Mendocino County Today: Sunday 1/11/2026

Cool | Ramaria | AV Events | Gracia Slater | Keyte Guilty | Cassidy Hollinger | Hire Us | Pet Kibble | Homeless Numbers | Privacy Act | MCOE Board | Pet Misconceptions | Train Talk | Yesterday's Catch | Niners/Eagles | Pick's Reopening | News Thoughts | Flood Insomnia | Marco Radio | Bob Weir | Crazy Days | North-Bay Economy | Brandishing | Probably Wondering | Got Her | Fear Women | To ICE | Fight Booze | Prize Transfer | Lead Stories | Cold ACW | Abducting Maduro | Be Brave | Unknown Territory | Small Place | The Force | Human Consciousness

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COOL conditions will steadily warm through late next week. The inland valleys will see night and morning low clouds and fog along more limited warming. (NWS)

STEPHEN DUNLAP (Fort Bragg): A partly cloudy 39F on the coast this Sunday morning. Generally clear skies broken up with passing high clouds & several mentions of fog this week. HECTIC! Be careful along the coast the next couple days as sneakers waves are back again.

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AV EVENTS (today)

Free Entry to Hendy Woods State Park for local residents
Sun 01 / 11 / 2026 at 8:00 AM
Where: Hendy Woods State Park
(https://andersonvalley.helpfulvillage.com/events/4971)

AV Grange Pancake and Egg Breakfast
Sun 01 / 11 / 2026 at 8:30 AM
Where: Anderson Valley Grange , 9800 CA-128, Philo
(https://andersonvalley.helpfulvillage.com/events/5024)

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GRACIA SLATER

We are saddened that Gracia Slater passed away on November 27th 2025. Born on February 15th 1942 she is preceded in death by her husband Kenneth Slater.

She is survived by her two children, Sheri (Shird) Burris and Kevin (Angle) Slater. Four grandchildren, Samantha Ellis, Ashlynne Tuttle, Skyler Burris and Charlie Slater and four great grandchildren, Scotty Tuttle, Aralynne Tuttle, Reese Ellis and Rivlee Ellis.

Gracia was born in Massachusetts on February 15, 1942. She moved to Potter Valley in 1953 with her parents and 7 brothers and sisters where she attended school, was married and raised her family until 2018 when she moved to Ukiah. Gracia Loved to garden, cook, bake and sew.

Gracia will be laid to rest in Potter Valley with her husband Kenneth Slater.

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ANOTHER BIG WIN FOR THE DA

A Mendocino County Superior Court jury returned from its deliberations Tuesday afternoon to announce it had found the trial defendant guilty as charged.

Defendant Martin Zachariah Keyte, age 46, of Ukiah, was found guilty of driving a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol, a misdemeanor.

Testimony was heard by the jury that defendant Keyte was under the influence of alcohol when he was involved in a roll-over collision last September, damaging fifty feet of guardrail, at approximately 4 o’clock in the morning on northbound Highway 101 just south of the Highway 253 overcrossing.

The law enforcement agencies that provided the testimony used at this week’s trial were the California Highway Patrol and the California Department of Justice forensic laboratory.

The prosecutor who presented the People’s evidence to the jury was Deputy District Attorney Michael Henderson.

Mendocino County Superior Court Judge Charlotte Scott presided over the two-day trial, her first criminal jury trial as a local judge.

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CASSIDY HOLLINGER

On December 30th, 2025, Cassidy Hollinger passed away unexpectedly. She was 34 years old.

We met in 2009 on our 1st day of Drama class at Vassar College, after randomly being paired for an assignment and the rest, as they say, is history. We laughed hysterically, loved wholeheartedly, and remained that way regardless of time and distance. The word "friend" doesn't do justice to the life we shared. If soulmates are real, she was one of mine. She was our Found Family, the Fairy Gaymother my daughters needed and adored, had the sweetest sibling relationship with my husband and referred to him as her "big brother." She has her own bedroom in our house and always had a seat at our Higgins family events. She was brilliant, beautiful, generous, considerate, and a thousand other adjectives.

Our family will be holding two events to celebrate Cassidy's life in late spring, at Vassar and in NYC. I will be sharing information regarding a GoFundMe to create an academic award in her name at Vassar as well.

I love you, Cassidy. I'll carry you in my heart until we meet again.

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WIDE RANGE OF SERVICES

Hey there my name is Anatoly. My wife Savannah and I and my two sons are new to the area. We would love to offer our services to our new community.

Services we can provide but not limited to:

My beautiful wife is a stay at home mom. She offers professional cleaning services, interior car detailing, carpet shampooing, organizing, gardening, and custom made macramé.

(Transportation) I currently have two 40 foot equitment trailers here in Manchester and 1 16 foot equitment trailer) I can haul just about anything under 35000lbs-shipping containers, goosnecks, 5th wheels boats,bumper pull trailers, equipment and campers, cars, trucks, materials/hay/trees etc

(Dumpster) service for your property clean ups, estate clean up etc
x1 (23 yard bin)
X1 (16 yard bid)

(Equipment) I also have a skidsteer and a mini excavator and a 80 foot boom lift. With a bunch of implements to help you with all of your earth work, dirt work, tree work, and even heavy lifting assistance. I can also operate your equipment.

I also do Home remodels/general labor/tree trim/removal, landscape/pergolas/decking/fencing/painting/moving/property maintenance etc

Need something demolished i have the ability to make it happen

Need a shipping container or a custom built container I can get one ordered and delivered right to your desired location.

I also provide emergency on demand services if your broken down and need assistance, fallen down trees blocking access to home or roads, emergency repairs

We have endless amount of references out of Colorado if you need any!

We would love to work for you or with you!
Anatoly 7206629654
Savannah 3038757550

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UKIAH SHELTER PET OF THE WEEK

Yes, his name is Kibble, and yes, he lives up to it. This short, stocky bulldog mix is a 2-year-old bundle of charm, muscle, and pure silliness. Built like a little tank but powered by joy, Kibble is the kind of dog who makes people laugh without trying. Kibble loves his toys and takes playtime very seriously (especially if squeakers are involved). He seems to get along well with other dogs and would be happy to have a canine buddy. Or be the star of the show himself. His compact size makes him perfect for couch cuddles, but don’t be fooled, this guy is always ready for some fun. With his adorable looks, goofy personality, and friendly vibe, Kibble is basically a walking smile. If you’re looking for a sturdy little sidekick who will brighten your days and keep life entertaining, Kibble might just be your perfect match. Come meet him and prepare to fall in love! Mr. K is currently 60 pounds.

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

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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MAZIE MALONE:

The reported 9% decrease in homelessness sounds great, but it’s inaccurate. Many counties in California only participate in the PIT count every two years (here in Mendocino County it’s done annually), so the data is not consistent statewide.

The count also takes place in February, which means it represents a single moment in time, in the middle of winter, when people experiencing homelessness are often harder to find. Because the PIT is done at the beginning of the year, that leaves 11 months for people to lose housing and remain unaccounted for. And of course, there are ongoing challenges with who is actually counted in the PIT count, and those who are missed altogether.

This is why we cannot rely on these numbers as proof that homelessness has actually gone down.

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CA PRIVACY ACT NOW IN EFFECT

The California Privacy DROP Act just went active on January 1, 2026. Data Brokers, companies that sell your personal data (name, address, phone number, email), have to delete info on people that submit a request to the CalPrivacy site.

If you are Californian and want to reduce the amount of spam calls and junk mail you receive you can use the site here: https://privacy.ca.gov/drop/about-drop-and-the-delete-act

The act starts today but brokers have until August to implement the capability and up to 6 months to do the deletion (iirc). It’s not timely but it makes sense it will take awhile since it is onerous to setup if not automated.

(Ronnie James)

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KNOW YOUR PARASITES

ED NOTE: The Mendocino County Office of Education does not do one thing that the individual school districts of the county could not do better and cheaper.

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ASK THE VET: Common Myths and Misconceptions About Dogs and Cats Part 4

by Colin Chaves, DVM

Myth: Your pet's food is balanced and complete for long-term feeding.

Maybe, or maybe not. The majority (at least 90%) of food you are feeding your pet needs to say on the label that it is balanced and complete and to include what life stages it covers. Food that is labeled “for supplemental feeding only” is not balanced and should be limited to at most 10% of the regular diet. Home prepared diets should not be considered balanced and complete unless you are working with a veterinary nutritionist.

Myth: The main reason to go to the vet is to get shots.

While vaccines are certainly important, the most important thing is your pet's health. The foundation of that is a complete physical exam by your veterinarian, at least once a year.

Myth: Your pet doesn't have worms because you don't see them.

Most intestinal parasites shed intermittently. Many parasites, or at least their eggs, are microscopic.

Myth: Your pet doesn't have fleas because you don't see them.

It's easy to miss fleas unless there is a massive infestation. The best way to check for fleas is with a flea comb, but you need to know how to use one properly.

Myth: Your dog (or cat) is itchy because he's nervous.

This is quite the popular myth, and it's completely wrong. Itching in dogs and cats is a medical issue.

Myth: A healthy cat drinks water daily.

We've discussed this before. While you should always have clean, fresh water available, a normal healthy cat does not typically drink water. Cats drinking water is indication of a medical problem or an improper diet.

Myth: Grain free diets are the best diets.

I have been searching for well over a decade and I've yet to see any data that points to a problem with grains in dogs or cats. No credible source can tell me where this myth came from. Dogs are omnivores and do well with grains. Cats also do well with small amounts of grains. Many “grain free” diets do contain ingredients of concern that should be avoided due to risk of heart disease.

Myth: Your dog is highly trained so doesn't need a leash.

Unless you are completely isolated, your dog should be on a leash, no matter how well trained.

Myth: Dogs and cats get more "picky" about food as they age.

There is almost always a medical reason for this. Old age is not a disease.

Myth: Your cat is going to the bathroom outside of the litter box because she is mad at you.

Possibly so, but unlikely. Cats do have behavioral inappropriate elimination. This can be due to stress, anxiety, and/or a whole host of medical problems. Your cat is not trying to punish you. She is trying to communicate with you.

Myth: Your breeder is very knowledgeable and has great advice.

Sorry, but this just isn't so. Breeding and understanding of genetics is not an amateur sport. Please don't seek medical advice from a breeder. A breeder has already demonstrated to you their lack of knowledge by inbreeding, with devastating consequences.

Myth: A great way of showing affection to your pet is feeding them.

Food is not love. There are much better ways of having a good relationship with your pet. Treat training, when done appropriately, is OK. Overfeeding in the face of an overweight or obese pet is abuse, even if it comes from a place of affection.

Myth: Your dog is smelly because you don't bathe him enough.

Normal healthy dogs don't actually have much of an odor. Some possible causes for odor are if they have allergies or certain other medical problems, have recently rolled in something, have been spending long periods wet (like in the rain) or are on an inappropriate diet.

Myth: Your dog or cat is coughing or gagging because something is stuck in their throat.

A foreign object in a pet's windpipe can happen. Thankfully it's rare, because when it does happen, the results are dramatic and life-threatening. Most coughing or gagging is from things like infection, irritants (cigarette or wood smoke, dust, etc.), inflammation, heart problems, allergies, or collapsing trachea in small dogs.

Myth: Your pet having a litter will make her more healthy, happy, and with a better personality. It will show the miracle of life/birth to your kids.

The first part is just incorrect. The second part is true, but there are other ways of providing this sort of education to children that don't ignore the massive pet overpopulation crisis in the world.

Myth: Chubby is cute.

You would think this would be obvious. Social media seems to indicate otherwise. A chubby pet is not cute. They are just unhealthy. They will live a shortened, low-quality life compared to how they were meant to be. Much as a dog with a short muzzle that can't breathe properly, or with misaligned teeth, is not cute.

("Ask the Vet" is a monthly column written by local veterinarians including Clare Bartholomew of Mendocino Coast Humane Society, Colin Chaves of Covington Creek Veterinary, Karen Novak of Mendocino Village Veterinary and Kendall Willson of Mendocino Equine and Livestock. Past articles can be found on the Advocate-News and Beacon websites by searching "Ask the Vet.”)

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CATCH OF THE DAY, Saturday, January 10, 2026

CHRISTOPHER ANDERSON, 45, Fort Bragg. Petty theft, trespassing, under influence, failure to appear, resisting.

MICHAEL CRUZ-CRUZ, 26, Petaluma/Ukiah. DUI, leaving scene of accident with property damage, suspended license for reckless driving.

MICHAEL DAILEY, 55, Fort Bragg. DUI, suspended license for DUI, contempt court, resisting.

NIRI GRIJALVABOJ, 34, San Francisco/Ukiah. DUI, no license.

ALBERT O’NEIL, 49, Fort Bragg. Failure to appear, probation revocation.

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WHO ENDS UP ADVANCING? THE 49ERS, CONTINUING THEIR IMPROBABLE SEASON, OR THE EAGLES?

Scott Ostler:

I don’t know much about betting, but I’ll bet that the real gamblers will shy away from this game because it’s so unpredictable. This has to be the mystery game of the weekend. Maybe the 49ers’ loss to the Seahawks crushed the 49ers’ spirit, but maybe it was just a blip they can shake off. I don’t remember looking toward a game where I can envision the 49ers losing by three touchdowns or winning by three. So we’re playing a guessing game here, but: The 49ers’ offense comes back to life, and the defense holds on for dear life.

49ers 20, Eagles 17.

Eric Branch:

In 2023, the last time the 49ers visited Philadelphia, the Eagles started two backup linebackers and their struggles were the story of the game. Purdy attacked the middle of the field and watched his pass catchers run and run: His seven longest completions traveled 41 total air yards and featured 179 yards after the catch. Two seasons later, it appears the 49ers will trot out two backup linebackers for a defense that was already ailing. In addition, left tackle Trent Williams, if he plays, could be gimpy. And wide receiver Ricky Pearsall, their lone wideout who can consistently beat man coverage, is looking iffy. And the 49ers are traveling 2,500 miles to meet a team whose frontline starters received a week off in Week 18.

Eagles 26, 49ers 14.

Ann Killion:

The 49ers earned this with their face-plant last weekend: a game on the road, in the cold and wind, in one of the most hostile environments, against the reigning Super Bowl champions. There are enough veterans, at least on offense, to not be fazed by the circumstances. But overall there’s also a lot of youth and inexperience on the 49ers. I’m a big believer in the pride of a champion. In 2023, the Kansas City Chiefs didn’t play that well in the regular season but — as any 49ers fan can tell you — it didn’t matter in the postseason, when they repeated as Super Bowl champions.

The Eagles will rise up: Eagles 28, 49ers 17.

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CENTURY-OLD PICK’S DRIVE-IN PREPARES FOR REOPENING IN CLOVERDALE

The landmark drive-in will reopen in mid-January, bringing back classic burgers and root beer floats with some Sonoma County upgrades.

by Heather Irwin

The century-old Pick’s Drive-In, a Cloverdale landmark for generations, will reopen in mid-January after months of renovation by Anidel Hospitality, the Sonoma-based company founded by entrepreneur Chris Fanini. The group specializes in breathing new life into historic properties, including the Sonoma Cheese Factory and Lake Tahoe’s Chambers Landing.

Often cited as the oldest drive-in in California, Pick’s — soon to be renamed Pick’s Roadside — traces its roots to the early 1920s. It originally opened in 1923 as Reed and Bell’s Root Beer Stand, a regional franchisee of A&W Root Beer, founded by Lewis Reed and H.C. Bell. In the early 1950s, Mayo and Johnie Mae Pickard purchased the roadside stand and renamed it Pick’s Drive-In.

While the paper trail gets a little fuzzy when it comes to Pick’s claim as the “oldest,” there’s no doubt about its century-long evolution from roadside pit stop to full-fledged drive-in, serving burgers, fries and frosty mugs to generations of farmers, families and travelers.

The new menu will stick closely to the classics — burgers, milkshakes, root beer floats and fries. But this being Sonoma County, burgers will be made with premium Wagyu beef and optional ingredient upgrades will be available. The drink list will include a curated selection of wine and beer. Maybe most importantly, Pick’s much-loved red relish is making a return.

“Our goal was to create the best burger in Sonoma County,” said Anidel managing director John Wittig.

When the business was put up for sale in 2024, its future was uncertain. Anidel Hospitality saw an opportunity to revive, rather than raze, a piece of Cloverdale’s history.

“Pick’s has always been more than just a restaurant,” said Amber Lanier, a fifth-generation Cloverdale resident and general manager of Pick’s Roadside, in a June interview. “It’s a gathering spot, a piece of history and a place that has shaped the memories of so many in Cloverdale.”

Amber Lanier, a fifth-generation Cloverdale resident and general manager of Pick’s Roadside. The iconic Cloverdale burger spot reopens in January 2026. (Pick’s Roadside)

This may be just the beginning of Anidel Hospitality’s focus on historic Cloverdale projects, according to Wittig.

“We want an active role in the revitalization of Cloverdale. We have a couple of businesses in mind,” he said. The company has already revived Sonoma’s historic Cheese Factory and purchased Sonoma’s Best Modern Mercantile from embattled developer Ken Mattson.

“The majority of investors don’t want the complexity of these historical buildings — and we have experience handling them. We see so much opportunity here,” said Wittig.

Cloverdale, a town of nearly 9,000, has shared the fate of many highway bypass communities, slipping off the radar after Highway 101 was rerouted in the 1990s. The old Redwood Highway once ran through the heart of downtown, delivering a steady stream of travelers to local shops and restaurants before traffic sped past instead.

More details on Pick’s planned Jan. 10 opening are expected soon.

(sonomamag.com)

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ERIC GRUNDER:

I spent 44 years hanging around newspaper newsroom, reporting, helping edit and generally trying to hold a mirror up to the communities we served. As with any career, there were good days and bad days. But when you write for the media almost every day is a frustrating day, almost always because of the tsunami of information coming at you and need to constantly shift from one story to another. Complete follow through can be rare. Thousands of times over those years, I was left to ask, but what happened? How did it resolve? Most of the time I never found out. Most of the time there wasn’t time, there weren’t enough newspaper column inches available, or another story was coming at me.

We see that played in the national news every day. Remember the Epstein files? I know, it’s hard. That was so last week. That was before the abduction in Venezuela, attempts to discredit and demote Capt. Kelly. the new aggressive threats to Greenland, federal agent shootings in Minneapolis and Portland. If the lack of follow-through is frustrating to news consumers, I can assure you it at least as frustrating to news reporters. And in this case, you've got to ask yourself. is this just the nature of the beast or is there something more nefarious going on, especially given that denial, deflection and blame passing has long been the MO of this administration.

I don't hold much with conspiracies. But, when it comes to the Epstein files, how potentially damaging they could be, and the administration's constantly shifting narrative, you’ve really got to wonder. And that’s hard for the most jaded reporter or news consumer given the ambient noise surrounding us.

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MIKE GENIELLA:

Eric Grunder and I started our careers in journalism at the same newspaper and in the same era. He nails it.

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FLOODING & SLEEP

by Paul Modic

In the first week of November, after trying multiple woo woo hacks for three years, I finally figured out insomnia which brought multiple gloriously idiotic grins to my face as I reveled in my positive frame of mind. Then on December 21st, eight weeks after quitting the stock market and sugar, and after fifty-three nights without insomnia, the Eel River flooded a foot high into my guest cabin and I was flung back into a week of insomnia and trying to clean up the damage.

To get a good night’s sleep (after first following the basic rules: no alcohol, stop screen time, liquids, and food two to three hours before going to sleep, and having a set bed time), I have to feel no anxiety, nothing I’ll key on when first falling asleep and then when awakening in the night. No anxiety about anything and also no thoughts about anything, a blank mind, as one thought will lead to another and I’ll start a conversation with myself, then pretty soon feel anxiety about either one of those subjects which have pooped (I’ll leave the typo) into my mind or the anxiety produced by not being able to get back to sleep because of those thoughts.

(If you’ve got major health issues, worry about money or Trump or the world situation, have concerns about your family’s issues and/or conflicts with a spouse or lover, then these are all real concerns which could give you anxiety and keep you up, unless you’ve figured out how to compartmentalize all that.)

Moisture is the cause of most problems in life, in this case massive rains, so does the photo I took of the cabin sitting in the river haunt me now? It’s the first thing which poops into my mind when I awaken in the middle of the night now, and a daily reminder as I go up and down the hill to turn on the fan and heater, then back down later in the day to turn on the dehumidifier. (Just as the river receded and the floor was dry again, I discovered a leak which was delivering a steady stream of water down the wall and into the cabin, despite having new rolled roofing put on this summer.)

Reality Check Time: I haven’t used that cabin in at least ten years, though it had several nice uses before that. The cute deaf Japanese girl was living there when I moved in, then I used it as a guest room for short bursts when trimmers slept there, my Scrabble buddy and handyman Hugh Duggins (murdered ten years ago this week) set it up as a grow room to step up clones for outdoor in the Spring, during harvest it was a drying shed and since the weed stopped ten years ago it’s just been a storage place for a few tools. (A few years ago I envisioned it as a guest room again and set it up with a bed and desk but what was I thinking? I like making guest spaces but don’t really want them occupied.)

So why am I so fucking obsessed and worried about this little 10 by 12 cabin in the flood plain which I never use and probably never will, to the point where I’m blaming it for completely disrupting my sleep? (If it hadn’t been here when I arrived or wasn’t there now, I would not miss it.) Is it time to call my therapist, start whining to friends, or try to methodically and sanely figure out why I’m paying for electricity every day to heat and dry it, as more water pours in? My occasional housecleaner just gave me the recipe for spraying down for mold (a cup of water with tablespoons of alcohol or hydrogen peroxide mixed with Dawn cleanser), and I’m thinking about putting a tarp over the damn thing when the rain stops next week and hope 200 staples (or some battens) will hold it down for a few years.

So why? Why am I trying to save the cabin? Because if I decide not to, won’t I continue to wake up and wonder if that’s the right decision? If I tear it down that would settle the issue, right? Oh goddess, what to do? The pounding rain keeps waking me up and I think about that useless cabin, obsessed like during the forty minutes I just spent scribbling this first draft. (I did finally order sand bags, inspired by the new beach of sand the gracious river just delivered to me near the cabin, and to be fair to the Mighty Swollen Eel, it’s what this place is all about, having swum joyously in her cool embrace fifty times last summer.)

Will I feel better, sleep better, having now vented? Has any clarification crystalized by expressing this angst and annoyance? Am I trapped in the grey area of possible mold or able to make a black or white decision? Is this just one more example about whining about problems of abundance? Would I be happy to see the cabin float away in the next flood? Hell, fucking, yes! (Or maybe it would be just dragged into the row of alder trees on the river bank where it could sit like a trash heap or a piece of conceptual art for the next fifty years? Would the county make me remove it from its perch hung up in the trees? Should I just tear it down, or burn it down, to get good sleep again?)

Yes, I’d be happy again if it floated away, but meanwhile the dehumidifier is humming and I’m probably throwing good money after bad while heroically trying to save it, but for what, for who? (To quote 49ers running back Rickie Watters.)

Then there would be no room for doubt, just a smile on my face when I awaken listening to the glorious rain falling on my warm comfortable dwelling, then go right back to sleep.

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MEMO OF THE AIR: Respect mah authoritah!

/"A lot of life is about trying to repress the little fascist in each one of us." -Michel Foucault/

Marco here. Here's the recording of Friday night's (9pm PST, 2026-01-09) 7.3-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_0678_MOTA_2025-01-09.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. That's what I'm here for.

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:

Last week there were the 1950s and 1960s ads for special booze with added vitamins and meat juice for lonely, listless British housewives. I don't know why it didn't remind me of this immediately, but the nickel finally dropped: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6x4Uk7qWRR8

"Worn with or without corsets, fit any figure, adapt themselves to every movement as a part of oneself. A grateful support to mothers. In bathing they cannot be detected, buoy the wearer and make swimming easy." https://www.weirduniverse.net/blog/comments/pneumatic_bust_forms

At the Ceremony of the Secret, the child is told. A moment passes for realization, and the photograph is taken. This is the way it has always been, and this is the way it will be. (Before the advent of photography a sketch artist was employed.) They don't always cover their face and moan. Sometimes they lash out, toss the tray tables, claw the curtains and do themselves and others an injury. Sometimes they run screaming out into the night and are found the next morning sleeping in the crotch of a tree or huddled shivering in a ditch. Sometimes they simply don't get it, can't grasp it, it makes no sense to them and they look around like, So? Those are the ones who are chosen for a special task. https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=2359085101237449&set=gm.4381797225368457&idorvanity=1427425394139003

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

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GRATEFUL DEAD FOUNDING MEMBER BOB WEIR DIES AT 78

by Andrew Dalton

Bob Weir, the guitarist and singer who as an essential member of the Grateful Dead helped found the sound of the San Francisco counterculture of the 1960s and kept it alive through decades of endless tours and marathon jams, has died. He was 78.

Weir’s death was announced Saturday in a statement on his Instagram page.

“It is with profound sadness that we share the passing of Bobby Weir,” a statement on his Instagram posted Saturday said. “He transitioned peacefully, surrounded by loved ones, after courageously beating cancer as only Bobby could. Unfortunately, he succumbed to underlying lung issues.”

The statement did not say where or when Weir died, but he lived in the San Francisco Bay Area for most of his life.

Weir joined the Grateful Dead — originally the Warlocks — in 1965 in San Francisco at just 17 years old. He would spend the next 30 years playing on endless tours with the Grateful Dead alongside fellow singer and guitarist Jerry Garcia, who died in 1995.

Weir wrote or co-wrote and sang lead vocals on Dead classics including “Sugar Magnolia,” “One More Saturday Night” and “Mexicali Blues.”

After Garcia’s death, he would be the Dead’s most recognizable face. In the decades since, he kept playing with other projects that kept alive the band’s music and legendary fan base, including Dead & Company.

“For over sixty years, Bobby took to the road,” the Instagram statement said. “A guitarist, vocalist, storyteller, and founding member of the Grateful Dead. Bobby will forever be a guiding force whose unique artistry reshaped American music.”

Weir’s death leaves drummer Bill Kreutzmann as the only surviving original member. Founding bassist Phil Lesh died in 2024. The band’s other drummer, Mickey Hart, practically an original member since joining in 1967, is also alive at 82. The fifth founding member, Ron “Pigpen” McKernan, died in 1973.

Dead and Company played a series of concerts for the Grateful Dead’s 60th anniversary in July at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, drawing some 60,000 fans a day for three days.

Born in San Francisco and raised in nearby Atherton, Weir was the Dead’s youngest member and looked like a fresh-faced high-schooler in its early years. He was generally less shaggy than the rest of the band, but he had a long beard like Garcia’s in later years.

The band would survive long past the hippie moment of its birth, with its ultra-devoted fans known as Deadheads often following them on the road in a virtually non-stop tour that persisted despite decades of music and culture shifting around them.

“Longevity was never a major concern of ours,” Weir said when the Dead got the Grammys’ MusiCares Person of the Year honor last year. “Spreading joy through the music was all we ever really had in mind, and we got plenty of that done.”

Ubiquitous bumper stickers and T-shirts showed the band’s skull logo, the dancing, colored bears that served as their other symbol, and signature phrases like “ain’t no time to hate” and “not all who wander are lost.”

The Dead won few actual Grammys during their career — they were always a little too esoteric — getting only a lifetime achievement award in 2007 and the best music film award in 2018.

Just as rare were hit pop singles. “Touch of Grey,” the 1987 song that brought a big surge in the aging band’s popularity, was their only Billboard Top 10 hit.

But in 2024, they set a record for all artists with their 59th album in Billboard’s Top 40. Forty-one of those came since 2012, thanks to the popularity of the series of archival albums compiled by David Lemieux.

Their music — called acid rock at its inception — would pull in blues, jazz, country, folk and psychedelia in long improvisational jams at their concerts.

“I venture to say they are the great American band,” TV personality and devoted Deadhead Andy Cohen said as host of the MusiCares event. “What a wonder they are.”

(apnews.com)

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NORTH BAY AT A CROSSROADS: Economist warns of stagnation, structural shifts, uneven paths forward

by Jeff Quackenbush

The North Bay economy is undergoing a profound transition marked by stalled job growth, shifting demographics, housing market stagnation and a wine industry facing long-term restructuring. While the challenges are significant, a noted local economist said opportunities remain — if regional leaders understand the depth of the changes underway and respond with coordinated, realistic strategies.

Robert Eyler, an economics professor at Sonoma State University and president of Economic Forensics and Analytics, presented his analysis during a Wednesday morning meeting of Business Alliance Sonoma County. Using county-level data, statewide and national trends, he described an economy that is no longer behaving as Californians have historically expected, particularly in regions once seen as beneficiaries of pandemic-era migration.

Unprecedented Jobs Plateau

One of the most striking indicators Eyler presented was California’s prolonged lack of job growth.

“We’ve seen about a 24-month period in which we had zero jobs growth in California, which is unprecedented in the recorded history of California’s economy outside of recession,” he said.

Across the North Bay, that stagnation shows up in different ways. Sonoma and Marin counties remain below their pre-pandemic labor force levels. Napa County has posted modest gains, while Mendocino County has remained largely flat.

That said, Scott Anderson, chief U.S. economist for BMO Capital Markets, this week told Bay Area News Group, part of the same company as the Journal, that the November figures showed “tangible reasons for optimism.”

“The Bay Area and California economies showed encouraging signs of labor market stabilization in November,” Anderson told the news outlet.

From Opportunity To Reset

Lake County, however, stands apart, not because of growth but unmet expectations.

According to Eyler, the six-county region’s smallest is undergoing what he described as a “post-pandemic reformatting,” after early assumptions about its growth potential five years ago failed to materialize.

“Lake County is going through a weird post-pandemic reformatting of where people thought that Lake County was going to be this place where you’d see more growth like what was connected to larger places, and that faded,” Eyler said.

During and immediately after the pandemic, Lake County was widely viewed as a potential beneficiary of remote work trends. As a small rural area with connections to larger population centers, it appeared well-positioned to attract new residents seeking affordability, space and distance from urban congestion.

That anticipated surge, however, did not last. Interest faded, population and economic growth failed to sustain momentum, and Lake County is now adjusting to a different post-pandemic reality, one defined less by expansion and more by recalibration.

California ‘At A Precipice’

Zooming out, Eyler warned that California is “at the precipice” one of the most difficult macroeconomic conditions possible. While inflationary pressures are present nationwide, the state’s labor market is weakening more rapidly than the national average, he said.

“California is probably feeling what you could think was a mild stagflation episode, where prices are rising but labor markets are fading a little bit faster at the same time, which are kind of is like the worst case scenario of a macro economy,” Eyler said.

Stagflation, a term coined in 1965 by British economist and politician Iain Macleod, describes the rare and problematic combination of rising prices, weak economic growth and increasing unemployment, a condition that defies what’s considered the normal relationship between inflation and labor markets. Economists consider it a worst-case scenario because, as shown during the U.S. experience of the 1970s and later documented by Federal Reserve histories, policy tools used to fight inflation or boost employment tend to worsen the other problem rather than resolve both simultaneously.

Why Job Growth Has Stalled

Eyler attributed California’s job stagnation to a convergence of structural forces rather than a single cause.

First are demographic changes accelerated by the pandemic.

“We saw an exodus of workers during the pandemic that was replaced by an influx of people who had maybe no intention to work,” he said, altering labor force participation rates.

Second is a reduction in investment.

“We saw a general reduction in investment in California outside of AI,” Eyler said. Even within technology, capital has flowed primarily toward “intellectual technologies or intellectual property technologies,” rather than labor-intensive industries.

Third is the nature of job creation itself.

“When people are getting hired, they’re getting hired for relatively low-wage jobs … rather than on the higher-wage end,” Eyler said. This imbalance slows overall economic growth, even when employment increases.

Immigration policy changes, he added, further constrain labor availability, particularly in sectors already struggling to find workers.

Undocumented Workforce

Eyler was asked how immigration factors into the state’s job situation.

“We really do rely on them, and thus we need to support that population,” he said.

Federal policy shifts on immigration in the past year have produced tangible economic effects.

“We’ve probably seen taxable sales go down,” Eyler said, as changes in immigration patterns reduced consumption and economic participation. Labor shortages have intensified in agriculture and service industries, sectors that Eyler said are deeply dependent on undocumented workers.

“We are connected to an undocumented workforce and just getting things done,” he said.

As labor becomes harder to source at economically viable rates, Eyler warned that some businesses may be forced to restructure or shut down entirely. In agriculture, in particular, the challenge threatens long-term sustainability.

Wine Country Reckoning

The North Coast’s wine industry, long a cornerstone of the regional economy, is entering what Eyler described as a period of “structural struggle.”

He forecast “more mergers and acquisitions” and “a contraction of that industry,” emphasizing that wine is no longer viewed as a growth sector. Instead, producers face increasing competition, consolidation and pressure to adapt.

In a follow-up interview, Eyler contrasted the business dynamics of Napa and Sonoma counties. Napa Valley benefits from natural synergies among its southern municipalities.

Napa and American Canyon function as portals to the valley, where people can live, work and visit, supported by some industrial activity. Yountville, while less diverse, operates as a high-end destination that attracts visitors willing to travel farther.

“Those three working in unison … (have) a much more of a natural feel in the way the economy works,” Eyler said.

He also highlighted increased risk for the wine and travel economy in north Napa Valley if the south valley captures more visitor spending.

“If you become more competitive in the south and there’s one way in and one way out from where most of the population is going to originate — the core Bay Area or its airports — by the time they get to Yountville, if they’re spent out, they’re not going to go to St. Helena and Calistoga unless there’s a reason to go there,” he said.

Sonoma County, by contrast, faces challenges tied to geography and fragmentation. Wineries are more dispersed, partnerships are looser and competition is stronger than in Napa Valley. While Healdsburg and the city of Sonoma have strong visitor appeal, Eyler said the county’s wine assets are “just more diverse and geographically spread in such a way that that concentration and the ability to capture more cash … is just trickier and more competitive than it is in Napa.”

Housing Markets Lag

Housing trends further illustrate the North Bay’s divergence from other parts of California.

While counties such as Santa Barbara, San Diego, Orange and Kern have seen median home prices rise between 58% and 63% since the pandemic — and continue growing at 2% to 3% annually — the North Bay has largely missed that surge.

“Mendocino, Trinity, Humboldt, Lake, Marin, Napa, Solano and Sonoma are all bringing up the bottom of the housing forecast,” Eyler said.

Here’s how the median price has changed in North Coast counties in the 12 months ending in November: Sonoma, -1.0%; Solano, -1.0%; Napa, -1.2%; Marin, -1.6%; Lake, -3.4%; Humboldt, -3.8%; Trinity, -4.5%; and Mendocino County -5.3%.

Mendocino County and San Francisco have lost all the median home price appreciation gained from first two years of the pandemic, he said.

Buyer fatigue, limited construction, high development costs and homeowners locked into low mortgage rates have all contributed to flat markets, Eyler said.

“There’s not a lot of building happening … The developers are very nervous to go into a market that might be sagging,” he said.

Demographics are compounding the issue. The North Bay is attracting fewer working families, while older residents remain in place or more arrive.

“So what’s that mean, in terms of the population change, if what we attract here are wealthy pickleball players and not working families?” Eyler asked.

A Regional Wild Card

Solano County stands apart from the rest of the North Bay for its markedly slower projected population decline, though Eyler cautioned that its outlook depends heavily on assumptions rather than current conditions.

“The only reason Solano County is not basically descending at the same pace as (Sonoma County) is because the expectation is there will be a new municipality that will show up, and there will be an increase in the number of working families in Solano County,” he said.

Eyler said he was referring to the California Forever effort to create a large new community north of Highway 12 between Suisun City and Rio Vista. He described the possibility of “a very large investment,” potentially tied to shipbuilding, advanced manufacturing or related industries, though he stressed that the outcome remains uncertain.

Backers of the community in 2024 pulled a county ballot measure that sought to streamline review, and since then have been working with Suisun City and Rio Vista to potentially annex some of the land.

Where Growth May Still Emerge

Despite widespread headwinds, Eyler identified sectors with relative growth potential in the North Bay: health care (especially, for seniors), warehousing and delivery services.

Notably absent from the growth outlook, he noted, were wine, medical technology and life sciences. Sonoma State University, he said, is working to attract technology research that could attract such employers.

Eyler also highlighted Rohnert Park as a potential economic hub because of its aggressive housing-creation focus. He asserted that cities able to integrate housing availability with economic development could attract employers.

The North Bay’s challenges, Eyler emphasized, are structural rather than cyclical. So addressing them will require cooperation across jurisdictions, realistic expectations and a willingness to adapt to an economy that is fundamentally changing.

“We’ve got to think about a more unified way of looking at workforce development,” he said.

(North Bay Business Journal)

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YOU'RE PROBABLY WONDERING WHY I'M HERE

You're probably wondering
Why I'm here
And so am I
So am I

Just as much as you wonder
'Bout me bein' in this place
(Yeah!)
That's just how much I marvel
At the lameness on your face
You rise each day the same old way
And join your friends out on the street
Spray your hair
And think you're neat
I think your life is incomplete
But maybe that's not for me to say
They only pay me here to play

(I wanna hear Caravan with a drum sola!)

You're probably wondering
Why I'm here
And so am I
So am I

Just as much as you wonder
'Bout me starin' back at you
(Yeah!)
That's just how much I question
The corny things you do

You paint your face and then you chase
To meet the gang where the action is
Stomp all night
And drink your fizz
Roll your car and say "Gee whiz!"
You tore a big hole in your convertible top
What will you tell your Mom and Pop?

(Mom, I tore a big hole in the convertible)

You're probably wondering
Why I'm here
And so am I
So am I

Just as much as you wonder
If I mean just what I say
(Yeah!)
That's just how much I question
The social games you play

You told your Mom you're stoked on Tom
And went for a cruise in Freddie's car
Tommy's asking
Where you are
You boogied all night in a cheesy bar
Plastic boots and plastic hat
And you think you know where it's at?

You're probably wondering
Why I'm here
(Not that it makes a heck of a lot of a difference to ya)

— Frank Zappa (1966)

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“I THINK, ESSENTIALLY, MEN FEAR WOMEN. It comes from a sense of dependence on women. Because men are brought up by women, they’re dependent on them. In all societies, they have organizations that exclude women; warrior societies are famous the world over for that. It comes from fear of women. History is full of references to women and how bad they are, how dangerous. There are deprecating references to women all through the Bible. The mere fact that a woman was made out of of a man’s rib, as a sort of afterthought. Men’s egos are frightened by women. We all have made mistakes in that respect. We’ve all been guilty, most men, of viewing women through prejudice. I always thought of myself not as a prejudiced person, but I find, as I look over it, that I was.”

— Marlon Brando, Interview with Lawrence Grobel, Playboy Magazine, 1977

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LATE NIGHT CERTAINTY

Jimmy Kimmel: I know what they’re doing. They’re trying out a new slogan. Donald J. Trump is going to kill you. It’s pretty good, right? This maniac. He isn’t just killing people overseas. An ICE agent today shot and killed an unarmed 37-year-old woman during an ICE operation in Minneapolis. They’re there under the guise of protecting us. And of course, our president weighed in with compassion.

He wrote, “I’ve just viewed the clip of the event which took place in Minneapolis. It is a horrible thing to watch. The woman screaming was obviously a professional agitator and the woman driving the car, this is the woman who was killed, was very disorderly, obstructing and resisting, who then violently, willfully, and viciously ran over the ICE officer who seems to have shot her in self-defense.”

Now, I saw this video. It didn’t look like anybody got run over to me. It looked to me like a woman got scared and tried to drive away and they shot her.

That’ll be for the court to decide. The mayor of Minneapolis though had this to say.

Jacob Frey: “They are already trying to spin this as an action of self-defense. Having seen the video of myself, I want to tell everybody directly. That is bold. This was an agent recklessly using power that resulted in somebody dying, getting killed. And I have a message for ICE. To Ice, get the f--- out of Minneapolis.

Jimmy Kimmel: That was the shirt I want to see. To ICE. Get the fuck out of Minneapolis.

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JOHN L SULLIVAN:

A great many persons have said that I should be an authority on what is commonly called the curse of liquor. I am. I make the statement openly, though I am ashamed of it. But I am going to be straightforward. I hope, and in making this acknowledgment of my fitful past, I want to put myself on an equal footing with some of the men who may heed my talk and certainly need something of the kind.

I fought the booze, but I wasn't the man with the punch. No man carries a swing or a hook or a cross or an uppercut that can make an impression on Old Red Eye.

They used to say that I won most of my fights by scaring my men into a fit before getting into the ring with them. But Old Red Eye never gave me a serious thought when I threw down the gauntlet to him. I was just as easy as any of the rest of them. You have heard before, I guess, that no man can beat the booze game. It's a fact, established as early as were the hills from which the booze is supposed to come. Nobody can beat it by fighting it.

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DEEP THOUGHT OF THE DAY

The Norwegian Nobel Institute issued a statement saying that its prizes could not be transferred after María Corina Machado, a Venezuelan opposition leader, offered to give her Nobel Peace Prize to Trump. (nytimes.com)

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LEAD STORIES, SUNDAY'S NYT

Trump’s ‘Superstar’ Appellate Judges Have Voted 133 to 12 in His Favor

Smithsonian Removes Label Noting Trump Impeachments

U.S. Launches Major Strikes on Islamic State Targets in Syria

Anti-ICE Protests Spread Nationwide

Trump Is Briefed on Options for Striking Iran as Protests Continue

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ON-LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

The Minneapolis shooting is just the latest skirmish in The Cold American Civil War we are in, which was declared when Kelly, et al, urged members of the military to disobey orders from Trump. The Cold American Civil War: let's name it, and deal with it, before it gets hot.

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FOUR OBSERVATIONS ON THE US KIDNAPPING OF NICOLAS MADURO

Difficult as it is for westerners to hear, we don’t need a stronger West, we need a weaker one. Harder still, Trump is teaching us that the very concept of 'the West' is an illusion

by Jonathan Cook

Four observations on the Trump administration’s flagrant lawbreaking in abducting Venezuela’s president, Nicolas Maduro, from Caracas and bringing him to New York to “stand trial” on “narco-terrorism” and firearms charges:

1. It is a sign of quite how much of a rogue state the US has become that Washington isn’t even trying to come up with a plausible reason for kidnapping the Venezuelan president.

In invading Afghanistan, the US said it had to “smoke out” al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden from his mountain lair after the 9/11 attacks. In invading Iraq, the US said it was going to destroy Saddam Hussein’s “weapons of mass destruction” that threatened Europe. In bombing Libya, the US claimed it was preventing Muammar Gaddafi’s troops from going on a Viagra-fuelled campaign of rape.

Each of these justifications was a transparent falsehood. The Taliban had offered to hand over bin Laden for trial. There were no WMD in Iraq. And the Viagra story was a work of unadulterated fiction.

But earlier US administrations at least had to pretend their actions were driven by humanitarian considerations and the need to maintain international order.

The charges against Maduro are so patently ridiculous you need to be a Trump fanboy, an old-school imperialist or deeply misinformed to buy any of them. No serious monitoring organisation thinks Venezuela is a major trafficker of drugs into the US, or that Maduro is personally responsible for drug-trafficking. Meanwhile, the firearm charges are so preposterous it’s difficult to understand what they even mean.

2. Unlike his predecessors, President Trump has been honest about what the US really wants: control of oil. This is an old-fashioned, colonial resource grab. So why are the media even pretending that there is some kind of “law enforcement” process going on in New York? A head of state has been abducted – that’s the story. Nothing else.

Instead we’re being subjected to ridiculous debates about whether Maduro is “a bad man”, or whether he mismanaged the Venezuelan economy. Sky News used an interview with Britain’s former Labour party leader, Jeremy Corbyn, to harangue him, demanding he condemn Maduro. Why? Precisely to deflect viewers’ attention from the actual story: that in invading Venezuela, the US committed what the Nuremberg trials after the Second World War judged to be the supreme international crime of aggression against another state. Where have you seen any establishment media outlet highlight this point in its coverage?

If Sky and other media are so worried about “bad men” running countries – so concerned that they think international law can be flouted – why are they not haranguing Keir Starmer and Yvette Cooper over Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity? Doesn’t that make him a very “bad man”, far worse than anything Maduro is accused of? Why are they not demanding that Starmer and Cooper condemn him before they are allowed to talk about the Middle East?

When Russia invaded Ukraine, the western media did not weigh the justifications for Moscow’s invasion, or offer context, as they are now doing over the lawless attack on Venezuela. They responded with shock and outrage. They were not calm, judicious and analytical. They were indignant. They warned of “Russian expansionism”. They warned of Putin’s “megalomania”. They warned of the threat to international law. They emphasised the right of Ukraine to resist Russia. In many cases, they led the politicians in demanding a stronger response. None of that is visible in the coverage of Maduro’s abduction, or Trump’s lawbreaking.

3. The left is often censured for being slow to denounce non-western powers like China or Russia, or being too wary of military action against them. This is to misunderstand the left’s position. It opposes a unipolar world precisely because that inevitably leads to the kind of destabilising gangsterism just demonstrated by Trump’s attack on Venezuela. It creates a feudal system of one lord, many serfs – but on the global stage.

That is exactly what we see happening now as Trump and Marco Rubio, his secretary of state, mouth off about which country – Colombia, Cuba, Greenland, Mexico – is going to be attacked next. It is exactly why every European leader, from Keir Starmer to EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, sucks up to Trump, however monstrous his latest act. It is exactly why the United Nations secretary general, Antonio Guterres, speaks so limply about the general importance of “the rule of law” rather than articulating a clear denunciation of the crimes the US has just committed.

Hard as it is for westerners to acknowledge, we don’t need a stronger West, we need a weaker one.

But harder still, westerners need to understand that the very concept of “the West” is an illusion. For decades, Europe has been simply hanging on to the coat-tails of a US military behemoth, in the hope that it would protect us. But in a world of diminishing resources, the US is showing quite how ready it is to turn on anyone, including its supposed allies, for a bigger share of global wealth. Just ask Greenland and Denmark.

European states’ true interests lie, not in prostrating themselves before a global overlord, but in a multipolar world, where coalitions of interests need to be forged, where compromises must be reached, not diktats imposed. That requires a foreign policy of transparency and compassion, not conceit and arrogance. Without such a change, in an era of burgeoning nuclear tripwires and growing climate chaos, we are all finished.

4. Washington’s goal is to make Venezuela once again a haven for private US capital. If the new acting president, Delcy Rodriguez, refuses, then Trump has made it clear Venezuela will be kept as an economic basket-case, through continuing sanctions and a US naval blockade, until someone else can be installed who will do US bidding.

Venezuela’s crime – one for which it has been punished for decades – is trying to offer a different economic and social model to America’s rampant, planet-destroying, neoliberal capitalism. The deepest fear of the West’s political and media class is that western publics, subjected to permanent austerity as billionaires grow ever richer off the back of ordinary people’s immiseration, may rise up if they see a different system that looks after its citizens rather than its wealth elite.

Venezuela, with its huge oil reserves, could be precisely such a model – had it not been long strangled by US-imposed sanctions. A quarter of a century ago, Maduro’s predecessor, Hugo Chavez, launched a socialist-style “Bolivarian revolution” of popular democracy, economic independence, equitable distribution of revenues, and an end to political corruption. It reduced extreme poverty by more than 70 per cent, halved unemployment, quadrupled the number of people receiving a state pension and schooled the population to reach literacy rates of 100 per cent. Venezuela became the most equal society in Latin America – one reason why millions still turn out to defend Maduro.

Chavez did so by taking the country’s natural resources – its oil and metal ores – out of the hands of a tiny domestic elite that had ruined the country by extracting the national wealth and mostly hoarding or investing it abroad, often in the US. He nationalised major industries, from oil and steel to electricity. Those are the very industries that Maria Corina Machado, the Venezuelan opposition leader feted by the West, wants returned to the parasitic families, like her own, that once ran them privately.

Seeing the way Venezuela has been treated for the past two decades or more should make it clear why European leaders – obedient at all costs to Washington and the corporate elites that rule the West – are so reluctant to even consider nationalising their own public industries, however popular such policies are with electorates.

Britain’s Keir Starmer, who only won the Labour leadership election by promising to nationalise major utilities, ditched his pledge the moment he was elected. None of the traditional main UK parties is offering to renationalise water, rail, energy and mail services, even though surveys regularly show at least three-quarters of the British public support such a move.

The fact is that a unipolar world leaves all of us prey to a rapacious, destructive, US corporate capitalism, which, bit by bit, is destroying our world. The issue isn’t whether Maduro was a good or bad leader of Venezuela – the matter the western establishment media wants us concentrating on. It is how do we put the US back in the box before it is too late for humanity.

(jonathancook.substack.com)

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UNKNOWN TERRITORY: Greenland And Cuba Are The Next Contestants On Trump’s Might-Makes-Right Reality Show

by Jack Ohman

Explaining the U.S. invasion of Venezuela and the dramatic capture and spurious arrest of President Nicolas Maduro and wife Cilia Flores, President Donald Trump said the quiet part out loud: The United States is back in the business of nation-building.

“We’re going to be running it with a group,” Trump said Sunday without specifying who that group would include, “and we’re going to make sure it’s run properly.”

Before last weekend, nation-building had been anathema to Trump’s MAGA base, and his pronouncement that the U.S. would now “run” Venezuela isn’t exactly “America First,” especially given Wednesday's update that this U.S. boondoggle would last "for years."

In a New York courtroom on Monday, Maduro declared himself a prisoner of war. The Trump administration, meanwhile, has portrayed him as a drug dealer, an odd assertion given that Trump just pardoned convicted drug trafficker and former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández and Silk Road website founder Ross Ulbricht, who money-laundered $214 million for drug dealers.

For months, Trump and his Secretary of Defense and/or War Pete Hegseth, have been busy destroying what they claimed were Venezuelan drug boats, even though those vessels were not remotely capable of reaching the United States. In one such case, the U.S. killed at least two men clinging to their ship’s burning wreckage, an act that violates our rules of military engagement and would seem to qualify as a war crime.

But once you’ve ignored one or two laws and your own Constitution, why stop there? To that end, Trump and his team have also set their sights on Greenland and Cuba.

Greenland is under the control of Denmark, a NATO member and our longtime ally. Fifty-two Danish soldiers died helping us in Afghanistan and Iraq. Thank you for your service. Now hand over your rare earth minerals.

“Unfortunately, I think the American president should be taken seriously when he says he wants Greenland,” Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Fredericksen said Monday, adding, “but I will also make it clear that if the U.S. chooses to attack another NATO country militarily, then everything stops, including NATO and thus the security that has been established since the end of the Second World War.”

Can a NATO member invoke Article 5 — the provision that member states will join together to repel an act of aggression made against any one of them — if that bad actor is also a member?

The demise of NATO, of course, has long been one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s top geopolitical goals. No doubt he is rooting for Trump to pull a Caracas on Nuuk, Greenland’s largest city, or simply charge the purchase of the island on a Trump gold card, so he can sit back and watch the dominoes fall.

Speaking of Vlad, Trump’s former national security adviser for Russian and European affairs, Fiona Hill, told a congressional panel in October 2019 that Russia had approached the Trump administration about “some very strange swap arrangement between Venezuela and Ukraine.”

Doesn’t seem so strange now, does it? And there’s more, potentially much more.

Cuba has been a thorn in the side of the United States since the late dictator Fidel Castro seized power in 1959. To stay in business, it has also relied on Venezuelan oil, which now seems to be back under the direct control of the United States, kind of.

Trump said Sunday that he would compel oil companies to spend billions to fix Venezuela’s oil infrastructure “and start making money” for the U.S. By Wednesday, that had morphed into an all we can drink situation, with the U.S. making money off Venezuelan oil “indefinitely.”

By stepping on Cuba’s fuel line, the thinking goes, the post-Castro regime is sure to fall. “I’d be concerned,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants, said of Havana’s government.

What’s the justification for all of this “Donroe Doctrine,” offer-they-can’t-refuse nonsense?

Trump’s domestic policy adviser and in-house thug, Stephen Miller, told CNN’s Jake Tapper that “we live in a world, in the real world … that is governed by force, that is governed by power. These are the iron laws of the world since the beginning of time.”

Asked Wednesday if there were any limits on his power, Trump, the convicted tax cheat who was found liable of having sexually assaulted a journalist and whose name appears in the Epstein files with stunning frequency, replied, “Yeah, there is one thing. My own morality. My own mind. It’s the only thing that can stop me.”

So, where is our imperialist commander in chief going with all this?

If we’re looking at a bully-based tripartite global order, with the United States running the Americas, Putin running roughshod in Europe and China taking over Taiwan, the rest of Asia and whatever else it wants, we’re in territory no one could have imagined since World War II.

(sfchronicle.com)

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RAY BRADBURY:

"When I was 19 years old I couldn't go to college because I came from a poor family. We had no money, so I went to the library at least three days a week. I read every possible book. At the age of 27 I had actually completed almost the entire library instead of university. So I got my education in the library and for free. When a person wants something, they will find a way to achieve it.

I would like to remind you one thing: Humans should never forget that we have been assigned only a very small place on earth, that we live surrounded by nature that can easily take back everything that has ever given to man.

It costs absolutely nothing in her way to one day blow us all off the face of the earth or flood the waters of the ocean with her single breath, just to remind man once again that he is not as all-powerful as he still foolishly thinks."

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THE FORCE THAT THROUGH THE GREEN FUSE DRIVES THE FLOWER

The force that through the green fuse drives the flower
Drives my green age; that blasts the roots of trees
Is my destroyer.
And I am dumb to tell the crooked rose
My youth is bent by the same wintry fever.

The force that drives the water through the rocks
Drives my red blood; that dries the mouthing streams
Turns mine to wax.
And I am dumb to mouth unto my veins
How at the mountain spring the same mouth sucks.

The hand that whirls the water in the pool
Stirs the quicksand; that ropes the blowing wind
Hauls my shroud sail.
And I am dumb to tell the hanging man
How of my clay is made the hangman's lime.

The lips of time leech to the fountain head;
Love drips and gathers, but the fallen blood
Shall calm her sores.
And I am dumb to tell a weather's wind
How time has ticked a heaven round the stars.

And I am dumb to tell the lover's tomb
How at my sheet goes the same crooked worm.

— Dylan Thomas (1933)

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BILL KIMBERLIN:

I rarely come across anything I consider enlightening but I like this idea…

“We are made of star stuff, the atoms in our bodies were forged in stars billions of years ago. But it’s also philosophically profound that we are the universe becoming aware of itself.”

ED REPLY: Objectively, we seem to be a cosmic accident, or the galaxy's mental hospital, but as the Reaper closes in on me, as a closet Catholic since I was a kid, the logic of life, if it can be said to possess logic, still and all, at least to me, the fact of human consciousness argues for purpose.