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WARMER TRENDS and the possibility of heat risk by the end of the week are to be expected as ridging sets in and high pressure becomes the prevailing trend. A gradual drying and warming trend will develop this week, with further warming late in the week along with low RH. (NWS)
STEPHEN DUNLAP (Fort Bragg): A cooler 51F under clear skies at 4am, but you might have some different as the fog is much more patchy this Monday morning on the coast. I can see on my harbor cam the harbor is socked in. Perhaps more sun than fog this week but of course we just never know. Do we?
AV UNIFIED NEWS
Reminder: After School Program begins Tuesday (not Monday), and requires that your child has been registered for the 2025-26 ASP Program. Paperwork for registration is available at both schools’ offices.
Kristin Larson Balliet, Superintendent
AV Unfied School District
High School Principal Heath McNerney:
Dear Students and Families,
We are at the wonderful start of a new year: a time for new experiences and opportunities, a time to celebrate firsts days and new schools, a time to think about next steps and applying to those options, a time to reflect on how far we have come and to set goals for a new achievements, a time to beam with panther pride and enjoy the nervousness and excitement of a new year. Teachers and students alike all feel these things and are looking forward to being back together soon. I am excited to be able to share another year with everyone here at Anderson Valley.
We made many strides last year and also dealt with some difficult times but we did it together. It took all of us working together to see these improvements and growth.
Last year we saw a decrease in our chronic absenteeism rate by nearly 5%, with decreases over almost all major subgroups. (Chronic absenteeism is defined as a student missing 10% or 18 days of the year.) This is a thing to celebrate but also an area for growth as we can still strive to decrease that rate even more.
Introductory data shows some improvement in our test scores and are now adding math intervention classes to help improve those levels and push students to increase their testing score levels.
We will start this year without major impacts from construction!
These things are just a few of the great strides we made and could not have been achieved without the efforts of our students, the support of our parents and the major efforts of our staff to always strive for growth. Thank you for all of your support and let’s keep working together to keep moving forward.
We have modified our bell schedule very slightly for next year and we will be sending a digital copy of that out to everyone and have paper copies available in the office as you pick up your packets on these dates:
August 11th for 7th and 8th grade from 9 am to 1 pm.
August 12th for 9th-12th grades from 9 am to 1 pm.
If you have any questions or concerns please call the office at (707) 895-3496 or swing by starting August 4th.
Elementary School Principal Jenny Bailey:
Orientation:
We will host Orientation on Friday, August 15th at 3:30pm! Come find out what class your student is in this year and visit the classroom. Teachers may or may not be available to meet at this time, but it is a great opportunity to ensure your children know where their classes will be to alleviate some of those first day of school jitters.
School Hours:
School hours will continue to be 8:20 am to 3:00 pm for all students 1st grade through 6th grade. Our short day will continue to be on Tuesday; school is dismissed at 1:20pm for all students.
Transitional Kindergarten and Kindergarten have special hours because they are our youngest learners.
TK starts at 8:20am and goes to 12:00pm. Students can be enrolled in TK ASP from noon to 3:00pm.
Kindergarten starts at 8:20am and ends at 1:20pm. Students can be enrolled in Kinder ASP from 1:20 pm to 3:00pm.
A full schedule is included in the letter for your convenience.
After School Program:
ASP always starts on the second day of school - this year, August 19.
Charlotte Triplett will be supporting our After School Program to ensure that it offers our students an enriching experience. We’ve included the registration form with your letter this year. Please fill out at your earliest convenience and return to the AVES office.
Regular student attendance is VERY important. We know that students who miss more than 2 days of school a month are less likely to be successful and not be ready for the next year of school. Parents and families will get regular calls and letters if their student misses too much school.
Back-to-School Night:
Back-to-School Night will be on Thursday, September 18th at 5:30 pm. This is a great opportunity to visit your student’s classroom and learn about what they will be learning this year from their classroom teacher.
TAINTED LOVE — Best of the 80s Live — performed for the last show for Free Sundays in the Park at Todd Grove Park in Ukiah. (Karen Rifkin)
IS ANYTHING GOING ON BEHIND THE GREEN CURTAIN?
by Mark Scaramella
Former Deputy/Sheriff’s Investigator (Now Private Investigator) Kevin Cline on our article about the Supervisors taking six weeks off:
“I am sorry, but I have never taken six weeks off from work, except after my back surgeries while employed at MCSO. Even working for myself and a local Tribe since 2010, I would never think of taking six weeks off, maybe one or two, but not six. All of the vital tasks that you listed still need to be addressed, dates put on them, and they need to be completed, not just pushed down the road to the next BOS meeting and then on to the next, and so on….
At this point, I am not going to complain about the salaries for law enforcement, since those raises were long overdue. It’s about time a deputy sheriff/coroner can make a living while putting their lives on the line every day, unlike when I worked for MCSO (1996-2010). I was married, my wife worked, and we were raising three kids. In the late 90s and early 2000s, Deputies’ wages were barely more than what would qualify them for county assistance. I know firsthand. Why? Because the county did not want its employees receiving county assistance.
“I do, however, disagree with the lack of consideration by the BOS and CEO to reduce their salaries while dealing with our current budget matters. It’s good faith to the rest of the county employees and department heads to lead by example, even if the action is temporary. There are too many heads on this snake, and things need to change.
“I hope that the rest of your readers and other media outlets can share these apparent flaws, faults, and lack of accountability that continues to go on within our local governments. People need to pull their heads out of the sand, review BOS meetings/agendas, and ask themselves if things are moving forward to make Mendocino County a better place for its citizens, visitors, and businesses, or is it Oz behind the infamous Green Curtain?”
Jim Shields, my colleague at the Mendocino Observer, among others, seems to be of the opinion that the Supervisors taking six weeks off (again) might be a good thing because at least they won’t be screwing anything up while on vacation.
Of course, we agree that this Board of Supervisors (especially the three holdovers from the last two years), has made some glaring blunders over the last few years, the largest being the attempted Vets Office relocation; the attempt to charge Sheriff Kendall for ordinary budget overruns, and to illegally take over his computer system; the costly consolidation of the County’s financial offices; and of course, the Get Cubbison flop, which is still ongoing.
Obviously, those kinds of self-inflicted wounds are less likely if they don’t meet. This overly cynical viewpoint makes some sense in the abstract. But as former Deputy Cline notes, there are important tasks that these overpaid officials are avoiding and pushing further down the road, making them more costly and difficult to deal with when (if?) they are addressed.
Let’s look just at the tasks the Supervisors have taken on this year that are being delayed and neglected as the Board casually strolls away from their duties and does nothing while drawing their generous salaries and perks.
Last June when the Board finalized their “balanced” budget (based largely on a flawed assumption that a lot of staff vacancies would remain vacant) CEO Darcie Antle promised that she would provide monthly vacancy reports in support of the Board’s “Strategic Hiring process” which was supposed to keep a lid on departmental hiring to fill vacancies and deal with each vacancy on a case by case basis. By the time the Board next meets in September we will have gone three months without a report and no oversight of vacancies or “strategic hiring.”
During the budget discussion in June Supervisor Mulheren said that “Notable savings include $6.3 million projected from staff turnover…” Are vacancies appearing as people retire or quit? Where? How many? In what departments? Are they being replaced? (We know that some were replaced in the Assessor’s office already because Assessor Katrina Bartolomie reported as much last month and nobody asked if the Board had approved them.) Are any savings being achieved? Or are deficits piling up that will only be harder to deal with later?
Supervisors Madeline Cline and Bernie Norvell were assigned to a Tax Sharing/Annexation ad hoc committee that was supposed to hold some discussions with Ukiah officials and report back monthly. No reports have been made. Supervisor Norvell briefly mentioned that the ad hoc committee met, but the Ukiah Officials they were supposed to meet with didn’t show up. The idea was that if the agreement was more balanced Ukiah would propose more reasonable annexations which could lead to more economic development in the Ukiah Valley. Apparently, this is not an urgent concern.
Earlier this year we were told that “the County is exploring the use of Opioid Settlement funds to support medical services in the jail in partnership with the Sheriff’s Office.” This was supposed to help offset the ongoing and increasing medical services costs in the jail. What was the result of that “exploration”? Is the Board going to just let those medical costs ramp up?
Also earlier this year the Board appointed an Ad Hoc Committee of Supervisors Ted Williams and Madeline Cline to “work on the Budget challenges and solutions with Public Safety and Strategic Hiring process improvements for the most efficient outcomes.”
Since “public safety” is by far the largest expense category in the overburdened General Fund, this “work” should be a priority. But we’ve heard nothing about it since the ad hoc was formed, months ago.
The County admits it is way behind on tax collections since covid, but they’ve done next to nothing to prioritize the recovery of this important function, especially considering that they have a growing deficit for this year and an even larger one next year. How long can they neglect the basic function of tax collection before it catches up with them? There was a small step toward improvement in July when Auditor-Controller/Treasurer-Tax Collector Chamise Cubbison told the board that they had sent out some long overdue delinquency notices and some delinquent taxpayers had paid some or all of their delinquencies. But what’s the status? What’s being done to catch up?
We have yet to see staffing plans for Psychiatric Health Facility set to open in the fall or the new jail wing set to open next spring. These will present both a hiring/staffing challenge and a budget challenge. Yet the Board hasn’t even asked staff for operating plans.
There are still overdue answers to Grand Jury reports, chiefly concerning personnel/staffing.
Supervisors Williams’ highly touted $5 million grant for water storage in Mendocino stemming from the 2021 drought has turned into a morass of competing priorities and budget confusion since it was merged with a Mendocino School District water project and is now stalled in permanent limbo, leaving the entire town of Mendocino in danger of a repeat of the last drought emergency.
Earlier this year the Board said they were going to review the County’s healthcare contribution rates in light of the large budget deficit. But the subject hasn’t appeared on any agenda since.
We could go on about such things as why it took over two years to distribute the Measure P funds to cash-strapped fire districts, the status of the “review” of the small ambulance service stipend for the unincorporated ambulance services which was scheduled to be completed in August while the Board is in recess, why none of the Measure AJ pot tax money has gone to any emergency services when, as Supervisor Williams noted in March, “I haven’t seen any go to fire or EMS. The language said not to supplant existing funding. The public has asked me several times.” The long delayed AirBnB regulations, Hipcamp regulations…
Sheriff Kendall said repeatedly in 2024 that Proposition 36, which ups the penalties for former misdemeanor thefts and drug arrests, would magically force some perps into treatment to avoid jail. He expected that these efforts “will show results in six months to a year.” “Results” presumably being lower frequency of arrests if more people opting for treatment rather than jail, which should lower jail operations costs, among other things. Nobody has offered or asked for any report on those results.
At the Board’s big January workshop CEO Darcie Antle told the Board that they “need to do a better job explaining themselves and their accomplishments to the public” who for some reason doesn’t hold them in the same high regard they have for themselves. We have seen nothing resembling “accomplishments” since then. This one would be easy if there were any.
It’s one thing to cynically say that a bad Board not meeting has an upside. But when you look just at the tasks they’ve set for themselves being pushed further and further down the road as things continue to worsen (and we haven’t even mentioned pending federal budget cuts), we expect the Supervisors we pay to deal with these things to not just throw up their hands but to at least try to earn their exorbitant salaries.
GHOST SHIP DRIFTS INTO NORTHERN CALIFORNIA WATERS WITH NO SOULS ABOARD
by Matt LaFever
Nearly 10 days after 70-year-old Washington fisherman Joel Kawahara was last heard from, his boat drifted into Northern California waters on autopilot — empty, intact and offering no explanation for his disappearance.
“After it had traveled nearly 400 miles … we had no idea where this person might be,” U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer 1st Class Steve Strohmaier told SFGATE.
Kawahara departed a harbor near Neah Bay, Washington, maintaining communication until 7:30 a.m. on Friday, Aug. 8 — his last known contact. From there, authorities relied on the vessel’s automatic identification system, which showed it was “traveling a constant southerly course at approximately four knots for several days,” according to a Coast Guard press release.
Heather Burns, a longtime friend of Kawahara, told SFGATE she reported him missing to the Coast Guard. Her social media posts — shared hundreds of times in Pacific Northwest fishing communities — sparked concern and outcry across the region, pressing authorities to act.
Over the following days, Coast Guard crews and civilian mariners attempted repeated radio contact. “No communication was ever received from the Karolee,” the Coast Guard release stated.
On Tuesday, a Coast Guard aircraft located the vessel. From above, they saw the Karolee’s lights still glowing, its fishing gear on deck and its life raft secured in its cradle. The plane retraced the AIS track but “did not find any signs of distress.” Helicopters and boats then scoured the Olympic Peninsula coastline east of the vessel’s path, with no trace of Kawahara.
The next day, the Coast Guard cutter Sea Lion caught up to the Karolee, still steering itself south. Personnel boarded the vessel. “All the safety gear was still on board,” Strohmaier said. When asked if anything appeared strange or missing, he replied, “Not that I’m aware of.”
With no distress signals or sightings, the Coast Guard suspended the search. On Friday, the Sea Lion towed the Karolee to Eureka, California, where it was handed off to a Station Humboldt Bay crew. The boat now sits moored in port.
Strohmaier noted that Kawahara had gone offshore alone before, though “it’s not advised by the Coast Guard,” he said. “It’s always best to have other people on board the vessel…in case something happens to you.”
“The case is unique because of how many miles the vessel transited,” Strohmaier added. “It’s just really tragic and really tough that we weren’t able to find anybody in the water.”
For those who knew him, the loss cuts deeply. “He was so important to me, so huge in my life. He was more like family than friend to me,” Burns said. “One thing I can say is that it is an uncomplicated grief… it’s very comforting that I have no regrets save one, that I never went out on the water with him.”
(SFGate.com)
POLICE HAVE NO LEADS ON DRIVE-BY ATTACK ON FORT BRAGG TRUMP PROTESTERS - but think attack might not have been political.
by Frank Hartzell
Mendocino Indivisible protesters have been at it weekly since January, with protests featuring as many as 1000+ people in Fort Bragg. There have been few counterprotests. Some have cursed, but the most common negative statements seems to be people racing the car engine while driving by. At the last protest, one protester joked back with a sign that said “Race your engine if you support pedophiles.”
But on June 21, protesters were attacked by someone firing a projectile out the window with a gun designed for games. At first, the half dozen people who heard and saw three people being hit weren’t sure what hit them. Most everybody else had no idea what happened. The projectiles stung but didn’t break the skin. A pellet gun or pumped up bb gun can be a deadly weapon but not the newer types of guns most familiar under the Airsoft name. They were almost certainly from a gel gaming gun, although no pellets were recovered at the scene, we learned.…
BOONVILLE MUSIC SERIES
Gabriela Lena Frank:
Our musicians have arrived to Boonville and you might see them around town. Join us this coming Monday at the Grange!
Boonville Music Series is back at it again!
An evening of conversation and music, music coming at you from the sounds of folk, classical, non-western, experimental, and more. Hosted by the Boonville-based non-profit, the Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music.
The lead artists are all virtuosos at the top of their game, internationally active, and just all-around awesome people. They will be in town to mentor aspiring composers hailing from Colombia, Perú, and the US who will also perform.
All ticket proceeds will benefit the continued presence of guests artists in the Anderson Valley Unified School District.
Monday, August 18th at 6:30pm (Doors open at 6pm)
Sliding scale: $10-$20, youth 18 and under and families of AVUSD students get in for free.
Location: Anderson Valley Grange on Highway 128, Philo.
ALBION HEADLANDS PURCHASE EFFORT CONTINUES
by Mary Benjamin
Since the community meeting held on June 9 to discuss possible options for the purchase of the Albion Headlands, the mission to obtain funds to put the property in nonprofit hands continues.
The first meeting was in response to the news that the longtime owner of the undeveloped 84 acres had once again put up the acreage for sale through the Mendocino Sotheby Realty.
The land borders the ocean just south of the Albion River Bridge. Local community members viewed the property as their one-time opportunity to obtain what would be Albion’s only public access to the ocean. The price of $6.9 million seemed daunting at first.
Although the California Coastal Commission would hold the power to determine what private development could be approved, the odds of some development were possible.
The first nonprofit to consider the purchase was the Mendocino Land Trust, which has been a proactive agent in safeguarding premier property, better suited for public access than private purchase by a land developer.
During the June 9 community meeting, Mendocino Land Trust Executive Director Conrad Kramer, representative Emily Griffen, Sotheby realtor Justin Nadeau, community activist Rixanne Wehren, and local advocate Tom Wodetzki addressed the audience and fielded questions.
The meeting concluded with a consensus to pursue donors and benefactors within the community, with the Mendocino Land Trust also reaching out to major funders. Realtor Nadeau, a native of the coast, fully supported the plan to buy the property on behalf of the community, the county, and the whole state.
The gathering of all those present also became the first names on a contact list once a local fundraising structure could be developed.
Before the meeting ended, audience members had offered a variety of local fundraising ideas and events that they were willing to help organize.
Since then, all committed parties have been working toward the goal. Rixanne Wehren, spokesperson for the loosely organized Save the Albion Headlands! put out a donation plea to at least 300 people, which initially drew in $750. To date, the group has collected $2,270.
In a recent letter, Wehren announced that an anonymous donor was willing to match all donations up to $1,000.
All donations will be directed to the Mendocino Land Trust, which has the authority to collect public contributions for any given project it leads.
Wehren’s notice also announced that the group would be sending a letter to the State Coastal Conservancy asking for financial support. She has been collecting a significant number of names to add to the request.
Meanwhile, Emily Griffen, who heads the Albion Headlands project for the Mendocino Land Trust, has been engaged in approaching reliable funders who often have an interest in nonprofit land purchases. Griffen noted that she cannot publicly discuss any details to date.
However, she did report, “We’re working hard and continuing to make this a high priority. I feel very optimistic.” Griffen also confirmed that the Mendocino Land Trust has collected about $82,000 in local donations.
Nadeau was encouraged by the progress so far, but he tempered that with the comment that his client had been wishing to sell the property for over 30 years. About the listing he added, “There’s a lot of interest in it.”
If you would like to receive information about the Save the Albion Headlands! events, contact Rixanne Wehren at: [email protected] or call 707-357-2709.
To donate, make your check out to Mendocino Land Trust, noting Save the Albion Headlands in the memo, and send to: Save the Albion Headlands, c/o Rixanne Wehren, 27401 Albion Ridge Road, Albion, CA 95410.
Your donation can also be sent directly to Mendocino Land Trust at: PO Box 2058, Fort Bragg, CA 95437.
(Ukiah Daily Journal)
MISTY CLIFFS MASK MURKY MOTIVES
by Tommy Wayne Kramer
You can’t go to England without doing a proper bit of hiking, and today is my day to show how a Yank does the ol’ to-and-fro marching business.
Yesterday Trophy the wife explained where we’d be hiking by pointing in the general direction of an ancient church on a seaside bluff at a distance I estimated at 7,000 hectares give or take a peck or two. We left the next morning, heading in the opposite direction of the church, which was my first clue we’d not be taking the most expeditious route. By far.
We are in the tiny town of Tintagel and staying in an old castle remodeled as a new hotel and perched along the seaside in a most charming fashion. Other than some crumbled walls from other forts from other centuries the only building in sight is the church we’d be walking to.
And we’re definitely walking to it, just not in the right direction, because the shorter route would cause us to miss picturesque paths, lovely bushes and the opportunity to fall from one of many, many cliffs and into the briny sea.
Wouldn’t miss it for anything, I muttered under my breath. It’s the bloody scenic route for me, dammit.
Hi ho hi ho and all that! I shouted as we skipped merrily along big brambly bushes chockfull of bunnies, hedgehogs and the bleached bones of expired American hikers. Tarry not! I called out to no one.
The place is thick with King Arthur history, and the many ruins give the stories and legends considerable credibility. Shops in the nearby village do their best to turn it all into low-grade commercial marketing no different than the next Star Wars advertising campaign.
Ah well. What ho and all that.
By now we were ambling (staggering) down one hilly footpath linked to half a dozen other trails clinging to the tops of impossibly high bluffs that are in no way similar to the Mendocino County coastline. The stony cliffside at Tintagel is high, vast, craggy and fierce; in contrast the bluffs at Mendocino seem a scale model from a Disney set.
NOTE: Paths, trails, footbridges and precipices here exist with zero consideration for safety. Fencing and protective barriers are nowhere. Peering over the edge to the rocky sands below is the definitive test in diagnosing vertigo. I passed it easily.
Getting closer than 30 feet to the edge of a precipice jellies my muscles, jitters my joints and ignites my fight-or-flight-or-cry-and-crawl instinct. Usually I wind up over there on the ground curled in a knot, sweating.
So I keep my 30-foot distance and manfully march forth, eyes averted, avoiding the wife who knows all too well my allergy to anything more elevated than a footstool.
As we trudge along she cheerfully tells me jolly stories of well-insured spouses mysteriously disappearing off craggy cliffs in foggy mists and no witnesses within shouting distance. My brain softens and my muscles turn watery.
She’ll no doubt get away with it. It’s a long long drop. One hard shove, and the autopsy will show I starved to death before landing on the beach 200 kilometers below. Why is the church further away than when we started? What was all the paperwork she gave me to sign this morning? Where are all the other hikers? Why didn’t I leave a note?
I need a break. I need the voices in my head to shut up. I need a drink.
I burrowed through my brand new Paddington Bear backpack, found a warm pint of Olde Sick Pooch Dog Breakfast Ale and was back on my feet in 60 seconds.
It was the worst hike of my life, even worse than the time I almost walked from Low Gap Park to the U.
We got back to the castle bar in time for Happy Hour and she made a big show of paying for everything. My suspicions only grew.
Why did she sign me up for tomorrow morning’s “Adventures in Snorkeling” classes? She knows I can’t swim.
If her bar tab is still open tomorrow I’ll just spend the day roaming the castle, stopping every 15 minutes or so to go back and get another room temp Dog Breakfast Ale.
If I’m not back to Ukiah by Christmas please open a cold case file.
By then Dave Eyster will be unemployed and he can be my lawyer.
"I ASKED FOR WATER, she brought me gasoline."
— Tommy Johnson
CATCH OF THE DAY, Sunday, August 17, 2025
ERICA CARDENAS, 51, Ukiah. DUI.
HEATH CHAMBERS, 47, Fort Bragg. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.
GABRIEL CHAON, 19, Ukiah. Stolen vehicle, ghost gun, felon-addict with firearm, evasion, probation revocation.
NATHAN CHARLTON, 43, San Francisco/Ukiah. DUI-any drug, under influence, resisting.
JEREMIAH ECKEL JR., 49, Ukiah. DUI-alcohol&drugs.
JESSE GONZELEZ, 20, Kelseyville/Ukiah. Robbery, kidnapping, promoting or assisting a criminal street gang, conspiracy, parole violation.
JARED KIDD, 34, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol&drugs. (Frequent flyer.)
DENA MORRIS, 63, Ukiah. Parole violation. (Frequent flyer.)
ALEXANDER POULIDES, 49, Willits. Suspended license, no license, failure to appear.
JAIME RIVERA, 47, Ukiah. Under influence, controlled substance with two or more priors, ammo possessio by prohibited person.
NIKEA SOTO, 44, Laytonville. Selling liquor to minor.
CHEVRON, WESTERN STATES PETROLEUM ASSOCIATION CONTINUE RECORD LOBBYING SPENDING SPREE IN CALIFORNIA
by Dan Bacher
In the second quarter of 2025, the oil and gas industry spent even more money lobbying state officials, a total of $9,206,886, than in the first quarter, stopping the Polluters Pay Climate Superfund Act and other climate legislation from moving forward.
As usual, the majority of this fossil fuel cash was spent by Chevron and the Western States Petroleum Association. Chevron spent even more money on lobbying in the second quarter, $3,889,907, than in the first quarter, coming in first in lobbying expenses.
Chevron has refused to respond to growing calls to boycott the company for its operation and co-ownership of Israeli-claimed fossil gas fields in the Mediterranean. At Chevron stations across the country, including in the Sacramento area and the San Francisco Bay Area, local human rights and environmental justice groups have been holding regular protests to highlight the company’s complicity in genocide, as well in environmental destruction and human rights violations across the globe.…
GIANTS FINALLY PUT IT ALL TOGETHER, BEAT RAYS TO AVOID BEING SWEPT AT HOME
by Susan Slusser
With one of the roughest stretches at home ever, the San Francisco Giants needed to pull out all the stops to provide the fans at Oracle Park a homestand finale win.
Some unusual moments did the trick — trick being the optimal word for Jung Hoo Lee’s catch in the fourth — and the Giants’ often balky offense even managed to keep adding on runs in a 7-1 victory that prevented a Tampa Bay sweep and snapped San Francisco’s seven-game losing streak.
The Giants got one of the great all-time wacky catches in the fourth, when Lee turned playing center into a full-body workout. Yandy Diaz, the Rays’ DH, led off with a drive to right center that Lee dove for and had in his glove for a brief moment before the baseball rolled off the heel and down his leg as Lee’s momentum carried him forward.
He snapped his knees shut on the ball while rolling over and standing up, then pulled the ball out from between his knees, as neat a magic trick as you’ll see. “The catch of the decade!” broadcaster Duane Kuiper declared.
“The wind was pretty heavy, and I had to reach out for the ball,” Lee said, with Justin Han intepreting. “So I went for the slide. I did catch it, but I felt like it was dropping down, going under my body, and it just started from the chest. So it was a funny catch for sure.
“As soon as I felt it sliding down my body, I felt like I had to squeeze onto something. And then I went for the squeeze. In the end it I squeezed it with my calves.”
Shortstop Willy Adames, himself a participant in a rare play Sunday, was unsure what had happened.
“I was just looking for the ball. I didn’t see the ball in the dirt, but I didn’t see in his glove,” Adames said. “I was like the umpire, like, ‘Where the hell is the ball?’ And (Lee) pulled the ball out like, ‘I have it here!’ Oh my God, I was surprised.”
Scoring has been a slog for San Francisco the past few weeks, with the team posting no more than a run in 10 of its previous 16 home games. So it figures that it took something out of the ordinary for the first strike, with Adames pushing the action.
The Giants loaded the bases with two outs in the sixth and Dominic Smith delivered San Francisco’s most productive single in 37 years, ripping the first pitch he got from Ryan Pepiot to right in the sixth to drive in three runs.
Adames was the trailing runner on the play, and he had been watching the infielders as he was sprinting to see where the cutoff throw went.
“You have to prepare before mentally, so since I was running from first I was like, ‘I’m going to go hard if I see them lob to throw to second base,’” he said. “I saw the ball coming over the head of the cutoff man and … I just went.”
Manager Bob Melvin said third base coach Matt Williams “was telling him, ‘Look at the read, where the ball is coming in,’ and Willy — the way things are going for us right now, you’re going to take an opportunity. So it was great awareness, and Willy never let up.
“Anything we can do to reward our crowd, number one, and number two, get some energy in what we’re doing — we’ve had a little trouble doing that. And Willy is one of those guys. He’s an energy guy. He read it right off the bat and never let up.”
Kirt Manwaring, in 1988, was the last Giant with a three-run single.
“That’s all a shout-out to Willy doing his thing,” Smith said. “Heads up, savvy ballplayer. I was shocked to see him go, but very happy, and he got in there safely. That’s the type of baseball we have to play — aggressively, just a little bit of confidence and being willing to make mistakes.”
Christian Koss drove in Smith with a double and is now batting .352 with men in scoring position, .467 with runners in scoring position with two outs.
More out of the norm the next inning, with the Nos. 8 and 9 hitters going deep back to back. Drew Gilbert hit his first big league homer, a blast to right, and Tyler Fitzgerald added one to left. Gilbert tacked on an RBI single in the eighth for good measure.
Acquired in the Tyler Rogers deal with the Mets, Gilbert hit 14 homers in 93 minor league games this season and 18 two years ago. His first in the bigs was extra special — he traded two signed balls to get the ball back. “That was really cool, especially to do it in front of the fans today,” he said.
Giants starter Logan Webb nearly matched Justin Verlander’s strong effort the day before (seven scoreless innings, two hits, eighth strikeouts), by going seven scoreless and giving up only three hits with seven strikeouts, three of them on just three pitches. After giving up three runs the inning after the Giants had tied it up against San Diego his previous start, Webb was extra vigilant about working with the lead Sunday.
“You always think shut-down inning, but I’ve been really bad at that lately,” the All-Star said. “I just wanted to give it my best, got two quick outs … then gave up a base hit, and Ha-Seong Kim was coming up, who I couldn’t figure out. And I was like, ‘Oh God, here we go again.’ And I was able to get him out (with a strikeout), so it was a confidence boost for not only the team, but for myself.”
The lineup got a little bit of a refurbishment Sunday, with Lee atop the order for the first time this month and for just the fifth time in the past two months overall. Lee, pronto, doubled; he’s 3-for-9 with three walks in his first at-bat when in the leadoff spot.
The Giants now head out onto the road to face two of the league’s hottest teams, the Padres — who pulled off a sweep at Oracle Park to start the week — and Brewers, who had a 14-game win streak before losing Sunday. San Francisco has won each of its past three road series.
“That was probably the best game we’ve played in a long time,” Webb said. “Sad to say, but just kind of the truth. We’ve got to keep it going, go to San Diego and play four, then Milwaukee. The schedule is not getting any easier. We played a good game today, we’ve just got to go back out there tomorrow and replicate it.”
Bob Melvin said that left-handed reliever Erik Miller, who has been on a rehab assignment with Triple-A Sacramento, is still dealing with elbow soreness and will get another MRI. With five weeks left in the season and a repeat elbow issue, it’s possible he will not pitch again this season. Miller, 4-1 with a 1.50 ERA in 36 games with San Francisco this year, worked back-to-back games for the River Cats on Thursday and Friday and didn’t allow an earned run.
PAUL MODIC:
I first started reading the “San Francisco Chronicle” in the ‘70’s, picking up a copy in town with breakfast and my weekly cuppa coffee at The Woodrose Cafe. I remember the day in 1977 when marijuana growing and Garberville made the front page: I was driving to town, my neighbor Kathy stopped going the other way, waved the paper at me, and gave me her extra copy. (When a radical teenager in Indiana I had subscribed to “The Berkeley Tribe.”)
In the early 80’s my daily routine was hiking down the mountain to water my pot plants, driving into Whitethorn and buying that day’s Chron at the Whitethorn Store, then out to Shelter Cove to eat fish and chips with Hanson’s soda while reading the paper. (I put on a lot of weight with those lunches.)
On the way home I stopped at the Wailaki campground, set up two home plates, and practiced pitching my “sky-ball” for an hour for the next Sunday game: I threw three softballs, often thirty feet high, walked over and picked up the balls, then threw them to the other cardboard plate. The softball league was the largest weekly Southern Humboldt gathering in those days: a couple hundred players and about as many friends, fans, and family came out on those hot summer days.
In the mid-eighties I set up a Chronicle delivery service in Whale Gulch, 22 and a half miles from town the sign said, and my “subscribers” got the Chronicle same day, by 11 am! I set up a deal with Pee Wee, who distributed the Chronicle throughout the Garberville area, filling all those yellow boxes. He dropped our bundle of copies at the post office each day, the mailman brought them out to the sticks, and put them in the big mailbox by the school.
I had found about eleven Chronicle fans and twice a year rode my four-wheeler up the dirt roads to their houses to collect the forty bucks in advance, I’m no fool. (Okay, I was a fool, but that’s all the other stories.) Once I had all the money, I met with Pee Wee and his wife in their kitchen in Garberville, and paid him for the next six months. People came by throughout the day to pick up their papers, something to took forward to out in the middle of somewhere.
I glanced at the sports pages first, then Charles McCabe, Stanton Delaplane, and later Jon Carroll, next over to check out this guy Herb Caen’s gossip column, and then to the first page of the entertainment section. Next I settled into the Sporting Green and read all of that, then all of Herb Caen, the entertainment section, and then tackled the front page and all the hard news.
Over the years we were getting the Chronicle in the Gulch, I called in a couple “witty” items, which Caen put in his column the next day, and when I started my newsletter Gulch Mulch in ‘87, not realizing it was actually a ‘zine, I adopted (stole? borrowed?) Herb’s three dots and wrote a regular column of local gossip a la Herb.
I had heard that he was sick and one day on the beach, in Puerto Vallarta in 1997, I said to my girlfriend, “Damn, Herb Caen could’ve died.” I picked up the local English language paper for ex-pats and tourists, “The Mexico City News,” later that morning and found his obituary. Wow, almost thirty years now since Herb Caen’s last bon mots and liberal observations: he was the most powerful person in San Francisco for decades.
CALIFORNIA WAS A MODEL FOR TRANSPARENCY. NOW THE CAPITOL OPERATES IN THE DARK
by Dan Walters
California was once a national leader in requiring public officials to conduct their business — really our business — in public.
Beginning with the Ralph M. Brown Act of 1953, which imposed strict limits on secret meetings by local governments, California’s Legislature adopted several “sunshine bills,” as they were dubbed. The Bagley-Keene Act extended the Brown Act’s open meeting requirements to state agencies, while the Public Records Act guaranteed access to all but a few documents state and local agencies maintained.
However, while the Legislature was willing to have the sun shine on others, it largely exempted itself. Thus, “caucuses” could meet behind closed doors to decide the fate of legislation, essentially scripting what would be said in open sessions before voting. Legislative appropriations committees could — and did — secretly decide which bills would reach the floors of both houses and just announce the winners and losers without explanation.
At one time, legislative secrecy was kept in check, more or less, by having two political parties and a substantial corps of reporters. Party leaders could reveal what their rivals were cooking up and reporters could penetrate clandestine deal-making through sources.
However, as California became dominated by one party and the Capitol press corps shrank due to upheavals in media industries, secrecy became more entrenched.
A case in point is the current effort by Gov. Gavin Newsom and Democratic legislators to draw new maps for the state’s 53 congressional districts with the aim of capturing enough new seats to offset the Republican gerrymandering of Texas congressional districts. California’s new maps are being drafted in secret, a sharp contrast with the months-long public deliberations four years ago of the state’s redistricting commission, resulting in the current maps.
Apparently, the new maps will be revealed briefly before the Legislature votes to place them on a November special election ballot. There are no plans to allow them to be modified before adoption.
What’s happening vis-à-vis redistricting is right in line with the Capitol’s penchant for doing the public’s business in private.
Another example, as CalMatters revealed last year, is an unwritten rule that prohibits legislators from actually discussing changes in their bills during committee meetings, essentially rendering such hearings to meaningless charades.
Still another is the massive project to build a new annex to the Capitol itself. The Legislature has exempted the project from the California Environmental Quality Act and refuses to release details on what is being built or its costs, which appear to be massive, despite the state’s chronic, multibillion-dollar budget deficits. It has also required persons involved in the project to sign non-disclosure pledges to keep details secret.
A pending measure, Assembly Bill 1392, would exempt home addresses of public officials and political candidates from being revealed. While touted as a safety measure, it would make it impossible for journalists to determine whether officials actually live in the districts they represent — something that has popped up numerous times.
Legislators also want to make local government activities less transparent.
One measure now pending in the Capitol, Assembly Bill 699, is the latest of several efforts to allow proponents of local bond measures to omit tax consequences from ballot summaries, but rather place them in voter pamphlets, making them less prominent.
Closing the circle that began with passage of the Brown Act in 1953, Senate Bill 707 would make it easier for some local agencies to conduct their meetings via the internet rather than in person, thus making it easier to mute criticism from the public.
While California’s dominant Democrats often accuse President Donald Trump of undermining democracy, their growing desire for secrecy is equally abhorrent.
(CalMatters.org)
UGLY DOG CONTEST? HOW ABOUT UGLY OWNERS?
Editor:
Out of respect for the semi-cruel canine entries in the ugly dog contest, it seems only fair that there should be an ugly owner contest as well, if only to provide some balance (“Perfectly imperfect, Petunia is World’s Ugliest Dog,” Aug. 10). Contestants would not be required to have a contender in the ugly dog contest; ownership of any dog will do. Who’s laughing now?
Wayne Gibb
Forestville
WE CANNOT BE SILENT ABOUT STARVATION IN GAZA
Editor:
“We are just numbers.” That’s how it feels reading about a child starving to death in Gaza — a baby, Esraa Abu Halib’s daughter, who weighed less than she did at birth. She was taken to the pediatric department at Nasser Hospital, but it was too late. She was already dead.
How is it possible that we, as human beings, allow this to happen — and worse, that some actively support it? Sen. Bernie Sanders introduced two resolutions to block specific weapons transfers to Israel. These measures could have prevented more horror, but they were defeated. California Sens. Adam Schiff and Alex Padilla voted in favor of sending more ammunition to Israel, further fueling this humanitarian catastrophe.
As I imagined what it must feel like for a mother to watch her child die of hunger, I couldn’t stay silent. What if it were your child? As women — mothers, grandmothers, great-grandmothers — we must stand up. Our children are the future. If we stay quiet while this continues, what kind of future are we allowing to take shape?
Elaine B. Holtz
Santa Rosa
ALVIN "JUNIOR" SAMPLES was born on April 10, 1926, in Cumming, Georgia. Before becoming a household name, he led a life that was anything but typical for a TV star. He spent his early years working as a carpenter, racing cars, and fishing—and of course, telling tall tales along the way.
One of the most memorable stories he ever told was in 1966, when he shared a wild fishing tale on a local radio station. This "whopper" about catching a giant fish turned into a hit novelty record, and it was this quirky moment that opened the door for him to appear on Hee Haw in 1969.
Though acting wasn't his forte—he couldn’t always read cue cards or remember his lines—Junior's natural charm and understanding of rural life shone through. He was a perfect fit for the show, which was filled with humor inspired by rural and hillbilly life. While he wasn’t a trained actor, his authentic down-home persona resonated with audiences. His most famous role on Hee Haw was that of a used car salesman, urging potential buyers to call a number—BR-549—which became an iconic phrase linked to his character.
FOR THOSE CONCERNED about the “weedsiness” of Russiagate: I’m obviously aware of it. During these periods when stuff is flying out every other day it’s very difficult to document the specific material and stay broad at the same time. I’d love to be writing about other things. But the way these situations work is that when something on your beat hits the news, you have to work your sources and get it all out bit by bit, then hopefully come up for air at some point and tell the wider story. There’s also an impact factor with journalism that depends on using moments of trained attention to try to reach more people. I know it isn’t the cup of tea of all Racket subscribers… but I did so many stories to lead to this moment (from Hamilton 68 to last year’s ICA tale to the smearing and surveillance of Gabbard herself) that I have to keep up at least during this period of releases. Obviously I need to try to avoid letting frustration kick in - I’m sorry about that, really, but I can’t let this go after all the years of effort.
— Matt Taibbi
ON-LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY
I was a third grader when Kennedy was offed. Our Catholic school put the "then" media feed on our classroom TVs. I was at home and watched Lee Harvey Oswald offed on live TV. I watched the evacuation of Saigon on live TV. Black and white TVs for those of you who want perspective. Old folks like me rely on journalists like Taibbi to try to ensure that our grandchildren will inherit a nation better than what we've lived through. A tall order but worth fighting for.
HOW MANY CAN YOU NAME? (1956)
“EVERY LIFE is many days, day after day. We walk through ourselves, meeting robbers, ghosts, giants, old men, young men, wives, widows, brothers-in-love, but always meeting ourselves.”
— James Joyce, ‘Ulysses’
LEAD STORIES, MONDAY'S NYT
Zelensky and Allies Head to White House to Show Unity on Ukraine
U.S. Pauses Visitor Visas for Gazans After Right-Wing Outcry
Wildfire Fighters, Unmasked in Toxic Smoke, Are Getting Sick and Dying
He Sold His Likeness. Now His Avatar Is Shilling Supplements on TikTok
"I WISH I could hold my whole heart in my hand."
— Son House
DECLASSIFIED: CIA'S COVERT UKRAINE INVASION PLAN
by Kit Klarenberg
On August 7th, US polling giant Gallup published the remarkable results of a survey of Ukrainians. Public support for Kiev “fighting until victory” has plummeted to a record low “across all segments” of the population, “regardless of region or demographic group.” In a “nearly complete reversal from public opinion in 2022,” 69% of citizens “favor a negotiated end to the war as soon as possible.” Just 24% wish to keep fighting. However, vanishingly few believe the proxy war will end anytime soon.
The reasons for Ukrainian pessimism on this point are unstated, but an obvious explanation is the intransigence of President Volodymyr Zelensky, encouraged by his overseas backers - Britain in particular. London’s reverie of breaking up Russia into readily-exploitable chunks dates back centuries, and became turbocharged in the wake of the February 2014 Maidan coup. In July that year, a precise blueprint for the current proxy conflict was published by the Institute for Statecraft, a NATO/MI6 cutout founded by veteran British military intelligence apparatchik Chris Donnelly.
In response to the Donbass civil war, Statecraft advocated targeting Moscow with a variety of “anti-subversive measures”. This included “economic boycott, breach of diplomatic relations,” as well as “propaganda and counter-propaganda, pressure on neutrals.” The objective was to produce “armed conflict of the old-fashioned sort” with Russia, which “Britain and the West could win.” While we are now witnessing in real-time the brutal unravelling of Donnelly’s monstrous plot, Anglo-American designs of using Ukraine as a beachhead for all-out war with Moscow date back far further.
In August 1957, the CIA secretly drew up elaborate plans for an invasion of Ukraine by US special forces. It was hoped neighbourhood anti-Communist agitators would be mobilized as footsoldiers to assist in the effort. A detailed 200-page report, Resistance Factors and Special Forces Areas, set out demographic, economic, geographical, historical and political factors throughout the then-Soviet Socialist Republic that could facilitate, or impede, Washington’s quest to ignite local insurrection, and in turn the USSR’s ultimate collapse.…
https://www.kitklarenberg.com/p/declassified-cias-covert-ukraine
AN OFFER HE CAN'T REFUSE
“This is not our war. The US is not in a war. Ukraine is in a war. . .” — Sec’y of State Marco Rubio
by James Howard Kunstler
Volodymyr Zelenskyy is dropping in at the White House today so that Mr. Trump can read him the riot act. It’s that simple. Somewhere to or from Alaska, Mr. Trump concluded that a ceasefire would not work, for the excellent reason that seven previous ceasefires in Ukraine failed, and only reinforced distrust and disappointment between the warring parties. Instead, the goal is a peace settlement, an end to the war.
The USA and Russia cannot make peace in Ukraine because the war is between Ukraine and Russia. The USA can only mediate and propose terms. Ukraine needs help formulating terms that are not preposterous. Russia’s terms have been clear and precise for years, most particularly: no NATO for Ukraine. What part of that is hard to understand? The EU wants missile bases on Russia’s border. It wants to draw Ukraine into its sphere of influence. Ukraine has been in Russia’s sphere of influence since. . . forever.
The US helped start this conflict in 2014, when Mr. Obama was in charge. It was always a cynical operation, in concert with the cynics of the EU. To put it as plainly as possible, Mr. Trump has called it off, recognizing the foolish futility of the scheme. But the EU players persist maniacally, even though they don’t have the money or the armaments to keep it up, and are otherwise jointly committing slow suicide of their own societies.
Anyway, Ukraine is exhausted. Ukraine has lost. Sheer intransigence could keep it going a while longer, but then Russia will sweep west with more pointless bloodshed. The argument is over. Territorial realities must be faced. Agreements must be made.
For the moment, Mr. Zelenskyy is the one who must be brought to agreement. His position as leader of Ukraine is, shall we say, squishy. His term as elected president of Ukraine ended in May 2024, and he only continues to occupy his position under martial law, self-declared. The Russians recognize his leadership as a contingency, because there is nobody else just now. Mr. Trump will be discussing Mr. Zelenskyy’s fate with him today in the White House. (It’s a little like a scene from an Ingmar Bergman movie, don’t you agree?)
There are many ways for this to go. Mr. Z can simply refuse a peace settlement, politely or otherwise. (War continues for no good reason.) He made noises to that effect on Sunday. Or, he can pretend to go along and then flip to some opposite stance, as he has done before. Mr. Z remains an actor of the prima donna variety. He can pretend to parlay in Washington, and then direct his return flight to some country other than Ukraine and seek asylum there, leaving his position vacant and inviting chaos in Kiev. Or. . . he can just play it straight and face the territorial realities.
Namely, that 1) Russia occupies most of the eastern frontier provinces at issue and intends to keep them, since they are inhabited by speakers of Russian who, remember, Mr. Z outlawed some years ago, and who were subject to relentless artillery and missile attacks prior to February, 2022, which prompted Russia’s Special Military Operation. . . that 2) Crimea belongs to Russia. . . that 3) Ukraine will not join NATO. . . that 4) Ukraine will hold new elections ASAP. . . and that 5) Ukraine will substantially disarm. . . . Surely, I left some lesser details out, but that’s most of the meat on the table.
Mr. Z is probably aware that he holds zip in the way of leverage. He is probably thinking (as is everyone else paying attention to this psychodrama) that he will be extremely lucky to stay alive in the aftermath of this fiasco, whatever shadowy corner of the world he might flee to, or how many billions of purloined US dollars he’s managed to stash in the usual places that permit cash-stashing. Staying in Ukraine must be out of the question, considering the damage he’s done to his own people, and the animus it has generated. Who knows, maybe Mr. Trump has reserved a nice little villa for Mr. Z in West Palm, where the president can keep tabs on him? He could learn golf and open a dinner theater.
Meanwhile, the three big bears of NATO stew in impotence and delusion. They are all short timers, by the way: Starmer, Macron, Merz. Their collective polling is sunk in the 25-percent range — and it is common knowledge that 25-percent of any population is abidingly retarded, unfit to comprehend anything. EU Commission Girl-boss Ursula von der Leyen will travel to Washington today with those very three bears in-tow to provide moral support for Mr. Z. (That is, to try to hector Donald Trump against facilitating any settlement of a war they would prefer to keep going for no earthly good reason.) Perhaps Mr. Trump will ask the Eurolanders to wait in the nearby Roosevelt Room while he confabs one-to-one with Mr. Z and makes various offers that Mr. Z can’t refuse. Then, they can all convene together in the Oval for coffee and donuts and review the results of that confab.
If ever a situation for the mass humiliation of European heads-of-state had been conceived previously, this will be the topper played out on CNN in real time. You have to wonder if any of them will survive another month in office after that psychological beat-down. And then let’s stand by to see whether Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s airplane flies back to Kiev or takes an unexpected detour to, say, Abu Dhabi.
(kunstler.com)
SOME SUGGESTIONS
by Caitlin Johnstone
Pay attention to the mainstream media, but only so you’re aware what the bastards want you to think. The western press are plutocrat-controlled propaganda services for the US-centralized capitalist empire, and they frame their output accordingly. Don’t trust them.
Be aware of online echo chambers and confirmation bias, and be humble enough to understand that these things affect you. Make sure you’re getting information from a variety of sources, including ones you disagree with ideologically. It’s easy to spin off into erroneous perspectives if you don’t have any other feedback keeping you in check.
Ignore our society’s ideas about what an ideal or successful life looks like. This is a sick civilization whose madness is driving us all into dystopia and disaster. Blaze your own path, and set your own standards for what a good and worthy life would look like.
Make a practice of noticing beauty everywhere. Everything has beauty, even the ugliest things you can imagine. If you can’t see the beauty in what you are perceiving in a given moment, the failure is in the eye of the beholder. Beauty is just the experience of having truly seen something.
Feel your feelings fully and courageously, all the way through. If you have forgotten how to cry, re-learn. Don’t repress your feelings, but don’t make them anyone else’s problem either. Feelings are meant to be felt. That’s all.
Face your inner demons and heal them. Don’t hurt anyone else with them. If you have children, make this a priority of the most urgent order, because you will pass your woundedness onto them if you don’t. You can’t heal all that’s wrong in the world, but you can heal all that’s wrong in you.
Put love before everything in life. No one ever went to their grave wishing they had loved less, or had placed their career or ambition above their children or their partner. Love with everything in you; hold nothing back. Loss is inevitable in a mortal life, but love anyway, because it’s the only thing that makes a mortal incarnation worth it in the first place.
Learn to love yourself. This looks like bringing a passionate, unconditional “YES” to everything that shows up inside you — all your thoughts, feelings, sensations etc, even the ones you don’t like very much right now. If you feel resistance to this, bring a “YES” to that resistance. Keep YESing all the resistances until you work your way in. You can only love others to the extent that you love yourself.
Hold no loyalties to the collective delusions of your family, your social circle, or your culture. If you know they’re wrong or ridiculous about something, there’s no reason to protect it or act like it’s legitimate. Be free from the psychological shackles of conformism. Life is too short for that shit.
Open yourself up to new music, films and art, and increase your capacity for appreciating and enjoying culture outside your comfort zone. Learning how to appreciate more things will make life more enjoyable for you.
Be discerning about what you put into your body. A system of food production and distribution which is guided entirely by the pursuit of profit will not have your health interests at heart in the options it presents you with.
Be kind to people who struggle with neuroses, but try your best to free yourself from your own. Certain segments of our society have become far too glorifying of psychological dysfunction and far too encouraging of learned helplessness and irresponsibility. Be a mature adult and heal everything you are capable of healing, and for everything else try to find adaptations and strategies to get by.
Cultivate a serene mind. If you feel called to, pursue spiritual enlightenment. It’s entirely achievable and readily available.
Do as much as you can to make the world a better place, and be content with your efforts regardless of whether or not they are successful. You’ll never be able to save the world single-handedly no matter what you can do; all you can do is make one person’s worth of effort. Make peace with that.
(caitlinjohnstone.com.au)
MAN SLEEPING
by Jane Kenyon
Large flakes of snow fall slowly, far
apart, like whales who cannot find mates
in the vast blue latitudes.
Why do I think of the man asleep
on the grassy bank outside the Sackler
Museum in Washington?
It was a chill
afternoon. He lay, no doubt, on everything
he owned, belly down, his head twisted
awkwardly to the right, mouth open
in abandon.
He looked
like a child who has fallen asleep
still dressed on the top of the covers,
or like Abel, broken, at his brother’s feet.
SOME SUGGESTIONS by Caitlin Johnson: The best thing I have read in quite some time.
Yes, good thoughts for hard times.
I agree Norm. Words to live by.
I totally agree.
Really great article. One add, regardless of your own issues, have the decency to acknowledge others. Don’t ignore or shun them. At least be civil to everyone. Stop inflicting the pain of rejection on others.
Dan Walters article speaks to what happens with single party rule.
It is human nature, our founders got this.
For all the talk about “No Kings” and “Saving Democracy”, it is pretty clear that single party rule in CA has morphed into tyrant territory and we are not the better for it.
They will tell you they are doing it for you, but if you look deep into their eyes, and follow what they are actually doing, you will see it is mostly about serving THEM.
AN OFFER HE CAN’T REFUSE by J. Kunstler: The worst thing I have read in quite some time.
Agreed. The guy is a waste of air. It’s sad how moronic some people are.
Hee Haw,
The best Southern documentry ever.
Tune in next week, when Junior says;
“Six weeks off, now I can go fishing.”
UKRAINE–RETORT TO KUNSTLER
“All Russia Needs to Do Is Go Home”
By Olga Rudenko. Ms. Rudenko is the editor in chief of the Kyiv Independent. She wrote from Kyiv, Ukraine.
“Vladimir Putin looked like he loved every minute of it.
Mr. Putin, the president of Russia, the man who has proclaimed that my country shouldn’t exist — that it’s a historical mistake, to be fixed by Russian soldiers — was welcomed effusively to Alaska by the president of the United States. Mr. Putin exited his plane and diplomatic isolation and walked a red carpet like an honored guest.
His smile was triumphant. Was it confidence that he was going to get away with everything he’s done? Or was it the anticipation of getting what he wanted: a subjugated Ukraine and a weakened trans-Atlantic alliance? Perhaps it was both. Americans may have cringed, but for Ukrainians, watching Mr. Putin smirk and laugh was revolting.
The meeting between Mr. Putin and President Trump on Friday was a stark reminder of a simple truth: that the real barrier, the only real barrier, between Mr. Trump and peace in Ukraine (and his coveted Nobel Prize) is Mr. Putin. Russia could end the war in Ukraine at any moment by stopping its attacks and withdrawing its forces. By simply going home. Mr. Putin could end it with a phone call.
Mr. Putin — and sometimes, Mr. Trump — have tried to frame Ukraine as the obstacle to peace. But let’s think about how Ukraine could end this war on terms that Mr. Putin would accept: by giving him everything. By relinquishing territory that tens of thousands have died defending, forgoing the prospect of ever joining NATO or the European Union, agreeing not to maintain a military strong enough to defend itself and installing a puppet government pliant to Mr. Putin. By agreeing, in effect, to cease to exist.
To a Ukrainian — and surely to most people — the idea of handing anything, never mind everything, to an invader that has brought death and destruction to a peaceful country, seems exactly backward….”
NEW YORK TIMES, 8/18/25
What is happening in the Cubbison Civil case?
Doggerel by Jason Horsler
Whenever I hear these nostalgic paens to the quaint complacency of yesteryear, I am reminded of my Anthropology professor’s parting words to the class, which I paraphrase from memory, “As we’ve seen through out this course, those of us who have been open to it*, change is a constant and individuals who cannot, or will not, adapt to changing conditions and evolve will not be selected for survival and become extinct.”
*I went to a community college as a non traditional student, after I got out of the service and there were some evangelical students in the Anthropology class, and the professor always referred to them as “individuals “— who were also in my Ethics class, contradicting everything the instructor said, and brandishing their Bibles in his face—these students were more like shills at a poker table than sincere students—the trolls who post in the AVA also seem like their only purpose is to hector our esteemed editor and find fault with his enlightened views.
My platoon commander in the Marines said much the same thing: “Improvise, Adapt, and Overcome or you willl not survive.”
Oh Dear Bruce,
You–and the professor and the platoon commander– are right for sure, in the big picture. BUT, I just finished writing a nostalgic love letter of 7 pages to Chapman KS, population, 1, 090 souls, where I spent years 7-10 as a young boy. Those times were idyllic, sweet, safe, perfect, for a young boy, called Charlie back then, AND NOT TO BE FOUND in most American towns and cities these days…that, too, is the truth, and it’s a sad one…
Isn’t that —the NOT TO BE FOUND idyllic Mayberry with Opie and Aunt Bea and Sheriff Taylor — exactly what Trump is promising his acolytes? You see, Chuck, you’re turning into a MAGA. Call Val Muchowski and get counseling as soon as ever you can or you’ll be lost to the cult—and burn that infernal manuscript before you contaminate others with it! Also, read that RLS story about the couple who missed their dead son so desperately that they almost brought him back from the dead. That should cure you of any more misty-eyed nostalgia.
No cure is necessary, love my nostalgia for that little town, was very lucky to end up there–father in the U.S. Army , we traveled all over, but Kansas was the best. My parents were both native Kansans. If I turn into a MAGA, I give you permission to come throttle me…..
Always remember that your USMC indoctrination was not intended as a guide to civilian life.
Roger that, Norm. I went through with McNamara’s Leigon “give the inner city blacks and backwards country fucks something to do for their country,” in the Sec of State’s words, meaning go die in Vietnam Nam. So the Marines were drafting for the first time and they found out that when you put all theses people from all over together, they talk, exchange ideas, and enlighten one another. So my indoctrination from a large military family made me hung-ho enough to enlist but it started to unravel as soon as I got in the service with all those draftees. That’s why, I think, they got rid of the draft. Were you a conscript, Norm?
I had a low number in the drawing (76). With that hanging over my head and nothing else really going on in life, I enlisted for a 2 year period. A lot of the guys in basic training were there in lieu of jail from misbehaving at the prior state fair in Sacramento. Our drill sergeants said they preferred training the draftees, for some reason.
Is it too soon to inquire about the MIA Craig Stehr? Given the situation in DC with the supplemental help coming to the aid of the Metro police, his silence since then normally would raise questions but…..it hasnt.
He’s not missing, lol….forgot to check blog. “Never mind”.
(He was at library today, listening to bhajans, merged with the Absolute.)
MIA
Missing
In
AVA
The AVA editors reposted his short blog piece in the MCT this day, so no MIAing now, lol:
“BHAJANS, THE MUSICAL
Warmest spiritual greetings,
I’d Rather Be Singing Bhajans
Just sitting here on a public computer at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Library in Washington, D.C. enjoying spiritual bhajans from India. Nowhere to go, nothing to do, just sitting back and enjoying the music, chants, and visuals. Mind absorbed in the Absolute.
Craig Louis Stehr, [email protected]”
A lightbulb in my cranium just lit up: Craig could initiate a new form of street action, singing and dervish dancing around federal agents while they grab, beat up and kidnap people in the streets.