being crushed by modern capitalism.

But people can unite to lead so that leaders will follow, and justice can prevail. The imperative is to work together and make such possibilities come true.

(normansolomon.com)

---

---

TRUMP DIRECTS ICE TO EXPAND DEPORTATIONS IN DEMOCRATIC-RUN CITIES, UNDETERRED BY PROTESTS

by Aamer Madhani

President Donald Trump on Sunday directed federal immigration officials to prioritize deportations from Democratic-run cities, a move that comes after large protests erupted in Los Angeles and other major cities against the Trump administration’s immigration policies.

Trump in a social media posting called on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials “to do all in their power to achieve the very important goal of delivering the single largest Mass Deportation Program in History.”

He added that to reach the goal officials ”must expand efforts to detain and deport Illegal Aliens in America’s largest Cities, such as Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York, where Millions upon Millions of Illegal Aliens reside.”

Trump's declaration comes after weeks of increased enforcement, and after Stephen Miller, White House deputy chief of staff and main architect of Trump’s immigration policies, said ICE officers would target at least 3,000 arrests a day, up from about 650 a day during the first five months of Trump’s second term.

At the same time, the Trump administration has directed immigration officers to pause arrests at farms, restaurants and hotels, after Trump expressed alarm about the impact aggressive enforcement is having on those industries, according to a U.S. official familiar with the matter who spoke only on condition of anonymity.

Protests over federal immigration enforcement raids have been flaring up around the country.

Opponents of Trump's immigration policies took to the streets as part of the “no kings” demonstrations Saturday that came as Trump held a massive parade in Washington for the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army.

Saturday's protests were mostly peaceful.

But police in Los Angeles used tear gas and crowd-control munitions to clear out protesters after the event ended.

Officers in Portland, Oregon, also fired tear gas and projectiles to disperse a crowd that protested in front of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building well into the evening.

Trump made the call for stepped up enforcement in Democratic-controlled cities on social media as he was making his way to the Group of Seven economic summit in Alberta, Canada.

He suggested to reporters as he departed the White House for the G7 on Sunday evening that his decision to deploy National Guard troops to Los Angeles was the reason the protests in that city went peacefully.

“If we didn’t have the National Guard on call and ready, they would rip Los Angeles apart,” Trump said.

The shift also come as Trump is grappling with the impact his mass deportation effort is having on key industries that rely on workers in the country illegally.

Trump posted on his Truth Social site Thursday that he heard from hotel, agriculture and leisure industries that his “very aggressive policy on immigration is taking very good, long time workers away from them” and promised that changes would be made .

That same day Tatum King, an official with ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations unit, wrote to regional leaders telling them to halt investigations of the agriculture industry, including meatpackers, as well as of restaurants and hotels, according to the U.S. official.

(AP)

---

LUIGI MANGIONE, DIDDY AND SBF WALK INTO A JAIL: Wild Musical About Unitedhealthcare Assassination Debuts in San Francisco

A sell-out musical about the alleged UnitedHealthcare CEO assassin has hit the stage before Mangione has even gone to trial.

by Josh Marcus

Truly excellent satire is like great delivery pizza: it should arrive right on time, nearly too hot to touch.

That’s certainly the case for ‘Luigi: the Musical,’ a satirical comedy about — and no, you are not hallucinating — accused UnitedHealthcare CEO assassin Luigi Mangione, which premiered Friday in Mangione’s former home of San Francisco.

Standing in line at the Taylor Street Theater, there was a palpable crackle of excitement, and even some trepidation, in the air.

After all, it was a musical. About Luigi. The guy who (allegedly) gunned down CEO Brian Thompson in broad daylight outside a Manhattan hotel in December, using a ghost gun and bullets engraved with the words “deny,” “depose,” and “delay,” thought to be a reference to Mangione’s struggles with the healthcare industry while treating a debilitating back injury.

He hasn’t even gone to trial to face his various state and federal charges, to which he has pleaded not guilty. How in the world would Luigi pull this off? And should they have even tried?

Plenty, it seemed, wanted to see the show from creators Nova Bradford, Caleb Zeringue, Arielle Johnson, and André Margatini go for it, come what may. When the musical was announced in April, it rapidly sold out and made headlines around the world. As the playbill notes, the show was front page news in Iceland before it had ever been performed.

By the time the June 13 premier rolled around, Mangione’s legend had only grown, though his meaning as a national figure remains hotly debated. The Trump administration wants to give the accused CEO-killer the death penalty, while in other quarters, the 26-year-old has become an anti-corporate folk hero, a meme object, and even a sex symbol. He’s reportedly been deluged with fan mail in jail, and he’s already been the subject of multiple documentaries.

In the crowd at ‘Luigi,’ opinions ran the gamut.

Tom, who asked to use only his first name, said making a musical out of Mangione’s story was a “fabulous criticism of the issues in society that lead people to commit violent acts, all things that bother me.”

Mary Lukanuski, who came to see the show from nearby Oakland, was more ambivalent.

“Street assassinations are never a good development,” she said. “That said, he is the avatar of very understandable rage at healthcare in the U.S.”

A nearby theatergoer leaned in and added that healthcare should not be for profit in America.

Another patron, Kyle Reiley, of San Francisco, said, “He was justified in his actions.”

The show was landing in a city and a state alive with militancy. For the previous week, thousands turned out to protest immigration raids in Los Angeles, prompting federal officials to send in the Marines and the National Guard in response, despite objections from state authorities.

The crisis prompted former San Francisco mayor and current California Governor Gavin Newsom to become the most prominent face of the Democratic opposition to the Trump administration, suing the White House in federal court over the Guard deployment and daring Trump’s border czar to arrest him. In Newsom’s old stomping grounds, meanwhile, over 150 have been arrested in anti-ICE protests that at one point shut down a San Francisco immigration court.

The show itself had a police car in front, a security guard with a metal detector wand, and signal-blocking bags for audience members’ cell phones, which were required to be turned off. We were clearly in for a happening.

Things only got more heightened from there. The show takes the actual fact that crypto fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried, disgraced music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs, and Mangione all overlapped for a time at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center and runs riot with the possibilities.

There’s a tap dance duet. Margatini is hilarious as an insufferable SBF, particularly in the song, “Bay Area Baby,” where the exec, the child of Stanford professors in real life, sings, “I’m a Palo Alto nepo baby extraordinaire / and if you say something is illegal I just don’t care,” or a during cringy attempt to bribe a guard with a pitch to “take the concept of incarceration and tokenize it.” The hometown crowd, all of whom probably had a crypto bro yelling in their ear at a bar at some point, lapped it up.

Meanwhile, Diddy, played by Janeé Lucas, struts and shimmies around the stage with an orange prison jump suit and a wolf smile, entering with a twirl to show the mogul’s name embroidered on the back, in sequins no less.

Luigi also gamely revels in its own position in the Mangione-verse. At one point, as the Ivy League grad reads his mail, his lawyer informs him a musical is being made about his story.

“What sick f***s would buy tickets to that?” Mangione, played by Jonny Stein, wonders. Meanwhile, the playbill, in its legal disclaimer section, urges anyone who sues the show to “spell our names right in the headlines.”

For all the outrageous antics, the show seems to veer sincere when dealing with Mangione himself, who wrestles not only with the broken healthcare system, but the fact that the action he is accused of doing in protest did little but land him in prison.

Right when you think the musical might be pure assassination apologia — there’s a scene where Mangione and a prison guard, played by Zeringue, bond over both getting insurance rejections — well, Luigi pulls the rug out from that too, like any madcap satire should.

The final number sees a shirtless Magione carried, figure skater style, in a cloud of smoke, as he sings, gleefully oblivious to the irony, of his dream of escaping prison and making sure “every single human being’s life has worth / so I’ll shoot everybody until there’s peace on Earth.” It got a standing ovation.

Once the cheers faded, and the fifty-some people in attendance filtered out, the serious questions Luigi posed through its haze of absurdity remained. What should be done in the face of systems with major problems? How far is far enough, and what lines shouldn’t be crossed?

In the cool San Francisco night, many of those problems instantly were manifest. The theater is in the Tenderloin, a small neighborhood of highly concentrated, extreme poverty and homelessness. (It’s where conservatives like Florida Governor Ron DeSantis go when they try to paint blue cities as liberal hellscapes.) Multiple people slept on the sidewalk just outside the venue, as well-heeled theatre-goers waited for their Ubers home.

Normally, some might’ve taken self-driving Waymo taxis back to their apartments, but the company had temporarily dialed back service in San Francisco because Los Angeles protesters kept setting the modified Jaguar SUVs on fire.

The day after the premier, thousands were set to march through San Francisco as part of Saturday anti-Trump “No Kings” rallies taking place across the country.

Luigi, at its core, is a show about the relation between individuals and the system. To see the system at work means becoming a witness, and becoming a witness means being, on some level, implicated in the system, for good or for ill.

“Luigi: the Musical is now part of the spectacle,” Nova Bradford writes of the show in a director’s note. “And so are you.”

The same goes for politics. We are all part of the spectacle of being alive in 2025. So what are we going to do about it?

(independent.co.uk)

---

THE MANY MASKS OF THE SEXLESS SPY

by David Yearsley

In America, everything is possible, even Mission Impossible. Especially Mission Impossible.

The theme music proclaims it. Bursting out of a high tremolo like a fuse burning fast, the opening trombone-heavy groove is jaunty yet resolute. Its syncopated rhythm tussles with the 5/4 meter, an uneven count that had become a hip thing since Dave Brubeck’s Take Five had risen to near the top of the charts a few years before in 1959. A Pentagon musicologist could well hear the bass line as a brilliant evocation of an “asymmetric threat” long before the phrase had been concocted by military theorists.

Above propulsive brass ostinato, stealthy flutes and oboes arc quickly down across the three notes of a minor triad. The figure lands on a long-held note (a D) and stays there for the remaining four of the five beats in the bar as if clinging to a narrow ledge.

These first two notes of the woodwind figure are also obstinate (that is, ostinato-like). On the next downbeat, which comes halfway through bass cycle, they are repeated, but this time the third note is slightly farther away, a half-stop lower than the first time round. This jump traverses the so-called tritone (here, G to D-flat) deemed an infernal interval by European music theorists going back a millennium. This tenacious tritone could not be more harmonically precarious. A third pass through the pattern precipitates a leap across a span wider by still one more half-step to a C, as if our hero has ventured to the very lip of the ledge. Then the whole orchestra, the winds and brass joined by strings and percussion, then take up the opening vamp, before the three-note figure is flipped upside down—a frequent posture demanded by impossible missions.

The angular, high-octane minor groove is both ominous and exhilarating. Danger delights the dauntless. Maybe the latest threat can be defused. But if that effort fails and the thing blows, the detonation will be ridden skyward to even greater heights of heroism. The theme revels in risk while seemingly indifferent to reward, even though it knows there will be a payoff, a big one.

Strange as it may seem, the famous theme was written by an American who was not even a US citizen. What’s the answer to this riddle and Trumpian nightmare?

Lalo Schifrin was born in Argentina. He had come to the U.S. in 1959 after Dizzy Gillespie heard him play at a house party in Buenos Aires while the jazz trumpeter was touring with his band for the US State Department. Gillespie refused to participate in governmental briefings because he didn’t want to be seen to condone (North) American racist policies. Conspiracists might still theorize that Gillespie recruited Schifrin to join the military-entertainment complex. The North American was so impressed with the young South American’s arrangements that he invited Schifrin to return to New York and join his big band. The Argentinian’s soundtracks for Bullitt, Mannix, the Dirty Harry series, and The Eagle Has Landed followed across the 1960s and 70s along with many other works.

Schifrin became a US citizen in 1969, two years after composing the theme for the Mission Impossible tv show.

More than half-a-century on, the title of the latest epic big screen episode of Mission Impossible, according to Cruise, the last that he’ll appear in, strikes what skeptics fear is a deceitful promise: The Final Reckoning.

Up there on the big screen where Cruise wants you to see his bloated blockbuster and tells cinemagoers so in a pre-recorded personal announcements just before the film rolls when shown in theaters, the Watchdog of Democracy is under constant threat, dangers also shared by Schifrin’s brash fanfare.

Yet in spite of the frenetic pace of the action, Mission Impossible 7, Part 2 can begin to feel like a forever war. Mission creep sets in early. I was going to say mission creep sets in early and his name is Tom Cruise, but that would be cheap, a lot cheaper than the $400 million budget of the current installment, not to mention the $6.2 billion price tag of the USS George H. W. Bush—and that figure is in 2006 dollars. Schifrin took his chunk of the military-entertainment complex money too. He is estimated to have reaped $10 million in royalites from his theme music for Mission Impossible.

It is from that colossal aircraft carrier’s flight deck that Cruise is transported by an Osprey CV-22 tilt-prop helicopter ($90 million per “unit” with the entire program estimated to have run up costs between $30 and $40 billion) out over Arctic waters then dives down among the giant phallic missiles of a sunken Russian submarine lying at the bottom of the Bering Sea. The Osprey is a notoriously expensive and deadly flying machine hatched in the 1980s; the total cost of the project is approaching, perhaps even surpassing, $100 billion. Cruise and the Mission Impossible brand ceaselessly extoll their star’s skill and bravery in doing his own stunts. Getting into the Osprey was more dangerous than jumping from it.

In this upside down world of impossible possibilities and possible impossibilities, as Donald Rumsfeld might have put it on one of his more lucid days, these expenses are all for the cause of (North) American righteousness and robust family entertainment.

The Department of Defense’s own website gleefully quotes a line from the movie in which an incredulous Secretary of Defense (Holt McCallany) confronts the President (Angela Bassett): “You gave him an aircraft carrier?”

Call it product placement. It’s unclear how much, if anything, Paramount paid to take aircraft carriers and copters out for multi-million dollar spins, but the director of the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program, Admiral Bill Houston who commanded Naval Submarine Forces when the film’s production agreement was made — lauded the movie’s focus on accuracy: “The movie does a great job showcasing how our U.S. Navy powers maritime dominance and delivers peace through strength for our nation … [It] accurately highlights the dedication and resolve our … commanders and crew bring to the fight every day.”

Money buys lots of death toys, but it doesn’t buy happiness.

In addition to dangling from planes and trains, Cruise does a lot of running. He’s not running from enemy perils, but toward them. One also suspects that he’s running from himself. The breathless sprints of the soundtrack spur on the sense that this is a flight from feeling.

Cruise’s three failed campaigns that span the three-decade film series mirror the winning percentage of the US in its last three wars. Wedded bliss proved an impossible mission for the top impossible missionary.

As Hunt, Cruise loves his team of operatives, but platonically. Lacking romantic potency on screen, he’s become an asexual James Bond reduced to asexual knight errantry. Even the obstinate sensuality of Schifrin’s vamp can’t fire up Ethan Hunt’s libido.

Composers Max Aruj and Alfie Godfrey try their best to give Cruise’s character emotional depth and desires by delivering yearning orchestral sonorities, the occasional wistful oboe strain, and periodic and sustained bursts of energy. But when things go slack, Schifrin’s score provides the shot to the Cruise bare bicep and brief-clad buttocks, both brandished frequently over the latest movie’s three hours.

Though he’s garnered a handful of Academy Award nominations over his four decades as a movie star, Cruise sheds critical praise as handily his Mission Impossible character Ethan Hunt does bullets. One of the required scenes in each of the movies involves a gag inherited from the tv show when members of Hunt’s IMF (not the International Monetary Fund, but Impossible Missions Force) infiltrate some tense situation disguised as the bad guys and then, after having secured their objective and needing to let those rescued know that they are in fact the good guys, they rip off their masks to reveal the face of Tom Cruise/Ethan Hunt.

Here’s betting that when Sir Benedict Cumberbatch does Hamlet streamed from the flightdeck of the biggest and most expensive carrier to date— say, the USS Gerald Ford whose price tag is a Cruise-worthy, blockbusting $15 billion—he’ll start into “To be or not to be” … then rip off his mask to reveal that that the Prince of Denmark is actually being played by … Tom Cruise!

Some may hope that Donald Trump will soon pull away his orange visage to reveal that same well-preserved Hollywood face of … Ethan Hunt.

No, America’s mask has been ripped off long ago. When Tom’s glory, his looks, his box office firepower, and the American Empire itself are long gone and long forgotten, Schifrin’s M.I. theme music will still be going full throttle, its endless possibilities ready to blare and bully from the sound delivery systems of another Empire eager to spur on its clandestine knights of fantasy and folly and to delight its unmasked masses.

(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.)

---

J SCHWANKE, AMERICAN HISTORY:

On April 8, 1905, in the rugged frontier town of Canyon Diablo, Arizona, a photograph was taken that would go on to capture one of the most peculiar farewells in Wild West history. The subject was outlaw John Shaw, who had been killed in a shootout only hours earlier. But rather than settle for a traditional burial, Shaw’s companions decided to give their fallen friend one last send-off in true outlaw fashion. They removed his body from the coffin, leaned him against a picket fence, and placed a bottle of whiskey in his lifeless hand before taking a photograph that still echoes with defiance and dark camaraderie.

This grim yet oddly heartfelt act wasn’t done in jest. On the lawless fringes of the American West, where life was often brutal and short, grief was expressed in raw and unconventional ways. For Shaw’s fellow gunslingers, the photo was a tribute—a final toast to a man who had shared their world of danger, brotherhood, and rebellion. Their version of mourning didn’t involve tears but a moment of gritty remembrance, with whiskey and a camera serving as the tools of memory.

To modern viewers, the image might appear macabre or inappropriate, but in 1905 it symbolized the unshakable bonds formed on the edge of civilization. For men who lived by their own code, honoring a fallen friend meant acknowledging his life in the way he lived it—bold, unfiltered, and unapologetic. John Shaw’s story didn’t end with a gravestone; it was immortalized in a haunting photo, where defiance stood in for sorrow, and loyalty spoke louder than words.

---

LEAD STORIES, MONDAY'S NYT

With No Clear Off-Ramp, Israel’s War With Iran May Last Weeks Not Days

Minnesota Manhunt and Arrest: What We Know

Like School Shootings, Political Violence Is Becoming Almost Routine

Takeaways From Trump’s Military Parade in Washington

‘No Kings’ Protests Across the United States

1 Killed in Shooting at a ‘No Kings’ Protest in Salt Lake City

Pope Leo Delivers First Public Address to an American Audience

---

---

ISRAEL AND IRAN TRADE ATTACKS AS CONFLICT ENTERS FOURTH DAY

Israel said on Monday that it had struck the command center of Iran’s elite Quds Force, as the fiercest and deadliest confrontation in the history of the Israeli-Iranian conflict entered its fourth day.

As civilian casualties climb on both sides, the war now seems likely to last for more than a week. Israel is intensifying its efforts to destroy Iran’s nuclear and military capabilities and Iran continues to return fire with huge barrages of ballistic missiles.…

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/06/16/world/iran-israel-news

---

International pleas for de-escalation appeared to fall on deaf ears. Sirens sounded in major cities across Israel as Iranians scrambled to get out of Tehran.

Israel and Iran traded new attacks early on Monday, as the most intense fighting between the two countries in decades entered its fourth day, with international pleas for de-escalation falling on deaf ears.

The Israeli military said in a statement early on Monday morning that it was striking missile sites in central Iran, and warned Israelis to stay close to shelters. A few hours later, sirens sounded in several areas across Israel and the military said that Iran had launched a salvo of missiles.

Israeli police said they have received reports from two communities in the Tel Aviv area, below, that appear to have been hit early Monday. “At this stage, no reports of casualties have been received, but property damage has been caused,” the police said.

The municipality of the central Israeli city of Petah Tikva said that a building there had been hit in the latest Iranian strike.

The leaders of the European Union on Sunday reiterated their calls for de-escalation between Iran and Israel and urged negotiations to end the conflict. In Canada for the Group of 7 meetings that begin on Monday, Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, said she told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel on Sunday that Iran should never get a nuclear weapon, but added: “A diplomatic solution remains the best way, in the long run, to address concerns about Iran’s nuclear program.”

António Costa, the president of the European Council, said, “Now is the time to give space for diplomacy and to give opportunity to decrease the escalation between Israel and Iran.”

(NY Times)

---