Mendocino County Today: Tuesday 6/17/2025

By AVA News Service on June 17, 2025

INCREASING AFTERNOON BREEZES and some fire weather concerns in southern Mendocino and Lake County early this week. Warmer temperatures and minor HeatRisk concerns mid week. Much cooler temperatures and chances for light rain Friday and through the weekend. (NWS)

STEPHEN DUNLAP (Fort Bragg): 42F under clear skies this Tuesday morning on the coast. Clear skies & breezy is our forecast for the next few days. No idea if those are low or high clouds to our west?

WILLITS FACES SEVERE BUDGET CRUNCH AFTER YEARS WITHOUT OVERSIGHT

by Elise Cox

The City of Willits is facing a financial reckoning after years of fiscal mismanagement and lack of oversight, city leaders revealed during a public meeting last week.

City Finance Director Manny Orozco reported that the city faced a $4.2 million* budget shortfall over the past year. (See note below) As of last week's meeting, the general fund held just $32,000.

Orozco attributed the crisis to a lack of financial leadership dating back to 2020, when the city’s finance director position was left vacant and its finance department was effectively dismantled.

“The city did not have a finance director since 2020 and the audits had not been done since 2018–2019,” Orozco said. “Pretty much everyone was gone except for a student worker that was taking over the cash receipting.”

Without trained staff, the city’s general ledger became disorganized, he added. Checks were run through a process that routed funds incorrectly "scrambling everything," Orozco said. Separate and incompatible software systems for payroll and revenue made accurate accounting nearly impossible.

Meanwhile, sales tax revenues have dropped an average of 9% annually since 2021. The city is also awaiting reimbursement of roughly $2 million from agencies including Rails to Trails, MCOG, Clean California and FEMA for infrastructure projects.

The tipping point came last fall when the city didn’t have enough cash on hand to meet payroll. At that time, city officials withdrew money from the Local Agency Investment Fund (LAIF) to cover expenses, draining the long-term account from $4.7 million to just over $543,000.

Councilmember Bruce Burton noted the fund is not intended for day-to-day use. “It’s where you store money that is sitting there for a while—not your first reserve,” he said.

In response to community questions about possible criminal misappropriation, Mayor [former Sheriff] Tom Allman said he has seen no evidence of wrongdoing.

“If I had an indication there was theft, I would certainly be preaching a forensic audit,” Allman said. “The money was spent on public projects, consultants, payroll and staffing.”

Still, Allman acknowledged the financial outlook is grim. “There’s no black-and-white plan that says this is how we’re going to get $4.2 million back,” he said. “But the more we talk about it, the closer we get to a solution.”

Councilmembers questioned the $1.8 million spent on consultants and criticized the previous council for drawing down the investment account while Measure K funds remained available. Measure K authorized an additional 0.75% sales tax for essential city services.

“You decided to spend $4 million of LAIF money instead of the Measure K money that was in your doggone checking account,” Burton said.

Councilmember Gerry Gonzalez, who served on the prior council, responded, “I think we needed more information that we weren’t getting.”

The council voted to transfer $712,670 from the Measure K account into the general fund.

(*Note: Technically, expenses exceeded revenues by $4,266,166 and so we should round this up to $4.3 million, but the council repeatedly referred to this as $4.2 million. Based on the discussion at the meeting, it was unclear what period of time this referred to and the degree it included upfront payments for which the city is awaiting reimbursement,)

(KZYX.org)

THERESA BLOYD was an unsung hero in Mendocino County Social Services. For over 10 years, she dedicated herself to Adult Protective Services, tirelessly covering the entire North County. She was a fierce advocate for her clients and worked closely with the tribe in Covelo. She had a deep admiration and respect for the tribal elders and felt privileged to be able to work with them to improve the lives of the tribe. Her compassion, strength, and unwavering commitment to others made her truly one of a kind. We have lost an angel, and her absence will be felt deeply by all who had the privilege to know and work with her. My condolences to the family. Thank you for being you, Theresa. You were truly the very best.

Theresa Lynn Bloyd (Hafley) entered into rest on June 11, 2025.

Services will be held at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Ukiah at noon on Tuesday, June 17th. A celebration of life will be held at the Boonville Fairgrounds Dining Hall at 3 pm. All are welcome to attend one or both gatherings. Graveside services will be for immediate family. Arrangements are being handled by Empire Mortuary Services. In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to the Humane Society for Inland Mendocino County. We look forward to honoring Theresa's life with you.

(Erica Lemons)

RITE AID'S GOING OUT OF BUSINESS SALE

Four lines going to the back of the store all day long.

I Saved $560. Young ladies in front saved $2,000!

(‘Falcon,’ Fort Bragg)

TOM TETZLAFF: Not only does PG&E charge us far too much for power, they can’t even manage to properly upgrade their own payment system so that it works.

CHUCK WILCHER: Maybe they need to pay their CEO a little more. A poverty wage of $17 million in salary and stocks she gets only goes so far.

DOBIE DOLPHIN:

Today [June 16] is the last day to comment on the proposed Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program which would open the entire west coast (including Alaska) to potential oil drilling, including the marine sanctuaries.

Go to https://savemycoast.org/ for more information and an easy way to submit comments.

Many of you might remember the offshore oil hearing in Fort Bragg in 1988 when the Interior Department came to hear public comment, and even after 2 days there were still 700 people waiting to testify. Bonnie Raitt played on a flatbed truck outside the hearing to keep people entertained while waiting for their turn. We kept them away then, and need to do it again. Sorry for the last-minute notice, but there was so much going on.

SHERIFF MATT KENDALL:

When I speak with folks around here there is one common thread to the conversation. The first thing they want from their government when their feet hit the floor in the morning, is please don’t hurt me.

Don’t hurt me physically, financially, don’t take from me what I have earned and allow me to live my life without intervention labeled as assistance.

Thanks to our legislators, people are running afoul of laws none of us knew existed. When the state is cranking out thousands of laws and regulations every year, how do we know something has changed? Building codes, penal codes, CEQA, CARB and the good old state tax codes. When will Sacramento believe we have finally gotten there?

How about we start with do no harm and then work our way out from there?

I don’t think it’s too much to ask.

HOW BEING MENDOCINO COUNTY SHERIFF FOR SEVEN YEARS AGES A MAN

Matt Kendall, 2018 (L); Matt Kendall, 2025 (R)

CITY OF FORT BRAGG TO HOST COMMUNITY WORKSHOP ON MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING (MOU) WITH MENDOCINO RAILWAY

The City of Fort Bragg invites community members to attend a public workshop on Thursday, June 26, 2025, at 5:30 PM at the Cotton Auditorium (500 N. Harold St.) to provide input on the next phase of the Mill Site Master Development Agreement Planning Program, as authorized by the City Council’s June 9, 2025, Resolution.

This workshop marks a key step in Phase 2 of the program, which involves the negotiation of a non-binding MOU between the City and Mendocino Railway. The goal is to collaboratively resolve long-standing disputes and create a framework for the long-term redevelopment of the Mill Site.

As directed by the Council, the MOU will address several core topics:

Settlement of the pending legal action
 Clarification of land use and facility locations
 Infrastructure needs and funding responsibilities
 Regulatory procedures to guide future development
 Coordination with the California Coastal Commission, tribal representatives, and other stakeholders Identification of any necessary real estate transactions Public transparency and community input throughout the process

Phase 2 also includes a regulatory mapping initiative to distinguish between areas of the Mill Site intended for rail-dedicated operations (where Mendocino Railway has asserted federal preemption), non-rail development subject to local control, and potential mixed-use areas. This mapping process will be shared publicly and refined based on community input.

The June 26 workshop will feature a presentation of the refined Illustrative Plan, updated based on feedback from the City’s two prior community meetings. Attendees will have the opportunity to review revised concepts, ask questions, and offer input that will help shape the next steps.

“This is a pivotal moment for our community,” said City Manager Isaac Whippy. “The future of the Mill Site will shape Fort Bragg for generations to come, and we want to make sure that future is guided by the people who live, work, and raise their families here. Your voice matters, and this workshop is your opportunity to be part of the solution—one that reflects our values, protects what we love about Fort Bragg, and creates opportunities for the next chapter of our City’s story.”

A second public workshop is scheduled for July (exact date to be announced), continuing the City’s commitment to transparency and inclusive decision-making as the MOU takes shape.

City staff, representatives from the EPS consulting team, and Mendocino Railway will be on hand to facilitate the discussion and gather additional community input.

For more information, visit www.city.fortbragg.com or contact the City Manager’s Office at (707) 961- 2829.

ED NOTES

A FRIEND sends along the news that I belong "to an incredibly rare group: only One Percent of your generation is still alive." Having just returned from another medical assault on my battered pud, which is on life support while the rest of me remains vigorous enough to continue the fairly rigorous exercise routine that's kept me alive, that and my in-home care-givers, who double as my family. I count my blessings, believe me.

OVER the past year, an international team of Frisco doctors has puzzled over strategies to keep me going. They include two East Indians, three Chinese, a Vietnamese, and a black female, all of them Americans, I must add lest my Mendolib card gets pulled.

TWO WEEKS AGO I was strapped to a gyno-bed complete with stirrups while an all business Vietnamese doctor steered a device resembling a dildo up my chaste kazoo-zoo. (People do this for fun?) That rather excruciating thirty minutes came with an audience of four young female medical practitioners! Me, a child of the fiercely modest 1950's fully exposed to a quartet of my chronological grandchildren! I cringe at the memory, a grisly spectacle by any standard of grisly, but I got a big laugh out of them when I scribbled on my message board, "I hope you girls haven't had lunch."

THIS MORNING I went in for a catheter change, hoping the lady who usually performs this, uh, martyred task, would do it again. She's a marvel of efficiency, and she's fun, laughing throughout, making the process almost enjoyable. I was so happy with her doing this necessary unmentionable task that I tried to slip her a couple of bills. "No thank you, Mr. Anderson. It's against the rules. I'd get in trouble."

TODAY, my usual angel of deliverance was off. Her replacements were a young man and a young Chinese woman who looked like she was about 14. And she was in charge of the young Pakistani guy, an apparent trainee, who did the dirty work. They got it done, though, and I'm good for another month while the multicultural medicos figure out what to do next.

THE MAJOR REMEMBERS:

At the risk of being too graphic or cringeworthy…

When I was living in San Jose in the 80s I went in to Kaiser for a penis exam because there was blood in my urine. The intake nurse said that was “unusual in a man.”

The exam was a mini-camera on a flex-tube going up the penis and into the bladder. The exam was performed by a male nurse with the tube and some Vaseline while I was in a device like the one the Editor described. They also probed the anus for a prostate check, while they were down there… The procedure was supervised by a mousey Kaiser urologist who never touched me. All he did was direct the tube-camera and look at the video from the tube.

Turned out to be a false alarm. Nothing of concern since. The Doc said it must have been a small blood vessel leak or something.

I remember during the process trying to put myself in a weird sort of detached mental zone that one must adopt as the discomfort plays out. You try to remind yourself that these people have seen this area a lot and you’re just a machine to be checked to them. Then when it’s over it's back to daily modesty… I have since imagined that women probably undergo comparable medical inspection (invasion?) much more frequently, often at the hands of male doctors.

Since then, I have sympathized more about what women and some men go through on a regular basis. Obviously, I would not want to do it that often, even if I could more easily manage the mental zone out over time.

ONE OF THE AVA’S BEST INTERNS, Mayte Guerrero, was assigned to the paper back in the summer of 2013. Here’s what she wrote about the experience:

“One day at school I noticed that the summer internship descriptions had gone up in the hallway. I looked at them and at first I was naturally drawn to the most commonly applied for positions. Then the position of being an intern for the AVA caught my eye. Reading since the age of four, I’ve been an avid reader my entire life. Growing up I read anything I could get my hands on, and that of course meant I’d even read the newspaper. The newspaper internship seemed to be able to provide good experience. Fortunately, I was the only applicant for the position. Apparently everyone else was too scared of Mr. Anderson and Mr. Scaramella.

I got mixed reactions from adults when I’d say my internship was with the newspaper. A lot of people would smile and say “Oh that’s great, ” but I could tell some were not sincere. I did get a few good lucks and some people told me working with Bruce and Mark might be more than I bargained for. Actually, even Bruce and Mark warned me when I first walked into the AVA office for my interview.

They’re not the bad fellows some people made them out to be. Sure they both have opinions, opinions that can offend some people. But we are all entitled to one. When it comes down to it, it is your dollar and your choice to buy the newspaper. That’s the funny aspect of this world; you will never meet someone who agrees with you on everything. I find it entertaining to read a lot of what they write, probably because none of it has ever been negatively directed towards me.

I can honestly say that undertaking the internship with the newspaper was a very rewarding experience. Not only because I’ve learned a lot from both Bruce and Mark, but also because every time I go into the office there is an interesting conversation to engage in. The newspaper might be considered radical, but there is more to the two guys running it. There is a side that I got to be around this summer, a side that is not seen through the pages of their newspaper.

ONE HEART INSTITUTE PRESENTS TWO NIGHTS OF VIRTUOSO CONCERTS

The One Heart Institute will present two virtuoso concerts at the Sudhana Center Recital Hall located at 225 South Hope Street in Ukiah at 7PM on Friday, June 20 and Saturday, June 21. Friday’s “Saxophone Night” concert will feature saxophonists Dr. Wenbo Yin, Yuki Nishimura and Ricardo Martinez, with support from Saturday night’s featured performers cellist Barbara Bogatin, violinist Jeremy Cohen, Brazilian classical guitarist Anna Leone along with local legends, guitarist Alex de Grassi and pianist Spencer Brewer. Tickets can be purchased in advance for $30 for a single concert or for $50 for a two-concert pass online at oneheartinstitute.org/programs/virtuoso-concert-series or at Mendocino Book Company in Ukiah. They will be available at the door for $35 per concert.

The One Heart Institute is an intensive music and wellness program founded in 2023 with the goal of bringing internationally acclaimed musicians together to teach, perform, and share their skills in a setting that also offers wellness practices such as Tai Chi, meditation, and yoga. This year’s program will run from June 15 to June 22. Classes range from four-day workshops to one-week programs. This year’s faculty includes violinist and Quartet San Francisco founder Jeremy Cohen, San Francisco Symphony members cellist Barbara Bogatin and horn player Jessica Valeri, conductor and author Dr. Alexander Kahn, Brazilian classical guitarist Anna Leone, as well as founding faculty members Dr. Wenbo Yin and Alex de Grassi. Cognitive neuroscientist Dr. Clifford Saron returns to give talks during the week.

After receiving his doctorate at the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music, Chinese born saxophonist Wenbo Yin relocated to Ukiah to study at Dharma Realm

Buddhist University. He will be leading a saxophone retreat and teaching Tai Chi throughout the program. and he will be featured performing in several configurations in the concerts. Known primarily for his solo guitar career, Alex de Grassi has been delighting audiences around the world for over 45 years with his original compositions and arrangements of folk and jazz classics. He will be teaching fingerstyle guitar technique and arranging/composing for guitar for the program.

Barbara Bogatin has been playing cello with the San Francisco Symphony and chamber groups for the past 30 years, and she is also an educator in the field of mindfulness training for musicians. In addition to performing, she will be offering, along with Jessica Valeri, her symphony colleague, mediation-based strategies to help musicians achieve their goals. Jeremy Cohen has performed several times in Ukiah over the years with his Grammy® nominated Quartet San Francisco string quartet and Alex de Grassi. He will be working with string players on both technical and improvisational skills.

Saxophonist Ricardo Matinez was trained in both the U.S. and France and currently holds the position of Assistant Professor of Practice in Saxophone at the University of the Pacific. Japanese native Yuki Nishimura has received training in both classical and jazz saxophone and is an active performer in addition to teaching in both Japan and Canada.

Pianist Spencer Brewer has recorded multiple albums of original music and he is the founder and headliner of the highly successful Professional Pianist Concerts. Brazilian native Anna Leone obtained master’s degrees in classical guitar performance from both James Madison University in the U.S. as well as from the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki. She has toured extensively with a mostly Latin American repertoire and has won numerous prizes at international guitar competitions. She will be offering classical guitar instruction in conjunction with Mr. de Grassi.

The concerts will bridge many musical genres—from folk to jazz and classical selections guaranteed to offer something for everyone. The recently refurbished Sudhana Center Recital Hall makes an excellent acoustic venue for unamplified music in an intimate setting with limited seating. Expect a sold-out show. For more information about the music camp, please visit oneheartinstitute.org.

FOURTH ANNUAL CONCERT IN THE REDWOODS

This is a Benefit Concert for the Noyo Center for Marine Science. Located in a private meadow with redwoods as a backdrop, it's an inviting place to sit back and relax, visit with friends, listen to live music, check out the silent auction, and get up and dance to performances by Aaron Ford, Mighty T-Bones and The Steven Bates Band. Food is available for sale from Los Primos and Huck's Slider House. Beer, wine, beverages, and snacks are for sale. Bring your own lawn seating (or blanket). Providing your own water helps reduce single use plastic waste. Dogs must be on leash at all times. Buy your ticket in advance at noyocenter.org and save $5.

(Dobie Dolphin)

FORT BRAGG QUILT SHOW

The 29th annual Ocean Wave Quilt Show runs June 28-29, 2025 from 10am-5pm Saturday and 10am-4pm Sunday. The $10.00 entry fee is good for both days. The show will be held at Dana Gray Elementary School in Fort Bragg, California

Over 175 quilts will be on display by local artists, featuring everything from hand quilting and embroidered designs to applique and paper piecing. This year’s featured artist is Ronnie Kemper.

Our vendors complement the show with creative offerings that include beautiful fabrics, stunning jewelry, quilting supplies and more. There will be a booth for sharpening your scissors.

As a prelude to our quilt show, Ocean Wave Quilters hosts the annual Fort Bragg Quilt Walk. Over 100 quilts are being displayed in local businesses and restaurants, as well as at the library and hospital from the end of May until after the Fourth of July. Look for the Quilt Walk signage on the front windows of participating businesses.

Evelyn Harris, [email protected]

FROM THE ARCHIVE: Officer, There's A Man In My Underwear Drawer!

by Bruce McEwen (August 2013)

The pre-trial hearing for Marc Radcliffe was led by that master of false starts, Public Defender Linda Thompson. Ms. Thompson doubted that her client, Marc Radcliffe, had been read his Miranda rights. She's a stickler for Miranda, not so much an actual defense.

Mr. Radcliffe was accused of breaking into an apartment at the Autumn Leaves retirement community last February where he'd rummaged through an older woman's underwear drawer while the woman was working on a puzzle and her husband was on the computer. A man appeared at the woman's elbow clad in her undergarments and began whispering unappealing endearments in her terrified ear. The husband, no spring chicken, sprang at the intruder but was shrugged off. Underwear Man, snagging the woman's purse as he departed, ran off down the street in red panties and a pink camisole.

Radcliffe, the alleged Underwear Man, is a hefty guy in his early 50s. He's festooned with all kinds of tough-guy tattoos, although running around Ukiah in an old lady's underwear kinda weakens a tough guy's public image. Radcliffe has been arrested several times in recent years on methamphetamine charges and parole violations, but this is his first beef involve grandma's knickers.

This is the kind of thing where a testifying witness might have a hard time keeping a straight face. But the witness was Anthony Delapo of the Ukiah Police. His grandmother had been robbed at knifepoint in the Pear Tree Shopping Center parking lot last Christmas by another tattooed dude. Tattooed thugs hassling little old Ukiah ladies is no joke to Officer Delapo.

Deputy DA Damon Gardner called Officer Delapo to establish the verity of Radcliffe having been properly “Mirandaized,” to use the tortured verb Ms. Thompson seems so fond of. Delapo is a rookie serving his first year on the police force; he carries a field guide to the care and handling of Ukiah's night birds. He told the court that he read Mr. Marc Radcliffe his Miranda rights right out of the book, “word-for-word.”

DDA Gardner: “So you read it to him verbatim?”

Officer Delapo: “Yes, I did.”

Gardner: “When did you do this?”

Delapo: “The evening of February 2nd; it was past eight o’clock. May I refer to my report?”

Gardner: “If it will help refresh your memory, go ahead.”

Delapo (after a pause): “It was sometime between 11pm and 12:54am.”

Gardner: “Did the suspect appear to understand his rights under Miranda?”

Delapo: “He said yes, he did understand the admonishment.”

Gardner: “Did you ask him if he knew where he was at, what he’d been doing and whether he’d been in anyone’s apartment?”

Delapo: “He appeared to be under the influence.”

Gardner: “Did you ask if he’d been using any drugs?”

Delapo: “Yes; he said he’d used methamphetamine at about 4pm that day.”

Gardner: “Did you ask about the apartment?”

Delapo: “Yes, but he seemed confused, and said he couldn’t recall where he’d been that day. I showed him a jacket that was found at the apartment and he said it was his.”

Public Defender Thompson: “Where exactly did you — well, let me ask you this: Did this occur in a particular area of the Police Department? Were you at the office in Ukiah?”

Delapo: “Just in a holding cell.”

Thompson: “”You also said — but, wait… uh, do you have any sort of recording device?”

Delapo: “Yes, I do.”

Thompson: “Were you using it when you Mirandaized my client?”

Delapo: “I don’t think it was working that day, or maybe it wasn’t on.”

Police department tape recorders have a tendency to go on the fritz at the darndest times.

Thompson: “But your camera was working alright… So let me show you a photograph — may I approach the witness, your honor?”

Judge Ann Moorman: “Go ahead.”

Thompson: “I’m showing you a photograph marked People’s Exhibit Number Eight…”

Delapo: “Yes, that is Mr. Radcliffe.”

Thompson, a great one for irrelevant detail, said, “He seems to be seated on a bench of some sort.”

Delapo: “Yes…”

Thompson: “Is that where you questioned him?”

Delapo: “Yes.”

Thompson: “So you asked Mr. Radcliffe — well, first of all, you Mirandaized him first, didn’t you?”

Delapo: “Yes.”

Thompson: “So you asked him a number of questions about the apartment, correct?”

Delapo: “Correct.”

Thompson: “Did you ask him which day of the week it was?”

Delapo: “I don’t recall.”

Thompson: “Did you ask what month it was?”

Delapo: “I don’t recall.”

Thompson suddenly blurted out a loud gotcha-sounding guffaw, which she does often in open court, at no visible or audible gotcha. The gotcha out of the way, Thompson asked, “Would it help refresh your memory if you checked your report?”

Delapo scanned his report and said, “Yes, I did ask which day of the week it was. I was trying to make just simple conversation.”

Thompson: “And he was still confused?”

Delapo: “Yes. He kept picking at his skin; he was fidgety and often tensed his muscles.”

Thompson: “Did you ask where he lived?”

Delapo: “He gave an address on Del Rio Street and said he lived with a friend.”

Thompson: “So you just showed him a jacket and asked if he recognized it?”

Delapo: “Yes.”

Thompson: “And after questioning him you took him to the local hospital, correct?”

Delapo: “Correct.”

Thompson: “For a blood test?”

Delapo: “Yes.”

Thompson: “What were the results?”

Gardner: “Objection, relevance.”

Moorman: “Do you know the results?”

Delapo: “No.”

Thompson: “When you Mirandaized him, did you ask if he understood?”

Delapo: “Yes.”

Moorman: “So you read to him from the booklet?”

Delapo: “Yes.”

Moorman: “What does it say?”

Delapo: “I don’t have it with me, now.”

Gardner flipped out his wallet and produced a card with the Miranda rights printed on it and read it for the judge.

Moorman: “Then you asked if he understood. What’s the next thing you did?”

Delapo: “I started asking questions about where he’d been.”

Thompson: “At the conclusion of the, uh, part about asking if he, uh, understood… [HUMPF! came another odd explosion from the diminutive public defender] did you ask, ‘Do you want to talk to me now’?”

Delapo: “He just started talking.”

Thompson: “I’m gonna have to object —- and he appeared confused, correct?”

Delapo: “Yes.”

Gardner called his next witness, Mariano Guzman, who was a patrol Sergeant at the time, and had been called in to help Officer Anthony Delapo. Mr. Guzman now works as an investigator for the DA.

Gardner: “Did you participate in the pursuit of the defendant?”

Guzman: “Yes.”

Gardner “Was the defendant apprehended?”

Guzman: “Yes.”

Gardner: “What did you do?”

Guzman: “I drew my weapon and ordered him to the ground.”

Gardner: “What did he do?”

Guzman: “He went down, face down, then reached in his pocket and withdrew a lighter and a small, used cigarette. He put the cigarette to his mouth, lit it and proceeded to smoke it.”

Gardner: “What was he wearing?”

Guzman: “A woman’s sweatshirt and torn jeans. He appeared to have torn his jeans from eluding police officers through bushes and fences.”

Gardner: “Did you cuff him?”

Guzman: “Yes.”

Gardner: “Put him in your patrol vehicle?”

Guzman: “Yes.”

Gardner: “Ask him questions?”

Guzman: “Yes.”

Gardner: “His name?”

Guzman: “Marc Radcliffe.”

Gardner: “Were you acquainted with him?”

Guzman: “Yes.”

Gardner: “Was he on parole?”

Guzman: “That he was.”

Gardner: “Do you know his Parole Officer?”

Guzman: “Jennifer Farley.”

Gardner: “Did he appear injured?”

Guzman: “Yes, and he told me he had pain in his abdomen.”

Thompson: “His jeans were ripped — well, let me ask you this: He was wearing a woman’s sweatshirt — what you perceived to be a woman’s sweatshirt?”

Guzman: “Yes.”

Thompson: “May I approach, your honor?”

Moorman: “Go ahead.”

Thompson: “Do you recognize these photos?”

Guzman: “Yes, I took ‘em.”

Thompson was togged out in a man’s navy blazer, white ducks and deck shoes. She looked like a yacht steward: “Had you received a description of how he was dressed?”

Guzman: “Yes.”

Thompson: “A white pleated skirt?”

Guzman, suppressing a smile: “Yes, that’s correct.”

Thompson: “And Mrs. Dotson had told you the perpetrator was wearing her pink undershirt and red panties when he fled her apartment?”

Guzman: “Yes.”

Be on the lookout for a large tattooed man in hot pink. Check that. The pink may only be a small part of a fetching ensemble that includes both pink and red garments sequestered beneath a white, pleated skirt.

Thompson: “But when you apprehended him, he was wearing only the ripped jeans and sweatshirt?”

Guzman: “Correct.”

Thompson: “No underwear, no socks?”

Guzman: “Correct.”

Thompson: “And Mr. and Mrs. Dotson said they did not observe any scars, marks or tattoos?”

Guzman: “Correct.”

Thompson: “Nothing further.”

And then another wild creature eruption from Thompson. “EERCH!”

These startling animal cries from the public defender may be a kind of courtroom Tourette’s. The old girl might have a workman's comp claim going here if she doesn't get control of these disconcerting blasts.

“Sorry,” she said, “Ha-ha, I need to, uh, ask a couple more, uh, questions. Well, first of all, who did you speak to first — Mr. or Mrs. Dotson?”

Guzman: “Mr. Dotson, I believe.”

Thompson: “Did you take him out to your vehicle to identify the suspect?”

Guzman: “Yes.”

Thompson: “What was the lighting like?”

Guzman: “It was still dark, but we had our flashlights and vehicle lights on.”

Thompson: “Were there any other witnesses?”

Guzman: “No.”

Gardner: “Do you recall how much time elapsed between the time of the dispatch and time you apprehended the suspect?”

Guzman: “Two hours.”

Gardner: “In your opinion, is that enough time to change clothes?”

Guzman: “More than enough.”

Gardner: “How many times have you arrested Mr. Radcliffe?”

Thompson: “Objection! Relevance!”

Moorman: “Overruled.”

Guzman: “At least a couple of times.”

Gardner: “Are you familiar with his criminal record?”

Guzman: “He has more than five convictions.”

Gardner: “Has he been to prison?”

Guzman: “Yes.”

Gardner: “And Sandra and Darrel Dotson made a positive ID in the field?”

Guzman: “I was told it was a positive ID by Mrs. Dotson, and a partial by Mr. Dotson.”

Gardner: “And the alleged victims, Carlotta Snodgrass and Andrea Hughes — were their descriptions consistent?”

Guzman: “Yes. In my mind it was the same person.”

Judge Moorman ruled that the hearing would resume on Monday with Ms. Snodgrass and Ms. Hughes. A jury trial was set for Monday, August 19th. They would then pick a jury on Tuesday and the trial was expected to be over by Thursday afternoon, at the latest.

PHOTOGRAPH OF SEMI-LOCAL INTEREST (via Marshall Newman) Rail line along the Gualala River, circa 1910.

CATCH OF THE DAY, Monday, June 16, 2025

CRISTOBAL BUENROSTRO, 59, Ukiah. Paraphernalia, probation revocation.

JOSHUA COLCLEASER, 36, Ukiah. Controlled substance with two or more priors, under influence, paraphernalia, ammo possession by prohibited person.

JASON FRYMAN, 40, Willits. DUI with blood-alcohol over 0.15% with priors, suspended license.

RANDY GIBNEY, 55, Fort Bragg. DUI-any drug.

ANGEL MENDEZ JR., 69, Ukiah. Domestic violence court order violation.

MICHAEL MUNOZ, 36, Santa Rosa/Ukiah. Domestic battery.

ORLANDO MUNOZ, 30, Ukiah. Failure to appear.

VICTORIA VASQUEZ, 29, Ukiah. Controlled substance, suspended license for DUI, probation violation.

BRIAN WILLIAMS, 53, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol, controlled substance with two or more priors, parole violation.

NO KING: THIS LAND IS OUR LAND?

by Steve Heilig

Reading the news has long been hazardous enough to earn the term “doom-scrolling,” but it’s hard not to do at least some of that early in the morning, hot coffee in hand. Saturday dawn, however, the first item up was the warfare erupting between Israel and Iran, followed by the assassination of a Minnesota state legislator and her husband, and the wounding of two more, at their homes, by a Trump-supporting “Christian.” My already precarious mood immediately went dark. Today was to be the nationwide anti-MAGA “No Kings” protest, and I was slated for a doubleheader in San Francisco.

First up was a mass human-body spelling of yes, “No King” out on Ocean Beach, followed by the big gathering at Dolores Park with a march to the Civic Center. Seemed ambitious but I was committed, albeit already worried about violence by MAGA folks - the ones who believe Trumpian propaganda that illegal immigrants pose an “invasion” of dangerous criminals and that those Americans who don’t believe that, and who point to the fact that violent crime has long been decreasing significantly and that immigrants commit less crime than others, are evil socialists or worse. Warnings were already out to beware provocateurs inciting violence, wild anarchists doing likewise from the other side, and maybe even trigger-happy cops, National Guardsmen, even Marines. Who to fear most?

Nobody, as it turned out, at least not here. The protests were big and peaceful. Police presence was minimal, seemingly mostly directing traffic. On the bus down to the beach folks were getting on with their hand-drawn signs and the mood was celebratory. The bus filled up by the time we got to the end of the line, then emptied in a jubilant discharge of people. A short walk out to the sea wall and there was already a mass of humanity, mostly self-herding into the already-formed big letters, to be photographed by drone above. A couple organizers with bullhorns were directing foot traffic to where needed, sometimes joking “wow, where will we put you all, we should have insisted on RSVPs!” All ages represented, mostly white but all shades of skin too. Soon it was photo and filming time and chants and songs and that “wave” thing from sporting events started. I was cheering up some, as the jubilant mood was contagious. There was a mass singing of, at least partly, Woody Guthrie’s “This Land is Your Land.”

Guessing correctly that many of the couple thousand there had similar plans to catch the bus all the way back up to the main event at the Civic Center, I headed out while the drones were still up and walked up to my longtime beach snack spot, the TJ Cafe, right off the great highway on La Playa, where I’ve been going for decades now for tasty fish sandwiches from the nice couple who run it (yes, this is a small business plug). “You here for the protest?” they asked, and when I affirmed, they smiled and nodded. I took my fish burger back over to the bus stop where people were indeed already gathering and hopped on. Halfway up I jumped out to meet some longtime friends to eat my sandwich and have a quick coffee for fuel. Then it was time for protest part two.

Back on the bus, we commiserated about the mass corrupt craven cruel con job that is MAGA, wherein so many are convinced that a career criminal is their champion and thus vote against their own interests and, if young, futures. Or don’t vote at all, which was how Trump got back in office by a small margin with a third of voters not bothering. Democracy has its downsides too, especially given that FOX is now the most-watched “news” source despite multiple confirmations that it not only spreads more misinformation than facts and research showing that its viewers are less-informed than others. Thus Trump’s gloat that “We won with poorly educated. I love the poorly educated.” But we’re not supposed to say such things now, even though true. So I just tend to quote JD Vance’s moment of candor, before he himself got hooked: Trump is “cultural heroin.” Although sometimes I expect meth is the closer diagnosis.

At the civic center we jumped out and walked into the plaza, where hundreds were gathered, waiting for the main crowd to arrive on the hike from the Dolores Park gathering place. And soon there was a rising cheer and the lead paraders entered in, and the chants and songs and general volume grew, and grew, with bullhorn shouts to move back so everyone could fit in, until I figured it was time to head homeward. Clearly it was to be a huge crowd. I said goodbye and started walking west, up Market Street which was a wide river of marching people. It was hard to even get across the street, and for blocks and blocks, people kept coming, as it turned out for hours. It was frankly amazing, and might turn out to be the biggest street protest ever, both in San Francisco and nationwide. I’d been to previous big marches in the same locale in opposition to the Iraq invasion and for reproductive rights, but this seemed bigger.

There’s long debate about what political demonstrations really “do.” Some say they are primarily performative and for some that’s undeniably true. But in crisis times they serve multiple purposes. Showing solidarity is one, and that does matter. People didn’t know how big and wide the opposition to racial oppression or the Vietnam War was until massive crowds gathered to demonstrate. In those cases the huge rallies sparked revolt against the status quo. On the other hand Bush Jr. invaded Iraq anyway and reproductive rights have been reversed. In the current national fiasco, showing and seeing what majority opinion is - anti-MAGA - does matter. The first months of Trump.2 have been a disaster for the nation and world, by most any measure, but these demonstrations might come to be seen as marking a turning point.

The signature Trump efforts are, almost without exception, being revealed as incompetent and counterproductive even for their misguided aims, and are turned back by courts over and over. Trump’s tariffs - the stupidest ever, said the conservative Wall Street Journal - have been chaotic and rolled back seemingly randomly, with the negative economic impacts only starting. Likewise the cruel blundering immigrant purge, once big (and small) business started to protest that they were losing good workers and prices would spike, if people could still find things to buy (and Trump’s own head of the Joint Chiefs of staff recently said No, we are not “being invaded” by immigrants). DOGE will turn out to have cost the nation more than it saved, and desperate efforts to hire needed people back in many sectors are now common, with Elon Musk on to ruining other organizations and lives (including those of some of his many Baby Mamas - “family values, of course). On the health front, many will lose access to care and anti-science moves by the likes of RFKJr. and other new officials are provoking loud protest among actual scientists and physicians (including a forceful uprising in favor of anti-Trump activism, including an investigation of RFKJr’s anti-vaccine moves at a minimum, at the recent AMA - the AMA! - annual meeting).

Overseas MAGA diplomacy hasn’t been going too well either. Though Trump promised to “fix” the conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine, and with China, it’s easy to see how those are going. Trump’s Greenland, Denmark, Mexico, etc forays only provoke mirth and eye-rolling. America is suddenly an international laughingstock, and the expert projections emerging in medical, public health, economics, and other professional journals is that the net result is and will be increased suffering, death, and more poverty, both international and domestic. This is the truly tragic reality of MAGA in action.

By fortuitous chance Trump attempted a bizarre military parade on the same day as the protests, his birthday, costing at least $45 million in taxpayer funds, with commercial branding of course, and from all reports and photos it was an embarrassing disaster. So much so that Putin’s Russia, who Trump seemed to want to emulate, is already mocking it as an amateurish effort. Even many GOP and military leaders wanted nothing to do with it. Trump himself seemed to be far from happy at it and looked to fall asleep. Given how much he’s insulted servicemen and been exposed as clueless by his own military leaders, one wonders how many of them felt about the absurd forced march. The Wall Street Journal, again, said “We” - meaning the USA - “don’t do that.”

The contrast with the No King rallies was undeniable, as evidenced by desperate-sounding White House efforts to spin it otherwise - and of course threaten those who pointed out the Emperor’s sad clothes. But it seems likely that Trump himself doesn’t really care much about all MAGA’s signature crusades, just using those as red meat to his low-info fans, as it’s reported that, true to form, his family is profiting so heavily from his Presidency, using crypto scams, bribes, you name it, that it will take years to figure all that out, by then they’ll all be cashed out and gone from public office, and that’s for them that’s really what it’s all about. And if you get in trouble due to any of the greed and grifting, for the right amount of cash you can just buy a pardon.

It was a long uphill walk home, as few buses could get through for hours and the underground trains were sure to be far too crowded for me. But the fog had rolled back and the sun came out for the first time in at least a week so all was fine. I stopped at a fine music shop where I know the owner and we chatted while I browsed through the jazz cds and reggae albums. I told him how I’d spent the morning, and we agreed that the giant protests - already being called the biggest ever - were a good thing. “But do you think it will really help?” he mused, seemingly as much to himself as to me. I don’t know, we’ll see, I replied. But Saturday was the first time I actually felt patriotic in some time, and that’s something. Isn’t it?

THIS LAND IS YOUR LAND

by Woody Guthrie (original 1940 version)

This land is your land, this land is my land
From the California to the Staten New York Island,
From the Redwood Forest, to the Gulf stream waters,
God blessed America for me.
[This land was made for you and me.]

As I went walking that ribbon of highway
And saw above me that endless skyway,
And saw below me the golden valley, I said:
God blessed America for me.
[This land was made for you and me.]

I roamed and rambled and followed my footsteps
To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts,
And all around me, a voice was sounding:
God blessed America for me.
[This land was made for you and me.]

Was a high wall there that tried to stop me
A sign was painted said: Private Property,
But on the back side it didn't say nothing -
God blessed America for me.
[This land was made for you and me.]

When the sun come shining, then I was strolling
In wheat fields waving and dust clouds rolling;
The voice was chanting as the fog was lifting:
God blessed America for me.
[This land was made for you and me.]

One bright sunny morning in the shadow of the steeple
By the Relief Office I saw my people -
As they stood hungry, I stood there wondering if
God blessed America for me.
[This land was made for you and me.]

YOU GOT NOTHIN' COMIN', PUNK. (Prison retort to inmate complaints.)

Warmest spiritual greetings,

Ecological Collapse, Political Chaos, Economic Confusion, Middle Class Goes Insane

I am just sitting here on a public computer at the Martin Luther King Jr. Library in Washington, D.C. listening to Sacred Devi Chants from India. There is really nothing else to do. The Social Security SSI disappeared last month, the California EBT card is not working in spite of the money coming in on time, the Federal Housing Voucher timed out but nobody can explain why, as social workers and their ilk continue to collect paychecks and tell me that I am on my own, and the politicians tell me that the government does not owe me anything, while requesting my vote. I would like to leave the Washington, D.C. homeless shelter, because I have already given everything possible in support of the William R. Thomas Memorial Anti-Nuclear Vigil, which is located at the front of Lafayette Park, across the street from the White House. This is my sixteenth time here doing that, since June of 1991. I have $2000 in the bank. Health is remarkably good at age 75. And I am (dualistically speaking) enlightened, or Self realized.

Please contact me here:

Craig Louis Stehr, [email protected]

Surfing, Lima, Peru, 1959. (Frank Scherschel)

BUSTER POSEY DELIVERS FOR GIANTS, gives lineup punch with Devers trade

by Ann Killion

Big Game Buster just hit one deep.

As a player, Buster Posey had a way of seizing big moments. As the San Francisco Giants’ president of baseball operations, he seized the attention of the sports world on Sunday night, just moments before his team faced the Dodgers in prime time.

Posey made the big, bold trade that had been elusive for the Giants for so long. He acquired left-handed slugger Rafael Devers from the Boston Red Sox, sending starting pitcher Kyle Harrison — who was getting ready to take the mound Sunday when he learned the news, right-hander Jordan Hicks and two minor leaguers to Boston.

Ten days earlier, Posey said, “It’s time to go.”

“I think it sends a message that we’re going to compete,” said shortstop Willy Adames, mic’d up for the ESPN Sunday Night Baseball crew. “That we’re going to do whatever it takes to come over here and win the division.”

The broadcasters referred to Posey as a Hall of Fame catcher and Adames said: “If he continues to do moves like this he might be a Hall of Fame general manager.”

Devers gives the Giants their most powerful left-handed bat since Barry Bonds. Devers is an offensive force, hitting 214 home runs in parts of nine major league seasons. Since 2021 he has hit 38, 27, 33, 28 homers and already has 15 home runs this season, hitting one on Sunday to help the Red Sox sweep the Yankees. The Giants haven’t had a player hit 30 homers or more in a season since Bonds hit 45 in 2004. Devers has done it three times.

Devers was the offensive cornerstone of the Red Sox, the player whom Boston planned to build around after the terrible trade of Mookie Betts in 2020. The franchise rewarded Devers with a 10-year, $313.5 million contract before last season. Now Betts is a Dodger and Devers, 28, will be a Giant, and San Francisco will be inheriting eight-plus years of that mega-contract.

“Buster’s really doing it,” Dodgers veteran pitcher Clayton Kershaw said on the ESPN broadcast. “Good for Buster; he’s going for it.

“I consider Raffy one of the top 10 hitters — at the worst. He’s really a game changer. … It makes them better right now, for sure.”

The trade is not without risks. Devers has made news all season because of his unhappiness after the Red Sox signed third baseman Alex Bregman in the offseason. Devers had played third base for Boston ever since he was called up in 2017 but not at Bregman’s Gold Glove level. Devers grudgingly agreed to move into the DH role; then, when first baseman Tristan Casas suffered a season-ending knee injury and the brass wanted Devers to play first, he refused. That created an impasse that could not be resolved by team owner John Henry, who flew to Kansas City, Mo., last month to try to mediate.

With Matt Chapman out with a hand injury for a month, third base is currently open for the Giants. But when Chapman returns, it will be the same scenario: a superior defensive player will bump Devers off the hot corner.

“It will be interesting to see where he plays,” Kershaw mused on ESPN.

As in Boston, Devers will almost certainly be asked to DH and play first base with the Giants. How will that go over? Is Devers a “me” guy who will arrive disgruntled? Or was he just unhappy with the way the Red Sox handled him?

The Giants are betting on the latter and clearly assuming that a change of scenery will satisfy Devers, who had neither a no-trade clause nor the veteran status to refuse a trade.

The Giants’ burning need is offense. The deteriorating relationship between Boston management and Devers was a sign that an incredible offensive talent was about to become available. And Posey jumped at the chance, beating everyone else to the punch, six weeks before MLB’s trade deadline.

It’s the kind of aggressive move that Giants fans have been pining for, and the kind of blockbuster midseason move that the previous regime failed to make, unless you count the rental of Kris Bryant in 2021. The long list of free agents that the Giants tried and failed to sign — Bryce Harper, Aaron Judge, Shohei Ohtani — made it clear that the Giants’ best bet for getting an established bat would be through trade, and Posey went for it.

Why wait while the Giants are competing at such a high level despite an alarming lack of offense? Why delay and possibly have to settle for a deadline rental instead of a star you can have in the fold for several years?

The Giants, not surprisingly after such upheaval before first pitch, lost the rubber match of the Dodgers series, 5-4. But nothing about the series proved that their 41-31 record after the first 72 games is an aberration. Here in mid-June, Posey’s team is in second place, just two games behind the reigning World Series champions, a place only the most delusional Giants fans would have envisioned before the season started. Unlike in Boston, Devers will be playing on a division contender, fighting for a playoff spot.

Should the Giants have waited a day to make the Devers trade so as not to disrupt their pitching staff and not give up another game in the standings to the Dodgers? Posey is a decisive leader; he saw the opportunity and seized it before Boston’s Craig Breslow — another former player turned front-office boss — found a better deal.

And Posey thrilled his team with his belief in them.

“The whole clubhouse is excited,” Adames said. “We’re thrilled to have (Devers) and to make him feel at home.”

Betts, who won a World Series in 2018 with Devers, said that like everyone else in baseball, he was “shocked and stunned” by the Giants’ big trade.

“It definitely helps their ballclub,” Betts said. “And it makes the NL West more interesting.”

Big Game Buster is making sure of that.

(sfchronicle.com)

Rafael Devers follows through on a grand slam against the Baltimore Orioles on Friday, May 23, 2025, at Fenway Park in Boston. (AP Photo/Winslow Townson)

CALIFORNIA’S HOUSING CRISIS DISPROPORTIONATELY HARMS WOMEN

Gender Equity Policy Institute Report Shows Black Women, Senior Women, Single Mothers, and Women Living Alone Face Steepest Burdens

Today, the Gender Equity Policy Institute (GEPI) released a new report, “A Gender Equality Perspective on California’s Housing Crisis,” which reveals that women, especially Black women, older women, single mothers, and those living alone, are more likely than men to live in unaffordable housing across the state.

The report shows that even after accounting for income, race and ethnicity, and employment status, women face greater housing cost burdens than men. This disparity is driven by lower incomes and less accumulated wealth, disproportionate caregiving responsibilities, the financial strains on single parents, and the challenges of aging alone—since women tend to live longer than men. These disadvantages are further compounded by gender bias and discrimination in the housing market.

The report shows women are more likely to be rent burdened and severely rent burdened – meaning housing costs total more than 30% or 50% of their income, respectively.

Key findings from the report include:

53% of women renters live in unaffordable housing, compared to 47% of men renters
63% of Black women renters are rent burdened; 36% are severely rent burdened
65% of senior women (ages 65+) are rent burdened
72% of women living alone are rent burdened, compared to 63% of their male counterparts
77% of single mothers are rent burdened, compared to 64% of single fathers

Read The Full Report Here: https://thegepi.org/a-gender-equality-perspective-on-californias-housing-crisis/

KING-LESS

by James Kunstler

"Realize where we are." — Oilfield Rando on "X"

Saturday morning, we toodled over to the next town, Salem, New York, (pop. 2,612, per capita income $19,499) fifty miles northeast of Albany, to catch one of the hundreds of “No Kings” demos across the nation sponsored by Shanghai-based software billionaire Neville Roy Singham, Walmart heiress Christy Walton, Paypal partner (and Linked-in founder) Reid Hoffman, and father-and son team, George and Axel Soros.

Speaking of Axel Soros, Saturday also happened to be his wedding day, to Huma Abedin, former Hillary Clinton sidekick and BFF (and ex-wife of disgraced congressman and convicted sex offender Anthony Weiner.) The nuptials happened at the Soros’s Hamptons estate. Cable news covered the fabulous cavalcade of black Escalade limousines conveying the super-elite of Progressive-Wokery to the glorious event. The New York Times, with its habitual lack of self-awareness, styled the event thusly:

“Liberal royalty?” Say, what. . . ? There is such a thing? In the party of No Kings? What’s the deal, then? Just princes and princesses, dukes and duchesses, earls, viscounts, baronets, lairds, marquis, knights and dames, and so on. Yet, no king? Well, if you asked the fortunate wedding guests, they might aver to Hillary Clinton as a sort-of Queen of the party, or maybe just Queen Bee. As for former president Bill, he appears to be undergoing slow-motion mummification, so he currently occupies an ambiguous zone between this world and the next, with no mojo left for kingly duties. Anyway, it rained that day down on the South Fork.

Meanwhile, back upstate, cloudy and cool but no rain, some two-hundred wrathful plebeian souls gathered at the one-stoplight-intersection in little Salem, these days mainly a farm community, the old railroad engine repair shop defunct, and many good non-farm jobs with it, the usual story in this corner of the country. The hopped-up crowd was well-supplied with signs and placards, many avouching Down with Oligarchs! — which, oddly, seemed a sort of backhanded reference to billionaires of the very type underwriting the day’s festivities, not to mention the super-rich “liberal royalty” gang gathered for the Soros-Abedin royal wedding.

But that was only one of the many incongruities haunting the mass protest against the abhorred president, Mr. Trump. For instance, one poor fellow on the southeast corner of South Main and East Broadway inveighed mournfully against the suppression of free speech, apparently unaware of the epic efforts 2021 to 2025 by “Joe Biden’s” underlings to censor the Internet and de-platform the regime’s critics (including yours truly, whose website was mysteriously destroyed in October 2024).

The moiling mob was overwhelmingly geriatric, perhaps reflecting the backwater demographics of a region with few job opportunities for young folk. A spirit of revival bubbled among them as they reenacted old rituals of the hippie halcyon, the grand old days of the Vietnam War protests, when thousands gathered to levitate the Pentagon. Only now, their sentiments and beliefs exhibit a striking and peculiar inversion of the ancient 1960s credos that drove the beloved Movement.

I know because I was there, on campus, between 1966 and 1971. Back then, the Left opposed the wicked “establishment” and all its nefarious operations, from the war in Vietnam to the FBI’s underhanded suppression of political dissent. These days, strange to relate, the Left stands in staunch defense of the Deep State, big government (and its prodigious corruption), and the politicization of the FBI and CIA.

Their placards lament the withering of “our democracy,” yet they were just fine with “Joe Biden” selecting a 2024 presidential candidate for them — with no customary vote by party delegates, or anything approaching an open democratic process. They shout for the “rule-of-law,” except when it concerns special persons such as the former president’s crackhead, bag-man son. They’re all for the colossal grift around the war in Ukraine. And don’t forget they supported vaccine mandates, the closing and ruination of small businesses (while Walmart and Taco Bell were allowed to thrive), and all the other hypocritical, fraudulent, lethal actions of Covid-19 policy.

The object of the “No Kings” shuck and jive, you might suspect, was to prepare so many friction-points around the country that violence was apt to erupt in order to create a George Floyd-type martyr figure, so as to re-energize the Left for another sustained summer of riots. There was plenty of mayhem around the country but, alas, no martyr emerged, no apotheosis of “progressive” victim-hood. . . only the peculiar murder of two Minnesota legislators by an apparently deranged Democratic party fringe character, the sometime evangelist and Tim Walz appointee, Vance Boelter.

$65-million is a plausible number for the money spent by billionaires and political NGOs on the nation-wide “No Kings” project. A lot of that was paid directly to protesters for just showing up. (They ran ads on Craig’s List to enlist players.) None of them showed up in the Hamptons, though, where “liberal royalty” assembled for their special event. You’ve got to think that they missed something rather bigly there.

ON-LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

Of the 35,000 or so who materialized in my city's downtown (not including the dozen or so smaller, scattered gatherings in various city suburbs and exurbs), I didn’t see anybody waving their George Soros check. But then it defies the MAGA imagination that people in today’s America would voluntarily interrupt their daily routines to go protest on behalf of something bigger than themselves, with no personal profit involved. (“Suckers and losers”, as Trump would say, just like the military wounded that he disparages.)

LEAD STORIES, TUESDAY'S NYT

Trump Returns to D.C. as Israel and Iran Trade Attacks

Trump’s Iran Choice: Last-Chance Diplomacy or a Bunker-Busting Bomb

36 More Countries May Be Added to Trump’s Travel Ban

Senate Bill Would Make Deep Cuts to Medicaid, Setting Up Fight With House

Gangs Terrorize Peru in an Epidemic of Extortion

It’s Official: Streaming Is Now the King of TV

ISRAEL-IRAN ATTACKS EXPAND AGAIN

Israel expanded its attacks on Iran on Monday, striking and setting fire to the headquarters of state television while anchors were broadcasting live on air, as the fiercest and deadliest confrontation in the history of the Israeli-Iranian conflict continued into a fourth day.

With civilian casualties climbing on both sides, the war now seems likely to last for weeks, not days. Israel appears to be acting with increasing confidence, telling residents to evacuate parts of Tehran and hinting in advance that it might attack the state television complex and claiming “full aerial superiority” to strike an expanding range of targets. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in comments on Monday, even declined to rule out targeting Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

President Trump does not plan to sign a joint statement calling for de-escalation between Iran and Israel that is being drafted by the Group of 7 nations meeting in Canada, according to a White House official, who did not specify why Trump was opposed to the statement. But the decision to not sign the joint statement comes just a day after Trump told ABC News that he was “open” to the idea of the Russian leader, Vladimir V. Putin, mediating the conflict between Israel and Iran.

Iran’s Civil Aviation Authority has extended the closure of Iranian airspace to domestic and international flights, this time until 2 a.m. local time on Tuesday, according to Iran’s state news media, the Islamic Republic News Agency. Israel instituted a similar closure to its airspace on Friday.

The U.S. State Department raised its travel advisory for Israel to Level 4, “Do Not Travel” — its highest level, signaling extreme risk — citing the region’s “volatile and unpredictable security situation.”

WHY ARE TYRANT TRUMP’S INSTITUTIONAL CRITICS REMAINING SILENT?

by Ralph Nader

By now Tyrant Trump and his fascist wrecking crew have made abundantly clear their objectives of police state control, corporatist rule, and corrupt self-enrichment resulting in the destruction of our constitutional freedoms and its rule of law. (See the New York Times article by Ben Rhodes from June 8, 2025, titled, The American System Is Not Designed to Resist Corruption). You don’t need to read the mass media documentation of the Trumpsters’ madness in the mass media; they openly boast about what is a betrayal of the American people as they unleash the darkest bigotries and cruelties within our society.

This brazenness comes from a realization by Trump and his cronies that their simmering institutional opposition has been largely cowed by threats and intimidation and remains in the shadows—silenced by self-inflicted censorship.

True, the street protests are becoming larger, more widespread, and focused on the Trump Dump that is sinking our country. Until they arouse the following institutional forces, street protests, no matter how peaceful, become vulnerable to malicious infiltration and set-ups for lawless Trump to call out the military.

Let’s review the terrain of simmering oppositional institutions and see how they can come out tall and courageous to, in Benjamin Franklin’s words, “Save our Republic” —literally—from deep despotism.

Start with the Democrats in Congress. They need to move beyond scattered rebuttals and organize a “war room” to help them exercise their constitutional obligations. A daily action plan augmented by strong clear arguments is key. The offices of even the most progressive members (Al Green, Delia Ramirez, Jamie Raskin, etc.) need to tap and use the valuable practical civic input for their own, defined pursuits.

The Congressional Democrats are finally conducting some informal, public “shadow hearings” in Committee rooms with witnesses and eager media. Ranking Members of every House and Senate Committee need to regularly hold such hearings to focus the demands of their supporters jamming Town Meetings back home and demanding, in their words, aggressive and comprehensive challenges to the GOP. Lawmakers at the state and local levels need to heed their angry, anxious voters as well.

Outside of government, the silent or barely whimpering groups need to recover their nerve and use their inherent muscle.

The Bar Associations, from the large national American Bar Association (ABA) to the 50 state bars should be the “First Responders” to Tyranny. Lawyers certainly know how to exert their muscle for their paying clients. They must do likewise, as “officers of the court,” to use their muscle to defend the Constitution and our Republic. The ABA has squeaked a little but seems to be waiting for a clear open defiance of a major court order by Trump before beginning to speak out. This will be too little, too late.
The small business community is getting hammered by Trump tariffs, Trump cancellation of government contracts, public investments, and kidnapping raids on their workers in key sectors like food processing, harvesting crops, health care, construction, cleaning services, and other service sectors. (See, the June 11, 2025, Washington Post column by Catherine Rampell titled, “The secret police descending on Small Town, U.S.A.”) Small business can be a formidable lobby. If they do not pick up their cudgels it is only going to get more chaotic for them week by week, taking the first brunt of rising prices, consumer drawdowns and Trump/Musk drained social safety programs.
The medical, public health and scientific societies command great public attention, immersed as they are in the people’s health and safety and environmental protections. Trump’s draconian cuts here in medical/scientific research and disaster/pandemic alert programs have gone off the rails and are even worrying Wall Street, accustomed to our nation’s leadership in science.
The organized civic groups, already in the forefront of the struggles for consumer, labor, and environmental justice, have to get into Emergency Mode. By that I mean breaking their routines, creating collaborative “war rooms” to counter many vulnerabilities of Trumpism outside the courts, intensely focusing on Congress, (yes, laying the groundwork for impeachment), mobilizing laser-beam public opinion and urging all the silent institutional powers to stand tall. When groups stand tall and fight, their funding usually increases.
Former Presidents George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden are dangerously quiet or barely expressing their displeasure. They have huge constituencies which can be aroused. George W. Bush is seeing his very popular AIDS medicine program abroad shut down with thousands dying weekly in these poor countries. Doesn’t he have any pride in his prime claim to humanity during his eight imperial, plutocratic years? Sure, if he takes on Trump with prime-time news coverage, Trump will remind him of the million people Bush’s criminal invasion of Iraq caused to perish. Get some guts, George. Take some time off from your painting hobby and take a leader’s stand. It might quicken some latent defiance of Trump from long-self-suppressed traditional Republicans.

Popular Barack Obama whose major boast during 2009-2010 when he had huge majorities in Congress—Obamacare—is on the GOP Congressional chopping block. Why is he so quiet? Loyalists for retired presidents must put the heat on them to end Trump’s hateful soliloquies before a mass media hungry for high-profile ripostes and rebuttals.

Where are the religious denominations, the “organized Church,” as it is called? They are supposed to be the caretakers, and custodians of our moral values, and champion the golden rule. Convicted felon Trump’s goal is to shatter norm after norm, to normalize lawlessness, greed, lying, corruption, cruelty, violence, sexual abuse, and betrayals of trust. This assault undermines the creeds long advanced by Christianity, Islam, Judaism, and other East Asian faiths. Given their historic traditions and teachings, standing firm against craven commercialism, oppression, and maintaining a compassionate presence (as with the late Pope Francis), it is puzzling to witness their receding visibility as the need for their moral leadership is at a critical high.

There are explanations for this Imploding Silence and its consequential complicities: lack of courage; conflicts with their own commercial dependencies; and fear of being singled out by immediate Trumpian illegal retaliations, as with his assaults on universities and law firms.

One major strategy would resolve these perilous inhibitions enabling our country’s plunge into Despotism. All these disparate groups should pull together to save our Republic at one gigantic announcement, bonded to one another in a crucial demonstration of serious, basic Patriotism.

I suggest the FOURTH OF JULY to Declare Our Independence from the unstable, self-anointed King Donald—the embodiment of the deepest fear of our Founders—and press for the ultimate remaining remedy wisely foreshadowed by our Founders—Donald Trump’s IMPEACHMENT AND REMOVAL FROM OFFICE!

THE FOLLY OF THE US/ISRAELI WAR ON IRAN

by Chris Hedges

*And Now a Word From Our Monster* (by Mr. Fish)

The neoconservatives who orchestrated the disastrous wars with Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and Libya — and who were never held accountable for the profligate waste of $8 trillion taxpayer dollars, as well as $69 billion squandered in Ukraine — look set to lure us into yet another military fiasco with Iran.

Iran is not Iraq. Iran is not Afghanistan. Iran is not Lebanon. Iran is not Libya. Iran is not Syria. Iran is not Yemen. Iran is the seventeenth largest country in the world, with a land mass equivalent to the size of Western Europe. It has a population of almost 90 million — 10 times greater than Israel — and its military resources, as well as alliances with China and Russia, make it a formidable opponent.

Iran launched retaliatory attacks today on Israel following waves of Israeli strikes that hit nuclear facilities and killed several top Iranian military commanders and six nuclear scientists on dozens. There have been explosions over the skyline in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. There is video footage of at least one large explosion on the ground in Tel Aviv from an apparent missile strike and reports of other explosions in some half dozen sites in and around Tel Aviv.

“Our revenge has just started, they will pay a high price for killing our commanders, scientists and people,” a senior Iranian officials told Reuters. The official added that “nowhere in Israel will be safe” and that “our revenge will be painful.”

“They think it’ll be an easy war,” said Alastair Crooke, a former British diplomat and member of British intelligence (MI6) who spent decades in the Middle East, told me of the neocons when I interviewed him. “They want to reassert American power and leadership. They feel that every so often throwing a small country against the wall and smashing it up is good for this.”

These neocons, bonded with the Israeli leadership of Benjamin Netanyahu, he went on, “will not tolerate any rival power, any challenge to American leadership and American greatness.” They will create facts on the ground – a war between Israel and Iran – that will “pull Trump into a war with Iran.”

You can see my interview with Crooke here.

While Iran’s air force is weak, with many of its fighter planes decades old, it is well supplied with Russian air defense batteries and Chinese anti-ship missiles, as well as mines and coastal artillery. It can shut down the Strait of Hormuz, the world’s most important oil chokepoint that facilitates the passage of 20 percent of the world’s oil supply. This would double or triple the price of oil and devastate the global economy. Iran has a large arsenal of ballistic missiles it can unleash on Israel, as well as on American military installations in the region. While initial waves can be intercepted, repeated attacks would swiftly deplete the Israeli and U.S. air defense stockpiles.

Israel is not equipped to endure a war of attrition, such as the eight year conflict between Iran and Iraq that ended — despite U.S. support for Saddam Hussein’s regime — in a stalemate, or as in Israel’s 18 year occupation of southern Lebanon that eventually forced it to withdraw in May, 2000, after repeated losses suffered from Hezbollah.

When Iran, in its Operation True Promise, launched over 300 ballistic and cruise missiles at Israel’s military and intelligence sites on April 13 and 14, 2023, in retaliation for an Israeli strike on the Iranian embassy in Damascus, the U.S. intercepted the vast majority.

“Israel cannot fight off an Iranian missile attack,” John Mearsheimer, a West Point graduate and a professor in the Political Science Department at the University of Chicago, told me. “You have this very interesting situation where not only can Israel not win these wars, but they’ve turned [them] into protracted wars” in which “Israel is heavily dependent on the United States.”

“We have lots of assets in the Middle East and the eastern Mediterranean, as well as in Israel itself and in the Red Sea,” he said. “These [are] designed to help Israel in its various wars. This includes not just Iran. It also includes the Houthis. It includes Hezbollah. So we are deeply involved in helping them fight. That was not the case in 1973 or any time before this war.”

Israel and its neocon allies believe they can eradicate Iran’s nuclear enrichment program by force and decapitate the Iranian government to install a client regime. That this non-reality-based belief system failed in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and Libya, eludes them.

Israel, at the same time, wants to divert world attention from its genocide and mass starvation in Gaza and the accelerated ethnic cleansing in the West Bank. Internet connection has been completely shut down in Gaza. The West Bank has been placed under a total blockade.

“The Israelis understand that if you have a general conflagration, people will not be paying much attention to the Palestinians,” Mearsheimer said. “People will be willing to give Israel more of a pass than they would in peaceful times. So let’s really ramp things up. Let’s have a general conflagration, and the end result will be that we can cleanse, on a massive scale, in Gaza and hopefully in the West Bank as well.”

You can see my interview with Mearsheimer here.

Iranian attacks would eventually leave hundreds, then thousands dead. Iran will appeal to Shi’ite Muslims through the region in what the Iranian leadership will describe as a war against Shi’ism, the second largest branch of Islam. Saudi Arabia — which condemned the attacks on Iran — has two million Shi’ites who live in the oil-rich Eastern province. There are significant Shi’ite communities in Pakistan, Bahrain and Turkey. Shi’ites form the majority in Iraq.

The Shi’ite-dominated government in Baghdad will side with Iran. Yemen will continue to disrupt maritime traffic in the Red Sea and hit Israel with drone attacks. Hezbollah, however crippled, will renew attacks on northern Israel. Expect terrorist attacks on U.S. bases in the region and perhaps even U.S. soil, as well as widespread sabotage of oil production in the Persian Gulf.

Iran will soon have enough fissile material to produce a nuclear weapon. A war will be a powerful incentive to build a bomb, especially with Israel possessing hundreds of nuclear weapons. If Iran acquires a nuclear weapon Saudi Arabia will be next, with Turkey, Iraq and Egypt not far behind. The efforts to blunt nuclear proliferation in the Middle East will evaporate.

A war, as Mearsheimer points out, will also solidify the alliance between Iran, Russia and China.

“The United States has pushed China, Russia, North Korea and Iran very close together,” he noted. “They form a tight knit bloc. Largely as a result of the Ukraine war, the Russians and the Chinese have been driven together, and given what’s happening in the Middle East, the Iranians and the Russians have been drawn together. The United States may be helping Israel, but it’s important to understand that the Russians are helping Iran. It’s not to America’s advantage to have China and Russia aligned closely against Washington. It’s not in America’s interest to have Russia and Iran working together against Israel and the United States.”

“There’s always the possibility that if a war heats up involving Iran on one side and the United States and Israel on the other side, that at some point down the road that the Russians will get dragged into that war, because the Russians now have a vested interest in supporting Iran,” he added.

A war could last months, if not years. It will be an aerial duel, one largely between Israeli warplanes and missiles and Iranian missiles. But to subdue Iran it will require perhaps a million U.S. troops being deployed to invade and occupy the country. An occupation of Iran will end with the same humiliating defeat the U.S. experienced in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The fantasy of Israel and the neocons is that they can break Iran with aerial assaults, an updated version of Shock and Awe, the bombing campaign in Iraq in 2003. But the amount of ordinance required, especially to pulverize Iran’s underground nuclear facilities, will be massive. Israel, in its decapitation of the leadership of Hezbollah in Beirut, including Hezbollah’s General Secretary Hassan Nasrallah, had to employ Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) 2,000-pound bunker-buster bombs.

“If you’re going to fly F-35’s with JDAM missiles, each of those is about 14 tons,” Crooke said. “It’s not just the weight, but the fuel they use. So you have to refuel maybe once, refuel twice, then you’ll have to fight your aircraft to suppress their defenses. You’re talking about a huge performance. Is America going to be able to do this? The Iranians have multiple air defense systems and good radars, over the horizon radars as well.”

So why go to war with Iran? Why walk away from a nuclear agreement that Iran did not violate? Why demonize a government that is the mortal enemy of the Taliban, along with other Takfiri groups, including al-Qaeda and Islamic State in the Levant (ISIL)? Why further destabilize a region already dangerously volatile?

The generals, politicians, intelligence services, neocons, weapons manufacturers, so-called experts, celebrity pundits and Israeli lobbyists are not about to take the blame for two decades of military fiascos. They need a scapegoat. It is Iran. The humiliating defeats in Afghanistan and Iraq, the failed states of Syria and Libya, the proliferation of extremist groups and militias, many of which we initially trained and armed, along with the continued worldwide terrorist attacks, have to be someone else’s fault.

The chaos and instability we unleashed, especially in Iraq and Afghanistan, left Iran as the dominant country in the region. Washington empowered its nemesis. It has no idea how to reverse this other than to attack it.

International law, along with the rights of almost 90 million people in Iran, is ignored just as the rights of the peoples of Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Yemen and Syria were ignored. The Iranians, whatever they feel about their leadership, do not see the United States as allies or liberators. They do not want to be attacked or occupied. They will resist. And we, and Israel, will pay.

(Chris Hedges is the former Pulitzer Prize–winning Middle East Bureau Chief for The New York Times. An Arabic speaker, he spent seven years covering the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, much of that time in Gaza. Author of 14 books, his most recent are The Greatest Evil Is War and A Genocide Foretold: Reporting on Survival and Resistance in Occupied Palestine.)

*Tor House: Robinson Jeffers' Hawk Tower* (2022) woodblock print by Tom Killion

32 Comments

Matt Kendall June 17, 2025

Holy smoke those boys at the AVA are right! I have aged a lot in 7 years. I think sheriff years are like dog years.

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- Chuck Dunbar June 17, 2025
  
  And along with some gray hair and a few wrinkles comes wisdom, too…
  
  Reply
- Ted Stephens June 17, 2025
  
  I don’t know about the photos. I will call it looks more distinguished and mature looking.
  I do know about the words written above it.
  He nailed it and it is a blessing to hear words like that come from those that serve us, especially law enforcement.
  It shows his focus is “here to help”.
  
  Reply
- Marshall Newman June 17, 2025
  
  It is the mileage, not the years. Lot’s of hard miles when one is Sheriff.
  
  Reply
David Stanford June 17, 2025

Don’t worry Matt grandchildren will keep you young

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Chuck Dunbar June 17, 2025

For Bruce and Mark

Early on this sunny day
The AVA takes my breath away—

Old guys sharing grim tales of health
OMG—please give us some stealth

Still, their tales bring us wide smiles
They’ve lived long lives, gone down the miles

And good humor simply can’t be beat
When those medicos check-out your meat

Glad you guys are carrying on—
What would we do if you were gone

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Mazie Malone June 17, 2025

Good Morning Mendo, 🌷☀️

Sheriff Kendall,👮‍♂️🫶🏻

I have been thinking about your line about ‘intervention labeled as assistance.” Do you think that idea still applies to people who are unhoused or struggling with addiction and mental illness?
Where is the line drawn—because there’s a big difference between someone who is stable, housed, and supported, and someone who actually needs intervention and assistance.

I’m just wondering how that works when someone doesn’t have access to shelter, safety, and necessary support?”

Intervention is a necessary component of these conditions that many people in our community face. In fact, my Family needed intervention and assistance, if we had received appropriate intervention in a timely fashion, we would not have suffered as much as we did. This is not just about unwanted assistance there is absence of real help when it’s desperately needed.”

The Corker… 😜🤣🤯

mm 💕

.

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- George Hollister June 17, 2025
  
  I am not the Sheriff, or speak for him. Let’s take the easy one first. A substance abuser who is taking responsibility for him/herself, and most do, needs no intervention. But we also know substance abuse can lead to illegal behavior that harms or threatens others, then intervention is required. The mentally ill, not caused by substance abuse, deserve the same treatment. If a person walks around town talking to themselves, I do that at home, so be it. But creating intractable problems for others requires intervention.
  
  Reply
  - Mazie Malone June 17, 2025
    
    Hi George,
    
    I agree people who are stable and taking care of themselves don’t need intervention.
    But the law doesn’t allow help until things get dangerous, so by then it’s too late.
    That’s the real problem.
    
    mm 💕
    
    Reply
- Matt Kendall June 17, 2025
  
  No, Mazzie that was not what I was talking about. I was reflecting on the over legislation of everything and the fact that many of our jobs have been legislated out of existence. It seems the government legislates away jobs while the trade off is to provide government assistance that will never pay the bills.
  
  I remember when the working man was good and criminals were bad. Loggers, saw millers, quarrymen and carpenters built or bought homes and raised families in them. They didn’t need assistance they needed the government to get out of the way and let them work.
  
  Legal gun owners, Legal farmers, and nearly all tradesmen are being crushed under the weight of regulation and legislation. Try to open any business and see how long it is before some law suit regarding CEQA, ADA, FEHA or some other government guideline puts your livelihood into the grave. Many of these cases are the nuisance lawsuits that get settle just a few thousand because that’s all they plaintiffs wanted was to make a few bucks.
  
  If we stand back and look it appears the working people are under constant scrutiny while hardened criminals get early releases.
  
  Take good care my old friend,
  Sincerely your old, gray, but happy Sheriff.
  
  Reply
  - Bruce McEwen June 17, 2025
    
    When I was a boy my best friend’s father was reckoned to be the wisest man around, Hal Olsen, the highest paid man at the sawmill, the saw filer, and he said this, to us kids, which I’ve always remembered: “Every year we elect new legislators to go to the capitol and make new laws—where is it all going!? Stop and think. Before long it’ll be illegal to get out of bed!”
    
    Reply
  - Mazie Malone June 17, 2025
    
    👮🚔
    
    “Thanks, Sheriff Kendall.
    
    I understand you were talking about laws and overregulation—but I was responding to your line about ‘intervention labeled as assistance’ and how that idea plays out for people in crisis.
    A lot of folks actually want help and can’t get it. So I wanted to understand better what that meant to you.
    
    Who you calling old? 😜🤣
    
    We are the same age I am fortunate to have good German genes and look younger than I am. 🤣.
    
    Now you know where I get the Corker, 🤣🤣🤣
    
    mm 💕
    
    Reply
  - Ramble rose June 17, 2025
    
    Let’s remove the SUITS 👔 part from the law.
    
    Reply
  - Eric Sunswheat June 17, 2025
    
    Consider Reagan’s massive tax cuts, which drove a marked rise in income inequality.
    
    His firing of unionized air-traffic controllers dealt a major blow to organized labor, and his divisive racial rhetoric—his use of the infamous “Welfare Queen” trope; his “States’ Rights” speech in Philadelphia, Mississippi—feels in keeping with the reactionaries of today whom David Brooks criticizes.
    
    Brooks’s critiques of progressive missteps, including those outlined in “How the Ivy League Broke America” and reiterated in his recent article, have given me much to reflect on.
    
    But I don’t believe Brooks has paid sufficient attention to the role the Reagan Revolution played in undermining the American dream and weakening the working class.
    ⁃ The Atlantic
    
    Reply
    - George Hollister June 19, 2025
      
      Reagan gets too much blame, and credit for many things. He did have many memorable quotes that people either loved or hated. The tax cuts he lead through a Democratically controlled congress reduced taxes primarily by eliminating loopholes that had made the high earner tax rates a folly. The result of the tax cuts was an increase in federal tax revenue.
      
      People of that era remember the high inflation that preceded Reagan. That inflation impacted primarily the middle class. Jimmy Carter was improperly blamed for that, but he ended the high inflation with the appointment of Paul Volcker as Fed Chair, which also cost him a reelection. Remember the high interest rates of the 1980s? Remember how that impacted everyone? Remember 13% home mortgage rates? That wasn’t Reagan. That was Volcker. But when interest rates started to finally come down in 1983 the economy took off. And the economies of the Fed’s planned inflation went away. That was a big change.
      
      The inequality narrative in America is mostly a fantasy. It does exist in places like the Bay Area, New York, and Boston where a six figure income is necessary to just keep above water. But even there the majority is monied. Go to Oklahoma City, and no one talks about inequality where people have less money, less regulation, and lower costs.
      
      Reply
      - Chuck Dunbar June 19, 2025
        
        “The inequality narrative in America is mostly a fantasy.”
        
        Dang, George, you must live in a different world than most of us. You assert facts that are not true. Check out the summaries below as factual evidence of the persistence and continuing growth of financial inequality in our country.
        
        “Nine Charts about Wealth Inequality in America” Urban Institute
        April 25, 2024
        
        “Wealth inequality is higher in the United States than in almost any other developed country and has risen for much of the past 60 years. Racial wealth inequities have persisted for generations, reflecting the long-standing effects of racist policies, not individual intentions or deficits. In a nation that professes that those who work hard and play by the rules should be rewarded with social and economic upward mobility, these persistent disparities are a stark reminder that, as a society, we have not achieved this goal.
        
        These charts tell the story of wealth inequality in the United States. The first three show wealth disparities over time across race and age. The remainder demonstrate how gaps in earnings, homeownership rates, retirement savings, emergency savings, benefits from tax subsidies, and intergenerational transfers contribute to wealth inequities. We also identify evidence-based solutions that policymakers can implement to reduce systemic inequities and build wealth for all Americans…”
        
        More simply—From the American Hospital Association, a crystal clear set of facts about Medicaid assistance in America to the less well-off:
        
        “The Medicaid program is the largest single source of health care coverage in the United States, covering nearly half of all children, over 40% of births (including nearly 50% of births in rural communities), many low-income elderly and disabled individuals, and working adults in low-wage jobs that do not offer affordable coverage. .. Medicaid provides health care coverage to one in five Americans — more than 70 million people — including 40% of all children and 60% of all nursing home residents.”
        
        AHA–Fact Sheet: Medicaid
        2/2025
        
        Reply
        
        George Hollister June 19, 2025
        
        If inequality is measured with money it’s right here in Mendocino County where we are on the edge of the Bay Area, which is on another economic planet, but certainly influences us. Here, and in other parts of California, there is an outflow of middle class residents to other parts of the country because of it, and the because of the politics it creates. But we are not representative of the rest of the country. Outside of major cities, the entire Midwest has less money and less inequality. Same for the Mountain States, the South, and Appalachia. No one talks about it. It’s not an issue. There is some irony here.
        
        Reply
        
        Chuck Dunbar June 19, 2025
        
        You don’t have a clear answer to the facts I presented, just that “no one talks about it,”and “it’s not an issue.” I have never heard someone say it like this, kind of boggles the mind. How can you know that nobody talks about it–how can you reasonably say that? There seems instead to me to be great concern and lots of discussion by many of folks all around, as to not earning enough to pay for adequate food and for rents–the costs of which have both risen substantially all over the country in the past several years. Many see this as a straigh-forward class issue. Wait until AI starts putting a whole lot of middle class folks–techies and professionals and others– out of work–it’s going to get worse really fast on a large scale.
        
        Reply
        
        George Hollister June 19, 2025
        
        Go to anywhere outside the SF Bay Area, and LA-San Diego. In Alturas, no one talks about inequity, they talk about over regulation. Same for the entire Sierra and Central Valley. They also voted for Trump. These are different worlds. There is nothing mind boggling about it. BTW, this “inequality” is not knew. Remember the “War on Poverty”? That was supposed to end poverty in Appalachia, imposed by people with good intentions who were clueless to the hillbilly mindset.
        
        This gets us back to the current anti-Trump demonstrations. People outside of big cities like SF, LA, NY, Chicago, Seattle, and Portland, are left wondering what the heck is going on with this? Do Democrats want to double down on losing another election? The core of the anti-Trump demonstrations is the nonprofit government grand economy that is there to address inequality that is localized in our big cities. DOGE has cut these grants, and in some cases eliminated them. It is telling that no one is demonstrating for a change in immigration laws, or better education, or less regulation, or cheaper energy. It is all about getting government money for every victim identity group, and “taxing the rich” to pay for it. That money is going away, one way or the other, and a those who profit from it don’t like that.
        
        Reply
        
        Chuck Dunbar June 19, 2025
        
        I give up. You are usually kind of sensible, George. Here not so much. I will say that the anti-Trump protests are less about money, more about immigration, the rights and treatment of the people, respect for the law, respect for the limits of the presidency, not having the president think and act like he is a king.
steve derwinski June 17, 2025

Can you say TURP ?
Somewhere into my fifties I noticed I was getting up in the middle of the night sometimes to pee. Twenty years later it had escalated to two or three times with not much of what they call “flow”. My doctor gave me some pills but they really didn’t help the situation and so it seemed like I was jumping out of bed every ten minutes.Finally one morning I had a pain so fierce in my abdomen that the local clinic shoved a catheter
up my pee pipe and sent me to the emergency room in a nifty white and red ambulance.
The catheter—which I would wear with the accompanying pee bag for about ten weeks was a hassle to say the least but I didn’t feel so bad after the cute young nurse In the emergency room confided that she’d had her own catheter to contend with.
So I was a candidate for the TURP. Which turns out to be a fairly standard procedure for old guys like me. It stands for TransUrethral Resection of the Prostate and while they’re “dicking” around with a special”tool” —you won’t feel a thing cause the anesthesiologist has sent you to La La Land for about an hour or so.
My urologist was a straight ahead kind of guy and the few times I visited him before my surgery I tried to chat him up to no avail–no small talk–no joking around–this prostate/penis/bladder stuff is serious stuff.
But I never gave up hope I could get him to crack a smile.So when I was in pre-op and he came to check on me I told him my friends had wished me luck with the surgery but I’d told them I hoped it wasn’t luck–I hoped it was skill. He actually broke into a big smile and walked around the bed to give me a fist bump on my shoulder……

Reply
- Chuck Dunbar June 17, 2025
  
  Good story, Steve, you got that doc to give you a smile, and a fist bump, too.
  
  Reply
Mark Donegan June 17, 2025

Someone asked me today if I thought the Sheriff, was a good man. I told him I thought he was a very good man. To me, as Sheriff, he has been interventionist, on the front lines of both homelessness and behavioral health. Even more so with the new jail wing. Intervention is a very needed aspect of our processes, and the jail has been acting in that role. I personally have seen the difference on the streets and hear it every day. Things are changing, people are starting personal responsibility from the top down as it should. The PHF will soon be completed giving Ukiah another leg in our support system thanks to Dr. Miller.
Tomorrow’s Behavioral Health Advisory Board Meeting:
June 18, 2025
1:00 PM – 3:30 PM
Location: Conference Room 1, Behavioral Health & Recovery Services,
1120 S. Dora Street, Ukiah, CA 95482
We have some interventionist’s walking around, most don’t want to be identified, that is not how they work, and they are unfortunately overloaded. Thus, giving us the problems we still face. I always thought it would be easy to re-align, but it’s hard to see what’s going on when people are throwing bricks. Something my rickety crickety bent paper clip ass is going speak upon next time I get the chance. Bullies still seem to be running things.

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Kirk Vodopals June 17, 2025

And this issue just confirms why my subscription is set to auto-pay: I don’t think I could find any other publication with as much in depth discussion on geriatric dildo probing and prostate concerns. Well done fellas

Reply
- Chuck Dunbar June 17, 2025
  
  Ditto that for me, I’ve been through the same indignities and survived due to a great prostate cancer doctor, Stephen Banks, Adventist Hospital, St. Helena. And thanks also for the Steve Heilig piece as well as the lyrics to Woody Guthrie’s classic song, so very relevant to American today.
  
  Reply
Ramble rose June 17, 2025

INSTITUTE ON AGING

•Living to 85+
In 1900, only 100,000 Americans lived to be 85+.
By 2010, that number had grown to 5.5 million. This is the fastest growing age group of elders.
By 2050, the 85+ age group will reach 19 million—24 percent of older adults and five percent of the total population.
Some researchers say the 85+ group will grow even faster than this, because death rates at older ages will decline more rapidly than the U.S. Census Bureau predicts.

•Living Longer
In 1985, older adults accounted for 11 percent of the U.S. population.
By 2010, they were 13 percent. More than 40 million Americans are now age 65+.
By 2030,as the last Baby Boomers turn 65,older adults are expected to reach 20 percent of the population. After that, the proportion is expected to level off, but the absolute number of individuals age 65+ will keep growing.
In California, 4.3 million people are age 65+ (11.4 percent of the population), an 18 percent increase since 2000.

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Ramble rose June 17, 2025

Candidate running for office in NY City said:

Law Enforcement are not Social Workers.

Law Enforcement are not Behavioral Health Specialists.

LET LAW ENFORCEMENT DO WHAT THEY WERE TRAINED TO DO.

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Ramble rose June 17, 2025

(Leg)islators are getting leggy, and in gardening parlance it means a plant has grown unsightly, and must be trimmed back to recover its original shape.

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Ramble rose June 17, 2025

Someone at KMUD was up early reading the AVA…

Tuesday at 10:00 on HonkyTonk KMUD
“Red Foley”
https://youtu.be/080HhpWaz-o?si=bUBvsyiMgQIokowD

Red Foley is also the name of a catheter
What size is a red foley catheter?
Sizes
Color French units mm
Green 14 4.7
Orange 16 5.3
Red 18 6.0
Yellow 20 6.7

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Mazie Malone June 17, 2025

Dear AVA’ers 🫶🏻🤣

Interesting response to my questioning of Sheriff Kendall’s comment about intervention labeled as assistance. I genuinely ask questions for clarity, not conflict.

We all know law enforcement are notmental health workers—they love to remind us of that. Truly, no one expects them to be.

What is expected is appropriate intervention and accountability.

It’s easy to believe things that aren’t true:
“Oh look, here’s a P.U.F.F. unit and a jail BH wing! Here’s $3 trillion to fight homelessness and mental illness!”

Then everyone feels hopeful, like we’re solving it.
But we’re not. Because it’s not about the money.
It’s about coordinated action, unified protocols, consistent interventions, and systems that support people in time of need.

And to be clear, I am very well aware that sometimes arrest and jail are necessary & unavoidable. You would not believe the amount of people who’s loved one has been arrested for having mental illness because there is no intervention as someone deteriorates we wait until they commit a crime and that is just wrong that is not public or personal safety.

I don’t throw bricks.
If I did, I’d probably hit someone in the head. 🧱🧠
Instead, I build with them—each one anchored in place by my own hands. 👏💕 Girl hands at that!!!

🤣🤣💕💕💕

mm 💕

Reply
- Matt Kendall June 18, 2025
  
  Well said you dandy Corker!
  
  Reply
  - Mazie Malone June 18, 2025
    
    Why thank you, Sheriff Kendall, 👮🚔💕
    
    enjoy your evening, ⭐️😎
    
    mm 💕
    
    Reply

Mendocino County Today: Tuesday 6/17/2025

32 Comments

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