Mendocino County Today: Sunday 12/14/2025

Wet Ahead | Cougars/Panthers | Toy Drive | Highway Projects | Sid Waterman | Nye Ranch | Misinformation Rebuttal | Robin Curtis | Fed v State | Sylvia Keller | Blankfort Down | Local Events | Silent Auction | Harbor Cruises | Pet Pepper | Lois Stornetta | Ed Notes | Mendo HR | Yesterday's Catch | Our King | Third Eye | Marco Radio | Flawed Updates | Tech Support | Berkeley Shame | Print Subscription | Reading Now | Hate Amplified | Wrong Again | Yes? | Kokomo | Everything Changed | Workers Song | Homeward | Best Performance | IDF Depravity | Jewish Commonality | Pity 2007 | Internet Control | Dubliners | Woke Right | Free Speech | Navy Rescue | Lead Stories | Pity 1933 | Go Back | Exercise 100 | Composed August | Hadrian's Wall

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A WETTER PATTERN will begin to build in Sunday with a gradually lifting marine layer. Light rain will arrive along the North Coast during the day Monday with heavier rain spreading south on Tuesday and later in the week. (NWS)

STEPHEN DUNLAP (Fort Bragg): A foggy 48F with lots of higher clouds approaching this Sunday morning on the coast. Today is your last full day to get firewood brought in & outdoor chores done as a lot rain arrives starting tomorrow morning according to the latest forecast.

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WHAT A CHAMPIONSHIP GAME!

The Lady Panthers left it all on the court and fought hard until the final buzzer. While the outcome wasn’t what we hoped for, we’re incredibly proud of their grit and heart.

Also, shoutout to Sophomore Melanie Lopez and Senior student tournament director Sam Espinoza for earning All-Tourneys!!

Congratulations to the Upper Lake Cougars on taking the win at the Sequoia Classic. Well played!

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JAYMA SHIELDS (Mendocino Observer, Laytonville):

We are in the thick of playing Santa for our annual Laytonville Toy Drive, which we call Pam & Susan's North Pole Toy Express, a tribute to Pam Tucker (Cornell) Laytonville Unified's long-time lunch lady, who started the toy drive by wrapping up stuffed animals and delivering them to the houses of kids. When my mom met Pam and they became BFFs, my mom wanted to form a non-profit to raise funds with the help of advertising in The Observer, and thus the North Pole Toy Express was born. Kids have been spoiled ever since! When my mom passed, we added another special name, so we call it Pam & Susan's North Pole Toy Express. We will wrap for over 100 Laytonville kids tomorrow. Will miss my dad coming by towards the end of the wrapping party and taking a group photo for the newspaper.

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MORE THAN $20 million was allocated by the California Transportation Commission to fund highway projects in Mendocino County recently as part of a $1.1 billion package to “restore aging bridges, improve highway safety, and increase mobility on local streets,” the California Department of Transportation announced this week. Approximately $500,000 in SB1 funding for emergency allocations will go toward the construction of a retaining wall, guardrail and pavement repairs, and erosion control on Route 253 near Ukiah in Mendocino County.

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IN LOVING MEMORY OF SID WATERMAN (09/21/38 - 11/16/25)

Sid Waterman, proud, kind and generous husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather, passed away November 16, 2025. He was loved and cherished by family and friends.

In 1967 Sid opened Waterman Racing Engines. His client list included all of Drag Racing's top stars. In 1979 Sid sold the engine building part of the business and opened Waterman Racing Components, specializing in fuel delivery systems. A Gualala resident, Sid was a renowned fuel-system genius. His contributions and craftsmanship in motorsports were truly unmatched. Sid's fuel system innovations set the standard for excellence, highlighting safety and changing not only motorsports, but lives. He would go on to be a motorsports legend and industry leader in NHRA, Indy Car, NASCAR and USAC racing.

His love and dedication to racing was evident to all. His wisdom, humility, generosity and passion fueled his career. He would go on to earn many awards for his hard work and innovations including the Drag Racing Edge Hedman Hedders High Performer Award, Car Craft Engine Builder of the Year Award, Car Craft All-Stars Drag Racing Team Special Manufacturer's Award (twice), the Jack O' Neal CNA Safety Award for Significant Contributions to Safety in Auto Racing, the NHRA Lifetime Achievement Award and his Induction into the NHRA Drag Racing Hall of Fame.

Sid is survived by his loving wife of 59 years, Judy Waterman; daughters Christine Burton and Kelly Waterman; son-in-law Scott Burton; grandchildren Darian Waterman and Shane Burton; and great-grandson AJ Ward. He will be forever in our hearts.

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STAND WITH NYE RANCH: DEFEND OUR FARM'S FUTURE

Since 2022, our small farm has faced vandalism, threats, and a lawsuit tied to ongoing property disputes aimed at shutting us down—even though we are in RR-2 zoning that supports small agriculture. We’ve been reported for multiple code violations, including our greenhouses, farmstand, water tank, and water pump. The lawsuit even requested the right to spray herbicides across the easement that goes through our property, which would mean spraying directly onto our crops, and to cut into our USDA-supported pollinator hedgerow—putting both our produce and vital pollinators at risk.

We’ve spent tens of thousands of dollars defending our property rights and our right to farm, and the stress has been overwhelming. Nye Ranch has been a farm since 1870. Today, we grow fresh, regenerative produce for local families, restaurants, schools, and the food bank.

When my older brother Kyle and his partner Mel began this family project, they built a successful, ethical, and sustainable farm rooted in love for the land. Continuing that legacy has been my greatest honor, which is why it’s so hard to face efforts meant to undermine what we do, especially in a time when small farms already struggle to stay financially sustainable.

Still, our intention has always been clear, and we remain committed to our work. As we grow and evolve, expanding the ways we serve our community brings us real joy. This is a time to stand together and make our cause known: We are here to stay. We will not allow those who wish to impede our relationship with the land and community to hold us back.

That said, we have to be honest. We could really use some help.

We cannot thank our community enough. We’ve come this far because of all the big and small ways you’ve shown up for us. It’s a relationship we are endlessly grateful for.

If you feel called to support our farm and help us with the ongoing legal costs we’ve incurred, please follow the link: https://gofund.me/c13a9e8f6

Together, we can keep small family farms alive.

Thank you

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SUPERVISOR MAUREEN MULHEREN:

I share information about the Potter Valley Project and the new Eel Russian River Facility because this is important to our community and there is a lot of misinformation out there. I understand that some of the commenters on this page are overwhelming to many people, but I hope that you will take the time to read the information I post even if you don’t comment. This is the ongoing work of many elected officials, agencies and organizations that has occured over decades and that continues to move forward despite the misinformation. I understand why people have different perspectives and I think the people that are trying to come up with agreements are doing the best they can to reach compromises. The misinformation and finger pointing does not help and makes it confusing for people that are not actively involved and are trying to understand what happens next. Ken Foster posting Save Lake Pillsbury on every single one of my posts isn’t likely to Save Lake Pillsbury but I understand his frustration with his personal circumstances and he has not only free will but freedom of speech on this page because I’m an elected official. I have heard from some people that they don’t want to engage on my posts because of people like Ken and Ken and Tim and that’s ok, I also understand your perspective but I don’t have another means of sharing info with you so I hope you’ll continue to find ways to be informed. I appreciate Eel-Russian Project Authority, Round Valley Indian Tribes, County of Sonoma, Mendocino County Inland Water and Power Commission and Sonoma County Water Agency putting this information out publicly and hope that the media will pick it up so it can be shared more widely. For years I’ve sat in Board meetings where I’ve heard people say that the community doesn’t understand where we’ve been and where we are going, maybe this direct rebuttal of misinformation is what’s going to help (maybe not change the conversation but) at least offer more information for those that are interested.

You can sign up for email updates at this website: https://www.eelrussianauthority.org

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ROBIN ANN CURTIS (1951-2025)

With loving family members by her side, Robin Ann Curtis passed away November 10, 2025. May she rest in peace.

Robin was born May 23, 1951 in Ft. Smith, Arkansas, the firstborn of Phyllis and Hugh Curtis. In 1957, the family settled in Ukiah. Robin was ferociously creative, an ardent student, and a great lover of nature. As a child she directed marvelous theatrical productions for the neighborhood, became a National Merit Scholar, and roamed throughout the eastern hills of her beloved Ukiah Valley. Her Ukiah High track records stood for many years, and on the grueling high Sierra family backpacking trips orchestrated by her father each summer, she was unstoppable. Robin was among the many fortunate people in Ukiah who studied piano with Siegried Schultze. Music was her other grand love and, after years back east, she returned to northern California, graduating from Sonoma State University with a B.A. in Music and double minor in Linguistics. She adored her teachers. Whenever family gathered, Robin filled our hearts with music, playing piano and cello duets with her father, her sister, her aunt, and cousins. She met her lifelong struggles with incredible strength and fortitude, and her will and determination inspired family and friends as did her uproarious sense of humor. We loved her dearly. Robin had a constant concern to the very end for the unhoused, and she gave generously to individuals and to Catholic Charities.

She is survived by her sister, Kim Curtis of Flagstaff, Arizona, by her niece Marianna Coles Curtis of Santa Cruz, by her nephew Miles Curtis of Santa Barbara, and by her much-treasured cousins. The family requests memorial contributions be made in Robin’s name to the Music Department at Sonoma State University https://music.sonoma.edu/Make-a-Donation or to Catholic Charities of Northwest California P.O. Box 4900 Santa Rosa, CA 95402.

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PEOPLE BEFORE FISH

Dear Editor:

The heavy hand of California’s state government has gone unchecked for decades. The results? Burned-out cities and landscapes. Manmade water crises. A widening socioeconomic divide.

It breaks my heart that our nation’s largest food-producing state has chosen special interests and political ambition over its farmers, ranchers and rural communities time and time again.

The radical leadership of the state of California has treated the needs of fish as more important than the needs of the farmers and ranchers — the nation’s original conservationists.

Rural communities need water access to survive, yet California continues to ignore the needs of the very people who are the most connected to the land and water.

Because of this continued pressure from California, the Scott and Cape Horn dams have been proposed for decommissioning. The proposed surrender and decommissioning plan for the Potter Valley hydroelectric project will have a profoundly negative and irreversible impact on local farmers, ranchers and agricultural producers. These closures will effectively cut off any access to water, the lifeblood those producers rely on to feed the country and world.

These radical actions would also leave families vulnerable to more droughts and wildfire.

For over a hundred years, legacy farmers in Potter Valley have put this water to good use after first using it to generate electricity. This has been a symbiotic relationship between farmers, power generators and the environment.

Let’s put this into perspective. According to the latest agriculture census, the counties of Lake, Mendocino, Sonoma, Humboldt, and Marin have sold a combined total of over $1.4 billion of agricultural products. That’s well over $4.2 billion in extra economic activity due to agriculture. Farmers should be thanked for their productivity, not punished for it.

Make no mistake. If the decommissioning goes through, hundreds of legacy farms and this area’s rich agricultural heritage will be lost.

A government by the people should be for the people. California’s war on agriculture has gone unchecked to the detriment of us all.

Under the Trump administration, that war ends now.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has issued two notices, Project Number 77-318 and 77-332, related to the decommissioning plan. Rest assured that the U.S. Department of Agriculture will actively engage to ensure this plan’s strict compliance with the law.

But we can’t do it alone.

Recently, I received a letter from over 920 concerned residents, all highlighting critical flaws in the proposed decommissioning plan. These include the elimination of water supply to local communities without viable alternatives; the negative impact that removal will have on water quality and drinking water safety for downstream communities, farms and ecosystems; and the diminished capacity for wildland firefighting in one of the most fire-prone regions of the country.

We need more of the 750,000 residents that are served by the Potter Valley Project and its dams to stand up for agriculture and for themselves. The current deadline to file comments has been extended and now closes on Dec. 19 at 2:00 p.m. Pacific Time.

I want you to know you are not alone in this righteous fight, which strikes at the very heart of our freedoms. The Trump administration is listening, and we are committed to working across the government to protect Potter Valley’s water supply and the communities and prime farmland that it serves.

Brooke Rollins


Secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture

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SYLVIA KELLER

December 10, 1921 –December 4, 2025

Sylvia Keller was born in Cotati. She lived in the Bay Area for a time, and spent much of her adult life in Visalia and Bonny Doon, living on a ranch. She moved to The Sea Ranch in 2007. What was important to her was not where she lived, but how she lived. She was a prolific quilter and an inspiration. In the spring of 2007, Sylvia offered to teach a group of quilters how to hand applique. That grew into a small sewing circle that met every Tuesday at her house. A select few met there nearly every Tuesday for over 17 years. Sylvia was also a member of the Pacific Piecemakers Quilt Guild.

Sylvia was both a mentor and a friend.

She made hundreds of stuffed animals for charities and for the Guild's fundraisers. She used to love to reminisce about old times. She lived through the Roaring Twenties and The Great Depression. She volunteered in the Women's Army Corp during WWII. She saw many inventions change the way we live today.

Sylvia passed away peacefully on December 4, 2025, less than a week shy of her 104th birthday. She was a real treasure and will be greatly missed.

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JEFF BLANKFORT:

GOOGLE HAS CENSORED ME! Some of you may remember when I posted a more accessible version of my 2005 expose of Noam Chomsky on my FB page, having located it on a website, jeffreyblankfortblogspot.com, which some admirer of my work and of whom I never had a clue about (or had a chance to thank!), had initiated which included a number of what I thought to be some of my most important articles.

I tried to go to that page a little while ago and couldn't find it so I asked Google's AI what had happened to it. The following is the exchange and apparently the next to last possible reason was what accounted for it:

ME: What happened to jeffreyblankfortblogspot?

AI: The blog at the address jeffreyblankfort.blogspot.com is no longer active or available to the public. There is no official information in search results that explicitly states why the blog was taken down or what specifically happened to it.

Websites and blogs can become unavailable for several common reasons:

Voluntary closure: The owner, Jeffrey Blankfort, may have chosen to take the site down.

Technical issues: The site may have encountered server problems, DNS errors, or hosting issues.

Domain expiration: If a custom domain was used, it may have expired.

Platform policy violations: The blog might have violated the terms of service of its host, Blogger (owned by Google), leading to its removal.

While the blog is unavailable, Jeffrey Blankfort's work and activism are documented elsewhere. He is a recognized photographer and radio host for KZYX, and his articles can be found on sites such as CounterPunch.org.

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I should note that several years back I was effectively forced off the radio station when my program, along with the other morning programs (but mine was clearly the target) was moved from 9 am to 11 am which is normally a music period on public radio stations which, by no coincidence, resulted in a $100,000 gift to the radio station from the Dean Witter Family because they appreciated the schedule change, according to the station board's minutes for the following month. Another program director was later hired and reversed the schedule but, for me, trying to get my old time slot back would have been a wasted effort. And I haven't written for CounterPunch in years.

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LOCAL EVENTS (today)

DOUG JOHNSON: I have just got a phone call from a family member of Terese who said their family will match whatever we sell for at the fund raiser up to $5,000.

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NOYO CENTER ONLINE SILENT AUCTION

Only a few days left to place your bid. Check out the Noyo Center Silent Auction, live until 12/17 at noon. Lots of unique adventures, one-of-a-kind packages, coast experiences, local dining, art, jewelry, handmade goods, wine, gift baskets and specialty treats. You can even adopt and name a humpback whale and track its comings and goings.

This auction supports science, education, marine conservation and community programs here on the Mendocino coast.

Start bidding now: https://pages.snwbll.com/auction/m_EPfLoIgjtCyfAD9D6ghF2w/2025-fall-auction

Dobie Dolphin, Noyo Center Volunteer

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CRUISE WITH SANTA

Greetings and Happy Holidays!

Take a magical harbor Cruise with SANTA aboard Telstar Charters, with Captain Sean Thornton and his Elves, Saturday, December 20th.

A benefit for Mendocino Mermaids, a 501c3 dedicated to keeping our beaches clean.

We have 2 cruises going out-

Cocoa & Cookies kids Cruise with Santa is for kids of all ages and includes a Hot Cocoa bar and holiday cookies. SHUGA will be playing fun holiday tunes while kids have a chance to visit with Santa and take photos. $35 per person. Family pass $100 for up to 5 people. Arrive early to greet Santa as he arrives on Telstar, cruise loads/Departs from Sea Pal Cove at 6pm

Cocktails & Cookies 21+ grownup kids’ cruise loads/ departs at 7pm and includes complimentary beverages, cookies and snacks, and sponsored by Schnaubelt Distillery. Sip on spiked punch, cocoa, or a candy cap old fashioned and enjoy fun and festive, Naughty Holiday tunes by SHUGA, and don’t forget your pics with Santa! $50 per person. Dress to impress in your holiday best! Space is limited and tickets are going quickly! Reserve asap

Call or text Heather 607-437-8465

Mendocinomermaids.org

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UKIAH SHELTER PET OF THE WEEK

Pepper is a bright, energetic 1-year-old Pitbull mix with a zest for life and a heart full of love. This playful girl adores her toys, enjoys engaging with people, and is always ready for some fun. She’s young, enthusiastic, and eager to learn, making her a great candidate for basic obedience, agility, flyball, and other fun canine activities. Pepper will thrive with an active family who can provide her with daily exercise and plenty of mental stimulation. Whether it’s a walk, a jog, or a good play session in the yard, she’s happiest when she’s moving and spending time with her humans. Pepper gets along well with people and has shown lots of friendliness, but she’ll need proper, slow introductions to any potential canine siblings to ensure everyone gets off on the right paw. If you’re looking for a joyful, lively companion who will bring energy and affection into your home, Pepper might be the perfect match. Come meet her at the shelter — she’s ready to brighten someone’s world! Pepper weighs a lovely 53 pounds.

To see all of our canine and feline guests, and the occasional goat, sheep, tortoise, and for information about our services, programs, and events, visit: mendoanimalshelter.com.

Join us every first Saturday of the month for our Meet The Dogs Adoption Event at the shelter.

We're on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/mendoanimalshelter

For information about adoptions please call 707-467-6453. Making a difference for homeless pets in Mendocino County, one day at a time!

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LOIS CLAIRE (SORENSEN) STORNETTA (April 14, 1925 - Nov. 27, 2025)

Former Byron, CA resident, born in Berkeley, CA. Died of natural causes at home in Potter Valley, CA, at 100 years old.

Lois grew up in Albany, CA, next door to her cousins. During WWII, she worked at the Kaiser shipyards in Richmond and was part of a women’s singing group, the Harmonettes, who sang at the launchings of Liberty ships. She was a 59-year member of the Native Daughters of the Golden West.

Lois married Jack Spargo in 1948, and was widowed in 1957. She remarried to Jim Stornetta, and moved to Byron, CA, where she lived for the next 40 years. In 1999, Lois and Jim moved to Potter Valley, where she remained an active member of the community until her passing on Thanksgiving 2025.

Lois is survived by her children, John Spargo, Dotti Spargo, and Kate Stornetta; son-in-law, Paul McKenney; grandchildren, James McKenney, Hope McKenney, Sonya Williams and her children; and her many nieces and nephews.

Per her request, no services will be held. Memorial donations can be made to the Potter Valley Volunteer Fire Department, PO Box 46, Potter Valley, CA 95469.

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ED NOTES

LOTS OF AMERICAN controversies can't be talked about in realistic terms. If, for instance, you constantly describe all the people living on the streets as “homeless,” it ignores basic distinctions: Yes, there are major shortages of low-income housing. But a lot of the distressing public behavior attributed to the “homeless” doesn't have anything to do with shelter. It occurs because people are allowed to be helplessly drunk on the streets, or publicly nuts from drugs or one of the large bloc of people living outside because they're crazy with or without drugs. The more manageable, the “reimburseables,” get periodic cash and carry attention from the many helping bureaucracies allegedly “fighting” mental illness, or homelessness or or substance addiction or, or, or… Old-fashioned bums of the type who wander around without bothering anyone are a tiny minority of the "homeless." All three groups of the drunk-drugged-crazed homeless need to be hospitalized, which is what we used to do with people incapable of or unwilling to care for themselves, but what we are unlikely to ever do again because the upper income people in this country don't tote their fair share of the social load.

A HOMELESS GUY explained his homelessness to me. “I get social security and some food stamps. The cheapest rental I can find in Mendocino County is about $900 a month, and that's in Willits but I'd probably get kicked out because I can be loud when I'm drunk. I can't drink and pay rent, both. And I'm not going to stop drinking. I either find a free place to stay or I live on the streets.”

“AS LONG AS WE'RE YOUNG, we manage to find excuses for the stoniest indifference, the most blatant caddishness, we put them down to emotional eccentricity or some sort of romantic inexperience. But later on, when life shows us how much cunning, cruelty, and malice are required just to keep the body at ninety-eight point six, we catch on, we know the scene, we begin to understand how much swinishness it takes to make up a past. Just take a close look at yourself and the degree of rottenness you've come to. There's no mystery about it, no more room for fairy tales; if you've lived this long, it's because you've squashed any poetry you had in you.” — Louis-Ferdinand Céline

SOME LOCAL HISTORY

THE MOONIES owned most of a Boonville property back in the early 1970s. It was then a single 640 acre ranch, or a big hunk of the even bigger Singley Ranch that ran east up into the hills from Highway 128. At one time our well supplied large-scale hop field. By the time the Moonies descended on us, the property consisted of a few outbuildings into which the Moonies stuffed hundreds of young people they'd recruited out of the Bay Area to visit their “New International Ideal City” in Boonville, the only new ideal city in the world with a bountiful water supply but nothing else. “Want a really cool experience in a beautiful place with beautiful people? Everything's free. Get on the bus.” That was the pitch to wandering, unmoored young people. And thousands did, only to find themselves in sleep-deprived herds marched from one crackpot lecture and group chant to another, maybe grabbing a couple hours rest piled in a sheep shed with a hundred other disoriented cult recruits.

BOONVILLIANS often encountered distraught parents who'd driven up from wherever to retrieve little Debbie and disoriented Donnie only to either be turned away or, a couple of Moon goons standing by, little Deb and doh-doh Donnie would say, “I've found everything I've been searching for right here,” and the parents would drive off wondering at what they'd done wrong raising such blissed-out ingrates.

ON STILL NIGHTS the Anderson Valley reverberated with the chants of the recruits. The Moonies (and the Hari Krishnas, cf Craig Stehr, raised a lot of money selling flowers at SF International until the airport finally banned them as the pests they were, and Reverend Moon, as we know, went on to buy himself total respectability complete with a daily Washington DC newspaper whose stable of scribble-sluts you can see today on the Sunday morning talk shows.

MENDOCINO COUNTY finally cracked down on Boonville's Moonie camp and the Moonies, at least most of them, moved on to Sonoma County where they bought an old summer camp to do their rural brainwashing. A German and an Italian stayed on in Boonville to run a chinchilla ranch deep in the east hills. The Rev had married them at random in one of those nutball mass wedding ceremonies in Yankee Stadium. “You got him, honey, and you got her, hooplehead, 'til death or deprogramming do you part." The Boonville chinchillas occasionally got smuggled out of their temperature-controlled pens and, for a time, were quite popular with Boonville teenagers. The Moonie property was sold years ago and is now dotted with up-market rental cabins called Sheep Dung Estates. I don't know what the Moonies did with all those surplus chinchillas.

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CATCH OF THE DAY, Saturday, December 13, 2025

BRENDA ALCAZRA-TORRES, 27, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol, resisting.

FRANCISCO DELGADO, 45, Ontario/Ukiah. Suspended license, probation revocation.

JORGE GONZALEZ-VARGAS, 27, Ukiah. DUI.

CHRISTOPHER LANE, 44, Willits. Taking vehicle without owner’s consent, false ID, failure to appear.

SANDRA MUZZIN, Ukiah. DUI.

KARINA POWERS, 51, Willits. DUI, resisting.

ALYSSA ROJAS, 19, Ukiah. Domestic battery.

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FEAR AND LOATHING FROM THE WHITE HOUSE

Editor:

After calling a woman “piggy” and attacking others daily as failing and stupid, Donald Trump sides with murderers, pardons drug kingpins and protects pedophiles. He has broken as many of the commandments as he has sold autographed copies of the Bible and wants little to do with helping the tired, the poor or the huddled masses. And yet he always seems to save his greatest hits for ignorance and racism. Somalians were a recent target. He called them “garbage” from a place that “stinks” — not even a real country. Fear and loathe thy neighbor, I suppose. When it comes to small-minded cruelty and un-American behavior, we already have our true king.

Jay Klosevitz

Santa Rosa

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MEMO OF THE AIR: Professor Bauer's weapon.

"The tool most important to humanity's survival wasn't any of the nine in the box. The most important tool is respect. And the reason I know it's a tool is, it's clearly not a natural thing and we forget to use it all the time. And then we start competing with each other, and exploiting each other, and humiliating each other, and controlling each other. And we lose each other. And we'll go extinct. That's my answer, Professor." "Well, that's one answer. Here's the one I had in mind. Combining all nine tools you get this: a deadlier weapon than any one item in the box. So. I'm gonna use this to attack you, and you use respect to defend yourself."

Marco here. Here's the recording of Friday night's (9pm PDT, 2025-12-12) almost eight-hour-long Memo of the Air: Good Night Radio show on KNYO.org, on 107.7fm KNYO-LP Fort Bragg (CA) and also, for the first three hours, on 89.3fm KAKX Mendocino, ready for you to re-enjoy in whole or in part: https://memo-of-the-air.s3.amazonaws.com/KNYO_0674_MOTA_2025-12-12.mp3

Coming shows can feature your own story or dream or poem or essay or kvetch or announcement. Just email it to me. Or send me a link to your writing project and I'll take it from there and read it on the air.

Besides all that, at https://MemoOfTheAir.wordpress.com you'll find a fresh batch of dozens of links to not-necessarily radio-useful but worthwhile items I set aside for you while gathering the show together, such as:

Oliver Pett's Scottish automata! You might have seen his work before, but there are new ones here. The date night one is exquisite. That's not the exact word I want, but it's good enough. https://myonebeautifulthing.com/2025/12/12/oliver-pett/

A new, better kind of prosthetic foot. It doesn't need power; it just works like a normal foot. Yes! https://theawesomer.com/softfoot-pro/790435/

An hour of luscious Persian jazz, courtesy of Craig Louis Stehr, the grand guru of enlightened homelessness. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FoXFu9JZtK4

And a female Viking metal band sings about kittens. https://bitsandpieces.us/2025/12/07/female-viking-metal-band-sings-about-kittens/

Marco McClean, [email protected], https://MemoOfTheAir.wordpress.com

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STATE WATER BOARD RELEASES FLAWED BAY-DELTA PLAN UPDATES JUST BEFORE THE HOLIDAYS

by Dan Bacher

Just in time for the Holidays, the State Water Resources Control Board staff on Friday released for public review and comment a controversial revised draft of updates to the Water Quality Control Plan for the San Francisco Bay/Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Watershed, also known as the Bay-Delta Plan.

The Newsom Administration celebrated the release of the updates as offering pathways to improve conditions for imperiled fish and wildlife, while Tribes, fishing groups and environmental organizations said the plan would in fact further degrade conditions for salmon and other fish by relying on unenforceable voluntary agreements. …

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/12/12/2358210/-State-Water-Board-releases-flawed-Bay-Delta-Plan-just-prior-to-the-Holidays

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PANDERING TO THE PRESIDENT

Editor,

Regarding the recent story titled: “UC Berkeley suspends pro-Palestinian lecturer over political advocacy in classroom," UC Berkeley’s administration has sacrificed one scrupulous and brave member of what it so loves to call “our community” to its own shameful wish to curry favor with President Donald Trump.

I’m a retired UC Berkeley professor, and if every teacher who is trying to do an honest job carefully obeyed the provost’s interpretation of the UC regents’ rules — checking and silencing themselves at every turn — UC Berkeley ceases to be a university and would be nothing more than a Trump hotel.

Ann Smock

Berkeley

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READ THE PRINT EDITION

Editor,

A recent story about healthy aging inspired a holiday gift-giving idea.

Since I started teaching digital literacy, I’ve encouraged young families to get a print subscription to a newspaper. Older people can also benefit.

As the story says, fewer older people are reading for pleasure even though it appears to boost memory and brain function. Only 30% of those 66 and older report reading every day. Like young people, elders are spending more time on their phones.

Consider giving a print newspaper subscription to someone who is getting up there in years. It might kick-start their healthy habit.

We need to lean less on social media and more on traditional media sources. Reading in print slows us down and makes us less likely to jump to rapid-fire conclusions.

The story points out that a daily newspaper strengthens connections with the local community and helps older people who may feel isolated. A newspaper also allows grandparents to talk with grandkids about stories for school projects, do puzzles together and share comic strips.

More than ever, youngsters and older people need to stay focused and engaged, so print media is the place to begin.

Jane Gould

Tiburon

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JAMES SCHWARTZ:

I’m old enough to remember a time before social media and the internet and none of this was an issue. Sure, once in a while the KKK would dress up in robes and have a march in some small town that the press would show up and cover it but the consensus was they were buffoons and from a time the country had healed and forgotten about. We live now in a time where anyone can grab a microphone and speak whatever is on their mind but only the hate gets amplified. It’s all stuff that gets a rise out of people and it’s not even a majority of people it’s enough that it has to become a story then gets picked up by newspapers and station after station. So now it seems like it’s real because it’s been force fed in our faces now for weeks. This is media psyops 101. A divided people are much easier to govern. It might not seem that way but it’s true. If you keep feeding bullshit to the right people that faction will get angry and cause confusion. It’s been the left versus the right now for well over a decade and who is losing? We are. The rich are getting richer and our congress has done nothing. Trump is America first but not one thing he has done has become permanent. It will all be undone with the stroke of a pen. The country is beyond broke with 38 trillion of debt and we are at each other’s throats over what? Not one issue that changes our lives on a daily basis. If we as a people ever wake up and unite we would realize the enemy is who we have elected to lead us. They get corrupted by money. Money and power are what corrupts man. Until we the people realize this not a damn thing is going to change. Wake up people. DC is the enemy.

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“YOU GET THEM WRONG before you meet them, while you're anticipating meeting them; you get them wrong while you're with them; and then you go home to tell somebody else about the meeting and you get them all wrong again. Since the same generally goes for them with you, the whole thing is really a dazzling illusion. The fact remains that getting people right is not what living is all about anyway. It's getting them wrong that is living, getting them wrong and wrong and wrong and then, on careful reconsideration, getting them wrong again. That's how we know we're alive: we're wrong. Maybe the best thing would be to forget being right or wrong about people and just go along for the ride. But if you can do that -- well, lucky you.”

— Philip Roth, ‘American Pastoral’

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KOKOMO

Aruba, Jamaica, ooh I wanna take ya
Bermuda, Bahama, come on pretty mama
Key Largo, Montego
Baby why don't we go
Jamaica

Off the Florida Keys
There's a place called Kokomo
That's where you wanna go
To get away from it all
Bodies in the sand
Tropical drink melting in your hand
We'll be falling in love
To the rhythm of a steel drum band
Down in Kokomo

Aruba, Jamaica, ooh I wanna take you to
Bermuda, Bahama, come on pretty mama
Key Largo Montego
Baby why don't we go
Ooh I wanna take you down to Kokomo
We'll get there fast
And then we'll take it slow
That's where we wanna go
Way down in Kokomo

Martinique, that Montserrat mystique

We'll put out to sea
And we'll perfect our chemistry
By and by we'll defy
A little bit of gravity
Afternoon delight
Cocktails and moonlit nights
That dreamy look in your eye
Give me a tropical contact high
Way down in Kokomo

Aruba, Jamaica, ooh I wanna take you to
Bermuda, Bahama, come on pretty mama
Key Largo Montego
Baby why don't we go
Ooh I wanna take you down to Kokomo
We'll get there fast
And then we'll take it slow
That's where we wanna go
Way down in Kokomo

Port au Prince, I wanna catch a glimpse

Everybody knows a little place like Kokomo
Now if you wanna go to get away from it all
Go down to Kokomo

Aruba, Jamaica, ooh I wanna take you to
Bermuda, Bahama, come on pretty mama
Key Largo Montego
Baby why don't we go
Ooh I wanna take you down to Kokomo
We'll get there fast
And then we'll take it slow
That's where we wanna go
Way down in Kokomo

Aruba, Jamaica, ooh I wanna take you to
Bermuda, Bahama, come on pretty mama
Key Largo, Montego
Baby why don't we go
Ooh I wanna take you down to

— John Phillips, Scott McKenzie, Mike Love and Terry Melcher

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“SO, THERE I WAS, age 44. I was still dunking french fries at Brasserie Les Halles, which I thought was a pretty good gig at the time.

But, there was this little free paper they gave out on corners in a little box called The New York Press. I thought, I’m going to write something that will entertain other cooks, maybe I’ll get a hundred bucks and my fry cook will find this funny. So, I wrote that first piece, that first version of ‘Kitchen Confidential’ with the intention of being published by the New York Press and making 100 bucks and being a hero to a few fry cooks in New York.

I wrote it and I sent it to The New York Press… So, every week I’d run to the corner. ‘Oh, I’m gonna be in the free paper!’ and I wasn’t in there. And, in a moment of frustration and possible inebriation, I mentioned this to my mom who said, ‘Well, you should send it to The New Yorker. I know somebody there. They’ll read it.’ And I’m thinking, what is the statistical likelihood ever, even if you’re represented? There’s no chance. Ever.

Out of alcohol-fueled hubris and on the insistence of my mom, I stuffed a copy, a print of this thing I’d written into an envelope and sent it off to The New Yorker, and thought that’s the last I will ever hear of this. Then, a month and a half later, the kitchen phone rings, and it’s David Remnick, the publisher from The New Yorker saying we’d like to run this piece.

And when it ran, it transformed my life within two days… Everything changed. Everything. From that point on.”

– Anthony Bourdain

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THE WORKERS SONG

Come all of you workers
Who toil night and day
By hand and by brain
To earn your pay
Who for centuries long past
For no more than your bread
Have bled for your countries
And counted your dead

In the factories and mills,
In the shipyards and mines
We've often been told
To keep up with the times
For our skills are not needed,
They've streamlined the job
And with sliderule and stopwatch
Our pride they have robbed

But when the sky darkens
And the prospect is war
Who's given a gun
And then pushed to the fore
And expected to die
For the land of our birth
When we've never owned
One handful of earth?

We're the first ones to starve
The first ones to die
The first ones in line
For that pie-in-the-sky
And always the last
When the cream is shared out
For the worker is working
When the fat cat's about

All of these things
The worker has done
From tilling the fields
To carrying the gun
We've been yoked to the plough
Since time first began
And always expected
To carry the can

— Ed Pickford (1976)

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GEORGE C. SCOTT

What tricks do film directors employ to get the best performances out of their actors?

George C. Scott is probably the only actor in movie history to agree to deliver what would be an Oscar-worthy film performance only on the condition that it would never be seen by audiences.

The movie, based on Peter George’s Cold War thriller Red Alert, was intended to be a drama, but director Stanley Kubrick was so struck by the novel’s unintentional comedic elements that in the end, 1964’s Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, was made as a black comedy.

Scott, a Shakespearean actor who had recently emerged as one of Hollywood’s greatest and most sought after performers, was anxious about appearing in a comedy for fear of embarrassing himself and damaging his reputation as a dramatic actor. He was even more alarmed when Kubrick asked him to play the role “over the top,” insisting instead that he would play the role mildly comedic and allow the film’s lead, Peter Sellers, to play for the big laughs.

In the end Kubrick relented, and told Scott to ham it up only for dress rehearsals — when the cameras would be off — and when the cameras were rolling he could deliver his lines toned down.

When the film premiered, Scott was dismayed and angered to discover that Kubrick had lied to him — the cameras had been rolling the entire time, and most of Scott’s over-the-top “dress rehearsal” takes — even a take where Scott does an unintentional pratfall without breaking character — were used in the film’s final cut.

Scott was reportedly so upset by Kubrick’s betrayal that he vowed never to speak to the director again.

The film, of course, would become one of the most celebrated comedies ever made, and Scott’s performance would be singled out as one of the great comedic roles of all time. Said Roger Ebert: “His performance is the funniest thing in the film.”

Although he never worked with Kubrick again, Scott eventually came to appreciate Dr. Strangelove, and ultimately would cite his performance as Gen. Buck Turgidson as the favorite of his career.

(Movies&Delight.com)

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JEFFREY ST. CLAIR:

A Synecdoche is a figure of speech where an individual event is used to represent the whole story. You’d be hard-pressed to find a more exact and unnerving synecdoche for the Israeli genocide in Gaza than turning the strip’s largest hospital into an unmarked mass grave.

Palestinian Civil Defense teams in Gaza announced this week that they had recovered and transferred the bodies of 98 Palestinians from Al-Shifa Hospital, including 55 unidentified victims who had been buried inside the hospital grounds, in the shattered enclave’s courtyards and makeshift graves, during the height of the Israeli occupation’s genocide. Forensic authorities say dozens more bodies remain inside the Al-Shifa complex.

The bodies were deeply buried under dirt, debris and garbage. Some were elderly. Some young. Some showed signs of being shot at close range. The bodies from earlier mass grave sites at Al-Shifa and Nasser hospitals had evidence that the victims’ hands had been bound. Some showed signs of being shot at close range. Several had bullet holes in the skull. The bodies from earlier mass grave sites at Al-Shifa had evidence that the victims’ hands had been bound. The horrors of Gaza continue to unfold in ever more depraved chapters.

A CNN investigation found that the IDF gunned down starving Palestinians trying to collect flour in Gaza. Then they bulldozed the corpses into unmarked graves, where they were left to rot and be scavenged by ravenous dogs. Their deaths were never recorded, and the location of their bodies was never disclosed to their families.

Hossam Shaker: “How do you explain to the world that your army bulldozed a cemetery and uprooted the dead from their graves?”

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PITY THE NATION

Pity the nation whose people are sheep
And whose shepherds mislead them

Pity the nation whose leaders are liars
Whose sages are silenced
And whose bigots haunt the airwaves

Pity the nation that raises not its voice
Except to praise conquerors
And acclaim the bully as hero
And aims to rule the world
By force and by torture

Pity the nation that knows
No other language but its own
And no other culture but its own

Pity the nation whose breath is money
And sleeps the sleep of the too well fed

Pity the nation oh pity the people
who allow their rights to erode
and their freedoms to be washed away

My country, tears of thee
Sweet land of liberty!

— Lawrence Ferlinghetti (2007)

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ON-LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

We're in a cold civil war/information war, and informed readers should be skeptical of everything in the media/information sphere. Attempts to control who gets to use the internet to say or write words just means that the internet's going to be controlled by someone. Which is bad.

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JOHN J’ONZZ:

There's a new designation — "woke right" — that people, mostly of the libertarian/moderate/centrist variety like to throw around. They mean that people like Fuentes, Candace Owens, Tucker Carlson, Darryl Cooper, et al, are aping the illiberalism of the new pseudo-left, often coupled with some of the more uncomfortable opinions and consipiracies about Israel both groups seem to have.

I'd argue that it's actually these "enlightened" centrists who angrily demand that Megyn Kelly denounce Candace Owens and Tucker Carlson on a daily basis, and call for people like Fuentes to be censored (again) that share more of the "woke" traits than the kooky, and popular, outer reaches of the right wing podosphere: they want to control who is and is not allowed to have a platform, and force conformity. I recall Damon Linker on a podcast (Persuasion? Andrew Sullivan?) discussing controversial figures being let back on Twitter after Musk's purchase of the platform. He said that it's mostly fine, except Bronze Age Pervert, who should remained banned because "he's a Nietzschean." People like Linker want to personally choose who gets a platform, and who should be removed from polite society.

I'd love to retire the term "woke," because it took on so many disparate, conflicted meanings, but what we call woke never died. In the fallout of Charlie Kirk's assassination, the real story of cancellations was lefty influencers and social media stars that had the gall to post about being upset about Kirk's death and spent the next week apologizing to their fans. Ezra Klein being dragged for having a human response to a political assassination being the biggest example.

If you don't like what Nick Fuentes, or Alex Jones, or Candace Owens have to say, just ignore them. Trying to get them, or people adjacent to them removed from platforms, only makes them more popular. Or do what everyone does with idiots like Hasan, Destiny or Jennifer Welch: post their stupidest comments for the world to see and make fun of. Destiny finally imploded, and most of these other people probably will over time.

The cohort trying to cancel Megyn Kelly, not for anything she said, but because she won't denounce Tucker Carlson for interviewing ("platforming") Nick Fuentes is the real problem here.

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“MY BELIEF IN FREE SPEECH is so profound that I am seldom tempted to deny it to the other fellow. Nor do I make any effort to differentiate between the other fellow right and that other fellow wrong, for I am convinced that free speech is worth nothing unless it includes a full franchise to be foolish and even…malicious.”

― H. L. Mencken

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LEAD STORIES, SUNDAY'S NYT

Person of Interest Detained Over Deadly Shooting at Brown

At Least 11 Killed After Jewish Community Is Targeted in Sydney Attack

The S.E.C. Was Tough on Crypto. It Pulled Back After Trump Returned to Office.

How We Analyzed the S.E.C.’s Cryptocurrency Enforcement

Deadly Attack on U.S. Troops Exposes Growing Challenges for Syria’s Leader

What We Know About the American Troops in Syria

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PITY THE NATION

Pity the nation that is full of beliefs and empty of religion.

Pity the nation that wears a cloth it does not weave, eats a bread it does not harvest, and drinks a wine that flows not from its own wine-press.

Pity the nation that acclaims the bully as hero, and that deems the glittering conqueror bountiful.

Pity the nation that despises a passion in its dream, yet submits in its awakening.

Pity the nation that raises not its voice save when it walks in a funeral, boasts not except among its ruins, and will rebel not save when its neck is laid between the sword and the block.

Pity the nation whose statesman is a fox, whose philosopher is a juggler, and whose art is the art of patching and mimicking.

Pity the nation that welcomes its new ruler with trumpetings, and farewells him with hootings, only to welcome another with trumpetings again.

Pity the nation whose sages are dumb with years and whose strong men are yet in the cradle.

Pity the nation divided into fragments, each fragment deeming itself a nation.

— Kahlil Gibran (1933)

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“YOU CAN'T GO BACK HOME to your family, back home to your childhood, back home to romantic love, back home to a young man's dreams of glory and of fame, back home to exile, to escape to Europe and some foreign land, back home to lyricism, to singing just for singing's sake, back home to aestheticism, to one's youthful idea of 'the artist' and the all-sufficiency of 'art' and 'beauty' and 'love,' back home to the ivory tower, back home to places in the country, to the cottage in Bermude, away from all the strife and conflict of the world, back home to the father you have lost and have been looking for, back home to someone who can help you, save you, ease the burden for you, back home to the old forms and systems of things which once seemed everlasting but which are changing all the time—back home to the escapes of Time and Memory.”

— Thomas Wolfe

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"At 30, I exercised to look good. At 50 to stay in shape. At 70 to avoid being bedridden. At 80 to be able to live without assistance. Now I do it for the pure challenge."

A happy 100th birthday to Dick Van Dyke.

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COMPOSED IN AUGUST

Now westlin winds and slaught'ring guns
Bring Autumn's pleasant weather;
The gorcock springs on whirring wings
Amang the blooming heather:
Now waving grain, wide o'er the plain,
Delights the weary farmer;
The moon shines bright, as I rove by night
To muse upon my charmer.

The paitrick lo'es the fruitfu' fells,
The plover lo'es the mountains;
The woodcock haunts the lonely dells,
The soaring hern the fountains;
Thro' lofty groves the cushat roves,
The path o' man to shun it;
The hazel bush o'erhangs the thrush,
The spreading thorn the linnet.

Thus ev'ry kind their pleasure find,
The savage and the tender;
Some social join, and leagues combine,
Some solitary wander:
Avaunt, away, the cruel sway!
Tyrannic man's dominion!
The sportsman's joy, the murd'ring cry,
The flutt'ring, gory pinion!

But, Peggy dear, the evening's clear,
Thick flies the skimming swallow,
The sky is blue, the fields in view
All fading-green and yellow:
Come let us stray our gladsome way,
And view the charms of Nature;
The rustling corn, the fruited thorn,
And ilka happy creature.

We'll gently walk, and sweetly talk,
While the silent moon shines clearly;
I'll clasp thy waist, and, fondly prest,
Swear how I lo'e thee dearly:
Not vernal show'rs to budding flow'rs,
Not Autumn to the farmer,
So dear can be as thou to me,
My fair, my lovely charmer!

— Robert Burns (1783)

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