Mendocino County Today: Tuesday 11/4/2025

THE RISK for strong and damaging wind gusts will increase tonight and persists into Wednesday. Widespread heavy rain will increase the risk for urban and small stream flooding tonight and Wednesday. Additional moderate to heavy rainfall is forecast late Thursday through early Friday morning. (NWS)

STEPHEN DUNLAP (Fort Bragg): I have a lot more than forecast 1.06" with rain & a warm 55F this Tuesday morning on the coast. Batten down those hatches kids as tonight is looking very windy & rainy, I would plan on some power outages as well. Off & on rain thru Friday then a nice weekend & early next week is forecast before more rain returns next Wednesday.

Date: 11/03/25
Location: Mendocino and Sonoma Counties.
Victim: 17-year-old female.
Suspects: Matthew P. Lafever, 37-year-old resident of Mendocino County
Violations: 647.6(a)(1) PC – Knowingly Annoy and or Molest a Minor.

On 10/16/25 the Ukiah Police Department was notified by a concerned parent of a Ukiah High School student that a teacher, Matthew Lafever, a journalism teacher at the high school, had made an inappropriate sexual comment towards her daughter. Through the course of the initial investigation into that incident, Ukiah Police Department Detectives learned that a different UHS student had information regarding Lafever contacting minors on social media.

UPD Detectives conducted an interview with the female high school student, who told the Detectives that she had conversed with Lafever on social media, informed him that she was a minor, and Lafever had persisted to make sexually suggestive comments about her and repeatedly asked her to send him inappropriate photographs. Lafever also sent the minor scantily clad and inappropriate photographs of himself. UPD Detectives obtained a search warrant for Lafever’s cell phone, computers, and residence. The following day UPD Detectives located Lafever at the Ukiah High School campus and seized his cell phone and multiple laptops. Lafever declined to provide the Detectives with a statement.

Lafever's electronic devices were forensically downloaded, and Detectives were able to confirm that the social media interaction described by the seventeen-year-old had occurred, and she had clearly informed Lafever that she was a minor. Through the course of their investigation the Detectives also located additional evidence that Lafever was reaching out to numerous minors throughout Sonoma and Mendocino Counties, however those victims have not been identified at this time due to the anonymity of social media.

On 11/03/25 UPD Detectives obtained an arrest warrant for Lafever for the crime of knowingly annoying and or molesting a minor. At approximately 7:00 a.m. UPD Detectives went to Lafever’s residence, and he was taken into custody. Lafever was booked into the Mendocino County jail for 647.6(a) PC and would be required to post a $10,000 bond.

Lafever used numerous variations of the screen name “Johhnyender” across multiple social media platforms, and the Ukiah Police Department is asking that any minors that had contact or received any messages from similar social media accounts to please contact us.

The Ukiah Police Department remains committed to keeping the residents of Ukiah safe and we appreciate the assistance we received from the Ukiah High School and the Mendocino County District Attorney’s Office. For updates about crime in your neighborhood, residents can sign up for telephone, cell phone, and email notifications by clicking the Nixle link on our website: www.ukiahpolice.com.

MENDOCINO COUNTY REPORTER ACCUSED OF SENDING SEXUAL MESSAGES TO 17-YEAR-OLD, Police Say

by Colin Atagi

Mendocino County news reporter was arrested Monday on suspicion of making sexual comments on social media toward a 17-year-old Ukiah High School student, police said.

Matt LaFever, 37, was taken into custody around 7 a.m. at his Hopland home following an investigation that began Oct. 16, according to the Ukiah Police Department. He is suspected of knowingly annoying or molesting a minor — a misdemeanor under California law that applies to sexually motivated behavior toward someone under 18 — and was being held Monday night at the Mendocino County jail on $10,000 bail, records show.

As of Monday evening, Mendocino County court records did not list formal charges.

LaFever, who covered news throughout Mendocino County on his website Mendofever — which was offline Monday night — had also recently been teaching journalism at Ukiah High School, police said.

The investigation began when a parent reported that LaFever made a sexual comment toward her 17-year-old daughter, police said. The student told investigators that LaFever sent her sexually suggestive messages on social media despite knowing she was a minor.

“LaFever had persisted to make sexually suggestive comments about her and repeatedly asked her to send him inappropriate photographs,” police said in a news release. Investigators said he also sent the girl “scantily clad and inappropriate photos of himself.”

Police confiscated LaFever’s phone and laptops on Oct. 17 and said they found social media conversations supporting the allegations. He allegedly used variations of the screen name “Johnnyender” to contact “numerous” minors throughout Mendocino and Sonoma counties, according to police.

Investigators have not yet identified other potential victims and are asking anyone with information to come forward.

(Santa Rosa Press Democrat)

UKIAH HIGH SCHOOL TEACHER AND REDHEADED BLACKBELT FREELANCER ARRESTED ON SUSPICION OF CONTACTING MINORS

by Kym Kemp

The Ukiah Police Department announced today that Matthew LaFever, a teacher with Ukiah Union High, Sf Gate North Coast Contributing Editor, owner of MendoFever and longtime freelancer who contributed to Redheaded Blackbelt for several years, has been arrested on suspicion of contacting minors and making sexually inappropriate comments online.

According to a press release from the Ukiah Police Department, the investigation began on October 16 after a parent reported that a Ukiah High School journalism teacher had made an inappropriate sexual comment toward her daughter. During the investigation, detectives learned that another student had information about the teacher contacting minors on social media.

Police allege that the teacher, later identified as LaFever, continued to make sexually suggestive comments toward a 17-year-old student and requested inappropriate photographs, even after being told she was a minor. Detectives obtained a search warrant for his phone, computers, and residence, and later said they found evidence confirming the social-media conversations occurred.

Investigators also reported finding indications that LaFever reached out to multiple minors across Sonoma and Mendocino counties.

LaFever was arrested on November 3, after police obtained a warrant for violating Penal Code 647.6(a) — annoying or molesting a child under 18. He was booked into the Mendocino County Jail with bail set at $10,000.

LaFever taught English and journalism at Ukiah High School. The Ukiah Unified School District has been contacted for comment but has not replied as of the time of publication.

For transparency, Redheaded Blackbelt notes that LaFever worked as a freelance reporter for this publication for several years, contributing local news articles.

Anyone who may have been contacted by social-media accounts using the name “Johhnyender” or similar variations is encouraged to reach out to the Ukiah Police Department at 707-463-6262.

UPDATE 5:03 p.m.: Ukiah High School responded saying:

“Mr. LaFever is on leave. We communicated with staff and parents Monday afternoon. Student safety is at the heart of everything we do. Upon learning of the allegations, the staff member was put on leave and remains on leave. Counselors will be available tomorrow at the high school for any student needing assistance.

(kymkemp.com)

WE'RE AS SHOCKED by Matt LeFever's arrest as everyone else who knows him and admires his work. We hope the charge proves unfounded. If the accusation turns out to be true, here's a young man — 37 — who stands to lose everything, his job at Ukiah High School, his budding journalism career, maybe even his family consisting of a young wife and two small children. The mere accusation is damaging enough. If true, well, LeFever loses everything.

ED NOTE: When I was young and presentable (and hungry), I took a fill-in job as a junior high school teacher in San Luis Obispo. The hiring superintendent told me, "I don't care what you do with them, just keep 'em from roaming the halls." My predecessor, a woman in her retirement year, had been driven nuts by her students, finally locking herself in with the most unruly class and swigging directly from a fifth of whiskey. The fire department had to break the door down. The little bastards were out of control, six classes of them ranging from non-readers to the "alleged gifted." In the "gifted" class, a mini-skirted fourteen-year old who looked like she was about thirty, sat with no underwear at a desk directly opposite me at the head of the class, deliberately exposing herself, smirking and blowing kisses. I went to the principal with the prob. "Nothing we can do. The father is president of our boosters."

SUPERVISOR MADELINE CLINE:

The October 21st Board of Supervisors meeting included a lengthy discussion regarding the Potter Valley Project. Supervisor Norvell and I brought forward a resolution aimed at balancing the desires of our community and what will likely happen with decommissioning and dam removal. We really wanted to create a forum for the public to share what they would like to see happen and a discussion around the efforts that have been driving by the JPA Inland Water and Power Commission, which has negotiated on behalf of our county to see water diversion continue even after dam removal.

What happened was not leadership nor transparency. In a desire to snuff out the voices scared and concerned for our community, another Supervisor pushed a completely different resolution onto the agenda the morning of our meeting and forced a vote, dismissing the language originally put forward. This also went against the inclusive spirit of the original resolution - which recognized community opposition but the need to support the New Eel Russian Facility and associated diversion to sustain our community.

I’m disappointed to see my colleagues dismissive of the community’s desires. The motion by the 5th District Supervisor rejected the original language and instead pushed forward a resolution without the same noticing that should have been given. To counter this hasty addition, the motion included bringing the “new” resolution back to the Board agenda for the next meeting. Instead of meeting people where they are, hearing them out, and working to improve the language of the existing resolution, the majority of the Board chose to play divisive politics and disenfranchise our community.

Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting (November 4th) includes a slightly revised version of the “new” resolution sponsored by the 5th District Supervisor.

My position remains the same. I don’t want to see the Potter Valley Project dismantled, because fundamentally I don’t agree with taking out infrastructure and forcing us to fund and build new infrastructure that will take decades. While we cannot change PG&E’s business decisions, PG&E needs to be held accountable. If Scott and Cape Horn Dam are removed, we need to have infrastructure and storage in place to continue diverting water and providing for our community.

I respect the work from Inland Water and Power Commission and I’m going to continue to support it, but from my perspective we need to do the following: meet the public where they are, be honest about what this is going to take, transparent about how this has happened, and collaborative to find the solutions it will take to survive whatever lies ahead.

No single entity, agency, or elected official “owns” this conversation and we all owe it to our community to be aware, educated, and involved.

Thanks for taking the time to read; as always please let me know your questions and thoughts.

AV UNIFIED NEWS

October was a wonderful month! We enjoyed all the traditional October celebrations, including Homecoming for AVHS and a costume parade at AVES. Parents attended parent/teacher conferences at AVES and PLPs at AVJrSrHS. In addition to our regular events and festivities, AVUSD students enjoyed the Los Cenzontles concert, thanks to Mr. Robert Anderson and Eugene Rodriguez, Executive Director for Los Cenzontles Academy, who brought this concert to us.

Sports are going strong! The Girls’ Varsity, JV, and 8th Grade Volleyball teams all won league championships. Boys’ soccer made the playoffs, and cross country championship races are coming soon.

It’s hard to believe that we are already heading into November! With the holiday season on the horizon, we look forward to many more celebrations and fun times together. We are grateful for the support of our parents and community!

With respect,

Kristin Larson Balliet, superintendent

Upcoming Events:

November 7 - AVES: First Trimester Ends

November 11 - No School: Veteran’s Day

November 14 - AVES: Report Cards go home

AVJrSrHS: Progress Reports mailed home

November 21 at 1:15 - Track Grand Opening

November 11 - Veteran’s Day

November 24-28 - Thanksgiving Break

Dec. 15-19 - AVJrSrJS: Finals Week

Dec. 22- Jan. 9 - Winter Break

Track: Ribbon Cutting on November 21

We are so excited!! Please join us for a district-wide ribbon cutting at 1:15 on Thursday, November 21st just before Thanksgiving Break. AVES students will come up to AVHS on the bus and will be a part of the ceremony as well. A good time will be had by all and our students will be an important part of the ceremony. We hope to have lots of parents attend too!

We look forward to guests, including the press, officials from Caltrans, Mrs. Louise Simson, and possibly Congressman Huffman, whose support was instrumental in our receiving the funds for our beautiful track! Here is an article about the track, from EdSource magazine: https://edsource.org/?p=744164

Thank you, Justin Rhoades, for this very cool video of the new track!

AV JrSr HS FFA Went to Indianapolis

Mrs. Swehla took a group of FFA students to the National FFA Convention in Indianapolis! They had a wonderful time, visiting the Indianapolis Zoo, volunteering at the Crown Hall Arboretum and Cemetery, and generally enjoying the experience. A highlight of the trip was when Amalanalli and Violleth won second place in the NATIONAL Agriscience Fair for Division 2 Social Science! Congratulations, Amalanalli, Violleth, and AVUSD FFA! You make us so proud.

Mrs. Cook’s Spanish III Class is Going to Peru

Several students from Mrs. Cook’s Spanish III class will be headed to Peru during Spring Break. Students will have the opportunity to stay with host families and will enjoy a full daily schedule of learning and fun. What a fantastic opportunity for our students. Thank you, Mrs. Cook!

Parenting Resource

Parenting can be difficult and it is nice to have some help! Brightlife is a program brought to us by CalHOPE. It offers FREE coaching via live video chat and also offers an on-demand digital library for parents. Please read this flier if you are interested.

More Information on Our Construction Projects:

AVES Kitchen

The AVES kitchen is nearly complete! Architect Don Alameida is working with the construction team on the final touches, including an updated oven and range. We had hoped this work would be completed by the first week of November, but it is not quite done yet. We anticipate it being completed very soon!

AVHS Gym

We continue to work with the Office of Public School Construction (OPSC)for funding. Plans have been submitted to the Division State Architect (DSA) and our architect is working through allowable costs with DSA. We anticipate refurbishing, rather than replacing, the gym. This WILL happen and we will keep you posted!

CTEFP Grant

This grant is a lot of work and we are hopeful to have it completed soon. It is due by December 1 and, if awarded, could result in $6 million for new construction of a Career Tech Ed facility that would house our agriculture programs, including expanded areas for ag mechanics. Our kids deserve this and we are putting together the strongest application possible.

Curriculum Being Piloted at AV Jr/Sr HS

AVHS is piloting History/Social Studies curricula. The series is Impact California Social Studies published by McGraw Hill. This series includes:

Principles of Economics by Gary E. Clayton, Ph.D., C: 2019

Principles of American Democracy by Richard C. Remy, Ph.D., Donald A. Ritchie, Ph.D., Lee Arbetman, M.Ed., J.D., Megan L. Hanson, M.S., and Lena Morreale Scott, Ed.M. C: 2019

United States History & Geography: Continuity & Change by Joyce Appleby, Ph.D., Alan Brinkley, Ph.D., Alber S. Broussard, Ph.D., James McPherson, Ph.D., and Donald A. Ritchie, Ph.D. C: 2019,

World History, Culture, & Geography: The Modern World by Jackson J. Spielvogel, Ph.D. C: 2019

We also Have a Health book to pilot also published by McGraw Hill:

Glencoe Health: Human Sexuality by Mary H. Bronson, Ph.D. C: 2022

Parents and guardians are welcome to review the pilot materials and should contact Principal Heath McNerney if they would like to do so; these materials will be made available in the school library.

If you would like to be more involved at school, please contact your school’s principal, Ms. Jenny Bailey at AVES or Mr. Heath McNerney at AV Jr/Sr High, or our district superintendent, Ms. Kristin Larson Balliet. We are deeply grateful for our AVUSD families.

With respect,

Kristin Larson Balliet, Superintendent

Anderson Valley Unified School District

[email protected]

Alexander Cockburn standing by the AVA Paste Up Board in Boonville, circa 1994. (Photo by Fred Gardner.)

LINDY PETERS:

In the Spring of 1974 I was attending UCSB and the Drama Club held a picnic up at El Capitan State Park. There was a small stream of water that ran through the park and out of curiosity I followed it up a ways on a gorgeous sunny day. As I made my way upstream a short distance I encountered a little girl playing in the water. Her young mother sat close by. The child was maybe 2 or 3 and was very friendly so I stopped and talked to her knowing her Mom was safely watching. She was darling. Light brown curly hair and piercing blue-green eyes. She showed me her doll and began to talk to me. I had a young niece about that age so I took interest. Her Mom then joined us and we struck up a short conversation. She seemed very protective of her daughter but was very friendly as well. I said I better get back to party and began to go back downstream. I complimented her on her beautiful child and she got a slight tear in her eye. “You know who her father was?” she asked. I shook my head.

“Gram Parsons.”

I hadn’t really heard of him at the time but remembered the name. Now I’m not sure if that was his daughter or if the woman was just making it up but your story today triggered that distant memory from long ago.

UPCOMING OAK AND THORN PRESENTS CONCERTS

11/07/25 - Yann Falquet and Keith Murphy - Abalone Room, Little River Inn, Little River, CA
04/30/26 - Nuala Kennedy and Eamon O'Leary - Abalone Room, Little River Inn, Little River, CA

HOLIDAY SHOW AT PARTNERS GALLERY

Nov 6 through Jan 5, 2026

Second Saturday Meet the Artists November 8, 5-7pm

Second Saturday Meet the Artists December 13, 5-7pm

In November and December Partners Gallery is showing works suitable for gift giving. These include beautiful handwoven scarves and small scale sculptures made from natural materials and found objects. There are also two dimensional pieces including india ink drawings of Vernal Falls and mixed media landscapes. In addition, there’s the gallery’s collection of handcrafted jewelry and small wooden works made by members of the Mendocino Coast Furnituremakers.

Winter Gallery hours are Thursday through Monday, 11am-4pm.

www.partnersgallery.com

INCREDIBLE BANDS, THANKSGIVING FUN, AND MORE THIS NOVEMBER AT ANDERSON VALLEY BREWING!

There’s a lot of activity happening at the brewery that you won’t want to miss. We broke ground on the new entrance off of Highway 128 last week!

The AVBC kitchen debuted on Halloween night with Chef Christina serving some delicious Detroit style pizzas. We will be doing pop-ups all month long while we build out our facility and perfect the menu! Come join us for live music and some great eats!

avbc.com

BEFORE THE BOONVILLE DISTILLERY, this little building had already seen decades of Anderson Valley stories.

From the original brewery days to the Distillery and beyond — it’s always been a place for gathering, good drink, and local spirit.

Here’s to keeping Boonville’s heart beating strong.

LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS NOVEMBER MEETING: FORT BRAGG MILL SITE

The League of Women Voters of Mendocino County will hold its November meeting on Tuesday, 11/18, from 6-7:30 pm. The meeting will be via Zoom; find the link on the League website under the calendar tab: https://my.lwv.org/california

Steffany Aguilar, consultant for Project HERE (Headlands Environmental Remediation Education) will share a slide show. Project HERE seeks to “provide the public with meaningful and accurate information about the condition of the Mill Site.” The presentation will explain the condition of the former Georgia Pacific mill site, what contaminants have been removed, what contaminants remain, and what further steps can be taken.

There will be time for questions and discussion.

For questions and more information, call 707-937-4952.

THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING, AGAIN!

by Averee McNear

The Russians are Coming, The Russians are Coming is turning 60! This beloved comedy was filmed almost entirely on the coast, including Mendocino, Noyo, Cleone, and Westport. Mendocino so closely resembles an east coast village that it was the backdrop for the movie village of Gloucester Island, Massachusetts.

The film depicts the aftermath of a Soviet submarine running aground off the small New England island, and the following hijinks as the Soviet crew attempts to get away while the Americans think they’re being invaded. Canadian filmmaker Norman Jewison directed the movie; he is also well known for directing Fiddler on the Roof (1971) and Moonstruck (1987). The cast included Carl Reiner, Alan Arkin, Eva Marie Saint, Johnathan Winters, Brian Keith, and Ben Blue.

Filming of submarine scenes in The Russians Are Coming, 1965. (Gift of Bruce Levene)

Mendocino has a long history of being used as a filming location for movies and television. Local historian Bruce Levene details many of these Hollywood productions in his book Mendocino & the Movies. By 1965, it wasn’t a surprise that another film crew would be coming to town. On July 30th the Mendocino Beacon published “Again the Mendocino, Little River, Albion area is to become host to a movie colony, which doesn’t too greatly perturb us, for we have been there before.” Like other productions, many locals acted as extras on the movie, including “Mrs. Wanda McFarland, Jim O’Donnell, William Robinson, Ches Sandell, Tom Glynn, Mrs. Addie Reis, Fred Rimbach, Joe Gomes, Frank Brown, John Bovyer, Carl Sauer, Ike Jackson, Toni Lemos and [her] four daughters.”

Filming here took approximately three months, with the crew of 150 arriving from southern California in early September, and the film wrapping in early December. Several buildings in Mendocino were used for interior and exterior shots, including the Beggs-Bishop house on the northeast corner of Ford and Calpella Streets and the Denslow-Hayden House on the southwest corner of Williams and Calpella Streets.

To film the scenes of the submarine, the crew initially contacted the U.S. Navy, who would not let them borrow a sub. They subsequently contacted the Russian Embassy, who also refused. Instead, a submarine made of plywood with a steel reinforced bottom was rented from Paramount, where it had been used in the film Assault on a Queen. The boat was deconstructed and shipped to northern California on eight semi-trailers. The crew spent two weeks rebuilding the 140-foot-long boat in Noyo Harbor, and to make matters more complicated, the sub was German in design, not Russian. The Art Director Robert Boyle redesigned the exterior during the construction. The submarine was launched in Noyo Bay on October 21, and the Mendocino Beacon noted “It is hoped that the seas will remain calm enough that the craft can be floated to Los Angeles, between two barges, when its use is completed in this area.” Due to inclement weather that delayed some filming, this plan wasn’t carried out. The submarine was dismantled and shipped back to Hollywood in December.

In December, the Beacon wrote a long article on the last days of the film’s production in Mendocino. An early estimate reported that the production company spent $1.5 million locally. The Fort Bragg Advocate-News quoted Director Norman Jewison’s views on filming here: “I can truthfully say it is the first location I have hated to leave.” In June 1966, the film held a west coast premiere at Coast Cinemas in Fort Bragg. The Advocate reported that all the showings were nearly sold out. The film would go on to become a great critical and commercial success. It was nominated for four Oscars at the 39th Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and won two Golden Globes that year.

(KelleyHouseMuseum.org)

RON PARKER/Mendocino County Way Back When:

Most Indian families picked hops for a cash income during this era.

L-R back row - 1- Tom Mitchell 2- Moss James 3- Mary Luff Mitchell (Tom's wife) 4- Isabelle Luff (Mary's Sister) 5- Garland Mitchell. -- front row 1- Thomas Mitchell 2- Joe Mitchell

CATCH OF THE DAY, Monday, November 3, 2025

RICO ACOSTA, 28, Redwood Valley. Domestic violence court order violation

CODY BATES, 39, Ukiah. Elder abuse without great bodily harm or death, possession of firearm in violation of restraining order, domestic violence court order violation, possession of untagged deer, unspecified offense.

MATTHEW FAUST, 51, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.

TONY HANNOVER, 20, Ukiah. Under influence, probation revocation.

MATTHEW LAFEVER, 37, Hopland. Annoy or molest child under 18 years old.

NOAH LURANHATT, 35, Ukiah. Controlled substance, parole violation.

JUAN RODEA, 48, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.

JHON VELASQUEZ-GARCIA, 32, Covelo. DUI.

A SHOW OF DISRESPECT FOR THE AMERICAN PEOPLE

Editor:

While more than 7 million of our fellow citizens were exercising their First Amendment right to peacefully assemble and protest the actions of their government on No Kings Day, the head of that government was busy posting an AI-generated video of himself flying a fighter jet while wearing a crown and dumping excrement on the people he has sworn to serve.

Remind me again about how we must all respect the office of the presidency regardless of who occupies it. Donald Trump most certainly does not show respect for that office.

By the way, if anyone thinks this kind of behavior is harmless or humorous, they are definitely a part of the problem we face today with civil political discourse.

Mike Beavers

Santa Rosa

PROPOSITION 50 SUPPORT CAN’T BE ABOUT ‘FAIRNESS’

Editor,

The ads featuring former President Barack Obama, as well as the campaign literature, insist that California’s Proposition 50 for congressional redistricting in Tuesday’s special election is about fairness and “letting the people decide.” I don’t think it’s either of those things. It appears to be about politicians deciding which ones of us will have a vote that matters.

I’m not naive; gerrymandering is an exercise in bare-knuckle politics. I understand that, so I just wish people would stop sanctimoniously telling me this is about fairness. It is not. Gerrymandering diminishes the votes of those not in power, pure and simple.

Both sides do it. I think Democrats are better at it. I understand that this round of gerrymandering was triggered by President Donald Trump’s call for Texas to redraw district lines, but look at the overall picture. In the 2024 nationwide election, Republican votes for the House outpaced Democrats by 5% (74.4 million to 70.6 million). In a 435-person body, this should yield a 21- or 22-seat majority. Republicans received just a five-seat majority. In California, just under 40% of the vote garnered nine of 52 seats (17%) for the Republicans. Proposition 50 is hoped to reduce this by five or six seats (as low as 6%). That would leave the Republicans with only three or four seats out of 52.

With Proposition 50, Democrats in this state have the power to further diminish the equal value of a Republican vote. Don’t add insult to injury by insisting that this is fair.

Charles C. Swensen

San Anselmo

ON-LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

How anyone can look at our new Proposition 50 proposed congressional district, stretching from rural NE CA on the NV border and torturing its way all the way to Marin and calling it representative democracy is a fucking joke. Absolutely disgusting.

REPORTS OF LEGAL CLAIMS AFTER DEADLY CRASH ARE CONCERNING

Editor,

I am writing in regard to the IJ article published Oct. 23 with the headline “Teen driver in fatal Woodacre crash charged with manslaughter.” According to the article, Marin County is “facing at least 10 legal claims over the crash. The claims, a precursor to potential lawsuits, accuse the county of negligence in designing and maintaining the road, among other allegations.”

What is galling regarding the legal claims and this rapidly developing scenario, is that the still-grieving parties, apparently through opportunistic lawyers, seem to want others — the county and ultimately taxpayers — to assume fault and accountability for this tragedy. I worry that these claims are only because lawyers and their clients see the opportunity offered by our collective deeper pockets to enrich their professional gains and to ameliorate their clients personal losses.

These claims, and likely lawsuits, taken at first blush, simply represent a furtherance of the primal notion that those making the consequential decisions in this calamity bear no onus. I am concerned that Marin taxpayers could ultimately be asked to assume liability for the devastation.

Rather than legal claims, there should be an acknowledgement and acceptance of responsibility for the officially reported facts, which state that excessive speed by an inexperienced driver appears to be the acute cause of the accident. Additionally, the report states that the driver unlawfully transported five underaged passengers that fateful evening, flouting laws specifically written to protect minor passengers and new teen drivers.

I am filled with empathy for the loss of so many young lives and for their families’ and friends’ losses. However, I worry there is a sense of underlying and unacceptable sentiment of entitlement in the legal claims.

Jack Covington

Corte Madera

‘IT’S INSANE’: THIS CALIF. COUPLE IS A FACING AN 800% HIKE IN HEALTH CARE COSTS

by Lester Black

David Delfiner and Lisa Parsons received a shocking letter from their health insurance provider when they checked their mail last week. Their monthly health insurance cost will increase from $350 a month this year to $2,221 starting in 2026.

“It’s insane. It’s unbelievable,” said Parsons, a 59-year-old retiree living in South Lake Tahoe.

The couple is not alone as open enrollment begins and 1.7 million Californians are facing an average 97% surge in premiums for next year’s health insurance plans available on the open marketplace.

Covered California, the state’s health care exchange, expects prices to increase 10% on average for all enrollees using the marketplace. But the increased costs are exponentially higher for people like Delifner and Parsons thanks to the end of a Joe Biden-era tax credit.

That tax credit passed in 2021 offered health care subsidies for middle-class people who cannot buy coverage through their workplaces.

Covered California has called the end of the tax credits “a catastrophic cost” for enrollees in the program that will result in 361,000 people losing health insurance, according to a 2022 analysis.

Return of the Subsidy Cliff

People like Parsons and Delfiner are facing sky-high costs because of the expiration of the “enhanced premium tax credit,” which was created in 2021 to help lower health care costs for middle-class Americans. It is set to expire at the end of 2025.

Lower-income Americans will still get health care subsidies regardless of what Congress decides this fall. The Affordable Care Act passed in 2010 gave free health care for millions of the poorest Americans by expanding Medicaid to anyone making up to 138% of the federal poverty level, which equates to $21,597 for an individual or $44,367 for a family of four.

The Affordable Care Act also provided subsidies for people making up to 400% of the federal poverty level, or up to $62,600 for a single individual and $128,600 for a family of four.

But the landmark law, commonly known as Obamacare, did not provide any direct support for people making above 400% of the poverty level. This lack of help for middle-class earners created a “subsidy cliff,” where making a dollar over that threshold meant you could suddenly be spending tens of thousands of dollars more for health care coverage. This cliff was criticized as a key failing of the law.

In 2021, President Joe Biden’s administration eliminated that cliff by removing the 400% limit on eligibility for the tax credit. The 2021 law also increased the subsidy amount by ensuring that no one would pay more than 8.5% of their income on health care premiums.

The expiration of the enhanced tax credits will hit working families the hardest, according to Jonathan Greer, a health insurance broker and owner of Rockridge Health Benefits in Alameda. He said a typical family of four making more than $128,600 could see its monthly premiums go up from $1,500 a month to $3,500 a month without the subsidies. Greer said these families are already cash-strapped trying to raise children on that income in the Bay Area.

“That’s not a lot of money in this area. It doesn’t go very far around here. It’s those folks who are in the worst situation,” Greer said.

Congress Could Still Lower Health Care Costs

Democrats in Congress tried to include an extension of the tax credits in Donald Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” passed earlier this year. While the law included tax cuts for nearly every American and allocated roughly $170 billion for increased border security and deportations, it did not extend the enhanced premium tax credits.

Democrats are demanding the tax credits, which the Congressional Budget Office estimated cost the federal government $33 billion a year, be extended before they agree to reopening the federal government.

Congress could still decide to approve the tax credits before the new health care premiums go into effect in January, which would likely return the health care costs for people like Parsons and Delfiner closer to 2025 levels. That’s why Greer is encouraging his clients to wait to make a decision about next year’s health insurance until there is more clarity from the federal government.

“It’s worth waiting to see what happens with Congress before you have to make personal financial decisions,” Greer said.

Older Americans Hit Hard

Older Americans will be hit especially hard if the subsidies are not extended because health care premiums increase as people age, according to Christine Eibner, a senior economist at Rand Health. She said a 64-year-old has monthly health care costs that are already three times higher than a 24-year-old’s.

“For example, a 64-year-old with income just above [400% of] the federal poverty line ($62,600 in 2026) could face annual premium increases of over $10,000 in California,” Eibner said in an email.

Parsons and Delifner, who are retired and on fixed income, are seeing an even bigger increase. They spent $4,200 on health care premiums last year but will spend $26,652 on the same plan next year, according to a Covered California letter dated Oct. 21. If they buy that policy, it will amount to 28% of their total income, drastically above what the Biden-era subsidies would have prevented.

Parsons said they are already using the cheapest plan they could find, which has a $14,000 deductible for both of them.

“It’s not even like we’re getting Cadillac health care. That’s just catastrophic insurance with basic care,” she said.

Delfiner said the couple is now considering moving to a foreign country where health care is more affordable, or just going uninsured.

WITH BROCK PURDY STILL AILING, 49ERS’ MAC JONES KEEPS PROVING WHY HE’S BEEN TEAM MVP

by Ann Killion

After the San Francisco 49ers’ best offensive performance of the season, head coach Kyle Shanahan said aloud what has become quietly obvious with each passing week.

Brock Purdy, who missed his seventh game of the season, will probably never be truly healthy this season.

“We’re trying to ease Brock out there into practice,” Shanahan said Sunday after the 49ers’ 34-24 win over the New York Giants. “But anytime you’re dealing with turf toe, it’s probably something that won’t fully go away all year. Regardless of when he comes back, he’ll always deal with it. It’s really about assessing when’s the best time to come back that he’ll have to deal with the least.

“It’s a little bit of a tricky decision.”

The decision really didn’t feel that tricky on Sunday. Not on the problematic Metlife Stadium plastic turf that once — in 2020 — swallowed the 49ers’ dreams and season whole with multiple injuries, not least to Nick Bosa and Jimmy Garoppolo. The field struck again Sunday, when prized rookie defensive lineman Mykel Williams went down late in the game with what seems likely to be a season-ending ACL injury.

After spending most of the week saying that Purdy could possibly be active for the game, Shanahan conceded that Purdy “wasn’t that close.” He was inactive on Sunday, not even available to be the emergency backup.

But the 49ers didn’t miss a beat. Because, once again, Mac Jones came to the rescue.

Sunday’s game was a “legacy” game for the New York Giants, with 1980s-era uniforms and end-zone signage, conjuring up memories of when the Giants and 49ers had one of the fiercest, most competitive rivalries in football.

Perhaps inspired by that tribute, Jones channeled his inner Joe Montana. He came out red hot, completing 14 of 14 passes in the first half. He finished the day with a 135.2 quarterback rating, throwing for 235 yards and two touchdowns and distributing the ball to eight receivers.

“He’s first-round talent for a reason, and we’re just really, really blessed to have him,” said tackle Trent Williams. “You lose your franchise quarterback and your No. 2 comes in and you don’t miss a beat. We’re super, super lucky to have him.”

Jones is 5-2 as the 49ers’ starter and a huge reason this season hasn’t gone sideways. The team is now 6-3 and right in thick of the NFC playoff chase. Jones was well aware of how pivotal Sunday’s game was.

“This is a big one,” Jones said. “Having played five years in the NFL now, you really have to look at this game as like a playoff game, almost, and I feel like we answered the bell. … The challenge is don’t be complacent.”

The goal, especially after last week’s stagnant offensive performance in Houston, was to start fast. Jones did that, but he didn’t know exactly how fast he had started, without a first-half incompletion.

“No, was I supposed to?” Jones said.

Jones said the weekly “will he or won’t he?” talk about Purdy doesn’t affect his preparation.

“I’ve been fortunate to play both roles, starter and backup, in this league,” Jones said. “So I understand what I need to do to get ready to play. Really, it’s about my health and my body and just trying to get back to 100% for myself. I know Brock’s working hard, and he’s done a great job every week helping me get ready and that’s all you can ask.”

Purdy, who has had to carry around the Mr. Irrelevant tag since entering the league as the last player drafted in 2022, truly has become somewhat irrelevant this season. He played in the opener against Seattle and was injured, then was rushed back too soon in Week 4 against Jacksonville and hasn’t played since. As Shanahan said, turf toes are known to linger all season. For the moment, Purdy’s just another guy on the sideline in team sweats, albeit one with a lot of input for the guy who has taken over his job.

That close working relationship extends beyond Purdy and Jones, to backup Adrian Martinez. Jones made sure that Martinez got his first regular-season snap, for the final kneeldown Sunday.

“Kyle had already taken his headset off and I subbed myself out and said, ‘Come on Adrian,’” Jones said. “I think Adrian was going to go in either way. … Once we were taking a knee I definitely wanted Adrian to be there. He’s been awesome. … He’s a good friend of mine.”

That kind of easygoing team spirit has helped endear Jones to the 49ers. And the 49ers have given Jones, now on his third team, a new career.

“I’m pretty confident in myself,” Jones said. “I just believe in myself and believe in Kyle and in the system here. The guys just let me be myself, which is kind of different than what I’ve had in the past. So I appreciate that.”

Williams called Jones a “warrior.”

“You just don’t find quarterbacks that are built that tough,” Williams said.

George Kittle has dubbed Jones “an honorary tight end.”

“He has that juice, that energy, that kind of free-flowing love,” Kittle said. We’re a very supportive team, a very inclusive team. … Mac fits in perfectly with our locker room.

“He’s helped our team tremendously. And if he feels he gets to be himself more with us that makes you extremely happy. When people are allowed to be themselves that’s when they’re at their best.”

The 49ers might not be at their very best but they appear to be positioned well as they head into the final eight games of the season. Despite their alarming number of injuries, they are surviving.

Jones is a huge reason the 49ers are in such good shape. And why they have the luxury of not trying to rush Purdy back onto the field. It might only be halfway through the season, but Jones is the 49ers’ MVP.

THE ROOM WHERE IT HAPPENS: MY THREE DECADES AT COUNTERPUNCH

by Jeffrey St. Clair

CounterPunch went online just in time for Clinton’s war on Serbia. Clinton’s war was premeditated; our transit to the World Wide Web was reluctant, at best. Alexander Cockburn’s relationship with computers was hostile. Mine was indifferent. I surfed the web, like anyone else, but had no idea how it would be useful for us. At the time, CounterPunch was a 6-page newsletter that we published fortnightly. We called it “fortnightly” because the word had a nice ring to it and no one was precisely sure how many days or even weeks a fortnight encompassed. But if we ran pieces online, who would pay to receive our newsletter? We remained stubbornly committed to print and our 5,000 or so subscribers. Where will the web be when the electromagnetic pulse wipes the slate clean?

The fact that we even had a domain name we owed entirely to the foresight of one of our tech-savvy donors, who told me that even though we were both too dumb to realize it now, we’d thank him for it one day. He reserved the CounterPunch domain in 1997. We didn’t start using it for another year when the cruise missiles started shattering the night in Belgrade. The war went on for 78 days and nights, roughly four fortnights. The web allowed us to cover Clinton’s war in real time. Cockburn said he was willing to try it as an “experiment,” fully expecting it to fail. He had just one condition: that he never had to learn how to post a piece. Thus management of the CounterPunch website fell into my hands by default. I used a primitive software program called Pagemill for the first few years and it looked primitive, like scribblings by Cy Twombley. There was no time to take any classes or seminars. “Just get it up as fast as you can, Jeffrey,” Cockburn said. “And no complaints.” I knew nothing then about HTML, hyperlinks, analytics or even how to load a photo. I still don’t know much. I’d loved my archaic Pagemill program. It was web design for simpletons. I threw a tantrum the day I was forced to give it up for the damnable Dreamweaver, which was far too complex for my sophomoric skill set.

Nevertheless, people came. Came by the thousands and then the 10s of thousands. They came from all over the world: Brazil, South Africa, New Zealand, Iceland, South Korea, and India. By the 2000 presidential elections, CounterPunch had gone global. Even so, we had no idea how to make the website pay for itself or to help support CounterPunch. For years, we didn’t have a shopping cart or any way to take credit card orders or sell subscriptions online. We simply asked people to mail in a check to the office in Petrolia. In a couple of years, our readership had grown from 5,000 print subscribers to 150,000 viewers a day on the website.

Cockburn, St. Clair and the Great Bear of the Mattole.

But the funding base had remained pretty much the same. We were supported by our subscribers and by the extra money we raised from hitting them up once a year through a direct mail letter usually sent in November. Alex enjoyed writing the letters.

Cockburn told me once, he thought he could have enjoyed a great career in advertising or public relations, a fantasy fed by our friend and counselor Ben Sonnenberg, the longtime editor of Grand Street, whose father nearly invented the seductive art of public relations. And they were successful. Or successful enough to keep us afloat, though the coffers had usually been drained to a shallow tidepool by the time October rolled around.

Alex told me once that he was good at raising money because he’d spent so much time avoiding debt collectors. He said he learned the finer points of this art from his father, Claud, who like most writers of radical journalism lived close to the margin most of his life. It was from Claud that Alex inherited some of his favorite phrases: “the wolf at the door,” “pony up,” “begging bowl.” (Of course, Alex loved all canids, wild and domestic, and would have gladly left out a shank from one of his pal Greg Smith’s lambs for any wolf on the prowl.) We used to joke about Alex’s six phone lines, one for each creditor. He also had a different accent for each creditor, once pretending to be his brother Patrick, who was reporting on the siege of Mosul at the time. Listening to these calls was hearing a master at work, like a character from one of his favorite novels, The Charmer by Patrick Hamilton.

In those days, the CounterPunch staff was so small we could all squeeze into Alex’s Valiant, when it would start. After Ken Silverstein left for greener pastures, it was largely down to Alex, Becky Grant and me. We worked 11 months out of the year, taking August off, and a weeklong holiday during Christmas usually highlighted by a New Year’s Eve party at Alex’s house along the Mattole River. Those years can seem idyllic in hindsight. We worked hard and drank harder, often hard cider brewed by Alex and CounterPunch’s board chair Joe Paff. Still, we were fairly productive by almost any standard. We wrote three books together in four years, two of them (Whiteout and our scathing biography of Al Gore) were substantial works requiring months of research. We both wrote a column a week separately and one together (Nature and Politics). We wrote most of the copy for CounterPunch, 10 to 12 stories a month. We both had weekly radio shows, Alex in South Africa and mine on KBOO in Portland. We both wrote for the Anderson Valley Advertiser and occasional pieces for New Left Review, The Progressive, the New Statesman, and City Pages. I wrote for the Village Voice and In These Times and Alex had a bi-monthly column in The Nation. But CounterPunch was home base. It’s the journal that we felt the closest to and saved our best writing for.

Cockburn “dialing for dollars” in my office/garage in 1998.

Sometimes the bank accounts would evaporate even earlier. On September 11, 2001, for example. I was jolted from bed by an early morning wake-up call from Cockburn. “Jeffrey, turn on your TV and describe what you see.” He hadn’t paid his cable bill and they’d shut off his service. I spent the next several hours narrating the fall of the Twin Towers, the crash at the Pentagon, the panicky peregrinations of George W. Bush and Cheney’s tightening grip on the throat of the Republic. Our lives as journalists changed profoundly that day as well. From September 11 onward, we published nearly every day of the week, week after week, month after month, year after year. At first, we ran only two or three stories a day. (And to fill in those blank hours on the clock, we insanely decided to start a book publishing venture!) Now we publish 12 to 14 each day and 40 to 45 every Friday for our Weekend Edition. We were online for good, like it or not. No vacations, no holidays, no sick days. The web, we soon found out, waits for no one.

We were online, but we still had no idea how to make our web-based journalism pay for itself. We tried running Google Ads for a few months, but got banned for what Google imperiously declared was “clicker fraud,” even though we hadn’t been the culprits. Apparently, some over-enthusiastic CounterPuncher had repeatedly clicked on Google text links, for which we received a return of a nickel a click. We think it was a CounterPuncher. Of course, it might have been Alex’s cockatiel, Percy, who in addition to whistling the Internationale, took a fancy to Cockburn’s keyboard, battering it with his beak four or five times a day. At the time, a close friend of ours was dating a top Google lawyer, who to prove his devotion to her swore that he would have the ban reversed. He failed. She dumped him. But the verdict of the corporate algorithm is absolute. It tolerates no appeals.

Alex, a Luddite to the core, believed that every new feature of the cyber world was an evil manifestation to be shunned, shamed and exorcized. Thus he continued to refer to CounterPunch as a “Twitter-free Zone” for nearly a year after Nathaniel had set up the CounterPunch Twitter account, which now has more than 65,000 followers. No one had the heart to tell him the news.

Early on we tried writing a few grant proposals, but never got one we actually applied for-our position on Israel proving fatal to our aspirations for funding. It’s just as well. We weren’t going to dance to any master’s tune or be constrained by anyone else’s ideological strings. We weren’t going to saddle ourselves with ads, either. Partly this was owing to my own incompetence. I had no idea how to use Flash or any of the other plug-ins that ad companies demanded we deploy. But we also both deplored the way online ads intruded on our own reading experiences and didn’t want to inflict that on our readers, if we could help it. And so far, so good.

In the end, we’ve largely depended on the kindness of our readers to survive. And, though there have been some close calls, this simple and direct approach of appealing to those who know us best hasn’t failed in 30 years. Not yet, anyway. After Alex died, a woman approached me at the funeral and said rather smugly, “Well, I guess this is the end of CounterPunch.” I was angered at her remark and Alex would have been, too. This woman was part of the Nation magazine’s delegation to the funeral. My irritation with her was only partly about how dismissive she was concerning my own contribution to CounterPunch, which had been substantial even before Ken’s departure.

It stemmed more from the flippant disregard for our writers and tens of thousands of readers. CounterPunch was no longer merely a platform for our voices. It was now the home base for hundreds of different writers from across the country and around the globe. I checked this morning. Since going online, we’ve published more than 6,000 different writers. CounterPunch belongs to them, as much as it does to us. Still, Mrs. MoneyBags was right about one thing. We were more broke than we’d ever been the week that Alex died. But we published the day Alex died, the day he was buried and every day since. The readers came through, again and again and again.

We’ve grown in the 13 years since Alex passed. The online readership is probably twice what it was in August 2012. We’re publishing more pieces each week and adding new writers every day. The website has been completely revamped by Andrew Nofsinger into a more efficient and flexible WordPress design that even a Luddite like me can’t screw up too badly. It even works on smartphones, where the analytics say nearly half of the site’s visitors read CounterPunch. To keep up, our staff (still tiny by most standards) has doubled in size, from three to seven: Becky, Deva and Nichole in the business office, me, Joshua and Nathaniel on the editorial side, and Andrew helming the website.

That means our costs have more than doubled. What didn’t double, however, were the number of print magazine subscribers who used to be the primary funders of CounterPunch. Everywhere, print was in decline, even here at CounterPunch. Then COVID hit, the printers shut down, Louis DeJoy took over the Post Office so magazines sent by mail were arriving later than ever, if they arrived at all. So we made the cruel decision to kill the magazine and now we’re dependent solely on the community of online readers who utilize CounterPunch for free: no clickbait, no ads, no paywalls.

I remember a conversation Alex and I had on the night before the last fundraiser we did together in October 2011. He was sick then, sicker than any of us knew, but not showing it. He was impish, excited and anxious, as he always was this time of year.

“Are you ready for another shot in the dark, Jeffrey?” he asked.

“What if we fail this time?”

“Well, we can always do something else.”

“Do we know how to do anything else?”

“Of course, we do. We know how to make cider, go trout-fishing and listen to Chuck Berry. What more do we need?”

And now another Fall Fund Drive has rolled around and the old wolf, perhaps loping past the spirit of Cockburn in the pepperwood grove in the Mattole Valley, is back at our door. We humbly put forth our begging bowl, confident that CounterPunchers will once again pony up…

(Jeffrey St. Clair is co-editor of CounterPunch. His most recent book is An Orgy of Thieves: Neoliberalism and Its Discontents (with Alexander Cockburn). He can be reached at: [email protected] or on Twitter @JeffreyStClair3.CounterPunch.org.)

*Maynard Dixon, Painter of the Desert* (1940) by Edith Hamlin

MORE YOUNG PEOPLE DEVELOPING 'OLD PERSON DISEASE' WITH INCREASED RISK OF SEVERE COMPLICATIONS

by Sadie Whitlocks

The number of young people suffering from a severe gut complication usually seen in older patients has risen by more than 50 percent, a new study has found.

Researchers from UCLA and Vanderbilt University conducted a comprehensive review of hospital admissions, interventions, and outcomes for early-onset diverticulitis from 2005 to 2020.

Diverticulitis is the inflammation or infection of small pouches called diverticula that form in the wall of the colon.

It typically causes abdominal pain, fever, and changes in bowel habits such as constipation or diarrhea. In severe cases, it can lead to abscesses, perforation, or bowel obstruction, which could require surgery.

The average age for developing diverticulitis is over 50, with studies showing mean ages of around 52 to 64 for diagnosed cases. But trends could be shifting, the new study shows.

From looking at more than 5.2 million hospitalizations included in the National Inpatient Sample, the researchers found a troubling surge in severe diverticulitis cases among Americans younger than 50.

They found that the proportion of younger patients admitted with complicated diverticulitis rose from 18.5 percent to 28.2 percent, a 52 percent relative increase over the 15-year period.

Overall, roughly 16 percent of the 5.2 million patients hospitalized for diverticulitis in that timeframe were under 50, classifying them as early-onset cases. Past research suggests the Western diet, with processed foods and a high red meat consumption, could be to blame for the trend.

While the researchers in the new study noted that the reasons behind the rise in early-onset diverticulitis remain unclear, other studies have made the link to certain lifestyle factors.

A largescale lifestyle and genetics study by Mass General Brigham in 2025 found that individuals with a healthier lifestyle (nonsmoking, a BMI less than 25, higher physical activity, higher fiber intake, lower red meat consumption) had substantially lower risk of diverticulitis, even if they had a high genetic predisposition.

Meanwhile several studies, particularly a large-scale twin 2012 study conducted in Sweden, have linked diverticulitis to genetics, with estimates suggesting that 40 to 53 percent of the risk is heritable.

The new study further highlighted differences between younger and older patients.

Early-onset patients generally had lower mortality rates, shorter hospital stays - about a quarter of a day less on average - and lower hospital costs, roughly $1,900 less per admission.

At the same time, younger patients were more likely to need invasive interventions, with 29 percent higher odds of a colectomy (a surgery to remove part or all of the colon) and 58 percent higher odds of needing the area to be drained.

A colectomy is a surgical solution for severe, complicated, or recurrent diverticulitis, not a solution for all cases.

For milder cases, treatment typically involves antibiotics and lifestyle changes.

However, the proportion of younger patients undergoing colectomy decreased from 34.7 percent to 20.3 percent, suggesting that more cases are being managed successfully earlier on without surgery.

Lead author and fourth-year medical student at UCLA Shineui Kim said of this finding: 'While younger patients generally have better survival outcomes and shorter hospitalizations, they're paradoxically more likely to need invasive interventions.

'This suggests their disease may be more aggressive or that treatment approaches differ based on patient age and overall health status.'

She added that further research is 'urgently needed' to explore exactly what is behind the boom in early-onset diverticulitis.

The new study appears in the journal Diseases in the Colon & Rectum.

The trend, the researchers said, mirrors similar increases in colorectal cancer among younger Americans, raising public health concerns.

An investigation by the American Cancer Society (ACS) found that after a stable 15-year trend, diagnoses of local-stage colorectal cancer (CRC) rose dramatically in adults aged 45 to 49 years old between 2019 and 2022 in the US.

Among this age group, cases were increasing one percent annually from 2004 to 2019, but that increase accelerated to 12 percent per year from 2019 to 2022.

In people 20 to 39 years old, CRC incidence has increased steadily by 1.6 percent annually since 2004 and by two percent and 2.6 percent annually since 2012 among adults 40 to 44 and 50 to 54 years old, respectively.

Overall, from 2021 to 2022, there was a 50 percent relative increase in diagnoses, rising from 11.7 per 100,000 people to 17.5 cases per 100,000 people.

This steep increase was driven by the detection of early, local-stage tumors, which increased from 2019 to 2022 by 19 percent per year for colon cancer and by 25 percent per year for rectal cancer.

The study's lead author Elizabeth Schafer attributed the rise in colon cancer diagnoses to new recommendations that lowered the screening age for the disease. A second ACS report found CRC screening among US adults 45 to 49 years of age increased by 62 percent from 2019 to 2023.

The recommended age to begin CRC screening was lowered from 50 to 45 by the ACS in 2018 and the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) followed suit in 2021.

Early onset colorectal cancer has become the leading cause of cancer-related deaths for men under 50 and the second-leading cause for women under 50 in the US.

Over 50,000 Americans are expected to die from colorectal cancer this year, while 150,000 are predicted to be diagnosed with the disease.

(DailyMail.uk)

THE LOVELY LONELINESS OF SUNDAY AFTERNOONS IN AUTUMN

by Margaret Renki

I am remembering now the Sunday afternoons of my 1960s childhood, after my wiggling self has been set free from church and from the interminability of Sunday dinner, after the leftovers have been covered in foil for picking at come supper time. I feel again the loneliness that descends after my grandparents have packed up and started toward home, or my own family has packed up and started toward ours. I remember the hushed hours when the adults in my house, and in all the houses I know, have stretched out for a nap. Hours of Sunday stillness and Sunday quiet lie before me.

It was hardly a cause for grief to have been left to my own devices, and yet I can’t recall a time that felt more universally bereft to me than those Sunday hours just before sundown, when the light stretched into long shadows, and the shadows hinted of hidden sorrows.

People did not think to entertain their offspring in those days, or supervise their games, or shepherd them from one enriching activity to another. At least people in Lower Alabama did not. School afternoons were joyful, free from the tyranny of bells and adult interference. We raced on roller skates through the pine-splintered light. We waded in the creek, the warm water just beginning to cool in the lowering sun. We wandered the woods or the neighborhood with no particular plan, just to see what fascination might reveal itself or what friends might spill forth with an idea for something to do.

Supper would come with darkness. Homework would follow supper. But school day afternoons were busy with child-made pleasures.

Surely there were interesting Sunday afternoons, too — why wouldn’t there have been, with so much freedom in a shimmering world? — but I can’t recall a single one. In memory, the desolation of Sunday afternoon was complete. I don’t know where all the other children were, or how my own brother, the dearest playmate of my childhood, has kept himself so resolutely out of these Sunday memories. Perhaps he was napping, too, or had found solitary projects to immerse himself in. It’s possible that my brother might have been beside me, as he nearly always was, and is only hidden now in time’s shadow. A memory from nearly six decades ago is surely unreliable.

Still, I persist in remembering myself as a wakeful child in a place where everyone else was sleeping, a restless child drifting alone through a radiance that poured out of the sky and settled into every crevice of the world. That shining world could make me catch my breath with wonder and at the same time fill me with a melancholy that to this day I can’t entirely name.

There were reasons, even then, for a bone-deep sadness, far deeper than the usual going-to-ground of November. Already our bird and insect populations were plummeting. Our oceans were filling up with plastic. Our forests were falling to axes and backhoes. Our rivers were being tapped dry. Even then we were drenching everything, ourselves and every living thing within our reach, with poison. I just didn’t know it then.

Decades later, most people still don’t seem to know it. Those of us who do wander the living world wracked with grief.

And that’s what makes the lovely loneliness of a winding-down season its own kind of gift. I am grateful when I feel the old melancholy in the same way I could feel it as a child. The ordinary sorrow for tightly furled buds still so far from opening into flowers. The ordinary absences of birdsong and butterflies and front-stoop skinks and plodding box turtles and sharp-eyed chipmunks with their warning chock chock chock that breaks the silence when a Cooper’s hawk is flying.

It’s impossible not to feel the silence of Sunday afternoons today exactly as I felt it then. The birds are mostly quiet now, but I know when a hawk has won the hunt, even if I never see the hawk, because at least one squirrel will set up a keening at its neighbor’s death. Hardly anything is lonelier on a quiet Sunday afternoon in autumn than the sound of grief pouring down from an otherwise silent tree.

Night comes earlier in November — a whole hour earlier, as of yesterday — but it comes more quietly now, nearly devoid of song. The cicadas and the katydids are gone. The crickets, fewer now than only a month ago, have not adjusted their volume to fill the gaps left by their brothers and sisters of the wing-song multitudes, but the silence is otherwise so huge that their own songs seem to swell. I can hear them from inside the house, even with the windows closed.

The brown marmorated stink bugs keep trying to move indoors, seeking shelter from a cold that has not yet come. When they fly, they buzz in a way that makes me think a red wasp is in the house, but the worker wasps are dying now. The queen wasps are looking for a place to shelter, too, but they will spend the cold months in hidden places outdoors. A few bees are left in my pollinator beds, but the last hummingbird left our yard on Oct. 6, or very early the following day. I keep watch for their departure every year, and every year I fail to see them go. Only when I miss them do I know they’re gone.

Even the migrants, passing through, are long gone, though I keep my feeders up for any stragglers. Late arrivals, whether bird or butterfly, would find slim pickings among the flowers in my pollinator beds: The garden has been reduced to balsam and aster, plus a few stubborn zinnias. The sunflowers, still resplendent only a month ago, have turned brown and fallen over, but they are heavy now with seeds. On lonely, golden Sunday afternoons of November, I put all my faith in those seeds.

(Margaret Renkl first picture book, “The Weedy Garden,” will be published in February.)

*Beef Herd, Sandhill Camp* (1921) by Maynard Dixon

SUMMERTIME BLUES

I'm a-gonna raise a fuss, I'm a-gonna raise a holler
About a-workin' all summer just-a tryin' to earn a dollar
Every time I call my baby, try to get a date
My boss says "No dice son, you gotta work late"

Sometimes I wonder, what I'm a-gonna do
But there ain't no cure for the summertime blues

Oh, well, my mom and papa told me "Son, you gotta make some money"
If you wanna use the car to go a-ridin' next Sunday
Oh, well, I didn't go to work told the boss I was sick
"Uh, you can't use the car 'cause you didn't work a lick"

Sometimes I wonder what I'm a-gonna do
But there ain't no cure for the summertime blues

I'm gonna take two weeks gonna have a fine vacation
I'm gonna take my problem to the United Nations
Oh, well, I called my congressman, and he said, quote
"I'd like to help you son, but you're too young to vote"

Sometimes I wonder what I'm a-gonna do
But there ain't no cure for the summertime blues

— Eddie Cochran & Jerry Capehart (1958)

KURT VONNEGUT:

"My Uncle…taught me something very important. He said that when things are going really well we should be sure to notice it. He was talking about very simple occasions, not great victories. Maybe drinking lemonade under a shade tree, or smelling the aroma of a bakery, or fishing, or listening to music coming from a concert hall while standing in the dark outside, or, dare I say, after a kiss. He told me that it was important at such times to say out loud, 'If this isn’t nice, what is?'"

THE UNKNOWN CITIZEN

(To JS/07 M 378) This Marble Monument is Erected by the State)

He was found by the Bureau of Statistics to be
One against whom there was no official complaint,
And all the reports on his conduct agree
That, in the modern sense of an old-fashioned word, he was a saint,
For in everything he did he served the Greater Community.
Except for the War till the day he retired
He worked in a factory and never got fired,
But satisfied his employers, Fudge Motors Inc.
Yet he wasn't a scab or odd in his views,
For his Union reports that he paid his dues,
(Our report on his Union shows it was sound)
And our Social Psychology workers found
That he was popular with his mates and liked a drink.
The Press are convinced that he bought a paper every day
And that his reactions to advertisements were normal in every way.
Policies taken out in his name prove that he was fully insured,
And his Health-card shows he was once in hospital but left it cured.
Both Producers Research and High-Grade Living declare
He was fully sensible to the advantages of the Instalment Plan
And had everything necessary to the Modern Man,
A phonograph, a radio, a car and a frigidaire.
Our researchers into Public Opinion are content
That he held the proper opinions for the time of year;
When there was peace, he was for peace: when there was war, he went.
He was married and added five children to the population,
Which our Eugenist says was the right number for a parent of his generation.
And our teachers report that he never interfered with their education.
Was he free? Was he happy? The question is absurd:
Had anything been wrong, we should certainly have heard.

— W.H. Auden (1940)

TRUMP’S GREATEST ALLY IS THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY

The Democratic Party and its liberal allies refuse to call for mass mobilization and strikes — the only tools that can thwart Trump’s emergent authoritarianism — fearing they too will be swept aside.

by Chris Hedges

The only hope to save ourselves from Trump’s authoritarianism is mass movements. We must build alternative centers of power — including political parties, media, labor unions and universities — to give a voice and agency to those who have been disempowered by our two ruling parties, especially the working class and working poor. We must carry out strikes to cripple and thwart the abuses carried out by the emerging police state. We must champion a radical socialism, which includes slashing the $1 trillion spent on the war industry and ending our suicidal addiction to fossil fuels, and lift up the lives of Americans cast aside in the wreckage of industrialization, declining wages, a decaying infrastructure and crippling austerity programs.

The Democratic Party and its liberal allies decry the consolidation of absolute power by the Trump White House, the repeated constitutional violations, the flagrant corruption and the deformation of federal agencies— including the Justice Department and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) — into attack dogs to persecute Trump’s opponents and dissidents. It warns that time is running out. But at the same time, it steadfastly refuses to call for mass mobilizations that can disrupt the machinery of commerce and state. It treats the handful of Democratic Party politicians who address social inequality and abuses by the billionaire class — including Bernie Sanders and Zohran Mamdani — as lepers. It blithely ignores the concerns and demands of ordinary Democratic Party voters reducing them to disposable props at rallies, town halls and conventions.

The Democratic Party and the liberal class are terrified of mass movements, fearing, correctly, that they too will be swept aside. They delude themselves that they can save us from despotism as they cling to a dead political formula — mounting vapid, corporate indentured candidates such as Kamala Harris or the Democratic Party candidate and formal naval officer running for Governor in New Jersey, Mikie Sherrill. They cling to the vain hope that being against Trump fills the void left by their lack of a vision and abject subservience to the billionaire class.

A Washington Post-ABC News/Ipsos poll, summarized by the Washington Post under the headline, “Voters broadly disapprove of Trump but remain divided on midterms, poll finds” — found that 68 percent of those polled believe the Democrats are out of touch with the aspirations of voters, with 63 percent saying that about Trump.

A “year out from the 2026 midterm elections, there is little evidence that negative impressions of Trump’s performance have accrued to the benefit of the Democratic Party, with voters split almost evenly in their support for Democrats and Republicans,” the Washington Post summary reads.

The liberal class in a capitalist democracy is designed to function as a safety valve. It makes possible incremental reform. But, at the same time, it does not challenge or question the foundations of power. The quid-pro-quo sees the liberal class serve as an attack dog to discredit radical social movements. The liberal class, for this reason, is a useful tool. It gives the system legitimacy. It keeps alive the belief that reform is possible.

The oligarchs and corporations, terrified by the mobilization of the left in the 1960s and 1970s — what political scientist Samuel P. Huntington called America’s “excess of democracy” — set out to build counter-institutions to delegitimize and marginalize critics of capitalism and imperialism. They bought the allegiances of the two ruling political parties. They imposed obedience to neoliberalism within academia, government agencies and the press. They neutered the liberal class and crushed popular movements. They unleashed the FBI on anti-war protestors, the civil rights movement, the Black Panthers, the American Indian Movement, the Young Lords and other groups that empowered the disempowered. They broke labor unions, leaving 90 percent of the American workforce without union protections. Critics of capitalism and imperialism, such as Noam Chomsky and Ralph Nader, were blacklisted. The campaign, laid out by Lewis F. Powell Jr. in his 1971 memorandumtitled “Attack on American Free Enterprise System,” set into motion the creeping corporate coup d’etat, which five decades later, is complete.

The differences between the two ruling parties on substantive issues — such as war, tax cuts, trade deals and austerity — became indistinguishable. Politics was reduced to burlesque, popularity contests between manufactured personalities and acrimonious battles over culture wars. Workers lost protections. Wages stagnated. Debt peonage soared. Constitutional rights were revoked by judicial fiat. The Pentagon consumed half of all discretionary spending.

The liberal class, rather than stand up against the onslaught, retreated into the boutique activism of political correctness. It ignored the vicious class war that would see, under the Democratic administration of Bill Clinton, around one million workers lose their jobs in mass layoffs linked to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), on top of the estimated 32 million jobs lost due to deindustrialization during the 1970s and 1980s. It ignored blanket government surveillance set up in direct violation of the Fourth Amendment. It ignored the kidnapping and torture — “extraordinary rendition” — and imprisoning of terrorism suspects into black sites, along with assassinations, even of U.S. citizens. It ignored the austerity programs that saw social services slashed. It ignored the social inequality that has reached its most extreme levels of disparity in over 200 years, surpassing the rapacious greed of the robber barons.

Clinton’s welfare reform bill, which was signed on Aug. 22, 1996, threw six million people, many of them single mothers, off the welfare rolls within four years. It dumped them onto the streets without child care, rent subsidies and Medicaid coverage. Families were plunged into crisis, struggling to survive on multiple jobs that paid $6 or $7 an hour, or less than $15,000 a year. But they were the lucky ones. In some states, half of those dropped from welfare rolls could not find work. Clinton also slashed Medicare by $115 billion over a five-year period and cut $14 billion in Medicaid funding. The overcrowded prison system handled the influx of the poor, as well as the abandoned mentally ill.

The media, owned by corporations and oligarchs, assured the public it was prudent to entrust life savings to a financial system run by speculators and thieves. In the meltdown of 2008, life savings were gutted. And then these media organizations, catering to corporate advertisers and sponsors, rendered invisible those whose misery, poverty, and grievances should be the principal focus of journalism.

Barack Obama, who raised more than $745 million — much of it corporate money — to run for president, facilitated the looting of the U.S. Treasury by corporations and big banks following the 2008 crash. He turned his back on millions of Americans who lost their homes because of bank repossessions or foreclosures. He expanded the wars begun by his predecessor George W. Bush. He killed the public option — universal health care — and forced the public to buy his defective for-profit ObamaCare — the Affordable Care Act — a bonanza for the pharmaceutical and insurance industries.

If the Democratic Party was fighting to defend universal health care during the government shutdown, rather than the half measure of preventing premiums from rising for ObamaCare, millions would take to the streets.

The Democratic Party throws scraps to the serfs. It congratulates itself for allowing unemployed people the right to keep their unemployed children on for-profit health care policies. It passes a jobs bill that gives tax credits to corporations as a response to an unemployment rate that — if one includes all those who are stuck in part-time or lower skilled jobs but are capable and want to do more — is arguably, closer to 20 percent. It forces taxpayers, one in eight of whom depend on food stamps to eat, to fork over trillions to pay for the crimes of Wall Street and endless war, including the genocide in Gaza.

The defenestration of the liberal class reduced it to courtiers mouthing empty platitudes. The safety valve shut down. The assault on the working class and working poor accelerated. So too did very legitimate rage.

This rage gave us Trump.

The historian Fritz Stern, a refugee from Nazi Germany, wrote that fascism is the bastard child of a bankrupt liberalism. He saw in our spiritual and political alienation — given expression through cultural hatreds, racism, Islamophobia, homophobia, a demonization of immigrants, misogyny and despair — the seeds of an American fascism.

“They attacked liberalism,” Stern wrote of the supporters of German fascists in his book “The Politics of Cultural Despair,” “because it seemed to them the principal premise of modern society; everything they dreaded seemed to spring from it; the bourgeois life, Manchesterism [laissez-faire capitalism], materialism, parliament and the parties, the lack of political leadership. Even more, they sensed in liberalism the source of all their inner sufferings. Theirs was a resentment of loneliness; their one desire was for a new faith, a new community of believers, a world with fixed standards and no doubts, a new national religion that would bind all Germans together. All this, liberalism denied. Hence, they hated liberalism, blamed it for making outcasts of them, for uprooting them from their imaginary past, and from their faith.”

Richard Rorty in his last book in 1999, “Achieving Our Country,” also knew where we were headed. He writes:

“[M]embers of labor unions, and unorganized unskilled workers, will sooner or later realize that their government is not even trying to prevent wages from sinking or to prevent jobs from being exported. Around the same time, they will realize that suburban white-collar workers — themselves desperately afraid of being downsized — are not going to let themselves be taxed to provide social benefits for anyone else.

At that point, something will crack. The nonsuburban electorate will decide that the system has failed and start looking around for a strongman to vote for — someone willing to assure them that, once he is elected, the smug bureaucrats, tricky lawyers, overpaid bond salesmen, and postmodernist professors will no longer be calling the shots. A scenario like that of Sinclair Lewis’ novel It Can’t Happen Here may then be played out. For once a strongman takes office, nobody can predict what will happen. In 1932, most of the predictions made about what would happen if Hindenburg named Hitler chancellor were wildly overoptimistic.

One thing that is very likely to happen is that the gains made in the past forty years by black and brown Americans, and by homosexuals, will be wiped out. Jocular contempt for women will come back into fashion. The words nigger and kike will once again be heard in the workplace. All the sadism which the academic Left has tried to make unacceptable to its students will come flooding back. All the resentment which badly educated Americans feel about having their manners dictated to them by college graduates will find an outlet.”

The democratic tools for change — running for office, campaigning, voting, lobbying and petitions — no longer work. Corporate forces and oligarchs have seized control of our political, educational, media and economic systems. They cannot be removed from within.

The Democratic Party is a hollow appendage.

Our captured institutions, subservient to the rich and the powerful, are capitulating to Trump’s authoritarianism. All we have left is sustained non-violent, disruptive civil disobedience. Mass movements. Radical politics. Rebellion. A socialist vision that counters the poison of unfettered capitalism. This alone can thwart Trump’s police state and rid us of the feckless liberal class that sustains it.

I TRIED ELON MUSK'S WIKIPEDIA CLONE AND BOY IS IT RACIST

by Drew Magary

In his latest quest to fix something far from broken, racist billionaire lunatic Elon Musk decided to unleash his own optimized version of Wikipedia, predictably named Grokipedia, onto the world this week. Now if, like Musk’s own children, you’re not a member of the Elon fan club, you can probably imagine why Musk took on this project. Here’s a man who purchased Twitter a few years ago specifically to refashion it into a neo-Nazi disinformation machine (check), insinuated himself with the second Trump administration so that he could hollow out the federal government (check), and designed electric cars that spontaneously combust, burning their liberal owners to death (check). There is nothing this man cannot make cheaper, wonkier and 20% more Hitler-y.

I know because I took Grokipedia for a test drive this week. (And be forewarned that this column contains racist language and copious slurs.)

Speaking of Hitler, let’s see what Grokipedia has to say about history’s greatest villain. Hitler’s entry on Grokipedia includes a “Debates and Intent on Functionality” section, which is absent in Wiki’s entry on the man. Let’s see what this bonus section has to say (emphasis below mine)!

“The historiographical debate on the intent and functionality of Nazi racial policies, particularly the Holocaust, centers on whether the systematic extermination of Jews was the fulfillment of Adolf Hitler’s premeditated master plan or the unintended outcome of bureaucratic radicalization and wartime improvisation.”

You already know about people who deny that the Holocaust ever happened, so kudos to Grokipedia for introducing, “The Holocaust was real, but also it was just a happy accident!” as a new means of discrediting Jewish history.

Who wrote this passage on Grokipedia? Ah well, I had to go to Wikipedia to figure that out. Turns out, no one knows the answer to that. A cited link to the Associated Press in Wiki’s entry on Groki reports that Musk’s site uses an ambiguous mix of crowdsourcing and its owner’s proprietary AI software — which he already appended to Twitter/X to predictably virulent results — to compose its more than 850,000 entries. I never would have sorted this without Wikipedia, so thanks, Wiki!

Because, in a time when nearly all valuable online products are being co-opted and degraded by their respective owners, Wikipedia remains true to its origins. It was founded in 2001 as a nonprofit internet reference manual that was to be fully crowdsourced. In the ensuing decades, it has swelled to over 7 million English entries and become an indispensable resource to both laypeople and journalists alike. Every entry on Wikipedia is written and edited by human contributors, and every citation either links to credible background sources, or the entry includes an italics citation needed to indicate when more vetting is required. Edits that don’t pass the smell test are either disregarded or flagged. And every change to an entry is visibly logged, so that the public can see how the entry evolved over the years into its current form. You can also see the fights that editors and contributors have had over changes, which provides a great deal of fun on its own. Best of all, Wikipedia remains a nonprofit to this day, which keeps its motives relatively pure in a world beset on all sides by bad faith.

Elon Musk is perhaps, second to Donald Trump, our greatest disseminator of bad faith. So it makes sense that he would cobble together a half-assed competitor to Wikipedia that is motivated by profit, and by his own demented worldview. Grokipedia exists strictly as a reactionary product, and that was plainly evident when I took the site for a test drive. Its user interface is bare. I had to maximize my browser window just for the sidebar on any entry to appear. It also provides no means for logged in users (I created an account with the name F—k You) to make their own contributions, nor to dispute citations. To putz around on Grokipedia is to read through Musk’s attempt to rewrite the bulk of history to suit his own ends. That’s why, when I tried to search for a “Grokipedia” entry on Grokipedia, I found no entry at all.

More like WOKE-ipedia. Am I right, fellow plantation owners?! Huh? Anyway, if you think these suggested results make sense, then you’re on more ketamine than Musk himself.

There’s more. When I looked up Elonpedia’s entry for “Slavery in the United States,” I found this section of reeducation:

“Black and Mulatto Slaveholders: Free blacks and mulattos in the antebellum United States owned slaves, primarily in southern states such as South Carolina, Louisiana, Virginia, and Maryland, where free colored populations were more established.”

That section runs four paragraphs long. Wikipedia’s notes on minority slaveholders in America is just one paragraph. If you know Elon Musk, you know that extra padding wasn’t put in there for the sake of further enlightenment. Furthermore, Wikipedia’s entry on the same subject only uses the now-established slurs “mulatto” and “colored” in quotations or formal titles. But comedy is still legal on Grokipedia, so Elon’s slurbot is free to denigrate Black and mixed race folks any way it pleases. Or it ignores denigration of those people entirely; there is no Grokipedia entry for the N-word.

So, while snooping around on Musk’s site, I got the feeling that his pet project tweaked the hot button entries to tilt MAGA, and then just stole content for all of the normal s—t. That assumption proved to be essentially correct. In addition to using dated slurs in its entry on human enslavement, Grokipedia un-optimizes plenty of other matters of historical import. Here it is on Trump’s refusal to concede the 2020 election, emphasis again mine:

“Trump refused to concede, citing voting anomalies including unsecured drop boxes, unsigned ballots, and changes to state election laws without legislative approval, filing over 60 lawsuits; while most were dismissed on procedural grounds, post-election audits lent partial credence to concerns.”

And here’s its entry on George Floyd, famously murdered by Minneapolis cop Derek Chauvin that same year:

And what about Musk himself? How does the man’s new history machine portray him? Well, here’s how Wikipedia framed Musk’s acquisition of Twitter two years ago:

“His acquisition of Twitter was controversial due to a subsequent increase in hate speech and the spread of misinformation on the service. His role in the second Trump administration attracted considerable public backlash, particularly in response to DOGE.”

Compare that with Grokipedia’s portrayal of the same story (emphasis mine again):

“Policy updates [to X] relaxed proactive misinformation labeling—previously applied selectively—but strengthened rules on child sexual exploitation, while adopting a ‘freedom of speech, not freedom of reach’ model to limit amplification of violative content without outright removal. These reforms correlated with advertiser withdrawals totaling over $75 million in lost revenue by late 2022, attributed by Musk to ‘activist’ boycotts rather than content surges, though reports noted temporary rises in hate speech visibility before algorithmic adjustments. Musk maintained that prior moderation’s left-leaning institutional biases, evident in leaked ‘Twitter Files’ documents revealing FBI influence on content decisions, justified the pivot toward transparency and minimal intervention. By 2024, X hired select safety roles amid ongoing refinements, balancing free expression with legal compliance.”

LAST DITCH

“Never since Jesus has one man drawn out so many demons.” —Spock’s Love Child (@vulcanmindtrap) on “X”

by James Kunstler

“The question is, can communist subversion be defeated without using ‘authoritarian’ measures? Is a constitutional republic equipped to deal with this kind of threat? When someone wages war on your society internally, is there a way to fight them while being civic minded? Probably not.” — Brandon Smith

Doesn’t it kind of look like the Nov. 5 “Trump Must Go Now” action in Washington is designed to be our time’s Fort Sumter moment, to kick off Civil War 2.0? The organizers behind it are the usual suspects: George & Alex Soros’s Open Society Foundation at the hub and spin-offs such as the Tides Foundation, Revolutionary Communist Party, and Refuse Fascism doing the logistical grunt work. . . buses. . . snacks. . . signs. . . brickbats, frog costumes. . . .

The idea is to entice a million Wokesters to surround the White House and literally exorcise the president, get Donald Trump teleported out through the roof into the cosmic ethers, to be seen no more. We’ll have to stand by to see how it works. Something like it was tried in October, 1967, when anti-(Vietnam)-war celebrities — poet Alan Ginsberg, The Fugs’ Ed Sanders, hippie rabblerousers Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin — led incantations to “levitate” the Pentagon. (Failed.)

You might have noticed by now that the most hysterical voices crying about “fascism” are exactly the people who yearn to push everybody else around, tell them what to think, run your life, wreck every institution and relationship in society, and take all your stuff. The Left never notices how all that resembles their notion of what fascism is. Self-awareness is not the Wokesters’ strong suit.

The Nov. 5 event is predicated on — and coordinated with — the Democratic Party’s government shut-down, especially the suspension of SNAP benefits (free food), in hopes that famished mobs will rise up, loot the supermarkets, and force the president to forcefully put down food riots: Look, Fascist. . . ! But over the weekend Judge John J. McConnell Jr. (Rhode Island) foiled that ploy, commanding the president to use “contingency funds” out of the US Department of Agriculture to keep SNAP running. The president coyly replied, “If we are given the appropriate legal direction by the Court, it will BE MY HONOR to provide the funding.”

Seeing as how the contingency fund contains only $5.25-billion, and the actual cost of running SNAP through November is $8.5-billion, we have a math problem. So, stand by on Judge McConnell spelling-out what appropriate legal direction can get that done. The president might have demonstrated how federal judges are not competent to carry out his Article II executive duties, and why the Constitution was written as it is. Of course, all this will be moot if the Democrats fold, as expected, by mid-month and vote to re-open the government.

The Lefty federal judges have been uniformly humiliated as one temporary restraining order (TRO) after another gets tossed by the SCOTUS. Judge James Boasberg of the DC District, the very model of a judicial “Resistance” activist, is about to get his ass impeached after ten-years of dabbling in malicious abuse of judicial process (28 U.S.C. § 2680-h under the Federal Tort Claims Act), plus 18 U.S.C. § 1001 (false statements or concealment in federal matters, potentially covering abusive filings), and 8 U.S.C. § 1503/1512 (obstruction of justice via tampering or corrupt persuasion, applicable to malicious process abuse), Stand by on that. Might be a caution to the rest of the federal judge gang to back off their Resistance shenanigans.

In case you haven’t followed the story — since The New York Times and network news won’t report on it — we are in the midst of the “Arctic Frost Investigation” scandal when, in 2022, “Joe Biden” induced AG Merrick Garland and FBI Director Christopher Wray to go mad-dog on Donald Trump and hundreds of political conservatives, including nine US Senators, whose phone records were seized, with gag orders (from Judge Boasberg) to prevent notification of the seize-ees, which has raised accusations of violating their First Amendment rights, and grand jury secrecy. Arctic Frost is still unspooling, with reverberations to come, including insights on the Jack Smith / Norm Eisen lawfare spree in 2023-24 against Donald Trump that followed it.

Altogether, how successful has the Resistance movement to defy, thwart, and overthrow President Trump been going since January 20? Looks a little lame, so far. The summer of “No Kings” was entertaining enough, with the Boomer-geezers wetting their Depends every Saturday morning to stay out past noon, and the mentally-ill Antifas roistering as inflatable dinosaurs and Teletubbies to mask their homicidal tendencies. Don’t be so sure they will get the Second Civil War they yearn for. What it actually looks like is the Left has turned the Democratic Party into a suicide cult. And ask yourself: what is the end point of that, exactly?

"I AM NOT SURE that I exist, actually. I am all the writers that I have read, all the people that I have met, all the women that I have loved; all the cities I have visited."

— Jorge Luis Borges

LEAD STORIES, TUESDAY'S NYT

Dick Cheney, Powerful Vice President and Washington Insider, Dies at 84

Trump’s Power Faces Pressure Test in Court and at Ballot Box

Donors to Trump’s Ballroom Are Asked Why They Chose to Remain Incognito

An Altercation With ICE Prompts a Police Chief to Push Back

Target Shooting Could Be Causing Brain Injuries. We Measured the Danger.

In Mexico, Killer Whales Take Down Great White Sharks

STEVE TALBOT:

I spent most of October in the West Bank filming the story of Palestinian Christians, their plight under occupation and their non-violent resistance. It was a sobering, eye-opening, sometimes stressful, challenging experience. I had the great good fortune of working with a wonderful, highly experienced Palestinian video crew who knew their way through the maze of Israeli checkpoints.

Two of the photos below sum up my time in Palestine.

The first is of an olive harvest -- it's the height of the season just now -- where we filmed a group called Rabbis for Human Rights from Israel who had come, along with a group of young international volunteers, to help a Palestinian farmer with his crop. Very ecumenical and inspiring. A cause for hope. But as soon as we departed, we got word that IDF soldiers shut down the cooperative harvest.

The second photo is of a Palestinian reporter's car which was burned by Israeli settlers in the Christian village of Taybeh, just hours after we had visited the local churches. We returned to film the car and then to track down and interview the reporter who had fled with his wife and young son to stay with his father. Earlier this year, settlers had torched his neighbor's car and set fire next to the historic ruins of a Byzantine church.

The ceasefire in Gaza was declared while I was in the West Bank. People were grateful for an end, however temporary, to the appalling war, but of course they were skeptical and fearful about what may happen next to them, now that the extremist elements in Netanyahu's cabinet -- and a majority in the Knesset --are openly saying they will annex the West Bank.

A Palestinian reporter's car set ablaze by Israeli settlers who have besieged the Christian village of Taybeh.

I am very glad I went to Palestine to see for myself and to be able to talk with people whose stories deserve to be told. In general, yes, I'd say that Christians and Muslims are united in wanting to end the Israeli occupation and to live together in peace. Definitely. They denounce Israeli genocide in Gaza. But they also generally share antipathy for Hamas. P.S. Palestinian Christians often find a great deal of difficulty in getting from Bethlehem to Jerusalem, even for Easter, for example. It's all part of Israeli restrictions on life and travel in the West Bank.

MURDER AT SEA

by A.S. Dillingham

Since President Nixon declared war on drugs in 1971, US policies of mass incarceration at home and interdiction and enforcement abroad have failed to achieve their stated aims. Instead, they have accelerated violence across the hemisphere. As the historian Alexander Aviña has pointed out, the “war on drugs” is best understood as a “war on poor people.” It has recently entered a deadly new phase.

Over the last month, the US government has launched at least eleven strikes on boats in the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific. The Trump administration has claimed, without providing evidence, that the boats were transporting illegal drugs. The strikes have killed at least 57 people. These are summary executions without trial. Amnesty International has called it a “murder spree.”

Five years ago, when I was the director of Latin American studies at a small Catholic college in Mobile, Alabama, a local lawyer approached me looking for help as an expert witness on a federal drug trafficking case. (I also helped with translation.) The US Coast Guard had detained a group of Colombian men off the coast of Panama with nearly a ton of cocaine on board. They were transported to Florida and eventually moved to a detention centet in Alabama for trial. Each was assigned an attorney.

When I met the client he was visibly afraid. He had been unable to reach his family since his arrest more than six months earlier. He had never intended to enter the United States but now found himself in a cell in Alabama unable to communicate in English.

Born in a small town in an isolated area of western Colombia, he had determinedly avoided involvement in the drug trade, finished high school and worked as a boat captain. He had been hired to transport petrol up the coast, an illicit but not unusual local trade. After the first leg of the trip, however, armed men forced him onto another vessel. They threatened him and his family to ensure he would complete the job. His story of being coerced into trafficking never changed, from the deck of the coast guard ship to his confinement in Alabama.

Many of the 57 people killed by the US military in recent weeks may have been in similar circumstances: poor men forced into drug trafficking either by their economic position or by direct threats of violence to themselves or their family. Others may not have been involved in the drug trade at all. Trump and his officials have described the people they’ve killed as “narco-terrorists,” but any potential evidence has been destroyed in the attacks. If our client had found himself on a similar boat today, he might be dead.

We eventually reached his family through WhatsApp. We spoke with his sister who shared information on his parents, children and work history. She sent official paperwork, school transcripts and medical records to help the case. She shared videos of family members testifying to his character and images of his home.

Like more than 90 per cent of federal prosecutions, his case ended in a plea bargain. During the sentencing hearing we shared his story in court. It appeared to affect the judge. Yet federal sentencing guidelines meant that, even with a robust defense, there was little we could do. Our client was given more than ten years in federal prison, after which he would be deported.

During the hearing, I was cross-examined by the federal prosecutor. He invoked a scene from the Netflix series Narcos. It was a disturbing line of questioning: peoples’ lives were on the line, and the representative of the US government was drawing on a fictionalized TV series to make his case. It was perhaps a sign of things to come.

The US military is now carrying out extrajudicial executions on the high seas of people who in the past would have been put on trial and, if found guilty, given a federal prison sentence. Gone is any semblance of due process, presumption of innocence or assistance of counsel. Instead, the self-styled “secretary of war” shares videos on social media of each “lethal kinetic strike.” The spectacle has little to do with national security, and everything to do with the Trump administration’s dehumanizing politics, at home and abroad.

(London Review of Books)

BERNIE SANDERS: ‘THERE AIN’T MUCH OF A DEMOCRATIC PARTY’

The Vermont senator on how to take the country back from elites — on both sides of the aisle.

by Bernie Sanders & David Leonhardt

Bernie Sanders is not a fan of billionaires. His laser focus on economic inequality has made him one of the most influential politicians in the country. In this conversation with David Leonhardt, an editorial director in Times Opinion, Sanders explains why America’s next story must include economic justice for the country’s working class, and why progressives shouldn’t shun voters who disagree with them on social issues.

Below is a transcript of an episode of “The Opinions.” We recommend listening to it in its original form for the full effect. You can do so on the NYTimes app, Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music, YouTube, iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts.

The transcript has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

David Leonhardt: Senator Bernie Sanders started talking about income inequality nearly 40 years ago.

Archived clip of Bernie Sanders in 1988: In our nation today, we have extreme disparity between the rich and the poor, that elections are bought and sold by people who have huge sums of money.

He railed against oligarchs before Elon Musk made his first million.

Archived clip of Sanders in 1991: To a very great extent, the United States of America today is increasingly becoming an oligarchy.

Sanders started out as a political oddity. But his focus on inequality has made him one of the most influential politicians in America. I wanted to know where he thinks we’re headed next. So I asked him to join me for “America’s Next Story,” a Times Opinion series about the ideas that once held our country together, and those that might do so again.

Senator Bernie Sanders, thank you for being here.

Bernie Sanders: My pleasure.

Leonhardt: I have to start by going back to your days as mayor of Burlington, Vt., and thanking you for bringing minor league baseball to the city. I had family there, and I would visit every summer, and we would pick a week when the Vermont Reds were home, and we would go every night.

Sanders: That was a lot of fun. We worked hard on it, and they turned out to be a great team. A lot of the guys who played there ended up in the majors, so it was very good for the community.

Leonhardt: My family were supporters, and they got a big kick out of the fact that even though they were called the Reds, because of the Cincinnati Reds, the one socialist mayor in America had a baseball team called the Reds.

Sanders: Yes. We thought that was kind of fun.

Leonhardt: OK, let’s get into it. I want to go back to the pre-Trump era and think about the fact that a lot of Democrats during that time — I’m thinking about the Clintons and Obama — felt more positively toward the market economy than you did.

They were positive toward trade. They didn’t worry that much about corporate power. They didn’t pay that much attention to labor unions. And if I’m being totally honest, a lot of people outside of the Democratic Party, like New York Times columnists, had many of those same attitudes.

Sanders: Yes, I recall that. Vaguely, yes. Some of them actually weren’t supportive of my candidacy for president.

Leonhardt: That is fair. I assume you would agree that the consensus has shifted in your direction over the last decade or so?

Sanders: I think that’s fair to say.

Leonhardt: And I’m curious: Why do you think those other Democrats and progressives missed what you saw?

Sanders: In the 1970s — the early ’70s — some of the leaders in the Democratic Party had this brilliant idea. They said: Hey, Republicans are getting all of this money from the wealthy and the corporations. Why don’t we hitch a ride, as well? And they started doing that. Throughout the history of this country — certainly the modern history of this country, from F.D.R. to Truman to Kennedy, even — the Democratic Party was the party of the working class. Period. That’s all your working class. Most people were Democrats.

But from the ’70s on, for a variety of reasons — like the attraction of big money — the party began to pay more attention to the needs of the corporate world and the wealthy rather than working-class people. And I think, in my view, that has been a total disaster, not only politically, but for our country as a whole.

Leonhardt: I agree, certainly, that corporate money played a role within the party. But I also think a lot of people genuinely believed things like trade would help workers. When I think about —

Sanders: Hmm, no.

Leonhardt: You think it’s all about money?

Sanders: No. What I think is, if you talked to working-class people during that period, as I did, if you talked to the union movement during that period, as I did, you said: Guys, do you think it’s a great idea that we have a free-trade agreement with China? No worker in America thought that was a good idea. The corporate world thought it was a good idea. The Washington Post thought it was a great idea. I don’t know what The New York Times thought.

But every one of us who talked to unions, who talked to workers, understood that the result of that would be the collapse of manufacturing in America and the loss of millions of good-paying jobs. Because corporations understood: If I could pay people 30 cents an hour in China, why the hell am I going to pay a worker in America a living wage? We understood that.

Leonhardt: I think that’s fair. I guess I’m interested in why you think that members of the Democratic Party — not workers, but members — and other progressives ignored workers back then but have come more closely to listen to workers. I mean, if you look at the Biden administration’s policy, if you look at the way Senator Schumer talks about his own views shifting, I do think there’s been this meaningful shift in the Democratic Party toward your views. Not all the way.

Sanders: Well, what we will have to see is to what degree people are just seeing where the wind is blowing as to whether or not they mean it.

In my view, working-class Americans did not vote for Donald Trump because they wanted to see the top 1 percent get a trillion dollars in tax breaks. They did not want to see 15 million people, including many of them, being thrown off the health care they had or their health care premiums double, etc. They voted for Trump because he said: I am going to do something. The system is broken. I’m going to do something.

What did the Democrats say? Well, in 13 years, if you’re making $40,000, $48,000, we may be able to help your kid get to college. But if you’re making a penny more, we can’t quite do that. The system is OK — we’re going to nibble around the edges. Trump smashed the system. Of course, everything he’s doing is disastrous. Democrats? Eh, system is OK — let’s nibble around the edges.

Democrats lost the election. All right? They abdicated. They came up with no alternative. Because you know what? They, even today, don’t acknowledge the economic crises facing the working class of this country. Now you tell me, how many Democrats are going around saying: You know what? We have a health care system that is broken, completely. We are the only major country on Earth not to guarantee health care to all people I’ve introduced Medicare for All. You know how many Democrats in the Senate I have on board?

Leonhardt: How many?

Sanders: Fifteen — out of a caucus of 47.

Leonhardt: And you think Medicare for All is both good policy and good politics?

Sanders: Of course, it’s good policy! Health care is a human right! I feel very strongly about that. And I think the function of our health care system should not make the drug companies and the insurance companies phenomenally rich. We guarantee health care to all people — that’s what most Americans think. Where’s the leader?

I think that at a time when we have more income and wealth inequality, you know what the American people think? Maybe we really levy some heavy duty taxes on the billionaire class. I believe that. I think most Americans, including a number of Republicans, believe that. Hmm, not quite so sure where the Democrats are. I believe that you don’t keep funding a war criminal like Netanyahu to starve the children of Gaza. That’s what I believe. It’s what most Americans believe. An overwhelming majority in the Democratic world believes it. Hmm, Democratic leadership, maybe not quite so much.

The point is that, right now, 60 percent of our people have been paycheck to paycheck. I don’t know that the Democratic leadership understands that there are good, decent people out there working as hard as they can, having a hard time paying their rent. Because the cost of housing is off the charts, health care is off the charts, child care is off the charts. The campaign finance system is completely broken. When Musk can spend $270 million to elect Trump, you’ve got a broken system. Our job is to create an economy and a political system that works for working people, not just billionaires.

Leonhardt: So the key to you is the Democratic Party needs to tell a story and implement policy —

Sanders: I don’t know. You talk about the Democratic Party, David. Who are you talking about?

Leonhardt: I’m talking about the leadership of the party —

Sanders: Who is the leadership? The leadership of the party right now? This was the struggle when I ran in 2016. What I said is: Open the bloody doors.

Leonhardt: Meaning?

Sanders: Meaning: Let working-class people in — with all their flaws. They may have said something 28 years ago that they regret saying. Open the door! Open the door to young people. Open the door to people of color.

Leonhardt: As candidates, you mean?

Sanders: As candidates, as participants. I don’t know if you know this: I went to West Virginia, I don’t know, two months ago.

Leonhardt: Yes.

Sanders: I went to a county in West Virginia — which voted for Trump. We had hundreds of people coming out. Unbelievable what I heard. Decent, hardworking, good people. Did you know there is no Democratic Party, basically, in West Virginia?

Leonhardt: The party has given up.

Sanders: Yes. It’s not only West Virginia. It’s state after state after state. The Democratic Party has abdicated — they’ve given up. They’re not fighting for the working class. What the Democratic Party has been is a billionaire-funded, consultant-driven party — and way out of touch with where the working class of this country is.

Leonhardt: Let’s talk about what a true working-class politics might look like. So I think, clearly, a part of that is a much bolder economic policy.

Sanders: Yes.

Leonhardt: And you’ve made that much of your life’s work. I do think there’s another part of it, and when I look at your career, I see that.

So your old colleague, Pat Leahy, once said that you appealed to an anti-establishment strain in Vermont that is not necessarily liberal. When I think about what a true working-class politics might look like, I think about the fact that in your history, you spoke positively about hunting and you got support from gun owners. And you really did better in rural Vermont than a lot of other Democrats.

Just to think about Vermont for a minute: You sent the signal that you were not from one of the fancy Vermont towns like Charlotte but that you actually understood the interests of people in less affluent, rural Vermont.

Sanders: I am one of those people. I grew up in a three-and-a-half-room, rent-controlled apartment. It is not “those” people. Those are my people.

Leonhardt: Part of that, I think, is being willing to defy the Democratic Party orthodoxy, not only on economic issues but also on some social issues. And you did that. You did that on guns, for example. I’m curious whether you think that a true working-class politics needs to incorporate the views of working-class people — not only on economics but also on issues where many working-class people just have different views than the faculty lounge at a fancy university.

Sanders: I have spent my whole life believing — not a radical idea — that women have a right to control their own body. We’ve got to end sexism. We’ve got to end racism. We’ve got to end homophobia. Very, very important.

I’ll tell you a funny story. Way back when — I can’t remember the year — in Vermont there was the constitutional amendment for women’s rights. Do you remember that? And it turns out that a number of people who voted against that voted for me. In other words, you’ve got to have a tolerance. I believe, again, women have a right to control their own body. There are people who disagree with me. What am I supposed to do? Throw them out? Discard them completely because they disagree with me?

In this country today, in one sense, there’s a lot of disunity, clearly, and a lot of people divided. But on the basic issues: Is health care a human right? Pretty much most people think yes. Should the rich start paying their fair share of taxes? Yes. Should we build low income and affordable housing? Yes. Is the campaign finance system currently corrupt? Yes. In the richest nation on Earth, should elderly people be able to retire with security and dignity? Yes. So you’ve got to be tolerant. I mean: So what? You don’t agree with me on every issue? What am I going to do? We’re going to work together and come up with the best plan that we can.

Leonhardt: We want to play a clip of an interview you did with Ezra Klein, who’s now my colleague. At the time he was at Vox, and it’s about immigration.

Archived clip of Ezra Klein: I think if you take global poverty that seriously, it leads you to conclusions that in the U.S. are considered out of political bounds. Things like sharply raising the level of immigration we permit, even up to a level of open borders. About sharply increasing —

Sanders: Open borders? No, that’s a Koch brothers proposal.

Klein: Really?

Sanders: Of course. I mean, that’s a right-wing proposal, which says, essentially: There is no United States.

Leonhardt: Can you say more about your views on immigration?

Sanders: Look, there are people who want cheap labor coming into this country to lower wages — no question about it. Where we are right now is that we have, we think, about 10 million undocumented people in this country.

The overwhelming majority of those people came to this country for the same, exact reason as my father, who came from Poland without a nickel in his pocket: to create a better life for themselves. And many of them actually brought their little kids here. They fled violence, they fled poverty. The overwhelming — overwhelming — majority of these people are working hard. During Covid, those were the people in the meatpacking plants. Those were the people who were coming down with Covid and dying. They were keeping the economy going.

The failure of both the Democratic and the Republican parties in the last number of decades is that we have not developed a comprehensive immigration reform and, in my view, a path toward citizenship for those people.

And I think what Trump is doing right now is disgusting. It is what demagogues always do. You take a powerless minority — maybe it’s the Jews in Europe during the ’30s, maybe it’s Gypsies, maybe it’s gay people, maybe it’s Black people. You name the minority, and you blame all the problems of the world on those people. That’s what Trump is doing with the undocumented. My view is very, very different. I think we’ve got to move toward comprehensive immigration reform and a path toward citizenship for people who are, by and large, working very hard and are a very important part of our economy.

Leonhardt: So Trump is clearly doing outrageous things that deny people their civil rights and that violate their basic humanity right now.

Sanders: Yes.

Leonhardt: There’s no question about that. I also think it’s fair to say that the Biden administration’s immigration policy did essentially reject the views of a lot of working-class Americans. They looked at it and they said: That’s just too open an immigration policy. And I think their discomfort with it was consistent with your longtime view of immigration.

Sanders: Well, what I do think in terms of the Biden administration: So long as we have nation-states, like the United States of America and Canada and Mexico, you have borders. And if you don’t have any borders, in a sense you don’t have a nation-state. Biden tried to make some progress at the end of his tenure. You saw the pictures in Texas of all kinds of undocumented people. And that does not resonate, and it’s not right. We need to have an immigration policy, but you also need to have strong borders. Period.

Leonhardt: The reason I’m pushing you on this is I do think there is greater demand for a true working-class politics in this country than many Democratic elites have often acknowledged. It’s a kind of working-class politics that really could involve moving economic policy in the direction that you want.

But I think for people to win — and when you look at people like Ruben Gallego in Arizona, who has won, or Marcy Kaptur in Ohio, or you, in Vermont: When you first got elected there and it wasn’t a solidly blue state — it is not enough to be populist on economics. Democrats also have to show some basic respect for working-class views and be authentic — rather than just saying that they’re tolerating views on things like immigration or on guns. They genuinely have to have views that are different than really affluent Democrats tend to have on social issues. You think that’s fair?

Sanders: Yes.

Leonhardt: OK. I think it’s really uncomfortable for the Democratic Party because I think that —

Sanders: OK. You see, when you keep, David, talking about the Democratic Party: When I ran for president one of the things that I learned is there isn’t much of a Democratic Party. There are people on the top. When I think about a party, I think about the involvement of large numbers of people at the grass-roots level. You understand what I’m saying?

Leonhardt: Yes.

Sanders: When I think about a party: People disagree, they yell and shout at each other. People have said democracy is kind of messy. But I think sometimes, when people think about the Democratic Party, they think of these cocktail parties in New York City or Los Angeles where wealthy people mingle with consultants, mingle with the leadership. That’s not much of a party. That’s really kind of an elitist institution.

So one of the things that I believe, if the Democratic Party is to survive — maybe it will, maybe it won’t: The transformation has to be to open the doors, to bring in millions of people, to hear what they have to say, to have them start running for office, etc.

Leonhardt: Let’s talk about Trump. You are turning out tens of thousands of people across the country for your Fighting Oligarchy Tour.

Sanders: Well over 300,000 — but who’s counting?

Leonhardt: I was thinking of individual events, but that’s fair — total audience. “Fight Oligarchy” is also the name of your book. I’m curious why you chose “Fighting Oligarchy” as opposed to something that was more Trump specific — like say, “Fighting Authoritarianism.” Why do you think oligarchy is the root cause of how we got to Trumpism?

Sanders: That’s a good question. Obviously I work day and night trying to defeat this guy’s efforts to move us to an authoritarian society. I think the two go hand in glove, by the way. But I think what I wanted to do — what we did in the rallies, and what I wanted to do in the book — is ask the American people to start looking at some very uncomfortable realities. It’s very easy when I could say: Oh, in Russia, now Putin and his friends, that’s an oligarchy. You’ve got a handful of zillionaires running that country. Oh, in Saudi Arabia you have a billion dollar family. All over the world, you’ve got these really wealthy and powerful oligarch types, but not in the United States. Not true.

In America today, we have more income and wealth inequality than we’ve ever had in the history of this country. Over the last 50 years, you have seen a massive transfer of wealth from the bottom 90 percent to the top 1 percent. You have a political system that is dominated by the billionaire class. That’s what Citizens United was all about, that’s what Super PACs are about. So you got Mr. Musk able to contribute $270 million to elect Donald Trump — and Democratic billionaires playing a role.

Obviously, I’m strongly supporting Zohran Mamdani, and it was just amazing to me how upfront the oligarchs were in New York City. One guy says: We’re going to spend whatever it takes. We are landlords — we’re the oligarchy. How dare this guy come in and upset the apple cart? Quite open — that’s what really struck me.

So you have an economy dominated by the very wealthy — a rigged economy. You have a political system dominated by billionaires. You have corporate media having a huge impact. You add it all up, and what do you call that country? You tell me. Is it fair to call it an oligarchy?

Leonhardt: I absolutely think there are oligarchic aspects to our country —

Sanders: Oh, you’re sounding like a New York Times reporter!

Leonhardt: I’m not willing to say that we are already an oligarchy, but I’m worried that we’re very much moving toward that. So I think there’s a huge amount of your diagnosis that I agree with. To some extent, I’m not pushing you on the oligarchy notion — I’m accepting it. I’m asking: In this moment, should we be paying more attention to the authoritarian threat?

Sanders: OK. They go together.

Leonhardt: I agree, they do.

Sanders: The point is — what is very rarely discussed — I’ve been on 48 million television shows, and nobody has ever asked me, not one person has ever said: Bernie, are you worried that so few people in America have so much wealth and so much power, while working-class people are struggling? No one ever asks me that question!

Leonhardt: I bet you make the point anyway, though.

Sanders: I do. I say: Thank you for your silly question. Now I’ll give you the answer to the question that you didn’t ask.

All right, but what do the oligarchs want? When you hear people like Peter Thiel, who is a billionaire, actively involved in A.I. and robotics — he refers to his opponents, not as people he disagrees with, but as the Antichrist. Did you see that?

Literally, the word was “Antichrist” — a religious critique — because these guys have the divine right to rule. And when Trump gets elected, at his inauguration, and he has all of these multibillionaires behind him: a) These guys are doing phenomenally well. They love Donald Trump, no doubt. But, b) What do they want? Do they want to pay taxes? No. Do they like unions? No, they want to break unions. Do they want any form of regulation in A.I. and robotics? No way. You’re an Antichrist. Ha! You’re immoral. You’re a devil, literally, if you try to interfere with us.

They like oligarchy. They like authoritarianism. Because people like Putin, who gives the oligarchs in Russia the opportunity to do anything they want — that’s what Trump is doing right here in this country.

Leonhardt: I would say Russia has made it to full oligarchy, by the way.

Sanders: Yes, but let me tell you, there are some people on the right now who are beginning to refer to the United States Congress as the Duma. People blabbing all day

Leonhardt: You mentioned Zohran Mamdani.

Sanders: Yes.

Leonhardt: New York is obviously different from the rest of the United States in a whole bunch of ways. What lessons do you want Democrats who are from swing states or red states to take from Zohran Mamdani?

Sanders: Oh, stop! My God, you keep sounding like a New York Times reporter!

Leonhardt: Well, I am.

Sanders: Oh, I didn’t know that. All right. Get over something.

Leonhardt: OK.

Sanders: I grew up in Brooklyn. It’s very different than West Virginia —

Leonhardt: Yes.

Sanders: Different than Maine, different than other states. But at the end of the day — and I say this not to be sweepingly rhetorical — the overwhelming majority of Americans are working-class people.

And what Mamdani is talking about in New York is that people cannot afford the outrageous cost of housing. You know what? It’s true in Vermont. It’s true in West Virginia. It’s true in virtually every state in this country. He’s talking about affordability, talking about child care. You know what? There’s a child care crisis in almost every state in this country. Don’t use the words “red state” or “blue state.” When I hear “red states,” to me it’s an abdication of the Democratic Party in fighting for the working class.

People have no alternative, and they vote for the Trumps of the world. If we are bold — and we’ve got to be really bold — in demanding that in the wealthiest country in the history of the world — you tell me, you tell me: Why, in the richest country, all of our people cannot have a decent standard of living? There is no excuse for that — other than the greed of the billionaire class who have so much power and the acquiescence of the political class in allowing that to happen.

Leonhardt: I mean, this ties together our conversation nicely. Because I agree that Mamdani’s message on affordability can resonate in the entire country. But when you look at the Democrats who have won in places where it’s harder for Democrats to win than New York, they sound very different from him on something like policing — very different. They appear in their ads with police officers. They talk about the border. There’s basically no counterexample of a Democrat who has won a tough race without doing things like that.

Sanders: I think the world is changing, by the way, and I think you’re going to see more of that. I think you’re seeing candidates right now running. And by the way, in terms of the police, one of the reasons I was elected mayor of Burlington, Vt., a few years ago, in 1981 — you know who endorsed me? The Burlington Patrolmen’s Association. That was the police union. And you know who endorsed me two years later, because I did good things in reforming the police department? The Burlington policeman’s union. And two years later? Burlington policeman’s union. And two years after that.

I understand that being a cop is in fact a very difficult job. Enormous responsibility when you have a gun on your hip. Scheduling is crazy. The divorce rate among cops is very, very high. They live under a lot of stress — all right? Treat them with the respect as they are doing a very, very difficult job. Can we tolerate racism within police departments? Not at all. Is there brutality? Absolutely. Do we need reforms? Yes. But police play a very important role, and they should be respected.

Leonhardt: Look, that’s, I think, the kind of message that can resonate with a huge number of Americans. I don’t think it’s the message a lot of Democrats have always given, but I think that’s part of what interests me so much about your politics.

Sanders: By the way, I am an independent.

Leonhardt: I know.

Sanders: Not a Democrat.

Leonhardt: I know. Let’s talk about another debate that has gotten people excited — and I’m really curious about your view: the abundance debate. Which is this idea that one of the things that government needs to do and progressives need to do is clear out bureaucracy so that our society can make more stuff — homes, clean energy. What do you think of the abundance movement?

Sanders: Well, it’s got a lot of attention among the elite, if I may say so.

Leonhardt: Yes.

Sanders: Look, if the argument is that we have a horrendous bureaucracy? Absolutely correct. It is terrible. Over the years, I brought a lot of money into the state of Vermont. It is incredible, even in a state like Vermont — which is maybe better than most states — how hard it is to even get the bloody money out! Oh, my God! We’ve got 38 meetings! We’ve got to talk about this. Unbelievable.

I worked for years to bring two health clinics that we needed into the state of Vermont. I wanted to renovate one and build another one. You cannot believe the level of bureaucracy to build a bloody health center. It’s still not built. All right? So I don’t need to be lectured on the nature of bureaucracy. It is horrendous, and that is real.

But that is not an ideology. That is common sense. Any manager — you’re a corporate manager, you’re a mayor, you’re a governor — you’ve got to get things done. And the bureaucracy — federal bureaucracy, many state bureaucracies — makes that very, very difficult. But that is not an ideology.

It’s good government. That’s what we should have. Ideology is: Do you create a nation in which all people have a standard of living? Do you have the courage to take on the billionaire class? Do you stand with the working class? That’s ideology. Breaking through bureaucracy and creating efficiencies? That’s good government.

Leonhardt: But it would be a meaningful change if states were able to reduce bureaucracy. It may not be an ideology, but it doesn’t happen today.

Sanders: Get things done!

Leonhardt: And you agree that we should do more of that?

Sanders: Absolutely.

Leonhardt: That we should have policy changes to simplify things, to deliver —

Sanders: I did my best when I was mayor — we’re a small city of 40,000 people — to break through the bureaucracy. And I was a good mayor. So there’s no question that you have people who it seems to be their function in life is to make sure things don’t happen. We should not be paying people to do that.

Leonhardt: Right-wing nationalism is ascendant in much of the world.

Sanders: Yes.

Leonhardt: And it is extremely dangerous in many ways, as we are seeing in this country, as we’re seeing in Europe, as we’re seeing elsewhere. I’m curious what you think is an effective progressive response. Is there a version of progressive patriotism that can counter right-wing nationalism? Is there something that is more than a sum of smart policies — but instead becomes a narrative and a message and something inspiring, where people can say: We want that — rather than this really reactionary nationalism?

Sanders: Good question. As you’ve indicated, if you look at not only the United States and Trumpism, but if you look at France, if you look at the U.K. right now, where the leading candidate is a right-wing extremist, if you look at Germany — often, as you indicate, immigration is the issue.

Leonhardt: Yes.

Sanders: OK. What demagogues, as I mentioned earlier, always do is: You take a minority who are powerless, and you blame them for all of the problems. I think what we have got to see is that in America, and in many parts of the developed world, what has been happening over the last 50 years, especially in rural parts, is the rich get much richer, and zillions of people get left behind. Real inflation accounted for wages for the average American worker have been flat for 50 years. So people are angry.

Leonhardt: Yes.

Sanders: I think you need an economic agenda that says to people in England, France, Germany, throughout Europe, throughout Latin America, that with all of this technology, we can create a new world in which all of our people have a decent standard of living. That doesn’t solve all of the problems, but I think absolutely, at this time of growing income and wealth inequality, when the oligarchs are trying to destroy democracy all over the world, that’s an important part of the antidote.

Leonhardt: My worry is that a sort of whole-world message falls flat. I think of you as a patriot. I don’t know if you think of yourself as a patriot.

Sanders: Absolutely.

Leonhardt: Do you think patriotism within this country is an important part of that story?

Sanders: Look, when I was at Trump’s inaugural — I actually got pushed into the front row for whatever reason — and sitting behind him were the three wealthiest guys in the world. Behind them were billionaires Trump had nominated to run government agencies. And, honest to God, what I thought of when I was there looking at that scene: I was thinking about Abraham Lincoln at Gettysburg. After that terrible battle to help ban slavery in America, Lincoln gets up and says: These thousands of soldiers did not die in vain. They died so that we can maintain a government “of the people, by the people, for the people.”

So you want a nationalism? You want a patriotic nationalism? That’s what it is. People fought and died, not just from the Civil War and the Revolutionary War. World War II died to defend democracy, and we need a government and an economy that works for all of us, not just a handful of wealthy campaign donors. That’s your nationalism.

We love this country. My father came from a very poor family in Poland — antisemitism, poverty — came to America and never in a million years — the fact that his two kids were able to go to college. Unbelievable! Unbelievable. That is the truth of millions and millions and millions of people in this country. This is a great country. It has given so much to so many people, and we’re going to do everything that we can to make sure that Trump does not divide us up, does not move us into an authoritarian society.

Leonhardt: Senator Bernie Sanders, thank you so much.

Sanders: Thank you very much.

(NY Times)

13 Comments

Suzy November 4, 2025

Such a sad story about Matt Lafever- I do hope justice is served.
I trust that Ukiah unified administrators have performed their mandatory reporting of this information to the Ca. Commission on Teacher credentialing.
Teachers need to be amongst the most trusted members of our communities.

George Hollister November 4, 2025

SUPERVISOR MADELINE CLINE is spot on.

Norm Thurston November 4, 2025

Supervisor Cline: Thank-you for rising above the petty maneuvering that can go on with the BOS. You are proving yourself to be a thoughtful, competent Supervisor. We could use more like you. The issues you raise about the Potter Valley Project are valid, and I for one would like to see a thorough discussion of those issues in open session.

- Chuck Dunbar November 4, 2025
  
  +1 to both of these posts.
  
Mazie Malone November 4, 2025

Good Morning, 🌧️🌂

If the allegations and evidence against Matt LaFever are true, it’s very sad, but, honestly, nothing surprises me anymore. I feel for his wife and children, his students, and the community that saw him as a respectable source of journalism.

I, on the other hand, lost respect for him long before this. In August 2023 he reached out, asking if he could publish some of my write-ups on MendoFever. He told me, “I appreciate the directness and compassion you bring to the table.” I thanked him and said sure.

Then, a month later, I contacted him with questions about the disappearance of Riley Hsieh, and what he told me disturbed me to my core. He said he had it “on good authority” that Riley was actively avoiding being found. I told him that didn’t sound right, it sounded like “police talk.”

He doubled down, saying he’d “spoken with multiple witnesses who watched Riley flee from searchers.” I replied, “That’s interesting, I thought they said they couldn’t find him.” His response? “Well, if he fled during these interactions, they technically never actually found him.”

WTF? really, they saw him? He was experiencing a serious mental-health crisis, and people in that state flee. It was one of the saddest exchanges I’ve had, and it told me everything I needed to know about his perspective.

Trent James, (not sure how I feel about the guy, yet) regardless he put out a you tube video talking about this case, he added more context to the allegations. Not sure if there is any truth to them or where he gets his info but if it what he said is true, it is even more disturbing.

mm💕

Kirk Vodopals November 4, 2025

Donald and the MAGA goons whipped out their sharpie to redraw districts in their favor. Now Gavin said Touché! And pulled out his mascara applicator.
This duel is fruitless and ridiculous.

Jim Armstrong November 4, 2025

Madeline Cline is doing a very good job representing her constituency, an especially uphill grind considering the jerks on our BOS.
And her efforts are great alternative to the glee shown daily by the AVA at the catastrophe awaiting Potter Valley.

- Bruce Anderson November 4, 2025
  
  Daily? No glee on our end, Jim. Agree that Ms. Cline is the ornament of the Board.
  
- George Hollister November 4, 2025
  
  There is a lot more than Potter Valley at stake. Redwood Valley, the Ukiah valley, Hopland, and Cloverdale would take a hit. Ukiah City likely has false confidence in believing that their aquifer is disconnected from the PV diversion, and their economy will prosper while the surrounding area faces economic decline. The future of water security is dependent on raising Coyote Dam 30 feet which at this point is a pig in a poke.
  
Mike Geniella November 4, 2025

Chris Hedges’ piece today is spot on.

Chuck Dunbar November 4, 2025

Amidst other much more important topics comes “Summertime Blues,” Eddie Cochran’s beauty from 1958, when I was 11 years old. Still remember it from then, and it still makes me smile, as it did then. Just over two minutes of his high, kind of raspy voice, the toe-tappin’ beat, guitar at the front, then the bass voice coming in for punch. A classic. Thanks, AVA guys

Kirk Vodopals November 4, 2025

Ding Dong! The WMD warlock is dead

- Chuck Dunbar November 4, 2025
  
  Yes, another know-it-all kind of guy, like Rumsfeld and McNamara, whose influence on those above them led us straight into military disasters. So many American troops dead, as well as thousands and thousands of innocent civilians in those countries. We see it all so clearly now, they thought they saw it clearly, but they were dead wrong. Smart men– stupid, terrible things done under their watch, their advice.

13 Comments

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