Wind & Rain | Northern Lights | Brennan Refused | Ukiah Football | Rodolfo Perez | Restaurant Tipping | Pacific Coast | PIT Count | Local Events | Public Hearing | Candle Making | Crafts Fair | Yesterday's Catch | Wanted | Shutdown Ends | Sock Puppet | Not Perfect | Feckless Dems | Everything Changes | Teacher Snapped | Anti-Hunger Program | Sausage Shop | Bar Exam | Head Lap | John Henry | Dog School | Three Quakes | Last Penny | Never Know | Lead Stories | Oh Canada | Night Witches | Homeland Terror | Old Fence | At Day-Close
RAINFALL (past 24 hours): Yorkville 3.16" - Boonville 1.82" - Hopland 1.24" - Willits 1.20" - Ukiah 1.15" - Laytonville 0.67" - Covelo 0.25" - Leggett 0.18"
A MODERATE ATMOSPHERIC RIVER will continue to impact the area over the next 24 hours with the greatest wind and rain focused in Mendocino and Lake Counties. Conditions will clear for the end of the week with another round of light rain along the North Coast late in the weekend. (NWS)
STEPHEN DUNLAP (Fort Bragg): Light rain & 57F with 1.40" of new rainfall this Thursday morning on the coast. The power is on in our area in general. Scattered showers today, dry skies Friday & Saturday then more rain on Sunday. Another shot of rain mid next week.
MIKE GENIELLA:
Why did Judge Brennan apparently give the court only five days' notice of his stepping down in the face of Judge Ann Moorman's service on the state appellate court, and the required training of two new judge appointees? Sources indicate that the local bench assumed Brennan would be retiring next year and could assist in Ukiah in the interim. His fellow judges were relying on him to help spread out Judge Moorman's caseload, according to them. Brennan refused, according to court sources, creating the current situation. As it is, retired Judges Richard Henderson and John Behnke stepped up and are helping bridge the gap. Perhaps Judge Brennan will offer his explanation?
UKIAH HIGH WILL HOST ANTIOCH in the first round of the NCS Division 3 football playoffs Friday. Antioch recently forfeited a game after a team disciplinary issue. The winner of Friday's game advances to the semifinals.
RODOLFO "RUDY" PEREZ
Rodolfo Perez (Rudy) was born on October 6, 1986. Rudy was born to Rosa Linda Perez and Francisco Javier Lagunas. He passed away unexpectedly on Sunday November 9, 2025.
Rudy was a loving father, a caring lover, and cherished friend to many. He leaves behind his daughter Emma, and Son Rudy, and people who he deeply loved.
To his family and friends, Rudy was known for his joyful spirit, playful humor, and generous heart. He had a natural ability to make people smile and fill any room with laughter. Rudy was passionate about soccer, loved to socialize, and enjoyed sharing good times with those close to him. He had a wide circle of family and friends who adored him and will forever remember his energy, his jokes, and his kindness. He knew how to be the life of any party.
The weekend of his passing Rudy was joyful as ever full of life and happiness, showing no signs of sorrow. His passing has left a deep void in the hearts of those who loved him, but his memory will continue to shine through the stories, smiles, and love he shared with everyone around him. He will be dearly missed and forever remembered by his children, his partners, his extended family, and all who had the privilege of knowing him.
TIPPING: A Coast Chatline Discussion
Ronnie James: I had lunch in a Fort Bragg “sit down” restaurant yesterday and when the bill came, listed as part of the meal and included in the total due was a 2% “kitchen tip.” Then, of course, after that total was the line for the regular tip. First time I've ever seen/or heard of a mandatory “kitchen tip.” Is that something other restaurants are doing? Has anyone else seen this?
David Gurney: Some places are automatically adding 20% to the bill.
Daney Dawson: It's a way for restaurants to raise their prices without appearing to. Customers are subsidizing their employees so that they don't have to raise wages.
It would be more honest if they would raise their prices and pay higher wages, rather than let the customer feel better about paying more because it's “going to the kitchen staff,” not the owner. And, the front house employees usually split tips with the back house, so this is in addition.
But, everybody's getting squeezed; food prices are rising, all costs are rising, and businesses are struggling to stay afloat. Workers are struggling to pay bills. The worst is yet to come.
Leslie Hubbert: Restaurants have always been an economy unto themselves. Every one I ever worked in had a different system for tipping. Now it’s going digital. I still try to always tip in cash. If there’s no table service, I give very minimal tips., especially if I’m carrying food for a mobility-challenged person, as well as myself.
Del Potter: We are largely in denial about how horrible the economy actually is.
Chuck Wilcher: At the same time Caroline Leavitt is in the press room telling everyone how wonderful the economy is due to the genius of Trump.
Heather McNeil: This sounds suspect and I would inquire with the California labor laws. The restaurant may be exempt from laws banning required fees on bills (SB1524), but they must CLEARLY state their TOTAL fees, reasons, explanations BEYOND just on the bill. TOTAL fees must be CLEARLY posted on Menus, within the establishment, etc. if not, they face penalties and fines. Transparency is required: Restaurants must clearly list the total price of an item on the menu, including any mandatory service charges or fees, or clearly state the charge on the bill.
LOOK, DEBBIE, THERE'S ONE!
While acknowledging that such counts are an “imperfect tool” when it comes to measuring the success of strategies to reduce homelessness, Mendocino County recently released 2025 Point-In-Time data that revealed a significant reduction in the number of homeless individuals observed.
“The Mendocino County Homeless Services Continuum of Care has released its results from the 2025 Point-in-Time Count, an annual count of sheltered and unsheltered homeless persons in Mendocino County,” county officials reported in a press release. “More than 30 volunteers took part in this year’s PIT Count, which was held on the morning of Jan. 29, 2025. The data collected on that night is organized and submitted to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and is typically approved and released back to the community in the fall.”
According to the last year’s report, 774 homeless individuals were counted in 2024, while 636 homeless individuals were counted in 2025. The report identifies the vast majority of people counted in 2025 as white (and more than 60-percent male) adults, though more than 100 of them were identified as Native American, and 50 of them were identified as children under 18 years of age.
County officials noted that this year’s count marked “the second year that our community canvased and included Tribal lands in our PIT Count reporting, (and) the participation of Tribal Leadership has enabled the county to more effectively document the prevalence of people experiencing unsheltered homelessness who identify as Native American, Alaska Native, or Indigenous,” explaining that “the resulting demographic data continues to demonstrate an over-representation of Native American individuals in our homeless population: 19% of our homeless population identifies as Native American, compared to 2023 U.S. Census Bureau data that indicates 3.5% of the Mendocino County population as Native American.”
While releasing the details of the latest PIT count, however, county officials also described it as “a single, imperfect tool aimed at measuring outcomes related to homelessness. Many different factors can influence the results of a PIT Count, including the weather, the number and experience of volunteer canvassers, the level of preparation and training in advance of the count, the availability and skill of Lived Experience Guides, and unexpected events on the day of the count itself. For these reasons, we believe that observing long-term trends over several years is the most effective way to use PIT Count data to measure homelessness outcomes.”
Officials then reported observing these trends in both PIT counts and other data points:
Since 2020, the number of unsheltered homeless has declined by 23%.
Since 2020, the number of housing units identified specifically for homeless individuals has increased by 35%.
Since 2020, the number of shelter beds has held relatively steady.
Since 2021, at least 1,135 literally homeless individuals were housed in permanent housing in Mendocino County.
Since 2021, the Ukiah Valley Fire Authority has noted a 34% reduction in calls for service for homeless individuals.
Since 2021, 353 new units of housing have been built in Mendocino County, with 104 of those units specifically designated for persons and families experiencing homelessness.
“These promising trends support the theory that creating and supporting permanent housing itself is perhaps the most critical pathway to the long-term resolution of homelessness in our communities,” county officials noted. “We give credit and gratitude to our local jurisdictions and developers working hard to build new housing and look forward to new projects opening in our community within the next few years.”
A detailed PIT count report for 2025 can be accessed at the CoC website at https://mendocinococ.org/pit-counts
Finally, county officials noted that “the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development requires all Continuums of Care to conduct a Point-in-Time Count every other year, (and that the) Mendocino County Homeless Services Continuum of Care will not conduct the unsheltered count component of a full PIT Count in 2026, but will submit data to HUD of the Housing Inventory Count, which reflects a demographic analysis of the shelter beds available and in use on a single night in January 2026.”
LOCAL EVENTS
POINT ARENA PUBLIC HEARING: General Plan Sea Level Rise Amendment
Notice is hereby given that the Point Arena City Council will conduct a public hearing in-person and via teleconference on Tuesday, November 18, 2025 at 6:00 p.m., or as soon thereafter as possible, on the following:
Public Hearing will be held Approving/Denying the Following Project:
Request: Review and consider a recommendation to the City Council of an amendment of the City of Point Arena Local Coastal Program General Plan #2025-01, which proposes to incorporate sea level rise into the Community Safety & Health Element.
The Point Arena City Council is soliciting your input. All interested parties are invited to attend and be heard at this time. Applicants or their agents must appear for their hearings. If you challenge the above matter(s) in court, you may be limited to raising only those issues you or someone else raised at the public hearing described in this notice, or in written correspondence delivered to the City Clerk at, or prior to, the public hearing. All documents are available for review in the City Clerk’s Office. The City Council’s action regarding the item shall constitute final action by the City unless appealed to the Coastal Commission. Appeals to the Coastal Commission must be made in writing within 10 working days following Coastal Commission receipt of a Notice of Final Action on this project. Should you desire to request notification of the City Council’s decision you may do so in writing by providing a self-addressed stamped envelope to the City Clerk.
For further information contact the City of Point Arena:
PO Box 67, Point Arena, California 95468
City Hall Location: 451 School Street, Point Arena, California 95468
Telephone: 707 882-2122
Website: pointarena.ca.gov
Email: [email protected]
ARTS & CRAFTS FAIR IN ELK COMING SOON!
The Greenwood Community Church is sponsoring its 25th annual Holiday Arts and Crafts Fair on Saturday, December 6 from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. The fair will be held at the Greenwood Community Center in downtown Elk. Take home jewelry, pottery, wreaths, food products, bath & body items and other handcrafted delights for all ages. Come support your local organizations and artisans. Snacks and lunch will be available for purchase. Funds raised will help maintain the historic Greenwood Community Church. For more information, or to inquire about booth rental, contact Mary O'Brien at (248) 917-3369.
See more at: https://www.elkweb.org
CATCH OF THE DAY, Wednesday, November 12, 2025
(Unavailable due to Sheriff’s Booking Log glitch.)
HOUSE VOTES TO END LONGEST U.S. GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN
Bill Now Heads to President Trump’s Desk
The 222-to-209 vote came on Day 43 of the shutdown and days after eight senators in the Democratic caucus broke their own party’s blockade.
(NY Times Headline)
FATSO STARVES CHILDREN
Editor:
Trump ensures the elite never do without
There’s a meme from the Great Recession that still rings true. A photo of a clearly hungry child is accompanied by the words, “Mommy says the rich men need our food stamps.” The Trump administration has told mommy so, despite the money Congress reserved specifically to cover SNAP benefits during a government shutdown. With Trump’s big bogus bill, the Republican Congress has added, “The rich men need your health care, too.” Trump is consistently mislabeled as a populist. In fact, he’s the sock puppet of the most “elite” among us, who never have to go without.
Susan Collier Lamont
Santa Rosa
SPINELESS
Editor,
We didn’t need the shutdown to expose Trump’s mendacity.
The Democrats, for a short while, showed a spine by refusing to cave on the issue of extending subsidies for health insurance, a human right, and then, when they felt heat, they abandoned their principles and got absolutely nothing in return. The promise of a vote in the Senate (and not the House) is meaningless. The Republicans will never vote for health insurance relief. Even if they did, there is no way that Trump would not veto such a law. The only way to protect health care affordability was to hold out, but the Democrats got spooked, and they cowered and surrendered.
The takeaways are that Trump now knows he can always win against the feckless Democrats, and they cannot be counted on to protect the values they ostensibly espouse. Utterly pathetic.
David Wiseblood
San Francisco
TALK TO ME
Warmest spiritual greetings,
The Continuous Superconscious State: Sahaja Samadhi Avastha
What else is there but the constant spiritual superconscious state? The appearance of a world and everything in it goes on. What is the point of it? Does it have a purpose? Why is the humanity attached to it, knowing that it is transient? One moment. The next moment. Ungraspable! Everything changes.
The big news in today's Washington Post is that the American government cannot fund November Food Stamps for 1 in 8 American citizens who use them for basic nutritional needs. Nobody has any certainty when this is going to happen. Pop up emergency food is everywhere, from cars in parking lots handing out sandwiches and soda pop, to the Washington D.C. Catholic Worker serving meals in McPherson Square near the White House, to the Salvation Army showing up at homeless shelters at night.
I am available on the planet earth. What would you do in this world if you knew that you could not fail? Talk to me. "Follow spirit" and let us forget the rest. I'm ready. You ready?
Craig Louis Stehr, [email protected]
42 MILLION PEOPLE ARE ENROLLED IN SNAP. WHO ARE THEY?
The shutdown brought the scale of the federal food aid program into focus and raised questions about how such a rich country could have so many people on nutrition assistance.
by David Chen
The longest government shutdown in U.S. history brought with it a brawl between President Trump and Democrats in Congress and in the states over food assistance and whether the Trump administration had the authority to cut it off.
So what is the food aid program known as SNAP, or the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program?
From Food Stamps To SNAP
SNAP, the nation’s biggest anti-hunger program, is funded federally but administered largely by state agencies. In a handful of states, county governments dispense benefits and monitor eligibility.
The program is now used by 42 million low-income people — one in eight Americans — to purchase groceries. People receive benefits electronically each month through an electronic benefits transfer, or E.B.T., card that functions much like a debit card.
The SNAP program is the modern successor to the food stamp program, which dates to 1939 and the New Deal. The name was changed in 2008 “to fight stigma,” according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Who Is Eligible?
Eligibility is based on income limits — typically 130 percent of the federal poverty level — and participants are subject to reporting rules and work requirements. In 2025, that 130 percent figure translates into $529 a week for a household of two, or $27,495 a year, according to federal guidelines. The eligibility cutoff is $41,795 for a family of four.
Overall, federal spending on SNAP totaled almost $100 billion in 2024. SNAP recipients receive $187 a month on average.
Who Receives SNAP?
Nearly 90 percent of SNAP recipients are native-born American citizens, according to the latest data from the Agriculture Department, and 96 percent were citizens.
About 62 percent of SNAP participants are in families with children. About 40 percent of SNAP recipients are children under 18, and about 20 percent are over the age of 60.
The states with the highest percentages of SNAP recipients are New Mexico, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Oregon.
Why Have SNAP Rolls Stopped Responding To Good Economic Numbers?
In the past, enrollment in SNAP, and its costs, have usually aligned with unemployment and poverty rates. The Agriculture Department’s Economic Research Service has described SNAP as a “countercyclical” program that acts as an “automatic stabilizer to the economy,” meaning that the program is designed to expand during economic downturns and shrink when the economy heats up.
Going back decades, participation in SNAP usually varied between 7 percent and 11 percent of the population, according to the nonpartisan Pew Research Center. That percentage rose significantly during the financial crisis of 2008 and its aftermath, peaking at almost 19 percent in 2013, or more than 47 million people.
During the pandemic, under the first Trump administration, emergency legislation temporarily and partly suspended a longstanding requirement that “able-bodied” adult SNAP recipients without dependents work. The suspension ended in 2023, and the Biden administration agreed to add stricter work requirements to SNAP under a deal with Republican lawmakers in 2023.
Yet even as the economy has recovered, if slowly, from the pandemic, the gap between wealthy and poor Americans has become more pronounced, and SNAP enrollment has not deviated much from its level of 41 million. Analysts have attributed the numbers in part to a weak job market, inflation, uncertainty over the economy and an uneven recovery that has enriched the top end of the economic spectrum while leaving the bottom end behind.
The Work Requirement Is About To Get Much Tougher.
The 41 million figure is likely to shrink soon, but not necessarily because the economy will lift SNAP beneficiaries out of poverty. Instead, Mr. Trump’s signature domestic policy law, which took effect on Nov. 1, will change a number of criteria affecting SNAP, according to federal guidance.
Starting this month, able-bodied adults between ages 18 and 64 must work at least 80 hours per month, or be involved in volunteering or an education or training program, to remain eligible for more than three months in a three-year period. The previous age limit was 54.
Caregivers of children have long had an exemption from worth requirements, and children were defined as anyone under 18 in a SNAP recipient’s care. Under the new law, the exemption applies to people caring for children under 14. Homeless people, veterans and people under 24 who had aged out of foster care also used to be exempt. Now they are not.
The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that the changes will force states to reduce or eliminate SNAP benefits, whether because people do not meet the new requirements or fail to provide the proper paperwork. As many as 2.4 million people are expected to fall out of the program because of the work requirements alone.
Can The President Just Cut Off Benefits In A Shutdown?
The Trump administration raised pressure on Democrats to vote to reopen the government without the health care concessions they were demanding, in large part by cutting off SNAP benefits. After lower courts ruled that the administration would have to pay those benefits, the U.S.D.A. rushed an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court rather than comply. The high court granted a reprieve, and most benefits remain suspended.
Groups challenging the Trump administration’s decision asked the Supreme Court on Tuesday morning to allow a lower court order to go into effect to force the government to give people their SNAP allotments. In a brief, the groups said that “people and families have now gone ten days without the help they need to afford food,” asserting that any further delays “would prolong that irreparable harm and add to the chaos the government has unleashed, with lasting impacts” on the food benefit program.
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson is handling the emergency application, and she had set a speedy briefing schedule in the case, giving the challengers until 8 a.m. Tuesday morning to respond. The courts could decide whether the administration’s actions were legal, but if the government reopens, administration lawyers could try to declare the case moot.
(NY Times)
EXPERTS BREAK DOWN JUST HOW BRUTAL CALIFORNIA'S BAR EXAM REALLY IS AFTER KIM KARDASHIAN FAILED ATTEMPT
by Deirdre Durkan-Simonds
Kim Kardashian’s latest revelation that she did not pass the Bar has reignited debate about the grueling test and what it really says about someone's potential to practice law.
Three veteran attorneys told the Daily Mail that the reality-star-turned-law-student's setback is far from unusual, emphasizing that the California exam has one of the lowest pass rates in the nation and is 'a test of endurance, not intelligence.'
Golnoush Goharzad, an attorney in the state of 17 years, said: 'Until a few years ago, the California Bar exam was a three-day test, unlike other states, which had two-day tests.
'Rather than one day of multiple choice and one day of essays and performance exams, the California Bar traditionally had two days of essays and performance exams.'
She added that the state's unique legal framework makes it even more complicated.
'The California legal system, unlike many other states, has laws that differ drastically from federal laws,' she said. 'The fact that California laws are so different makes it significantly more complex.'
That complication has earned it a notorious nickname among lawyers.
As Colleen Joyce, the chief executive of Lawyer.com, put it: 'The California Bar is often called the Mount Everest of bar exams - not just because of how much material it covers but because of the depth of thinking it requires.'
The pass rate for repeat takers can be as low as 24 percent, something Goharzad attributes to 'test fatigue' and the sheer volume of material.
'Every strong lawyer I know has failed it once,' she said. 'Most California lawyers have probably failed it at least once.'
Similarly, Mark Childress, founding attorney of the Law Offices of Mark Childress in Texas, said failing the first time 'is far more common than most people think.'
'Even the most promising candidates can struggle with test-day nerves or the exam format. This is not a reflection of intelligence or ability - it's just a hurdle many excellent lawyers have had to overcome,' he noted.
Both attorneys stressed that not passing on the first try says little about a person's potential.
'Failing the bar is not a referendum on someone's intelligence or their ceiling as a lawyer,' Goharzad said. 'The bar exam is a narrow, high-pressure snapshot of one skill set - memorizing huge amounts of law and writing in a formulaic way under severe time constraints.'
She added that real-world lawyering depends on instincts and strategy, not rote memorization.
'Good lawyers have strong instincts and an even stronger ability to strategize - and these are not factors tested on the bar exam,' she said.
Goharzad also stressed that Kardashian's openness about falling short 'should inspire others.'
'She is a real person and no different from other exam takers,' she said. 'Her openness shows that failing the bar exam is okay — what matters is persevering.'
Childress echoed that sentiment: 'Her transparency validates the struggles of others. It reminds aspiring lawyers that setbacks are part of the process, not the end of it. Determination is just as essential to being a good lawyer as intellect.'
The SKIMS founder also admitted she used AI tools such as ChatGPT while studying - something Goharzad said reflects a growing reality in modern law.
'Every single lawyer you know, unless they are up in age, is using AI,' she said. 'The use of AI will transform the practice of law and every legal conference is now pivoting towards teaching lawyers how to use AI better. It's obviously not foolproof, but neither is getting a human bar tutor.'
Ultimately, Goharzad said critics who mock Kardashian's legal ambitions are 'just being snobs.'
'I don't understand why people think that the average law student is somehow more serious than Kim Kardashian. People come to this profession from all sorts of backgrounds,' she said. 'Clearly she chose the law because she actually wants to help people, and be an advocate, which are already more admirable intentions than those held by many law students.'
As for Kardashian's future? Goharzad believes she's already doing more for justice reform than most licensed lawyers.
'Her highlighting issues like prison reform and the death penalty has brought more advocacy and justice than the average licensed lawyer,' she said. 'Advocacy is not a bar number — it's a passion and a dedication to justice. Kim seems to have both.'
Over the weekend, Kardashian, who took the exam back in July, confirmed that she did not pass.
'Well…I'm not a lawyer yet, I just play a very well-dressed one on TV,' she began, referencing to her new Hulu series All's Fair.
'Six years into this law journey, and I'm still all in until I pass the bar. No shortcuts, no giving up - just more studying and even more determination.'
Kardashian then sent gratitude to those who have 'supported and encouraged me along the way so far.'
The mom-of-four concluded her statement with a positive message and stated that she nearly passed the bar exam.
'Falling short isn't failure - it's fuel. I was so close to passing the exam and that only motivates me even more. Let's Go!!!!!!!!!!'
(DailyMail.uk)
THE BALLAD OF JOHN HENRY
When John Henry was a little baby,
Sitting on his pappy’s knee,
He grabbed a hammer and a little piece of steel,
Said, “This hammer’ll be the death of me, Lord, Lord.
This hammer’ll be the death of me.”
Now, the captain said to John Henry,
I’m gonna bring that steam drill around.
I’m gonna take that steam drill out on the job,
I’m gonna whop that steel on down, Lord, Lord.
Gonna whop that steel on down.”
John Henry told his captain,
“A man ain’t nothing but a man,
But before I let that steam drill beat me down,
I’ll die with my hammer in my hand, Lord, Lord.
I’ll die with my hammer in my hand.”
John Henry said to his shaker,
“Now, shaker, why don’t you sing?
’Cause I’m throwing twelve pounds from my hips on down.
Just listen to that cold steel ring, Lord, Lord.
Just listen to that cold steel ring.”
The man that invented the steam drill,
He thought he was mighty fine.
But John Henry, he made fourteen feet
While the steam drill only made nine, Lord, Lord.
The steam drill only made nine.
John Henry hammered on the mountain
Till his hammer was striking fire.
He drove so hard he broke his poor heart.
Then, he laid down his hammer and he died, Lord, Lord.
He laid down his hammer and he died.
They took John Henry to the graveyard,
And they buried him in the sand.
And every locomotive comes rolling by
Says, “Here lies a steel-driving man, Lord, Lord.
Here lies a steel-driving man.”
Now, some say he was born in Texas,
And some say he was born in Maine.
But I don’t give a damn where that poor boy was born.
He was a steel-driving man, Lord, Lord.
He was a steel-driving man.
THE NEW MADRID EARTHQUAKES OF 1811-1812
Silas Boone was a 40-year-old Kentucky longhunter turned settler, who’d tracked bear from the Cumberland Gap to the Mississippi flats. He staked 640 acres near Little Prairie, Missouri Territory, in 1810 with his wife Rebecca—sharpshooter with a Pennsylvania rifle—and their six children: Daniel, 18, already a man with his own flintlock; Martha, 16, who spun wool finer than silk; twins Jesse and Rebecca Jr., 12, who raced barefoot across the canebrakes; Elijah, 8, who collected arrowheads; and baby Keziah, 3, who slept in a cradle carved from a single walnut log.
December 16, 1811, was Monday. At 2:15 a.m., the earth roared. The first quake—8.1—lifted the ground in waves 20 feet high. Silas’s cabin buckled; the chimney fell through the roof. He carried the children out as fissures opened like mouths, swallowing the smokehouse whole. The Mississippi reversed, waterfalls flowed uphill, sand blows buried cornfields in white dunes. Church bells rang in Boston. Reelfoot Lake was born in Tennessee.
Three great quakes—December, January, February—1,800 aftershocks. Silas’s family slept in a canebrake lean-to for weeks. Rebecca shot a deer that wandered dazed from a crack. Daniel fished catfish stunned in mud boils. The land rose and fell in ridges; their homestead became a swamp. They joined a flatboat caravan to St. Louis, rebuilt on higher ground.
The quakes redrew maps, humbled a nation, inspired Tecumseh’s war. Silas kept a chunk of “earthquake sand” in a powder horn. Rebecca’s rifle never missed. Daniel scouted for the Texas Revolution. Martha wove the first Missouri state flag. The twins mapped the seismic zone for the Army. Elijah became a preacher—sermons on solid rock. Keziah grew up to teach in the first public school west of the river.
Every December 16, New Madrid rings the courthouse bell 1,800 times—one for each recorded shock. The Boone kin release 1,800 paper flatboats into the Mississippi. Silas’s boat is always walnut-brown, with a tiny powder horn tied to the mast. It rides the current longest.
US MINT PRESSES FINAL PENNIES AS PRODUCTION ENDS AFTER MORE THAN 230 YEARS
by Maryclaire Dale
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The U.S. ended production of the penny Wednesday, abandoning the 1-cent coins that were embedded in American culture for more than 230 years but became nearly worthless.
When it was introduced in 1793, a penny could buy a biscuit, a candle or a piece of candy. Now most of them are cast aside to sit in jars or junk drawers, and each one costs nearly 4 cents to make.
“God bless America, and we’re going to save the taxpayers $56 million,” Treasurer Brandon Beach said at the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia before hitting a button to strike the final penny. The coins were then carefully placed on a tray for journalists to see. The last few pennies were to be auctioned off.
Billions of pennies are still in circulation and will remain legal tender, but new ones will no longer be made.
The last U.S. coin to be discontinued was the half-cent in 1857, Beach said.
Most penny production ended over the summer, officials said. During the final pressing, workers at the mint stood quietly on the factory floor as if bidding farewell to an old friend. When the last coins emerged, the men and women broke into applause and cheered one another.
“It’s an emotional day,” said Clayton Crotty, who has worked at the mint for 15 years. “But it’s not unexpected.”
President Donald Trump ordered the penny’s demise as costs climbed and the 1-cent valuation became virtually obsolete.
“For far too long the United States has minted pennies which literally cost us more than 2 cents,” Trump wrote in an online post in February. “This is so wasteful!”
Still, many Americans have a nostalgia for them, seeing pennies as lucky or fun to collect. And some retailers voiced concerns in recent weeks as supplies ran low and the end of production drew near. They said the phaseout was abrupt and came with no government guidance on how to handle transactions.
Some businesses rounded prices down to avoid shortchanging shoppers. Others pleaded with customers to bring exact change. The more creative among them gave out prizes, such as a free drink, in exchange for a pile of pennies.
“We have been advocating abolition of the penny for 30 years. But this is not the way we wanted it to go,” Jeff Lenard of the National Association of Convenience Stores said last month.
Proponents of eliminating the coin cited cost savings, speedier checkouts at cash registers and the fact that some countries have already eliminated their 1-cent coins. Canada, for instance, stopped minting its penny in 2012.
Some banks began rationing supplies, a somewhat paradoxical result of the effort to address what many see as a glut of the coins. Over the last century, about half the coins made at mints in Philadelphia and Denver have been pennies.
But they cost far less to produce than the nickel, which costs nearly 14 cents to make. The diminutive dime, by comparison, costs less than 6 cents to produce, and the quarter nearly 15 cents.
No matter their face value, collectors and historians consider them an important historical record. Frank Holt, an emeritus professor at the University of Houston who has studied the history of coins, laments the loss.
“We put mottoes on them and self-identifiers, and we decide — in the case of the United States — which dead persons are most important to us and should be commemorated,” he said. “They reflect our politics, our religion, our art, our sense of ourselves, our ideals, our aspirations.”
(apnews.com)
JEFFREY ST. CLAIR:
You might think it doesn't get more bizarre than a former Al Qaeda commander being invited to the White House. But that was just the beginning. Once in the Oval Office, Trump sprayed Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa with his cologne, then asked him, “How many wives do you have?”
Al-Sharaa: “One.”
Trump: “You never know.”
Of course, Trump was likely doing a little gloating that he accomplished what Al Qaeda tried and failed to do: knock down the East Wing of the White House.
LEAD STORIES, THURSDAY'S NYT
Government Reopens as Trump Signs Bill to End Nation’s Longest Shutdown
What Newly Released Emails Tell Us About Epstein and Trump
Trump Administration to Drastically Cut Housing Grants
William Rataczak, Co-Pilot of Flight Hijacked by D.B. Cooper, Dies at 86
ON-LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY
The Canadian geography on the whole is not friendly to human life. Most of Canada only deglaciated 10,000 years ago, and some areas only deglaciated 5,000 years ago. This land is NOT meant for Homo sapiens. That's why nearly all Canadians live in our largest cities.
Canadians are a SERF nation, the most indoor people in the world, the most allergic people in the world, the most vitamin D deficient people in the world.
I look forward to the world re-glaciating and Canada disappearing under ice. Good riddance.
THROUGHOUT WORLD WAR II, the Nazis lived in terror of the Night Witches, an all-female flying squad that dropped a whopping 23 tons of bombs on the German forces invading their homeland.
Consisting of young women aged just 17 to 26, these pilots overcame extraordinary misogyny to fly some 30,000 deadly missions against the Nazis. And when they flew overhead with their engines shut off in order to remain stealthy, their faint yet telltale whoosh was the last thing you heard before certain doom.
Mark Scaramella’s article on the Night Witches: "Bravery Beyond Belief"
THE WAR AT HOME
by Cora Currier
The “war on terror” is so pervasive and hard to define that it is easy to lose sight of its most shocking features.
What to call the war is just as vexing a question as how to define it. “Is ‘war’ the right word?” Richard Beck asks in his new book ‘Homeland: the War in Terror in American Life.’ After all, war has never been formally declared. The convention of putting the “war on terror” in quotation marks developed at some publications is a way of indicating some rightful skepticism about a war on an abstract noun. Beck doesn’t use quotation marks, accepting not the name’s premise (it’s “like something out of the ‘Lord of the Rings’”) but is colloquialism. I am not sure that we would arrive at a more faithful description by insisting on more specificity. Can we imagine an inverse of the “war on terror,” as some in Vietnam use “American War” rather than “Vietnam War”? “Forever war” is often used, though that is as fatalist and broad as “war on terror.” Whatever the better name is, it is surely not “Overseas Contingency Operations,” the umbrella term sometimes used by the Pentagon.
Over the years it has become “a kind of water that people noticed just every so often,” as Richard Beck puts it in his new book, “even though they spent their lives swimming in it.” It's a cliché, Beck points out, to talk about the war coming home to be visited on the country's citizens; it is far more accurate to say that it began at home and has continued here.
Beck’s ‘Homeland’ is a polemical account that shows how September 11 reshaped the American psyche — and argues persuasively that the resulting militarism “transformed everything from the kinds of heroes Americans wanted to see on television to the vehicles they drove to the grocery store and the city streets on which they walked.” Donald Rumsfeld said in a speech in October 2001, “We have two choices: Either we change the way we live, or we must change the way they live. We choose the latter.” In fact we chose both.
Beck's history begins with the nation's response to what he calls an “unprecedented experience of national humiliation.” He chronicles the rise of security culture — from the growth of the TSA to the designation of parks and plazas as “security zones” and Super Bowls as “National Special Security Events” — and suspicion of and racism against Muslims (and other people who look the way Americans think Muslims do).
They were targeted in hate crimes and protests and by local and federal authorities for surveillance and detention. The contention that they posed a threat was largely baseless: a rapid roundup after the attacks of more than 1,200 people, mostly Muslim or Arab, resulted in zero terrorism convictions. One major study of purported terrorism convictions between 2001 and 2010 found that most cases involved broadly defined “material support” laws (which could criminalize charitable contributions or social connections) or plots fully concocted by the FBI and its agents provocateurs.
One informant spent three years trying and failing to get a Harlem-based jazz musician to do something illegal; that informant eventually became so distraught about his work with the FBI that he set himself on fire outside the White House. (He survived).
(New York Review of Books)
AT DAY-CLOSE IN NOVEMBER
The ten hours' light is abating,
And a late bird flies across,
Where the pines, like waltzers waiting,
Give their black heads a toss.
Beech leaves, that yellow the noon-time,
Float past like specks in the eye;
I set every tree in my June time,
And now they obscure the sky.
And the children who ramble through here
Conceive that there never has been
A time when no tall trees grew here,
A time when none will be seen.
— Thomas Hardy (1914)
US MINT PRESSES FINAL PENNIES AS PRODUCTION ENDS AFTER MORE THAN 230 YEARS
What nonsense. They shoulda raised taxes on the wealthy. USans are the most gullible asses on the earth.
Good Morning, 🌧️🦃
Is it just me, or is the timing of the PIT Count a little… illogical?
We canvass for homeless people in the coldest part of winter, when most are taking shelter from the elements-tucked away, harder to find, and trying to stay alive.
Then the results show up 10 months later, perfectly timed for… Homelessness Awareness Month!
Coincidence? Irony? Still deciding.
And here’s the fun part: if we take the 636 count at face value, that means roughly 191 people in the whole county are living with serious mental illness because nationally, about 30% of homeless people fall into that category, and half of those struggle with Anosognosia-lack of insight into ones illness!
Hahaha. Right.
mm💕
Keep on keepin’ on, Mazie. It is good that you are directly helping some folks out there, and also that you are watching the system, questioning and pushing and pushing. Needs to happen.
Thank you, Chuck.. 🤗
I also want to thank you for the donations, I am iust finishing labeling them up, to give out to the street folks. Also reusing the bags you gave them to me in. Very thankful for your support!
mm💕
“The quakes redrew maps, humbled a nation, inspired Tecumseh’s war.”
In his book “A Sorrow in Our Heart,” author Allan Eckert details the battle of Tippecanoe and Tecumseh’s role in the battle. He writes of Tecumseh’s prediction of the earthquake (‘a great sign’) for months prior to the quake that would show the Indians their cause is just against the invaders.
A year in Brussels was a welcome relief from tipping. In Belgium, and France, the bill simply stated “service 15% compris” and a supplement for exceptional service was up to the client. Their employees were salaried, so simple. Could the pushback here come from owners skimming tips?
Could it be that tips are no longer taxed? Maybe a required tip would be a way to directly pay employees, at least in part, without withholding for income tax, SS, and Medicare. Good for the employees, and good for the employer. With that angle, maybe there will be higher required tips. And lower menu prices, too? If true, I don’t think no-tax-on-tips was very well thought through.
Thank goodness you’re in no position of power…