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Mendocino County Today: Saturday 1/17/2026

High Pressure | Daena Jaramillo | County Concerns | Kristin Noonan | Blue & Orange | Whereas Antle | Wanda Windsor | Caption Contest | Coast Showtimes | Confusion Hill | Yesterday's Catch | Succulent & Flask | Stoner Impressions | Little Overweight | Marco Radio | Snatching People | 49ers/Seahawks | Winter Sunshine | Dave Sime | Flower Lady | Jim Thorpe | Congressional Race | Participation Trophy | Her Prize | Pain Scale | Streetwalk | The Boys | Love You | The Adventure | Contrived Narrative | Lead Stories | Fanatical Bigots | So Miserable | Clockwork Orange | Fascist State | Obscene Gestures


HIGH PRESSURE is forecast to remain over NW California through the weekend resulting in dry weather and generally above normal daytime temperatures. Overnight and morning temperatures will remain chilly with night and morning fog in river valleys. (NWS)

STEPHEN DUNLAP (Fort Bragg): I can see the stars at 4am with 40F this Saturday morning on the coast, but the fog is close by hence, you know the rest. I do expect a sunny day though. And yep, more of the same until further notice. The NWS keeps trying to bring in a chance of showers but other sites aren't buying it.


DAENA MARIE JARAMILLO

Daena Marie Jaramillo of Ukiah passed away on January 12, 2026 in Ukiah. Born June 5, 1945 in Orange, California Daena has resided in Ukiah for the past 40 years.

Daena received an Associate’s Degree and was a Professional Genealogist for 20 years. She married Francisco R. Jaramillo on January 6, 1967 in Long Beach. Daena volunteered at the Family Research Center in Ukiah, assisting others with ancestry research, historical records, and other genealogical resources. She loved to crochet blankets and sew quilts, and gave many of them to her family as gifts. She was most proud of raising a family with her husband and being a loving wife, mother and grandmother. She will be remembered for her generosity, humor and willingness to help others.

Daena is survived by her daughters Kathryn, Christina and Elizabeth, son Michael, sisters Kathy Jenny and Louise, brother Dennis, grandchildren Melissa, Alisha, Deanna, Megan, Stephanie, Rebecca, Jacob, Ethan and great grandchildren Connor, Hunter Luna and Hadley. She was preceded in death by her husband Francisco and two brothers.


STATE OF MENDOCINO COUNTY

by Justine Frederiksen

On Tuesday, the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors each gave a “State of the District” report for the five jurisdictions in the county, with most of them pointing to the condition of local roadways as a top frustration for residents in terms of services they expect to be provided.

“Well-maintained roads remain a top expectation: Roads are one of the most visible and widely shared public services, and people want steady, noticeable progress,” said Fifth District Supervisor Ted Williams during the board’s Jan. 13 meeting, describing county residents as wanting “outcomes they can see and feel, (because) people care most about tangible results that improve daily life and reflect responsible use of public funds.”

Williams also said his “one request this year (is) to set the top priority as addressing the county’s financial system. We need to make it a No. 1 priority to staff that we modernize the county this year, (as) we haven’t been able to produce credible financials. And this isn’t just a software problem, this is a problem that can be solved more holistically with collaboration … and bringing in best practices from other areas. We’re living in an environment that might have been appropriate for the 1850s, but it’s not appropriate today. We’re still pushing paper between offices.”

“Roads are probably of the utmost concern,” agreed Fourth District Supervisor and Board Chairman Bernie Norvell, but he also pointed to frustrations among his district’s residents regarding: a lack of animal control services on the coast, a lack of consistency with the permitting process for building, and a lack of access to healthcare on the coast, also noting that “street-level homelessness is still an issue in the unincorporated areas (with) panhandling, encampments, and discarded drug paraphernalia.”

To illustrate many residents’ concerns regarding the county’s roads, First District Supervisor Madeline Cline read an email sent Monday evening from a constituent who described the potholes on the roads in Potter Valley as disturbing and pervasive.

“It doesn’t matter which road you take, they are covered in potholes,” the resident wrote. “The temporary fills aren’t cutting it; they’re ruining cars, they’re nearly causing accidents, and memorizing the location of the potholes is a skill I really wish we didn’t need in order to survive. Nobody seems to care about our little town, at least that is how it feels. Please, please, please help us out here. I’m tired of having my tires popped, and I can’t afford to continue living this way.”

As to affordability in general, Cline described an increased cost of living as a “huge concern” for her district, and that “there is huge demand for housing, especially middle-of-the-road, middle-income housing. Your everyday family can’t afford to buy a home, struggles to find a place to rent, and while the county doesn’t control the housing production, they have a large impact on how our housing is built and what that housing supply looks like.”

Cline also said she was “saddened” to not hear any of her fellow supervisors bring up water supply as a priority, describing water as “the most important thing for any community, and that is no different in our community. Water-supply reliability has been a large topic of conversation in the First District as the (future of the) Potter Valley Project continues to be evolving, uncertain and causing much tension. (And) it goes without saying that my constituents would prefer to keep the Potter Valley Project.”

As to the county’s operations overall, Cline pointed to an “underlying feeling (among residents) that the county doesn’t care,” adding that while she didn’t think that was true, she said it was the board’s “job to … tell the community what we’re doing on (residents’) behalf. I know that we do care, that there are so many people at the county who work very hard, every single day for our residents, and it’s part of our job to make sure that their efforts are not in vain, and that we’re (relaying) to the community the things that are happening every day (in our county).”

Third District Supervisor John Haschak pointed first to the need for Economic Development in the county, explaining that because of the “downturn in the cannabis market, we’re seeing many empty storefronts all over the county and people are struggling to survive.

“The bottom line is that we need more jobs in our county,” continued Haschak, noting that the fraying of the social safety net was also a concern, given that “46% of our county residents are Medical-eligible, cuts to Medical have a huge affect (here), and we all need to be prepared for how these cuts will affect county residents. Food insecurity is real … and we need to be ready for the next wave of cuts to the safety net, which are coming.”

“One of the most significant conversations this year has been annexation and how it affects … roads, housing approvals, infrastructure, law enforcement calls and tax-sharing,” said Second District Supervisor Maureen Mulheren.

“My focus has been on transparency, and on collaboration between the county, the city of Ukiah and the (Local Agency Formation Commission), because walking away from these conversations does not solve the real service gaps that people experience.

“This work has to be about facts and not fear,” continued Mulheren, also pointing to several “ongoing and wide-ranging” housing projects she has supported in the Second District, describing housing as “directly tied to workforce stability. public safety and community health. I’ve also stayed hands-on when it comes to encampments and trash clean-up, (as) clean and safe public spaces are fundamental for dignity, safety and community trust.”

As for the coming year, Mulheren said her priorities were “clear: I want to continue advancing annexation conversations in a way that is transparent, responsible and centered on service outcomes. I want to see housing projects move from planning to construction, and I will continue to focus on community wellness and public safety through prevention, care and coordination.”

After all five supervisors spoke, Williams said he was “pleased to see that there seems to be a lot of common ground among the five of us, (and) I haven’t heard anything that I object to. And I appreciate Supervisor Cline adding the water security issue, (as) I think that affects all of our districts.”

“The idea today, since we’re not taking action on anything, is that staff is keeping a list of things discussed that may want to be brought forward on a regular agenda, and at the end of the day, we will go over it and prioritize that list,” Norvell said of the supervisors’ State of the District reports. “If you brought things up today, they are not being lost, they will be discussed at the end of the meeting.”

(Ukiah Daily Journal)


KRISTIN GOEDE NOONAN

With heavy hearts, we share the passing of Kristin Goede Noonan, age 59, who left this world on December 21, 2025, in Ukiah, California.

Kristin was born in Groton, Connecticut, the youngest of four siblings. Her early years were spent in Southern California until she moved to Mendocino County in 1980 with her mother and stepfather. They settled in Willits, a place that would become her lifelong home. Kristin attended Willits High School and proudly completed her GED in 1983 at the age of 17. She ran for Sweetheart during the annual Willits Frontier Days and competed for the Miss Mendocino County Pageant with her best friend Nancie Rice.

Kristin raised her three beautiful children in parts of Lake County and Willits, California, which is where she spent the rest of her life. She built deep and lifelong friendships and became a cherished part of the local community. Kristin dedicated 15 years of service as a social worker with Mendocino County Social Services. Her compassion and commitment touched many lives.

Kristin will be remembered as a lively, supportive, and generous soul. She found joy in bringing people together, especially around a table filled with good food. She was an avid cook and loved preparing meals for her family and friends, always adding her own special touch (often an extra pad of butter). She also enjoyed creating glass art in her kiln, tending to her garden, soaking up the sunshine, and traveling whenever she could, especially alongside those she loved most.

Kristin is survived by her siblings, James, Robin, and Peggi, and by her beloved children, Topher, Kalli, and Kassidy. Though she left this earth far too soon, her warmth, kindness, and love will live on in the hearts of all who knew her.


A READER WRITES: Does anyone know what these blue and orange tubes along the freeway are for?


CEO ANTLE’S SELF-CONGRATULATION

by Mark Scaramella

Mendo has a long, well-documented history of what we loosely refer to as “The Whereas,” those empty claims of “accomplishments” that are auto-generated when senior officials depart county employment. Usually, The Whereases are simply a list of nice-sounding things that the official may have “supported,” or which happened to have occurred while they were paid handsomely to be nearby during some ordinary events.

Supervisors and CEOs are the usual recipients of the obligatory Whereases. (Unless your name is John McCowen who occasionally criticized the CEO and took his job seriously, thus not only disqualifying himself from Whereas consideration, but even being falsely accused of stealing county equipment a few weeks after his last term was up.)

When we first read Elise Cox’s summary of CEO Antle’s attempt at her own self-serving list of Whereases on Tuesday, we realized we missed it in the firehose of workshop propaganda that came out of the Board’s chambers on Tuesday and Wednesday. So we had to go back the video to listen to Antle’s claims again.

Ms. Cox reported that:

“Antle cited a range of accomplishments, including securing funding for a behavioral health wing at the county jail, relocating evidence storage to a county-owned facility, purchasing properties during the pandemic for mental health and housing uses, modernizing the county’s long-outdated financial and payroll systems, and creating a centralized grants division to improve oversight of external funding.”

Turns out that's an accurate summary of CEO Antle’s “citations.”

So let’s review, beginning with the fact that Antle was appointed CEO in July of 2022 and has chosen June 30, 2026 as her last day, conveniently at the end of her contract. We’re not exactly sure when she was hired by then-CEO Antle on the personal recommendation of then County Counsel Kit Elliott (recently hired back for at least six more months in a suspiciously cozy arrangement) and DA David Eyster, all personal friends, along with CEO Angelo. But we think it was around 2016, which would mean she’ll get ten years credit for her pension. Her pension will be based on her salary as CEO which was at last report around $213k per year. So that would be 2.5% of that per year of employment, or about $53k per year.

Ms. Antle’s claims:

  • Securing funding for a behavioral health wing at the county jail.

Comment: The basic jail expansion funding was obtained before July of 2022. Some extra money was obtained via State Grant after that which Antle probably had something to do with.

  • Relocating evidence storage to a county-owned facility.

Comment: We’ll give her some credit on this one, minor as it is. This goes back to the days when former CEO Carmel Angelo refused to let the Sheriff use a logical storage area near the Sheriff’s office out on Low Gap Road because Angelo claimed she was using it (occasionally) as an Emergency Operations Center. Antle backed away from that ill-considered opinion and cooler heads prevailed. Not that it’s much of an accomplishment. It did end up saving the Sheriff some money he had been paying for a private storage facility.

  • Purchasing properties during the pandemic for mental health and housing uses.

Comment: Both those “properties” — the grossly overpriced Orchard Street Crisis Residential Center next door to the Schraeder’s admin offices and the dilapidated nursing home on Whitmore Lane now converted to a PHF purchased initially as a covid quarantine facility — were purchased before July of 2022.

  • Modernizing the county’s long-outdated financial and payroll systems.

Comment: The failed attempt to “modernize” the county’s “long-outdated financial and payroll systems,” occurred years before July of 2022. Not only were both new systems a mismatch to County needs, but have been widely criticized as a major source of Mendo’s financial problems, many of which remain unresolved to this day.

  • Creating a centralized grants division to improve oversight of external funding.

Comment: We won’t argue with the claim that Antle had something to do with the centralized grants division, most of which began before July of 2022. But the recent State Audit report was very critical of the County’s “oversight of external funding.”

Then there are things CEO Antle left uncited.

Reporter Mike Geniella, January of 2025: “According to Court documents in the Cubbison criminal case, CEO Antle was among County administrators who supported the forced consolidation of two independent County financial offices. They hoped to eventually create a new Department of Finance under control of the County Supervisors. The board in fact did force the consolidation of the Auditor-Controller Office with the Treasurer-Tax Collector, but the plan to create a new Department of Finance requires voter approval.”

Now belatedly seen as the stupid idea it was at the time, not to mention unplanned and unanalyzed and inflicting a major blow to the County’s ability to collect taxes due, the Board is has decided to “deconsolidate” the two offices, albeit at aa snail’s pace.

Chamise Cubbison’s civil attorney, Ms. Cannata, said that recorded interviews exist confirming that CEO Antle had “numerous communications with the District Attorney urging him to hurry up and bring criminal charges” against Cubbison.

Per Geniella:

“Eyster, stated Cannata, delayed filing charges for a year while he tried to “extort Ms. Cubbison’s voluntary resignation.”

“Cannata contended that during the year-long delay the DA and Antle were in ‘regular communication in 2022 and 2023 about how to pressure Ms. Cubbison to voluntarily resign from her duly elected office.’

“Among the issues cited by Cannata are:

  • Antle’s rush to contact Eyster in September 2022 to initiate a criminal investigation into potential financial misconduct.
  • Antle’s apparent “urgent desire” to see Cubbison face criminal charges.
  • Antle’s coordination with the District Attorney to physically eject Cubbison from county offices.
  • Antle’s presentation of an unnoticed, off agenda item to suspend Cubbison at the Oct. 17, 2023, meeting of the Board of Supervisors.
  • ‘The speed of which Ms. Antle and Mr. Eyster acted to suspend Ms. Cubbison from her position was breathtaking,’ concluded Cannata.”

The County’s attorney has not denied these accusations, staying instead that they are “irrelevant.”

Then we have the Veteran’s Services Office relocation fiasco which Ms. Antle engineed to save some money, only to end up not only having to spend months undoing the move but spending additional money to house the Air Quality District offices.

We’ll stop there.


WANDA WINDSOR (1951-2025)

Wanda Windsor was born on October 29, 1951, to Merrill and Janice Windsor. She passed away on Monday, December 8, at the hospital in Saint Helena, California, surrounded by her loving family.

Wanda lived a life defined by courage, compassion, and an unwavering commitment to peace with justice. Her passion was especially evident in her tireless advocacy for children, whose lives she touched in ways too numerous to count. She believed deeply in standing up for those who needed protection, dignity, and a voice and she did so with both fierce determination and profound love. Whether known as a midwife, social worker, pastor, foster mother, grandmother, or simply as someone fascinating to talk with, Wanda left a lasting impression. Those who knew her understood that if you needed someone to fight for you, Wanda would be there steadfast, resilient, and unafraid. An extraordinary storyteller, Wanda had an uncanny ability to find just the right story for every moment, offering wisdom, humor, and perspective when it was needed most. Her stories reflected a life richly lived and deeply connected to others. Wanda was resilient and determined in the face of hardship, guided by her convictions and sustained by her love for people. She will be missed by more children than can be named, and by all who were fortunate enough to know her, learn from her, and be loved by her. Her legacy lives on in the lives she nurtured, the justice she pursued, and the stories she shared.

Wanda’s Celebration of Life will be held at Mendocino Presbyterian Church: Preston Hall on Sunday, January 18 at 3:00


BOONVILLE CAT CAPTION CONTEST

Panel1:

Panel2:

Panel3:


COAST CINEMA SHOWTIMES

For January 16 - 22

You have been asking for Hamnet, it is finally here.

This is the last week for Avatar.

And only 2 showings of Charlie the wonder dog.

Tickets at thecoastcinemas.com or at the box office

Avatar Fire & Ash 3D Rated PG-13

Fri: 4:00 7:00

Sat & Sun: 1:00 4:00 7:00

Mon — Thurs: 4:00 7:00

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple Rated R

Fri: 4:40 7:40

Sat & Sun: 1:40 4:40 7:40

Mon — Thurs: 4:40 7:40

Hamnet Rated PG-13

Fri & Sat: 4:10 7:10

Sun: 1:10 7:10

Mon — Thurs: 4:10 7:10

Dead Man’s Wire Rated R

Fri: 4:20 7:20

Sat & Sun: 1:20 4:20 7:20

Mon — Thurs: 4:20 7:20

Charlie the Wonderdog Rated PG

Sat: 1:30

Sun: 4:30



CATCH OF THE DAY, Friday, January 16, 2026

EDUARDO ALVAREZ, 30, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol, probation revocation.

JUSTINO FAENZI-GLASS, 44, Santa Rosa. DUI causing bodily injury.

RODNEY HUBBARD, 56, Ukiah. Paraphernalia, probation revocation.

GABRIELLE JACKSON, 50, Fort Bragg. Petty theft with two or more priors.

WESLEY LEWIS, 24, Ukiah. Probation revocation.

ALICE STRANG, 47, Redwood Valley. Shooting into inhabited and unoccupied dwelling, loaded handgun-not registered owner, vandalism, probation violation.

SHAWNTEE WIRTH, 43, Willits. Domestic abuse, elder abuse resulting in great bodily harm or death, false imprisonment with violence.


Succulent and Flask (1941) by Tamara de Lempicka

MARIJUANA USE DISORDER: LET’S HEAR FROM A STONER

by Paul Modic

When I hear about people diagnosed with cannabis use disorder or cannabis psychosis they tend to smoke a whole lot of weed, to which I say, hey, cut down man. Easy for me to say as I have gone from from all day every day in the nineties, albeit starting around ten in the morning so not a total wake and baker, to once or twice a week in the evenings now in my early seventies.

(I do like to playfully confront obsessive addicts at times, like when I asked a friend of a friend recently, “So what are you trying not to feel by staying stoned all day?” Later I found out that one of his kids was living on the streets and later died there, so yeah, that could be an understandable reason to chain smoke the medicinal, right?)

Some say weed use reduces anxiety and that may be true though in my experience there was a spectrum: right after smoking it often felt light and enjoyable though later in the stone, self-consciousness would become uncomfortable or unbearable around others or in crowds at events. (After smoking I was a god for half an hour then an idiot for the rest of the night. My friend once said to me, “How’d you get to be so dumb?” to which I said, “Well, I smoked a lot of weed.” I smoked a lot of weed he said but I’m not dumb. Damn you Davy…)

I had to stop smoking when I went to a dance because it made me feel like everyone was watching and judging me when that was probably just the drug, right? Sometimes I would just leave if not stoned or dancing, why bother to stay when sober? (I finally reached a point where I could be high in any situation without social anxiety, though it’s rare that I come out of my cave when stoned. (I suppose by now I may have grown out of Peter Pan Syndrome and gotten all mature ‘n shit.)

I was depressed for many years while smoking regularly, was I “treating my depression,” self-medicating with good weed, or was everyday use a symbiotic relationship between self, depression and loneliness?

I was probably an extreme case, living in the middle of nowhere out in the woods, and once someone asked me why I did that? It just sort of happened, I was “going with the flow,” as my therapist once said. When I initially hired her back in ‘87 she wouldn’t even see me unless I quit smoking pot first. Did she help me and why did I stop seeing her? Maybe I just got tired of whining about my unfulfilled life for $85 an hour, or finally figured something out.

If you’re smoking so much weed that you have marijuana use disorder, don’t blame the weed, try to get help. (Same with any addiction: alcohol, smartphone, news, sugar, fat, TV, salt, exercise and…)



MEMO OF THE AIR: Good Night Radio all Friday night on KNYO and KAKX.

Soft deadline to email your writing for tonight's (Friday night's) MOTA show is six or eight. If that's too soon, send it any time after that and I'll read it next Friday.

Memo of the Air: Good Night Radio is every Friday, 9pm to approximately 5am PST on 107.7fm KNYO-LP Fort Bragg and KNYO.org. The first three hours of the show, meaning till midnight, are simulcast on KAKX 89.3fm Mendocino.

Plus you can always go to https://MemoOfTheAir.wordpress.com and hear last week's MOTA show. By Saturday night I'll put up the recording of tonight's show. You'll find plenty of other educational amusements there to educate and amuse yourself with until showtime, or any time, such as:

Donald Trump infinitely clears his throat. https://boingboing.net/2026/01/14/infinite-trump-clears-his-throat.html

Just like in Mary Poppins. https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https://d.ibtimes.co.uk/en/full/1375398/people-floating.jpg

And from a lifetime ago in dog years: The problem of wind turbines. https://misscellania.blogspot.com/2026/01/fun-with-turbines.html

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



49ERS-SEAHAWKS ROUNDTABLE: CAN NINERS PULL OFF A NEW PLAYOFF MIRACLE?

The San Francisco 49ers beat the odds to eliminate the defending Super Bowl champion Eagles; now they face a familiar foe, the Seattle Seahawks, the team they beat in the regular-season opener and lost to in the regular-season finale. With a shot at the NFC Championship Game on the line, we asked columnists Ann Killion and Scott Ostler and Niners beat writer Eric Branch for their thoughts and a prediction.

If linebacker Fred Warner feels he should play, should the 49ers have let him?

Scott Ostler: I consulted my Magic 8 Ball and it said, “Are you kidding? Let the man play.” It’s not realistic that Warner could be effective, but if there’s ever been a team in denial of reality, it’s this one. To win Saturday, the 49ers must tap into their mystical force, and that’s Warner’s cue. Whether he has a Willis Reed walk-on cameo or plays every down, Warner’s presence on the field would be wildly inspirational.

Ann Killion: I’ve been around long enough to have covered Jerry Rice’s “miracle” comeback from a torn ACL in 1997. He tore it in Week 1, rushed through his rehab, and was back in action by Week 15. He made it a very public mission and very much wanted to play. And he did, in a Monday night game against Denver. In that game, he caught three passes, including one for a touchdown, but he also fractured his patella and probably could have had a malpractice suit against the doctors who cleared him. Fortunately, the 49ers have ruled Warner as out for Saturday.

Eric Branch: I’m sure Warner felt he could, but the 49ers won’t let him suit up, officially ruling him out Thursday. I spoke with a surgeon who is a consultant to the Rams shortly after Warner was injured on Oct. 12. His outlook at the time: Warner could be game-ready by mid-January in a best-case scenario. He stressed: Everything would have to align perfectly. Yes, the 49ers are two wins away from playing for their first Super Bowl title in 31 years, but it’s best to exercise extreme caution with one of the best linebackers of this generation.

Which part of the 49ers’ offense will be most affected by the loss of George Kittle, an elite receiver and run-blocker?

Ostler: The running game is where Kittle will be missed the most. Sometimes Kyle Shanahan and the 49ers forget to throw Kittle the ball, but they never forget to ask him to block. They are significantly better running the ball when Kittle is knocking people out of the way. When Kittle is on the field, the 49ers’ average run is 4.1 yards; when he’s off, it’s 3.4. His wild-man spirit is felt on the field, on the sideline and in the locker room. What opponents fear most is his blocking.

Killion: Don’t forget who caught the game-winning pass against Seattle in Week 1: Jake Tonges, Kittle’s replacement. Tonges runs good routes and has good hands. However, his run-blocking isn’t anywhere close to Kittle’s. So the bigger hurt is Kittle’s absence in the run blocking. The 49ers rushed for 53 yards two weeks ago against Seattle. They were smothered, so rushing yards will be at a premium.

Branch: I’ve seen Kittle pancake 240-pound linebackers and get in a pass-protection stance, like an offensive tackle, and block 275-pound edge rushers one-on-one. Tonges can catch, but he can’t come close to doing any of that stuff — what other tight end can? When Kittle missed five games with a hamstring injury early in the season, the 49ers had these rushing totals: 77, 73, 83, 74 and 67 yards. In his first game back, a win against Atlanta, they had 174. Not a coincidence.

The 49ers’ defense stymied the Eagles, and in both previous games against the Seahawks they didn’t let former Niners QB Sam Darnold put up a big game. Can Robert Saleh and his collection of castoffs keep the game in reach?

Ostler: In “Sunset Boulevard,” when Norma Desmond said, “All right, Mr. DeMille, I’m ready for my close-up,” she was delusional. That’s how some experts see the 49ers’ defense, as delusional in their belief that they’re ready for their close-up. It’s possible that this patchwork defense is legit. Maybe Robert Saleh and John Lynch have worked a miracle. This group has a tendency to bend almost too far, then come up with a clutch miracle stop.

Killion: Darnold showed up on the Seahawks injury report as questionable with an oblique injury. And the world seems to be waiting for Darnold to wet his pants in the pressure of the postseason. So Saleh’s defense can feed off those two things (even if the Darnold injury report might be chalked up to gamesmanship), as well as the swagger they gained from winning in Philly and making the stadium go silent. Eight of Seattle’s games were decided by one score, so I expect the game to “stay in reach” and go down to the wire.

Branch: Darnold deserves credit for saving his career, going from a turnover-prone bust to the first QB to lead different teams (Vikings, Seahawks) to 12-plus wins in consecutive seasons. Still, Minnesota didn’t retain him after his breakout 2024 season, and here’s a reason: Despite his improvement, that turnover-prone thing is still a thing. Darnold had an NFL-high 20 turnovers, and his warts are a reason the 49ers’ diminished defense should have a respectable performance.

Who wins the rubber match, the top-seeded Seahawks or the 49ers?

Ostler: To win, the 49ers would have to hog the clock on offense. Last time against the Seahawks, Seattle kept the ball way too long. To control the ball, the 49ers would have to run. Without Kittle, I don’t see them reeling off long drives that keep the 49ers defense off the field. Brock Purdy is 4-0 in Seattle, so there’s no fear factor, but for the 49ers, the fun stops here. Seahawks 24, 49ers 17.

Killion: The 49ers are turning this hard-core skeptic into something of a believer. I can convince myself that the brilliant Shanahan will adjust to what Seattle did to the 49ers in the season finale, that the 49ers ability to “embrace the s—” out of their tough journey can lead to victory. But Seattle is a way better team than Philly, the 49ers are on another short week, they’re undermanned, and what happened two weeks ago was not a mirage. The bonus for fans is, every time I pick against the 49ers, they win. Seahawks 22, 49ers 16.

Branch: For those keeping score — and, yes, I got those emails from some of you who are — I predicted the underdog 49ers would lose 26-14 to the Eagles last Sunday. In Week 5, when the Rams lost to the 49ers, 26-23, as a huge favorite, this was my prediction: Rams 34, 49ers 13. Yes, the 49ers are, again, big-time underdogs and, no, I haven’t learned my lesson when it comes to this resilient team that I cover. Seahawks 22, 49ers 17.

(sfchronicle.com)


Winter Sunshine (1955) by Maxfield Parrish

HOW THE CIA RECRUITED CHRISTIAN MCCAFFREY'S GRANDPA FOR A SECRET MISSION

The strange, complicated and dark life of Dave Sime

by Katie Dowd

Dave Sime was in a bad mood when the phone rang in his Manhattan hotel room. Less than two weeks remained until the opening ceremonies of the 1960 Olympics in Rome, and he should have been training with the rest of the U.S. track and field team. But he’d caught the flu, and now he was holed up in his room, brooding.

The voice on the other end of the phone asked if he was David Sime. The man already knew how his unusual last name was pronounced: It rhymed with “him,” the e silent. The stranger explained he was from the government and asked if he could come up and chat. Intrigued, Sime agreed.

After entering the room, the man showed Sime his government ID. He’d come with a request from the CIA: Would Sime be willing to work on an espionage mission during the Olympics?

This had to be a joke, Sime thought. Maybe a prank orchestrated by one of his teammates, trying to entertain him during his sick day. But the man insisted a plane was ready to fly him to Washington, D.C. They’d have him back in his hotel by the evening. Too intrigued to say no, Sime agreed.

Outside, a car waited. The quickest man on Earth — and the future grandfather of 49ers star Christian McCaffrey — stepped in, and they sped off to the airport.

A Secret Mission in Rome

Few NFL players have a family member in their lineage with a life as strange, complicated and dark as Dave Sime. Sime was born in 1936 and grew up in an unremarkable New Jersey home; his father was a house painter, and his mother raised the kids. As a high schooler, Sime became a local athletic — and academic — sensation. He received dozens of scholarship offers, including one to attend West Point. He soon learned, however, that because he was colorblind, he could never become a pilot. So before the 1954 school year began, he instead enrolled at Duke to play baseball while studying to become a doctor.

Although Sime didn’t have much downtime, he found himself restless before the start of baseball season. Completely unprepared, and never having run track in his life, he took up sprinting on a whim. At his first meet, he nearly broke the world record for the 100-yard dash. Once, coaches asked if he would try the broad jump. He flew 22 feet and 3 inches; at that time, most winners of the event were jumping 23 feet.

Although offers from the NFL and Major League Baseball were pouring in, Sime focused his efforts on the Olympics. As he set record after record, he landed on the cover of Sports Illustrated in 1956. His new moniker? The world’s fastest man.

But that year would lead to heartbreak for the 20-year-old. In the run-up to the Melbourne Olympics, he strained his leg while riding a horse. He was in his prime and unable to race.

“I was devastated,” Sime would later tell Newsweek, “but it was the best worst thing that ever happened to me. When I returned to Duke, I got serious about my premed studies.”

Four years later, now married and a student at the Duke University School of Medicine, he was ready for a second chance at Olympic glory. Then, on Aug. 13, 1960, the CIA came knocking.

After being whisked to the airport, Sime flew to Washington. There, he was taken to an unmarked building and escorted into a secure room. Although he didn’t know it at the time, he was being recruited as part of a project code-named Aerodynamic, an attempt by the CIA to convince Soviet athletes to defect to the West. An agent slid a photo over to Sime. This was his target: 22-year-old Ukrainian long jumper Igor Ter-Ovanesyan.

Ter-Ovanesyan showed signs of curiosity about the West. He loved American movies, and he was obsessed with jazz, especially Louis Armstrong. With Sime’s unmatched athletic credentials and medical school smarts, the CIA thought he would be the perfect man to convince Ter-Ovanesyan. Full of patriotic zeal and curiosity, Sime said he was game to try. The agents told him they’d be in touch when he reached Rome, and Sime flew back to New York, his teammates none the wiser about his clandestine trip.

After arriving in Rome, Sime casually approached Ter-Ovanesyan and asked if he wanted to grab dinner outside the Olympic Village. They met at Scoglio di Frisio, which is still open today on Via Merulana. The cavern-like space became an American hot spot after World War II, frequented by Hollywood stars like Elizabeth Taylor — and CIA operatives too, apparently.

Over dinner, Sime and his wife Betty tested the waters. Sime asked if Ter-Ovanesyan would be willing to meet his CIA contact, a man known only as Mr. Wolf. Ter-Ovanesyan was understandably fearful. He explained to the Simes that he didn’t have it all that bad in the Soviet Union. The government had given him a job, a home and possibly more if he came back with a medal. Not entirely sure how to present a counteroffer, Sime spoke of the greater freedoms in America; maybe, Sime suggested, the CIA would give Ter-Ovanesyan a job in California, where he could rub shoulders with celebrities. Sime kept pushing, and Ter-Ovanesyan agreed to meet Mr. Wolf — but only if Dave and Betty came with him.

Mr. Wolf, whose real identity is probably locked away somewhere in classified documents, didn’t impress Sime. The CIA agent was “kind of slimy,” he would later tell journalist David Maraniss. “I wouldn’t trust that sonofabitch as far as I could throw him,” Sime said.

When the Simes brought Ter-Ovanesyan to Mr. Wolf, the agent immediately began speaking to the Ukrainian in a regional dialect. Ter-Ovanesyan was already terrified of KGB agents posing as CIA operatives, and the dialect only frightened him more. He balked, abruptly leaving the meeting.

“That was it,” Sime recalled. “The CIA blew it.”

It wasn’t the only disappointment of the Rome Olympics for Sime. He ran the anchor leg of the men’s 4x100 relay, and the foursome set a new world record with their victory, only to have the team disqualified due to an early baton handoff between two runners. He did, however, take home a silver medal in the 100 meters, losing out on gold by just a hair.

He met Ter-Ovanesyan only once more, at a 1963 track meet at Madison Square Garden.

“Igor, how are you?” Sime greeted him.

“Nice to see you, David,” he said. “I can’t talk to you any more.”

‘I Had An Awful Dad’

Dr. Sime

Sime’s Olympic career ended in Rome, and he returned to the States to finish medical school. He moved his family to Florida, where he became an ophthalmologist to the rich and famous, counting Richard Nixon, Mickey Mantle and Ted Williams as patients, as well as serving as a team doctor with the Miami Dolphins during their heyday in the 1970s. He worked especially closely with quarterback Bob Griese, who was legally blind in one eye and used both corrective lenses and glasses during his career.

“Most guys on the team just knew that Dave was the team ophthalmologist,” Griese told Newsweek in 2015. “They had no idea that the Dolphins’ eye doctor could run a faster 40 than anyone on the team.”

Neither did his own children. “I was in the fifth grade when my PE teacher told me that my dad had once held the world record in the 100,” daughter Lisa McCaffrey told Newsweek. “That’s how I found out.”

In the many newspaper stories written about Dave Sime over the decades, his foul-mouthed personality and penchant for drinking were often mentioned. But although he had a legendary reputation in the public eye, his family members saw a different side of him.

“I had an awful dad,” Lisa told Sports Illustrated in 2016. “He didn’t even know my younger kids’ names. He never once came to one of my kids’ sporting events. He was abusive, alcoholic, a womanizer, cheated on my mom for 38 years. Hit me several times in the face.”

When Lisa, a standout high school soccer player, was offered a chance to move across the country to enroll at Stanford University, she jumped at the chance. There, she met a wide receiver on the football team named Ed McCaffrey. The couple married and had four boys: Max, Christian, Dylan and Luke. All of them played college football. (“That’s why Ed and I got together,” Lisa once quipped, “so we could breed fast white guys.”)

According to Lisa, she rarely heard from her father after her parents divorced in the 1990s. But as her son Christian’s star rose — first as a Colorado prep football star and then as a Heisman finalist at Stanford — Sime suddenly re-entered their lives. He started texting his grandson, who knew him mostly as a stranger named Dave, and nicknamed him “Snowball” for his ability to plow downfield as a running back.

Valor Christian High School football player Christian McCaffrey stands with his dad Ed McCaffrey and mom Lisa McCaffrey during his U.S. All-American Bowl jersey presentation on Nov. 15, 2013. (John Leyba/Denver Post via Getty Images)

“I call him the ‘Most Interesting Man in the World’,” Christian McCaffrey said while still in college. “Dave just has so many stories.”

Sime, who by then was hospitalized with cancer, began giving interviews about McCaffrey, boasting about their talks and glowing about Snowball. This, clearly, didn’t sit well with the McCaffreys. In 2016, the year Christian announced he was leaving Stanford early to enter the NFL Draft, he was profiled in Sports Illustrated. He agreed to speak on one condition: that no questions be asked about extended family members. His father Ed didn’t name names, but his comments about the media “trying to find reasons for why Christian is good” seemed pointed.

“They were bringing in other family members, some of whom had nothing to do with his upbringing,” he said. “No disrespect to any relatives, but they’ve never even watched [Christian] play a game [in person], and all of a sudden they’re a part of the family tree?”

That same year, Sime died in a Florida hospital. He was 79. Fifteen months later, the Carolina Panthers selected Christian McCaffrey eighth overall in the NFL Draft. He’s set league records, been named the NFL’s Offensive Player of the Year and made a Super Bowl appearance. And last year, he and wife Olivia Culpo welcomed their first child: a girl named Colette.

“If Christian is one ounce like my dad, I feel like I failed as his mom,” Lisa McCaffrey once said. “My goal is to make sure none of my kids are anything like my dad."


Woman with Flowers (1938) by Diego Rivera

JIM THORPE

By the time the summer of 1912 arrived in Stockholm, the Olympic Games were quietly changing shape. The program was growing bolder, more demanding, as if testing how much one human body could endure. Two new challenges stepped into the spotlight that year: the pentathlon and the decathlon. They weren’t just events; they were statements. The pentathlon echoed the ancient Greek ideal of the complete athlete, while the decathlon hinted at something more modern, more brutal—a full accounting of speed, strength, grace, and stamina stretched over days.

The pentathlon had flirted with Olympic life before, but in Stockholm it felt reborn. Five events, five different ways to measure excellence: a soaring long jump, the whip of a javelin through the air, the sharp burn of a 200-meter sprint, the heavy spin and release of the discus, and finally, the lonely grind of the 1500 meters. No hiding place. No single specialty to lean on. Just range, resilience, and nerve. The decathlon, meanwhile, was still a newcomer to the global stage, even if American athletes had been testing themselves in similar all-around competitions for decades. A version had appeared in St. Louis in 1904, but Stockholm refined it, reshaped it, and gave it an unmistakably international identity.

Into this demanding landscape stepped Jim Thorpe, a man who seemed almost unreal in his breadth of ability. At Carlisle, he often didn’t need teammates; he was the team. One meet, one athlete, every event. The numbers alone feel like exaggeration until you pause and let them sink in. Ten seconds flat for the 100 yards. A smooth, blistering 220. A quarter mile under 52 seconds. An 880 in under two minutes. A mile in 4:35. Hurdles—high and low—cleared with speed and precision. Then the field events: a long jump stretching past 23 feet, a high jump clearing 6 feet 5 inches, a pole vault over 11 feet. Shot put, javelin, discus—each thrown with power that belonged to specialists. How many athletes even dream of mastering one of these? Thorpe carried them all.

When the U.S. Olympic trials arrived, there was little suspense. Thorpe entered both the pentathlon and the decathlon, as if choosing between them was unnecessary. In the pentathlon trials, he didn’t just qualify—he dominated, winning three of the five events. The decathlon trials were eventually canceled altogether, and Thorpe was simply named to the team. Sometimes talent makes bureaucracy irrelevant. Sharing the team with him was Avery Brundage, a name that would later loom large in Olympic politics, though on those tracks and fields he was just another competitor.

Stockholm kept Thorpe busy. Almost impossibly so. Alongside the pentathlon and decathlon, he lined up for the long jump and the high jump, refusing to narrow his focus. The pentathlon came first, on July 7, and it quickly became clear that he was operating on a different level. He won four of the five events outright. The javelin—an event he hadn’t even competed in before that year—was the only one that slowed him, and even then he finished third. The scoring system leaned heavily on placement, but it also rewarded raw performance, and Thorpe had plenty of both. By the end of the day, the gold medal was his.

There was barely time to breathe. That same day, he qualified for the high jump final, eventually finishing tied for fourth. A few days later, on July 12, he returned for the long jump and placed seventh, another solid showing in a field stacked with specialists. It’s easy to glance at those results and move on, but taken together they tell a deeper story: of an athlete who refused to be confined, who tested himself again and again against the limits of the human body, and who made the 1912 Olympics feel less like a collection of events and more like a proving ground for greatness itself.


NORTHERN CALIFORNIA’S SUDDENLY COMPLICATED CONGRESSIONAL RACE

California’s congressional District 1 — a sprawling parcel in the state’s northeast corner — already faced a big shakeup. Now the death of the incumbent has made matters more complex.

Rep. Doug LaMalfa, a Republican from Butte County, had represented the district in the House of Representatives since 2013 and planned to run again this year, even though the boundaries had been redrawn to make it favorable to Democrats. On Jan. 5, he fell ill at his home and died during emergency surgery at a Chico hospital.

A week later, here’s what is known about what will happen next.

How will LaMalfa’s successor be chosen?

A special election will decide who will serve out the remainder of his current term, until January 2027. The election for the subsequent term (January 2027 to January 2029) will be held according to California’s usual schedule, with the primary on June 2 and the general election on Nov. 3.

When is the special election?

Gov. Gavin Newsom has not named a date. He has a two-week window for that decision. The timetable under the state Constitution calls for voting to happen in May or early June — which means it could be scheduled concurrently with the June 2 ballot.

The two races — for the remainder of the term, and the subsequent full term — won’t necessarily have the same field of candidates.

Will the new district boundaries apply for the special election?

No. The pre-Proposition 50 boundaries would remain in effect for that election, leaving District 1 a largely rural and Republican-leaning area. The redrawn district eliminates some precincts that are Republican strongholds and adds a heavily Democratic area of Sonoma County.

Who is running in the special election?

James Gallagher, 44, a six-term Assembly member and a LaMalfa protege, announced this week he will run. He has the support of LaMalfa’s widow and all eight of the state’s current Republican House members. He said he has not decided whether to run for the subsequent term.

Who is running in the election for the full term?

Before LaMalfa’s death, five Democrats had declared their candidacy for the 2026 election, including state Sen. Mike McGuire and Audrey Denney, who was the top Democratic contender for the seat in 2018 and 2020.

Will the election for the full term use the redrawn boundaries?

A federal appeals court this week ruled that the state can use the temporary voter-approved U.S. House map for the 2026 midterms. Republicans seeking to block its use plan to take the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.

(Bay Area News Group)



ON-LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

Trump: “It was my Great Honor to meet María Corina Machado, of Venezuela, today. She is a wonderful woman who has been through so much. María presented me with her Nobel Peace Prize for the work I have done. Such a wonderful gesture of mutual respect. Thank you María!”

No Donald, she did not give you her Nobel Peace Prize. She gave you the medal she received. Which is as close to receiving the Nobel Peace Prize as you will ever get.


PAIN SCALE

Floating above the gynecologist’s hands,
Dolor looks down at me
with her many expressions.

Someone sketched the eyes, the mouths,
someone pinned them up,
arranged the faces

so they softly say, like this? like this?
The doctor says to choose one,
but I’m no fool, I close my eyes

and the speculum is blind and cool,
widened and distracting.
Like the Chikyū vessel drilling

downhole from the ocean floor
into the untouched mantle,
it shows we’re scarred inside

by what years and use and trespass do.
Every day the women open their eyes
and follow me into the streets,

the cities, like a wind murmur begins
a rumor of waves, the faces of earth
saying let this pain be error upon me writ.

— Catherine Barnett (2018)



REMEMBER THE BOYS

chucking rocks at the wasps' nest,
their gathered hum then sudden sting
at the nape of my neck. Oh, how I paid--
still pay--for the recklessness
of boys. Little Bretts. Little Jeffs.
Little knives to my breast.
How lucky they were to never
be held down, to never see
their voices crawl the air like fire!

How desperately I yearned to be them,
to storm the halls in macho gospel:
matching blue jackets, blood-filled
posture and made-you-flinch.
How different would I be,
how much bigger, if I had been
given room enough to be
a country's golden terror?

— Rachel McKibbens (2020)


DYLAN THOMAS:

I love you so much I shall never be able to tell you; I am frightened to tell you.

I can always feel your heart.

Dance tunes are always right.

I love you body and soul, and I suppose body means that I want to touch you and be in bed with you, and I suppose soul means that I can hear you and see you and love you in every single thing in the whole world, asleep or awake.


SOON AFTER I turned about in Fair Haven Pond, it began to rain hard. The wind was but little south of east and therefore not very favorable for my voyage. I raised my sail and, cowering under my umbrella in the stern, wearing the umbrella like a cap and holding the handle between my knees, I steered and paddled almost perfectly sheltered from the heavy rain…From time to time, from under my umbrella, I could see the ducks spinning away from me, like great bees…But though my progress was slow and laborious, and at length I began to get a little wet, I enjoyed the adventure because it combined to some extent the advantages of being at home in my chamber and abroad in the storm at the same time.

– Henry Thoreau, Journal, April 22, 1856


“I CANNOT HELP feeling that the stories of many different and potentially inarticulate people are more interesting than a contrived narrative that exists only in one articulate man’s imagination.”

— John Cassavetes


LEAD STORIES, SATURDAY'S NYT

Justice Dept. Is Said to Begin Criminal Inquiry Into Minnesota Leaders

The People of Minneapolis vs. ICE: A Street-Level View

Video Analysis of ICE Shooting Sheds Light on Contested Moments

A woman with a distressed expression on her face is pulled from a car by masked, uniformed agents.
(David Guttenfelder/The New York Times)

Judge Restricts Agents’ Actions Toward Minnesota Protesters

How Wall Street Turned Its Back on Climate Change


THE DANGER OF CENSORSHIP: “One of the most important things to teach in the educational establishments of any democracy is the power of weighing arguments, and the open mind which is prepared in advance to accept whichever side appears the more reasonable. As soon as a censorship is imposed upon the opinions which teachers may avow, education ceases to serve this purpose and tends to produce, instead of a nation of free thinkers, a herd of fanatical bigots. All those who oppose free discussion and who seek to impose a censorship upon the opinions to which the young are to be exposed are doing their share in increasing this bigotry and in plunging the world further into the abyss of strife and intolerance from which the English philosopher John Locke and his coadjutors gradually rescued it. New hopes, new beliefs, and new thoughts are at all times necessary to mankind, and it is not out of a dead uniformity that they can be expected to arise.”

— Bertrand Russell, Why I Am Not a Christian and Other Essays on Religion and Related Subjects (1957), Essay. XI: Freedom and the Collages


I FEEL SO MISERABLE without you; it's almost like having you here.

— Stephen Bishop



DR. KING’S FORGOTTEN WARNINGS ABOUT ‘THE RISE OF A FASCIST STATE IN AMERICA’

by Paul Street

As Americans gather next Monday to celebrate the legacy of the great martyred civil rights and social justice leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in a time of fascist rule in the United States, it is important to remember seven interrelated parts of King’s thought and activism that have been largely forgotten and deleted:

+1. The Dr. King who in 1963 (“Letter From a Birmingham Jail”) wrote that the primary obstacle to overcoming American racial oppression wasn’t the open racism of segregation’s brutal enforcers but the tepid incrementalism of white moderates who counseled excessive patience and discouraged the mass direct action required to overthrow the Jim Crow regime.

+2. The King who spoke out against American imperialism, most particularly against the US War on Vietnam, and who said (on April 4, 1967, in New York City’s Riverside Church) that a society that spent more money on military empire than on programs of social uplift was “approaching spiritual death.”

+3. The King who said that the defeat of de jure segregation and racist voter disenfranchisement in the Jim Crow South needed to be understood as an elementary prelude to the overcoming of deeply entrenched racism, de facto segregation, and economic inequality across the entire nation.

+4. The King who placed the primary blame for the US race riots of 1965-67 on a “white power structure…seeking to keep the walls of segregation and inequality intact” and a “white society, unprepared and unwilling to accept radical structural change,” that told Black people “they must expect to remain permanently unequal and permanently poor.”

+5. The King who denounced what he called “the interrelated triple evils” of racism, economic injustice/poverty (capitalism) and war (militarism and imperialism, and who said that the “real issue to be faced” beyond “superficial” matters was “the radical reconstruction of society itself” – the King who argued that “only by structural change can current evils be eliminated, because the roots are in the system rather in man or faulty operations.” ( “For years I labored with the idea of reforming the existing institutions of the South, a little change here, a little change there,” King told the journalist David Halberstam April 1967. “Now I feel quite differently. I think you’ve got to have a reconstruction of the entire society, a revolution of values.”)

+6. The King who said that poor Black, white, and brown masses “must organize a revolution” that would be “more than a statement to the larger society” and more than periodic “street marches” – a movement that would employ regular “mass civil disobedience” to “dislocate the functioning of a society.” The “storm .. rising against the privileged minority of the earth,” King added, “will not abate until [there is a] just distribution of the fruits of the earth…”

+7. Last not but not least, the officially forgotten King omits his warnings on the “FASCISM” he expected to rise to power in the United States if it failed to undertake this revolution. In his final book, Where Do We Go From Here?: Chaos or Community (1967), King offered a sobering take on the white legal backlash to the racial progress achieved by the struggle for Black equality. Many white Americans, King wrote, “have declared that democracy isn’t worth having if it involves [racial] equality…[their] goal is the total reversal of all reforms with the reestablishment of naked oppression and if need be a native form of fascism” whereby the law is wielded to guarantee white supremacy.

How haunting it is to re-read those words five years after January 6, when the fascist leader Donald Trump and his neo-Confederate backers tried to overthrow an election they viewed as illegitimate largely because its outcome depended on nonwhite voters and as the Trump47 fascist regime including the US Supreme Court’s rolls back one anti-racist civil and voting rights victory after another.

After his final national sermon in Washington DC 58 years ago, five days before his execution (which took place exactly one year to the day after he spoke out against the US War on Vietnam in Riverside Church in New York City), King stepped outside the National Cathedral and said that, on its current trajectory, the United States would become a “fascist state”:

“I am convinced we cannot stand two more summers like last,” King said during a post-sermon press conference, referring to the violent racial conflagrations that took place in US cities (most lethally in Detroit and Newark) in 1967. He predicted that more such violence would “bring only a rightist takeover of the government and eventually a fascist state in America….But I have to admit,” King added, “that the conditions that brought the violence into being last summer are still notoriously with us.”

That last sentence is important. Consistent with the enumerated points above (see especially #4), King did not blame the violence on American streets on Black rioters; he blamed it on “the triple evils that are interrelated,” that is on the racism, economic/class exploitation, and imperialism that reflected the perverse functioning and structures of a society that needed to be transformed by a great revolution “for the just distribution of the earth’s fruits.”

King’s April 4th 1968 extrajudicial racist execution triggered a Black uprising that may have helped fuel the 1968 presidential victory of the proto-fascistic war criminal Richard Nixon, who ran a white-supremacist “law and order” campaign and launched a vicious repression campaign targeting Blacks, the New Left, and antiwar protesters.

Fifty-eight years later, we are in the middle of the “rightist takeover of the government” that King prophesied – a coup driven largely by white racist backlash. We are on the whole too passively (see point #1 above) witnessing the attempted full-on consolidation of “a fascist state in America” under the command of Donald Trump (the genocidal racist son of a Queens Klansman) with Trump’s fellow arch-racist Hitler fan Stephen “We are the Storm” Miller running much of the sick show, and with the racist RepubliNazis JD Vance and Marco Rubio fighting in the wings to claim Mein Trumpf’s mantle. King’s “triple evils” must be expanded to (at least) five to include militant misogynist patriarchy and capitalogenic ecocide and these five evils must be understood as a malignant simultaneous equations system that has given rise to a fascist regime atop the most lethal superpower in world history — a supremely dangerous development that poses a grave existential menace to all humanity.

(Paul Street’s latest book is This Happened Here: Amerikaners, Neoliberals, and the Trumping of America (London: Routledge, 2022).)


12 Comments

  1. Marshall Newman January 17, 2026

    Yes, Joe Rogan, that is exactly what we have come to, due in no small part by your support for the people now in power.

    • Norm Thurston January 17, 2026

      +1

  2. Chuck Dunbar January 17, 2026

    LIVING IN FEAR

    To the Editor:

    I am a Hispanic American and a United States citizen by birth who believes deeply in the foundational tenets of this nation. But for the first time in my 42 years, I live in fear.

    Fear that I’ll be stopped because I look the way I look or because I was overheard speaking Spanish to my wife or son — both American citizens.

    Fear that I looked at an agent the wrong way or that we won’t have our passports on us — because why would we?

    Fear that I’ll say the wrong thing, and that even if my words are justified, I’ll be beaten and taken or, worse, my family will be.

    Fear that my son will witness it and have to live with that memory. Fear of ultimately being disappeared.

    What a wild thing to write.

    I live in fear in my own country despite having worked my way into senior roles at Fortune 50 companies. Despite having paid my dues. Despite having taken nothing from anyone. Despite doing things the right way.

    I live in fear, and there is little else I can do but write letters like this one because I have dwindling faith that my representatives in Congress have either the willingness or the ability to help.

    Yet my family and I remain here for the promise this nation made to us, and we fight every day to ensure that promise is kept.

    Please — fight harder for us. Show what door-to-door searches look like. Show what it means when humans are abducted, citizen and noncitizen alike. Chase down and name the people responsible. Hold them to account. Wave the flag before we no longer have one.

    NEW YORK TIMES
    Isaac Pagán
    Celina, Texas
    1/15/26

  3. Steve Heilig January 17, 2026

    Cat captions:

    I know I left my dead rats in here…
    Ok, who took them?
    Somebody’s gonna pay.

  4. Norm Thurston January 17, 2026

    RE: Stephen Bishop quote “I feel so miserable” – Very similar to Billy Ray Cyrus’s 1992 song “I’m so miserable” (and a few older country music releases).

  5. Mazie Malone January 17, 2026

    Happy Saturday, 🙃😇

    Paul,
    I have a question for you, what was the reason you cut back your marijuana use? Your story sounds like you recognized it was affecting you in negative ways, paranoia, anxiety, etc. Did you stop it altogether to visit the therapist?

    I’m asking because you mention cannabis-induced psychosis, which is absolutely a very real medical condition. With addiction and psychosis, insight is often impaired, meaning people may not recognize what’s happening to them or be able to regulate usage on their own. In those cases, simply “cutting back” isn’t always a realistic or sustainable solution.

    Cannabis-induced psychosis is most commonly seen in young adults and is often associated with high-potency THC products, while cannabis use disorder can affect people of all ages. There are more and more cases of cannabis induced psychosis among young people, however, most people do not realize that the manifestations of the psychosis look very much like meth addiction.

    There is no way to discern the two with the naked eye.

    mm💕

    • Paul Modic January 17, 2026

      Probably because smoking produces groggy mornings and it feels better not being groggy all the time..Also I appreciated the higher high associated with a longer interval between indulging…
      (Also I started using weed as an aphrodisiac and the longer interval between smokings aided that process…)
      And yes, I did stop smoking to see the therapist, then started back up later…
      P

      • Mazie Malone January 17, 2026

        Paul, 🙃🤓

        Thank you, I appreciate you sharing that.

        mm💕

  6. Mike Geniella January 17, 2026

    Mark Scaramella nails it re CEO Darcie Antle: Let me add one more thought: I watched, and listened, to Ms. Antle’s sworn testimony during the preliminary hearing on District Attorney David Eyster’s failed bid to criminally convict Auditor Chamise Cubbison. It was pitiful. Judge Ann Moorman rightly dismissed the politically-laced prosecution.

  7. Andrew Lutsky January 17, 2026

    Cat captions …

    #1 Has anyone seen a Peace Prize around here?

    #2 Beg pardon? A Spanish lady-cat has it?

    #3 She’ll cough it up. Wait and see.

    • Andrew Lutsky January 19, 2026

      I must apologize to AVA readers. When I wrote the above I was intoxicated by the dream of winning the caption contest, but now I see I have defamed an innocent and if I may say extremely handsome feline individual. I am truly sorry, I hope the feline will forgive me and you will, too.

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