Warm | Kit Return | Panthers Advance | Burn Etiquette | Fall Color | Plastic Park | Local Events | Russian Coho | Basketball Scholarship | Boonquiz | Bloom Blast | Navarro Mill | Yesterday's Catch | Lakeport Railroad | Fair Share | Esmeralda Water | Musselwhite Music | 49er Dreams | Control Craving | Wine Shorts | El Lechero | Partisan BS | Press Pushback | Pouring Cement | Trump Riffing | Schank Schmuck | Deep Hypocrisy | Times Credit | Smartphone Spyware | Lead Stories | Automatic Registration | Pale Moon | Father Protector | Love Mystery | Buffalo Bill 's | Wheatfield Crows
STEPHEN DUNLAP (Fort Bragg): 41F under clear skies this Friday morning on the coast. Our lovely weather continues thru the weekend with the start of the incoming rain holding off just a bit until later on Monday, ish, we'll see ? It does look like rainfall amounts are quite strong thru the week at this point once it gets here.
DRY, calm, and foggy weather will persist through the weekend. Wetter weather will finally return next week with period of light to moderate rain and wind focused along the North Coast early in the week. (NWS)
KATHERINE ‘KIT’ ELLIOTT TO RETURN AS MENDOCINO COUNTY COUNSEL, but as a “contractor” for six months. After that…? Elliott will be paid $31,666 per month, for a total contract value of $190k, or 960 hours at almost $200 an hour. At least this is less than the $400 an hour the county paid for their last temporary contract County Counsel, Mr. James Ross, whose primary contribution to County operations was to complicate and delay the disbursements of Measure P money to local fire departments. Elliott will also get a generous travel and per diem allowance from her place of residence, presumably in Nevada County where she now lives after abruptly resigning from the Mendo County Counsel position back in 2019. This will bring her total cost to well over $200k per year. Next Tuesday’s agenda item says that the Board will have to waive the residency requirement to appoint her as temporary County Counsel, meaning she will be commuting to the position from Nevada County.
According to an article in The Union, a Nevada County publication, Elliott “retired” from her position as County Counsel there in December of last year. This means she will be getting her County pension (based on upwards of ten years of government employment) on top of her contract payments and travel/per diem income. We can’t help but wonder if Elliott’s return will translate into a revision or further delay in the County’s position in the ongoing Chamise Cubbison civil case. Elliott’s start date is January 12, 2026. Mendo’s County Counsel position became vacant when Charlotte Scott was appointed to the Superior Court bench a few months ago.
PS. There is nothing on next Tuesday’s agenda about the recently completed State Audit which was discussed for three hours in closed session last week.
FIRST DAY RESULTS, SEQUOIA CLASSIC
Updated bracket after day 1 of the Sequoia Classic. AVHS won two very tight games and will be playing Point Arena on Saturday at 12:30 for a chance to get the championship game.
BAD BURN PILE BEHAVIOR
Editor,
I live near Fort Bragg and would like to address burn piles. They’re necessary for living in our area for many reasons. However, I have neighbors who have no respect for their community or haven’t read the regulations. I’ve witnessed neighbors burn extremely oversized wet piles, keeping them going with leaf blowers, billowing black smoke for months!
Another neighbor trailers in wet vegetative material from another location and burns. Neither ever completely put their fires out.
With the rate of development in the area, the air quality has been terrible. Some days, it is comparable to the burn pits I experienced in Iraq.
I gave my neighbor the benefit of the doubt because he had lots of overgrown brush, so I didn’t say anything. Eventually, I asked him if he could please reduce the smoke and ash. The next day, he burned wet dirt and leaves with a roofing torch. I got angry, and I let them know I was angry, but this didn’t help.
As a last resort, I complained to the air quality control board. While the employee was understanding, this did nothing. Why have rules if they aren’t followed and aren’t enforced?
My neighbors don’t seem like bad people, they’re very hardworking and have many positive qualities. I just wish that people would burn as respectfully as possible so the community won’t have air quality issues. Your neighbors shouldn’t have to breathe in cancer because you are rushing to develop a property.
Ian Butler
Fort Bragg
FORT BRAGG RESIDENT CHRIS CRISPER'S comments about the plastic makeover of Fort Bragg’s Bainbridge Park
We are writing with an urgent request to immediately stop the planned use of an artificial rubber surface for the soccer field and playground in the Bainbridge Park Enhancement Project. It is of critical importance that the chosen material be safe for children and the surrounding environment. The current selection contains toxic chemicals that put vulnerable children at risk, and safer alternatives should be considered immediately.
During the July 14, 2025 City Council meeting, Chantell O’Neal, the Assistant Director of Engineering for the City, provided a brief overview of the Bainbridge Park Enhancement Project and the status of current construction. Of specific interest, Chantell noted that the material for the soccer field will be a “bonded poured-in-place rubber surface (minute 21:39).” Chantell highlighted that there was a thorough review and evaluation of options to select materials—including public noticing, review, and workshops, and that information is available on the City’s website. However, upon review of the project’s webpage—none of that information is available for consideration on the project’s webpage.
It is of critical importance to the community that the material for both the playground and the soccer field is safe for kids and the surrounding environment. As outlined below, children are uniquely vulnerable to the effects of toxic chemicals associated with poured-in-place rubber because their organ systems are developing rapidly, their detoxification mechanisms are immature, and they have more hand-to-mouth exposure to environmental contaminants than adults. Adult caregivers who spend time at playgrounds, especially pregnant women, the elderly, or those with medical vulnerabilities such as asthma, can also be affected by chemicals in surfacing materials. In addition, there are alternatives that do not put at risk kids, caregivers, or the surrounding environment which should be immediately considered by the City of Fort Bragg.
Of interest along the coast, statewide there have been a number of recent playground projects that have been prohibited from use of Poured-in-Place surfacing by the California Coastal Commission because of the pollutants to humans and the environment (see Coastal Commission 2024 Memo, Potential adverse environmental effects of proposed Poured-in-Place rubber playground surfacing product and recommendations for alternative materials):
Therefore, we urge City Staff and, Councilmembers, and General Public to immediately stop use of the poured in-place rubber for the soccer field and playground, and to instead utilize a safe, acceptable surface material that avoids and minimizes discharge of hazardous chemicals and microplastics into the environment.
Health and Environmental Risks from Poured-in-Place Playground Surfaces
There are documented health and environmental contamination risks associated with poured-in-place (PIP) rubber playground surfaces from pollutants (see the Figure 1) including Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs), phthalates, and volatile organic compounds. In general, PIP is made from granulated particles processed from materials such as waste tires, thermoplastic elastomer (TPE), or ethylene propylene diene terpolymer rubber (EPDM), and held together with chemical binders and adhesives like thermoplastic vulcanizate (TPV). In TPV, a vulcanized product such as EPDM is combined or coated with a thermoplastic, such as polypropylene.
A number of PAHs have been identified as known or suspected human carcinogens by the International Agency for Research on Cancer. Many of these PAHs (e.g. benz(a)anthracene, benzo(a)pyrene, benzo(k)fluoranthene, benzo(b)fluoranthene, indeno(1,2,3-c,d)pyrene, chrysene, and dibenz(a,h)anthracene) have been found in waste tire rubber, in the air around the rubber, or in leachate from the rubber. Tires are made from styrene butadiene rubber (SBR) and a variety of added chemicals and materials including stabilizers, fillers, and vulcanization agents. Many chemicals found in tires are known to be hazardous to human health or the environment; these include polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), volatile organic compounds (VOCs), 6-phenylenediamine (6PPD), and heavy metals such as lead and zinc, and other chemicals of concern including organophosphate esters (OPEs). Several VOCs are known carcinogens (i.e. benzene and hexane), and metals (i.e. lead) found in waste tires. Even low levels of lead can result in behavior and learning problems, slowed growth, and anemia in children. Concerns associated with other chemicals found in tires (e.g. phthalates) include endocrine disruption.
With respect to environmental risks, numerous studies show that metals such as zinc, and toxic chemicals such as PAHs and phthalates, can leach from poured-in-place surfaces into the surrounding environment through stormwater runoff. Even small amounts of these toxicants can create negative effects on aquatic life. Synthetic materials also contribute to plastic and microplastic pollution as the pieces migrate outside of intended play areas and break down into smaller pieces over time.
Safe Alternatives for Bainbridge Park
There are a variety of safer alternatives available to use for resurfacing the playground and soccer field at Bainbridge Park. Acceptable playground surfacing materials to minimize the discharge of hazardous chemicals and microplastic debris should include the following (recommendations provided here are adopted from recently authorized playground projects identified above CDP 5-23-0345; CDP 1-22-0509; CDP 5-24-0064):
A. Natural Materials. Natural materials such as engineered wood fiber (EWF); cork PIP surfacing; loose-fill materials such as sand, pea gravel, wood chips, bark, or pieces of natural rubber; and mats, pads, or tiles made from natural rubber (not waste tire rubber) shall be the preferable choice for playground surfacing materials, where feasible. Mats, pads, or tiles that do not contain waste tire material may be installed on top of EWF or loose-fill playground materials to create wheelchair-accessible pathways to playground equipment, and/or to prevent displacement of loose-fill materials in high-use areas such as under swings. EWF with a resin binder (“bonded EWF”) may also be used to create wheelchair-accessible pathways in the playground. Though the materials described in this section are preferable, the materials discussed in Section B below may be used instead in the circumstances described therein.
B. Low-Toxicity Non-granular Plastics. Playground surfacing products made from types of plastics that have documented low toxicity to humans and the environment shall be acceptable if use of natural surfacing materials is not feasible. Any plastic products used for the top surface of the playground shall contain only non-granular plastics, not resin-bonded granules, to minimize microplastic pollution. Acceptable low-toxicity non-granular plastic playground surfacing products shall include, but are not limited to:
a. Woven or non-woven roll-out polyester beach access mats that provide wheelchair-accessible pathways across sand.
b. Injection-molded polyvinyl chloride (PVC) interlocking perforated tiles that integrate with loose-fill surfacing materials to provide wheelchair-accessible pathways and/or to prevent displacement of loose-fill surfacing materials under high-use playground equipment (such as swings and slides). These tiles may also be used throughout the playground when installed on top of a cushioning pad. The cushioning pad beneath these tiles shall not contain waste tire material.
c. Cross-linked polyethylene foam (XPE) shock pads may be used as a cushioning material, such as under injection-molded interlocking perforated PVC tiles, to provide fall protection under playground equipment or throughout the playground.
LOCAL EVENTS (this weekend)
‘PRETTY AMAZING’: SALMON SEEN IN UPPER REACHES OF A COUNTY RIVER FOR FIRST TIME IN DECADES
by Kurtis Alexander
Coho salmon have pushed more than 90 miles up California’s Russian River, reaching the watershed’s upper basin for the first time in more than three decades — the latest of many recent milestones for the endangered fish.
State wildlife officials confirmed Thursday that a handful of young coho were spotted over the summer in Ackerman Creek, a tributary of the Russian River near Ukiah, in Mendocino County. The juveniles are believed to have been spawned by adults that migrated from the Pacific Ocean on a course rife with human-imposed obstacles, including sediment washed in from forest clear-cuts and water reductions due to agricultural pumping.
Coho, among the most threatened of California fish in the iconic salmon family, have been steadily returning to the lower reaches of the Russian River as state and federal money has poured in for improving river conditions. The fish’s latest advance into the upper basin is inspiring fresh hope of recovery, even as coho numbers in California remain just a fraction of what they once were.
“It’s been pretty amazing to see the fish when you think about how hammered they’ve been,” said Jeff Mount, a senior fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California’s Water Policy Center and an emeritus professor of earth and planetary sciences at UC Davis. “We need to remember to celebrate these successes when we get them.”
As a historical stronghold for coho, the 110-mile Russian River is seen as vital for any statewide rebound.
The recent success of salmon on the river, as well as on other California waterways, is likely the result of myriad factors, say Mount and other scientists. First and foremost, three consecutive wet or moderately wet years has provided ample water for fish. Secondly, ocean conditions, including food supplies, have been favorable. And thirdly, efforts to restore waterways and improve habitat for fish have begun paying off.
Gov. Gavin Newsom lauded the coho’s progress Thursday, praising the long-running restoration work on rivers and creeks across the state.
“The return of this species to the Russian River demonstrates a new win in our strategy to preserve a healthy and sustainable future for all,” Newsom said in a statement. He said restoring salmon populations was “about honoring tribal sovereignty, protecting the ecosystems that define this state, and doing the hard, generational work to make sure these rivers still run for our kids and grandkids.”
The coho at Ackerman Creek were discovered in June by a water resources specialist for the Pinoleville Pomo Nation. Between two and four juveniles, according to state officials, were stranded in shallow pools that were drying up. The tribe worked with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to net the salmon and move them to flowing water.
State officials say the fish mark the first observed natural reproduction of coho in the Russian River’s upper basin since at least 1991. The river runs from north of Ukiah, southward along the Highway 101 corridor and then west to the oceanside community of Jenner, draining about 1,500 square miles of redwood forest and coastal mountains.
Coho salmon are anadromous fish, hatching in freshwater and then swimming to sea for about two years before returning to their natal stream, or beyond, to spawn and die.
The fish, distinguished by their silver bodies and spotted backs, are generally smaller than chinook salmon and similarly anadromous steelhead trout. They were once plentiful in the coastal watersheds of Central and Northern California. Since the 1940s, however, their numbers have plummeted as rivers and streams have been ravaged by logging, mining, farming and housing development.
The hotter climate has also dealt a blow by bringing warmer waters and longer periods of drought.
At the beginning of this century, it was unclear whether coho salmon would endure in the Russian River basin. To boost their population, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife began operating the Warm Springs Fish Hatchery in Geyserville in 2001, where they bred fish, which slowly helped increase their numbers.
In addition to the Russian River, coho salmon have been reported to have made recent inroads on the Noyo, Big and Navarro rivers in Mendocino County as well as the East Branch Russian Gulch in Sonoma County.
Chinook salmon also appear to be doing better this year. Chinook, which are the mainstay of California’s commercial fishing industry, benefited from closed fishing seasons over the past three years.
In a rarity, chinook were observed last month swimming 20 miles up Alameda Creek, from San Francisco Bay, where they hadn’t been seen in at least 70 years. Chinook have also made huge progress on the Klamath River, aided significantly by the removal of four dams on the river in 2023 and 2024.
While salmon returns have been good, scientists say it will be a long time before any major comeback. Many believe that the state and federal government should be doing more to regulate waterways and restrict pollution and pumping to help the fish. The Trump administration this year has sought to cut many fish restoration programs.
“Keep in mind, coho salmon, in particular, go through boom and bust cycles,” said Mount. “But we’re pointed in the right direction.”
(SF Chronicle)
UKIAH’S OWN ELIAS OBENYAH has earned a basketball scholarship to Stanford.
The 6'5" standout — who grew up playing in Ukiah rec leagues before moving to Salesian Prep — is now one of California’s top recruits.
BOONVILLE CHRISTMAS QUIZ
It's that time again… Following a great turnout for the Thanksgiving Quiz, it seems the right thing to do is to go ahead and hold another brain-teasing evening for the upcoming Christmas Holiday. This will take place on Tuesday, December 23rd starting at 7pm. Come early to get good seats… Hope to see you there. Cheers, Steve Sparks, The Quizmaster
BLOOM BLAST: NEWS FROM MENDOCINO COAST BOTANICAL GARDENS
What's in bloom? Mushrooms, Grevilleas, Fuchsias, Winter Heaths
Coming soon… Winter Rhododendrons, Camellias, Magnolias
WINTER HOURS (Nov - Mar): The Gardens, Nursery, and Store are open daily from 9AM to 4PM
Closed Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day…
https://mailchi.mp/gardenbythesea.org/bloomblast-1212031
CATCH OF THE DAY, Thursday, December 11, 2025
MARRIAH BARRON, 25, Hopland. Domestic battery.
SHANKARA CASEY, 52, Redwood Valley. Mandatory supervision violation.
FARRELL CLARK, 60, Fort Bragg. Failure to appear.
MICHAEL COPELAND, 47, Ukiah. Failure to appear.
AUSTIN KISTLER, 33, Ukiah. Domestic battery, controlled substance, paraphernalia.
MOLLY MCCLOUD, 49, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.
JOSE OJEDA-MALDONADO, 43, Covelo. Probation revocation.
GOKHAM OZBEY, 34, Ukiah. Battery on peace officer, resisting, false ID.
TYLER PARRY, 36, Ukiah. False imprisonment.
ALDA PETROCCHI, 56, Petaluma/Ukiah. Domestic violence court order violation.
GILDA REAL, 57, Willits. DUI-alcohol&drugs, no license, suspended license, child endangerment, contempt of court, probation revocation.
Well, it never happened. If you look closely you can still find some then grading next to highway 175 out of Hopland on the north side of the road. (Ron Parker)
ONLY FAIR
Editor:
I just read the Dec. 7 article about the unfairness of Proposition 19 and the campaign to roll back the law. Unfortunately, the example of two siblings inheriting their parents’ home worth more than $2 million did little to advance the argument. The article recounts the story of the family home, a few blocks from Apple’s headquarters, which had a property tax base of $1,300 per year being reassessed to $18,000 per year and the siblings being forced to sell because they could not afford the taxes. So, they could not rent it out to cover many times the $18,000? They were forced to sell for more than $2 million, leaving each with the lowly sum of more than $1 million in pocket change. I am 81 and my daughter and grandchildren will someday inherit our house. I would expect them to sell it. If they choose to keep it, I expect them to pay their fair share of taxes.
Michael Hoevel
Healdsburg
CLOVERDALE ACCEPTS ESMERALDA DEVELOPER’S REPORT ON WATER NEEDS as residents press drought concerns
by Amie Windsor
Despite deep doubts aired by residents who packed Wednesday’s meeting, the Cloverdale City Council accepted a Bay Area developer’s assessment of the water needs tied to its large housing and resort project, proposed for a shuttered lumbermill and wood waste site at the south end of town.
The 4-1 decision in favor of a consultant’s study tied to the Esmeralda Land Company project featured Councilmember Marjorie Morgenstern as the lone no vote.
Morgenstern, like many residents on hand Wednesday, said she was concerned there were “too many variables” that prevented her from knowing whether the city would have enough water in the future for the residents it currently has.
“We don’t know what’s coming down the pike. There could be droughts. There could be an earthquake. The unknown variables concern me,” Morgenstern said.
The development is proposed for the 266-acre Asti Road property once slated to be the Alexander Valley Resort, put forward by San Francisco-based Laulima Development. That project fell through in 2017 and the site went back on the market.
The project proposed by Esmeralda Land Co. could see Cloverdale grow by an additional 1,500 people at buildout, according to conservative estimates by the developer’s water consultant, based on the expectation that a share of those scooping up the mix of 605 apartments, townhomes and single-family houses would not be full-time residents.
In addition to the homes and at least two hotels, the plan calls for two restaurants, a racquet club, two indoor pavilions, an outdoor amphitheater, retail space, light industrial facilities, a K-6 private school and a standalone office building. It would also have more than 1.8 million square feet of landscaped area, including a dog park, community garden and playground.
“We are really excited to give it a new life and build a new neighborhood for Cloverdale,” Esmeralda founder and managing partner Devon Zuegel said.
Esmeralda Land Co. is an offshoot of the now two-year-old Edge Esmeralda, a month-long luxury retreat and pop-up village dedicated to promoting sustainable and technology-supported ways of working and living.
The project, proposed July 2024, is expected to go before the planning commission and city council starting next spring. There, it will require approval of its design and site plans, building permits and a development agreement with the city. Esmeralda Land Co. is relying on environmental studies for the site completed in 2004 for the past resort project and last updated in 2018.
Wednesday’s hearing focused on a key city determination needed to move forward: answering whether Cloverdale has sufficient water supplies to serve the project.
Esmeralda’s hired consultant, EKI Environment & Water, determined it does. The firm estimated the project would need at least 76 million gallons annually, or 233 acre feet — equating to a 20% increase in Cloverdale’s current annual average usage over the past 20 years. (An acre-foot is equivalent to the amount of water needed to flood most of a football field one foot deep, and can supply the needs of three water-efficient households for a year.)
Cloverdale’s state water rights allow it to pump a maximum of 910 million gallons, or 2,792 acre feet, from its wells fed by subsurface Russian River flows — its main source of water. The current annual citywide usage is 383 million gallons, or 1,175 acre feet annually, while the most the city has used over the past 20 years was 569 million gallons, or 1,746 acre feet, in 2013.
By 2035, the targeted completion date for the Esmeralda project, the developer’s consultants expected citywide water demand to hit 639 million gallons, or 1,961 acre feet. By 2045, demand would be 676 million gallons, or 2,074 acre feet, according to the consultant’s projections.
Those projections account for adding over the next 20 years about 5,500 people, including the Esmeralda residents — a roughly 60% increase in the city’s population.
To offset some of the water use, the developers are proposing to build two 500,000-gallon water tanks that could be used in case of an emergency. Project representatives have also told the city they would like to move forward as customers of a future municipal recycled water project. Using non-potable water for irrigation could reduce the development’s potable water footprint from 76 million gallons to 49 million gallons, according to Brad Arnold, water resources engineer and planner with EKI Environment & Water.
Still, the prospect of future droughts weighed heavy on the minds of many of those in the audience concerned about water scarcity.
Over the past decade, California has experienced a pair of yearslong droughts that severely strained water supplies in Sonoma County, and especially along the upper Russian River, where Cloverdale and Healdsburg rely on wells fed by river flows sustained in the dry season by the smaller of the watershed’s two main reservoirs, Lake Mendocino.
The Esmeralda water study shows Cloverdale could struggle to meet future demands during a dry year, when supplies are not expected to exceed 600 million gallons, or 1,841 acre feet.
In the depths of the last prolonged drought in 2021, the state curtailed water use linked to the Russian River, with per-person usage in the affected region limited to 55 gallons a day.
“What would have happened if we had an Esmeralda?” Cloverdale resident Betty Landry asked. “I know my lawn died. We wouldn’t get to shower for a month? We couldn’t water anything? That’s the thing. I can’t imagine it being much worse than it was.”
Arnold appeared to downplay the severity of that last drought, one of the worst in a generation, which brought Gov. Gavin Newsom to the dry bed of Lake Mendocino in April 2021 to proclaim what would become a statewide emergency. By that point, two-year rainfall totals in Santa Rosa were about half the historic average, and even lower in Ukiah, just west of Lake Mendocino, which sat at 44% of its capacity going into the driest part of the year. Lake Sonoma, the region’s largest reservoir, was at only 62%.
Arnold, however, called that period less a “physical drought” than a “regulatory drought.” An Esmeralda-sized development, he contended, answering Landry, “certainly would not hurt the situation.”
Mayor Todd Lands said he was “between a rock and a hard place” in approving the water study.
“They say there’s enough water,” he said. “And I’m not smart enough to go against” the assessment.
(The Press Democrat)
CHARLIE MUSSELWHITE’S path in American music traces a unique arc through the clubs, bars, and back-room sessions where modern blues took shape. Raised between Mississippi and Memphis, he carried early influences north to Chicago, arriving at a moment when electric blues was gaining force. There, he crossed paths with key players of the scene, absorbing techniques, stories, and approaches that would define his future work.
His harmonica style grew out of long nights spent listening, learning, and testing new ideas. Over the years, he recorded albums that highlight the instrument not as background texture but as a central voice capable of character and narrative. Musselwhite’s collaborations across genres expanded the reach of his sound, placing the blues in contact with folk, rock, Americana, and modern roots music.
Today, his body of work stands as a detailed map of decades spent close to the core of the blues tradition, marked by constant movement, exploration, and reinvention.
IMPROBABLY, 49ERS’ DREAM OF A HOME SUPER BOWL NO LONGER LOOKS DELUSIONAL
by Ann Killion
The beauty of a ridiculously late bye week is that, when it is over, the finish line is clearly in sight. And as the San Francisco 49ers emerge from a week of relaxation and healing, they can not only see the finish line, they can see some dream scenarios beyond it.
Is that even a glimmer on the horizon of the biggest dream of all? A home Super Bowl at Levi’s Stadium?
After a well-deserved week of rest, just about anything seems possible. Life is good when you get a week off and your playoff position actually improves. That’s what happened to the 49ers over the weekend. With four games remaining, they have a 9-4 record and are now in the No. 6 slot in the NFC, bumped up a spot while idle thanks to a loss by the Bears. Their playoff probability currently ranks at 90%, according to NFL.com.
That’s a prediction few would have made two months ago when the 49ers lost Nick Bosa and Fred Warner, had an overmatched defense and were without Brock Purdy for a long stretch.
But the 49ers find themselves in this happy spot due to two factors: their amazingly forgiving schedule and their head coach, Kyle Shanahan, who may be having his best season ever.
The 49ers’ easy schedule seems to have gotten even easier. They return from the bye to play the Titans, tied for the worst record in the league. Shanahan’s teams are 5-1 after the bye in the past six seasons. Then it’s the last road trip of the regular season, a Monday night matchup in Indianapolis that looks a lot different than it did a few weeks ago, due to the devastating injury to Colts quarterback Daniel Jones. On Tuesday, the Colts turned to 44-year-old Philip Rivers, who hasn’t played in five seasons, to try to save their season.
The 49ers’ final two games, both at home, will be tough: against the Bears, who will be battling for a playoff spot, and Seattle, which will be trying to hold on to one of the top two positions in the division. That final game could — at least in theory — be for the division title; right now as the 49ers are just one game behind the Rams and Seahawks, who play each other a week from Thursday in Los Angeles.
Though winning the division is not out of the question, oddsmakers currently put the 49ers chances of that at just 12%. So it is likely that they would start the playoffs on the road.
But that path, too, is not as daunting as it once looked. As of this week, they would go to Philadelphia, a spot that brings up nasty January memories. But the Eagles have a worse record than the 49ers right now and looked terrible Monday night, imploding against the Chargers thanks to Jalen Hurts’ five turnovers.
Are the 49ers scared of going to Tampa? Unlikely. Chicago, Green Bay and Detroit all pose problems, but the 49ers have survived those NFC North trips in past Januarys.
And you can be sure that nobody wants to play the 49ers in January. The 49ers are a team that scares opponents.
A lot of that fear is because of Shanahan, a coach whom no one wants to go up against and who should definitely be in the conversation for coach of the year.
He’s almost certainly not going to get that award. Shanahan, unjustly, still carries some of his past reputation, which doesn’t help him with voters. He is the son of a legendary coach and he is cocky, but none of that undercuts his brilliance. A “mastermind,” to borrow Mac Jones’ description. And this may be his best coaching effort yet.
He won’t be rewarded with the hardware. The NFL Coach of the Year Award will almost surely go to Mike Vrabel, who has revamped the New England Patriots, the hottest team in the league. It’s interesting that the Patriots are also the beneficiary of an incredibly easy last-place schedule; in fact, the Patriots’ slate makes the 49ers’ look difficult, because the AFC East is a far easier division than the NFC West.
What Shanahan has done this year may be more impressive than his Super Bowl seasons. The 49ers hit reset in the offseason, and Shanahan himself indicated that contending seemed unlikely, long before the crushing injuries that seemed to set them back. He and defensive coordinator Robert Saleh got the young defense prepared. Shanahan helped the team bridge the loss of Brock Purdy by getting the most out of Jones. He navigated a locker room that could have been negatively impacted by the Brandon Aiyuk weirdness. He didn’t let the team fall apart when it lost two of its most important leaders for the entire season. Both with the X’s and O’s and with team culture and community, Shanahan has done a remarkable job.
In fact, the 2025 season has been such a success it is now cause for the improbable: a dream of a home Super Bowl.
(SF Chronicle)
"DRINKING CAUSES DRINKING. Heavy drinking causes heavy drinking. Light drinking causes light drinking…
The reason to moderate is to avoid having to quit, thus losing a pleasure that’s been with us forever. We don’t have much freedom in this life and it is self-cruelty to lose a piece of what we have because we are unable to control our craving."
— Jim Harrison
ESTHER MOBLEY: WHAT I'M READING
Chateau Ste. Michelle, Washington state’s largest winery, was acquired by the Wyckoff family, which owns other wineries in Washington, Daniel Marsteller reports in Wine Spectator. The Wyckoffs bought the business from Sycamore Partners, a private equity firm, which had grabbed Ste. Michelle in 2021 for $1.2 billion.
An embarrassing AI journalism gaffe: The online publication American Craft Beer reported that Anchor Brewing’s new owner said he did not intend to reopen the San Francisco brewery. The editor gleaned that information, apparently, from an erroneous reading of a San Francisco Standard article summarized for him on ChatGPT. The Standard’s Skylla Mumana sets the record straight.
The highly anticipated update to the U.S. Dietary Guidelines, which could signal a major change in alcohol recommendations, has been delayed until “early 2026,” Sriparna Roy reports in Reuters. Elsewhere in Reuters, Emma Rumney analyzes new data that suggests the decline in Americans’ alcohol consumption has been less dramatic than many believe, declining by a relatively low 1.1 servings per person per week since 2021.
KEVIN TRUDELL:
Far too many people want the truth to be whatever serves their "side" best. If there is even a hint of the kind of ambiguity that would give a thoughtful person pause, they will glom on to whatever narrative does the most damage to the other.
Take the Russian Collusion nonsense. A full half of the country wanted to believe that the Trump Campaign was in cahoots with Russia in order to win the election in 2016. They didn't know the facts. No one knew the facts. But they wanted desperately to believe the story that would be most detrimental to Trump.
When the Mueller Report came out and proved to be a giant nothingburger, Democrats and their allies were incensed. They went from loving Bob Mueller to pieces to hating his guts in just one night.
What was Mueller's crime? He showed the American people that the President of The United States did not collude with Russia in an attempt to defeat Hillary Clinton.
Seems to me they should have been happy about this.
But, alas, what should have been a great relief to all those folks who had already decided that Trump was guilty, turned out instead to be a great disappointment. They didn't want Mueller to discover the truth, they wanted Mueller to validate their own uninformed opinions, and when he didn't, people Like Rachel Maddow wept on live TV.
Rachel should have been happy. Why wasn't she?
Anyway, this kind of uber-partisan bullshit is the norm these days. It's pretty sad, if you ask me.
STAND UP TO TRUMP
Editor,
The news media walks a fine line between holding public officials to account without alienating them and losing access.
However, it is infuriating to see Trump and his team routinely lie, gaslight and bully reporters with hardly any pushback or follow-up. It’s a terrible look for journalists.
At some point, the press has to stand up and fight for its self-respect, either directly during an interview with administration officials or indirectly by sending a collective message to the public that they won’t take this abuse anymore.
John Brooks
Fairfax
TRUMP RIFFING AT HIS RALLY at Mount Pocono, Pennsylvania, on 12/09/25
But let me begin by wishing each and every one of you a very Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, all of that stuff. Remember when I started in 2015, I made my first speech and I said, "We're going to bring back Christmas." Remember they wanted to… The radical left wanted to get word of the… They wanted to get rid of the word Christmas. I said, "I don't think that's going to work out. " And we did it and now everybody's saying Merry Christmas again. But just over one year ago today, with your help, we saved America. That's what happened. We saved it.
…
Do we love miners? I love miners. I don't know how they do it. Going 10,000 feet under the ground and they wouldn't trade jobs with me. If I gave them a beautiful, magnificent penthouse in the middle of Manhattan where I used to live, if I gave them the most beautiful penthouse, they wouldn't take it. They'd rather go 10,000 feet underground and dig. That's what they want. For miners, their wages went up $3,300, and we're bringing back coal.
…
I love this Ilhan Omar, whatever the hell her name is with the little shing, the little turban. I love her. She comes in. There's nothing but bitch. She's always complained. She comes from her country where, I mean, it's considered about the worst country in the world, right? They have no military. They have no nothing. They have no parliament. They don't know what the hell the word parliament means. They have nothing. They have no police. They police themselves. They kill each other all the time. I love and she comes to our country and she's always complaining about, "The Constitution allows me to do this." We ought to get her to hell out. She married her brother in order to get in, right? She married her brother.
…
On day one, I ended the war on Pennsylvania energy. I terminated it. I just terminated something that was insane. And we all love Elon. Elon was up here campaigning, right? But I said, "Elon, I think electric cars are great, but not everybody wants an electric car." And I ended the insane electric vehicle mandate where everybody was supposed to have an electric car by the year 2030 or some ridiculous year like that. It's not going to be that way. I don't think it'll… There'll be some hybrids, some going to gasoline powered.
I mean, the nice thing about gasoline is we have 2,000 years worth of … We have more gasoline. We have more oil and gas than any country anywhere in the world. Is that right? And they want us to go to batteries. Let's go to batteries. We don't have battery content. So let's go to batteries according to these morons that were in our country. Let's not use oil and gas, which we have more than any country in the world. Let's go to batteries.
Well, we have to go to the Congo and get it from China. But I actually stopped the war with Congo on Rwanda and they said to me, "Please, please, we would love you to come and take our minerals," which we'll do. But I stopped the green new scam. It's a total scam. And we had, they used to call it global warming. Then they called it 15 other things and none of them worked. So they came up with climate change, remember? Climate change. Because you can't go wrong with climate change, if it goes up. Remember global warming, and then the temperature started going down like a rock.
Remember? Remember we had global warming and they sent that big, beautiful ship with all scientists on it. And it went into deepest Alaska. It went up through the ice. And the global warming, it was getting so warm, except unfortunately they had a bad few weeks. It got so cold that the ice just crushed it. We had to take those poor bastards out by helicopter, which…
The scientists, they said … One guy was petrified of helicopter. He said, "I have a choice to go down in the ice with the ship or go in a helicopter." He chose the helicopter. He made it. But we have a very simple policy, right, Chris? Drill, baby, drill. Whatever, ship up. And natural gas production is booming. Coal mining is up by 2.4 million tons a month. And we're also reviving Pennsylvania manufacturing. And with our historic tariff, steel production is roaring back. We're building steel mills all over the country. And US steel is coming back at a level never thought possible before.
…
And for the first time in 50 years, we now have reverse migration, which means more jobs, better wages, and higher income for American citizens, not for illegal aliens. And you know what? We all have a heart, we want to take care of people. But these people are getting killed on the walk up. They're dying. They're dying. They have to go through jungles. We don't realize this. They are going through areas that are not … It's not possible to get through some of the areas. They're going through jungles down in the Central America, South America. Some of these areas with snakes, with crocodiles and alligator, they're getting just eaten a lot and they're getting beat up by some of the bad people. Women are being raped.
https://www.rev.com/transcripts/trump-rally-in-pennsylvania-on-12-09-25
LAURA KIPNIS:
I was scrolling through the updated list of people who appear in the Epstein files in New York Magazine yesterday to see if there was anyone I knew (or how many!) and came across the name Roger Schank.
He was labeled “Chief learning officer at Trump University”, obviously an oxymoron. Anyway, it brought to mind a half-forgotten evening with one of the most pretentious men I have met in my life, which is saying a lot. I was teaching at Northwestern where he had started some sort of institute of “learning sciences,” one of those techno-cyber-linguistics “cutting edge” non-fields that rich assholes like Epstein love to fund. Schank was very much the high roller—clearly spent most of his time consorting with the donor class, soliciting bucks. I was invited to dinner with him by a cognitive psychologist I‘d been on some academic committee with (who it turned out was kind of his lap dog), to a fancy French restaurant downtown. We met first at Schank’s luxury high rise apartment nearby. I recall his girlfriend was there too. Before we left, Schank called the restaurant to check if he could bring his own wine—he’d of course be willing to pay the corkage fee. The restaurant, being French, said huffily that it did not allow customers to bring their own wine. Schank spent quite some time on the phone arguing that his wine was better than anything they served and he refused to drink anything that wasn't at least x years old—I forget the number, maybe a decade? Two? He grudgingly agreed to go anyway—it was already late—ordered some incredibly expensive bottle and then spent the entire meal complaining about the indignity. Apparently he died in 2023 but my memory of what a jerk he was lives on.
ON-LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY
There is a deep hypocrisy at the heart of the Epstein matter that everybody seems afraid to talk about. Yes it seems pretty clear that Epstein was a monster, certainly based on the 'normal morals' of our society at the time he committed those crimes. BUT, the left and many mainstream Democrats have spent the last decade or more not only normalizing but also celebrating 'sex work', and have insisted that young children have full body autonomy, to the point of cutting off their genitals if they want to. Based on this new morality they are aggressively pushing, Epstein is not really a monster anymore, is he? You can't have it both ways, pick one or the other.
CORRECTION, NEW YORK TIMES
Credit where credit is due.
by Matt Taibbi
From the New York Times last week:
“Mr. Epstein was first charged, on a single count of prostitution, in 2006, one year before the marina deal became final, although allegations had been swirling for years. The victim in the charge had been 14 years old. He pleaded guilty to that charge in 2008.”
Jeffrey Epstein signed a non-prosecution agreement on September 24, 2007, pleading guilty to two charges. The first was for solicitation of a 19-year-old. The second, for “solicitation of minors to engage of prostitution,” involved a 17-year-old. He was never convicted of anything involving a 14-year-old. I wrote to reporter Debra Kamin, who helped restore my faith in journalism today by replying:
“Thanks for writing. There were multiple victims whose testimony was taken into account under that single charge. The initial victim who led to the charge being filed was 14, but it gets complicated, which you’re right to point out. We’re going to tweak the sentence to make it a bit clearer. Thanks for reaching out.”
The change as of now is “the victim in the charge had been as young as 14 years old,” which doesn’t feel quite right either, but still.
I mentioned before Thanksgiving that I’m working on a project that will make me a loathed figure. This is it, a review of the Epstein saga, which I’ve come to believe is the worst-reported story of the era. Kamin and one diligent USA Today reporter are so far the only journalists to respond out of dozens I’ve contacted about easily fixable problems. Still, there are far bigger issues, of the type Michael Tracey, Jay Beecher, and not many others have grappled with, that make this story incredible. It’s like Satan’s own game of Telephone! More on it later (we have a few irons in the fire here at Racket), but I wanted to give Kamin and the Times credit for the prompt reply, at a time when those are rare.
(racket.news)
ISRAELI 'PREDATOR' SMARTPHONE SPYWARE EXPOSED
by Kit Klarenberg
New research published by Amnesty International exposes the disturbing internal workings of Intellexa, and its constellation of digital espionage products. This includes ‘Predator’, a highly invasive resource linked to grave human rights abuses in multiple countries. Intellexa’s menacing technology allows government customers to access target smartphones’ cameras, microphones, encrypted chat apps, emails, GPS locations, photos, files, browsing activity, and more. It’s just the latest example of an Israeli-linked spyware specialist acting with no consideration for the law - although one wouldn’t know that from Amnesty’s probe.
Intellexa is among the world’s most notorious “mercenary spyware” purveyors. In 2023, the company was fined by Greece’s Data Protection Authority for failing to comply with its investigations into the company. An ongoing court case in Athens implicates Intellexa apparatchiks and local intelligence services in hacking the phones of government ministers, senior military officers, judges and journalists. Oddly unmentioned by Amnesty International, Intellexa was founded by Tal Dilian, a senior former Israeli military intelligence operative, and is staffed by Zionist entity spying veterans.
Leaked Intellexa marketing slide
In March 2024, following years of damaging disclosures about Intellexa’s criminal activities, the US Treasury imposed sweeping sanctions on Dilian, his closest company confederates, and five separate commercial entities associated with Intellexa. Yet, these harsh measures were no deterrent to Intellexa’s operations. The company’s service offering has only evolved over time, becoming ever-more difficult to detect, and increasingly effective at infecting target devices. Typically, civil society and human rights activists, and journalists, are in the firing line.…
https://www.kitklarenberg.com/p/israeli-predator-smartphone-spyware
LEAD STORIES, FRIDAY'S NYT
6 Takeaways From Indiana’s Defiance of Trump
How a Manosphere Star Accused of Rape and Trafficking Was Freed
Senate Deadlocks on Health Care, Leaving Subsidies to Expire
Trump Signs Executive Order to Neuter State A.I. Laws
Hundreds Quarantined in South Carolina as Measles Spreads
Italian Cooking, Kohl Makeup and Icelandic Pools Are Recognized by UNESCO
THE US HOUSE AND SENATE have agreed to make registration for the draft “automatic”, which will simplify the drafting process if the empire decides to throw the youth of America into a horrific new military conflict. The US is making its biggest draft policy change in 45 years so it’s easier to force Americans to fight and die in a massive war, just as the New York Times editorial board launches a series explaining why the US must prepare for war with China.
The latest edition of the New York Times’ arguments for the need for more US militarism is titled “This Is The 21st Century Arms Race. Can America Keep Up?”, which argues that “Congress needs to expand funding for research and development into technologies with military applications.”
“To counter the growing threat, America must simultaneously win the race to build autonomous weapons and lead the world in controlling them,” the editorial board writes.
Fun times.
— Caitlin Johnstone
“SHERMAN made the terrible discovery that men make about their fathers sooner or later… that the man before him was not an aging father but a boy, a boy much like himself, a boy who grew up and had a child of his own and, as best he could, out of a sense of duty and, perhaps love, adopted a role called Being a Father so that his child would have something mythical and infinitely important: a Protector, who would keep a lid on all the chaotic and catastrophic possibilities of life.”
― Tom Wolfe, ‘The Bonfire of the Vanities’
“I AM SOMEONE who proudly and humbly affirms that love is the mystery-of-mysteries, and that nothing measurable matters ‘a very good God damn’; that ‘an artist, a man, a failure’ is no mere whenfully accreting mechanism, but a givingly eternal complexity — neither some soulless and heartless ultrapredatory infra-animal nor any understandingly knowing and believing and thinking automaton, but a naturally and miraculously whole human being — a feelingly illimitable individual; whose only happiness is to transcend himself, whose every agony is to grow.”
— E.E. Cummings
[BUFFALO BILL ’S]
Buffalo Bill 's
defunct
who used to
ride a watersmooth-silver
stallion
and break onetwothreefourfive pigeonsjustlikethat
Jesus
he was a handsome man
and what i want to know is
how do you like your blueeyed boy
Mister Death
— E.E. Cummings (1920)
WHEATFIELD WITH CROWS is one of Van Gogh's re-created memories of the north, and is believed to be the last work of Van Gogh. In early July of 1890, Van Gogh traveled to Paris, alone, to stay with Theo and his wife Jo. Theo was in poor health and was having financial problems, which was an enormous worry to Van Gogh who was keenly aware of the burden he was on his brother and his family. In addition, the baby was ill and Jo too was suffering from exhaustion. Van Gogh returned quickly to Auvers but rapidly became severely depressed. Writing of this picture shortly before his suicide, Van Gogh conveyed something of its tragic mood: "Returning there, I set to work. The brush almost fell from my hands…I had no difficulty in expressing sadness and extreme solitude".…
‘PRETTY AMAZING’: SALMON SEEN IN UPPER REACHES OF A COUNTY RIVER FOR FIRST TIME IN DECADES
Contrary to the Governor’s statement, Coho are being seen in large numbers on all North Coast rivers, regardless of whether fish habitat work has being done or not.