Mendocino County Today: Tuesday 6/24/2025

Coastal Fog | Warming | Mergansers | Annexation Blues | Sheep | Peace Officers | Willits Council | Book Launch | Plowshares Benefit | Big Pipe | Yesterday's Catch | Health Herbs | Bezos Gravity | Parnassus Campus | Three Bodies | Homework | Rattle Bag | Sad Sack | David Glick | Self Loathing | Independence Declarations | Nuremberg Hangman | Biblical Signs | Cult Leader | Desperate Strike | Sachs Interview | A Girl | Knife Thrower | Lead Stories | Tragic Consequences | Look! | Rolling Apocalypse | More Wars | Illegal War | Dumber | Deranged Thinking | Spectacular Success | Divided America | Three Triangles

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NEAR to slightly above normal temperatures expected into late week. Breezier winds possible mid to late week, bringing elevated fire weather concerns. Much warmer temperatures possible over the weekend. (NWS)

STEPHEN DUNLAP (Fort Bragg): So much for the "sunny" in my forecast yesterday, at least I mentioned the fog out there, but I digress. I'll go with a mix of fog & sun today, but no idea how much of either we'll get? A foggy 50F so far this Tuesday morning on the coast.

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THEY WERE BATHING THEMSELVES (Tina Tenzel)

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ANNEXATION BLUES

by Mark Scaramella

Tuesday’s (Today’s) Board of Supervisors meeting has an unavoidable “showdown” feeling to it. On the one hand the County seems to have realized that Supervisor Maureen Mulheren’s Tax Sharing Agreement has given the City of Ukiah a green light to push it much farther than anyone, probably even Ukiah Officials, expected, not only overreaching, but jeopardizing a decent size chunk of County revenue. Accordingly, it looks like there are four supervisors who think that Ukiah’s big land grab/expansion/annexation proposal is a non-starter. Even Supervisor Mulheren may be having second thoughts seeing how much Ukiah wants to annex.

On the other hand, the City of Ukiah has invested quite a bit in the proposal, although lately, with a lot of public opposition, may be reconsidering.

Supervisor Ted Williams’ proposal to chuck the agreement in its entirety feels more like a shot across the bow of the Good Ship Ukiah because as a practical matter there are problems with simply ditching Mulheren’s tax sharing agreement too.

Since there are a some areas on the outskirts of Ukiah that could be logically incorporated into the City, a better outcome would be not to rescind the entire agreement but to revise it with a basic proviso that the County not be made worse off in the end. That could involve something like telling Ukiah that they should revise their proposal to something smaller while changing the tax sharing formula so that Mendo keeps all current tax revenues. For a much smaller number of parcels bordering Ukiah, they could keep whatever new or additional taxes may materialize if the parcels increase in assessed value via development or re-assessment. (For example Laws Avenue on the south end down to, say, the Garden’s Gate project and up to the Raley’s area on the north.) This way, Ukiah can get credit for whatever reasonable development they can accomplish via annexation and the County doesn’t lose money in the deal. Ukiah would also have to pay for whatever bureaucracy and analysis and legal fees may be required — which should be more modest if their annexation proposal is scaled back.

Is it too much to ask that a reasonable approach like that could arise after Tuesday’s meeting? Perhaps via a tax sharing standing committee (subject to the Brown Act with public involvement)? Or will the officials involved dig in their heels and just abandon the whole idea?

This time the public, or at least those who take an interest in things like this, will be paying closer attention.

(Mark Scaramella)

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Lately, the City of Ukiah seems to be backing away from their oversized annexation proposal. The below press release, issued the night before the Supervisors Annexation Meeting indicates that they are interested in “alternatives to the original proposal” at “a date uncertain.” Funny, though, we don’t see any specific mention of the County or the Board’s Tuesday annexation agenda item. Instead, Ukiah coyly refers to “public partners,” and “partner agencies.”

City Of Ukiah Planning Commission Item Related To Annexation Postponed To Allow For Continued Community Engagement And Collaboration

The City of Ukiah has announced that the (Ukiah) Planning Commission item originally scheduled for this Wednesday, June 25, 2025, regarding the pre-zoning of certain parcels and related land use items associated with a potential future annexation proposal, will be continued to a date uncertain.

The City is taking this step to ensure that there is adequate time to continue engaging with the community and to further explore potential alternatives to the original proposal. In addition, the City believes that more time is needed to allow for ongoing discussions with public partners to support a thoughtful, coordinated approach to land use planning and annexation.

“We need and appreciate the community’s interest in this issue and are committed to continuing a process that is open, transparent, and inclusive,” said Mayor Doug Crane. “It is our goal to make sure any annexation proposal reflects shared objectives, addresses community concerns, and supports long-term planning for the entire region.”

City officials emphasized that no application for annexation has been submitted, nor authorized, at this time, and that any draft proposal will be grounded in meaningful dialogue with residents, partner agencies, and stakeholders.

The City will continue to provide updates on next steps and future meetings as the engagement process continues. Additional information can be found on the City of Ukiah’s website: www.cityofukiah.com/annexation.

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MENDOCINO SHERIFF: 

When Mendocino County Sheriff’s Deputies and Corrections Deputies take a Peace Officer’s oath of office, they also recite the Peace Officer’s Code of Ethics. This Code of Ethics originates from a 1954 (updated in 2024) effort by California peace officers to establish professional conduct guidelines for law enforcement and lays out a roadmap with which our deputies make ethical decisions while serving our community.

This morning, four Corrections Deputies and two recent Police Academy graduates were sworn in and recited the Peace Officer’s Code of Ethics in the presence of Sheriff Kendall, loved ones, and Sheriff’s Office personnel. Deputy Isaac Sanchez, who previously attended the academy prior to his 17-month service in Corrections, also took the oath as a Sheriff’s Deputy this morning.

Recently appointed Detective Chistopher Pardini was introduced as well.

Please join us in congratulating Detective Pardini; Corrections Deputies, Zayne Howard, Omar Martinez, Joseph Shelley and Kenneth Garcia; and Sheriff’s Deputies Saulo Hernandez, Luis Vazquez and Isaac Sanchez.

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‘LAZARUS’ (Willits):

I have followed the Willits City Council for at least 50 years. For decades, some who handled the revenue denied that the marijuana money had an impact on the local Willits economy. I always found that opinion amazingly stupid…

However, within the last year, there was an address mistake on a filing for an election document by a seasoned City Council member, which forced her to become a write-in candidate, which likely cost her the election. Many around town thought that was odd…

Another Council member abruptly resigned from the council for personal, professional, or whatever reasons. Another unusual, if not bizarre situation.

A previous rather unpopular City Council member and Mayor is chosen over several qualified applicants to replace the member who resigned.

Then the previous Mendocino County Sheriff gets elected and, within a few months, becomes the Mayor of Willits.

Once the new Mayor was in place, the City Manager was unceremoniously released from the job with a hefty financial settlement.

And now, the Council member who resigned has taken aim in the Press at the only person left at City Hall who is trying to pay the bills of the City.

That person has been warning the City Council for months, if not longer, that a financial reckoning is coming.

Then the new Mayor with law enforcement experience, rather suspiciously, mentions publicly that he believes no illegal activity took place regarding the money when the City nearly missed making a payroll period.

What a town…

“Willits Faces Severe Budget Crunch After Years Without Oversight” is unfortunately an accurate description.

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MARK SCARAMELLA ADDS: Willits has also had a very high turnover rate in their Police Chief position in recent years. The current chief is listed on line as Brian Fay who was sworn in just a few weeks ago on June 2, 2025.

Apparenty Mr. Fay is a Humboldt County native. Mr. Fay replaced interim Chief Parrish, who replaced… As far as we can tell Willits issued no official Press Release concerning Chief Fay’s appointment.

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DEVREAUX BAKER:

Dear Poets and lovers of poetry,

Please join us Saturday, June 28th, 4-6 pm at the Mendocino Art Center to celebrate the book launch of Spirit of Place: Mendocino County Women Poets Anthology. Gallery Books will be selling copies at the event. The format for this event will follow the usual Open Mic reading series format. We will have a sign-up sheet for poets who wish to read their work from the anthology in the first hour, a brief break, and more open mic poetry in the second hour. Snacks and beverages will be provided and I hope you can all come to help celebrate the poetry of Mendocino County.

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CONCERT BENEFITING PLOWSHARES

Celebrate Melody Sienna & Zell presents a public concert featuring Violin, Viola, Cello and Piano Music from the Baroque through the 21st century. \ The concert — a fundraiser for Plowshares Ukiah — is Sunday, July 13, 2025 at 3 p.m. at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church, 640 So. Orchard Ave., Ukiah. Tickets: $10 at the door; students are free.

Performers: Sienna & Zell, violin, viola, cello; Ben Rueb, piano; Sophia Becket, cello; Jeff Ives, viola.

The program: J.S. Bach, violin harpsichord sonata 2, BWV 1015, Andante, Presto, 1720; Pietro Nardini, violin sonata in e minor, Allegro moderato, 1780; Cesar Franck, violin sonata in A, Allegretto poco mosso, 1886; J.S. Bach, unaccompanied cello suite in c major, BWV 1009, performed on viola, Bourrée I and II, 1720; Edward Elgar, Nimrod from Enigma Variations, 1899, arrangement for piano and cello; Sienna & Zell, Florida Beaches, 5 pieces for string trio, 2010, Beach Foam Feathers; The Heron; Fiddler Crab; Wave Motion; Seahorses.

Plowshares operates a Community Dining Room and Meals-on-Wheels program in Ukiah serving over 99,000 meals each year to those who are hungry.

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MENDOCINO COUNTY WAY BACK WHEN (Ron Parker)

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CATCH OF THE DAY, Monday, June 23, 2025

JULIE ANDERSON, 43, Fairfield/Ukiah. DUI.

HAROLD CASEBOLT III, 63, Ukiah. Failure to register as transient.

KELLY CLARK, 40, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.

FRANCISCO FLORES-PATINO, 42, Rohnert Park/Ukiah. Suspended license for refusing DUI chem test.

CHRISTOPHER GARCIA, 44, Ukiah. Under influence, controlled substance, parole violation.

KISSKA GIAQUINTO, 34, Ukiah. Domestic battery.

JESUS GONZALES, 50, Ukiah. Parole violation.

EVERARDO GRANILLO, 32, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol, county parole violation.

TONY HANOVER, 19, Ukiah. Controlled substance, paraphernalia, disobeying court order, probation revocation.

BRYAN KANN, 54, Fort Bragg. Probation revocation.

AMANDA KENNEDY, 37, Nice/Ukiah. DUI-any drug, controlled substance, under influence, paraphernalia, child endangerment.

JOSE LEYVA-ZAZUETA, 20, Ukiah. Toluene or similar substance, probation revocation.

NOAH LURANHATT, 34, Ukiah. Parole violation.

LILIANA NARANJO-ALCARAZ, 45, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol, concealed dirk-dagger, paraphernalia, resisting.

JOSE RODRIGUEZ, 21, Laytonville. Domestic battery, vandalism, resisting.

CHRISTINA TORRES, 37, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.

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BRUCE MCEWEN:

Re: Jeff Bezos’ wedding. I don’t envy Jeff Bezos marrying Ms. Sanchez with all her smashing charms, his renting an entire city, one of the World’s most charming, I’m sure, and I am too old to enjoy his yacht, if I had it. But I resent it bitterly that he gets all the royalties from the anthologies my wife and I have our published pieces in. And that we had to buy a few copies of each for our family and friends.

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FRED GARDNER

As I wait for Dr. Tyson Kim, the excellent ophthalmologist who transplanted a dead man’s cornea onto my left eye, I see UCSF’s Parnassus campus on the screen. Dr. Kim is an ace, and the Mission Bay campus has the latest and greatest technology. The view from the Synapse office was one of the things I appreciated about working there. The view would have been lovelier if, instead of all the cars parked on the roof of the garage, the Administration had put in a garden to provide some respite for patients, staff, and students. A propos of which…

There’s something about the Parnassus campus that I might have suggested as a story for the medical students (who comprised the staff) to pursue, but I tried not to impose my POV on them, and the story would have inevitably been a cynical exposé.

In 1987, when I became a UCSF employee, construction on the new library was about to begin. (That it was named in honor of a beer magnate would have been worth another cynical Synapse story.) The Kalmanowitz Library would replace a cramped one in the basement of Cole Hall.

Until it went up, pedestrians walking on Parnassus had a magnificent view of the bay, the Golden Gate Bridge, and the Marin headlands. On clear days it was beautiful and uplifting. In all weather it was interesting. It was world-famous for a reason.

Synapse of course covered the construction process, and students and faculty eagerly awaited the new library’s completion… But then the once-beautiful view became unavailable to people walking on Parnassus! Students and faculty members entering the library would be hit with it immediately, through the huge plate glass windows that faced WNW. “What a magnificent building,” you would think, consciously or otherwise, crediting the architects.

That great view would still have been available to pedestrians – briefly, but impactfully – if the architects hadn’t blocked it off with a broad staircase connecting the library to Millberry Union. When I realized that the staircase was totally unnecessary, I figured that these high-ranking professionals had inserted it into the plans so that they would ”own” the great view. The steps only led to the bursar’s office, which was part of Millberry Union, and visited exactly once a year (or once a semester) by students.

On warm, sunny days, students often used the Stairs to Nowhere… as park benches.

For years, white grout would ooze out below every step, and Building & Grounds would have to clean them off, which wasn’t easy . I couldn’t help thinking (magically) that the marble slabs were weeping, or trying to call attention to the scandal of their creation.

At Mission Bay, Dr. Kim’s office is in the Bernard & Barbro Osher Corneal Diagnostics Suite. But Bernie Osher is a story for another day.

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DIVER RECOVERS 3 BODIES FROM A DEADLY, ‘BRUTAL’ NORCAL WATERFALL

He found the body of the first man in 3 minutes.

by Julian Brown-Davis

On Saturday, volunteer diver Juan Heredia from Stockton hiked for three hours on a remote trail in the Sierra Nevada, through hail and stormy conditions, and recovered the bodies of three men who drowned last week at Rattlesnake Falls, near Soda Springs.

The Placer County Sheriff’s Office identified on Monday the three deceased men as Valentino Creus, 50, of Los Angeles, Matthew Schoenecker, 50, of Los Angeles, and Matthew Anthony, 44, of New York City.

Last week, after a search had been suspended due to conditions, Heredia said a friend of the men sought out his help at Rattlesnake Falls. “They were asking me if I can go and help to find them,” Heredia said in a phone interview on Monday with SFGATE.

Heredia travels across the country to help families and friends recover loved ones who have drowned. He works in real estate and is a general contractor in Stockton, but he is originally from Argentina, where he learned to free dive — swimming deep underwater, without an oxygen tank or scuba gear — on fishing trips with his father. He said he started scuba diving 30 years ago.

Now, Heredia uses his skill set to help families who are in crisis, searching for loved ones who were lost beneath frigid waters and have not been found. Last year, Heredia found the body of a 17-year-old girl who had gone missing on the Kaweah River, as well as a high school student who died in the Calaveras River and another person who went missing in the San Joaquin River. More recently, Heredia has traveled to Washington, Oregon and Wisconsin on recovery missions.

“I know the water, I know how cold that is under the water,” Heredia said. “I can imagine somebody being there for a long time.”

The Placer County Sheriff’s Office said last week that the three men were missing at Rattlesnake Falls, an area the office described on Facebook as “extremely remote and difficult to access.” Six men were hiking as a group when three of them jumped into the water near the waterfall and did not resurface, the office said. Search efforts were suspended on Thursday afternoon due to poor underwater visibility and strong currents. On Friday, the sheriff’s office said search efforts would continue “in a limited but ongoing capacity” as conditions allowed.

The Placer County Sheriff’s Office did not respond to a request for comment on Heredia’s involvement in the recovery effort before publication.

On Saturday, Heredia hiked to Rattlesnake Falls with one other person, taking a slow pace to account for Heredia’s ankle, which was injured. Saturday saw a fast moving storm blow across the Sierra Nevada and deliver light snow in the mountains. Winds picked up that same afternoon on Lake Tahoe, where a boat capsized, leaving seven people dead.

When Heredia and his hiking partner, who is also a backup diver, finally reached the falls, they were alone, Heredia said. “It’s hailing like crazy,” he said, in a video recorded from the hike.

With fins, a snorkel and a mask, Heredia dove into the swimming hole by the waterfall. He did not bring any scuba equipment. In clear water with good visibility, he said he prefers to free dive.

On his first dive, Heredia found one of the men 45 feet underwater, away from the waterfall, and brought the body to the water’s surface. He found the two other men directly underneath the waterfall, 47 feet below. It took him two dives to recover both of them from beneath the pounding water.

Every time he dove, Heredia spent about three minutes underwater. The water was deep and “freezing cold,” Heredia wrote on Facebook.

“But I couldn’t wait. I knew they wouldn’t surface for weeks in that water. The families needed closure now, so it was time to bring them up, and we did it,” he continued.

Rattlesnake Falls is very remote, without cell service. After he recovered the bodies, Heredia hiked back out to a point where he could call the Placer County Sheriff’s Office to notify the authorities where they could find the deceased victims.

“The waterfall was brutal. It kept pushing me down… but I wasn’t leaving without bringing those 3 souls home to their families,” Heredia wrote on Facebook.

On Sunday morning, the Placer County Sheriff’s Office announced that the bodies of the three men who’d drowned had been recovered. “Our heartfelt condolences go out to their families, friends, and all those affected by this tragic loss,” the sheriff’s office said on Facebook.

(SFGate.com)

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RATTLE BAG

by Fred Gardner

 This morning (June 23) NYTimes.com ran this teaser:

This evening the website features reporter Maggie Haberman describing how observers were misled by Trump's "Misdirection play."

You're not supposed to say it, but... I told you so! The deception was obvious to readers of Farnaz Fassihi's article June 13 (June 15 in the print edition). The US and Israel were running a good cop/bad cop con, and Iran's leaders fell for it... And the absurd parity myth is still spewing forth from The Paper of Record.

Fort Cavazos

Doesn't ring a bell? Maybe you knew it as Fort Hood, the big Army base in Killeen, Texas. It was originally named in honor of a Confederate general, John Bell Hood. In 2023 it was renamed to honor the Army's first Hispanic four-star general, Richard Edward Cavazos. Now it's been Hooded again.

I hope to find, as I unpack, a mimeographed paper produced by GIs at Fort Hood, aided and abetted by staffers at the Oleo Strut coffeehouse. It described the frame-up (on a marijuana charge) of the editor, a soldier named Bruce "Gypsy" Peterson. The point needs to be made that "our" intervention in Vietnam was intertwined with "our" prohibition of marijuana. Oliver Stone did a good job in Platoon of showing how connected the two "issues" were.

Hoops End

The 2024-25 NBA season ended Sunday with Tyrese Halliburton in the Indiana Pacers locker room, his right Achilles tendon torn. Halliburton had a strained right calf and was playing with his entire right leg tightly wrapped when he went down. His tendon couldn't do the work of all his constrained muscles. (When Bill Walton was young and radical, he said of the NBA owners "They treat us like cattle.")  I was once in a pick-up game in the UCSF gym when a guy went down. He knew he had torn his right Achilles tendon, but he asked me to feel it for confirmation. I did and it wasn't there.

The Oklahoma City Thunder won what could be the first of many championships. They're young and they're deep. The big if is their players staying healthy throughout the overly-long seasons. The experts say "Defense wins championships," but a strong case can be made for "Staying healthy wins championships." Indiana might not have gotten by the New York Knicks if Brunson wasn't hobbled. But then again, Halliburton was hobbled by his strained calf.

Today is my first non-hoops evening. (The Warriors announcers talk about "non-Steph minutes.") No withdrawal symptoms to report.  You get weaned during the two months of playoff basketball. In late April we could watch two games every night. Then one. Then every other night. And finally, every third night. Wednesday and Thursday the NBA will televise the first and second rounds of the draft. I might check it out for a few minutes. The commissioner, Adam Silver, is a hideous creature. Howard Cosell might have dubbed him "The Sepulchral One." Stephen A. Smith definitely will not (though Stephen A. assumees a militant pose).

The Houston Rockets have traded for the great Kevin Durant, hoping to win it all next year. In return the Phoenix Suns get a good young forward named Jalen Green,  the assertive Dillon Brooks, this year’s 10th pick, and five second-rounders. That's not as much talent as Oklahoma City got when they traded aging, injury-prone Paul George to the LA Clippers for a slew of high draft picks that brought them Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams, among others. But Durant is 36, and injury-prone... The Clippers have a hands-on owner named Steve Ballmer, a supposedly brilliant tech billionaire who once was the ad manager for the Harvard Crimson. Neither the Clippers nor the New York Knicks thought Isaiah Hartenstein was worth re-signing, but he helped OKC win the championship...Another genius, Leon Rose, general manager of the Knicks, traded Obi Toppin to Indiana for two second-round draft picks. Instead of firing Rose, the Knicks owner, an ass named Dolan, fired the coach.

Expect the Warriors to bid for Giannis Antetokounmpo if the big man wants out of Milwaukee. Joe Lacob will offer our future – Brandin Podzemiski (who is from Milwaukee),  Jonathan Kuminga (potentially great), Moses Moody and Trase Jackson-Davis (solid players), and draft picks. They'll say they owe it to Steph, Draymond and Jimmy Butler to shoot for a last championship. Deep down they know the world could come to an end after next season..

Spike Lee, now fat as a bishop, shows his devotion to the Knicks by wearing an orange mumu with blue stripes. Local angle: Raymond Burr, who lived in Santa Rosa,  wore mumus. They're cool, I'm told, and Burr spent a lot of time in greenhouses. He was an orchid breeder. (He played Perry Mason, but he gardened like Nero Wolfe)

Most offensive ad: "Round-Up: This stuff works!"

Also vile: A mom expresses sadness as she sees her son off to college. While hugging him she checks her phone and sees a text from Carmax offering a deal. She blurts "This is the happiest day of may life!" She realizes her faux pas, but can't stop smiling. The kid is very cool, unsurprised... A DoorDash commercial in which a middle-aged WM gets very uptight when he sees his daughter (who looks to be 16 years old) returning home with her boyfriend. He quickly orders popcorn, which enables him to intrude on the young couple as they watch TV on the couch...  Progressive insurance ads featuring a male therapist who is exasperated by the inability of his clients "young homeowners in danger of becoming their parents." (BTW, half the young homeowners in the US get financial help from their parents.)

Resy

A cousin is coming to town and we're going to a classy new restaurant. It was a deli in 1983 when I ran Variety Home Video in the building next door.  That location is now a tasting room, of course... Although the restaurant is directly across Highway 12 from our house, I couldn't just drop in and make a reservation. Couldn't even do it by phone. The restaurant's website steers you to a site called "Resy." (The cute new words entrepreneurs devise annoy me  - except for "Zepbound," which makes me flash on Bill Murray in Meatballs joyously singing "We're nookie-bound" with his fellow camp counselors.)

From the restaurant owner's POV, Rezy makes sense. Why tie up your greeter with phone calls? Prospective customers can't ask questions, and they'll have to pay for Resy indirectly (assuming the owner isn't going to "eat" the cost.)

Juneteenth Myth

June 19, 1865, was not the day that slavery ended in Texas. The Emancipation Proclamation (the federal order freeing slaves in states that were “in rebellion”) was signed by Abe Lincoln on September 22, 1862, and took effect on January 1, 1863. It was ignored, of course, by the Confederate states until Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomatox on April 9, 1865. Then implementation began state-by-state. Texas held out the longest, not because the governor, the big plantation owners, the state legislators, the newspaper publishers –slaveholders all– didn't know about the Confederate surrender, but because they didn't want to free their slaves and the Union Army hadn't arrived to enforce federal law. Of course the news had reached the slaves in Texas. (If you think otherwise, better check out "James" by Percival Everett.) So why was June 19, 1865 different from all other days?

It was on that day in Galveston, Gen. Gordon Granger, who commanded the District of Texas for the Union, posted a "Military Order" asserting that "in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free." What caused jubilation was not NEWS of the Emancipation Proclamation but the FALSE IMPRESSION that the Union Army had come to enforce it.  Anyway, it's a good excuse to pitch a wang-dang-doodle.

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AS THE US ENTERS ISRAEL’S WAR ON IRAN, THE LATE DAVID GLICK’S 2015 ESSAY PROVES SADLY PREDICTIVE

by Eva Chrysanthe (Marin County Confidential)

David Glick in Memoriam; David Glick as Predictor

“The first time Yossarian saw the chaplain he fell madly in love with him.” –Joseph Heller, Catch-22

I wasn’t the first person over the years to fall in love with David Glick at first sight. The much-praised psychotherapist and peace activist was wise and empathetic, qualities contrasted by his own occasionally subversive sense of humor. There was a dash of Joseph Heller, a touch of Mad Magazine; and Glick wasn’t above practical jokes.

But on some issues, he didn’t kid.

Many decades ago, David Glick’s activism had earned him a spot on a list of anti-Zionist Jewish activists compiled by pro-Israel extremists. The list was called Masada 2000. There were substantial costs, professionally and personally, for many of those placed on the list. The experience still unnerved Glick, as it had many others.

“I love what you’re exposing,” he often told me, “but they’ll come after you for this.”

I had come to enjoy sharing documents I retrieved with Glick before I published articles; he was generous in providing insight. Glick had been primarily interested in how the Israel lobby functioned with regard to foreign policy. But because I was always digging around in local government documents, I ended up being his introduction to how the lobby functioned at the local level.

Glick was surprised by the documents showing JCRC junkets to Israel for local educators, which I unearthed on a tip from a sharp-eyed Palestinian educator, as well as the California state educational funds I had started to find moving through Marin County for the $87 million-in-assets, private nonprofit “Jewish Family and Children’s Services.”

“This is great,” Glick enthused. “But you need to watch your back.”

“Who doesn’t?” I asked.

I won’t diminish the experiences of those targeted by the Israel lobby. Students have been arrested; activists deported. Palestinian activist Alex Odeh was assassinated by pro-Israel extremists in Southern California, while in San Francisco, the ADL spied on reporters and activists, a matter that the San Francisco District Attorney at the time tried to prosecute. And the list is much longer, sadly.

But like Israel itself, the Israel lobby thrives on intimidation; it can’t keep bullying if enough people punch back.

So while even the “independent” media refuses to examine the impact of the local Israel lobby groups, the path for latecomers like myself had unquestionably been paved by risks that so many older activists and reporters (including Glick) had taken, with more to lose.

Half a year passed between the first time I watched David speak in public and when I finally met him in person. The circumstances of that eventual meeting were fraught: a tense June 2024 council meeting regarding a peace proclamation that ran until after 1:00 am. In the yard outside the meeting room, Glick was verbally and physically harassed by a gang of pro-Israel women whipped into a frenzy by JCRC Bay Area director Jonathan Mintzer.

The video below shows David Glick’s perfectly civil, and quite moving, comments at that meeting about the conditions Palestinians faced, and our own responsibility to demand a ceasefire.…

It was Glick’s sincerity and openness that prompted the pro-Israel women to attack him. I wrote about the incident here, and within a few days, Glick had read the article and left a voicemail for me. After discussing it with some of his friends, I’ve decided to share that voicemail message below, as it seems more timely than ever. The US has now entered an expanded conflict in the Middle East this weekend, a conflict that David Glick long warned could be the result of Israel’s bellicose behavior.

Most know that the “kapo” epithet the pro-Israel women hurled at David Glick was hateful, but it's important to hear from him how much it upset him: “That's one of the most despicable words you can use to describe a Jew.” It was also wholly inaccurate, given David’s own heroism and that of his uncle, who had rescued thousands of Jews from Nazi Germany, as I detailed in earlier articles about David’s family.

This weekend people who loved David Glick dearly and long, or who simply admired him, will attend his memorial. David’s long organizing, his careful research, his articles — these were things I urged him to commit to an oral history. He never got that chance, and I regret not pushing that idea more with him.

I'm sharing this article that he wrote in 2015 for Mondoweiss, a much-needed publication overseen by Philip Weiss (formerly of The New York Observer) and Adam Horowitz. In it, Glick makes a brief reference to something that most US media has long struggled to acknowledge: That Israel is a nuclear armed state.…

https://marincountyconfidential.substack.com/p/as-the-us-enters-israels-war-on-iran

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NO KINGS, NO EMPIRES: THOMAS JEFFERSON, HO CHI MINH & DECLARATIONS OF INDEPENDENCE

by Jonah Raskin

“When in the Course of human events…” You remember those resounding words which are as memorable as “We the People…” The brothers who signed the USA’s founding document might have called it a “Manifesto.” After all, like many manifestos it expresses a political agenda. Instead, they called it “a Declaration,” and indeed they declared in about 1,300 words, most of them like “rights, ”laws” and “Facts,” part of everyday conversations, and some high falutin words like “perfidy” and magnanimity.”

Thomas Jefferson, a Virginian, a slave-owner and a wordsmith, drafted the Declaration of Independence apparently in isolation in a rented room in Philadelphia in June 1776. The Second Continental Congress adopted it on July Fourth which is why many of us on that day watch parades, wave the Stars and Stripes and feast on barbecue. Some citizens may even recall the Declaration of Independence.

Seven residents of the senior community where I live in San Francisco have been rehearsing for our performance of the Declaration. Several residents have observed how much it resonates today with the antics, the crimes and misdemeanors of the Trump administration. The founding brothers are turning in their graves. They’re surely applauding the “No King” demonstrations that have swept across the nation.

Ever since 1776, Americans have been declaring their independence from someone and or something, including the US itself. Huck Finn declares jhis independence at the end of the book in which he floats down the Mississippi with Jim and who aims to “light out for the territory.” The Confederacy declared its independence from the Union in 1861, determined to preserve forever the “peculiar institution” of slavery, which is not once by word mentioned in the US Declaration of Independence, nor is the word “revolution.”

The American revolutionaries didn’t draw undue attention to their revolutionary stance and didn’t identify as firebrands. They were cautious and reasonable as when they explained that they knew that “Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes,” and that “mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.”

The document that Jefferson wrote— and that was signed by 55 other co-conspirators white men of property (including John Hancock, Samuel Adams and Benjamin Franklin) who “pledged to each other our Lives, Our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor”— was very much of its time and place. Indeed, it reflects the ideals of the Enlightenment that emphasized liberty, reason and progress and the political imperatives of what has come to be known as “The Age of Revolution” which began about 1775 and ran until 1848, known as “The Year of Revolution.”

In his initial draft of the document Jefferson had included a passage that condemned slavery and blamed the king for its existence. Delegates from Georgia and South Carolina twisted arms and the passage was deleted.

The “Age of Revolution” kicked off on one side of the Atlantic and spread to the other side and witnessed popular insurrections from the Thirteen Colonies in North America to Europe and then to Haiti and back to Europe. Revolutionaries such as Thomas Paine, the author of Common Sense and the American Crisis—an attack on King George III— bounded from England to America and France, where he was arrested, imprisoned and nearly executed.

The ideas contained in the U.S. Declaration of Independence have echoed around the world. It’s not at all surprising that Ho Chi Minh, the Vietnamese nationalist and communist, who spent time in New York before the start of World War I, read the document and that it and the Declaration of the French Revolution inspired him when he wrote The Vietnamese Declaration of Independence.

Unlike Jefferson he was not alone or in isolation when he drafted the document. He was surrounded by like minded Vietnamese patriots.

Of course, Ho stripped the American Declaration of Independence of its racism—the document denounces “the merciless Indian savages” who are said to mean to destroy “all ages, sexes and conditions.” (The American Revolution may have been beneficial for Virginia planters, New York bankers and New England merchants but it wasn’t beneficial for Native Americans.)

After the revolution, the new nation waged a genocidal war against the Indians that lasted centuries and that moved from bloody battlefields on near the Atlantic seaboard to the Pacific Ocean.

Ho reminded the Vietnamese and the citizens of the world that “all men are created equal” and “must always remain free and have equal rights,” but that the French imperialists, abusing the standard of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity have violated our fatherland and oppressed our father citizens.”

The Vietnamese Declaration of Independence reads as though Ho had memorized the American Declaration of Independence. He may also have had direct help from Americans in the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) who attended meetings chaired by Ho that took place in August 1945.

OSS officer Archimedes Patti a lieutenant colonel in the US Army, claimed that he heard Ho read the Vietnamese Declaration of Independence before he delivered it at a public event in Hanoi on September 2, 1945 when he also announced the birth of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam as an independent nation.

Ho’s words would have sounded familiar to Patti, to other Americans in the OSS and to American patriots in Vietnam and the U.S. Indeed, Ho repeated word-for-word the first sentence in the document that Jefferson authored and that Timothy Matlack, a Pennsylvania beer maker, rendered in his own inimitable script.

Ho read: “All men are created equal; they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights; among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” He added “This immortal statement was made in the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America in 1776.” Ho felt the need to simplify and to use the word “peoples” in place of “men.” He also targeted a system – imperialism— not a man or a group of men but rather the whole French nation and the “Japanese fascists” who occupied Vietnam during WWII and battled the allies.

Ho explained to his audience that in a “broader sense, this means: All the peoples on the earth are equal from birth, all the peoples have a right to live, to be happy and free.” Not just to pursue happiness, as Jefferson suggested, but to be happy. The US Declaration of Independence does not mention King George the III by name. But near the start it does refer to “the present King of Great Britain.”

From that point on, the document talks about “He.” It enumerates a long list of abuses, which may very well sound all-too familiar to reporters, pundits, voters and protesters who have followed the “injuries and usurpations,” to borrow Jefferson phrase, of the Trump administration. Jefferson noted the king’s “obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners” and for “refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither.”

Jefferson also noted that “He has affected to render the Military independent and superior to the Civil Power” and has “sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.” What Jefferson doesn’t talk about and that he would have to add were he alive today would be the role of the mass media in the “establishment of an absolute Tyranny” and the fomenting of violence and hatred toward women and people of color.

As we celebrate July Fourth this year it behooves us to remember that The US Declaration of Independence inspired anti-imperialist movements around the world, especially in Vietnam, and that the document is no relic or artifact only or merely of historical interest and curiosity, but a living breathing manifesto mean to excite, rally and rebel.

(Jonah Raskin is the author of Beat Blues, San Francisco, 1955.)

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JOHN C. WOODS, the U.S. Army’s official executioner during the Nuremberg Trials, remains one of the most controversial figures in the aftermath of World War II. A self-proclaimed hangman, Woods falsely claimed experience in execution techniques and managed to secure his position despite having no formal training. He had previously been discharged from the Navy for mental instability, yet somehow talked his way into overseeing one of the most historically significant series of executions in modern history—the hanging of ten high-ranking Nazi war criminals in 1946.

Woods’s methods were, at best, clumsy and, at worst, sadistically deliberate. The gallows he used were poorly constructed, and the rope lengths were miscalculated, leading to botched executions that caused prolonged suffering. Instead of swift, neck-breaking drops, several of the condemned Nazi leaders died slowly, strangled over minutes in front of witnesses. Some accounts suggest that Woods made little effort to correct or improve his techniques—perhaps even relishing the agony he inflicted. When criticized, he responded coldly and unapologetically, famously saying, “Those Nazis were bad, bad men… maybe they should have thought of that as they were sending people to concentration camps.”

Woods died in 1950 in a bizarre electrical accident while serving in the Marshall Islands, leaving behind a legacy clouded by questions of competence, cruelty, and psychological instability. While many saw him as a necessary tool of postwar justice, others have since reevaluated his role as less that of a professional soldier and more of a disturbed man placed in a position of extraordinary power. His story forces an uncomfortable reflection on how justice is carried out—and who we entrust to deliver it, even in the name of punishing unimaginable evil.

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HEADLINE OF THE DAY (from the Daily Mail of course):

“Two Biblical Signs the World has Entered the End of Days.”

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ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

The president, who is essentially a cult leader, is immune from the keyboard warriors because he doesn’t read. That’s not an exaggeration. It is common knowledge that staff shield him from all negative press. He is driven by something internal, something more noxious than conspiracy obsession. Lone wolves have come for him twice so far, and it is likely another one will come and eventually succeed. Because he is that unique type of leader, I believe his organization will fall apart without him at the head. I can’t imagine anyone else, especially JD Vance, even with his connections and financing, would be able to inspire people act as insanely as Trump’s fans do. Of course the damage will have been done.

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JEFFREY SACHS REVEALS TRUTH ON US IRAN WAR

https://youtu.be/hrwGNN0qNgY?si=zWVY7Tq7BzSdxkDH

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A GIRL

The tree has entered my hands,
The sap has ascended my arms,
The tree has grown in my breast -
Downward,
The branches grow out of me, like arms.

Tree you are,
Moss you are,
You are violets with wind above them.
A child - so high - you are,
And all this is folly to the world.

— Ezra Pound

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LEAD STORIES, TUESDAY'S NYT

Hours After Israel and Iran Agree to Truce, Its Fate Is Uncertain

Supreme Court Lets Trump Deport Migrants to Countries Other Than Their Own

Florida Builds ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ Detention Center for Migrants in Everglades

‘Unsafe to Inhabit’: The Toxic Homes of L.A.

Vera Rubin Scientists Reveal Telescope’s First Images

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NO WAR WITH IRAN

by Bernie Sanders

In the 1960s the United States government lied to the American people and took us into a terrible war in Vietnam. The result of that war was that over 58,000 young Americans died and many more came back wounded both in mind and in spirit. Millions of Vietnamese were also killed. Hundreds of billions of dollars of taxpayer money was wasted.

In 2002 we were told that we had to go to war against Iraq, that Iraq was building weapons of mass destruction, and that if we did not act quickly and decisively nuclear weapons would fall on America. Among those who told us that was none other than Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel, who stated in testimony before Congress: “There is no question whatsoever that Saddam is seeking… nuclear weapons… If you take out Saddam’s regime, I guarantee you that it will have enormous positive reverberations.” The United States invaded Iraq and became embroiled in a long civil war there. No weapons of mass destruction were ever found. That war was based on a lie – a lie which cost us 4,492 young Americans, 32,000 wounded, over half a million Iraqis and trillions of dollars.

The American people were lied to about Vietnam, with tragic consequences.

The American people were lied to about Iraq, with tragic consequences.

The American people are being lied to again today. We cannot allow history to repeat itself. The U.S. faces enormous problems here at home, which we must address. We cannot allow ourselves to be dragged into another Middle East war based on lies.

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ROLLING APOCALYPSE UPDATE

Iran on Monday launched a missile attack on an American base in Qatar, the largest American military installation in the Middle East, in what appeared to be calculated retaliation for U.S. strikes on three critical Iranian nuclear sites.

Even as it attacked, there were signs that Iran was been looking for an off-ramp from a confrontation with the United States. Three Iranian officials said their government had given advance notice that the missile strike was coming, to minimize potential casualties, and President Trump responded with an olive branch online.

“Perhaps Iran can now proceed to Peace and Harmony in the Region, and I will enthusiastically encourage Israel to do the same,” he wrote in one of a series of posts on Truth Social.

Mr. Trump said that 13 of the 14 Iranian missiles fired at the U.S. installation, Al Udeid Air Base, had been downed and that no Americans had been harmed. He also suggested that the fight, at least between the United States and Iran, might be over.

“They’ve gotten it all out of their ‘system,’ and there will, hopefully, be no further HATE,” he said, thanking Iran “for giving us early notice, which made it possible for no lives to be lost, and nobody to be injured.”

“CONGRATULATIONS WORLD,” he declared in a final post. “IT’S TIME FOR PEACE!”

The Iranian strike had initially stoked fears that the conflict with Iran might intensify, drawing in the United States further and expanding across the region. Qatar condemned the attack on its territory, and said it reserved “the right to respond directly.”

In discussing the attack on the air base, the Iranian officials said their country needed to be seen striking back at the United States for its attack on the nuclear installations, but in a calibrated way. A similar approach was used in 2020, when Iran gave a heads-up before firing ballistic missiles at an American base in Iraq in reprisal for the assassination of its top general.

Al Udeid Air Base serves as the regional headquarters for the U.S. Central Command. About 10,000 troops are stationed there.

The Iranian assault came as Israel launched wide-ranging strikes on Tehran on Monday and promised more “in the coming days,” pressing on with its bombing campaign two days after the United States attacked three Iranian nuclear sites.

The new Israeli barrage, which a military spokesman said targeted a paramilitary headquarters and access routes to the Fordo nuclear enrichment site that the U.S. military bombarded, came as Iran fired salvos of missiles that sent Israelis to huddle in shelters, and as Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, met with a key ally, President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.

While the Russian leader called the U.S. strikes “absolutely unprovoked aggression,” he stopped short of offering concrete support for Iran.

Here’s what else to know:

Possible response: Mr. Trump’s decision to attack Iran, and Iran’s retaliatory attack on Monday, dimmed hopes for a negotiated solution to end the fighting. While U.S. officials say that Iran has depleted its stockpile of medium-range missiles, the country still has an ample supply of other weapons, including rockets and drones, some of which would — if employed — give U.S. forces in the region only minutes of warning.

Economic impact: Oil prices fell and stocks climbed after Iran fired missiles at an American military base in Qatar. Before the attack, investors appeared cautiously optimistic about the potential economic fallout from the U.S. strikes over the weekend, and of any moves Iran might make that would disrupt oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz, a critical transit point for global oil supplies. Read more ›

Calls for peace: After European foreign ministers met to discuss Iran, the European Union’s chief diplomat, Kaja Kallas, said that “the concerns of retaliation and this war escalating are huge.” The International Atomic Energy Agency held an emergency meeting in Vienna, where the head of the agency, Rafael Grossi, warned that “violence and destruction could reach unimaginable levels” if Iran, Israel and the United States do not find a path to diplomacy.

U.S. strikes: Though Mr. Trump declared that Iran’s nuclear program had been “totally obliterated” by the U.S. bombings over the weekend, the actual state of the program was far murkier, with senior officials conceding they did not know the fate of Iran’s stockpile of near-bomb-grade uranium.

The Qatari Civil Aviation Authority announced the reopening of Qatar’s airspace hours after Iran launched a missile attack on Al Udeid Air Base, a large American military installation in the Gulf emirate.

A Defense Department official said that American air defenses in Qatar intercepted the 13 Iranian missiles that President Trump said were knocked down in Monday’s attack. One other missile was allowed to land harmlessly. A U.S. official said that American troops in Iraq and Syria remain on alert for attacks by Iran-backed militias there.

Iranian state television announced a cease-fire with Israel early Tuesday, hours after President Trump said an agreement had been reached. The Israeli government had no immediate comment, but said the Iranian military was continuing to launch missiles at Israel.

President Trump made the announcement after more than a week of missile strikes between Israel and Iran, and a day after American bombers attacked Iranian nuclear facilities. But about two hours later, it was not clear if the cease-fire had taken effect.

Iranian state television announced the cease-fire, and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that the Iranian military had fought “until the very last minute” until 4 a.m., the proposed start of the cease-fire.

But an Israeli military spokesman declined to comment, and as the deadline approached, Israel was continuing to strike Iran with missiles in one of the most intense barrages of the war. The Israeli military also said that sirens had been activated in Israel because of a missile launch from Iran.

It’s not unusual for two adversaries to exchange fire in the early hours of a cease-fire, before a total pause takes effect.

Mr. Trump’s assertion came hours after Iran launched missiles at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, the largest American military installation in the Middle East, retaliating for U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear sites — though giving forewarning to limit the damage. About 10,000 U.S. troops are stationed at Al Udeid, which serves as the regional headquarters for the U.S. Central Command.

Vice President JD Vance said soon after Mr. Trump’s post that the war appeared to be “effectively over” and that there was now an opportunity to “restart a real peace process.”

Mr. Trump’s language was characteristically less cautious.

“It has been fully agreed by and between Israel and Iran that there will be a Complete and Total CEASEFIRE,” the president wrote on social media. But he said it would not take place until the two countries had “wound down” military missions still in progress, which he said would unfold in phases over a day.

Three diplomats, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomacy, said that top Qatari officials had intervened on behalf of the Trump administration and persuaded Iran to agree to an American cease-fire proposal after being told Israel had also signed on.

Israeli officials had already suggested that the fighting might wind down soon. On Sunday night, the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said Israel was “very, very close” to achieving its aims in the war against Iran, although he did not provide a timetable for an end to the fighting.

At least three people were critically wounded at the impact site in southern Israel, according to Magen David Adom, Israel’s emergency service. Another five people were lightly injured, and a third was in moderate condition, the paramedics said.

The Israeli fire and rescue service said its teams had identified a direct hit on a residential building in southern Israel after Iranian missile fire early Tuesday.

Iran’s strike on an American air base in Qatar on Monday appeared to be a carefully calibrated retaliation to U.S. attacks on its nuclear sites last week. The strike was limited in scope and echoed Iran’s response in 2020 to the U.S. assassination of a top Iranian general.

The Iranian strike on Monday targeted Al Udeid Air Base, the largest U.S. military installation in the Middle East, and initially deepened fears that the conflict between Iran and Israel could expand in the region.

(NY Times)

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ISRAEL AND ITS LOBBY DRAGGING TRUMP’S REGIME DEEPER INTO ILLEGAL WAR

by Ralph Nader

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told the truth about Tyrant Trump the other day regarding Trump’s war with Israel against Iran. She said, “The President hears all voices across the country, and he makes decisions based on his instincts.”

His instincts are wrapped around his ego, his fantasies, and his overbearing arrogance. Imagine Trump ordering 10 million Iranians to evacuate their nation’s capital, or bragging that “we (sic) control the entire skies over Iran.”

What he isn’t boasting about is the increased flow of U.S. bombs and missiles being shipped to Israel and the U.S. Navy’s daily firing at incoming Iranian missiles, and the tight planning and coordination with Israel’s military regarding targets and intelligence.

All this war-making and threats of much more by Trump, including annihilating Iran’s Supreme Leader, the Ayatollah Khomeini, constitutes the most serious impeachable offense our Founders strove to safeguard against. The war declaration power is EXCLUSIVELY exercised by Congress (Article I, Section 8, Clause 1). The Founders most adamantly rejected the idea of a King plunging the nation into wars.

With American public opinion strongly against another American war in the Middle East, now with Iran, and after the Iraq disaster, Trump continues to behave as if he is above the law. He said in July 2019, “With Article II, I can do whatever I want as President.” He has also trampled the rule of law, doing this with over 100 illegal Executive Orders, damaging the American people in scores of deadly and costly ways at a worsening pace, and his threats of violence against foreign countries.

On June 18, Trump said, “Nobody knows what I’m going to do.” Trump has no idea what he should do. He is personally weighing the messages from his egomaniacal Minder and, thus far, Master, Israel’s cunning tyrant, Netanyahu. Knowing that Trump likes to be with a winner, the Israeli leader can point to many wars that Israel has won. Netanyahu can say that with the U.S. 30,000 lb. bombs to knock out Iran’s nuclear program, he will give credit to Trump and tout him as a peacemaker. He can cite Israel’s past bombings, killings, and sabotage against Iran as proof that Iran is a “paper tiger” incapable of much retaliation.

On the other hand, Trump knows that actions in the Middle East trigger unforeseen or unintended consequences. He has long denounced the bungling of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. His own intelligence community tells him Iran is “not actively building a nuclear weapon.” Israel, on the other hand, has about 200 nuclear warheads and a rapid delivery system.

How the climate worsens. In 2007, then presidential aspirant Senator Joe Biden shouted on Chris Matthews’ HARD BALL that he would lead a campaign to impeach President George W. Bush if he attacked Iran without a congressional declaration of war. Contrast this with last Wednesday’s assertion by retired General David Petraeus, the general who led the 101st Airborne Division in the criminal invasion of Iraq and who was Obama’s CIA director from 2011 to 2012. He went berserk, saying Trump should order the Ayatollah Khomeini to completely dismantle Iran’s nuclear program (including nuclear energy) or face “the complete destruction of your country and your regime and your people.” If he refuses, Petraeus urges, Trump can “reluctantly…blow them to smithereens.”

Ninety million people. Are you crazy David? No blowback afterwards, David? Without a Congressional declaration of war, self-styled military historian Petraeus? He is outdoing the re-emerging armchair neocons led by Bill Kristol, who pressed the Bush regime and American soldiers into the bloody Iraq quagmire.

Ironically, Trump is being blasted by his own MAGA mega-influencers – Steve Bannon, Tucker Carlson, and Dave Smith et al. – for betraying his campaign promises to stop “endless wars” and reject the “Deep State” and Empire. They are really incensed to take their denunciations at face value. Dave Smith told his large following that Trump should be “…impeached and removed from office…”

As for Iran, which has not invaded anybody in some 250 years, it gets little diplomatic empathy. After all, the U.S. overthrew Iran’s popular, newly elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh in 1953 and installed the dictator Shah. It was bloodily invaded by a U.S.-backed Saddam Hussein in the early 1980s, was targeted along with Iraq and North Korea as part of the “Axis of Evil” by George W. Bush, and has been subjected to terror, sabotage, and military encirclement since then by the U.S. and Israel. Maybe the autocratic Iranian state has been terrified into building proxies in Syria and Lebanon, now demolished.

What would we do as a nation if confronted with such overwhelming force and regular attacks? Hardliners in Europe and the U.S. are further demanding that Iran even dump its ballistic missile capability – a level of forced unilateral disarmament, while exposed to the Israeli enemy armed to the nth degree that is actually using armed terror at will in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, and Syria – completely defenseless targets of the Israeli empire.

It could be a demonstration of some moral courage and patriotism if some retired Generals, (e.g., Mark Milley, Jim Mattis, John Kelly), who were in the first Trump administration, would inform the American people of their views regarding consequences of the new war in the Middle East being considered by Trump and his war-mongering, incompetent Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. The same holds for the silent retired presidents George W. Bush (perhaps he has learned something from his destruction of Iraq?) and Democrats Clinton, Obama, and Biden.

The bottom line is whether the Rule of Tyrant Trump or the Rule of Law will prevail. As the New York Times lead editorial on June 19, 2025, trumpeted: ONLY CONGRESS CAN DECLARE WAR.

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BOOM

by James Kunstler

“In eight days, the United States and Israel eliminated Iran’s nuclear capabilities with minimal civilian casualties. One of the greatest military achievements ever.” — Bill Ackman

Of course, you must expect a whole lot of deranged thinking after the USA’s Saturday night “Mother of All Bombs” (MOAB) attack on Iran’s three nuke sites — because derangement drives the spirit of our time in Western Civ. France, Germany, the UK, Sweden still can’t wrap their brains around the jihad they have fecklessly invited inside their countries — and they prosecute anyone who suggests as much.

Over here, the Oregon state legislature brought in drag-queens to entertain members in the chamber . . .California taxpayers subsidize the riots in LA . . . a federal judge orders Kilmar Abrego Garcia released from custody . . . AOC endorses a Muslim lunatic for mayor in New York. . . . So it goes.

For all that, often the simplest explanation is the correct one. Of the MOAB attack on Iran, Secretary of State Rubio said, “They had all the pieces in place to have a nuclear weapon. . . now, not so much.” Mr. Rubio’s Sunday chat with Maria Bartiromo is well worth a listen for clarity. He also succinctly stated, “They [Iran] are the sole source of instability in the entire Middle East, and the world has been paying a price for this for forty-something years.”

Yet, the American hive-mind is aflame with histrionic hypotheticals over Iran, driven by the same prevailing anxiety that infects the illegal alien issue, lawfare, sexual insanity, our role in the Ukraine fiasco. The leitmotif lately is the popular idea that Israel controls the US like a puppeteer and that the Jews are out to rule the world. Yes, the shrill charge of “Zionism” boils down to that.

There is, necessarily, uncertainty about the result of our MOAB strikes. We will not be sending troops in to inspect Fordo, Natanz, and Isfahan. Iran had time, while jerking-around American diplomats, to move its stockpile of 60-percent enriched uranium (if that’s what it was). But they no longer have the facilities to do anything with it, or the top scientists to run the program, and if they attempt to restart all of that, the US will have the option to take them out again. So, you can stop the handwringing over that.

Another popular rumor in circulation is that the MOAB mission was a charade, just a show that Mr. Trump put on to satisfy his ego. That assumes everybody in the chain-of-command was duped, a low-percentage supposition. How is it unclear that the president is not messing around? The main message is “No nukes for Iran.” There was, apparently, some part of that simple proposition the mullahs did not understand. Perhaps the Iranian people understand that the mullahs are not fit to govern their country. It looks like we’ll find out soon enough.

Meanwhile propaganda-central keeps trying to steer the hive-mind back onto RussiaRussiaRussia, and onto Mr. Putin especially. CBS’s 60 Minutes re-worked an old segment last night on Putin opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who died in prison last year at 47 under curious circumstances. I doubt we know the whole story, and CBS surely did not try to present it. But the main purpose was to call Mr. Putin names — thief, murderer, tyrant — and the reason for that was also clear and simple: to derail Mr. Trump’s efforts to normalize relations with Russia.

That effort is a cornerstone of Mr. Trump’s campaign to re-arrange trade relations in such a way that our country can become productive again, employing its citizens in a purposeful way. It happens to imply an end to the Ukraine war, which the Obama State Department and the CIA set the groundwork for in 2014. Ending this war is not in the interest of a certain Beltway blob that thrives on creaming-off the weapons industry. Their schemes require Russia to remain an enemy of the US, a wholly engineered idiocy that media outfits like CBS promote.

Viewed through a wider lens, the MOAB mission was also intended as a message to China. It is a simple and straightforward message: Expect that Mr. Trump means what he says when he says it. He is not messing around. China has been messing around with us to a stunning degree, especially during the past four years of the phantom president “Joe Biden.” China has infiltrated every critical corner of American life: our government, our universities, our medical research, our computer tech sector, our finances, Hollywood, our news media, our critical infrastructure, you name it.

China has been waging war on us in every way except troops and kinetics. Mr. Trump seeks to end all these operations, without coming to blows. That is, he is trying to find a path to what used to be quaintly called peaceful coexistence. If there’s a reason that the political Left in America can’t get behind that simple idea, it might be because the CCP is too deeply mixed up in Democratic Party politics. Their intentions intersect: to bring chaos to America.

Earlier today (Monday), Iran sent another salvo of missiles into Israel at civilian targets, and Israel answered with its own salvo aimed at Iran’s government offices in Teheran. Many expect some sort of retaliation by Iran against the US, either at our bases around the Middle East and Mediterranean, or here in the homeland. You can’t doubt that Iran managed to sneak in many hundreds of capable saboteurs during the “Joe Biden” open border fiesta. Why wouldn’t they seize the opportunity? (Or China, too.)

There’s also the usual talk about Iran shutting down the Straits of Hormuz, through which roughly 20-percent of the world’s oil supply passes — and much of that (up to 45-percent) goes directly to China, which does not have enough of its own oil to function. So, blocking Hormuz would mainly harm Iran’s fellow BRICs nations in Asia while it would deprive Iran of the oil revenue that represents most of its national income. In other words, a really stupid play.

Otherwise, the Trump government looks to exit its role in the Iran-Israeli war. The chief aim has been accomplished. No nukes. Iran’s usual henchmen, Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis, are standing down for the moment, probably perceiving that Iran can no longer support, supply, or protect them. Israel is managing to do what it did in two earlier wars (despite doomish predications): prevail against its enemy. And rather quickly, too. Wouldn’t it amazing if the Middle East happened to become a little peaceful for a while?

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DIVIDED AMERICA IS VULNERABLE IN WAR

Donald Trump’s decision to bomb Iran has triggered a maelstrom of destabilizing political pressures. Can we fight and fracture at the same time?

by Matt Taibbi

American B-2 bombers struck three sites in Iran Saturday night, the denoument of a crisis triggered in late May, according to the New York Times:

In late May, [Trump advisors saw] intelligence that made them concerned that Israel was going to move ahead with a major assault on Iran… And in the two weeks leading up to the Camp David meeting, Mr. Trump’s top advisers met multiple times to get on the same page about what the menu of potential options might be… Monday, June 9, Mr. Trump got on the phone with Mr. Netanyahu. The Israeli leader was unequivocal: The mission was a go.

Mr. Netanyahu laid out his intentions at a high level, according to three people with knowledge of the call. He made clear that Israel had forces on the ground inside Iran. Mr. Trump was impressed by the ingenuity of the Israeli military planning… After he got off the call, he told advisers, “I think we might have to help him.”

This is already a microcosmic example of everything you worry about with Donald Trump. No one boasts more about strength, and the importance of appearing strong, than Trump. Forget the cavalcade of roided-out wrestler types in his entourage, and remember what he said back in 1990 about the Chinese suppression of the Tiananmen revolt: “They were vicious, they were horrible, but they put it down with strength. That shows you the power of strength.” At times, he seems to follow his own advice, but now? When the baddest military on the block goes to war, it should go on its own timeline. We should never be blackmailed into escalation by a yapping-dog client state. Trump grasps this with Volodymyr Zelensky, an actor in a commando sweater. But he went weak in the knees around Bibi Netanyahu, and here we are.

Realizing the situation is not about optics, the optics are nonetheless terrible. Trump last year ran on being “the only president in generations who didn’t start a war.” Along with a promise to immediately “stop all government censorship,” the idea that Trump Alone would wave off the hawks in the Pentagon and State Department who urge us into forever wars was central to his platform.

Now the administration is acting like a coked-out version of the Bush White House, offering premature “mission accomplished“ bromides after its porn-titled bomb run (“Midnight Hammer” might as well have been “Operation Throbbing Man-Shaft”). Defense chief Pete Hegseth boasted “American deterrence is back“ before we had any idea if Iran planned to make good on its retaliatory threats, which Trump already promised would be “met with even greater force than what was unleashed today.” The possibility that all this will backfire and we’ll end up lashed to Israel in an “existential” forever-war of exactly the type Trump promised to reject is real.

Trump made a tactical mistake, but the bigger problem is political. At a different time in our history (even Trump’s first term, when a decision to bomb Syria had everyone from Brian Williams to Van Jones orgasming over American military prowess), America’s consensus-building mechanisms would be working overtime to rally the population. Ostensible European allies, who have a bigger strategic interest than we do in this matter, would be doing the same. This would all add to pressure on Iran and make the gambit less likely to end in disaster. That moment is gone. Reactions to “Midnight Hammer” have been bonkers even by the standards of the Trump era. We may be a country that can no longer go to war for any reason without risking internal collapse. Is that a good thing? Maybe, maybe not.

Start with the Democratic Party’s talking points, astonishing at minimum on the level of hypocrisy. Elected officials are going with arguments about Constitutionality, and appear to be using the moment to prepare an impeachment argument.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who’s been mentioned as a presidential candidate, tweeted, “The President’s disastrous decision to bomb Iran… is a grave violation of the Constitution and Congressional War Powers… absolutely and clearly grounds for impeachment.” Illinois Democrat Sean Casten concurred, saying ”No president has the authority to bomb another country that does not pose an imminent threat to the US without the approval of Congress. This is an unambiguous impeachable offense.” Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries left out the word “impeach” in his statement, but he’s saying something similar: Trump “failed to seek congressional authorization for the use of military force” and “shoulders complete and total responsibility for any adverse consequences that flow from his unilateral military action.”

I wrote about this political tactic in Rolling Stone exactly six years ago, on June 19, 2019, after Iran shot down an American drone. Complaints about illegality and/or constitutionality of military acts by the minority party have been reflex for 20 years:

This has been a running theme with both parties since 2001… When Republicans are in power, Democrats complain they haven’t been consulted about the use of force, as they did following an increased troop deployment to Iraq in 2007 (Joe Biden even said this was an impeachable offense). Republicans were shocked, shocked that the Obama administration attacked Libya without congressional approval back in 2011, and again when Obama bombed Syria in 2013, and again when Obama bombed Syria in 2016 (Republicans also criticized Obama for asking for congressional permission in a 2014 bombing campaign). The tables turned again in 2017, when people like Nancy Pelosi said Donald Trump’s decision to bomb Syria “needs oversight,” and in 2018, when congressional Democrats criticized Trump again for bombing Syria without their permission.

Now, with Iran, Democrats are doing the same dance…

Going to war against a foreign country without congressional approval was once illegal, probably should be again. On the other hand, both parties after 9/11 voted to pass the Authorization for Military Force Against Terrorists (AUMF), which gave presidents a blank check for war without congressional approval, against any nation or group deemed to have aided in the planning of 9/11 or harbored connected terrorists. It passed 98-0 in the Senate and 420-1 in the House and was later invoked to justify operations in at least 22 countries, including against groups that didn’t exist on 9/11. Barack Obama and George Bush alone invoked it to justify attacks in “Afghanistan, the Philippines, Georgia, Yemen, Djibouti, Kenya, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Iraq, and Somalia.” Only when Trump flirted with the idea of war with Iran in 2019 did Congress attempt to revoke the AUMF, and even passed a bill ostensibly barring Trump from pursuing war with Iran. He just called it “insulting“ and vetoed it.

Again, I think presidents should need the approval of Congress to go to war, but both parties voted to geld themselves more or less unanimously on this question in 2001, then during a period of expansionist euphoria let presidents run wild, to the point where voters didn’t even know where our military was deployed by 2016. Now they want to cry about War Powers, when we haven’t had a declared war since 1942? A Brown University “Costs of War” project map of where undeclared operations relying in part on the AUMF took place between 2021-2023 shows how transparent this is:

If Congress manages to muster the votes to override a veto and restore some order to a process that (clearly by design) has lacked any since the forties, mazel tov. I’d be for it, so long as it applied to every president, not just this one. If Democrats pursue impeachment on this basis after all the undeclared military insanities they’ve green-lit over the years (including everything from the Vietnam War to the deployment of ATACMS missiles into nuclear-armed Russia by a lame-duck cabbage last November), that’s different. A legislative call to stop both wars as unconstitutional would carry more weight. But much like the speech issue, we can’t get both sides to commit to a principle simultaneously, just to campaigns of selective restriction.

Another stunning development is the sudden rehabilitation of revolutionary Iran’s reputation. On one level or another, we’ve been in conflict with this Iranian government since the late seventies. If you want to backdate that to the overthrow of democratically elected Mohammed Mossadegh and his replacement with the Shah Reza Pahlavi in 1953, that’s fine. But Iran has been a near-constant belligerent ever since, from seizure of American hostages to the Hezbollah Beirut bombings to the “tanker wars” of the eighties (which included the sinking of an American warship) to ongoing sponsorship of terrorism and shipping lane disruptions and other problems. Even if one places blame for recent Iranian action on Western sanctions, in fact even if you tilt blame for every bloody incident since the fifties our way, Iran would still be a security concern.

We can argue about how best to deal with those concerns, but if we’ve reached a place where a country with a history of terror sponsorship and a “Death to America!” foreign policy is getting nuclear weapons doesn’t worry much of the country, or has become less of a worry than fears about our intramural politics, that might be a sign we’ve fully checked out of the defense game. I didn’t like the decision to bomb Iran, but as an American I feel like I should hope it was successful and that this puts off the nuclear issue for a while. It doesn’t look like many agree, however.

It’s become de rigueur among protesting groups that Iran now be folded into the same sympathetic camp as Gaza/Palestine, and calls from “peace” groups seem to want an end to every conflict but the one in Ukraine (Iran has been a primary Russian ally against Ukraine, but whatever). Media ripped conservative voters for selfishness in demanding that taxpayer money be spent at home instead of Ukraine, but those same outlets are running pics of suddenly ubiquitous “Money for people with needs, not War With Iran” signs. We even saw the bizarre spectacle of the L.A. County Sheriff’s office briefly issuing a release saying their “hearts go out“ to the victims of the Iran bombings. Former Trump adviser Steve Bannon’s accusation that “there needs to be a thorough FARA investigation into Fox’s relationship with a foreign power“ speaks to the extreme vibe shift now detectable across all political factions. This country is just too rife with intramural conflict to be anything but damaged by foreign war.

War was once a tool presidents used to galvanize populations, often cynically. Now it’s clearly just adding weight to fractures, not just between Democrats and Republicans but along fault lines within those parties. That’s more a pattern you’d see in failing states. Is that who we are?

(racket.news)

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