Mendocino County Today: Sunday 6/22/2025

Gusty | Summer Camp | Farm Report | County Business | Black Bart Parade | Bad Decisions | Vintage Hoopla | AVUSD News | Klamath Classic | KZYX Cuts | Meeting Elise | Firing Elise | Local Airpeople | Pet Teddy | Dusty Roads | Quilt Show | Richard Matlock | Yesterday's Catch | Perimeter Answer | Marco Radio | Hoof Trim | PG&E Fined | Giants Win | Eddie Feigner | Superconscious State | Nest Materials | Social Security | L.A. Marines | Tuning Out | Accordion Rebel | Sex Yell | Lead Stories | Dark Day | Can't Feel | Mad King | Zionist Propaganda | Bible Study | Artificially Rushed | Cap'n America | Trump’s Fault | Pandora’s Box | Four Horsemen

---

ISOLATED light showers possible early this morning, mainly in Del Norte County and northern Humboldt. Gusty west and northwest winds continue for the interior on Sunday. Below normal temperatures are expected for the interior this weekend. A warming and drying trend early to mid next week. (NWS)

STEPHEN DUNLAP (Fort Bragg): A clear 47F this Sunday morning on the coast. One more windy day then winds should calm down this week. Our forecast calls for mostly clear skies but the "you know what" is always nearby.

---

---

REPORT FROM A SMALL FARM IN BOONVILLE

Petit Teton Monthly Farm Report - May 2025

What strange weather we’re having. The spring has been very moderate overall, but also very windy at times. Today, the first day of summer, is actually cold at 67 degrees which is nothing like what we’re used to this time of year. The berries — red, black and gold raspberries, strawberries, marionberries, and two types of blackberries are loving the cool as are the English shelling peas. Also, the tomato plants are lush and setting fruit, what remains of the onions (those that didn’t scape) are hardening off, and the fennel is flowering. We save fennel seed because the kitchen uses a lot of it. Cucumbers are flowering and gherkins are being harvested. Apples all have good sets and have already been thinned. Pears thin themselves and they too are loaded with fruit. But the okra, sesame, and peppers are struggling from lack of heat.

The grand winners though are the plums…my goodness, the trees, 8 of them, are so full and heavy that the branches are leaning on fences and the ground for support. Even with the winds thinning the fruit, there is still such an overwhelming amount that we’re worried big branches are going to break. This week over 110lbs of plums were harvested from one very large and beautiful Thundercloud wild plum tree. There are 10 boxes in the kitchen ripening. Next week they will be cooked to soften so the pits can be removed, a long and tedious process done by hand in a large pan, then checked again for misses by pouring through a French mill. All this as precursor to making jars of jam.

Last week we made another 64lbs of pork sausage. Four 5lb packages of thawed pork are put in a large bowl onto which we toss the spicing mixture which I make a day or so before from all the herbs we grow (except the star anise for which I’ve been unable to find seed)…see picture below. Gloved and apron-ed we then mix the ingredients by hand. It’s an upper body and hand workout for sure.

So, this is a taste of what we’ve been up to, and we hope you’ve been keeping happily busy as well. Take care of yourselves and those around you…and don’t forget to march in the next rally.

Nikki Auschnitt and Steve Krieg

---

ACCORDING TO THE COUNTY’S CONTRACT PORTAL, over the last six years, Mendo has issued 16 contracts with Liebert Cassidy Whitmore, the SF Law Firm that is representing the County in defense of the Cubbison civil case. Two contracts are currently open. Most of the contracts are listed as being from the Human Resouces Department. One is out of the Executive Office and two are out of the County Counsel’s office. The total value of the contracts is almost $1.5 million. The biggest one is, of course, the Cubbison case defense contract now pegged at $400k which extends to June of 2027. (What could have possibly possessed the Supervisors to extend the contract for that long?) Our favorite contract title is “Membership in the LCW legal consortium which provides expert training and consulting services to assist Agency in workforce management and employee relations.” Value? About $18k. The County also pays LCW for “Contract Negotiations and Employer-Employee Relations” (2 contracts totaling about $335k.) At least there are no current contracts with LCW for union negotiations.

---

THERE’S ALSO A NOTE in the CEO report about the “Strategic Hiring Process” buried deep in this month’s CEO report. The "Strategic Hiring Process,” is the Board’s and the CEO’s silly euphemism for a hiring freeze, the more accurate term that Supervisor Maureen Mulheren didn’t like. “Human Resources will present a monthly agenda item to the Board of Supervisors, which reviews all departmental requests to fill vacant or soon-to-be vacant positions. Each request will include a justification outlining the necessity of the position, any legal or regulatory mandates, and the proposed funding source.”

So far, nothing of the sort has appeared on any Supervisors Agenda.

(Mark Scaramella)

---

---

WHEN SUPERVISORS MAKE BAD DECISIONS

by Mark Scaramella

Sheriff Matt Kendall, writing in response to my recent posting about Supervisor Williams reversing himself on Annexation, wrote:

“I usually let the supes fight their own fights and carry their own water. That being said, I’m not in agreement with the description of Supervisor Williams’ work in the article today.

No secret at all we have banged heads over various subjects. I’m certain we will bang heads in the future as well. That doesn’t mean I don’t respect him or the job he has to do. Hell, if we didn’t bang heads we wouldn’t be doing our jobs.

Confidence and arrogance are completely different things. An arrogant person can’t admit mistakes while a confident person can. Also a confident person will often throw the vehicle in reverse to go back and review decisions when new information is brought forward.

I live in a world where many decisions are made and moments later the conditions change. What began as a sound decision on Monday seems foolish on Tuesday. I have had to walk things back when conditions change, it’s hard to do while retaining trust.

Personally, that is what I see in this case. We were given a small amount of information which morphed greatly as this ball started rolling.

One thing I can say about Ted, is every conversation we have, we both work hard to hear what is said rather than just trying to win the argument.

At times we both leave the room unhappy, but that’s to be expected when we are forced to meet in the middle.

There will likely come another time when I ask the public to get their torches and pitchforks and follow me to the board chambers. I just don’t think that time is now.

Just my 2 cents, take it for what it’s worth.”

BANGING HEADS, aka disagreeing on issues that arise, particularly regarding law enforcement, is not the issue here. In fact, I don’t even recall any law enforcement issue that Williams and Kendall have seriously argued about in the Supervisors chambers. The issue is bad decisions. I simply pointed out a few of Williams’ major blunders, most of which he’s reversed himself on, one of which he doggedly holds on to. That issue is, of course, the Cubbison civil case, a case that has lately become so bizarre that the Board’s outside attorney actually filed a change of venue motion claiming that the public has been mislead by local reporting on the case. But “the public” isn’t even involved in the civil case. The case, if it isn’t settled, will be heard by Judge Moorman, not a jury. The Supes and their outside attorney also claimed that Judge Moorman was somehow “biased.” That was summarily denied, of course. Filing a change of venue motion not only doesn’t apply and isn’t based on anything valid, but makes no sense. The Board has met multiple times in closed session in recent weeks to discuss the Cubbison case, and they have not only raised the amount to be paid to their outside attorney, but they approved this costly and ridiculous argument.

In the case of Williams’ Annexation Termination proposal, the Sheriff says it’s just a matter of what looked good one day looks bad another day. But that’s not the case here. As Williams own resolution says, the Annexation proposal violates county policy. And when Williams asked Mulheren last June about whether she had run the tax sharing agreement past County staff during her secret ad hoc meetings, Mulheren rambled on incoherently about having “spoken to” a few (unnamed) staff members including law enforcement. All Williams had to do was suggest that Mulheren’s tax sharing agreement — a significant and potentially costly proposal that Williams and his colleagues knew nothing about at the time — should be reviewed by staff before they voted on it. They would have then learned, as they did when Supervisor Cline raised the question, that it not only costs the County significant revenue, but would be very difficult to implement.

Perhaps the Sheriff has forgotten that Williams not only was a co-leader of the failed Get Cubbison project that didn’t even get past a preliminary hearing, but also was the Board instigator of the misguided threat to charge the Sheriff for ordinary budget overruns.

https://theava.com/archives/156136#15

At that time then-Assistant CEO Darcie Antle, presumably at the behest of then-CEO Carmel Angelo, reminded the Board that “California state government code and county policy — that the county has never enforced — puts personal responsibility on the official authorizing the obligation. It is in County Policy 1, section 1.1, Sources of Authority and Priorities and in the case of a conflict.”

And what was Williams immediate reaction? Instead of saying what a sane person would say: “That’s ridiculous,” Williams made it worse: “Can we decide today to follow this?”

And thus began a pointless, months-long and costly dispute about whether the County should pay for an attorney for the Sheriff and which attorney he could hire and whether the County could really charge a department head for ordinary budget overruns. (They can’t.) Instead, six months and almost $400k later, the issue was “mediated,” i.e., dropped, after the County hired another expensive SF attorney to “mediate” between the Board and the Sheriff at a cost of $150k to Kendall’s attorney Duncan James plus an additional $240k to the mediator.

Remember, this isn’t just about supervisors making bad decisions, it has significant impact on the County’s ability to raise revenue. The more the Supes make high-visibility bad decisions, the less likely it is that new tax proposals will be supported by county voters.

Instead of pulling his feet out of cowpies and bragging about how the stink is gone, Supervisor Williams should be more careful about where he steps.

---

---

AV UNIFIED NEWS

Dear Parents District English Learner Advisory Committee and Parent Advisory Partners,

I want to sincerely thank you for your active participation in the Parent Survey, Parent Feedback sessions, School Site Council (Parent Advisory Committee), and the District English Learner Advisory Committee (ELAC/DELAC), as well as all other LCAP feedback opportunities. Your valuable input on the goals and actions of the Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP) has played a key role in shaping our work. The feedback you provided—both during meetings and through surveys—has directly influenced the determination of priorities and several refinements to the 2025–2026 LCAP.

Families have expressed their desire for:

• Increased, proactive academic support for students experiencing difficulties
• Increased support for bilingualism
• Improved instructional quality (reduction of screentime, more experience-based instruction such as outdoor education and curriculum-related field trips)
• Increase in social-emotional supports and clear communication to students and families about how to access these supports
• Proactive supervision and support for positive student choices and interactions during unstructured times
• An increase in rigorous coursework options for college-bound students
• An increase and earlier start for college-awareness opportunities and assistance with the college application process
• An emphasis on keeping classes as small as possible
• Increase student attendance

These items are highlighted in the following LCAP Actions:

• California Community Schools Partnership Program: enhanced social-emotional and academic supports, and increased emphasis on community and family partnerships
• Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (academic and social/emotional): universal screeners, proactive academic and social emotional supports through increased funding, programs for students, and training of staff. Emphasis on formative assessment to guide instruction and support.
• English Learner Support: multiple programs offered, including English Language Development (ELD), newcomer ELD, and EL coordinator to align services with needs
• Students with Disabilities: comprehensive services for all students through MTSS framework, focused on supporting student access to coursework through the Least Restrictive Environment (LRE)
• Student Safety: ensure proper supervision, utilize restorative practices
• Student Engagement: amplify student voice through leadership groups, survey opportunities, and expanded opportunities to serve on district-level committees
• Professional Learning (staff): collaborative leadership practices, professional learning opportunities
• Implementation and Assessment of Standards/Competencies: scaffolded instruction, ongoing formative assessments, emphasis on prior knowledge/asset based instruction
• Academic Focus Area-Mathematics: increased staffing, support courses and services, and professional development for instructors
• College and Career: fully support the California College Guidance Initiative (CCGI), development of Personal Learning Plans for every high school student, Seal of Biliteracy, A-G college/career counseling, Senior Advisor, Senior Seminar, etc…
• Career Technical Education & Pathways: sustain and enhance pathways
• Academic Enrichment: foreign language, visual and performing arts standards, outdoor learning
• Attendance: monitor student attendance data and assist families with barriers to student attendance, increase student and family engagement in school programs
• Extended/Expanded Learning Time and Opportunities: After School Program (ASP), weekend enrichment, extracurricular clubs, field trips, driver’s training, etc…

In response to feedback from our educational partner engagement sessions, we have created an ‘LCAP Hub’—a centralized website designed to organize and provide easy access to all LCAP-related information. LCAP Hub Link: https://sites.google.com/avpanthers.org/avusdlcaphub/home

Once again, thank you for your valuable input and for positively contributing to the development of the LCAP. If you have any additional questions or feedback, please feel free to share them by emailing the superintendent at [email protected]

Sincerely,

Kristin Larson Balliet, Superintendent

AV Unified School District

---

---

KZYX MAKES STAFF ADJUSTMENTS IN RESPONSE TO POTENTIAL LOSS OF FEDERAL FUNDING

June 20, 2025, Philo, CA –The Trump Administration has submitted a recission package to congress that seeks to claw back already approved funds for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) for the next two years. For local community radio station and NPR affiliate KZYX, that represents a potential loss of 25% of their operating revenues via the elimination of the CPB Community Services Grant program for FY 25/26 and 26/27.

To prepare for these potential cuts, the KZYX Board has drafted a break-even budget for 25/26 making their own reductions and contemplating additional sources of revenue.

According to new General Manager and Director of Operations Andre de Channes, this potential reduction in critical federal funding necessitates adjustments to ensure the continued operations and long-term sustainability for KZYX. “Because all our local music and public affairs programming is provided at no cost to KZYX via our amazing team of volunteer programmers, and because the only local content KZYX produces in-house is the local news, the difficult decision has been made to downsize our news structure and lay off KZYX News Director, Elise Cox, effective June 30th,” said de Channes. “I am so grateful for Elise and her dedication to keeping our listeners informed on issues that impact daily lives right here in Mendocino County. Her demonstrable enthusiasm for the news is evident to anyone who’s met her and we wish her nothing but the best.”

According to de Channes, KZYX remains committed to continuing local news. “Despite this challenging development, KZYX’s commitment to delivering vital local headline news to our listenership is absolute. We are proactively leading with innovative approaches and securing key partnerships with local news organizations, ensuring our listeners consistently receive the essential local information they depend on. This dedication drives us to fulfill our mission with unwavering resilience and creative ingenuity.”

Given the destabilizing nature of the current funding status, KZYX Board Treasurer Mary Golden stated that the board plans to review the fiscal status of the station on a quarterly basis.

Said Golden, “Given the situation in DC, we believe it’s wisest to embrace a nimble and responsive financial strategy rather than set fixed expectations that may prove unrealistic. We are committed to regular budget evaluations throughout the year, enabling us to quickly adapt to evolving revenues and needs,” said Golden. “The timing isn’t great, we are also in the middle of an exciting capital campaign to move the station headquarters to Ukiah from our long-serving, but increasingly inadequate home in Philo - we have operational needs to maintain our signals and prepare us for that move.” Golden emphasized further the importance of prepping for the move to Ukiah. “Upgrading tower equipment and making long deferred repairs needs to be addressed before we are ready to operate out of the new studio. Those costs are included in the budget and may change throughout the year so this is a time to keep our knees loose and be ready to pivot and we are prepared to do that.”

You can find KZYX on the dial at 91.5 in Ukiah, 88.1 in Fort Bragg and Mendocino, 90.7 in Philo and streaming online at www.kzyx.org.

---

MARTIN BRADLEY: I met Alise Cox for the first time in person last Thursday at Plowshares when she was preparing a story about Sr Jane. Alise was one of the better local journalists digging deep, interviewing and recording sources to weave an on-air narrative.

---

ANOTHER FIRING AT KZYX!

A Reader Writes: KZYX has eliminated their news department and fired their reporter Elise Cox, citing budget concerns. The membership was informed via email earlier Friday evening.

There is so much wrong with this letter from the new Station Manager, and this insane move imperils our already news-starved county. We need leadership that turns TOWARD our community and gets creative about alternative funding in the face of Trump-regime cuts, not CAPITULATION and obedience in advance.

If you are upset by the latest maneuvers at KZYX, please come to the next KZYX Board meeting, in person in Willits on Tuesday, June 24.

---

MARCO MCCLEAN

New CEO Andre of KZYX wrote: “Because all our local music and public affairs programming is provided at no cost to KZYX via our amazing team of volunteer programmers, and because the only local content KZYX produces in-house is the local news, the difficult decision has been made to downsize our news structure and lay off KZYX News Director, Elise Cox.”

Look, this just means that all along, up to now, the various manager/CEOs of KZYX, have been easily able to pay at least a pittance to all the local airpeople and simply chose not to while pocketing and cashing their own $5,000/month salary checks, as the current CEO will continue to do, won’t he?, no matter what, because he can. See that.

KZYX has, for all the years of its existence, been swimming in rich donors’ money and tax-derived money and shenaniganly mismanaging it to flush through its system /more than three times what it actually costs to maintain the station./ They’ll be fine.

But, speaking of news, many years ago I suggested just reading the AVA aloud on the air for an hour a day, and so cover local, county and world news and culture. When the AVA was a paper, that would’ve cost four dollars a month. Now that it’s a web publication it’s only two dollars a month. Easy. I’ll pay that myself, out of the $1000 a year KZYX will pay me for joining part of my live all-Friday-night KNYO and KAKX show, which arrangement can start right away with a few mouse clicks of KZYX’s automation techie and bookkeeper. I’m ready; I’ve been doing the show on various stations since February of 1997 with no reasonable complaints, and I already have uses in mind for the money, as I’m sure all the local airpeople at KZYX do. A couple of tires, car insurance, groceries, phone/internet access, maybe a movie once in awhile, the usual. What people do with money they’re paid for their work.

---

PET OF THE WEEK

If you’ve been searching for a young, furry, fun canine companion, look no further than Teddy! Despite being a young’un, Teddy has lots of love to give. This pup is a smart cookie, always eager to learn new tricks, and sure to be the star pupil in his canine training class. Teddy is an energetic fella who enjoys running around and playing, but he also knows when it’s time to settle down and snuggle up with his favorite humans. If you’re looking for a loyal and loving companion for life, schedule a meet and greet with this sweet guy ASAP! He can’t wait to run right into your heart! Teddy is 8 months old and as of June 20, 51 pounds.

For information about all of our adoptable dogs and cats, and our services, programs, and events, visit: mendoanimalshelter.com

Join us the first Saturday of every month for the Meet The Dogs Adoption Event at the shelter.

For information about adoptions please call 707-467-6453.

Making a difference for homeless pets in Mendocino County, one day at a time!

---

ERNIE PARDINI

Dusty roads and dirty faces

Calk boots with leather laces

Ice chests filled with Luke warm beer

And rugged men that have no fear

Machines of iron and falling trees

It would bring a sane man to his knees

Pitch and sweat and dirt and grime

It’s balls out til quittin’ time

Bustin’ ass ten hours a day

A thankless job with meager pay

But they ll log until they can log no more

Countin’ the turns and keeping score

Many are broken and many have died

All have laughed….and all have cried

---

FORT BRAGG QUILT SHOW

The 29th annual Ocean Wave Quilt Show runs June 28-29, 2025 from 10am to 5pm Saturday and 10am to 4pm Sunday. The $10 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]

---

JAMES (JADE) TIPPETT

Re: Andy Johnson’s memories

Richard Matlock, the summer star pitcher of the Harwood Sawmill team returned to Laytonville as a teacher, starting in the one room schoolhouse up on Bell Springs where his first duty was evicting the family of feral hogs living under the schoolhouse. He went on to become Laytonville Elementary School principal, a position he held for many years. After his purchase of a BMW one fall was misinterpreted by his breakfast companions at the Laytonville Inn, as success in the local illicit agriculture, he took to morning coffee in the Laytonville Schools bus barn with Ron Peterson. As the bus mechanic at the time, I often sat in on those morning get-togethers where Richard would tell stories from Laytonville’s past.

One I distinctly remember dealt with a baseball game held in Fort Bragg. Serious baseball rivals, Harwoods and Union Lumber. The Harwood team was down and Matlock was pitching. During a batting rotation half-way through the game, Bud Harwood Senior came down to the dugout. He said, “Matty, we gotta win this one. I just bet the [mill] payroll on the game.” Well, thanks to Matlock’s talent on the mound, Harwood’s won. After the game, Bud came back down to the dugout and quietly handed Matty a bag stuffed with cash.

That was just how the game was played back then. I always liked Mr. Matlock.

---

CATCH OF THE DAY, Saturday, June 21, 2025

DAVID BROWN, 29, Ukiah. Petty theft with two or more priors, false ID.

JEFFREY CARVER, 42, Willits. Under influence, paraphernalia, probation revocation.

KELLY CLARK, 40, Ukiah. Assault, disorderly conduct-alcohol.

BRADY GOFORTH, 59, Willits. Drinking in public, concealed dirk-dagger.

KYLE MCCARTY, 24, Covelo. Domestic abuse.

JONATHON THOMPSON, 31, Fort Bragg. Probation revocation.

MYCHELL VEGA-AYALA, 31, Ukiah. Controlled substance, paraphernalia, probation revocation.

---

YESTERDAY'S PUZZLE (left) provided values for three sides and asked for the perimeter.

To discover the total we've labelled the rest of the sides (right). So, a+b+c = 14; z = 12; and x+y=8. Thus, the total perimeter (14+14+12+12+8+8) is 68.

---

Bob Abeles writes:

The trick to solving this puzzle is to not assume that the drawing is proportional. Since it’s clearly not proportional, we’ll solve it algebraically.

The perimeter is the sum of the lengths of the enclosing line segments. So, working clockwise from the bottom side we have this algebraic equation for the sum of the line segments. I’ve assigned letters to the unknowns:

perimeter = 14 + 8 + a + b + c + 12 + d + e
Further, we can see that the following hold true:
14 = a + c + d
e = 12 + 8 – b
e = 20 – b
20 = e + b
Re-arranging and substituting these into our original equation gives:
perimeter = 14 + 8 + 12 + (a + c + d) + (e + b)
perimeter = 14 + 8 + 12 + 14 + 20
perimeter = 68

---

MEMO OF THE AIR: Étrangers in the nuit.

Marco here. Here’s the recording of last night’s (9pm PDT, 2025-06-20) 7-hour-long Memo of the Air: Good Night Radio show on 107.7fm KNYO-LP Fort Bragg (CA) and also, for the first three hours, on KAKX Mendocino, ready for you to re-enjoy in whole or in part: https://tinyurl.com/KNYO-MOTA-0649

Coming shows can feature your own story or dream or poem or essay or kvetch or announcement. Just email it to me. Or send me a link to your writing project and I’ll take it from there and read it on the air.

Besides all that, at https://MemoOfTheAir.wordpress.com you’ll find a fresh batch of dozens of links to not-necessarily radio-useful but worthwhile items I set aside for you while gathering the show together, such as:

How to skin dive. I used to love his show when I was a little boy. My grandmother caught me carrying a knife in my teeth the way Lloyd Bridges did in /Sea Hunt/. Spit that out, she said. Never put a knife in your mouth. She had other rules about knives: Never hand someone a knife blade-first. A butter knife is also a screwdriver, see that? Everything can be something else. But use the right knife for the job. When they got an /electric reciprocating knife/ I was fascinated by that. My grandfather gave me a few little knives that of course I don’t have now but wish I did. I remember a pen-knife no longer than my thumb, with iridescent green-white mother-of-toilet-seat plastic on the sides, the tiny fairy-angel of knives. Lloyd Bridges jumped off a boat with his hands full of equipment and a foot-long knife in his teeth and that was frightening but thrilling. On /The Man From U.N.C.L.E./ spies swam with a knife in their teeth so they could use both hands to shoot you with a speargun. It could be perfectly safe; you’d just have to be careful to turn the knife the right way, sharp side outward, and not hook your lips over it. My grandmother didn’t want to hear that. Just never, she said. And then she said something like, “Come here, you want frozen blueberries?” That’s how you train anybody or anything. https://www.weirduniverse.net/blog/comments/hear_how_to_skin_dive

Atabrine, commando of the blood stream. “Take a tablet of Atabrine every day. It’s the ace in the hole the Japs (sic) forgot.” Prevent malaria and shorten the war! (I asked ChatGPT what Atabrine tasted like. Here’s the answer: “Extremely, nauseatingly bitter, worse than quinine. Troops were often given coated tablets to make it more palatable, but even so, complaints about the taste were common. Some soldiers chewed the tablets despite instructions not to, making the experience even worse. The taste of the drug was commonly associated with its side effects: yellowing of the skin, nausea, vomiting, stomach cramps, diarrhea, hallucinations…”) But it was effective against malaria, so. You know what replaced Atabrine? Chloroquine. Effective against malaria, amebiasis of the liver, rheumatoid arthritis, two kinds of lupus, but not at all against anything else including covid, in case the name perked your ears up. https://www.weirduniverse.net/blog/comments/atabrine_psas

How Benedict Cumberbatch cries on cue for an acting job, according to Tom Holland. I do it by saying the poem on the Statue of Liberty, or the line at the end of a story about space exploration that I read when I was a little boy: “God! he cries, dying on Mars. God, we made it!” Or the story of where Rose and The Doctor are separated forever, stuck in separate universes because of her bravery and sacrifice, to save the world, in battle with the Daleks in the Torchwood One tower. She shoved the lever over to trap all the Daleks and remove them, but she’s lost, sucked down the transdimensional portal. So after a long lonely time in this other world, thinking, missing him, just living, not being whole, she’s drawn to a bleak flat beach in Norway, and an image of The Doctor appears, seemingly standing there facing her. She says, How? He says, It takes a tremendous amount of energy. I’m /burning out a star so we can talk one last time./ (!!!) Or just about any scene near the end of /Never Let Me Go/. Or imagining something bad happening to Juanita that I might’ve been able to prevent if I had only been more present. Or watching a real spaceship take off (that’s the really up-feeling kind of crying). Or thinking about Dolores O’Riordan singing /Zombie/ on stage in the 1990s (that’s the down-feeling kind; because twenty years after that she died alone, drunk and depressed, drowned in the bathtub). Okay. Take a breath. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/qw9TzAwyxEc

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

---

BILL KIMBERLIN: 16 foot giraffe gets a hoof trim and new shoes. He was having trouble walking.

---

PG&E AGREES TO $7 MILLION FINE FOR CALIF. FIRE AS PROSECUTORS WEIGH CHARGES

by Ida Mojadad

PG&E has agreed to pay a $7 million fine for alleged safety violations related to the 2022 Edgewood Fire in Redwood City.

The California Public Utilities Commission, which confirmed the agreement to SFGATE on Friday, levied the fine in May after finding it violated 10 rules around safety maintenance. While it was not one of California’s largest or most destructive fires, the 2022 blaze injured four firefighters and burned 20 acres, causing nearly $2 million in damages to utility facilities.

The cause of the fire was “most likely” contact between two circuits without proper distance between the two, CPUC regulators found in their May 16 report. Insufficient clearance between the two was identified as far back as 2016 and then again in 2020. Other instances of insufficient distance between conductors were found in 2019 and 2022, before the fire erupted on June 21 of that year. Between 2018 and 2022, PG&E inspected the area 19 times, according to the CPUC report.

The fire, which began in Woodside, caused evacuation orders for nearby residents, and more than 2,700 people lost power, CPUC regulators wrote. It took five days to fully contain.

PG&E failed to meet the same requirements at other locations in the recent past, the CPUC noted. In 2021, equipment that made contact started the Brewer Fire in Grass Valley, and a tree falling onto PG&E conductors sparked the Dixie Fire in Butte County.

San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe told NBC Bay Area, which first reported that PG&E accepted the fines on Wednesday, that his office is reviewing findings and weighing criminal prosecution.

PG&E and Wagstaffe did not respond in time for publication.

(SFGate.com)

---

RAFAEL DEVERS SMACKS 1ST S.F. HR; GIANTS HOLD ON TO BEAT RED SOX

by Shayna Rubin

This weekend at Oracle Park was ready-made for drama with Rafael Devers facing the Boston Red Sox less than a week after they traded him to the San Francisco Giants in a stunning swap. The Devers-Boston relationship didn’t end on good terms, and all eyes were watching to see how both sides would respond to the mutual scorn.

Devers went hitless in the Giants’ loss Friday, but had a fitting rebound Saturday afternoon as he smacked an opposite-field, two-run home run to extend the Giants’ lead in the third inning. It was Devers’ first home run as a Giant and the biggest hit in San Francisco’s 3-2 win.

Both sides played it cool when asked if Devers’ swing evoked any emotions, though.

“No, no. Nothing more special than any other home run I hit,” Devers said with Erwin Higueros interpreting. “I’m just here and happy to contribute to the team’s win.”

Red Sox manager Alex Cora, asked if it was inevitable that Devers make his impact on the series, gave a measured answer before asking if the questioning was over.

“Not really,” he said. “We made a pitch and he hit it out of the ballpark. Just hit a pitch. And that’s part of it.”

The involved parties had to play it cool, but the power stroke surely struck a chord for Boston fans still mourning the loss of a fan favorite and, in turn, had to have made Giants fans even more excited about their newest acquisition.

The home run displayed just the kind of power Devers can deliver in a ballpark that’s been unkind to all lefties not named Barry Bonds. It’s expected that he will hit baseballs into McCovey Cove, much like Bonds, but he sprays the ball all over.

“That’s typical of him, too. Let it travel, catch it late and block it out to left field,” manager Bob Melvin said. “He’s done it so many times in Boston and this park kind of plays that way to lefties as well.”

Of his 215 career home runs with Boston, 34 were opposite-field shots — which, at Fenway Park, means hitting it over the Green Monster — and 107 went to center with 74 pulled to right. Saturday, he stroked a 96 mph fastball on the outer half of the zone 370 feet to left with a 105.5 mph exit velocity.

Devers has been missing on the fastball lately, which is why his former team familiar with his current holes has been attacking with four-seamers through the first two games in the series. But when right, he is one of the most dangerous hitters in baseball against that pitch. His 33 RBI off that pitch are the most in baseball and advanced metrics say he’s scored 5.7 more runs off the fastball than the average player this year.

What’s perhaps stood out most to those within the Giants clubhouse is how unfazed Devers has been since arriving to San Francisco. Reverberations from the blockbuster trade still have the baseball world abuzz, but Devers has managed to put together quality at-bats from the day he arrived. Whatever fears might be stoked about the perils of this ballpark don’t penetrate his steely, yet relaxed exterior. His life has changed in a matter of hours, but he isn’t playing catch-up.

“He never looks like anything affects him since he’s been here,” Melvin said. “I was making the comment that, there’s so much going on in his life — he goes from Boston to here and trade and it’s a day — there’s so much going on and he looked comfortable from the very beginning about being here and happy. He’s been the same guy the entire time.”

Devers did crack a smile when asked about what it meant to hit the home run off right-hander Brayan Bello, a close friend of his while the pair were teammates in Boston. Devers has exchanged knowing nods, few words, with his former teammates, including Bello.

“That’s my brother out there,” he said. “But we know that once we cross that line, we’re competing with each other. Whoever wins, wins and it was us this time.”

Said Bello through an interpreter: “He is a good friend. He was always there for me when I went through struggles, and he was always there with advice. … He would always tell me to trust myself, keep working hard and doing what I do.”

While Devers provided the biggest moment for the Giants at the plate, starter Landen Roupp bounced back in a big way after a miserable six-run, 1 1/3-inning start against the Los Angeles Dodgers last week.

With better feel for his curveball, Roupp struck out seven over six shutout innings. Heliot Ramos helped with a solo home run to center in the first inning, his 13th homer of the year. Roupp walked three and gave up three hits while generating nine swings-and-misses off his curve, but was economical with his pitches to get through Boston unscathed.

“He was primed to do that today,” Melvin said. “He’s a pretty tough competitor and didn’t like how the last one went. It didn’t sit well with him and the whole week he looked a little grumpy and was itching to get back out there. He wanted to go back out for the seventh again, but limited pitches the time before — 90 pitches this time — pitched shutout innings and we had our big boys ready to go, but great bounce-back game from Landen.”

Randy Rodriguez and Tyler Rogers each pitched a scoreless inning, but Camilo Doval let the Red Sox back into it in the ninth.

Roman Anthony hit a leadoff double and Trevor Story singled to put runners on the corners with no outs. Boston scored its first run on Wilyer Abreu’s single to right field and its second when Story — who was on third — came in on Giants catcher Andrew Knizner’s errant attempt to catch pinch-runner Nate Eaton stealing second base. With the tying run in scoring position, Doval got two ground outs to notch his 12th save.

(SF Chronicle)

---

---

HAPPY SUMMER SOLSTICE

Warmest spiritual greetings,

Having completed all activist callings these past 50 years, and recently being supportive of the Washington, D.C. Peace Vigil for the sixteenth time, there remains nothing else but to identify with the Absolute, or God. You are welcome to make contact. Am packed at my bed at the homeless shelter, which Catholic Charities let me have since September, and can be on my way in 20 minutes. $1695.84 in the bank checking account, $47.16 in the wallet, health is very good at age 75. Spent the past two days at the Basilica at Catholic University, always a wonderful spiritual center, and air conditioned too, attending Mass, receiving Holy Communion, and singing, followed by quiet time in side chapels on both levels. This is “sahaja samadhi avastha”…the continuous superconscious state. Left and went to Busboys & Poets nearby for two pints of Delaware’s Dogfish Head ale and a shot o’ Woodford Reserve, with a Cubano pulled pork and ham sandwich with sweet potato fries. At all times, hold fast to the Constant!

Craig Louis Stehr, [email protected]

---

LOVE FINDING BIRDS’ NESTS, BUT WHAT’S IN THEM TROUBLES ME

Most birds go to great lengths to hide their nests. So when I find one, invariably so carefully crafted and astonishingly intricate, I’m filled with awe. They are marvels of the natural world.

The weave of twigs, grass, leaves and other natural materials is specific to each species. Most birds use nests only to raise their young. For small birds, this could be less than one month out of the year. For that reason, I generally don’t consider them homes. But the analogy is apt, if only to convey the uniqueness of their architecture. Of a house, you might say: That’s a craftsman or a Cape Cod or a colonial. The same sort of design distinction can be seen in a nest. That’s a robin’s nest or a warbler’s or a red-tailed hawk’s.

Birds can be choosy about the materials they use to build their nest. Some line their nests with snakeskin to ward off enemies. Others fasten lichens with spider silk to the exterior for camouflage. Still others stuff feathers inside dome-shaped nests of sticks or create false entrances to dupe predators or add aromatic leaves to repel parasites and enhance the immune systems of their nestlings.

Increasingly, and troublingly for what it says about the state of the planet, birds are also using all sorts of plastic litter and other trash to build their nests.

These photos reflect yet another way the human signature has affixed itself on the natural world. Among the trash that birds use to build their nests are strips of tarp; wrappers from gum, candy and cigarettes; plastic cotton and twine; shipping material; landscaping refuse; and insulation.

Distressing as this may be, it’s also a sign of ingenuity. Birds, which evolved from small carnivorous dinosaurs some 150 million years ago, are adjusting to the human-dominated world they inhabit. Studies of this behavior suggest that it is now widespread.

Do these materials attract unwanted attention from predators? Or entangle nestlings? We don’t fully know what impact all this trash is having on birds. There may be benefits to some of the rubbish they add. Plastics may strengthen nests. Polyester wadding may better insulate nests than natural materials, helping nestlings maintain optimal body temperature. The nicotine and other compounds in cigarette butts incorporated into nests may repel parasites. On the other hand, nestlings may eat some of the plastic or other trash, resulting in sickness or even death.

There is, nonetheless, a beauty and resilience to these creations. It’s amazing that birds recognize and match the properties of plastic and other trash materials to natural ones. I’ve seen shreds of tarp replace grass to suspend nests from branches and plastic cotton used instead of plant fibers to insulate eggs.

Yes, it is heartbreaking for what this says about the world we humans have made. But I still find wonder in the stories these nests tell about the lives and circumstances of their architects and the deliberate choices they made in assembling the place where they will raise their offspring.

(Vanya Rohwer is the curator of birds and mammals at the Cornell University Museum of Vertebrates.)

---

---

MARINES IN L.A.

Editor:

Famous Marine engagements include the defeat of the British in the Battle of New Orleans; the defeat of the Japanese at Okinawa and Iwo Jima; the defeat of the North Vietnamese at Khe Sanh; the defeat of the Iraqis at Fallujah … and the defeat of the protesters in L.A., including American citizens and hapless immigrants seeking low-paying work and sanctuary from violence. Perhaps the Marines will update the lyrics of their fight song to “From the halls of Montezuma to the shores of Venice Beach.” The patriotic Marines are sworn to obey the commands of our fearless leader, even though he thinks of them as suckers and losers. It should be unconstitutional for a draft dodger to head America’s proud and respected armed forces.

John Hoy

Petaluma

---

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

My good friend, a left-leaning smart lawyer in his late 60’s, has spent the last two decades of his life caring for his mother who suffered from dementia and for his sister who has managed to survive the ravages of multiple cancers. He understandably has tuned out the last ten years of trump. He says what’s the point of following the Trump debacle when no one is able to stop this grifter from breaking the rule of law and getting away with it. I wonder how many Americans, who have a lot less to deal with in their personal lives, have also tuned out Trump. They go straight to the sport pages of New York’s tabloids. That’s the real danger of authoritarian overreach. People tune out.

---

---

I’M SUPPOSED TO HATE a country for saying “Death to America”? I yell that during sex.

— Caitlin Johnstone

---

LEAD STORIES, SUNDAY'S NYT

U.S. Enters War Against Iran

U.S. Officials Say Strikes Caused ‘Severe Damage’ to Iranian Nuclear Sites

With Military Strike His Predecessors Avoided, Trump Takes a Huge Gamble

Iran’s Short-Range Weapons Pose a Threat to U.S. Bases

---

ACT OF WAR

Rep. Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, called Trump’s action “an act of war,” that could lead to “terrible consequences for our troops, our national security, the Middle East region, and what’s left of our global credibility.” Huffman said there were smarter ways to prevent Iran from getting nuclear weapons.

“This is a dark day for the Constitution and for peace,” Huffman said.

---

---

WHO’S THE MAD KING NOW?

by Maureen Dowd

Maybe the mad king, the other one, wasn’t so mad after all.

“George III is Abraham Lincoln compared to Trump,” said Rick Atkinson, who is vivifying the Revolutionary War in his mesmerizing histories “The British Are Coming” and “The Fate of the Day.” The latter, the second book in a planned trilogy, has been on the New York Times best-seller list for six weeks and is being devoured by lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

As the “No Kings” resistance among Democrats bristles, and as President Trump continues to defy limits on executive power, it is instructive to examine comparisons of President Trump to George III.

“George isn’t the ‘royal brute’ that Thomas Paine calls him in ‘Common Sense’,” Atkinson told me. “He’s not the ‘tyrant’ that Jefferson calls him in the Declaration of Independence, and he’s not the sinister idiot who runs across the stage in ‘Hamilton’ every night singing ‘You’ll Be Back’.”

(“And when push comes to shove, I will send a fully armed battalion to remind you of my love!”)

Yes, George III had manic episodes that scared people — depicted in Alan Bennett’s “The Madness of George III,” a play made into a movie with Nigel Hawthorne and Helen Mirren. Palace aides are unnerved when the king’s urine turns blue.

“He was in a straitjacket for a while, that’s how deranged he was,” Atkinson said. “His last 10 years were spent at Windsor, basically in a cell. He went blind and deaf. He had long white hair, white beard.”

King George was relentless about his runaway child, America.

“He’s ruthless,” Atkinson explained, “because he believes that if the American colonies are permitted to slip away, it will encourage insurrections in Ireland, in Canada, the British Sugar Islands, the West Indies, in India, and it’ll be the beginning of the end of the first British Empire, which has just been created. And it’s not going to happen on his watch.”

Unlike Trump, who loves to wallow in gilt and repost king memes and rhapsodize about God’s divine plan for him, George III did not flout the rule of law.

“The stereotype of him as an ogre is not historically true,” Atkinson said. “He’s called Farmer George because he’s interested in agronomy and writes essays on manure.”

The historian added: “You can dislike him, but he’s not a reactionary autocrat. He is very attentive to the requirements imposed on him as a consequence of the reforms in the 17th century, where he must be attentive to both houses of Parliament. He’s a child of the Enlightenment. He is a major supporter of both the arts and the sciences.” He plays the harpsichord and the organ and he’s a great patron of the theater.” (And doesn’t try to co-opt it or force people to watch “Cats.”)

Unlike Trump, Atkinson said, George III is not a narcissist: “He’s very committed to the realm, to his family. He marries this obscure, drab German princess, Charlotte, as in Charlottesville, Va., and Charlotte, N.C. They marry six hours after they meet. She learns to play ‘God Save the King’ on the harpsichord on the voyage from Germany to England. He has the marriage bedroom decorated with 700 yards of blue damask and large basins of goldfish. Because, as you know, nothing says ‘I love you’ like a bowl of goldfish. He’s devoted to her through 15 kids.”

Atkinson said that the only similarity between the pious monarch and the impious monarch manqué is “the use of the military against their own people to enforce the king’s will. There are incidents, the Boston Massacre, the Boston Tea Party.”

He added: “This proclivity for using armed forces for domestic suppression of dissent. That’s a slippery slope in this country. It led to an eight-year war when George did it, and Lord knows where it’s going to lead this time.”

This is a poisonous moment for our country, with Trump unleashing our military on American citizens and letting ICE officers rough up Democratic lawmakers. He’s still posting, madly, about the 2020 election being “a total FRAUD,” and now he’s calling for a special prosecutor to look into it. With the juvenile delinquent Pete Hegseth leading our military, Trump is recklessly jousting with Iran and threatening to assassinate the Iranian leader. The former opponent of forever wars in the Middle East is debating dropping bombs in the Middle East without military provocation against the United States — which did not work out well for us in the past — and dragging us into another unpredictable, interminable war.

We find this truth to be self-evident: This is the moment when we find out just how mad a king Donald Trump is.

Atkinson concedes he is as mystified as the rest of us by Trump’s affinity for “those who aren’t bound by the rules by which we insist our leaders be bound.

“The fact that we’re looking for a monarch to draw parallels to him is telling in and of itself, because that’s not what we do. That’s what the whole shooting match was about in the 1770s.”

(NY Times)

---

ZIONIST PROPAGANDA

by Fred Gardner

Israel began bombing Iran on June 13. A banner headline in the New York Times the next day announced "Missiles Fly Across the Middle East."

This misleading implication of parity reappeared in a June 14 story about Putin contacting Trump and offering to mediate. "The call came," the Times reported "as Israel and Iran continued to pummel each other with intense airstrikes for a second day."  Muhammed Ali and Joe Frazier used to pummel each other in a boxing ring.  Israel is a nuclear power, fortified by the world's most sophisticated anti-missile network (the "Iron Dome"). They bombarded a country that could not defend itself and can barely strike back. 

The implication of a fair fight was repeated in a June 14 "news analysis" hedded "How the Israel-Iran Conflict Could Spiral Into More Turmoil."

To call what's happening a "conflict" and "turmoil" is accurate in some technical, literal sense, but both words hide the reality –it's a one-sided onslaught. Same thing next day on  the Times webpage: "Israel and Iran exchanged a new wave of attacks, striking one another with missiles and drones."

A companion piece played up the human side of the tragedy:

Iraq was reporting 406 dead and Israel 13... Meanwhile on the editorial page:

Noam Chomsky noted that the Times might contain nuggets of significant news, but you had to dig for them. June 15 there was a revealing story with a very misleading headline on the front page in the print edition: "A Miscalculation by Iran Led to Israeli Strikes' Extensive Toll, Officials Say." 

 According to reporter Farnaz Fassihi, "Iran’s senior leaders had been planning for more than a week for an Israeli attack should nuclear talks with the United States fail. But they made one enormous miscalculation. They never expected Israel to strike before another round of talks that had been scheduled for this coming Sunday in Oman, officials close to Iran’s leadership said on Friday. They dismissed reports that an attack was imminent as Israeli propaganda meant o pressure Iran to make concessions on its nuclear program in those talks.

An accurate headline would have read "Israel Struck While US Lulled Iran by Negotiating." The Iranians, desperate for a glimmer of hope, fell for a good cop/bad cop act. The ploy bought the US time to move military "assets" into position to protect "our" many bases in the Middle East.

June 16 "Israel and Iran Trade Blasts" was the print edition banner headline. Online it was "Trade Attacks." The implication of a tit-for-tat struggle is deceitful

 June 17,  A "News  Analysis" asserted: "Israel and Iran both have little incentive to stop and no obvious route to outright victory. Much depends on President Trump." The first sentence reprises the false image of parity while a one-sided slaughter goes on. The second conveys a false impression that Trump was still making up his mind.

June 18, "Trump Seeks Surrender By Iran as He Considers Attack on Nuclear Site."

 David Sanger, whose beat has been the CIA for many years, quoted the US President gloating, "We now have complete and total control of the skies over Iran.”  Trump's "increasingly martial tone," according to Sanger, was " a sharp reversal from his announced confidence two weeks ago that a nuclear deal with Iran was easily within reach." Maybe Trump's egomania will lead him to take credit for suckering the Ayatollah. David Sanger ain't gonna do it.

June 19 the headline said "Trump Buys Himself Time, and Opens Up Some New Options. The accompanying piece by Sanger and Tyler Pager said, "President Trump’s sudden announcement that he could take up to two weeks to decide whether to plunge the United States into the heart of the Israel-Iran conflict is being advertised by the White House as giving diplomacy one more chance to work." Are the Iranians still falling for it?

Apparently they were. After the US bombed Iran's nuclear research facilities, Fassihi of the Times reported, "Two senior Iranian officials said in text messages that, before the strikes, there had been hope in Tehran that Mr. Trump could be dissuaded by those around him who opposed another American war in the Middle East. Mr. Araghchi had been in Turkey for meetings, and his diplomatic outreach to European counterparts, to Arab leaders in the region, and to Turkey, was part of an effort to rally support, according to the two Iranian officials.

"But it failed. The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran confirmed the U.S. strikes in a statement, saying that around dawn on Sunday Iran’s three nuclear sites, Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan, “were attacked in a violent act against international laws, including the Non-Proliferation Treaty, by the enemies of Islamic Iran.”

The attack also violated the US Constitution, which gives Congress –not the President– the right to declare war. Why even bring that up? Congress will rubber-stamp US intervention with a red-white-and-blue ink pad. 

---

---

TAIBBI AND KIRN

Walter Kirn: Well, I could go on for 20 minutes right now [about Israel and Iran] The context for us discussing this is that we have been asked over and over to weigh in on matters having to do with Israel. One of the reasons I haven’t been eager to do that is because between memorizing the English canon of literature and getting up to speed on American politics and everything, I’m probably the last guy you want to come to for expertise on this matter. All I can do is be one of you out there with maybe some good sources in particular areas. But I’ll tell you right now that my very best sources disagree about essential matters as to whether that bomb was imminent or not. I have military sources. They disagree on that.

I have sources that are close to Israel and very sympathetic to its wars and its predicament, who feel that this is an absolutely crucial opportunity to chop off the head of the snake, that the reason that we have had forever wars is because Iran has been the powerhouse behind them, let’s say, Iraq. In a way, Iran is what kept the Iraq war and what followed it going with their IEDs and with their proxy forces and so on. And that this, in fact, I guess in the most optimistic pro-Israel read is a chance to finally end what has been a chronic and ongoing and bruising and endless situation.

I also know people familiar with Iran, who will tell me that they’re absolutely eager to see the mullahs go, that somewhere secretly in their apartments, out of the reach of the telescreens and the microphones, they’re hoping this is the end of this regime. I’m sure that’s true for a lot of people. But putting it all together into a comprehensive vehement opinion on the matter is not something I’m either willing or able to do at this point. I don’t have a lot of love going back for the Iranian regime over the-

Matt Taibbi: Oh my, god.

Walter Kirn: … over the decades. It’s one of the most brutal, secret police fortified, torture, prison-loving and woman-hating, theocratic, nightmare regimes in the world.

Matt Taibbi: Yeah. They have one of the most expansive lists of death penalty crimes of any country in the world, including insulting the prophet. As the human rights violators go, the Iranian revolutionary regime is pretty up there. I still think we have unfinished business with the Iranians going back to the hostage crisis.

Walter Kirn: They nearly killed my comrade in writing, Salman Rushdie, after making his life hell for ages. I can’t think of people I’d like more to see fall apart in their grip on their country, but the timing of it bothers me. America has got a lot on its plate. We’ve got domestic problems, a lot to sort out, all kinds of internal conflict and strife, and to be dragged off to the side by this matter bothers me slightly. I also feel in a way that we’re being told that we have to cap it off by taking out this particular nuclear site that’s buried so deeply. Only our B-2 bombers and only our biggest bunker busters can do it.

Matt Taibbi: Yeah, the Fordo site.

Walter Kirn: Yeah. For a long time, I’ve been a victim of salespeople who try to rush me at the end whenever I go to buy a truck or something. There are guys coming in right now to pick it up and scoop it out from under you or whatever. And so whenever there’s a clock ticking and a deadline on something, I get a little nervous that maybe some more thought should go into things.

Also, to be honest, I don’t like the transferability of the war in Gaza onto this. They’re different matters to my mind. I’m seeing Iran be treated as though it’s at one in its victimhood with the people of Gaza, which I don’t think is true.

Matt Taibbi: Yeah, let’s take a look at some of that video in a second, though, but just quickly to make my own position on this clear. I don’t think the United States … Our record of getting into extended military adventures overseas has been almost universally disastrous. Going back quite a long way, especially in the Middle East, we’ve almost inevitably made every problem that we’ve ever attempted to solve there significantly worse. However, one of the few things that I think is worth launching a rocket or two about is the possibility of a state that’s committed acts of terrorism, getting a nuclear bomb. Now, how close are we to that? I don’t know. I don’t think it’s 10 seconds from now. And so like you, I feel like this moment is artificially rushed.

I also feel like the Israelis can probably handle the situation themselves. Every time I see this talked about in American foreign policy circles, it’s always referred to as if Iran were to develop a nuclear weapon, it would threaten the region and Israel. That’s the way this is phrased. We’re in this moment in American history where I think we can start letting regions take care of themselves and well-armed countries like Israel take care of themselves. I think they’re capable of handling it, especially at this moment but …

---

---

TRUMP HAS BOMBED IRAN. What Happens Next Is His Fault.

by Caitlin Johnstone

The US military has bombed multiple Iranian nuclear sites on the orders of President Trump, immediately putting tens of thousands of US military personnel in the region at risk of an Iranian retaliation which can then escalate to full-scale war.

Earlier this month Iran’s Defense Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh explicitly warned the United States that a direct US attack would result in Tehran ordering strikes on US bases in the middle east, saying “all US bases are within our reach and we will boldly target them in host countries.”

In the lead-up to Trump’s act of war on Iran, the president told the press that an attack on American troops will mean a harsh response from the US, saying, “We’ll come down so hard if they do anything to our people. We’ll come down so hard. The gloves are off. I think they know not to touch our troops.”

Trump reiterated this threat to Iran in his announcement of the US attack today.

“There will be either peace, or there will be tragedy for Iran, far greater than we have witnessed over the last eight days,” Trump said. “Remember, there are many targets left. Tonight’s was the most difficult of them all, by far, and perhaps the most lethal. But if peace does not come quickly, we will go after those other targets with precision, speed and skill. Most of them can be taken out in a matter of minutes.”

So you can see how we might already be on our way toward a war of nightmarish proportions as a result of the president’s unprovoked act of aggression. Tehran now has to choose between reestablishing deterrence with extreme aggression or opening the floodgates to a whole host of existential threats from both outside and inside the country. Add to that the possibility of Iran blockading the Strait of Hormuz and the fact that Iran has now been strongly incentivized to actually obtain a nuclear weapon, and it looks very likely that we are plunging into a situation that could unfold in any number of horrific ways.

Right now American political discourse is rife with the narrative that the US has been “dragged” into Israel’s war, which I reject entirely. Every step of the way this entire thing has been signed off on by US leadership. We are at this point because Trump and his regime knowingly chose to take us here.

US troops within reach of Iran’s missiles are reportedly being briefed that they can expect to be on the receiving end of retaliatory strikes in the coming days.

Again, Iran explicitly warned it would attack the US military if the US military did the thing it just did. If and when these retaliatory strikes come, the warmongers will try to argue that this is a valid reason to escalate this war. They will be lying. They chose to make this happen.

Whatever transpires from this point on is the fault of Donald Trump and the unelected thugs he listens to. If US troops are killed, the war sluts in Washington and the Pentagon propagandists in the press will list their names and bandy about their photos and demand that their deaths be avenged with further acts of war — but it will not be Iran’s fault that they died.

It will be Trump’s fault. It will be the fault of everyone whose decisions led up to bombs being dropped on Iranian energy infrastructure, and the fault of everyone who put those soldiers in harm’s way.

None of this needed to happen. Iran was at the negotiating table. The Iran deal was working fine before Trump shredded it to put us on this terrible trajectory. The warmongers artificially manufactured this situation and knowingly inflicted this horror upon our world.

I am really not looking forward to all the melodramatic victim-LARPing if and when Iran kills US military personnel stationed in west Asia. The US is the only nation on earth that can rival Israel in its ability to play the victim when the ball they’ve thrown at the wall bounces back.

(caitlinjohnstone.com.au)

---

WAR WITH IRAN

We are opening Pandora's box.

by Chris Hedges

War opens a Pandora’s box of evils that once unleashed are beyond anyone’s control. The warmongers who ordered the strikes by U.S. bombers on Iranian nuclear sites have no more of a plan for what comes next in Iran than they had in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya or Syria. European allies, whom Israel and Trump have alienated with these air assaults, are in no mood to cooperate with Washington. The Pentagon, even if it wanted to, does not have the hundreds of thousands of troops it would need to attack and occupy Iran -- the only way Iran might be subdued. And the idea that the marginal and discredited Iranian resistance group Mujahedeen-e-Khalq (MEK), which fought alongside Saddam Hussein in the war against Iran and is viewed by most Iranians as composed of traitors, is a viable counter force to the Iranian government is ludicrous. In all these equations the 90 million people in Iran are ignored just as the people of Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Syria were ignored. They will not welcome the United States and certainly not Israel as liberators. They may hate the regime, but they will resist. They don’t want to be dominated by foreign powers. A war with Iran will be interpreted throughout the region as a war against Shiism. Soon there will be retaliation. Lots of it. It will come at first with desultory missile strikes and then attacks carried out by elusive enemies on ships, military bases and installations. Steadily it will grow in volume and lethality. The death toll, including among the some 40,000 soldiers and Marines stationed in the Middle East, will mount. Ships, including aircraft carriers, will be targeted. We will, as we did in Iraq and Afghanistan, begin to lash out with a blind fury, fueling the conflagration we began. Those who lured us into this war know little about the instrument of war and even less about the cultures or peoples they seek to dominate. Blinded by hubris, believing their own hallucinations, they have learned none of the lessons of the last two decades of warfare in the Middle East. A war with Iran will be a self-defeating and costly quagmire, one more nail in the rotting edifice of the empire.

(chrishedges.substack.com)

---