HIGH PRESSURE is building in to the area, bringing dry weather for much of the week. Potential for freezing temperatures in Trinity County tonight. Drizzle possible for the coastal areas Wednesday. Slight chance for rain this weekend. (NWS)
STEPHEN DUNLAP (Fort Bragg): A brisk 42F under clear skies this Tuesday morning on the coast. Some clouds moving in mid week then clearing by what looks like a lovely weekend coming up. Rain next Tuesday & Wednesday, we'll see ?
REPORT FROM PASSERBY LEADS TO GRAFFITI ARREST IN FORT BRAGG
On October 25, 2025 at approximately 2339 hours, a passerby reported a suspicious subject wearing all black, possibly vandalizing a utility box with graffiti at the intersection of N Main Street and E Laurel Street. Within minutes, officers responded and began to check the area. When they arrived, officers observed fresh drawn graffiti and two subjects fleeing from the area.
Officers gave chase and were able to apprehend and detain one of the male suspects, determined to be a juvenile out of Fort Bragg. Evidence located in the juvenile's possession linked him to the graffiti located in the downtown area (594 PC Vandalism). The juvenile was arrested, cited, and later released to a parent.
The other suspect fled the area and was not immediately apprehended. Officers are following potential leads in order to identify the second suspect.
If you or anyone you know was a victim of this vandalism or have digital evidence that may aid our investigation; the department has created a community request portal via evidence.com.
Those reviewing for video will be looking for two subjects wearing all black clothing, hooded sweatshirts, and possibly ski masks. Evidence can also be submitted anonymously via the portal.
Anyone with information regarding this incident is encouraged to contact Officer Moore at (707)961-2800 ext.225 or email [email protected]
This information is being released by Commander Jonathan McLaughlin. For media inquiries, please reach out to him directly at [email protected].
Community request link: https://fortbraggpdca.evidence.com/axon/community-request/public/graffiti-request
PUBLIC MEETING THIS WEDNESDAY re Albion-Little River Fire Dept ballot initiative, 6pm at the Grange.
A local citizens committee is drafting a ballot initiative to be placed on the November 2026 election ballot that will ask all residents of the Albion-Little River Fire & Rescue District if they support an increase in the Fire District’s special tax that is a part of property owner’s annual tax bill.
The citizens committee will hold an open public meeting this coming Wednesday, Oct 29th, at 6pm at the Whitesboro Grange on Navarro Ridge Road, where all local residents are invited to hear why the tax increase is being requested, to ask questions and to contribute opinions.
Hoping to see you at the Grange this Wednesday,
Tom Wodetzki, for the Citizens Committee
STEPHEN JOSEPH MUCHOWSKI
Stephen Joseph Muchowski, 87, passed away on October 15, 2025, surrounded by his family.
Steve was born August 11, 1938 to Mary Chrosniak and Stephen Paul Muchowski in Buffalo, New York. After graduating from Bishop Fallon High School, Steve enrolled in the Army and later spent 7 years in the reserves. He then attended Canisius College and later went on to work at American Machine and Foundry.
He married Valerie Wesel on July 14, 1962. In 1963 Steve and Val traveled the country looking for a place to settle. They landed in San Jose, California after a three month 14,000-mile journey. They settled in Santa Clara, California where he worked as an engineer for the City of San Jose, and raised their three children, Mary Beth, Larry and Laurie.
Steve and Val moved to Mendocino in 1976. He began building a Dome which he had designed. He worked with Bobby Glover designing and installing water systems while continuing construction on the house. A few years later, he set up the first computer classroom in Anderson Valley at Bachmann Hill School in Philo. This eventually lead to working with the County Schools as a computer consultant until his retirement in 2002.
His passions included cooking and photography. He loved to cook for family and friends, and he often prepared the entire Thanksgiving meal by himself, experimenting with new recipes every year.
Steve is survived by Valerie Muchowski, his wife of 63 years, children Mary Muchowski, Larry (Jenn) Muchowski, Laurie (Russell Michael) Muchowski, brother Mark (Elaine) Muchowski and grandchildren Marshall Michael, Robbie and Megan Muchowski.
A celebration of life will be held at a future date.
FRANK HARTZELL on the DA’s press release about hit&run driver Gina Bean’s conviction for violating the terms of her probation for hitting and killing Calum Pulido as he crossed Highway 1 on his skateboard:
This is a flabbergasting press release, full of politics and vitriol that doesn't fit, especially more of the attacks on Judge Brennan. And there is at least one significant error in this. the California Judicial Council does not want outside critiques of DAs and is getting their wish for more political justice. Without access to court files, thanks to the court administration here and the Judicial Council, there is no way for me, or anyone in the press or public to fact check this, but I know the case well enough to warn you, don't believe it all. I can’t wait for the press release slapping media to make yet another official pronouncement local gospel.
Referenced Press Release: https://theava.com/archives/275043#7
MAZIE MALONE: Just a quick note on my Kind Hearts Initiative supplies request. For practical purposes, to reduce waste and keep things cost-effective any jackets, blankets, or cold-weather items I hand out are marked with my name and number. That way, if something’s found later or isn’t being used anymore, it can be returned or collected to help someone else. It’s just a small way to keep things sustainable and make sure good items keep going where they’re needed most.
ASSEMBLYMEMBER ROGERS CONFIDENT STATE FUNDS WILL COVER HOPLAND UTILITY COSTS AFTER VETO
Says $1.5 million currently allocated to Caltrans can be reallocated to Hopland PUD or to Mendocino County
by Elise Cox
It’s an unfair burden that’s well known to state legislators who represent rural districts in California. When a Caltrans project affects water or sewer lines, it’s the responsibility of the local water district to pay to move the lines — whether the move is temporary or permanent, and regardless of whether the project delivers any benefit to the utility itself.
That requirement recently was cited to justify a 40% rate increase for customers of the Hopland Public Utility District — an increase that takes effect Nov. 1 and that one out of three ratepayers oppose. The small district, which serves about 330 customers, was told it would have to contribute more than a million dollars to cover the cost of relocating underground utilities as part of a Caltrans Americans with Disabilities Act project through downtown Hopland. (Mark Hildebrand, a consultant for the Ukiah Valley Water Authority, pegged the amount attributable to Hopland PUD ratepayers at $5 million.)
Assemblymember Chris Rogers, who represents Mendocino County and the North Coast, said the situation in Hopland highlights how state law can penalize struggling rural communities.
“I think that this is a really good example of one of the areas where one-size-fits-all approaches to policy are a challenge across California, but specifically in our district being as large as it is,” he said. Rogers represents California’s 2nd Assembly District, which stretches from the Oregon border to northern Sonoma County and includes Del Norte, Humboldt, Trinity, Mendocino, and part of Sonoma County.
Roger explained that current state law limits what Caltrans can fund in a project. “There are certain parts of projects that Caltrans is able to actually fund and parts that they are not,” he said. “And there is a portion as it pertains to the projects that they are doing in Hopland — specifically the relocation of the utilities that is associated with the ADA work — that state law does not allow Caltrans to actually do.”
The result, Rogers said, was that Caltrans “basically had to split the project into two components. Phase one is the section they are able to actually fund and do the work for. Phase two is the section they are not able to do the work for, and that falls on the public utility district.”
For Hopland, that meant the costs of the state-mandated project would fall on roughly 330 ratepayers. “The fact that they are having the secondary aspect of this project that isn’t even their project but it’s a Caltrans project fall on so few people at such a high cost — it really would be a challenge for that district,” Rogers said.
Rogers estimated the Hopland portion of the project at “about $1 to about $2 million depending on materials, labor, and especially depending on how long it actually takes for this project to get off the ground.”
To address the issue, Rogers introduced a bill earlier this year that would have allowed Caltrans to cover the cost of utility relocations for small districts like Hopland. “We also worked very closely with Senator McGuire’s office and made sure that we secured some funding that was directly earmarked for this project in the state’s budget,” he said. About $1.5 million was allocated to the Hopland project.
While Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed the bill that would have allowed Caltrans to fund the Hopland project, Rogers said he remains confident the allocated funding will still reach Hopland. “The governor was very concerned about the precedent that it would set for other public utility districts or community service districts across the state,” Rogers said. “But because we have that funding still secured, there still is going to be the ability for the second portion of this project to move forward. We just have to make sure that the money gets allocated that originally was designed to be allocated to Caltrans for the project.”
“The workaround is going to be that it’ll be reallocated to the public utility district or to the county to actually be the impletor of the project,” Rogers said.
He said the commitment from both the legislature and the governor remains strong. “The project will still get done,” he said. “We just need to make sure that we, you know, dot the tees, cross the eyes to make sure that it all works correctly, but that commitment does remain.”
Rogers said he was especially proud that the legislation drew bipartisan support. “It was a bipartisan bill and in fact when we sent the final version to the governor I even had a member of the Republican Party who represents a rural community stand up and speak in support of it on the floor,” he said.
He also credited local officials for their work. “We were very happy to work on the bill. We worked very closely with Supervisor Madeline Cline. She’s been nothing but the biggest champion,” Rogers said. “We talked with the former supervisor Glenn McGourty about it and he’s been a huge champion. And then obviously the work that Senator McGuire has done to be able to help secure that funding just can’t be understated.”
(Mendo Local Public Media)
PRESERVING THE ALBION BRIDGE
Albion Bridge Stewards, a community nonprofit dedicated to preserving the historic Albion River Bridge and its surrounding coastal environment, has filed suit in Mendocino County Superior Court challenging Caltrans’ certification of the environmental review for the proposed Albion River Bridge replacement project.
The lawsuit alleges that Caltrans violated the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) by certifying a legally deficient Environmental Impact Report/Environmental Impact Statement (EIR/EIS) that fails to provide a stable, finite project description and improperly defers crucial impact analyses and mitigation measures. The petition asks the Court to set aside Caltrans’ approvals—including its Findings and Statement of Overriding Considerations—and to halt further project actions until the agency fully complies with CEQA.
At the heart of the dispute is the future of the Albion River Bridge, a 969-foot timber trestle structure completed in 1944 and listed on both the National Register of Historic Places and the California Register of Historical Resources. The bridge is believed to be the only remaining wooden bridge on State Route 1. Caltrans proposes to demolish and replace it—at an estimated cost of $126 million to $155 million—over approximately one mile of corridor.
According to the filing, Caltrans initially told the public it would analyze options to rehabilitate the existing bridge to address seismic and other concerns. However, when Caltrans released its Draft EIR/EIS in July 2024, the agency eliminated rehabilitation alternatives from further review and evaluated only full-replacement “build alternatives,” postponing selection of a preferred design until after the public comment period closed. The petition contends this approach deprived the public of the chance to comment on a stable project and masked potential new or greater impacts that could vary by final design.
More than 200 comment letters and emails were submitted on the Draft EIR/EIS, including comments from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and conservation groups calling for specific mitigation standards and a reasonable range of alternatives, including preservation. The lawsuit asserts that Caltrans’ responses in the Final EIR/EIS, released August 8, 2025, were cursory and unsupported by substantial evidence.
The petition alleges significant, unavoidable impacts to aesthetics and cultural resources stemming from removal of the historic bridge, as well as inadequately analyzed or mitigated impacts to biological resources, noise, and transportation. It further challenges Caltrans for impermissibly deferring mitigation, lacking enforceable performance standards, and failing to recirculate the EIR despite substantial revisions and unresolved issues.
Albion Bridge Stewards seek a peremptory writ directing Caltrans to vacate its approvals, prepare a legally adequate EIR that includes feasible rehabilitation alternatives and enforceable mitigation, and refrain from further project actions until CEQA compliance is achieved.
About Albion Bridge Stewards
Formed in 2017 and newly incorporated as a California Nonprofit Public Benefit Corporation, Albion Bridge Stewards is a volunteer community organization working to preserve the state- and federally listed Albion River Bridge, nearby Salmon Creek Bridge, and the scenic, environmentally sensitive Albion coastal environment.
Media Contact Jim Heid, President, Albion Bridge Stewards, [email protected]
HOW TO REVIVE CALIFORNIA’S UNDERWATER FORESTS? SMASH A SPIKY, HUNGRY FOE.
Cove by cove, scientists, divers and volunteers are hauling up urchins to protect kelp.
by Raymond Zhong
From the bluffs, you might have mistaken the little brown heads poking out of the ocean this month for seals, hundreds of them, gathered for a morning conclave. In fact, they were something almost as surprising: bulb upon glistening bulb of kelp, more of it than this cove in Northern California had seen in years.
Beneath the milky water, the kelp’s ropelike stems stood in thickets dense enough to snag the valve on a scuba tank. The parade of long, luxuriant blades, streaming out of each bulb like wavy tresses, made diving these waters feel a bit like touring a hairdressers’ convention.
A decade ago, the coastline north of San Francisco was the site of one of the most horrific deforestations ever recorded. More than 90 percent of the towering, majestic kelp forests, across 200 miles of glittering shore, were dead and gone in years. Felled by freakishly warm ocean water.
Sea creatures starved in droves, notably abalones, the giant mollusks prized for their buttery flesh. At the same time, a mysterious sickness was killing off another denizen of the kelp forests, the mighty, many-limbed sunflower sea star. Without these predators around, sea urchins ran amok, gorging on the kelp that remained and turning the reefs into spiky purple wastelands.
Today, acre by acre, beach by beach, efforts to undo the ruin are bearing early fruit. Or, rather, fronds.
At Portuguese Beach in Mendocino County, scientists are planting kelp seedlings and hiring divers to haul up urchins by the ton. As a result, kelp cover this year is 10 times what it was at its low point in 2023.
A few miles up the road, at Caspar Cove, state authorities are allowing recreational divers simply to smash urchins to bits with hammers and picks. The payoff? The kelp canopy there is nine times its area in 2020.
These and other pockets of recovery are small, scattered. Their success is hardly assured; another marine heat wave could set them back. But they are a crucial first step, scientists say. If enough kelp can be nurtured in these oases, then over time they might reseed more of the coast.
“We’re planting the garden,” said Tristin Anoush McHugh, who leads kelp restoration for the Nature Conservancy. “Let’s see what shows up.”
Kelp forests grow along a third of the world’s coasts, and the threats to them from ocean warming, pollution, overfishing and other stressors are growing in nearly every region. “In a lot of different places, the environments will never be as suitable for kelp forest as they used to be,” said Thomas Wernberg, a professor of marine botany at the University of Western Australia.
That raises big questions about how much any restoration project can hope to achieve, and how long it may need to last. “When are you done, if ever?” he said.
Diving at Portuguese Beach shows what it looks like to begin.
The Nature Conservancy and its partners have been planting baby kelp here, on simple rope modules that suspend the juveniles out of hungry urchins’ reach — nine modules last year, 60 this year. Come fall, the kelp is mature and can blast out trillions of spores, sowing seeds to grow the following year.
Already, the new kelp is helping the ecosystem show glimpses of its former self. During a recent dive, a plump sunflower sea star, about as wide as a dessert plate, with 15 or so chubby arms, was nestled between the rocks beneath one of the modules. Five other sunflower stars have been reported here so far this year.
Even so, you don’t have to swim very far to see parts of the reef that are still absolutely blanketed by urchins, like an invasion of purple alien pompoms.
To defend the kelp at Portuguese Beach, commercial divers have dredged up 41 tons of urchins over the past two years, mostly by hand. At Caspar Cove, volunteers have smashed up 16 tons since 2020. Both methods of pest control are laborious, and it’s unclear who would pay commercial divers to keep doing it year after year, to say nothing of enlisting more divers and expanding to more of the coast.
“There’s only 15 doing this work, and you need 1,500,” said Jon Holcomb, 80, a veteran diver.
One way to fund restoration would be to find something useful to do with all the urchins that are removed. Right now, many are composted or ground into gravel. But the Nature Conservancy and other groups have explored all manner of more-lucrative products that could be made from them, including dyes, filaments for 3-D printing, even leather. (Purple urchins generally aren’t valuable as seafood because they produce smaller gonads, which are those custardy golden lobes that go on sushi, than their red cousins.)
One promising product is countertops. A start-up, Primitives Biodesign, is developing a kind of urchin-shell marble, one that Virj Kan, the company’s chief executive, hopes will be strong but lightweight compared with natural stone. A single countertop could use up the urchins that would cover a tennis-court-size area of seafloor, Ms. Kan said. Primitives is aiming to deliver its first units next summer.
The Kashia Band of Pomo Indians, a tribe in Sonoma County, is hoping the rewards from its restoration efforts will come from bringing back a cherished traditional food source.
Along a curl of ancestral coast called Shell Beach, the tribe and its partners are rehabilitating the kelp groves in order to reintroduce abalones there and rebuild the creature’s populations. They’ve hired commercial divers to clear out more than 50 tons of urchins in the past two years. But the tribe is also training its own divers, both to put a “tribal eye” on the work and to help keep it going for the long haul, said Nina Hapner, who leads the tribe’s environmental department.
“We’re all planting seeds and knowing we’re not going to see the full growth of the seeds that we plant,” said Atlas Elliott, 22, a Kashia diver. “But we know there’s going to be growth. We’re making our contributions. We’re watering our plants. We’re feeding our people. We’re doing what we need to do.”
MENDOCINO COUNTY WELCOMES GLEN STEPHENS AS NEW AIR POLLUTION CONTROL OFFICER
Mendocino County is pleased to announce the appointment of Glen Stephens as the new Air Pollution Control Officer (APCO) for the Mendocino County Air Quality Management District, effective October 27, 2025.
Mr. Stephens brings more than 30 years of experience in air quality management and environmental protection. He has served as Air Pollution Control Officer for the Eastern Kern Air Pollution Control District since 2012, overseeing district operations, regulatory programs, and grant initiatives to meet state and federal air quality standards.
“It’s an honor to join Mendocino County, and I look forward to serving its residents and communities,” said Glen Stephens.
Before that, Mr. Stephens worked as an Air Quality Engineer for the Eastern Kern, San Joaquin Valley, and Kern County Air Pollution Control Districts, where he specialized in permitting, compliance, and rule development. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from San Jose State University and is a California Licensed Professional Engineer.
“We’re excited to welcome Glen to Mendocino County,” said CEO Darcie Antle. “His technical expertise and leadership will be a tremendous asset in advancing our air quality goals.”
COMMUNITY CONVERSATION: THE FUTURE OF THE MENDOCINO HOTEL AND HILL HOUSE INN
Join the Mendocino Rotary Club for an engaging community conversation with Kara Adamson, Regional Director of Sales for Trailborn Properties. Kara will share updates on the ongoing renovations at the historic Mendocino Hotel and the Hill House Inn, along with Trailborn’s plans to revitalize these beloved landmarks and strengthen their connection with the Mendocino and Fort Bragg communities.
This is a great opportunity to learn about Trailborn’s vision for preserving Mendocino’s charm while bringing new life and energy to two of the coast’s most iconic properties.
November 6th - 12pm to 1pm
Preston Hall at Presbyterian Church
Mendocino
SOME BACKGROUND ARTICLES:
Hotel giant moves in on coastal California tourist town Feb 2, 2025 (sfgate.com)
Mendocino Hotel and Hill House projects move forward June 7, 2025 (mendovoice.com)
Loan for $19.9 million will renovate Mendocino Hotel and Hill House July 31, 2025 (mendocinobeacon.com)
MENDOCINO COLLEGE’S REPERTORY DANCE COMPANY FALL 2025 PERFORMANCE!
Featuring original choreography by:
-Jessie Beck (Fri & Sat only)
-Tyler Fosse
-Trudy McCreanor
-Chelsea Palombaro
-Paloma Rodriguez
-Eryn Schon-Brunner
Tickets $15, available to purchase online www.mendocino.edu/dance or at the door (cash or check only) while they last
Performances:
-Thursday Nov 13: @ 7:30pm
-Friday Nov 14: Gala @ 6:30, Show @ 7:30pm
-Saturday Nov 15: @7:30pm
-Sunday Nov 16: @2pm
CVPA Theater
1000 Hensley Creek Rd.
Ukiah, CA 95490
707.468.3079
WHEN I WAS A BOY, hot summers in the Sacramento Valley were the norm. Yet there was relief every year when I got to go up to Sunnyside on the West Shore of Lake Tahoe. My Aunt Bobbie and her husband, George Holt, were caretakers at a magical estate called 'Carousel.' It was owned then by Claire Zellerbach Saroni of San Francisco.
My brother Joe and I stayed for a few days every year, helping Uncle George open the Tahoe house for the summer season, so Mrs. Saroni, her family, and friends from the City could enjoy it. Carousel was infrequently used by family members during the winter for skiing. The grand wood house, nestled in the pines, had a tennis court and a two-story caretaker's house where my Aunt and Uncle lived.
Carousel had a large lawn that swept down to the lake. A flower-lined path led to a boathouse and pier. It was very Old Tahoe. I spent many hours sitting on that pier, looking deep into the crystal clear water of Tahoe. I watched classic wooden boats cruise by. People always waved. Uncle George sometimes took us on rides in Ms. Saroni's Chris-Craft. When I was older, he let me sit in the leather front seat and steer the boat. That boat was still in use years later when Terese and our two sons, Nate and Sam, went with me to revisit a special place. The owners at the time were the Quist banking family, gracious people who gave us a tour of Carousel and a ride in the boat. As it turned out, I knew a few minor details from the Zellebach Saroni era that they didn't. I have a photograph of us riding in the boat that day.
I was saddened a few years ago to learn that mogul Mark Zuckerberg had bought the Carousel estate and tore it down to make way for a massive compound he is creating. Zuckerberg spent an additional $37 million to merge Carousel with a neighboring estate.
This Marysville boy had no idea that he was enjoying a slice of old Tahoe at its finest. A treasured possession is a lovely, large Asian platter Mrs. Saroni's butler gave to my mother. It's a fine reminder of how memorable those summers were.
— Mike Geniella
ART LEMOS
by Carol Dominy
Arthur “Art” Lemos was born in Mendocino on January 21, 1905, the eldest son of Antone B. and Emily (Brown) Lemos. His father had immigrated from the island of Flores in the Azores as a child and learned the barber trade in Boston. A talented linguist who spoke four languages, Antone worked as both a barber and an interpreter before coming to Mendocino in 1902. Soon after his arrival, he opened a barber shop in the building on the northeast corner of Lansing and Albion Streets that today houses the Mendocino Café. The building served not only as the family business but also as the Lemos home, where Antone and Emily raised their ten children. Rent on the building was just six to eight dollars a month, and Antone tried unsuccessfully for years to buy it from its owner, William H. Kelley.
Art grew up surrounded by the sounds and smells of his father’s barbershop. As he fondly recalled later in life, he was “in and out of the shop all the time, even when crawling on the floor.” At age twelve, his father announced that his apprenticeship would begin the next morning. Working under his father’s watchful eye, Art learned every aspect of the trade, from shaving and haircuts to the delicate art of curling hair with hot irons heated over live coals. By fifteen, he was a full-fledged barber, proud to be part of a craft where skill and reputation mattered more than age. He remembered his father as one of the best barbers on the coast, a man so skilled with a razor that customers barely felt the blade.
In 1923, after graduating from Mendocino High School, Art officially joined his father in the Lansing Street shop. Together they served Mendocino’s men, women, and children for over a decade. In 1934, Art moved south to San Mateo, where he opened his own business, the Civic Center Barber Shop. For thirty years, he ran a one-chair shop on Baldwin Avenue, becoming a fixture in the community. Known for his friendly manner and professionalism, he once joked that barbers probably knew more about human nature than anyone except doctors and lawyers. In 1935, Art married Mae Altman, a former Mendocino High School English teacher.
When Art retired in 1965, he and Mae returned to Mendocino, settling on the Little Lake Road property they had purchased in 1948 - “the most beautiful spot on earth,” as he called it. Though retired from barbering, Art remained deeply active in community life. He volunteered with the Mendocino Volunteer Fire Department, where he had once served in his youth, and devoted countless hours to the Kelley House Museum. As a docent, board member, and oral historian, he shared memories that became an essential part of Mendocino’s recorded history.
Art Lemos passed away in 1987 at the age of eighty-two, leaving behind a legacy of family, community service, and love for his hometown. Those who knew him remembered not only his steady hands and warm humor but also his generosity of spirit.
(kelleyhousemuseum.org)
CATCH OF THE DAY, Monday, October 27, 2025
VANESSA ELIZABETH, 56, Ukiah. Petty theft with two or more priors.
ALLISON FULLBRIGHT, 30, Fort Bragg. Probation revocation.
ELIZABETH JOHNSON-COSGROVE, 35, Ukiah. Probation revocation.
LAMONT JONES JR., 46, Ukiah. Trespassing-obstructing business, probation revocation.
JOSIE LATHROP, 33, Ukiah. Vandalism.
PATRICK MCCONNON, 42, Fort Bragg. Domestic abuse.
AARON MUDRICH, 42, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol, resisting.
CHRISTINA PERTHEL, 34, Ukiah. Battery with serious injury, criminal threats, probation revocation.
SALMON SEEN IN UPPER KLAMATH BASIN FOR 1ST TIME IN CENTURY AFTER HISTORIC NORTHERN CALIF. DAM REMOVAL
‘It’s a world change for us, a paradigm shift.’
by Sam Mauhay-Moore
A year after the historic removal of four dams along the Klamath River in Northern California and Southern Oregon, Chinook salmon have cleared the waterway’s last remaining dams and returned to tributaries in the Upper Klamath Basin for the first time in over a century.
In late September, a Chinook salmon was seen on video ascending a fish ladder at Keno Dam, one of the Klamath’s two remaining dams in the upper basin southwest of Klamath Falls. Since then, cameras and radio tags have confirmed the presence of salmon at various locations further upstream, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife announced on Oct. 17. This marks the salmon’s first return to the Upper Klamath Basin since the dams were built in the early 20th century.
“I never thought in my lifetime, or especially in my parents’ lifetimes, that we would see the salmon back up in our area,” Klamath Tribal Chairman William E. Ray Jr. told SFGATE.
At least 200 salmon are thought to be in Upper Klamath Basin at this time, Ray said, which includes Upper Klamath Lake, as well as tributaries like the Sprague and Williamson rivers. For the fish to reach this region, Ray said, is nothing short of extraordinary.
“I don’t know how to explain it, the monumental, herculean, awesome feat it was for them to go through all that,” Ray said. “I mean, impediment after impediment, and then swim through the most toxic water that you could swim through and still make it to the point where you’re 360 miles away to spawn. Isn’t that awesome?”
The salmon reaching Keno Dam was a feat in and of itself, Ray said. But their journey past it is what he finds most remarkable: Past Keno, the fish had to swim through waters rife with toxic algae blooms and chemicals from agricultural runoff and then traverse past the Link River Dam at the southern edge of Upper Klamath Lake. Ray believes the salmon must have then found pockets of aquifer-fed freshwater within the highly polluted Upper Klamath Lake and swum through those in order to make it several more miles upstream to places like the Sprague, Williamson and Wood rivers. Ray remembers swimming through those same pockets of water as a child, he said, when the lake was still clean enough to swim in.
Paul Wilson, a photographer and Klamath tribal member who uses drone videography to survey salmon numbers in the basin, said he was brought to tears when he saw how many salmon have repopulated his ancestral waterways.
“It’s a world change for us, a paradigm shift,” Wilson said. “There were a lot of tears and a little bit of disbelief, seeing how quickly they came back and numbers that we’re seeing, and how much life is left.”
Both Wilson and Ray said that the Klamath River’s renewal marks a shift toward their tribe’s treaty rights finally being secured. The Treaty of 1864 granted the Klamath, Modoc and Yahooskin-Paiute people hunting, fishing, gathering and water rights throughout the Klamath Basin, and, like hundreds of other treaties signed between tribes and the federal government during this time, has been largely ignored for over a century.
“That’s something that’s been under assault for 100 years, and something that’s the supreme law of the land under Western law,” Wilson said. “To see it actualized in front of me and to get to tell the story — it’s the most fulfilling and important work that I’ve done, and so it’s been beautiful to do it in my home.”
The salmon reaching the upper basin is an important milestone, Ray said, adding that the work isn't over: Other fish species in the Klamath are at risk of extinction, including the c’waam and koptu, species that are endemic to the Klamath Basin and also sacred to the tribes there.
“The c’waam and koptu don’t have 10 years before extinction,” Ray said. “We only have a little bit of time here.”
Salmon fishing is still prohibited in the basin and will likely remain that way until the species reaches a stable population. Once that happens, Ray and Wilson hope to see a resurgence of the tribes’ old practices, in which the salmon were a hallmark of physical, economic and spiritual sustenance.
“It’s a blessing of cultural renewal, cultural healing, and just truly a blessing from Creator,” Ray said.
(SFGate.com)
WHAT RESISTANCE LOOKS LIKE
by David Bacon
OAKLAND, CA - Hundreds of people came out in the early morning darkness to block the causeway leading to Coast Guard Island, where 100 ICE agents were believed to have arrived yesterday. Cars of workers could not pass the picket line that moved slowly from corner to corner, through the whole intersection. Border Patrol agents came out to break the line and bring their vehicles onto the island, using anti-personnel weapons against people with no weapons. But except for their half-dozen SUVs and king cab pickups, no other cars got through. It all reminded me of 1984, when a similar moving line blocked Pier 80 in San Francisco, and longshore workers refused to cross it and unload South African cargo from the Nedlloyd Kimberley. The Bay Area has this rich history of people putting themselves on the line for justice.
to see a full selection, click here.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION POSTS NOTICE THAT NO FEDERAL FOOD AID WILL GO OUT NOV. 1
by Adriana Gomez Licon
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has posted a notice on its website saying federal food aid will not go out Nov. 1, raising the stakes for families nationwide as the government shutdown drags on.
The new notice comes after the Trump administration said it would not tap roughly $5 billion in contingency funds to keep benefits through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly referred to as SNAP, flowing into November. That program helps about 1 in 8 Americans buy groceries.
“Bottom line, the well has run dry,” the USDA notice says. “At this time, there will be no benefits issued November 01. We are approaching an inflection point for Senate Democrats.”
The shutdown, which began Oct. 1, is now the second-longest on record. While the Republican administration took steps leading up to the shutdown to ensure SNAP benefits were paid this month, the cutoff would expand the impact of the impasse to a wider swath of Americans — and some of those most in need — unless a political resolution is found in just a few days.
The administration blames Democrats, who say they will not agree to reopen the government until Republicans negotiate with them on extending expiring subsidies under the Affordable Care Act. Republicans say Democrats must first agree to reopen the government before negotiation.
Democratic lawmakers have written to Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins requesting to use contingency funds to cover the bulk of next month's benefits.
But a USDA memo that surfaced Friday says “contingency funds are not legally available to cover regular benefits.” The document says the money is reserved for such things such as helping people in disaster areas.
It cited a storm named Melissa, which has strengthened into a major hurricane, as an example of why it’s important to have the money available to mobilize quickly in the event of a disaster.
The prospect of families not receiving food aid has deeply concerned states run by both parties.
Some states have pledged to keep SNAP benefits flowing even if the federal program halts payments, but there are questions about whether U.S. government directives may allow that to happen. The USDA memo also says states would not be reimbursed for temporarily picking up the cost.
Other states are telling SNAP recipients to be ready for the benefits to stop. Arkansas and Oklahoma, for example, are advising recipients to identify food pantries and other groups that help with food.
Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., accused Republicans and Trump of not agreeing to negotiate.
“The reality is, if they sat down to try to negotiate, we could probably come up with something pretty quickly,” Murphy said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union." “We could open up the government on Tuesday or Wednesday, and there wouldn’t be any crisis in the food stamp program.”
(SF Chronicle)
READ PROJECT 2025
Editor,
Everyone should be required to read Project 2025. It lays out the platform of the current Republican Party and illustrates the type of country they want.
No one should be surprised by the reduction of government, tax cuts for the wealthy, deportation of non-Europeans, curtailment of voting rights, media censorship, reduction of education, elimination of regulations and cessation of Social Security and Medicare.
Republicans laud Charlie Kirk as a “patriot” and someone who clearly articulated their message. All should listen to his podcasts to get a sense of Republican attitudes toward women, minorities, non-Christians, the disabled and LGBTQ persons.
Trump is a master showman, creating a lot of noise but steadily enforcing Project 2025. It becomes easier to understand if you merely replace Trump’s name with “The Republican Party.”
The new Republicans reject all who do not subscribe to their values. Any dissension is dismissed.
Woke means respect and consideration for others and other points of view. The writers of the Constitution were clearly the first “woke” politicians as they crafted a document that respected the rights of all.
Bill Franzwa
Alamo
AMERICA’S PALACE OF VERSAILLES?
Editor,
What President Donald Trump has done to the White House is a perfect metaphor for what he is doing to democracy.
The demolition of the graceful East Wing to build an opulent ballroom is as difficult to swallow as his assault on our freedoms.
It feels like a violation, like he is ripping away the history we hold dear, turning our historic White House into a tawdry version of the Palace of Versailles.
It is a testament to Trump’s feelings of grandiosity. He needs to read what occurred after the Palace of Versailles was completed, that the people of France decided they’d had enough and revolted, leading to the ugly ending of King Louis XVI’s monarchy in 1792.
What future generations will say about this desecration of our beloved White House is unknown. But I hope it will be remembered that so many Americans felt nothing but mortification, and that it figured in the downfall of a wannabe king.
Teri Shikany
Danville
ON-LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY
Hard questions. Are we not complicit in our downfall if all we do is analyze the problem endlessly? Is it enough to simply serve as documentarians of our demise? Does anyone really believe that if someone comes up with the optimum "magic words" in an internet posting, the light bulb will go off and the masses with suddenly get wise to our dilemma? Is there a better use of our brain power, such as devising tangible solutions? Can we talk (or read) our way out of the mess we're in? We do we get off the couch and reclaim our agency?
If we simply stay on the sidelines, have we actually earned any future redemption?
We stand on the shoulders of evolutionary survivors. They didn't just talk their way into the future.
LEAD STORIES, TUESDAY'S NYT
Jamaica Warns Hurricane Melissa Will Bring Catastrophic Winds and Rain
It’s Unconstitutional, but Trump Keeps Musing About a Third Term
Top Federal Workers’ Union Breaks With Democrats on Shutdown
In Florida, Obamacare Price Hikes Pose an Outsized Threat
Russia Aims Drone Attacks at Civilians, a War Crime, U.N. Inquiry Says
3 Takeaways From the Blue Jays-Dodgers World Series Game 3
GEEZER AT DMV
Editor:
The headline “Confronting ageism, combating isolation, planning for future” reminded me of my own infuriating confrontation with ageism 10 years ago when I was 77.
Thanks to a cataracts condition clouding my vision, I had been unable to pass the Department of Motor Vehicles test. My driver’s license was suspended for the three months it took to get surgical repair.
After I recovered, I went to the DMV office in Corte Madera for the written and road tests. As has nearly always been the case, I got 100% in both. Nevertheless, the examiner had a surprise in store for me.
After returning from the road test, he said we were to go out and drive around the neighborhood. He directed a series of left and right turns through streets where I had never been and then we stopped. He ordered that I return the way we came. Of course I was unable to comply. Despite failing that portion of the test, I did get my license reinstated, but only because I had scored the standard tests perfectly.
It appeared to me that someone decided that the standard tests were not adequate to determine the mental acuity of a 77-year-old who had cataract surgery. As far as I know, no such challenge exists for younger folks. I considered it to be ageism.
Since then, I have worked as a research scientist at the Buck Institute and am now doing substitute teaching at several high schools up to three days per week.
If I am ever again required to take a DMV road test, I will carefully explore the neighborhood beforehand. I will now always expect state officials to arbitrarily exercise their power.
Chet Seligman
Point Reyes Station
TOM STIENSTRA (former Chronicle Outdoors writer):
Latest report from Stanford Medical
The call just came in. Dr. Steven Chang at Stanford was updating my latest tests, an MRI of my brain, and a PET scan of the rest of my body. Earlier this year, an MRI found a 2-mm tumor in my brain. In July, it had grown to 4 mm.
So Dr, Chang ordered a CyberKnife-powered radiation burnout of the tumor. The fear this fall was that another tumor might have sprouted up in the same spot.
"The MRI shows that the surgical site was slightly inflamed," Dr. Chang told me. "This is a reaction from the radiation. No new tumor."
The PET scan turned up a white splotch along the my neck at the top of my spinal column. "We'll meet to analyze and discuss it," Dr. Chang said. "If it's a tumor, we'll burn it out with the CyberKnife."
The next call had the details.
"We determined that it's not a tumor," Dr. Chang said. "Keep doing what you're doing. "
Later he added, "Are you still hiking every day?"
"Two to three miles every morning, roughly 3.5-plus million steps a year."
"Keep going," he answered, "it's working."
Since Dr. Chang first diagnosed me with melanoma cancer throughout my brain and body, Dr. Chang and his staff have conducted six brain surgeries and seven CyberKnife tumor burnouts.
At the same time, doctors found cancer throughout much of my body. That included 10 tumors on my liver, five tumors on my right lung, and spots on lymph nodes and elsewhere. Dr. Sunil Reddy, a medical oncologist, clinical associate Professor of Medicine at Stanford, put me on a infusion program that helped my immune system wipe out the tumors on my liver and in my lungs. After two years, all tumors were gone in my torso.
Many others in my group with a similar diagnosis have not survived.
Dusty Baker advised me with a secret to living. "Always have something to look forward to. Your body will figure out how to stay alive to do it."
Dr. Chang is a Professor and Vice Chairman of Strategic Development and Innovation in the Department of Neurosurgery at Stanford.
CyberKnife radiation therapy uses robotic technology that delivers high doses of precisely targeted radiation to burn out tumors.
MRI stands for magnetic resonance imaging.
PET stands for positron emission tomography.
"Enjoy your wilderness," as a friend of mine liked to sign off his stories.
For our favorite places to go, year round, check it out . . .
https://www.amazon.com/52-Weekend-Adventures-Northern-California/dp/1640499342/
“WHEN A CHILD first catches adults out -- when it first walks into his grave little head that adults do not always have divine intelligence, that their judgments are not always wise, their thinking true, their sentences just -- his world falls into panic desolation. The gods are fallen and all safety gone. And there is one sure thing about the fall of gods: they do not fall a little; they crash and shatter or sink deeply into green muck. It is a tedious job to build them up again; they never quite shine. And the child's world is never quite whole again. It is an aching kind of growing.”
— John Steinbeck, ‘East of Eden’
FUNERAL BLUES
Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone, Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone, Silence the pianos and with muffled drum Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come. Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead Scribbling on the sky the message He Is Dead, Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves, Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves. He was my North, my South, my East and West, My working week and my Sunday rest, My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song; I thought that love would last for ever: I was wrong. The stars are not wanted now: put out every one; Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun; Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood; For nothing now can ever come to any good.
— W.H. Auden (1938)
“COME UP into the hills, O my young love. Return! O lost, and by the wind grieved, ghost, come back again, as first I knew you in the timeless valley, where we shall feel ourselves anew, bedded on magic in the month of June. There was a place where all the sun went glistening in your hair, and from the hill we could have put a finger on a star. Where is the day that melted into one rich noise? Where the music of your flesh, the rhyme of your teeth, the dainty languor of your legs, your small firm arms, your slender fingers, to be bitten like an apple, and the little cherry-teats of your white breasts? And where are all the tiny wires of finespun maidenhair? Quick are the mouths of earth, and quick the teeth that fed upon this loveliness. You who were made for music, will hear music no more: in your dark house the winds are silent. Ghost, ghost, come back from that marriage that we did not foresee, return not into life, but into magic, where we have never died, into the enchanted wood, where we still life, strewn on the grass. Come up into the hills, O my young love: return. O lost, and by the wind grieved ghost, come back again.”
— Thomas Wolfe, ‘Look Homeward Angel’
ANTIFA OUT, MAMDANI ASCENDANT
by James Kunstler
“Protests are meant to be the voices of the unheard. Yet these protests are the voices of those who never shut up.” — Unnamed Observer of No Kings, reported by Roger Kimball
Over the weekend, you might have noticed, the Portland, OR, police cleared out the Antifa encampments down around the city’s ICE facility, carted away their lavish riot supplies, and warned them not to congregate on the street there. For now, anyway. Hmmmm. . . . Why do you suppose that happened? Antifa has been rioting freely around federal buildings in Portland since the Summer of Floyd, 2020. Did the police suddenly notice that Antifa has been disturbing the peace?
So far, nobody in the news media has bothered to ask the Portland Police honchos about this sudden change of heart, nor did the honchos venture to say. Did word come from higher up to finally put a stop to Antifa’s psychotic monkeyshines? Like, from Mayor Keith Wilson or Oregon Governor Tina Kotek? Wouldn’t you say those two have got some ‘splainin’ to do?
After all, the Antifa actions at this particular address were not just peaceable assemblies petitioning the government for redress of their grievances, as the Constitution has it. They were often violent efforts to interfere with federal officers going about their duties, namely, the expulsion of illegal border-jumpers. Left unsaid by the aforementioned persons in authority was whether they were in on that interference.
You can probably assume that they were. They represent the Democratic Party, and that is who allowed millions to jump the border between 2021 and 2025 under “Joe Biden,” evidently to lard their voter rolls and enable never-ending ballot fraud. The law is pretty clear about all that. If you come here without due process, you are subject to deportation. The gang behind “Joe Biden” tried to get around that by claiming that the millions flooding in were all “asylum seekers,” every last one, and thus here within due process of the immigration laws. That was simply not truthful. It was as fake as the “Joe Biden” presidency itself.
Of course, there is the looming matter of Mr. Trump’s proffer to send in federal troops to protect ICE officers while they see to their duties. Also, days ago, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller remarked that state and local politicians who interfere with ICE operations could face arrest and prosecution for criminal conspiracy, obstruction of justice, or even seditious conspiracy. Is that conspiracy theory? No, it just recognizes agreement between two or more parties to engage in criminal conduct, falling under federal statutes 18 U.S.C. § 371 plus 18 U.S.C. § 1503 (obstruction of justice) and 18 U.S.C. § 2384 (conspiring to levy war against the government, prevent, hinder federal duties, opposing federal authority, et cetera).
The penalties for those crimes can be heavy. Governors such as Tina Kotek, or JB Pritzker, or Gavin Newsom, or my own Kathy Hochul here in New York could face up to twenty years in prison on raps like that. Mr. Miller is giving notice that the new administration is not fooling around. We have lived through an era when fooling around was allowed and promoted. It did quite a bit of damage to the nation. Things have changed.
These moves by such bumptious pols also have the look of skirmishes preceding something that smells like Civil War, which is to say, insurrection. As a kind of sadistic object lesson, the Democratic Party is running a Jihadi communist for mayor of the nation’s premier city, New York. Imagine that, twenty-four years after 9/11! The cheek! Zohran Mamdani has run his campaign on the credible issue that the city is unaffordable for the non-rich. He is surely correct about that, though he misunderstands why that is.
I will tell you why that is: because all the Leftist progressive (socialist / communist-inflected) policy of the past eighty years in New York City has made property ownership and management almost impossible, including especially decades of their favorite ploy, rent control, and has created an artificial shortage of affordable housing in particular. Then, the Covid-19-era rent payment moratorium drove a stake through the heart of affordable housing. How can you take care of a building in which tenants do not pay any rent? How can that be a credible business? Do you understand that property management is a business? It has to pencil-out, cover its costs, make a profit.
Zohran Mamdani wants more of that, affordability-by-decree, which means he will for sure get less affordable housing and more property that no one wants to take care of — which is what slums are. That, plus a lot of other so-called policies aimed at persecuting anybody crazy enough to do business at any scale in New York. So, Zohran Mamdani and his delirious supporters are joyously marching into the wreckers’ ball for New York. Jihad is just the cherry on top of all that.
Mr. Mamdani is apparently a sure thing to get elected on November 4. Of course, Hillary was a sure thing, too, back in 2016, so we’ll just have to stand by and see, but his two opponents in the race are about the sorriest figures ever seen in a city that has historically produced cavalcades of political rogues, morons, and scoundrels.
The less obvious outcome, though, given Mr. Mamdani’s youth, lack of administrative experience, and cargo of hopeless ideologies, is that corruption and racketeering will run wild during his years in City Hall. It will make the Boss Tweed era look like a political golden age.
FATHER KNOWS BEST
by Mark Lilla
Anyone around and alert during the Long Sixties knows the type. The scion of a wealthy family who gives his fortune to revolutionaries and for his trouble is electrocuted while planting a bomb; the salon maven who arranges a fundraiser for sullen militants sporting sunglasses under her chandeliers; the radicalized valedictorian who inadvertently blows up a townhouse and disappears naked into the streets of Greenwich Village, only to emerge a decade later to rob an armored truck and get a Brink’s guard killed.
Figures like these — Giangiacomo Feltrinelli, Felicia Montealegre Bernstein, Kathy Boudin — were in no way original. Their precursors can be found in any history of the major European left-wing revolutions of the 19th and 20th centuries and in the novels of writers who tried to plumb the psychology of economic class traitors. Their motives usually turn out to be a jumble of idealism, parricidal anger, boredom, and misplaced noblesse oblige.
We are not so accustomed to thinking about right-wing bourgeois radicals who turn against their class. Are their motives and actions just photographic negatives of those of their left-wing adversaries, or do different passions animate them?
Obviously such figures were extremely important in 20th-century history, whether in Fascist Italy, Nazi Germany, Vichy France, Falangist Spain, or Romania’s Iron Guard, not to mention any number of Latin American countries. Yet only a few major novelists have made it their business to probe the psychology of reactionaries. It’s puzzling that more haven’t. Perhaps the assumption is that history is moving toward greater enlightenment and justice and that those who resist it are of no interest and will eventually disappear.
And so we are left with predictably cartoonish treatments of this human type, such as Bernardo Bertolucci’s film ‘The Conformist’ (1970) and its many imitators.
Today, however, the right is ascendant, and in ever more places triumphant. We can no longer assume that this is an aberration, a bump on history’s upward road. This could be a return to normal, and the progressive story we have told ourselves for so long may turn out to be just a provincial tale of an era we’ll look back on as the Great Exception. (See Jefferson Cowie, The Great Exception: The New Deal and the Limits of American Politics (Princeton University Press, 2016).)
For nearly half a century now a unified Republican Party and its ideas have dominated the political culture of Washington and our state capitals. Anti-immigration populism has spread throughout Western and Eastern European countries and brought to power right-wing parties, which have been elected in Brazil and India as well. The only new ideas emanating from the left in this period have been synthesized in cloistered, conservative-free universities and thus far have only driven less privileged citizens into the welcoming arms of the reactionary right.
The right has also radicalized a growing number of boys and young men who spend their time in the alternative reality of the far-right manosphere. The ones I have met in recent years were drawn into this online life while still in high school and were thrilled to discover that they could so easily épater their teachers and parents (and avoid the frightening prospect of talking to girls, I should add).
Arriving at universities where conservative ideas are ignored or treated with contempt convinces them that they hold forbidden knowledge. Corners of the Internet create the sense of belonging to a secret society, which is why right-wing influencers habitually adopt Latinate pseudonyms before a Google search inevitably reveals their identities. The frisson these young people experience from blowing everyone’s mind with their outrageous Substack posts is probably not all that different from the thrill of blowing up buildings in the 1970s.
And then there are the counterintellectuals of the right, who have become the most influential class traitors of our time. In the past, when class distinctions depended on capital accumulation and inherited wealth, young rebels attacked the economic system. Now that those distinctions are largely determined by levels of education, it stands to reason that the young rebels of our time would focus on the centers of that power. Moving from Capitalism must be destroyed! to The universities must be destroyed! is a small psychological leap for the radically inclined.
By “counterintellectuals” I do not speak of traditional conservatives who think that universities abandoned their essential functions of advancing knowledge and nourishing our culture and who simply want them to return to that work. I mean the right-wing coterie of credentialed operators, most the products of our top colleges and law schools, who have made a profession of attacking the intellectual class as a whole and seem incapable of speaking of anything else. They are unavoidable presences on Fox and Newsmax, they chuckle along with Steve Bannon and Tucker Carlson on their podcasts, and they know how to whip into a frenzy a college club eager to be canceled, a conference of Republican apparatchiks, or a Zoom meeting of the millionaires and billionaires who make this entire ideological universe turn.
(New York Review of Books)
THE ULTIMATE EXPRESSION of “everyone is twelve now” theory is in the mainstream worldview promoted by western pundits and politicians which holds that the world is full of evil villains doing evil things simply because they are evil, and that these Bad Guys are opposed by the virtuous Good Guys of the US-led world order.
You think Hamas killed Israelis because they’re a bunch of monsters who hate Jews? Of course you do, you’re twelve.
You think Trump is trying to get rid of Maduro because Maduro is an evil dictator who wants to poison Americans with fentanyl? Hell yeah homie, you’re twelve.
You think Putin invaded Ukraine because he hates freedom and democracy and wants to conquer the world? Bless your heart my twelve year-old buddy.
You think the US and Israel have been attacking and eliminating rivals in Iran, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Palestine in order to fight terrorism, stop tyranny, and protect the world from nuclear weapons? Yeah, that checks out, you’re twelve.
The mainstream western worldview is like a children’s cartoon, with the Bad Guys doing Bad Things simply because they are Bad, and the Good Guys striving heroically to stop them. It sounds like a shitty PG-13 summer blockbuster starring The Rock, but it’s the consensus worldview of serious professional pundits and analysts who share this perspective on mainstream platforms with serious expressions on their faces, and anyone who calls any part of it into question is dismissed as an extremist or a deranged crackpot.
Because everyone is twelve now.
— Caitlin Johnstone
AUTUMN SWEATER
when I heard the knock on the door
I couldn't catch my breath
is it too late to call this off?
we could slip away
wouldn't that be better?
me with nothing to say
and you in your autumn sweater
I tried my best to hide in the crowded room
it's nearly possible
I wait for you, oh, most patiently
we could slip away
wouldn't that be better?
me with nothing to say
and you in your autumn sweater
so I looked for your eyes and the waves looked like
they'd pour right out of them
I'll try hard, I'll try always
but it's a waste of time
it's a waste of time if I can't smile easily
like in the beginning
in the beginning
we could slip away
wouldn't that be better?
me with nothing to say
and you in your autumn sweater
we could slip away
wouldn't that be better?
me with nothing to say
and you in your autumn sweater
you in your autumn sweater
you in your autumn sweater
you in your autumn sweater
— Ira Kaplan, Georgia Hubley, and James McNew (1997)
ELON MUSK unveiled his own, A.I. version of Wikipedia. Entries will be edited by xAI, his artificial intelligence company. (New York Times)
This new entity is called Grokipedia. A couple excerpts from Grok's entry on "Elon Musk":
Musk publicly disclosed on May 8, 2021, during his opening monologue on Saturday Night Live that he has Asperger's syndrome, a condition on the autism spectrum, stating he was the first person with Asperger's to host the show. He has described childhood challenges associated with the condition, including social difficulties and intense focus on interests. Physically, Musk has undergone disc replacement surgery to address chronic neck and back pain, reporting in April 2024 that it alleviated his symptoms and recommending it for others with severe issues, though medical evidence on its long-term efficacy for chronic pain remains limited. For mental health, Musk revealed in a March 2024 interview that he uses prescription ketamine approximately every other week in small doses to manage negative thought patterns and depression, describing it as a tool to escape a "negative frame of mind." However, 2025 reports from associates cited in investigations alleged more frequent ketamine use causing bladder issues, alongside occasional ecstasy and psilocybin, prompting concerns about dependency and erratic behavior, claims Musk has disputed.
Musk maintains a demanding schedule, typically sleeping six hours per night, going to bed between 1 and 3 a.m. and waking around 9 a.m., a pattern he adjusted from longer workdays to prioritize recovery while managing multiple companies. His diet includes occasional indulgences like morning donuts and multiple Diet Cokes daily, supplemented by intermittent fasting that contributed to a reported 20-pound weight loss, though he avoids eating or drinking alcohol two to three hours before bed to optimize sleep. Exercise-wise, he favors weightlifting and strength training over cardio like running, which he dislikes, aiming for consistency to sustain energy amid 80-100-hour workweeks that often extend into weekends.…
His long-term vision prioritizes safeguarding human consciousness against existential threats, emphasizing the establishment of a self-sustaining multi-planetary civilization as a hedge against planetary-scale catastrophes on Earth. Through SpaceX, founded in 2002, Musk aims to colonize Mars, targeting uncrewed missions by 2026 and crewed landings to enable a million-person city by 2050, driven by the rationale that a single-planet species risks extinction from events like asteroid impacts or solar expansion. Tesla's mission, outlined in Musk's 2006 Master Plan, focuses on accelerating the world's transition to sustainable energy via electric vehicles and solar power, with cumulative production exceeding 6 million vehicles by mid-2024 to reduce fossil fuel dependence. In AI, xAI—launched in 2023—seeks to comprehend the universe's fundamental nature and develop safe superintelligence, positioning it as a counter to perceived risks from unchecked AI proliferation elsewhere. Neuralink advances brain-machine interfaces to merge human cognition with AI, potentially extending longevity and mitigating obsolescence in an intelligence explosion scenario. These pursuits reflect a physics-informed calculus of risk, prioritizing scalable technologies that expand humanity's survival odds over indefinite timescales.
THE MORE LOVING ONE
Looking up at the stars, I know quite well
That, for all they care, I can go to hell,
But on earth indifference is the least
We have to dread from man or beast.
How should we like it were stars to burn
With a passion for us we could not return?
If equal affection cannot be,
Let the more loving one be me.
Admirer as I think I am
Of stars that do not give a damn,
I cannot, now I see them, say
I missed one terribly all day.
Were all stars to disappear or die,
I should learn to look at an empty sky
And feel its total dark sublime
Though this might take me a little time.
— W.H. Auden (1957)
I’ve reached the point where the stack of books on the bedside table hold more of my rejects than the ones I’m actually reading, a situation which Joanne, the enthusiastic Garberville librarian, was commenting about on my last trip to the library.
It finally made my “to deal with” list late last night after I gave up on the World Series game and went to sleep.
One of the big books I haven’t touched in weeks is called The Light Years (by Elizabeth Jane Howard) and is about a stodgy and wealthy English family, and their friends and servants, back in the 1920’s. One of the blurbs on the cover says, “It’s the one book I’d take to a ‘desert island’,” (whatever that is) and I finally got the joke: The book is so fat at 554 pages that it would supply more toilet paper than any of the others, for those coffee-less desert island morning constitutionals.
Here are the books I am reading:
Under The Skin by James Carlos Blake
Conversation In The Cathedral by Mario Vargas Llosa
Lark And Termite by Jayne Anne Phillips
(I don’t recommend any of those, too plodding, though the first one IS a fun and somewhat violent page-turner.)
Here are the books I just can’t:
Short Stories By Latin American Women (1990, I’ll try again.)
A Day In The Life Of Abed Salama by Nathan Thrall (Bought a non-fiction by mistake)
The Dawn Of Everything: A New History Of Humanity by David Graeber and David Wengrow (I wish!)
The Complete Mysteries Of Kinky Friedman (Disappointing and facile)
The Confidence Man by Herman Melville. (The type is uncomfortably small.)
Human Acts by Han Kang (Too violent and depressing)
Okay, great! I just took all the bookmarks out and will put these in the already full shelves of “just can’t get into it.” (Damn, THAT’S where all my bookmarks went.)
My homemade book Dirt Road Hippies is available to check out at the library and for sale at Chautauqua, $20. It’s probably more fun than all the others listed above because it’s about ME, I mean US.)
Nice to see an update on Tom Stienstra. I miss his SF Chronicle columns: in this era of newspaper downsizing, the Chron probably wouldn’t run it. The news could be better, but it sounds as if he is doing as well as can be expected, all things considered.
+1