Mendocino County Today: Sunday 7/13/2025

HOT WEATHER is forecast to continue for the interior into early next week. HeatRisk diminishes by the middle of the week. Unhealthy air quality due to nearby wildfires is possible. There is a slight chance for isolated dry thunderstorms this afternoon and evening over the mountains of northern Trinity County. (NWS)

STEPHEN DUNLAP (Fort Bragg): If you like "patchy fog", you'll love the forecast, as the "stratus quo" looks well entrenched for the next week. A foggy 52F this Sunday morning on the coast.

PHYLLIS ROSEMARY PERKUT HARRISON
September 28, 1924 – May 5, 2025

Phyllis was born in San Francisco, an only child to Pete and Ida (Nelson) Perkut. She was married to Bernie Harrison (the love and joy of her life) for 72 years and together they raised their three children in Fort Bragg. They eventually moved to Ukiah where Phyllis spent most of her career as the Administrative Assistant to the County Administrator (Al Beltrami).

Phyllis is survived by her children Jerry Harrison (Sandy), Kris Harrison Wilson and Ken Harrison. She was blessed with many grandchildren: Kimberley Harrison, Todd Wilson, Kellie Magna, Shannon Kane, Angela Blanchard, Ben Harrison and Darrel Harrison. Phyllis is also survived by 15 great-grandchildren and a great-great grandson, who was born this past year.

Phyllis was known for her friendships, sense of style, a good sense of humor and her dedication to her work. She was well respected by her co-workers and local business leaders. She spent her last three years at Mountain View Assisted Living and her family was grateful for their care and support. The family wishes to express their profound appreciation for the love and care given to Phyllis by her personal caregivers, Lou Koradrau and Patti Ridella.

A Celebration of Life is being planned for Sunday, August 31. For details contact [email protected].

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Ukiah Valley Adventist Hospital, Adventist Health Hospice, or charity of your choice.

FORT BRAGG PROTEST, JULY 12TH

80 - 100 people protested Saturday (Susan Nutter)

More photos by Robert Dominy: https://www.flickr.com/photos/mendoevents/albums/72177720327517219/

TWO ARRESTED YESTERDAY IN CONNECTION WITH HOMICIDE; VICTIM IDENTIFIED AS FORT BRAGG RESIDENT

On July 11, 2025, at approximately 9:00 a.m., the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO) SWAT Team executed an arrest warrant at a residence in the 100 block of H Street, Arcata, as part of an ongoing homicide investigation conducted by the HCSO Major Crimes Division (MCD).

Following an extensive investigation, MCD detectives identified Danielle Roberta Durand, 41, as a suspect in a homicide that occurred on Glendale Road, and a Ramey Warrant was issued for her arrest. As SWAT prepared to enter the residence, Durand left in a vehicle and was apprehended during a traffic stop on Highway 101 near the Bayside Cutoff.

Concurrently, SWAT members executed the warrant at the Arcata residence, where Deunn Antoine Willis, 38, was detained. Further investigation established Willis as the primary suspect in the homicide, and he was placed under arrest.

Both Durand and Willis were transported to the Humboldt County Correctional Facility and booked on charges of: Murder, Conspiracy, and Robbery.

The victim in this case has been identified as Joshua Lee McCollister, 37, of Fort Bragg. The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office continues to investigate this case and encourages anyone with information to contact the Major Crimes Division. Further details will be released as they become available.

Anyone with information about this case can call the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office at (707) 445- 7251 or the Sheriff’s Office Crime Tip line at (707) 268-2539.

(Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office)

GALINA TREFIL:

I can’t believe that J’s actually dead. Even after speaking to the coroner’s office, I still can’t believe that he was murdered.

I loved him so much. I always will.

He so hated guns. Absolutely hated them. “Any coward can pull a trigger.” I’d probably heard him say that a hundred times. That he was shot, that he had to wait there for help, knowing he might die that way…. Can’t stop crying.

J was afraid that he was going to be killed; that we both were going to be killed. The last time that I spoke to J face-to-face, we spoke about that specifically and how we had to be careful. On many occasions before that and since, he said that we just needed to up and leave or we might die.

This was particularly true after I was doxxed here on this page and a man (don’t know who it was) sat outside, facing my bedroom window all night long. That incident scared me. Badly. Scared him too, and things only went downhill from there.

Still, I thought that everything would be okay. Somehow, someway, everything would turn out alright in the end.

I just kept focusing on the case. The case. The case. THE CASE.

I should have listened to him. He was right.

I can’t do the case right now. I’ve been working behind the scenes this entire time trying to secure dogs, GPR, et cetera. I’ve never given up. I never will give up. I also won’t post half of what goes on behind the scenes on Facebook though. Seriously, who would? Facebook is not law enforcement.

I just heard that two people have been arrested for J’s murder. That fast. But he’s still dead. He’s still gone, arrests or not.

Going to share a few memories of him….

One that always stands out to me; typifies him as a person. We were at Beautiful Earth, shopping for fossils. He loved paleontology. “What’s your favorite dinosaur?” I’d say to him. He’d reply, “All of the above.” That time, I bought him a fossilized echinoderm. Echinoderms are a personal favorite of mine, for some reason symbolize “family” to me, and I wanted him to know that’s what he was.

He walked me home, but we had to go slow. He had five broken ribs and it was very painful. A few blocks from Beautiful Earth, we saw an elderly, quite large woman in a wheelchair. She was having difficulty going very fast. He asked if he could help her and pushed her all the way to Safeway, roughly about a mile away. Sweat was dripping off of his face, he grimaced a lot, and occasionally grunted. I could tell that every step was agony, but he never complained. The woman, rather on the inebriated side, wasn’t particularly nice or grateful; and even hit him up for a chunk of cash. He didn’t care. “That’s what you do,” he said.

He did a lot of things like that for people. When he lived with my family, he cooked Thanksgiving dinner and Christmas dinner for the homeless in Fort Bragg. He just loaded up as much as he could carry in his arms and went out searching in the cold, looking for anyone he could find that was hungry and alone on the streets. Again saying, “That’s what you do.”

Another time, he saved my 12-year-old’s life out on the A&W Logging Road, when he tried--tried very hard--to jump off a bridge. My son’s severely autistic and didn’t know better. He yelled, “Swimming in the pool!” and tried to jump off the bridge. J tackled him, latched onto him, saved him, and gave him a piggyback ride, almost all the way to the hospital near where we lived. Again, “That’s what you do.”

He also saved my life. No question. Probably more than once. Took care of me during multiple seizures. When I had a grand mal once, due to the pharmacy not having my meds in time the night before, J once ran from Safeway to the hospital, and handed the medication to the EMTs. Didn’t walk. Ran.

When J was killed, he was homeless, had been homeless for a long time. One of the main reasons that he was homeless was because, though he’d been diagnosed with severe autism in childhood, he didn’t have the original records (or know how to get them) to submit to SSI for disability. He also had ADHD, social anxiety disorder, PTSD, and frequent seizures. The process of getting disability, (and of afterwards getting disabled housing,) is long, arduous, and frankly terribly overwhelming, particularly for an autistic.

J was absolutely disabled, but when he tried to talk about it, or when I tried to advocate for him, he’d get laughed at, called lazy. No. He was DISABLED. Autism isn’t funny, and you don’t stop needing help just because you turn 18.

J was brilliant--seriously, very, VERY smart. But there were just some things that, being disabled, he couldn’t navigate.

J tried to get his disability on paper. He sought help from multiple places in Fort Bragg--doctors, mental health care professionals--and nobody could help him. They all acknowledged the problem, didn’t deny he was autistic, but none of them knew how to get an adult that didn’t have his childhood paperwork “re-diagnosed.” They didn’t do that process, didn’t know where to refer him for that process to be done. If he’d been a minor, they could’ve helped him, they said. He was an adult though and so he just…was allowed to slip through the cracks.

His dream, once his disability was formally acknowledged again, was that, by learning how to fix this for himself, by undergoing the process as an adult, he could go on the streets of Fort Bragg, or wherever he wound up, to the homeless that similarly weren’t aware of their legal rights. He said that he’d met many disabled people left out in the cold that met all the criteria of being eligible for disabled benefits, but were just too confused or in some other way handicapped to be able to jump through the process’ hoops themselves.

That what he wanted to do with his life, moving forward: dedicate himself to helping other disabled people. And he would have. There’s not a doubt in my mind that he would have. I can see him doing that, big smile on his face, and showing off his autism puzzle piece tattoo and his AD/HD tattoo, made to look like the AC/DC logo…. He wasn’t embarrassed about being disabled. He was one of the most outspoken, proud autistics I’ve ever met.

Instead of getting help, he was gunned down on the streets.

J did a lot for the case. What all he did will eventually be known, but I don’t want to talk about it now.

I’m going to include a donation link to an autism charity. It’s what he’d want to be remembered by, instead of flowers.

I’m going to take some time off to mourn this deeply good person, whose ultimate legacy might very well be helping bring justice to so many fellow murder victims.

COUNTY NOTES

by Mark Scaramella

Mendo’s Human Resources Director (and Deputy CEO) Cherie Johnson told the Supervisors last Tuesday that 20 county employees have resigned under the County’s resignation incentive/buy-out program. Johnson added that the savings for those 20 departures was estimated to be worth about $2.1 million, almost $600k of which was General Fund savings. Nobody mentioned anything about replacing any of the people who resigned. Nobody asked what the new budget deficit estimate is with this “savings.” And so far no agenda item has appeared on the Supervisors agenda about the status of vacancies, including these 20 new ones, despite the staff’s previous promise to report on vacancies monthly. Of course, nobody really expected any monthly reports. Mendo simply doesn’t do monthly reporting.

County Auditor-Controller-Treasurer-Tax Collector Chamise Cubbison told the Supervisors Tuesday that the County has received a little over half a million dollars since posting the first batch of “power to sell” notices (in the Ukiah Daily Journal), a fundamental tax collection function that hasn’t been done for years. The process has been delayed for years, mostly due to covid and resignations of experienced staff in the tax collector’s office in the wake of the Supervisors’ ill-advised consolidation of the Tax Collector’s office with the Auditor’s office. Apparently, the simple act of reminding tax delinquent property owners that their property is subject to a tax lien foreclosure sale if they don’t pay their long-overdue taxes got a number of them to either pay, or enter a payment plan. Cubbison didn’t estimate the value of the remaining notices or the likelihood of collecting on them or when that might happen. Nor did she predict when the next round of notices would be published. None of the Supervisors expressed any interest in this significant and long-overdue accomplishment, even more important these days since the County says they’re running a multi-million deficit.

Board Watcher Dee Pallesen pointed out some obvious weaknesses in the Board’s proposed reply to the Grand Jury’s follow up complaint that the County has not properly responded to the GJ’s recommendation that a “Quality Assurance Program” should be in place for Family and Children’s Services (FCS) (formerly CPS). The GJ dinged the County years ago for not keeping FCS adequately staffed and thus not providing adequate handling of child abuse, custody, and related cases. The Grand Jury has followed up on this problem for a couple of years and the only remaining item that the County has not properly responded to is the Quality Assurance item, at least according to the Grand Jury.

In the draft response prepared by an ad hoc committee of Supervisors Ted Williams and John Haschak, the County replied to the GJ saying:

“Because FCS had in place a quality assurance program, a summary of that program was provided as part of the response. The Board believes that the July 23, 2024 response complied with California Penal Code. However, the Grand Jury sent a letter dated November 12, 2024, stating that they believed the Board’s response to Recommendation 10 was non-compliant. The non-compliance letter stated that the Board’s ‘response did not provide a complete summary’ and that ‘the summary should include the County FCS policies and procedures which accurately describe the quality assurance program, or if no such policies and procedures exist, a summary of how the quality assurance program functions.’ In response to the non-compliance letter, on December 17, 2024, the Board provided a Supplemental Response to Recommendation 10, that included a more detailed summary of the FCS quality assurance program and explained in greater detail how the program functioned. The Board believes that any perceived non-compliance may be the result of a disconnect between the Grand Jury’s recommendation and the Board’s understanding of that recommendation. However, the Grand Jury’s finding does not explain why the Grand Jury believes that the Board’s response was non-compliant. Therefore, the Board is limited in addressing the Grand Jury’s concerns.

“As an update, FCS has recently restructured the Compliance and Quality Assurance unit. As part of restructuring, FCS is working to contract Case Review and Quality Assurance with the State of California, therefore having a third party (the State) provide the case reviews and the quality assurance over FCS cases. FCS hopes to be in contract with the State by July 1, 2025. [a date which had passed before the Consent Calendar draft response was even considered]. Additionally, the County’s current Self-Assessment [sic], which was discussed in the December 17, 2024 Supplemental Response, is due in November 2025. The County will then develop the System Improvement Plan based upon the County Self-Assessment.”

Given FCS’s chronic understaffing, it’s no surprise that taking time and staff from the line workers in that department to do quality assurance is probably not a priority for them. But if that’s the case, they should just say so and explain exactly what kind of “quality assurance” they (or the state — hah!) is doing and how they plan to improve staffing. Further, if the Quality Assurance Plan means more admin and less service then, Which would you prioritize? However, if the actual “quality” of services is poor then corrective action is required.

Ms. Pallesen picked up on this “disconnect” Tuesday morning and provided chapter and verse from the Grand Jury penal code sections while noting that the Board’s response to this ongoing problem in the County was not much of a response.

Ms. Pallesen explained to the Board that the County/FCS still has no actual Quality Assurance Plan and no Policy and Procedures or equivalent because all the County has done is say they will have something someday based on the County’s own “self-assessment.” Pallesen added that a proper response would include “a summary of the details of implementation — the problem appears to be with the word ‘implementation’.”

Pallesen:

“The grand jury has again pointed out that the response did not provide a detailed summary of implementation and actions taken to implement quality assurance in FCS. This latest response is more of the same. There is a discussion of the process, but no description of implementation. A summary of implementation would include at the very least staffing, timelines, due dates, duties and responsibilities, and hopefully policies and procedures. There is now a reference to restructuring and contracting with the state, but again no details. I do not know who is writing these responses to the grand jury but this response still doesn’t answer the question. So it appears that you are still in violation of the penal code. Your current response states, ‘The board believes that any perceived noncompliance may be the result of a disconnect between the grand jury recommendation and in the board’s understanding of that recommendation.’ The penal code outlines the availability of the grand jury for any clarification for an additional 45 days from the report. So that’s a full year plus 45 days to ask for clarification. If you didn’t understand or if something was missing you should ask. Did you ask? Also, your response says the board believes the July 24 response complied with the penal code. While the grand jury does the work, the presiding judge signs the report. This tells me that the judge did not think you complied with the penal code.”

Obviously, the Supervisors didn’t ask the Grand Jury for clarification. In effect, the draft response said, Trust us, we’re doing fine in our opinion and if the Grand Jury doesn’t think so, it’s the Grand Jury’s failure to understand or be clear.

However, after Ms. Pallesen’s remarks, Supervisor Williams proposed pulling the draft response from the consent calendar. Supervisor/Board Chair Haschak agreed and said the item would be considered separately later in the day.

But the meeting ended without any further discussion of the item.

We’re taking over/under bets on when this item will come back to the Board for proper consideration. Normally, we would say the over/under is six months. But since Ms. Pallesen is following it, it’s likely she will be back before the Board soon to remind them again that they have still not adequately responded to the Grand Jury.

SUPERVISOR MAUREEN MULHEREN (Facebook):

“A big thank you to our outgoing Mendocino County Civil Grand Jury Foreperson for their dedication and service this past year. I’d like to also extend a warm welcome to the incoming Foreperson as the new term begins.

The Civil Grand Jury plays a vital role in promoting transparency, accountability, and good governance by investigating local government operations and making recommendations that benefit our entire community.

We appreciate the commitment of these volunteers who help strengthen public trust and ensure taxpayer dollars are used wisely.

Mark Scaramella Notes: Supervisor Mulheren forgot to thank the Grand Jury for not looking at the Supervisors, the CEO, the Cubbison fiasco, the cannabis program, the ill-advised consolidation of the Auditor and Treasurer offices, former Supervisor Glenn McGourty’s obvious conflict of interest (too late now), the amount of money spent on high-priced San Francisco lawyers, the tax sharing agreement with the cities, failure to collect taxes due, the multitude of unmonitored slush funds including the Teeter Plan, Asset Forfeiture Fund, the Mental Health Fund, the Measure B fund, and the Road fund, the failure to honor most publicly voted-in measures, especially Measure B… Something tells us that if the Grand Jury had looked at any of these obvious and well-documented fiascos and failures, Supervisor Mulheren wouldn’t be quite as thankful. Unfortunately, the Grand Jury made it clear back in April when they were impaneled that they were Official Nice People who look the other way when it comes to top County officials and are happy to be glad-handed by the oh-so friendly and cozy Board of Supervisors — and Judge Moorman.

CARTEL “BAD ACTORS”

by Jim Shields

Back in early May, the Board of Supervisors unanimously signed off on a letter I characerized as a “Hail Mary” imploring “state agencies and lawmakers for greater collaboration from state agencies to enforce cannabis laws on unpermitted grow sites in Mendocino County.”

During the discussion leading to the Supes approving the letter, District 5 Supervisor Ted Williams once again reminded his colleagues that a major flaw in the failed weed ordinance is that county officials “looked the other way” when it came to enforcing the ordinance.

The letter which was sent to Governor Gavin Newsom, Nicole Elliott, Department of Cannabis Control, the State Water Resources Control Board, Dept. of Fish and Wildlife, Senate Pro Tem President Mike McGuire, and Assemblymember Chris Rogers, identified the primary consequence of “looking the other way”: “Major tension stems from the accountability placed on legal cannabis growers by County and State regulations, while unregulated bad actors continue to thrive. Many legal operators have thrown in the towel and abandoned the occupation that once paid their bills and allowed them to support the local economy. The scale at which unregulated cannabis is currently operating in Mendocino County significantly contributes to the collapse of the industry and a central reason for the continued proliferation of unregulated grows.”

The “bad actors”, of course, are the violence-prone cartels based mostly in Mexico.

Mendocino County Sheriff Matt Kendall traced the post-legalization history of cartel infiltration of the cannabis industry when he said, “Several years ago, I along with several Northern California Sheriff’s met regarding the violence, human trafficking, drug trafficking organizations and environmental degradation we were seeing in illegal marijuana grow sites throughout Northern California. We began a partnership realizing we were all facing the same issues at a time when we are all facing personnel shortages.”

Bill Jones, the head of enforcement for the state's Department of Cannabis Control, focused on what law enforcement did — or rather, what it didn't do — in the first few years after California approved a licensed weed industry.

“Most jurisdictions — local jurisdictions — police or sheriff's departments and district attorney's offices, were very reluctant to do any kind of enforcement on cannabis. It really created an air of impunity, and the unlicensed activity really skyrocketed.”

Trinity County Sheriff Tim Saxon, whose county forms one of the legs of the Emerald Triangle, talks of cartel workers being held against their will. Sometimes, workers' passports, visas or driver's licenses and cell phones are locked away until they finish the harvest season. And cartel cultivators often threaten to harm the workers or the workers' families if they run off or talk to police.

“They're basically being held prisoner,” Saxon said.

Congressman Jared Huffman, who represents our area, said human trafficking is a “localized crisis” in parts of his district. "Cartels are operating with impunity there,” he said, citing limited sheriff's department resources to police an expansive area.

Aside from the shortage of law enforcement personnel, the problem is compounded by a general dearth of overall funding for enforcement.

So we all know what the problem is but what do we do about it.

Actually, Abraham Lincoln provides us with the answer.

Lincoln once defined what one of the cornerstones of government is.

He said, “The legitimate object of government, is to do for a community of people, whatever they need to have done, but can not do, at all — or can not, so well do, for themselves — in their separate, and individual capacities.”

Sure sounds like that’s the exact situation we find ourselves in.

We have a huge problem and we don’t have the resources to solve it.

The good news is the means to solve our problem are close by.

The National Guard, Marines, ICE, all sorts of federal agencies have been in Southern California for several months allegedly enforcing immigration laws. I’ll defer further comments on that situation for the time being.

The point is, up here in Northern California we’ve had ongoing criminal activities with cartel gangs and syndicates who have created intolerable conditions for Lincoln’s “community of people” who cannot solve their problem “in their separate, and individual capacities.”

The needed and required federal assistance and resources are already present in the state.

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), with assistance from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the National Guard, conducted a large investigation at several illegal marijuana operations near Thermal on June 18th.

In a statement, the Drug Enforcement Administration Los Angeles Field Division said, “The Drug Enforcement Administration is leading a vast investigation, which involves multiple illegal marijuana grow operations, in the area of Thermal, CA. Preliminary numbers, subject to change, are as follows: 70 to 75 undocumented migrants were arrested. At least one US citizen was arrested for impeding law-enforcement. The operations covered 787 acres. The operation is authorized by federal search warrants signed by a federal magistrate judge …”

In contrast to some of the ham-handed immigration “enforcement” activities in the city of Los Angeles and other SoCal areas, there were no complaints about the illegal, presumably cartel operations in the Thermal raids.

Mendocino County should request federal assistance that would be coordinated with local law enforcement to eradicate our cartel operations.

(Jim Shields is the Mendocino County Observer’s editor and publisher, [email protected], the long-time district manager of the Laytonville County Water District, and is also chairman of the Laytonville Area Municipal Advisory Council. Listen to his radio program “This and That” every Saturday at 12 noon on KPFN 105.1 FM, also streamed live: http://www.kpfn.org)

THE QUESTION FOR FORT BRAGG

Editor,

Fort Bragg gets Renovated and Enhanced.

Recently, local Bainbridge Park was endowed with a $2 million renovation and enhancement. The completed project would have a small pavilion and two small 50 by 80 foot soccer fields and an ADA compliant rubber surface under its already installed play structures.

The project was paid for by a grant obtained through the Proposition 68 bond measure passed in 2018 and authored by State Senator Kevin de Leon. The bond was sold as a measure to protect our water and help underserved (the poor) neighborhoods improve their local, county and state parks.

Projects are proposed to communities who organize a committee and file a grant for a project. They negotiate the terms of the grant guaranteeing various infrastructure features in order to qualify for the grant.

Many grants have been structured in such a way as to insure the use of infill in these projects. Infill is chopped up old tires to about the size of kitty litter. It is used under artificial turf to provide better drainage and improve the soil structure so as to provide more even weight distribution. Infill is also mixed with a polymer and used to make ADA compliant surfaces. Infill is also hazardous waste. Infill is also PFAS (Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances). Infill is microplastics and just basically a real raw deal.

Recently Governor Newsom signed a bill passed by the California legislature to streamline CEQA (the California Environmental Quality Act) on June 30th 2025. This streamlining removed obstacles to the installation of materials used in buildings and construction. CEQA passed in California by then Governor Reagan and authored by then assemblyman John Foran, It was a flow chart of environmental regulations and standards that had to be met before projects could be approved.

This latest streamlining was very important because bond money must be spent by a certain time period and developers were blocked by the regulatory agencies that approved projects. Environmental Impact Reports (EIR) must be made and a certain set of standards must be met based on the size of the project and the materials used.

After the passage of Prop 68 and the developers started developing, there was some pushback. One of those pushing back appears to be the bill’s author Kevin de Leon. Developers and contractors were making a squabble as if they did not meet their deadlines they did not get paid.

I think these grants were conditional. Written by career grant writers working as administrators within the various agencies that apply for these grants. I believe that many of the grants were conditional and one of those conditions was that there had to be infill. Projects like soccer fields and other surfaces where the infill could be placed. Thus eliminating hazardous waste and bestowing it on our parks and underserved (poor) communities.

The best part? Those suckers paid dearly for the money they were given. They will keep paying. Because infill is ground up tires and ground up tires are hazardous waste that cause cancer and respiratory illness and a whole slew of other illnesses insuring a steady stream of customers for our medical and pharmaceutical industries.

Plastics are forever and they keep on giving.

PFAS run into the groundwater polluting it and have been linked to kidney cancer particularly. They also run through our estuaries killing aquatic life, probably insects and other ocean life. Insects are important too — they’re our pollinators.

Polluted water leads to an increase in water prices as the supply of clean safe water diminishes and of course the price goes up. Supply and demand.

By the way: stop buying water in plastic bottles. What the fuck is wrong with you hippie? Drink from the tap you entitled shithead.

Unwitting (hopefully) administrators in Fort Bragg I fear have made a deal with the devil. They’ve contracted for one of these grants and we are having infill installed very soon at Bainbridge park right across from the library. It’s already there in brown unmarked bags. I had never seen government work so fast. The materials were on site just a few days before the governor signed the bill “streamlining” CEQA.

All this material for “renovation and enhancement” seemed rather early. It didn’t make sense. All because a walk in the park by my wife with our four year old. These things are precious to me and, how dare you mess with them?

$2 million granted and the materials had to be in place before the deadline. That’s why they are getting pushed through. Well that’s my guess. I’ve never seen one of these projects move so fast.

Let me tell you dear reader this has not been one walk in the park this week. I’m tired of the Great Distractator. I’m tired of the red wing and the blue wing of this Turkey continually perpetually hurling itself into the fan.

Members of the City Council That 3 minutes you’ll grant me to ask you; why you want to poison my community. I have only one question. So stay tuned!

The question:

Show up Monday night at Town Hall 6:00 to find out.

PS. Fun facts

Proposition 68, $68 billion deficit.

Kevin DeLeon was accused of corruption and taking two cash payments from constituents amounting to $500 each and failed to report it. When de Leon was an assemblyman he wrote a bill vetoed by then Governor Brown that would make taking more than $440 without reporting it a crime.

Because Kevin de Leon was accused of corruption and he said something that hurt some somebody’s feelings it being very very racist and such or maybe one of his friends said it I’m not sure. It’s 3:18 in the damn morning and even if this gets done I don’t know if I’ll sleep. He is no longer a congressman and he’s running again. Must be a masochist but he’s worth $5 million so even an “honest?” politician can be reasonably comfortable.

His seat is now occupied by Ysabel Jurado from LA.

Christopher Cisper

Fort Bragg

UKIAH SHELTER PET OF THE WEEK

Looking for a playful, fun-loving furry friend? The search is over! Brut is a big, friendly, smart pup who loves a spirited romp with a good squeaky toy. Although he still has some of that puppy clumsiness, Brut makes up for it with his affable and cheerful demeanor. If you’re ready for lots of laughs, love, and slobbery puppy kisses, Brut might be the guy for you. Despite being young, Brut has a big personality and is full of pep and pizzaz! He would benefit from an experienced owner willing to give him the training and socialization he needs — and perhaps a canine training class or two. Adopt Brut today and watch him mature into the best dog he can be! Brut is a mixed breed dog, 5 months old and 40 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 our Meet The Dogs Adoption Event.

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

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

LAYTONVILLIAN:

Highway 101 was known colloquially as The Gauntlet. It was a numbers game; you pull over enough cars heading south and you’re bound to come across some pounds. This was before licensed distros; it was all medicine and the providers (in the hills around here) had to get it to the patients (many of them in the Bay Area and Southern California). Lots of ten packs in trucks whose drivers had desperately tried to wash the mud off of were passing through Sonoma County at any given time.

There will forever be something very comforting to me about hitting the Mendocino County line on my way back north. Like a zone of protection. Or a Pirate Bay. LOL.

AV EVENTS (today)

Free Entry to Hendy Woods State Park for local residents
Sun 07 / 13 / 2025 at 8:00 AM
Where: Hendy Woods State Park
More Information (https://andersonvalley.helpfulvillage.com/events/4514)

AV Grange Pancake and Egg Breakfast
Sun 07 / 13 / 2025 at 8:30 AM
Where: Anderson Valley Grange , 9800 CA-128, Philo
More Information (https://andersonvalley.helpfulvillage.com/events/4632)

Anderson Valley Historical Museum: Local History from Our Cemeteries
Sun 07 / 13 / 2025 at 2:00 PM
Where: Anderson Valley Historical Museum , 12340 Highway 128, Boonville
More Information (https://andersonvalley.helpfulvillage.com/events/4713)

SONDRA SULA’S SHOW IN ELK

A gallery opening will take place on “Second Saturday,” July 12th from 1 to 3 pm.

Sondra Sula’s solo show entitled ‘Constant Flux’ will be at the Artists Collective in Elk during the month of July 2025. Her “Little Souls” are small, framed found-object assemblages.

‘Constant Flux’ explores the artist’s current state of upheaval and change.

“The idea of permanence is presently appealing: cementing things into place,” Sula states. “Using minerals and fossils that have been around for millions of years and mixing them with more recent geegaws establishes a connection of my own place within the greater timeline.”

Sula has been represented by galleries in Chicago, Santa Fe, Michigan and on the northern California coast from Gualala to Fort Bragg.

The Elk Collective Gallery is open daily from 10:00 am - 5:00 pm. 707-877-1128.

ERIC ENRIQUEZ (formerly of Ukiah, registered Pomo):

Did I ever tell you about the time that we got to go home early from school because Reagan had been shot at the Hilton in DC? My Mom and Grandma had been shopping in Santa Rosa or something and returned to find me home and giddy with the news. Grandma Dot told me never to laugh at a tragedy befalling a US President. She also believed in the BS spewed by Jimmy Swaggart and Oral Roberts. I gave it a shot. I completed a bible school via mail and spent a lot of time in my Bible Concordance.

I loved her very much, but our elders were frequently very damaged by our culture. Vote out the old Democrats, y’all… They broken.

COMMENTS ON THE BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL

by Dr. William Miller (Coast Hospital)

(via Kathy Wylie)

I’m sharing below a transcript of comments made by Dr. William Miller at last Thursday’s MCHCD Board Seismic Retrofit Workshop.

The meeting video, an excerpt of Dr. Miller’s comments, and a copy of the transcript are now available on the District’s website:

https://www.mendocinochcd.gov/2025-07-10-special-board-seismic-retrofit-planning-workshop-2-5pm

The MCHCD Board is currently in the planning phase of Seismic retrofit work on our Coast Hospital, as well as the consideration of modernization to the Emergency Room and Surgeries. Additional workshops will be held in the upcoming weeks, for plan submission to the State, due January 1, 2026.

MCHCD Board Meeting Transcript excerpt - 7/10/25

Mendocino Coast Health Care District Board Chair Garza: I’d like to recognize 1st for public comment on Dr. William Miller.

Dr. Miller:

Well, thank you. I’m Dr. William Miller. I’m a resident of Little River California, I’ve been here since 2017, and am a physician here at our hospital. I’m speaking today as a community member. I am not representing Adventist Health or the hospital in any way.

I wanted to also just take this time to thank the District Board for all your hard work. I think you guys have done a really fantastic job. And I’m really happy to see how you’re moving forward in analyzing the seismic requirement options and the modernization options.

I would like to just dovetail on what you said, Mr. Garza, about the impacts of the one big, beautiful bill. I just wanted to speak briefly to reassure the community.

As you said, I think that this is really very early in the process. We have no real clear idea of what the implications of this are, and I think that that does, of course, indirectly impact what you’re going to be discussing tonight, (Coast Hospital Seismic Retrofit and Hospital Modernization plans).

Obviously, people in the back of their mind might be saying, “Well, what’s the future of health care and rural hospitals gonna look like?” I think that one thing that might be helpful to keep in mind is that there was a letter that went to Congress, to the Senate and to President Trump, that listed a number of hospitals that supposedly were at risk for closing. There were about 300 hospitals on that, including some here in California. Our (Mendocino Coast) hospital is not on that list, for whatever good that is one way or the other.

That list was a political list, and it was based on the percentage of dependency on Medicaid. I believe that we were not on the list on the list, because we do not depend as much on Medicaid as one might think. We (Adventist Health Mendocino Coast Hospital - Fort Bragg) are 12% managed Medicaid on our payer mix and 20% medi:medi, (Medicare:Medi-Cal.)

So that is a significant percentage. And I’m sure that we will be affected by any cuts. But I think what’s really important is to keep in mind that the true implications of all of this really have yet to be determined, and also to keep in mind that all of these are that these cuts are going to be implemented over a 10 year period, many of which won’t even start for another year or 2, or even 3.

The big impact is going to start in 2028.

I think that the timing has been chosen obviously to coincide with certain elections and things like that. I don’t think it’s a secret. The mandatory work requirement, for example, doesn’t go into effect until December 1st of 2026 immediately following the midterm election, for example.

The reduction in the Medicaid and Medicare dollars is scheduled to start 2028. So we have plenty of time to figure out the implications of these things.

The State of California does have a number of options. These options may not be very exciting, but one option, for example, would be to increase taxes to backfill the losses of the Federal dollars.

Obviously, reduction of services is a possibility and reduced payments to providers like hospitals and nursing homes is also another option. None of these are exciting. But, I believe that if handled delicately and carefully, we can really mitigate the impact and make it so that California doesn’t lose hospitals. I think that’s going to be the whole focus of the State legislature - to make it so that hospitals aren’t closing on their watch.

I just wanted to share that with you, and then also, with your permission, here is a handout from the California Hospital Association, summarizing what we know the amount to be so far, and a fact sheet from the Hospital Association of Southern California. So thank you. I appreciate you very much.

St John’s Wort Berries (Elaine Kalantarian)

CATCH OF THE DAY, Saturday, July 12, 2025

DONNELL HALE SR., 58, Ukiah. DUI, suspended license for DUI, probation violation.

JAKE HURST, 38, Fort Bragg. Probation revocation.

DANIEL YEOMANS, 54, Fort Bragg.. Disorderly conduct-alcohol&drugs, probation violation, resisting.

UTTERLY FALSE PROMISES

Editor:

I’m incensed. The ink had hardly dried on Donald Trump’s big, ugly scam when an email dropped into my inbox from the Social Security Administration titled “Social Security Applauds Passage of Legislation Providing Historic Tax Relief for Seniors.” The message said the Social Security Administration is celebrating long-awaited tax relief to millions of “older Americans.” I’m an older American, and I refuse to dance on the graves of those millions of Americans who will suffer and die early because of this shortsighted legislation that guts every safety net intended for the poorest among us. The few tax dollars I may see are not worth the devolution of society that comes when desperate and hopeless individuals do whatever it takes to survive. Keep your celebrations to yourself. Don’t use my Social Security account to disseminate your brown-nosed spin.

Terry Harms

Santa Rosa

STICKING TO QUIK PICS

Sagely Advice from 1880s Indian Yoga Master Trailanga Swami

Warmest spiritual greetings, Enjoying a pleasant sunny Saturday afternoon in Washington, D.C., identifying with the eternal witness, which watches the mental factory and the body’s effortless functioning. I am available to associate with the most amazing people doing the most incredible historical interventions on the planet earth. Health is excellent at age 75. (I kid you not, the intensity of the homeless shelter these past ten months killed the COPD. It’s just not there anymore; am not even using the Albuterol inhaler now.)

I have $1,407.84 in the Chase checking account, and $98.88 in the wallet. If you’ve been doing better in the lottery than I’ve been doing lately, please share at Paypal.me/craiglouisstehr Am going to play Quick Picks from now on. The Peace Vigil in front of the White House continues 24/7 365. We are opposed to nuclear annihilation.

Contact me here:

Craig Louis Stehr, [email protected]

MEMO OF THE AIR: I can see clearly now, the cat’s out of the bag.

Marco here. Here’s the recording of last night’s (9pm PDT, 2025-07-11) 8-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 89.3fm KAKX Mendocino, ready for you to re-enjoy in whole or in part: https://tinyurl.com/KNYO-MOTA-0652

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:

The Magicians. As of this writing it’s free to watch here. It starts off slow but develops. The man who wrote the books had a great deal to do with making the teevee series. Also the full series of 65 episodes on DVD is just $28 now. That’s 40 cents per episode. The set would make a terrific gift, and might be nice to imagine ending up in the cave in an increasingly inevitable future Walter Van Tilburg Clark The Portable Phonograph situation, if you’re a thorough and imaginative prepper. https://tubitv.com/series/300014168/the-magicians

“Is science too woke and fake?” This is the way the orange shitgibbon in charge is finding out by crashing around in the actual real world. In contrast, Tuesday, real-life Doctor Miller scientifically removed the cataract from my left eye and I can see colors again; one of the first things I noticed, besides that piss is yellow and green tea is green and my house is not merely cluttered but actually filthy, was how ridiculously /orange/ Trump really spraypaints his face, around some kind of stencil for his puffy-mushroom-white-ringed piggy little bloodshot eyes, damn them, as they used to say. Dr. Miller will be doing my right eye next month. I’ll conjure up some activity to celebrate with that involves depth perception. https://boingboing.net/2025/07/10/tom-the-dancing-bug-trump-science.html

A cool invention that you stick on a regular guitar and it turns it into a hurdy gurdy. Gah! Why didn’t I think of that? https://theawesomer.com/playing-the-cantareel/776271/

Calvinball chess. (via b3ta) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgeYScYe8wI

And the lesbian erotic paintings of Gerda Wegener. Mike K., feel free to remove this one if you don’t like it for your paper. It won’t hurt my feelings. https://dangerousminds.net/art/the-gorgeous-lesbian-erotic-paintings-of-gerda-wegener

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

BOOK REVIEW: ‘Wife Of The Gods’ (By Kwei Quartey)

Review by Paul Modic

I’m reading three books and listening to two on CD, one of which got me thinking about superstition, religion, and primitivism. The book ‘Wife of the Gods,’ by Kwei Quartey is set in Ghana, Africa, where we follow Darko Dawson, the big city detective sent to a small town to aid in the investigation of a murder. The local detective is already focused on one suspect because in a search of his premises a packet of condoms was found, his conclusion being that anyone so perverted as to have condoms would probably be a murderer also.

There is a cult of healers called fetish priests who are sent teenage girls by their parents when the girls are suspected of being witches, with very flimsy “evidence.” Then when they reach puberty the priests have sex with them to cure them, what we would call rape. It’s a long-standing religious tradition, which the parents go along with and though it has been outlawed it continues. (Similar to female circumcision, i.e., genital mutilation. This part of the book reminds me of when in certain parts of Africa there was, or still is, the belief among men that if you had sex with a virgin you wouldn’t get AIDS, or if you had AIDS it would be cured.)

The scenes at appointments with “healers” were very cringy to me, thinking wow, this probably still goes on. It makes me think about a friend who often mentions “leaving it up to God,” prayer, and that her recently deceased father is in Heaven.

These seem like primitive beliefs also and I challenge any believer to explain how these beliefs are any different than the primitivism in these African scenes I’ve been reading about.

Detective Darko Dawson, from the capital city Accra, scorns those primitive beliefs and there’s one wrenching scene when his mother-in-law takes his son, who has a heart condition, without permission to one of these healers and the child is further injured trying to get away from the treatment.

(At the end of the book the murder is solved and an HIV positive fetish priest who tries to sexually assault his own daughter gets it cut off by her angry mother, and then they escape. A fun read!)

A READER WRITES:

I asked Google AI search, “Why do the network news shows cover the same stories?”

Google AI replied: “Network news shows often cover the same stories due to a combination of factors, including media consolidation, shared content, and the desire to maximize viewership and revenue. When major events occur, many news outlets will report on them, leading to a perception of duplication.”

“A perception of duplication”? “Shared content”? “Consolidation”? “Maximize revenue”? In other words, they’re all just one news monopoly but with different branches and names with making money as their prime purpose. Kind of like the political parties.

OHTANI, CONFORTO SHINE AS DODGERS BEAT GIANTS 2-1 TO END 7-GAME SKID

by Michael Wagaman

The LA Dodgers’ Michael Conforto had three hits and scored twice, Shohei Ohtani took another encouraging step back on the mound in his recovery from elbow surgery and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the San Francisco Giants 2-1 on Saturday to end a seven-game losing streak.

Ohtani threw three scoreless innings in his longest outing in a Dodgers uniform since signing with the team in 2023. Ohtani, who did not pitch last season 2024, threw 36 pitches, allowed one hit and had four strikeouts.

The two-way Japanese star was also the Dodgers’ designated hitter and batted leadoff. He went 0 for 4 with two strikeouts.

Rafael Devers had a sacrifice fly for San Francisco.

Conforto, who played for the Giants for two seasons, reached on an infield single in the first inning and scored on Tommy Edman’s groundout. He later singled with two outs in the sixth and scored on Hyeseong Kim’s hit.

Emmett Sheehan (1-0) followed Ohtani and retired 13 batters to get the win. Alex Vesia retired two batters, and Tanner Scott got the last three outs for his 19th save as the Dodgers got their first win since July 3.

Giants starter Landon Roupp (6-6) had eight strikeouts and allowed seven hits and two runs (one earned) in six innings.

After a diving stop of Andy Pages’ infield single up the middle in the second inning, Giants shortstop Willy Adames made an errant flip to second baseman Casey Schmitt for an error, allowing Conforto to move from first to third. Conforto later scored on a groundout.

Ohtani’s fastball was clocked at 99.9 mph twice in the first inning.

Dodgers RHP Yoshinobu Yamamoto (8-7, 2.77 ERA) faces Giants LHP Robbie Ray (9-3, 2.63) in the series finale Sunday.

(AP)

JOHN MARTIN, DEVOTED PUBLISHER OF LITERARY REBELS, DIES IN SANTA ROSA AT 94

In 1966, John Martin founded Black Sparrow Press, a shoestring operation that he ran out of his home for years with the help of part-time assistants and Barbara Martin, who designed the books.

by Adam Nossiter

John Martin, an adventurous independent publisher who brought out the raucous work of the poet Charles Bukowski, as well as the writing of other offbeat literary rebels like Paul Bowles, John Fante and Wyndham Lewis, died on June 23 at his home in Santa Rosa. He was 94.

His death was confirmed by his wife, Barbara Martin.

In 1966, Mr. Martin founded Black Sparrow Press, a shoestring operation that he ran out of his home for years with the help of part-time assistants and Ms. Martin, who designed the books. The company eventually became one of the highest-profile small publishers in the United States — “California’s premier literary publisher,” The Los Angeles Times called it — and in 2002 he sold it to an imprint of HarperCollins for seven figures.

In between, Mr. Martin promoted, encouraged and printed the vast, uncompromisingly demotic and self-reflexive work of Bukowski, a West Coast cult figure who drew hundreds to his readings and whose books were reportedly among the most stolen from bookstores.

Using language and form that were deliberately pedestrian, Bukowski made himself his subject — his drinking, womanizing and violence. He was the poet as “an unregenerate lowbrow contemptuous of our claims to superior being,” the critic Thomas R. Edwards wrote in The New York Review of Books.

Mr. Martin founded Black Sparrow explicitly to publish the work of Bukowski, whom he idolized, he told interviewers. In 1969, Bukowski was living a semi-down-and-out existence, working the night shift at a Los Angeles post office and squeezing in writing during his waking hours.

Mr. Martin was already a fan, having read Bukowski in underground newspapers like Open City and The Los Angeles Free Press. As the manager of a large office supply store in Los Angeles, he had access to a printing press and had published what he called “broadsides” of Bukowski’s poetry, which he distributed to friends.

He offered Bukowski a deal: He would guarantee him an income of $100 a month if the poet would quit his post office job and write full time for Black Sparrow. The idea was to free him from “drudgery,” Mr. Martin told an interviewer in 2020.

“I mean, we sat down one day and he got out a little piece of paper and gave it to me, and I took a pen and he gave me his expenses,” Mr. Martin said. “His rent was $35 a month. He had $15 a month child support. He wanted $15 a month for booze and food. He needed another $10 a month for car insurance and gas. When we added it all up, it came to $100. I said, ‘You can really live on $100?’ And he said, ‘Yeah.’”

Dozens of Bukowski books followed, including the novels “Women” (1978) and “Pulp” (1994), the short-story collection “Hot Water Music” (1983) and the poetry volume “The Roominghouse Madrigals” (1988). The flood continued long after his death in 1994 at 73, guaranteed by the large volume of his unpublished work.

“He would probably have died a lonely death from liver failure, surrounded by a mountain of paper containing unread and unpublished poems — not forgotten, because never known — were it not for John Martin,” the radio show host and writer Bill Press wrote in an unpublished manuscript about Bukowski.

Mr. Martin had “80,000 books by Bukowski, Fante and Bowles” in his inventory, he told The Los Angeles Times in 2002. Many were by Bukowski.

Mr. Martin remained convinced of Bukowski’s worth. He would be “as well thought of in 50 years as Walt Whitman is now” he said in an interview for “Bukowski: Born Into This,” a documentary film released in 2003.

It was precisely Bukowski’s instinct for the lowbrow that guaranteed his immortality, Mr. Martin said. “He’s the butt of every joke,” he said in the documentary. “He doesn’t turn on people and make them look stupid. Bukowski is neither wise, smart nor cool. He’s us.”

He added, referring to the title of the writer’s 1982 novel: “He’s the Ham on Rye.”

John Martin was born John Kiel Levy on Oct. 30, 1930, in San Francisco, one of four children of Theodore and Ruth (Kiel) Levy. His father was a maritime lawyer.

When John was 9, his father was killed in a car crash, and the family moved to Los Angeles, where his mother changed their surname to Martin.

After attending Beverly Hills High School, he enrolled at the University of California, Los Angeles, but soon dropped out, mostly because he had to help support his family, but also, he later explained, because the modernist writers he admired, like D.H. Lawrence and Wallace Stevens, were not being taught.

He went to work in the office supply store, soon becoming manager, and began collecting first editions of work by writers he admired, including Henry Miller, with whom he began a correspondence.

That collection spawned Black Sparrow: He sold the books in 1965 to the University of California at Santa Barbara for $50,000 and started the publishing company, continuing to work at his office supply job during the day and devoting his evenings to Black Sparrow. By 1969, he was able to quit his job, enlist Bukowski and other underground lights of American poetry, including Robert Creeley, and work 80 hours a week out of his small Los Angeles apartment.

“He read a lot of different people in the beginning, and then it just grew,” Ms. Martin said in an interview. “I sat at the dining room table and designed the books.”

In addition to Bukowski, Mr. Martin published early works by Joyce Carol Oates — nine novels by 1980 — and others who fit his offbeat modernist aesthetic, including John Ashbery and the Berkeley poet Ron Loewinsohn.

He published Paul Bowles‘s “Things Gone and Things Still Here” (1977) and “Collected Stories” (1979), among other works by that author, many of them reprintings. And he republished the British writer and artist Wyndham Lewis‘s “The Complete Wild Body” (1982) and “The Apes of God” (1981). Both authors held some of Bukowski’s appeal: writers disgusted with bourgeois society and intent on subverting it.

Mr. Martin also revived the fortunes of the 1930s Los Angeles novelist and screenwriter John Fante, republishing, in 1980, his 1939 classic of L.A. lowlife, “Ask the Dust,” with a foreword by Bukowski.

By the time the writer Richard Kostelanetz visited Mr. Martin in 1980 for an article in The New York Times Book Review, Mr. Martin had moved into a spacious villa in Santa Barbara. Black Sparrow, which was operating out of the pool house, was grossing $500,000 annually and bringing out 15 new titles a year.

Mr. Martin didn’t advertise, and he didn’t hold meetings with salesmen.

“Since I am a totally literary person, I have no desire to publish anything in any other area,” he told Mr. Kostelanetz. “I want to die never having been to Las Vegas, gone to Disneyland or watched a whole TV show, except for sports.”

In addition to the sale of Black Sparrow to HarperCollins in 2002, Mr. Martin sold his backlist, his inventory of 96,000 books and his contracts with living authors to the Boston literary publisher David Godine for $1.

Besides his wife, whom he married in 1959, Mr. Martin is survived by a daughter, Carrie A. Martin.

“He never published anyone because they would sell,” Ms. Martin, his wife, said. “He published them because he liked their work.”

(NY Times)

TODAY IS NATIONAL BIKINI DAY, and the amazing, athletic Evelynne Smith is workin’ it on the beach in Santa Monica, 1946.

Ms. Smith was an airplane pilot, an expert in martial arts, weightlifting, wrestling, boxing, shooting, diving, motorcycle racing, and, for a time, taught swimming on Catalina Island. In between her film work as a stunt artist she was also employed at the Douglas Aircraft plant in Santa Monica.

FLOODS ARE INEVITABLE. CATASTROPHE IS NOT.

by Tim Palmer

Images and stories of the devastation wrought by the July 4 flood of the Guadalupe River in Texas will stay with many of us for a long time. There has been an outpouring of compassion and sorrow for those who have died, remain missing or have lost their homes and possessions. There has also been a healthy dose of scrutiny of the shortcomings in early warning systems, government response and evacuation efforts — some of which have been blamed on the Trump administration’s bludgeon of cuts across emergency services, weather reporting and scientific agencies.

But even with a flawless response, the storm that roared through that night would most likely have claimed many lives. The rest of us might now do well to look past the astonishment, sympathy or blame, and consider how to avoid or minimize similar hazards in the future. What happened in Central Texas is only the latest in a long series of horrific floods, and they’re getting worse. In Ellicott City, Md., a flood level expected only once in 1,000 years occurred twice in a three-year span, in 2016 and 2018. In 2022, flash floods in Kentucky displaced thousands of people who had no flood insurance. In February of this year, devastating floods occurred in Kentucky, West Virginia and Tennessee. We should no longer be surprised by the inevitable.

We are living in a new age of flooding. We can no longer deny the increasing danger posed by these floods. Nor can we afford to continue believing we have the solutions to stop or contain the rise of water. The best option to save American lives is reducing our vulnerability and exposure to these floods. That means preventing unnecessary new development on floodplains, and amping up efforts to help people move their homes from high-risk areas to safe territory.

This starts with the protection of floodplains, the natural areas that have been shaped over time to absorb floods when they occur. Human development on these spaces destroys their ability to absorb excess water. To prevent it, we must implement adequate zoning policies that limit construction there. This is the least costly option for preventing flood damages from getting worse.

Likewise, relocation of flood-prone homes to higher ground has been an important strategy for decades. But there is still a huge investment poured into trying to prevent flooding damage from occurring, building levees to try to keep floods away from our homes and using emergency relief checks and insurance subsidies to pay victims for losses after they occur. Billions of dollars are spent to protect those who have homes and businesses in flood zones — and then billions more are spent on recovery efforts when those protections fail. The Natural Resources Defense Council analyzed thousands of data points and determined that for every $1.72 FEMA spends helping people move away from the paths of floods, $100 is spent to rebuild properties. We are essentially paying people to stay.

Our response to floods has been inadequate, if not misdirected. And now, owing to the heating climate, floods will be growing irrevocably worse, more widespread and longer in duration. We’ve failed to halt the losses and the threats of the past. Lacking a major course correction, we’re destined to fail worse in the future.

The good news is that hundreds of programs across the nation have proved we can change that unfortunate fate. In the aftermath of Hurricane Agnes in 1972 — the most damaging flood in American history up to that time — Lycoming County, Pa., succeeded in getting all 52 of its local municipalities to implement zoning restrictions that discouraged development on floodplains. This initiative had no chance of enactment before the flood occurred, but succeeded when local leaders seized the moment and turned tragedy into opportunity. Today, spurred by a federal insurance program, more than 22,000 communities nationwide have adopted floodplain zoning to one degree or another, although in many cases the rules are weak or ineffectively enforced, which needs to be corrected.

Going further, communities including Nashville, Milwaukee and Tulsa, Okla., have enacted model programs to help people move beyond the danger zone. In North Carolina, Mecklenburg County officials improved the mapping of their floodplain and paid hundreds of people to voluntarily relocate. Residents there are now happy simply for their own safety when the rain falls.

Of course, not everyone who is vulnerable can move, and the impressive urban infrastructure of some flood-prone cities such as Sacramento or Memphis cannot be abandoned. People there will rely on the expensive reinforcement of levees and other defenses. But in many places across America floodplain development has been curbed, and the perils can be avoided or eliminated by floodplain protection and relocation of homes.

As I learned in the reporting of my book, only a small percentage of America’s acreage lies within 100-year floodplains, where there is an estimated 1 percent chance of flooding in any given year. We know where the danger lurks. We have choices. Americans move for all kinds of reasons, and to avoid a flood disaster is one of the better incentives to look for another place.

The water is going to rise. Floods are inevitable. But catastrophe is not. We need to get up and out of harm’s way. We need to give rivers the room they need to flow, especially in today’s world of a heating climate and intensifying storms. We know how to do this. We can afford to do this. What we lack is the political will. Let’s find it — before the next flood finds us.

(Tim Palmer is a journalist, photographer and former land use planner. He is the author of “Seek Higher Ground: The Natural Solution to Our Urgent Flooding Crisis” and has worked on flooding issues for five decades.)

HERE we have Jack Haley in costume as the Tin Man taking a break during the filming of “The Wizard of Oz.” To me, the look on his face reads “Go into showbiz, they said. It’ll be fun, they said. And so glamorous, too.”

JEFFREY ST. CLAIR: Yes, Zohran Mamdani was only seven when he was “permitted in” and apparently, as much as his parents tried to gag their precocious child, they couldn’t stop him from reciting “The 18th Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte” from memory during his immigration interview, but at the end of the day the CBP agent decided that what he heard made a lot of sense and let the pipsqueak revolutionary in…

In one of his books, Zohran’s father, the acclaimed political scientist Mahmoud Mamdani, described how his own introduction to Marx came courtesy of the FBI, during his interrogation after being arrested at a SNCC civil rights protest in Selma, Alabama…

“They wanted to know who had influenced me. After one hour of probing, the guy said, ‘Do you like Marx?’

I said, ‘I haven’t met him.’

Guy said, ‘No, no, he’s dead.’

‘Wow, what happened?’

‘No, no, he died long ago.’

I thought the guy Marx had just died. So then, “Why are you asking me if he died long ago?”

‘No, he wrote a lot. He wrote that poor people should not be poor.’

I said, ‘Sounds amazing.’

I’m giving you a sense of how naive I was. After they left, I went to the library to look for Marx. So that was my introduction to Karl Marx.”

GHOST

by Justin Bieber (2021)

Youngblood thinks there's always tomorrow
I miss your touch some nights when I'm hollow
I know you crossed a bridge that I can't follow
Since the love that you left is all that I get, I want you to know

That if I can't be close to you, I'll settle for the ghost of you
I miss you more than life (More than life)
And if you can't be next to me, your memory is ecstasy
I miss you more than life, I miss you more than life

Youngblood thinks there's always tomorrow
I need more time, but time can't be borrowed
I'd leave it all behind if I could follow
Since the love that you left is all that I get, I want you to know

So if I can't get close to you, I'll settle for the ghost of you
I miss you more than life
And if you can't be next to me, your memory is ecstasy
I miss you more than life, I miss you more than life

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

Kakistocracy Government by the worst, least qualified, and most unscrupulous people. Well done, voters.

LEAD STORIES, SUNDAY'S NYT

Trump’s Tariffs Are Shaping New World Trade Order, Minus the U.S.

Under Attack by Trump’s Tariffs, Asian Countries Seek Out Better Friends

Tariffs on Brazil Could Leave Coffee Drinkers With a Headache

This Is Where All of the Tariffs Stand

Trump Is Gutting Weather Science and Reducing Disaster Response

Trump Hits the Reverse Button on Decades of Change

Why Trump’s Fight With Harvard Is Affecting the Whole World

Trump Administration Is Poised to Ramp Up Deportations to Distant Countries

JEFFREY ST. CLAIR: When asked at the Alligator Auschwitz press conference on July 1, if there was an expected timeline for how long detainees would be kept in the concentration camp in the Everglades swamp, “Would it be days, weeks, months?” Trump rambled on incoherently about how long he will stay in Florida:

“In Florida? I’m going to spend a lot in my home state. I love it. I love your government. I love all of the people around. These are all friends of mine. They know them very well. I’m not surprised that they do so well. These are great people. Ron has been a friend of mine for a long time. I feel very comfortable in the state. I will spend a lot of time here. I want to, you know, for four years I’ve got to be in Washington. And I’m okay with it because I love the White House. I even fixed up the little Oval Office. I think it’s like a diamond. It’s beautiful. So beautiful. Wasn’t maintained properly. I will tell you that. But even when it wasn’t, it’s still the Oval Office, so it meant a lot. But I’ll spend as much time as I can. You know, my vacation is generally here because it’s convenient. I live in Palm Beach. It’s my home. And I have a very nice little place with a nice little cottage to stay. All right? But we have a lot of fun. And I’m a big contributor to Florida and pay a lot of tax. And a lot of people move from New York and I don’t know what New York is going to do. A lot of people move to Florida from New York, and it’s for a lot of reasons, but one of them is taxes. The taxes are so high in New York, they’ll leave. I don’t know what New York is going to do about that, because some of the biggest and wealthiest people, and some of the people who pay the most taxes of any people in the world, for that matter. They’re moving to Florida and other places. So we’re going to have to help some of these states out, I think. But thank you very much! I’ll be here as much as I can. Very nice question.”

TRUMP’S CABINET OF INCOMPETENTS

by Maureen Dowd

It was a Jack Nicholson-Tom Cruise moment. President Trump couldn’t handle the truth. He didn’t even know the truth. And he has no respect for truth, so even if he knew, why would he tell the truth about the truth?

At a White House lunch with African leaders on Wednesday, Trump engaged in a bizarre exchange with the New York Times White House reporter Shawn McCreesh.

The day before, when CNN’s Kaitlan Collins asked the president who authorized the pause on weapons shipments to Ukraine — at a time when Russia is engaged in a barbarous onslaught, indiscriminately killing civilians — Trump replied, defensively: “I don’t know. Why don’t you tell me?”

The Pentagon’s puer aeternus, Pete Hegseth, was sitting right beside Trump. And reporters soon ferreted out the information that perennial screw-up Hegseth had ordered the pause without telling Trump, Marco Rubio and other top officials.

Trump reversed the Pentagon chief, reflecting a belated awareness of the fact that Vladimir Putin is playing him for a fool. Like a spurned lover, he keened that his Russian boyfriend’s promises are “meaningless.”

In a follow-up the next day, McCreesh asked Trump if he had figured out who had ordered the munitions to Ukraine halted.

When Trump said no, McCreesh pressed him: “What does it say that such a big decision could be made inside your government without your knowing?”

Trump bristled. A jester like Hegseth had kept the king in the dark on a consequential move.

“If a decision was made, I will know,” Trump blustered. “I’ll be the first to know. In fact, most likely I’d give the order, but I haven’t done that yet.”

It is not reassuring, at a time of man-made and natural disasters, that the president is spouting gobbledygook and his maladroit cabinet members are spinning out.

It’s a paradox: If you choose your cabinet based on looks, you are likely to end up with a cabinet that makes you look bad. Running government is harder than bloviating on Fox News and assorted podcasts.

And if you demand über-fealty from your advisers, you will end up surrounded by toadies who don’t level with you.

In the dishy new book “2024: How Trump Retook the White House and the Democrats Lost America,” Josh Dawsey, Tyler Pager and Isaac Arnsdorf describe how Sergio Gor, a Trump aide who rose by publishing Trump’s coffee table books, created draconian loyalty tests during the transition.

“Trump believed the biggest mistake of his first term was picking disloyal officials, and Gor was determined to disqualify candidates who had ever criticized Trump or anyone associated with him,” the authors write.

Kristi Noem is loyal to Trump. But perhaps it was too much to ask that someone who executed her own puppy was going to understand the humanitarian necessity of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Noem has been parroting Trump and talking about abolishing FEMA since she got the job heading the Department of Homeland Security. She recently enacted a debilitating rule designed to cut the FEMA budget, dictating that every grant and contract over $100,000 needs explicit permission from her.

As CNN pointed out, that’s “pennies” in an agency where disaster costs soar into the billions. At the same time, The Times reports, the agency didn’t answer nearly two-thirds of calls to its disaster line because it had fired hundreds of call center contractors. (Now, confronted with the Texas disaster, the administration is backing off the eradication plan.)

As Trump was preparing to travel to Kerr County, Texas, to inspect flood damage on Friday, the White House posted a meme of him as Superman, playing off the new movie about the Man of Steel. But the initial federal response was less than super. Noem didn’t authorize FEMA’s deployment of rescue teams until Monday, more than 72 hours after the flooding began, CNN reported, and there have been questions about crucial staffing shortages at the National Weather Service as floodwaters rose.

Pam Bondi enraged the Trump faithful when, after she inflamed conspiracy theorists about Jeffrey Epstein documents, her D.O.J. said Monday there was nothing more to see. No client list. Move along, please. “Are people still talking about this guy, this creep?” an irritated Trump asked reporters about his erstwhile pedophile playmate.

Laura Loomer demanded that Bondi resign, writing on X: “I cannot sugar coat how much good will Pam Blondi has cost the Trump admin with the base this week. She is a massive liability to President Trump.”

On Wednesday, Bondi angrily accused Dan Bongino, conspiracist podcaster turned F.B.I. deputy director, of leaking stories that whipped up expectations for Epstein secrets. He denied it, and told people he was considering quitting.

Now furious right-wing conspiracists think there’s a cover-up of the cover-up.

Vapidly, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins suggested people on Medicaid could replace deported immigrants. They can pick our crops! It’s unreal, but Sean Duffy, once a “Real World” cast member, is in charge of transportation and NASA. And don’t forget the scary spike in measles cases fueled by the anti-vaccine crowd; thank you, R.F.K. Jr.!

It turns out, even good-looking dodos are still dodos.

TRUMP, EPSTEIN AND THE DEEP STATE

The Trump administration’s refusal to release the Epstein files and videos is done not only to protect Trump, but the ruling class. They all belong to the same club.

by Chris Hedges

The refusal by the Trump administration to release the files and videos amassed during investigations into the activities of the pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, should put to rest the absurd idea, embraced by Trump supporters and gullible liberals, that Trump will dismantle the Deep State. Trump is part of, and has long been part of, the repugnant cabal of politicians – Democrat and Republican – billionaires and celebrities who look at us, and often underage girls and boys, as commodities to exploit for profit or pleasure.

The list of those who were in Epstein’s orbit is a who’s who of the rich and famous. They include not only Trump, but Bill Clinton, who allegedly took a trip to Thailand with Epstein, Prince Andrew, Bill Gates, hedge fund billionaire Glenn Dubin, former New Mexico governor Bill Richardson, former Secretary of the Treasury and former president of Harvard University Larry Summers, cognitive psychologist and author Stephen Pinker, Alan Dershowitz, billionaire and Victoria’s Secret CEO Leslie Wexner, the former Barclays banker Jes Staley, former Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak, the magician David Copperfield, actor Kevin Spacey, former CIA director Bill Burns, real estate mogul Mort Zuckerman, former Maine senator George Mitchell and disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, who reveled in Epstein’s perpetual Bacchanalia.

They also include law firms and high-priced attorneys, federal and state prosecutors, private investigators, personal assistants, publicists, servants and drivers. They include the numerous procurers and pimps, including Epstein’s girlfriend and daughter of Robert Maxwell, Ghislaine Maxwell. They include the media and politicians who ruthlessly discredited and silenced the victims, and strong armed anyone, including a handful of intrepid reporters, seeking to expose Epstein’s crimes and circle of accomplices.

There is a lot that remains hidden. But there are some things we know. Epstein installed hidden cameras in his opulent residences and on his private Caribbean island, Little St. James, to capture his high-powered friends engaging in sexual romps and abuse of teenage and underage girls and boys. The recordings were blackmail gold. Were they part of an intelligence operation on behalf of the Israeli Mossad? Or were they used to ensure that Epstein had a steady source of investors who funneled him millions of dollars to avoid being outed? Or were they used for both? He shuttled underage girls between New York and Palm Beach on his private jet the Lolita Express, which was allegedly outfitted with a bed for group sex. His coterie of famous friends, including Clinton and Trump, are recorded as traveling on the jet numerous times on released flight logs, although many other flight logs have disappeared.

Epstein’s videos are in the vaults of the FBI, along with detailed evidence that would rip back the veil on the sexual proclivities and callousness of the powerful. I doubt there is a client list, as Attorney General Pam Bondi claims. There is also no single Epstein file. The investigative material amassed on Epstein fills many, many boxes, which would bury Bondi’s desk and probably, if collected in one room, dominate most of the space in her office.

Did Epstein commit suicide, as the official autopsy report claims, by hanging himself in his jail cell on August 10, 2019 at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York City? Or was he murdered? Since the cameras recording activity in his cell the night were not functional, we do not know. Michael Baden, a forensic pathologist hired by Epstein's brother, who served as the chief medical examiner for New York City and who was present at the autopsy, said he believes Epstein's autopsy suggests homicide.

The Epstein case is important because it implodes the fiction of deep divisions between Democrats, who had no more interest in releasing the Epstein files than Trump, and the Republicans. They belong to the same club. It exposes how the courts and law enforcement agencies collude to shield powerful figures who engage in crimes. It lays bare the depravity of our exhibitionist ruling class, accountable to no one, free to violate, plunder, loot and prey on the weak and the vulnerable. It is the tawdry record of our oligarchic masters, those who lack the capacity for shame or guilt, whether dressed up as Donald Trump or Joe Biden.

This class of ruling parasites was parodied in the first-century satirical novel “Satyricon” by Gaius Petronius Arbiter, written during the reigns of Caligula, Claudius, and Nero. As in Satyricon, Epstein’s circle was dominated by pseudointellectuals, pretentious buffoons, grifters, con artists, petty criminals, the insatiable rich and the sexually depraved. Epstein and his inner circle routinely engaged in sexual perversions of Petronian proportions, as The Miami Herald investigative reporter Julie Brown, whose dogged reporting was largely responsible for reopening the federal investigation in Epstein and Maxwell, documents in her book “Perversion of Justice: The Jeffrey Epstein Story.”

As Brown writes, in 2016 an anonymous woman, using the pseudonym “Kate Johnson,” filed a civil complaint in a federal court in California alleging she was raped by Trump and Epstein when she was thirteen, over a four-month period, from June to September 1994.

“I loudly pleaded with Trump to stop,” she said in the lawsuit about being raped. “Trump responded to my pleas by violently striking me in the face with his open hand and screaming that he could do whatever he wanted.”

Brown continues:

Johnson said that Epstein invited her to a series of ‘underage sex parties’ at his New York mansion where she met Trump. Enticed by promises of money and modeling opportunities, Johnson said she was forced to have sex with Trump several times, including once with another girl, twelve years old, whom she labeled ‘Marie Doe.’

Trump demanded oral sex, the lawsuit said, and afterward he “pushed both minors away while angrily berating them for the ‘poor’ quality of the sexual performance,” according to the lawsuit, filed April 26 in U.S. District Court in Central California.

Afterward, when Epstein learned that Trump had taken Johnson’s virginity, Epstein allegedly ‘attempted to strike her about the head with his closed fists,’ angry he had not been the one to take her virginity. Johnson claimed that both men threatened to harm her, and her family if she ever revealed what had happened.

The lawsuit states that Trump did not take part in Epstein’s orgies but liked to watch, often while the thirteen-year-old “Kate Johnson” gave him a hand job.

It appears Trump was able to quash the lawsuit by buying her silence. She has since disappeared.

In 2008, Alex Acosta, who at the time was the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, negotiated a plea deal for Epstein. The deal granted immunity from all federal criminal charges to Epstein, four named co-conspirators and any unnamed “potential co-conspirators.” The agreement shut down the FBI probe into whether there were more victims and other powerful figures who took part in Epstein’s sex crimes. It halted the investigation and sealed the indictment. Trump, in what many consider an act of gratitude, appointed Acosta as Secretary of Labor in his first term.

Trump contemplated pardoning Ghislaine Maxwell after she was arrested in July 2020, fearing she would reveal details of his decades-long friendship with Epstein, according to Trump biographer Michael Wolff. In July 2022, Maxwell was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

“Jeffrey Epstein’s closest relationship in life was with Donald Trump…these were two guys joined at the hip for a good 15 years. They did everything together,” Wolff told host Joanna Coles on The Daily Beast Podcast. “And this is from sharing, pursuing women, hunting women, sharing at least one girlfriend for at least a year in this kind of rich-guy relationship with each other’s planes, to Epstein advising Trump on how to cheat on his taxes.”

The legal anomalies, including the disappearance of massive amounts of evidence incriminating Epstein, saw Epstein avoid federal sex-trafficking charges in 2007, when his attorneys negotiated the secret plea deal with Acosta. He was able to plead guilty to lesser state charges of soliciting a minor for prostitution.

The prominent men accused of engaging in Epstein’s carnival of pedophilia, including Epstein’s attorney Dershowitz, viciously threaten anyone who seeks to expose them. Dershowitz, for example, claims that an investigation which he has refused to make public, by the former FBI director Louis Freeh, proves he had never had sex with Epstein’s victim Virginia Giuffre, who was trafficked at 17 to Prince Andrew. Giuffre, one of the few victims to publicly take on her abusers, said she was “passed around like a platter of fruit” among Epstein and Maxwell’s friends, until at the age of 19 when she escaped. She “committed suicide” in April 2025. Dershowitz has sent repeated threats to Brown and her editors at The Miami Herald.

Brown continues:

[Dershowitz] kept referring to information that was contained in sealed documents. He accused the newspaper of not reporting “facts” that he said were in those sealed documents. The truth is, I tried to explain, newspapers just can’t write about things because Alan Dershowitz says they exist. We need to see them. We need to verify them. Then, because I said “show me the material,” he publicly accused me of committing a criminal act by asking him to produce documents that were under court seal.

This is the way Dershowitz operates.

What disturbs me the most about Dershowitz is the way that the media, with few exceptions, fails to critically challenge him. Journalists fact-checked Donald Trump and others in his administration almost every day, yet, for the most part, the media seems to give Dershowitz a pass on the Epstein story.

In 2015, when Giuffre’s allegations first became public, Dershowitz went on every television program imaginable swearing, among other things, that Epstein’s plane logs would exonerate him. “How do you know that?” he was asked.

He replied that he was never on Epstein’s plane during the time that Virginia was involved with Epstein.

But if the media had checked, they could have learned that he was indeed a passenger on the plane during that time period, according to the logs.

Then he testified, in a sworn deposition, that he never went on any plane trips without his wife. But he was listed on those passage manifests as traveling multiple times without his wife. During at least one trip, he was on the plane with a model named Tatiana.

Epstein donated money to Harvard and was made a visiting fellow in Harvard’s Department of Psychology, although he had no academic qualifications in the field. He was given a key card and pass code, as well as an office in the building that housed Harvard’s Program for Evolutionary Dynamics. He referred to himself in his press releases as “Science Philanthropist Jeffrey Epstein,” “Education activist Jeffrey Epstein,” “Evolutionary Jeffrey Epstein,” “Science patron Jeffrey Epstein” and “Maverick hedge funder Jeffrey Epstein.”

Epstein, replicating the pretensions and vacuity of the characters who were parodied in the “Dinner with Trimalchio” chapter of Satyricon, organized elaborate dinner gatherings for his billionaire friends, including Elon Musk, Salar Kamangar and Jeff Bezos. He dreamed up bizarre schemes of social engineering, including a plan to seed the human species with his own DNA by creating a baby compound at his sprawling ranch in New Mexico.

“Epstein was also obsessed with cryonics, the transhumanist philosophy whose followers believe that people can be replicated or brought back to life after they are frozen,” Brown writes. “Epstein apparently told some of the members of his scientific circle that he wanted to inseminate women with his sperm for them to give birth to his babies, and that he wanted his head and his penis frozen.”

The Epstein story is a window into the moral bankruptcy, hedonism and greed of the ruling class. This crosses political lines. It is the common denominator between Democratic politicians, such as Bill Clinton, philanthropists, such as Bill Gates, the billionaire class, and Trump. They are one class of predators and grifters. It is not only girls and women they exploit, but all of us.

(chrishedges.substack.com)

AND NOW A WORD FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES

DON’T TAKE INSTRUCTION On How To Live Your Life From A Stark Raving Mad Society

by Caitlin Johnstone

Don’t take instruction on how to live your life from a stark raving mad society.

This civilization is sick. It is genocidal. It is ecocidal. It is omnicidal. We are ruled by psychopaths, while the best among us are relegated to the fringes of the fringe. We are hurtling into totalitarianism and armageddon at breakneck pace while our attention is aggressively pulled toward the vapid and the inane.

You should share none of the values and priorities of this freak show. You should not let any aspect of this dystopia inform your decisions regarding who you should be and what kind of life you should live.

In this warped and twisted madhouse, we are trained to believe that “success” looks like making a lot of money, earning large amounts of esteem and adoration, having a certain body type, living in the right kind of neighborhood in the right kind of house full of the right kind of products to impress the right kind of people. We are trained to believe we need to rack up all kinds of accomplishments, academic achievements, promotions, impressive stories, social ascendence. We are trained to believe we must attract a certain type of partner who will be approved of by everyone whose approval we crave.

If we cannot achieve these goals, we are trained to believe we should feel bad about ourselves. That we don’t deserve happiness. That we should either spend our time stressing and striving for worthiness as defined by our crazy civilization, or go and join the ocean of miserable failures who couldn’t win the capitalism game and sedate ourselves with alcohol and entertainment waiting for death to carry us into the nothingness where we belong.

This is clearly insane. It’s a stupid game with stupid prizes. The only reason anyone takes it seriously is because we were raised and taught how to live by other people who take it seriously. Our parents have been indoctrinated into the power-serving worldview that has been forcibly imposed upon the denizens of the empire, and we want to make them proud. Our friends, families and acquaintances have been likewise brainwashed, and we want to impress them.

But to do so is to take lessons on how to live from a collective disease that is pointed at misery and dysfunction. It is impossible to lead a truly fulfilling life while also trying to live the way the people around us think we should live, because the society which shaped their ideas about how we should live is insane.

If you want to really live an awake and inspired life, you’ve got to blaze your own trail. You’ve got to unlearn everything you’ve been told about what a life properly lived would look like, and write your own rules. Because the rules everyone else has been playing by were written by madmen.

Find your own truth. Set your own values and priorities. Define your own idea of success. Define your own idea of sanity. Consider the possibility that just being present for the beauty of each moment on this wonderful planet is worth more than anything the imperial insane asylum has to offer you. Consider the possibility that your very next breath, deeply relished, would be enough.

We are destroying our planet and driving every living organism toward annihilation. The status quo has failed as spectacularly as anything could possibly fail. The old ways of doing things plainly do not work. So try some new ways.

Be different. Be strange. Be a freak. Do everything the wrong way. Disappoint your parents. Fail to live up to your potential. Transgress your family doctrine. Anger whatever gods you were taught to believe in. Nothing anyone has done has worked. It is therefore necessary to travel off the beaten path.

The world won’t get better until humanity changes its ways. Humanity won’t change its ways if it keeps insisting on trying the same failed approaches over and over again. Our survival as a species depends on diverging from our patterns.

Maybe we’ll succeed in surviving, and maybe we won’t. But at the very least we can rescue ourselves from spending one more day on this amazing blue world trying to live by the rules of lunatics.

(caitlinjohnstone.com.au)

THE BALL POEM

by John Berryman (1989)

What is the boy now, who has lost his ball.
What, what is he to do? I saw it go
Merrily bouncing, down the street, and then
Merrily over—there it is in the water!
No use to say 'O there are other balls':
An ultimate shaking grief fixes the boy
As he stands rigid, trembling, staring down
All his young days into the harbour where
His ball went. I would not intrude on him,
A dime, another ball, is worthless. Now
He senses first responsibility
In a world of possessions. People will take balls,
Balls will be lost always, little boy,
And no one buys a ball back. Money is external.
He is learning, well behind his desperate eyes,
The epistemology of loss, how to stand up
Knowing what every man must one day know
And most know many days, how to stand up
And gradually light returns to the street,
A whistle blows, the ball is out of sight.
Soon part of me will explore the deep and dark
Floor of the harbour . . I am everywhere,
I suffer and move, my mind and my heart move
With all that move me, under the water
Or whistling, I am not a little boy.

16 Comments

Mike Jamieson July 13, 2025

Yes, it now seems the President has missed his calling as either a police detective or FBI profiler of the criminal mind. The creepy presiding residents of the Deep State (Obama, Hillary, Bill, Brennan, Clapper, etc) have creatively produced fiction to bring down an American Hero ushering in a true Golden Age. (Note also recent creative products by Obama, the movie Leave the World Behind, or by Bill Clinton, The First Gentleman: A Thriller.)

What is their end game, carrying out the Deep State Agenda? It seems there’s something bigger they’re trying to engineer, beyond bringing down our dynamic President, a true Captain America. Sure, creating the Epstein documents for later release is one goal.

Given how Obama loves bringing up aliens when the UFO subject comes up and how Brennan asserted the UFO phenomenon represented the activity of a “different form of life”, it may be that what they are trying to set up on behalf of the Deep State are the conditions for “others” to assume control of the planet.

Our President is apparently, or reportedly, aware of this!! According to Congressman Eric Burlison of MO, President Trump received a CIA briefing on the presence of aliens known as the Tall Whites and Greys, and also that there are hybrids assimilating in our midst. Burlison on X said that the President astutely recognized Adam Schiff as a hybrid!

Reality Check Note:
Sadly, the President is severely mentally ill and seems to be suffering dementia.
The above item about Representative Burlison is actually real….he did report the above on X. It seemed a perfect addition to the feverish fantasy i posted above in response to Trump’s wild claims posted on truth social.

BRICK IN THE WALL July 13, 2025

Caitlin……..BRAVO!!!!!

Harvey Reading July 13, 2025

AND NOW A WORD FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES

The guy is a complete idiot!. Just shows how far we have sunk.

Bruce McEwen July 13, 2025

“All over a guy who never dies, Jeffrey Epstein.”
—President Trump

Bill Clinton used to be my No. 1 suspect in Epstein’s homicide/suicide. But now I begin to wonder. The trusty old maxim “Dead men tell no tales” ain’t as reliable as it used to be.

- Mike Jamieson July 13, 2025
  
  It seems revelatory that Trump doesn’t recognize that his frantic attempts to redirect attention and to put out a narrative (Obama etc created E files) is being seen as a confession. What i think is shown by this is a degrading brain functioning, perhaps similar to what happened to his Dad.
  
  - Bruce McEwen July 13, 2025
    
    Was Joe Biden really his dad?! Then the Deep State really is just one big happy family. Hell of an Oedipus complex, though….
    
    - Mike Jamieson July 13, 2025
      
      Here’s an article on Trump’s Dad’s last days
      https://entertainmentnow.com/news/donald-trump-father-cause-of-death-alzheimers-pneumonia/
      
Mazie Malone July 13, 2025

Yo peeps, lol .. 🤣🤘

Can someone inform me on who the hell Galena Trefil is talking about that was killed? I have no interest in going to her Facebook page because once I do that the algorithm will make it so I have to keep seeing her rantings. I would rather not be bombarded with her BS.🐂💩!

mm 💕

- Chuck Wilcher July 13, 2025
  
  Mazie asked: “Can someone inform me on who the hell Galena Trefil is talking about that was killed?”
  
  I believe she’s writing about the victim in a sheriff’s report:
  
  “The victim in this case has been identified as Joshua Lee McCollister, 37, of Fort Bragg.”
  
  - Mazie Malone July 13, 2025
    
    Thanks, Chuck. I wasn’t putting that together. I appreciate it.
    
    I do wanna point out that if anything that she said is truthful her assessment of a disabled homeless person is pretty spot on for the difficulty in receiving help. Autism is a disability that is not really factored in to the conversation of homelessness.
    
    What I find really sad about this person‘s inability to receive Social Security for his disability is that he probably first of all had more than one there are often comorbid factors. Another issue is that you cannot receive federal disability welfare aid without proving your case. In order to even be considered, you must be receiving care for at least 12 months by a specialist who treats said disability you have to prove medical necessity. And on top of that, it takes 2 to 3 years from the date you first apply to receive the benefits.
    
    mm 💕
    
- Bruce Anderson July 13, 2025
  
  Joshua Lee McCollister, 37, of Fort Bragg, California.
  
  - Mazie Malone July 13, 2025
    
    Thank you Bruce!!! ⭐️🌷
    
    mm 💕
    
Lazarus July 13, 2025

“Mendocino County should request federal assistance that would be coordinated with local law enforcement to eradicate our cartel operations.”
J.S.
Pigs will fly when Governor Newsom asks President Trump for any help with anything. And realistically, the late, great, “Emerald Triangle” is politically insignificant to State or National politics. There just ain’t enough votes for Newsom and others to even consider.
We live in a “What have you done for me lately” Country, and the Triangle sucks hind tit…
Ask around,
Laz

Jacob July 13, 2025

RE: THE QUESTION FOR FORT BRAGG

Christopher has some valid concerns about artificial turf, etc., but his letter is misleading. CEQA uses the term “infill” to refer to property that is undeveloped but surrounded by developed land, it has nothing to do with the underlayment for artificial turf. Moreover, the Bainbridge Park project did not undergo an environmental impact analysis but not because of the categorical exemption for infill projects. I think the chemical exposure concerns are valid and should have been analyzed but his letter doesn’t describe what happened regarding this FB project.

Steve Heilig July 13, 2025

Re the late great publisher John Martin, I just added a local-angle comment on my poem he liked enough to give me my only poetry award ever, previously published in AVA here:

Closing Time, or, Deja Buk
https://theava.com/archives/7320

( meeting and dining with him in Santa Rosa was a fun honor, and in his NYT obit, this great line from Martin:
“I want to die never having been to Las Vegas, gone to Disneyland or watched a whole TV show, except for sports.”
My kinda guy.

Libby July 13, 2025

An über millionaire born in the U.S.A spends time with ‘mi amor’ in Michoacan, Mexico.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DKNSQ_KSt5G/?igsh=MTV0MXZieHVidXQ0ZQ==

16 Comments

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