Winds Ease | Lady Panthers | Geysers Temblor | Fremont Funeral | Pet Pups | The Niesens | Outage Map | Big Pig | AV Events | Green Talk | Archduke Trio | Investigator Schnitzius | Spider Web | UDJ Disappoints | Winter Runoff | Potter Valley | Lumber Rail | Yesterday's Catch | Vote SMART | Nervous | Disenfranchising Voters | Wayne Justmann | Marco Radio | E.P. Curtis | Pearsall Prep | Playing Sports | Salmon Return | Walking | Bodies Found | Absurd Race | Jack LaLanne | Virtual Reality | Symbolic Communication | Real or AI | Supreme Ruling | Need Yob | Collapse Path | Manzanar Girls | Lead Stories | Mar-a-Lago Murder | Prince Palanquin | Strange World | More Loving | Erika Mann | Don Giovanni | Seawall
STRONG AND GUSTY SOUTH WINDS are expected to ease today. Light to moderate and locally heavy rain, and mountain snow for elevations above 4500 feet today. Another frontal system is expected to bring a prolonged period of moderate to heavy rain and gusty winds late Monday through Tuesday night. (NWS)
STEPHEN DUNLAP (Fort Bragg): 49F with sprinkles & .05" this Sunday morning on the coast. This continues to be a difficult forecast so I will go for light rain today & windy again. Light rain tonight then a break during the day tomorrow then a lot of rain returns for Monday night & Tuesday. After that I continue to have dueling forecast between no to light rain the rest of the week. We'll know better in a few days.
WHAT A SEASON FOR OUR LADY PANTHERS! They fought until the very end tonight. We came up short against Cornerstone Christian, but these girls battled with heart, grit, and determination. So proud of the way they represented AV all season long!
SATURDAY QUAKE near the Geysers
An earthquake measuring at a preliminary magnitude of 4.3 shook Sonoma County on Saturday morning around 9:22 a.m., according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
The temblor struck about 3.7 miles north-northwest of the Geysers, near Healdsburg. Originally the quake was measured at a preliminary magnitude of 3.9 but that was revised to a preliminary 4.3 later in the morning by the USGS.
JOHN FREMONT’S FUNERAL EXPENSES
Dear Community, there is a gofundme account that has been set up to help with the funeral expenses for John Fremont.
John Fremont, beloved husband of Cynthia Frank, passed away on February 7th after facing many medical challenges over the past five years. Throughout their 46 years together, Cindy and John have been generous and active members of our coastal community, touching many lives through their political, musical, and literary contributions. Their kindness and involvement have left a lasting impact on all who know them.
Years ago, the family made arrangements and pre-paid for funeral expenses, hoping to ease the burden when the time came. Unfortunately, the organization they worked with has since gone out of business, and all business records—including Cindy and John’s proof of payment—have disappeared. Despite a diligent search by Chapel By The Sea, the local funeral home, these records could not be found. This has left Cindy facing the unexpected and difficult reality of having to pay for these services a second time, right in the midst of her mourning.
The funds raised through this GoFundMe will go directly toward making the final arrangements for John, helping Cindy cover these surprise expenses. In this time of loss, your support would mean so much to Cindy and her family. Please consider this an opportunity to say 'thank you' for all that John and Cindy have given to our community. Your generosity will help ease the financial burden and offer comfort during this challenging time.
With much gratitude,
Sydelle Lapidus
Fort Bragg
UKIAH SHELTER PUPS OF THE WEEK
Hansel and Gretel are 5 month old Pittie mixes, weighing about 37 pounds. They are full of puppy wiggles, play-bows, zoomies and pure joie de vivre!
Hansel is a total head-turner, but it’s his friendly, goofy nature that really makes him unforgettable. He loves to romp around and play, running at full speed until it’s time to crash, or get some snuggles. Gretel is playful, affectionate, and full of life. She loves romping around, wrestling, and playing chase. If there’s fun happening, Gretel is right in the middle of it, wiggly and smiling. Both of these bovine-adjacent-looking puppies are the perfect age for puppy training, to ensure these cuties will mature into very good dogs. If you have the time, energy and lots of TLC to give to a pup, these two promise lots of laughs and hearts full of love and loyalty. To see more about these two, head to the PUPPY link at our website:
http://www.mendoanimalshelter.com/landingpage#/pups-young-dogs/
To see all of our canine and feline guests 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!
MORGAN BAYNHAM (Philo):
Reading the AVA this morning reminded me just how small this county really is, and how short our time here can be. I was so sad to learn of Gary and Yvonne Niesen’s tragic accident on Covelo Road.
I only knew Gary for a short time, but it meant a lot to me.
In 1983, I was struggling to make payments on my first logging truck and our first house. Logging was slow, and I needed steady work to keep up. Out of desperation, Jack Campbell Logging out of Covelo took a job on Mountain View Road and needed trucks. Laura and I were living in Boonville then, with my truck parked right in our driveway.
One day Gary came knocking on our front door, asking if I needed work. I sure did.
Gary was the truck boss for Campbell at the time. The crew was camped out on the Piper Ranch for the season. That job carried us through a tough stretch, and over that season our friendship grew. Gary would often come by for dinner. He talked about Yvonne and the pies she made. Laura baked plenty of apple pies for Gary and the crew that year.
Later, when Laura worked as the school nurse in Covelo for many years, she got to know Yvonne too.
What a loss. Just good, good people.
PG&E's OUTAGE MAP this morning
REPORT FROM A SMALL BOONVILLE FARM: An a-political Big Pig story - Farm life, and death
Whew, he's finally in packages and in the freezer. We purchase all of our pigs, including Big Pig (we never name our meat animals) and his brother, both barrows (castrated male pigs), from a neighbor who raises pigs for FAA and 4H. The brother started to prolapse a week or so after arrival on the farm, and much as we and the neighbor tried to help him, he became worse and was in such pain that we had to "put him down" (aka shoot him). I have written about "death on the farm" before. It is very painful for all concerned and never really forgotten over time, at least not by me.
Shortly thereafter, we bought two more pigs. Pigs are smart, social animals who prefer company. In this case we kept them separated for awhile since Big Pig was already bigger and could hurt them, but once it was clear they'd get along we put them together. It was the holiday season and Big Pig was growing by leaps and bounds. Usually it takes 6-9 months for a pig to reach ideal weight, 250-300lbs. We set a slaughter date in January and put the trailer out for him to get used to eating from it. At first he wouldn't go in to feed and was keeping the younger two pigs from accessing the food. Meanwhile, Big Pig was destroying and eating the plywood pig shelter and feeding box. We saw him in his field stomping on the 4x8' plywood shelter siding to break it into edible slices!
When the due date arrived we guessed his weight at around 300lbs. On the last day he finally realized that the younger pigs eating from the trailer were getting more food than he, and he barged into it, and Juan quickly slammed the door. A relief! By tractor, the trailer was hauled to the driveway to await the time of departure. That afternoon, Wynne, my son, and I towed him two hours to the slaughterhouse in Petaluma, the only one within a drive-able distance that will still take pigs.
The young fellow at the slaughterhouse took one look at Big Pig and said he'd have to call his boss because the pig looked too big to fit into the scalder and might need to be shot. He also asked if the pig had tusks and/or armor, which shocked us since our pigs are farm raised meat pigs, not wild boar. We were also surprised since he didn't seem that big. This was, for us, a new rule in the "process" of slaughter all of which is controlled by the USDA. We sat around for over an hour awaiting the bosses arrival with the shotgun.
Before we left and after the deed was done, we received an explanation from the boss that since he was big, and a pig over 300lbs is considered a boar or a sow, by law he required both stunning and shooting. As yet it wasn't clear if he'd fit in the scalder which is where the skinning takes place. If he didn't fit we'd have to pay a higher fee. We were relieved when we were finally able to drive home, arriving just at dinner time.
Turns out that he did-just-fit into the scalder. Whew. That he did have some "armor" on his belly, from our understanding a thickening of the skin. And he was the largest pig we'd ever brought in — 400lbs live and 350lbs hanging weight. It also turns out that we're lousy weight estimators! The butcher said Big Pig was beautiful meat. All we can think is thank goodness he's in the freezer now. We brought the two younger pigs to slaughter last week before they even came close to that weight and will give the pig pen a break for awhile, to dry out and be refurbished.
We hope you're all surviving the weather events in good order, staying well, eating well, and fighting this regime like hell.
Nikki Auschnitt and Steve Krieg
Boonville
ANDERSON VALLEY VILLAGE List of Events
LIVE CLASSICAL MUSIC IN MENDOCINO THIS SUNDAY
Come and hear Beethoven’s Archduke Trio along with Amy Beach’s Romance and Berceuse played by Igor Veligan, Natsuki Fukasawa and Mike Dahlberg.
Performance at 3pm at Preston Hall. Doors open at 2:30. Tickets are $30 and are available online at www.symphonyoftheredwoods.org or at the door.
And don’t forget to buy a raffle ticket for 12 Nights Out. $100 buys a 1 in 100 chance to win 12 dinners for two at 12 of our local restaurants.
A bonus prize will be drawn at intermission. More details and tickets available at the performance.
SENIOR INVESTIGATOR SCHNITZIUS PICKED TO LEAD MENDO DA'S BUREAU OF INVESTIGATIONS.
With the planned (and well-earned) retirement of Chief DA Investigator Andrew "Andy" Alvarado fast approaching, an in-house selection process was initiated to choose who would next lead the DA's Bureau of Investigations. That selection process has now been completed and the new Chief DA Investigator will officially assume his new position beginning March 1, 2026.
James "Jim" Schnitzius brings more than 28 years of law enforcement experience, including over 18 years in leadership roles with the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office and the District Attorney's Fort Bragg office.
Schnitzius began his career as a Sheriff's Corrections Deputy before advancing to Patrol Deputy, serving in a variety of unit assignments including Detective, Cannabis Enforcement, Narcotics, and Child Abduction.
These assignments provided Schnitzius broad law enforcement experience in field operations, complex investigations, case management, and inter-agency coordination, particularly in high-risk and sensitive cases involving vulnerable victims.
For nearly two decades with the Sheriff's Office, Schnitzius played a key role in developing and leading the Sheriff's training unit. In that training role Schnitzius focused on strengthening professional standards, improving operational performance, and implementing recruitment strategies designed to build a knowledgeable, capable, compassionate, and community-focused law enforcement workforce.
After being promoted by the Sheriff to the rank of Sergeant, Schnitzius supervised Sheriff's personnel and field operations with an emphasis on accountability, teamwork, and clear lines of communications. Known for his style of direct and transparent leadership, Schnitzius worked to align teams under his supervision around shared goals while promoting efficiency, professionalism, and public trust.
In 2020, Schnitzius was hired by DA Eyster to serve as the DA's lead coastal investigator working out of the DA's Fort Bragg office.
During his six years in that DA assignment, Schnitzius supported prosecution efforts on all types of criminal cases, including murder cases, adult and child sexual assault, other complex felony cases, and child abduction cases. He has worked closely with other local and regional law enforcement agencies, the DA's Victim/Witness Unit, and contributed to office policy improvements that have helped to improve the DA's overall investigatory work product.
Across all of his law enforcement assignments and roles, Schnitzius has remained committed to public safety, concern and care of victims and witnesses, professional excellence, and organizational integrity.
Welcome to the job, Chief!
MEMO OF THE WEEK
AVA:
I'm writing to ask for support around the public records advocacy we undertook to open the LaFever docket. I was disappointed in the Ukiah Daily Journal for not reporting on the Motion to Intervene that opened the file. It is typical professional courtesy to acknowledge the work that one colleague does on behalf of all.
The hearing was on January 20. We reported the story on Feb. 11 and the UDJ followed on Feb. 12.
Superior Court Of The State Of California
County Of Mendocino
In The Matter Of:
Case No. 25cr09419
Matthew Lafever Vs The State Of California And The Ukiah Police Department
Motion By Intervenor For Access To Court Proceedings And Records
(First Amendment & California Constitution, Art. I, § 3(b)(1))
Notice Of Motion And Motion
Please Take Notice that Elise Cox, a journalist and member of the public, hereby moves this Court for an order:
Opening to the public and press any hearing presently scheduled or conducted in Case No. 25CR09419;
Unsealing the docket and any orders reflecting closure or confidentiality;
Requiring that any continued closure be supported by written, on-the-record findings satisfying constitutional standards; and
Granting such other relief as the Court deems just and proper.
This motion is brought pursuant to the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, Article I, section 3(b)(1) of the California Constitution, and controlling state and federal case law recognizing the public’s right of access to criminal proceedings.
I. Introduction
This motion concerns a confidential criminal court proceeding at the pre-charging stage, in which no criminal complaint has been filed and no charges are pending. Despite the absence of a charging document, proceedings in this matter have been conducted outside public view.
The Constitution does not permit criminal proceedings to be closed by default, by custom, or by administrative convenience. Any closure — particularly one occurring before charges are filed — requires strict, on-the-record justification.
At present, the basis for closure in this matter is unclear. The moving party is not aware of any written closure or sealing order, nor of findings sufficient to overcome the strong presumption of openness that applies to criminal proceedings.
II. Factual Background
Case number: 25CR09419, Matthew LaFever vs the State of California and the Ukiah Police Department
Court: Mendocino County Superior Court
Presiding judicial officer: Hon. Keith Faulder
Status: Pre-charging
No criminal complaint or information has been filed
Proceedings have been treated as confidential or closed to the public
The absence of a charging document eliminates many of the interests commonly asserted to justify closure, including protection of a defendant’s fair-trial rights.
III. Legal Standard: Courtroom Closure Is Presumptively Unlawful
A. Constitutional Presumption Of Openness
Criminal proceedings are presumptively open under:
The First Amendment
California Constitution, Article I, section 3(b)(1), which expressly protects public access to government proceedings and records
This presumption applies even at early stages of criminal matters.
B. Required Findings For Closure
A courtroom may be closed only if the Court makes specific, on-the-record findings demonstrating:
An overriding interest that outweighs public access
A substantial probability that the interest would be prejudiced absent closure
No reasonable alternatives to closure
Closure is narrowly tailored
Findings are made before the closure occurs
Failure to satisfy any of these elements renders closure unconstitutional.
C. Pre-charging Status Does Not Justify Secrecy
The fact that charges have not yet been filed does not itself justify closure. Courts have repeatedly rejected secrecy based solely on:
Prosecutorial preference
Investigative posture
Administrative efficiency
Avoidance of public scrutiny
Indeed, public oversight is especially critical at the pre-charging stage, when prosecutorial and judicial actions occur without the safeguard of a public accusation.
IV. No Valid Basis For Closure Appears On The Record
To the moving party’s knowledge:
No written order authorizing closure has been entered
No findings satisfying constitutional requirements have been made
No narrowly tailored alternative to full closure has been considered
If closure has occurred without a written order and findings, it is procedurally and constitutionally defective.
If such an order exists, the moving party respectfully requests that it be unsealed immediately so the public may evaluate its legal sufficiency.
V. Less Restrictive Alternatives Exist
Even if the Court identifies a legitimate interest warranting protection, reasonable alternatives exist, including:
Partial closure limited to specific testimony
Redaction of sensitive information
Delayed release of transcripts
Sealing of discrete documents rather than the entire proceeding
The Constitution requires consideration of these alternatives before closing the courtroom.
VI. Request For Relief
For the foregoing reasons, the Court should:
Open all proceedings in Case No. 25CR09419 to the public and press;
Unseal the docket and any orders relating to closure or confidentiality;
Require that any continued closure be supported by specific, written findings satisfying constitutional standards; and
Grant such further relief as justice requires.
Dated: January 3, 2026
Respectfully submitted,
Elise Cox
Journalist / Member of the Public, [email protected]
MendoLocal.News 707-320-8527
P.O. Box 362
Mendocino, CA 95460
HOW POTTER VALLEY GOT ITS NAME!
by Joel R. Thompson
Have you ever wondered how Potter Valley got its name?
Potter Valley is not named for pottery or pots. Although certain locals may jokingly refer to Potter Valley as “Pothole Valley” due to the speed-bump-like potholes that dot the local country roads.
No… Potter Valley was not named for an object or an activity.
Until 1852, no European had reportedly entered this beautiful oak-studded valley where wild oats once covered the protected terrain that is surrounded by rugged mountains to the north and east, stretching to the Sacramento Valley, with steep hills to the west leading towards vast canyons of towering coastal redwoods, and endless seascape.
An estimated two thousand Native American Pomo tribes people humbly resided in the unfounded territory, now known as Potter Valley, during pre-colonial times. How quiet it must have been, how peaceful and plentiful was the fishing and wild foraging, and most certainly provided an exceptional and uniquely comfortable way of life for the local tribespeople.
Nevertheless, advancing settlements and rapid colonization would soon take precedence in the untamed West.
In October of 1852, seven curious pioneers made the declaration to trace the source of the Russian River, and what an excellent area they would soon happen upon whilst on their journey. Trekking out on horseback from Sonoma County, this exploration party was destined to discover Potter Valley, then called by the Pomo name of Be-lo-Kai which translates to Verdant Valley.
The group consisted of two brothers, William and Thomas Potter. Others in the group were Lowe Anderson, Al Strong, Moses Briggs, and two Spanish explorers. The names of the Spanish gentlemen are not known to the writer, but perhaps that is another story altogether consisting of historically significant paradigms.
Once the discovery of Verdant Valley was achieved, the group stopped there, biding their time for three weeks, taking in the particulars of the landscape and its potential for development. It is said, that at least three homestead claims were decided upon by the Potter brothers and Moses Briggs.
That next spring, in 1853, William H. Potter and Moses C. Briggs made haste in returning — managing to bring a wagon into the valley with the intent of settling and building up homesteads. Thus William Potter became the first official settler. And by 1856, Thomas Potter was ready to join his brother, making the valley his home as well. Moses Briggs also settled in the valley and wedded Elizabeth Potter, the Sister of William and Thomas. From that time forward, Verdant Valley has been known as Potter Valley and an established place on the map!
Yet still, folks often ask… and they may always ask… “where the heck is Potter Valley?”
Instead of trying to answer those people who haven’t been to Potter Valley and have a hard time determining the location within a context of the proximity to a more well-known city or landmark. One might say, instead, that Potter Valley is hidden among the hills and mountains, with no highways interceding, no banks or courthouses, just green pasture, farms, and homes. No traffic lights or buses, just old bumpy river roads, lovely folks, peach trees and pear orchards, fresh air and freedom, long bright days; a place where simple makes sense as does joy and smiles; where waves and hugs can go a long way. A place where honesty and a kind deed become legacy, and dirt is not a nuisance — it’s a way of life!
Yes, you may wonder where the heck is Potter Valley? Well, if you are fortunate enough to find it, you may feel inclined to stay, just as the Potter family did in the 1850s, or the many Pomo Tribe people who managed to keep it a secret until then.
And so this disconnected destination may be best suited, for most folks, as just another faraway town on the map, and to leave the place they call Potter Valley within the whims of the imagination; seeing as how it runs off the beaten path — a simple detour, a distant landmark of no great import and no worldly significance.
Isn’t it enough to simply know that a town like Potter Valley exists? A place where one can travel to in the virtual realms of the mind, a flourishing place of color and light, set apart from the hustle and bustle, a Verdant Valley… Potter Valley!
THE NARROW GAUGE RAILROADS built or owned by L.E. White Lumber Co. from 1875 to 1916.
There was no significant rail building after that date. This only shows the main lines. Sidings were constructed up nearly every side gulch along the way, then torn up after that gulch was logged out. I have walked nearly every mile of the Greenwood, Elk, and Alder Creek branches.
Red - Whitesboro / Salmon Creek
Yellow The Mendocino Railroad incorporated 1875, before White came to the Cuffey's Cove area but later purchased by him.
Blue Greenwood and the wharf and lumber yard and the entire Elk Creek branch
Green Alder Creek, downstream to within sight of the ocean, upstream over the divide into the Garcia River watershed.
White Flumeville / Rollerville from flume/hoisting works to the chute at Rollerville
Purple Greenwood Creek, started in 1909 completed by 1916
The gauge was 36 inches. The rail used was thirty pounds to the yard - about four inches high. Among the first rails used on the MRR were from the transcontinental railroad when they began to upgrade that line. Rail dated to 1864 can be found in Greenwood Creek.
— Chuck Ross
CATCH OF THE DAY, Saturday, February 21, 2026
JASON BROKETT JR., 27, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol&drugs.
JEREMY KLEMISH, 55, Ukiah. Misdemeanor warrant.
TRINIDAD MAGDALENO-PULIDO, 23, Ukiah. Petty theft with priors, obtaining personal information without authorization, probation revocation.
CHRISTOPHER WILLIAMS, 29, Willits. DUI, child abandonment.
VOTE FOR SMART
Editor:
If rich developers want to derail the SMART train that is exactly why we should vote for it (“New book rips SMART ahead of key tax election,” Feb. 17). If you wonder why someone from Mendocino County would write, it is because our community services district way up here received multiple copies of their little book dissing SMART. I suspect that no amount of money can derail the train — only outlaws could think they might have a chance.
Tom McFadden
Boonville
DISENFRANCHISING VOTERS
Editor:
I read with interest your recent article on the ACLU’s effort to block a lawsuit that would prevent the U.S. Census Bureau from counting people who are in the country illegally for purposes of representation. An ACLU spokesperson warned “that unlawful request would distort representation for millions of Americans and shake the foundations of our representative democracy.” Obviously, anything that shakes the foundations of our representative democracy deserves serious consideration.
But it also highlights a broader issue: consistency. If protecting fair representation is truly a core democratic value, it should apply in every context where voters have purposely had their voice and representation diluted.
Here in California, recent redistricting outcomes, upheld by the courts despite partisan gerrymandering, have essentially eliminated meaningful voter representation for millions. This raises the same principle the ACLU invokes: fair and equal representation matters. Civil liberties advocates can do important work. However, turning a blind eye to blatant disenfranchisement of one third of the California population does little to strengthen public trust in their mission and in our democratic system.
Dennis Kelly
Petaluma
WAYNE JUSTMANN
by Fred Gardner
There will be a memorial get-together honoring Wayne Justmann today at 2 PM, at 3049 Adaline Ave. in Berkeley.
I got to know him in 1996, when he was "head of security" at the San Francisco Cannabis Buyers Club… Here's an item from 2005:
… Club Cocomo was filled Sunday night by more than 300 people celebrating Wayne Justmann's 60th birthday. His friends include the poor and the powerless, as well as the pols. Everybody had come to have a good time. Nobody was selling anything. Nobody was there as a customer or a clerk. There was gaiety in the air, and mutual respect based on collective political accomplishment. It's so rare that the class divisions seem to break down, even for a minute, and it sure feels good when they do.
Three cannabis club proprietors and a cultivator had picked up the tab for food and entertainment. Party planner Michael Ramos had made all the arrangements, and Rush and family of Club Cocomo had donated the space. "Wayne has done so much for the movement," one of the organizers explained, "and he's never been in it for the money. When I first moved here three years ago he trusted me and made me feel needed and introduced me to people… He's just a great friend and fun to be with."
Wayne's contributions to the movement include security at Dennis's Market Street club; creation of the Patients Resource Center at 350 Divisadero (urgently needed when Dennis was forced to close); campaign work for Terence Hallinan and other pro-cannabis politicians; mediating internal disputes; making useful connections; effective lobbying at City Hall for a medical marijuana card program run by the Dept. of Public Health; and now Prop S to involve the city in cultivation and/or distribution.
About five years ago Wayne made a serious effort to organize club proprietors, growers, and patient advocates into a political action group. His "consortium" never coalesced, but the monthly meetings he and Randi Webster held at 350 Divisadero fostered a sense of community and enabled people to keep abreast of legal and political developments.
Wayne learned about politics from some hoods who employed him as a bodyguard back in Cicero, Illinois. He's a name-dropper and a back-slapper but he does it like he's playing a part. He's a big man, maybe 6'3, 225, calm and friendly, very much like Alex Karras in "Victor Victoria." (Good flick, BTW.)
Wayne was diagnosed positive in 1988 and here it is 2005 and he looks hale and hearty! The epidemic isn't killing people overnight anymore! What a good reason for a party!
State Sen. Mark Leno read a proclamation honoring Wayne and Wayne pointed to Dennis in the throng and called him "the man who opened the door for us…"
The entertainment was anchored by the Extra Action Marching Band and included a hard-not-to-dance-to rap act, "Los Marijuanos." When the Field Manager of Americans for Safe Access took the stage to do a striptease, Grampa Fred said his goodnights.
MEMO OF THE AIR: Nevair!
Marco here. Here's the recording of Friday night's (9pm PST, 2026-02-20) 7.7-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_0684_MOTA_2026-02-20.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:
/Christian nightmares/ in the sense of a zombie nightmare or a drowning nightmare. But we're not dreaming. This is real life: the vast technological destructive power of the nation that spends more on war than the next ten runner-up spenders combined is in the hands now of men who believe in angels, in a living conniving mustache-twirling Satan, in Biblical prophecy, and in a giant invisible god in the sky who sees them when they're sleeping and knows when they're awake and once in awhile gives them orders that supersede sense and reason, such as to let go of the wheel and let Jesus take it for awhile. Or submit their mentally ill child for an exorcist to torture the demons out of. Or skip vaccinations. And so on. https://christiannightmares.substack.com/p/controversial-christian-nationalist
Bjork - Amphibian. This is the strange music under the closing credits of Being John Malkovich, which I just watched again this week, and loved it like for the first time, every little part of it, from the Heloise and Abelard puppets to "Look away… look /away/…" I remember seeing it when it just came out and deciding this is a prime example of a movie where the writer woke from a dream with an indelible image and a /feeling/, the kernel of the dream, and had to bang out the whole story around it to get that image and feeling across: The little girl at the pool smiling at her mother, the bleak fate of John Cusack trapped forever in the back of her mind, an impotent spectator. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toz9eYXr5FU
I haven't been watching the Olympics at all, but I saw this painful clip, and felt compelled to watch it over and over, reliving every time in my life when I ran into something or fell off something or crashed into a tree or a rock or a fence on a bike or a dish-sled or just hit my hip on the corner of a counter. The slow motion shot is excruciating. I hope the athlete isn't crippled. https://www.nbcchicago.com/olympics/2026-milan-cortina/nick-goepper-suffers-heart-stopping-fall-in-freeski-halfpipe-at-olympics/3897359/
Martial arts children dance with life-size autonomous electric puppets. The teacher in an electronics class I was in once was going through the history of television, and when he got to the development of the ridiculously complex process of analog color teevee, all the years and all the ways they tried to do it and get it, he said, "They /really wanted/ color." I think that years from now a teacher will say the same thing: "They /really wanted/ robots." I read this week that the Pentagon is pissed off with Anthropic because Anthropic wants to slow down helping them make lethal autonomous soldier-bots and bomber-bots and garrote-bots and kamikaze-bots; you know, think it through first, at least, and maybe just not. The Pentagon is all, /What do you think we just gave yez a gazillion dollars for?/ They find Anthropic's lack of faith disturbing. https://theawesomer.com/robots-humans-perform-martial-arts/796716/
And the importance of communicating wants and needs in a timely manner. https://laughingsquid.com/communicating-wants-needs/
Marco McClean, [email protected], https://MemoOfTheAir.wordpress.com
ARE THE CURRENT TECH MOGULS COMPARABLE TO THE RAILROAD ROBBER BARONS OF THE GILDED AGE?
A Look Back at My Great Grandfather’s Career: E.P. Curtis, Railroad Union Leader, born 1867, died 1931.
by Monica Huettl
We are living in turbulent times. The federal government is siccing ICE agents on immigrants and citizens alike; the tech oligarchs have their thumbs on the scales of the financial markets, communications and government. Social media companies profit by deliberately using algorithms that cause us to fight among ourselves. People on all sides are suspicious that we won’t have free and fair elections.
Is the situation worse now than in America’s past? The U.S., despite its grandeur, has always had an element of inequality and economic injustice. The Gilded Age of the railroad barons between the end of the Civil War and the turn of the 20th century, is a perfect example, in many ways analogous to what we are currently experiencing. The railroad barons back in the day had outsized influence on politics, financial, and labor markets.
My great grandfather, Edward Patrick Curtis (called E.P.), was a union leader on the railroads during the Gilded Age. The early unions, then called “fraternal organizations,” helped to bring about business and labor reforms in this country. The photograph of E.P. at a Denver meeting of union leaders, including Eugene V. Debs, in June 1890, inspired me to research this story. These were brave men who stood up to the powerful railroad barons, at great risk to their own safety. E.P. Curtis’ son Milton described the men in the photo, as “some pretty rough customers.”
A Bleak Start in Life
E.P. was born in Ogden, Kansas on March 8, 1867, the son of Irish immigrants John and Mary O’Malley Curtis.
Mary was 3 months pregnant with her fourth child, Edward Patrick, when her husband died of cholera in September 1866. She had three other children under the age of 5, John, Daniel, and Mary. Mary died on March 11, 1867, only 3 days after E.P. was born.
Ogden’s population at the time was about 200 people, but it was close to the larger towns of Ft. Riley and Manhattan. I don’t know how my Irish immigrant great-great grandparents ended up there. Mary’s sister Brigit O’Malley Dyche raised the orphaned E.P. and his brother Daniel. Despite this bleak beginning, the Curtis children all ended up living successful lives.
The Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad
Texas State Historical Association records show that the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad (or M-K-T, known as the Katy) was the first railroad to enter Texas from the north in 1865.
President Lincoln wanted to use the north-south railroad line as a buffer against Confederate sympathizers. The U.S. Army planned to build forts at strategic locations along the tracks.
Teenage E.P. took a job as a laborer on the Missouri-Kansas-Texas railroad in the 1880s, working on the road and laying track into Texas. According to family lore, E.P. made a little extra money by winning bets that he could pick up a rail by himself.
He later became a fireman, then brakeman, and eventually worked his way up to conductor, the most prestigious position on a railroad, comparable to a captain of a ship. The conductor was responsible for the safety of all passengers and cargo on the train, and for keeping records of the journey.
Industry titans including J. Pierpont Morgan and John D. Rockefeller held interests in the Katy, but the line was eventually purchased by rail baron Jay Gould, who by 1890 owned half of the rail lines in the southwest.
Personal Life
E.P. married Mary Etta Tally in Smithville, Texas in 1898. Mary Etta’s family took in boarders, many of whom worked for the railroad. Mary Etta met E.P. when she was tacking down carpet on the stairs. He told her she was doing it wrong, and she replied that his advice was not needed, according to a story she told her granddaughter. True love blossomed after this.
E.P. bought a farm in Crystal City, Texas with his brother John Curtis, where John raised white beans under contract to the U.S. Navy. E.P. and family later moved to San Antonio, where he and Mary Etta had five children, one of whom was my grandfather, John Parker Curtis.
At some point in his career E.P. read the law, and passed the bar exam. He practiced law in Houston for two years with John W. Parker, a well known criminal lawyer. After a couple of years practicing law, E.P. went back to the railroad. The legal education served him well as a union leader and he became active in politics.
Working on the Railroad was Dangerous
“The primary duty of a railroad fireman was to shovel and stoke coal into the firebox, ensuring a steady and appropriate supply of fuel for the locomotive’s boiler. This task required physical strength and endurance, especially during long journeys. . . . the fear of a potential boiler explosion ever-present. The fireman’s job not only ensured the firebox contained a well-fed fire but also contained plenty of water in the boiler.” (AmericanRails.com). Imagine the difficulty of standing in front of a hot furnace, shoveling coal and making sure you don’t blow up the boiler, for hours on end, in all sorts of weather, on a moving train.
E.P. worked his way up to Brakeman, an even more dangerous position. From The Life of a Brakeman — The Neversink Valley Museum of History & Innovation: “The job of the freight train brakeman was a solitary one and was especially dangerous… To apply the brakes, the brakeman would turn a large brake control wheel located atop each freight car of the train. Every brakeman carried a thick brake ‘club’ to help give them leverage in turning the wheel. This meant that they would have to run along the top of the railway cars and leap from one to another in order to apply or release the brakes on each car.”
The Bulletin of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics informs us that “A brakeman’s job was historically very dangerous with numerous reports of brakemen falling from trains, colliding with lineside structures or being run over or crushed by rolling stock.”
There was no workers’ comp or life insurance for these jobs. When these men were injured or killed, too bad for them and their families.
The Railroad Robber Barons
Men like Jay Gould helped build the industries that made the United States a financial powerhouse. However, practices such as stock manipulation, gold price speculation, and wage theft gave them an unfair advantage in amassing wealth. Gould was involved with the Tammany Hall political corruption in New York. Like today’s tech titans, the railroad barons played by their own rules with few consequences. (Matthew A. McIntosh, Jay Gould: Building Wealth on Exploitation and Manipulation.)
Rise of the Fraternal Brotherhoods — Racist Roots
I was proud to learn that my great grandfather played an important part in creating federal laws to protect workers. Diving a little deeper into the story, I discovered that the fraternal brotherhoods that formed the early labor unions were racist organizations for whites only. This felt like a gut punch. I debated abandoning this project to spare embarrassment to my relatives. But history needs to be reported as it happened. You can’t sugar-coat the ugly parts. Ignoring the racial prejudice that was a huge part of this county’s history is wrong. These racist policies were the norm only three generations back.
In Paul Michel Taillon’s, Good, Reliable, White Men: Railroad Brotherhoods, 1877–1917. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 2009; we learn that occupational safety regulation was non-existent at the time, nor were there benefits for injured and unemployed workers and their families. “As a result, workers themselves endeavored to form fraternal organizations among their peers for the purposes of insurance and the payment of benefits for death or disability suffered on the job.” Some unions formed cooperative banks for their members. The early organizations were sometimes based upon religion or ethnicity.
The fraternal organizations also provided emotional support for grieving families who lost loved ones to railroad accidents. At first, “little attention was paid to labor-management relations.” F.P. Sargent, “A Short History of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen,
The benefits of membership in the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen were not universally available as the organization did not allow men of color to join.
The Brotherhood’s constitution in 1888 specified that membership requirements included that a candidate be “a man white born, of good moral character, sober and industrious, sound of body and limb.” Recent Italian immigrants were also barred from membership.
In 1896 the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen considered joining the American Federation of Labor. The AFL required the BLF to remove the whites-only rule. “Rank and file membership erupted in protest over the change, flooding the organization with letters of protest, with members of lodges in the Southern United States most vociferous in their opposition.” (F.P. Sargent)
It wasn’t until 1944 that the racial exclusion was ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court decision Tunstall v. Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen. (James T. Sparrow, Warfare State: World War II Americans and the Age of Big Government. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011.)
Slow Adoption of Safety Regulations and Labor Regulations
The unfair business practices of the Gilded Age tycoons slowly led to the creation of antitrust and employment protection laws.
There were many railroad strikes during the Gilded Age. The railroads fired striking workers, and, with the backing of the federal government, broke strikes with physical violence and intimidation, using hired thugs and Pinkertons.
The union representatives walked a fine line in demanding better treatment of the workers, while watching out for their own personal safety.
1893’s Safety Appliance Act brought about strict safety regulations. The act required air brakes and automatic couplers on all trains. It took seven years for the railroads to comply with the act.
From the late 1800s through the 1920s, railroads were the main form of transportation. The railroad workers contributed tremendously to the success of the industry, but were not compensated with fair wages.
In 1915, the unions campaigned for an 8-hour workday. Management fought bitterly against this. President Woodrow Wilson allied with the workers. The Adamson Act of 1916 established an 8-hour workday in this country.
1931 Convention of the Order of Railway Conductors
At the time of his death, E.P. was President of the Order of Railway Conductors.
In 1931, during the Great Depression, the union spent a record-breaking half a million dollars on the convention in Kansas City. E.P. had been suffering from the flu, but he got up from his sick bed in San Antonio to attend this spectacular event in Kansas City. The convention lasted a month, representing conductors of “virtually every rail line and every section of the United States and Canada. Each brotherhood has sent at least one representative with instructions to stand up for his right.” Kansas City Star, May 8, 1931.
E.P. died of influenza in his hotel while attending the convention. The M-K-T line provided a special train to carry his body back to San Antonio, accompanied by the family and a committee of union delegates. At the station in Kanas City, the 1,500 delegates to the convention formed two lanes through which the casket was carried to the train, as reported by the San Antonio Express.
Memorial tributes were expressed by the State Senate of Texas, and by the Mayor and Commissioners of San Antonio, and other cities.
Railroads Were Eventually Eclipsed by the Automobile and Airline Industries
The magnificent 1931 convention took place at the beginning of the end of the dominance of the railroad industry. In the video History of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen we learn that during World War I, the railroads were briefly nationalized. After the war, the railroads went back to private ownership. Rail labor unions favored nationalizing the railroads, but that didn’t happen. The emerging automobile and airline industries permanently changed the transportation business, eclipsing railway travel in importance.
Learning From History
Every time you turn around, there is some new technology influencing our lives. We’ve seen railroads, telegraph, automobiles, airplanes, telephones, computers, software, internet, bitcoin, and now artificial intelligence. With each new invention, business practices are formed with lightning speed by the financial backers who control the products created by engineers and scientists. It takes time to educate Congress on new technology, giving the business interests a chance to “move fast and break things,” before regulations can be put in place. This can lead to drastic economic inequality, as we saw in the Gilded Age, and are again experiencing today. We have the past labor leaders to thank for an 8-hour workday and workplace safety regulations.
Perhaps the harm inflicted by today’s billionaires is far worse. In the old days they had physical violence, control of newspapers, the ability to ruin careers and jail labor leaders. Today, we have social media psy-ops that reach millions of people across the globe, directing blame for our ills on immigrants and others, instead of on the income inequality that is responsible for many of our problems. The ability to create and magnify fake news is unprecedented in human history. As in the Gilded Age, today we have brave individuals speaking out for economic and social justice. Will they be effective against the tsunami of misinformation spread by those who control the media?
STEVE TALBOT:
I'll admit I'm not much of an ice skating fan and I can't stand the ridiculous "MacArthur's Park is Melting" song, but who cares? None of that matters when it comes to Alysa Liu, her skill, her grace, and above all her sheer joy in performing. She's captured the hearts of all who saw her with her athleticism, artistry and attitude. Plus, she's from Oakland!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dg0h9iZ1ZAg
An aside…
How to think about sports: In my experience, there's nothing quite as exciting and fulfilling as playing sports -- whatever sport you like. For me, a team sport like football or rugby. But I would emphasize "playing."
At the age of 13 there was nothing I wanted more than to play football on my high school team. That year, as a 9th grader, was my first on the JV. I was second string. Not that great.
But man, I cared!
Early in the season, we lost a close game, it broke my heart, and I began crying on the sidelines. Crying hard. My coach -- a very macho but deep-down warm-hearted and smart guy who would later be my very influential English teacher -- noticed and barked, "Talbot, what are you crying for?" Embarrassed, I mumbled something like, "We lost, coach." His reply: "Take it easy, it's only a game." He might have added: "Pull yourself together." This from a man who was very competitive.
For the next four years in high school -- on the football, rugby and swimming teams -- and in college, playing rugby -- that became my attitude. Sure, I always wanted to win. I played as hard as I was able. But in the end, it was just a game. The world went on. God didn't care. What mattered was how I felt while I was playing, what it taught me about myself, and the friendships I formed with my teammates.
So, in some very small and amateurish way, I can identify with an outstanding, Olympic gold medalist who says what really matters is the pleasure and satisfaction in competing, of pushing yourself, and enjoying the experience.
39,860 NATURAL ADULT CHINOOK SALMON RETURNED TO KLAMATH RIVER 2 years after dam removal completed!
by Dan Bacher
A total of 39,860 adult fall-run Chinook salmon returned to spawn naturally in the Klamath River and its tributaries in the fall of 2025, two years after dam removal was completed.
That’s according to the just-released Review of 2025 Ocean Salmon Fisheries published by the Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC) on February 18.
The return was 205 percent of the preseason prediction of 19,417 adults, according to the document used to help craft West Coast commercial, Tribal and recreational salmon fishing season alternatives every year in preparation for the PFMC’s meeting in March 2026.…
BODIES OF ALL NINE SKIERS KILLED IN TAHOE-AREA AVALANCHE RETRIEVED, as slide risk lowered slightly
Teams recovered five bodies Friday, four Saturday
by Molly Gibbs
The four remaining bodies of the nine skiers killed in Tuesday’s avalanche were retrieved Saturday, after five others were recovered Friday. Authorities confirmed the identities of all the victims.
A U.S. Army California National Guard Blackhawk med-evac helicopter took off from a Truckee airport just before 10 a.m. Saturday and flew into the area where the deadly slide struck a ski-tour group and guides northeast of Donner Summit in the Lake Tahoe area.
The chopper returned to the airport after about an hour with three of the recovered dead skiers, authorities said, hoisting them up and then down to tractor-like snowcat vehicles that brought them out to Truckee where a coroner received them. One victim had been hoisted out by a California Highway Patrol helicopter earlier Saturday, but high winds prevented it from continuing the retrievals.
“The California National Guard was on site, and they continued the hoist operation,” Nevada County Sheriff’s Office Lt. Dennis Haack said.
Five victims had been pulled up by the CHP helicopter Friday and taken out on snowcats, police said.
One member of the 15-person group, who had been missing and presumed dead, was located deceased Friday by search-and-rescue technicians and dropped at the slide site by the CHP helicopter. That person was found “relatively close” to the others, but searchers had been unable to find them Tuesday because of white-out, night-time conditions, Haack said.
All nine bodies were expected to be delivered to the Placer County Sheriff’s Office Coroner’s Unit in Roseville near Sacramento by the end of Saturday, said sheriff’s office spokeswoman Elise Soviar.
Avalanche victims are sometimes swept through trees and rocks, and not all succumb to suffocation. Full autopsies of the nine are expected to be conducted, Soviar said.
Authorities said the recovery effort included 42 search-and-rescue volunteers. The last skier’s body was recovered at 10:58 a.m., the Nevada County Sheriff’s Office said Saturday.
Six of the nine victims, all women, were identified as 46-year-old Soda Springs resident Carrie Atkin; 52-year-old Boise, Idaho, resident Lizbeth Clabaugh; 44-year-old Soda Springs and Larkspur resident Danielle Keatley; 45-year-old Soda Springs and Tiburon resident Kate Morse; 45-year-old Soda Springs and San Francisco resident Caroline Sekar; and 43-year-old Greenbrae resident Katherine Vitt.
Some of the women were mothers of children in Sugar Bowl Academy’s competitive ski program.
The group of backcountry skiers had spent two nights at the Frog Lake Huts north of Interstate 80 near Donner Summit and was returning to the trailhead Tuesday morning when the avalanche struck. Three of the four guides on the excursion were killed.
Authorities identified the three Blackbird Mountain Guides who were killed in the slide as 34-year-old Verdi, Nevada, resident Andrew Alissandratos; 42-year-old South Lake Tahoe resident Nicole Choo; and 30-year-old Tampa, Florida, resident Michael Henry.
Many questions remain around the reasons the ski party, at the end of a three-day tour led by local company Blackbird Mountain Guides, left their accommodations at Frog Lake Huts to return home at a time when the avalanche danger was rated “high,” one step below the highest danger level of “extreme,” and large to very large slides were considered likely.
“They did decide to leave early to try to get off the mountain early,” said Nevada County Sheriff Shannan Moon.
The slide was the deadliest in California history.
Survivors of the party were able to locate three bodies, and search-and-rescue operators found five more that evening, authorities said. The locations of the eight were marked with poles in the snow.
Two of those who survived had been at the rear of the group when the slide hit, and were not carried away, Haack said.
Six survivors were rescued Tuesday, including one of the four guides leading the trip. Two of the survivors were treated at a hospital for injuries that were not considered life-threatening. One was soon released. Authorities said Saturday they did not know the condition of the other hospitalized survivor.
Days before the tragedy, the guiding company had posted a video on Instagram warning that recent dry spells followed by new snow had created a “particularly weak layer” in the snowpack that could lead to “unpredictable avalanches.”
The state has opened an investigation into the incident and the role of guides working for the company. The California Division of Occupational Safety and Health is leading the probe and has up to six months to determine whether workplace safety violations occurred.
Heavy snow, high winds and continued avalanche risk had prevented crews from retrieving the victims Wednesday and Thursday.
Today’s avalanche mitigation efforts were conducted in partnership with Pacific Gas & Electric using two helicopters. The mitigation work relied exclusively on water to promote safer snow conditions. (Photo courtesy of the Nevada County Sheriff’s Office)
Authorities deployed two Pacific Gas & Electric helicopters Friday to try to trigger avalanches so they wouldn’t occur during recovery operations over the weekend.
The risk of more avalanches in the area had been slightly lowered Saturday, but with a new aspect of peril.
While the Sierra Avalanche Center had rated the danger of slides “high” on Tuesday, center forecasters reported the overall danger as “considerable” Saturday, one level lower. And while large to very large slides of thick slabs of snow were “likely” Tuesday, the center said avalanches of that size were “possible” Saturday.
But forecasters added a new danger, of wind-blown snow packed into slabs, making small to large avalanches likely, though not at lower elevations or on slopes facing west, southwest or south.
(Ukiah Daily Journal)
I WAS ASSAULTED BY A HOMELESS WOMAN ON MY WAY TO SEE A BILLIONAIRE PREACH THE GOSPEL OF ECONOMIC POPULISM
Despite its soak-the-rich rhetoric, California cannot decide what it thinks about wealth
by Emily Hoeven
California’s gubernatorial race is growing increasingly absurd.
Progressives are accusing San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, who recently jumped into the electoral fray, of being a pawn of the tech billionaires donating heavily to his campaign. Yet some of these same critics of extreme wealth, seemingly oblivious to the irony, are endorsing actual billionaire Tom Steyer, who appears to be solidifying his position as a progressive favorite as he courts the favor of labor unions.
These contradictions will define the California Democratic Party convention, which began Friday in San Francisco. Ironically, so many Democrats are running for governor that none are expected to achieve enough support to secure the nomination — sharpening concerns that two Republicans could end up advancing to the November general election.
There was even more irony on Thursday when Steyer held a news conference with labor supporters to call for a future ballot measure to increase property taxes on wealthy corporations.
The location? The ritzy One Hotel San Francisco on the Embarcadero, where even basic rooms can go for as much as $1,000 a night.
It was too juicy for me not to check out the scene. But as I headed to the event after hopping off Muni, I was suddenly confronted by a woman ahead of me on the sidewalk, who appeared to be homeless. Out of nowhere, she turned to scream at me — and flung the liquid contents of the container she was carrying across my face.
I stood there for a moment, too stunned even to speak — briefly stewing in both rage and the uniquely California irony of being assaulted by a homeless person as I made my way to a five-star hotel to watch a billionaire endorse economic populism.
But I didn’t have time to dwell on it. I used my jacket to wipe what I sincerely hoped was water off my face and stepped around the sleek black SUVs purring outside the hotel.
I made my way across the smooth wood floor of the plush lobby and was ushered into the small, dimly lit room where Steyer was speaking, my hair still wet from the woman’s attack.
Steyer — wearing Nike Air Force Ones with a red swoosh — stood at a podium bearing a sign that read “Close the Trump Tax Loophole.” He was surrounded by a crowd of union members from the California School Employees Association, which recently endorsed him.
I’ve covered California politics for years, and this was the first I’ve heard of a “Trump tax loophole.”
But Steyer began his remarks by explaining that 555 California St., one of San Francisco’s best-performing office towers, is partially owned by Trump.
“Even though it’s worth almost $2 billion, it’s been taxed like it’s worth a fraction of that,” Steyer thundered. “Trump and his partners have underpaid Californians by over $200 million … using an old law from 1978.”
That law, of course, is Proposition 13, the voter-approved initiative that capped the state’s property taxes.
Prop 13 has allowed businesses to avoid paying more than $240 billion in taxes to California since 2012 alone, Steyer argued, which “drains money from our schools and public services and leaves regular Californians to pick up the tab.”
“It’s time,” he said, “to get the money back for the people of California!”
That’s a message that most voters can get behind, but the details remain conveniently blurry.
Steyer said that if elected governor, he would push a 2027 ballot measure to exempt commercial property from Prop 13. But when I asked how exactly he plans to structure the measure — and how he would ensure its success after voters rejected a similar measure in 2020 — Steyer’s response was essentially: TBD.
To me, this vagueness highlights a fundamental contradiction at the core of California politics: This state cannot decide what it thinks about wealth.
The richest 1% of taxpayers pay about 50% of the income tax collected by the state. That’s some of the most progressive taxation in the country. Yet it also gives the wealthy leverage. If these individuals decide to move, California’s schools and social safety net programs will be blown to shambles.
In our tortured attempts to wrestle with this uncertainty, we do the most Californian thing possible: Write ballot measures.
Lots of them.
It isn’t just Steyer’s potential 2027 measure. Voters may weigh in this year on a dizzying array of potential tax measures, including a one-time 5% wealth tax on billionaires. This proposal — which has yet to qualify for the ballot — is making everyone bananas. U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders rallied in support of it at a crowded rally on Wednesday in Los Angeles, while Gov. Gavin Newsom is rallying his own troops to defeat it. Desperate to avoid the tax, billionaires are shifting their assets to other states and, hilariously, are even considering downgrading themselves to millionaires on paper. They may also fund their own ballot measures to counteract the proposed tax.
Education unions, meanwhile, are focusing their efforts on a ballot measure to make permanent the 2016 initiative known as Prop 55, which increased income taxes on Californians earning more than $250,000 annually to pay for public education and health care. It is set to expire in 2030.
Meanwhile, state legislators are considering their own bevy of bills to tax wealthy companies.
When I asked Steyer about this legislative raft of soak-the-rich proposals, he said he supported them in concept but wanted to wait until details were fully hammered out. (He’s been similarly cagey about whether he supports the wealth-tax ballot measure.)
At a basic level, though, he’s dismissive about alienating members of his own billionaire cohort by asking them to pay more.
“Are people gonna leave? Why would they leave? Give me a break. This is not radical stuff,” Steyer told me.
Steyer’s paradox, of course, is that he’s an interesting contender in the governor’s race precisely because he’s a billionaire. If he weren’t, he would be just another progressive. His wealth creates tension and intrigue.
But it’s an open question how stable — and sustainable — a state built on a financial and moral paradox can be.
It certainly didn’t feel stable to me on Thursday, when I was literally and figuratively hit in the face by California’s two extremes in the space of a few minutes.
FRANCOIS HENRI "JACK" LALANNE (26 September 1914 – 23 January 2011) was a renowned and early fitness icon in the United States who died in January 2011 at the age of 96.
LaLanne hosted a popular American television show called the Jack LaLanne Show. He frequently attempted and accomplished exhibitions in the open water to colorfully demonstrate his fitness and how important fitness is for everyone.
Fitness legend Jack LaLanne famously swam from Alcatraz Island to Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco while handcuffed in July 1955. At age 41, he completed this stunt to demonstrate the power of physical fitness, subsequently repeating similar, more difficult feats, including towing a 1,000-pound boat while shackled at age 60
Key details of Jack LaLanne's Alcatraz swims:
1955 Swim: At age 41, LaLanne swam from Alcatraz to the shore handcuffed.
1974 Swim: At age 60, he repeated the feat, this time handcuffed, shackled, and towing a 1,000-pound boat.
I UNDERSTAND the stunning achievement of the digital world, I really do. But the domination of “virtual reality,” especially since the Covid crisis, is an unmitigated disaster. Working at home, shopping online, doing therapy online (!!!), for me this is all a cause for despair. The promise that the digital takeover was going to “connect” us all to one another—what a bad joke that has turned out to be. Many more people feel a thousand times more isolated than ever before with only their iPhones for company…. No, no! Bring back life on the ground! Sometimes I’m glad that I’m as old as I am.
— Vivian Gornick
ON-LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY
Messages are in the air we breathe. All communication is symbolic. It comes with being human. Language and art are the best we can do. Each of us brings his own context. We can’t escape the particularity of point of view, but we can observe/read/listen carefully, and use our brains to interpret.
SHOCKER! SCOTUS SCHOOLS POTUS
by Maureen Dowd
Now that the third branch of government has explained to the second branch that the first branch matters, President Trump is in a pickle.
He may need a distraction even bigger than bombing Iran and releasing secret files on U.F.O.s and aliens. He may need to produce Marvin the Martian for an Oval Office meeting and install him on the “Board of Peace.”
(Maybe it should be spelled “Bored of Peace,” since Trump seems itchy to attack Iran, and security guards protecting the Azerbaijani president, who’s on the board, were apparently beating up protesters outside the Waldorf Astoria Hotel here.)
Friday was a landmark day in the Trump reign. It was refreshing to finally see someone tell this petulant man-child: “No, you can’t do that!” And it was especially refreshing that the Supreme Court, which has been awash in its own ethics crises and acting subservient to the megalomaniac in the White House, suddenly found a spine.
The highest court firmly instructed the Emperor of Chaos on why his tariffs were unconstitutional without the blessing of Congress.
And the president responded in the way he always does when he doesn’t get his way: with a Regina George hissy fit.
In a news conference on Friday afternoon, with the lights dimmed to be more flattering, Trump made clear that he was “absolutely ashamed” of Chief Justice John Roberts, Justice Amy Coney Barrett, Justice Neil Gorsuch and their three brethren-sisters on the left who shut down his erratic, perverse — sometimes personally vindictive — tariff antics.
Trump railed that the court’s liberals were “a disgrace to our nation” and that the conservatives who joined the majority opinion were merely “fools and lap dogs for the RINOs and the radical left.” He whined that the majority did not have “the courage to do what’s right for our country.” The man who expects fealty singled out two of his picks, Gorsuch and Barrett, calling their decision “an embarrassment to their families.”
As usual, Trump absurdly conflated what he wants with what’s best for the country. And as usual, he projected, charging that the justices who blocked his tariffs were “unpatriotic and disloyal to our Constitution” — and controlled by foreign interests.
Actually, that critique is probably more applicable to the president, not the Supreme Court justices who put the brakes on Trump’s mad careening.
And Trump was barking up the wrong tree on lap dogs. Until now, Justices Roberts, Gorsuch and Barrett have been lap dogs for Trump, helping to upend Roe, giving him immunity for nearly all official acts, weakening the Voting Rights Act, letting DOGE get its grimy little hands on private data and allowing Elon Musk’s backpack wolf pack to slash the federal work force.
The Constitution is vague on so much, and that has allowed Trump to shimmy through wormholes and do things we assumed he would be barred from doing — like tearing down the East Wing without checking with anyone and letting foreign oligarchs enrich him, his family and his cronies. But the Constitution is clear on tariffs: They are the purview of Congress.
Trump has called tariffs “the most beautiful word to me in the dictionary.” And having his toy yanked away — even for the time it took him to figure out some other ploy to punish countries — brought out his fiendish side. After his unhinged news conference, he let fly a couple of long, unhinged Truth Social posts.
No sooner did moderate Republicans exhale, because they would no longer have to defend Trump’s mercurial tariff scheme — essentially a tax on consumers — than the president signed an executive order on Friday night invoking the Trade Act of 1974, imposing a “Global 10% Tariff on all Countries.” He had crowed earlier at the news conference that he can not only destroy the trade of any country but also “can destroy the country.”
“I’m allowed to destroy the country,” he pouted to reporters, “but I can’t charge them a little fee.”
With Trump’s power grabs, the court finally provided some accountability. Meanwhile, the awful wait to assign blame in the Jeffrey Epstein case, involving powerless young women, continues. The only real justice so far, in this lurid saga of bad, bad men from all around the globe, is that a predatory woman is in jail.
Sure, Les Wexner, the former Victoria’s Secret’s mogul who gave Epstein power of attorney over his vast fortune, was deposed by the House Oversight Committee this past week. But he played Mr. Magoo, crying that Epstein had “conned” him. It was totally unbelievable. Clearly, Wexner was infatuated with Epstein and enabled the monster to acquire the private plane and private island that lured so many famous people into his web.
King Charles, too, gave us a rare blast of accountability this past week. He didn’t stand in the way when British police arrested his brother, the former Prince Andrew, for reportedly passing confidential information to Epstein. It was gratifying to see the stunned, slack look on Andrew’s face as police took him away from his mansion in Norfolk. He is still, however, dodging accusations that he committed sex crimes.
Trump has been madly deflecting from his friendship with Epstein, acting as though he barely knew him, even though it’s clear that hound recognized hound. Trump, Melania, Mar-a-Lago and other related words or phrases are mentioned over 38,000 times in the Epstein files.
And now, the president will also have to distract from his humiliation at being slapped back by a conservative Supreme Court. He’s no doubt going to spend the weekend rewriting his State of the Union address and thinking of more nasty jibes for the justices who choked his leash.
And who knows? We may even see Marvin the Martian show up in the Oval, carrying a cookbook titled “How to Serve Man.”
(NY Times)
HOW HUMANITY’S GARDEN OF EDEN HAS BEEN TRASHED WITHIN A LIFETIME
A long-delayed government report confirms that nature’s collapse is a threat to national security
by Philip Lymbery
In January, the UK Government quietly released a synopsis of a long-awaited national security assessment that should have dominated headlines. Instead, its arrival was muted – delayed since October and reportedly subject to unease within Number 10.
Yet its message could not be more urgent: “Global ecosystem degradation and collapse threaten UK national security.” This is not the warning of a lone environmentalist or academic. It is the judgment of the British state.
The assessment paints a stark picture: crop failures, intensifying natural disasters, infectious disease outbreaks and escalating geopolitical instability. It concludes that “every critical ecosystem on Earth is on a pathway to collapse”, and that countries most at most risk are those, like the UK, that rely heavily on imports for both food and fertiliser.…
(via Bruce McEwen)
LEAD STORIES, SUNDAY'S NYT
Countries That Made Deals for Lower Tariffs Are Left in the Lurch
Trump Looks Ahead to Summit With China’s Xi, but Tariffs and Taiwan Loom
Denmark Rejects Trump’s Plan to Send Hospital Boat to Greenland
Despite a Supreme Court Rebuke (and Data), Trump Is Still Betting on Tariffs
Homeland Security to Shut T.S.A. PreCheck and Global Entry at Airports
Shutdown at D.H.S. Extends to Cyber Agency, Adding to Setbacks
JUST IN: Armed man is shot and killed by Secret Service after entering Mar-a-Lago in middle of the night
by Claudia Aoraha and Rachel Bowman
An armed man was shot and killed by the Secret Service in the early hours of the morning after unlawfully entering the secure perimeter at Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago in Florida.
The white male, in his early 20s, was holding what appeared to be a shotgun and a fuel can as he tried to enter Trump's Palm Beach residence, the Secret Service said.
He was neutralized by a deputy from the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office around 1.30am on Sunday.
The deceased man's identity has not been released pending notification of next of kin.
No Secret Service agents or Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office deputies were injured.
President Trump had been attending the Governors Dinner in Washington DC on Saturday night.
It's understood that Trump stayed in the capital overnight and was not in Florida when the armed suspect approached Mar-a-Lago.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15582455/secret-service-mar-lago-man-shot-killed-trump.html
"IT'S A STRANGE WORLD. Some people get rich and others eat shit and die. Who knows? If there is in fact, a heaven and a hell, all we know for sure is that hell will be a viciously overcrowded version of Phoenix — a clean well lighted place full of sunshine and bromides and fast cars where almost everybody seems vaguely happy, except those who know in their hearts what is missing… And being driven slowly and quietly into the kind of terminal craziness that comes with finally understanding that the one thing you want is not there. Missing. Back-ordered. No tengo. Vaya con dios. Grow up! Small is better. Take what you can get…
Maybe there is no Heaven. Or maybe this is all pure gibberish—a product of the demented imagination of a lazy drunken hillbilly with a heart full of hate who has found a way to live out where the real winds blow—to sleep late, have fun, get wild, drink whisky, and drive fast on empty streets with nothing in mind except falling in love and not getting arrested . . . Res ipsa loquitur. Let the good times roll."
— Hunter Thompson
THE MORE LOVING ONE
Looking up at the stars, I know quite well
That, for all they care, I can go to hell,
But on earth indifference is the least
We have to dread from man or beast.
How should we like it were stars to burn
With a passion for us we could not return?
If equal affection cannot be,
Let the more loving one be me.
Admirer as I think I am
Of stars that do not give a damn,
I cannot, now I see them, say
I missed one terribly all day.
Were all stars to disappear or die,
I should learn to look at an empty sky
And feel its total dark sublime,
Though this might take me a little time.
— W.H. Auden (1957)
W. H. Auden married Erika Mann, the daughter of Thomas Mann, whom he had never met, in order to help her escape Nazi persecution by obtaining British citizenship.
IN DARK WOOD WITH DON GIOVANNI: Mozart in Berlin
by David Yearsley
What to do with Don Giovanni? The title character—not to mention the universally recognized operatic masterpiece that bears his name—should, by rights, have been cancelled in the wake of #MeToo and probably long before.
Mozart’s librettist, Lorenzo Da Ponte, took holy orders and a mistress as a young man. While a priest, he lived in a brothel in Venice and was banished from the city. The three texts he supplied for Mozart in the last five years of the composer’s short life are held by many to be the greatest literary contributions to opera across the five centuries of this curious, compelling form of entertainment.
Da Ponte can, by those so inclined, be summarily judged guilty by his actions and his associations. The most notorious womanizer of his age, Casanova was a friend and not coincidentally shared many attributes with Da Ponte’s Don Giovanni, not least the colossal number of “conquests.” These are cataloged by the nobleman’s manservant, Leporello, in one of the work’s most famous arias:
In Italy, six hundred and forty;
in Germany, two hundred and thirty-one;
a hundred in France; in Turkey, ninety-one.
Leporello also goes into the details of his employer’s omnivorous tastes in women. These range across all physical types, classes, and ages. The catalogue aria is delivered by Leporello to a vengeance-seeking Spanish noblewoman (Donna Elvira) who’s already on the list.
Program books offer no trigger warnings, the supertitles no footnotes to Jeffrey Epstein, when Leporello sings that his boss
… seduces the old ones
for the pleasure of adding to the list.
His greatest favorite
is the young beginner.
The Italian phrase used by Da Ponte here, one normally translated into English as “seduce,” is “fa conquista.” Conquest is a violent act.
Music historian Richard Will’s essential 2022 book, Don Giovanni Captured: Performance, Media, Myth, surveys a diverse swath of stagings and recordings that increasingly trend toward portraying Don Giovanni as a predator and his “conquests” as victims. Even though Will is not now in Berlin, he is able to attend to the production currently at the State Opera (Staatsoper), directed by Claus Guth. This version of the opera it is a revival of his staging for the 2008 Salzburg Festival that first came to the Staatsoper Berlin in 2012.
Guth sets the action in a revolving pine forest. Sometimes a bus stop wheels into view. It becomes the site of various evasions and attacks.
The bleak woodland landscape becomes an unsubtle metaphor for Don Giovanni’s own lostness. His scrappy outfit is neither that of an aristocrat nor a REI-grade hiker, but a nondescript down-and-outer.
The Don’s sidekick, Leporello, looks like Eminem who’s strayed a long, long way from 8 Mile. His hoodie proves useful in disguising him when things get increasingly sticky for his employer after his addictive lusts have has latched onto a lower-class and soon-to-be-wed Zerlina, sung by vocally agile and sometimes edgy, Jingjing Xu. Zerlina’s profile ticks several of Don Giovanni’s predator predilection boxes laid out by Leporello.
Also from Detroit, a Chrysler K car appears. The Don can’t get it to start—an automotive allegory for his trouble manufacturing his manhood. Back in 2008, when Guth first mounted this scenario in Mozart’s birthplace of Salzburg, the American dollar’s needle was on Empty: then, it cost as much as $1.60 to buy a single euro. You could pick up a vintage K-car—though what German would?—practically for the price of a Currywurst. In the age of predator Trump and his tariffs, this prop in 2026 Berlin proved one of the evening’s funniest gags.
Guth has Leporello, sung with stroppy resignation in Berlin by Friedrich Hamel, read the tally of the Don’s amorous exploits not from the traditional scroll pulled from his satchel but from the tattoos engraved all over his body. The list pained him to compile, both physically and perhaps morally, too. That each seduction led Leporello to hurt himself might also suggest that these inkings represent his own homoerotic desire for the Don. Such are the psychological labyrinths into which interpretative decisions known in Germany as Regietheater (“Director’s Theatre”) can lead. Others (call them traditionalists for the sake of brevity) describe these not as interpretations but as interventions—self-serving and distracting.
Guth’s principal reconfigurations come in the first minutes of the opera after the ominous, then excited overture. The orchestra was directed with portent and then fizz by Finnegan Downie Dear, a conductor possessed of precision, dash, and the best name in opera. The on-stage action commences with Don Giovanni grappling with his latest hook-up, Donna Anna (an eloquent and unpredictable Evelin Novak). In Berlin, this woman is the pursuer, not the pursued. She jumps on her would-be seducer and wraps her legs around him. She, not the Don, is wielding agency. But her lustful intentions are interrupted when her father (a stentorian Taras Shtonda) bursts in, bent on defending his daughter’s honor. He has promised his filial property to Don Ottavio, a part sung by Siyabonga Maqungo, whose voice was as pure and flowing as the stream that didn’t flow through the menacing woodland.
In the tussle between Don and Dad, the stage went black for a moment and a shot rang out. The gun was so loud that the Bavarian widow who had accompanied me to the performance jumped out of her seat and nearly fell over the railing into the orchestra below. When the lights came back on, the Don lay prone on the rough ground, a mortal wound in his side. He wasn’t dead, but his fate was already fixed. Gyula Orendt did the role with an addled obsessiveness that his dying condition demanded as he bled out during his subsequent amorous exertions, subterfuges, masked ball (with a group of lost hikers inexplicably wandering into the grove), and a miserable takeout banquet (catered by Burger King), until the Don toppled into a shallow grave dug for him by back-from-the-dead Commendatore.
The Bavarian widow had made it up the stairs to our first balcony seats at the start of the performance, but asked to take the elevator down after the curtain calls. The lift was packed. She proceeded to air her review for the passengers, not descending to hell as Don Giovanni had at the close of the opera, but to the sartorial purgatory of the coat check. In this slowest elevator currently in operation in the Federal Republic of Germany, she set about demolishing the entire premise of the production. I stood by in full, silent support. Opera, especially this one done these days, should elicit strong opinions. The Bavarian finished her review. The woman closest to us responded: “Gut it was all made good by Don Ottavio’s voice.” The widow then threw him under the bus, just then pulling into Guth’s dark wood in the empty theatre.
(David Yearsley is a long-time contributor to CounterPunch and the Anderson Valley Advertiser. His latest albums, “In the Cabinet of Wonders” and “Handel’s Organ Banquet” are now available from False Azure Records.)
DISENFRANCHISING VOTERS
To add to Denis Kelly’s letter, illegal immigrants should not be counted for reapportionment purposes. Proponents of counting illegal immigrants have a legacy to follow when pre civil war pro-slave Missourians attempted to flood Kansas to vote to make Kansas a slave state. Bloody Kansas was the result. We have not gotten there yet, and hopefully we won’t. Would the ACLU have defended the Missourians because their right to vote was being violated? The ACLU can be wrong, and is wrong on this one.
Maybe in YOUR opinion. If they’re here, they should be counted. Racism is an evil phenomenon… Oh, you misspelled the guy’s first name…
Immigration status isn’t a race. Debating representation policy isn’t racism.
They are here in the US, where a large number of immigrants are from neighboring countries to the south. While they’re here, they comprise a portion, sometimes a significant portion, of the voting-age population of the states or precincts in which they reside, and should be counted as part of the population for apportionment purposes.
Harv, you would have been right there with the pro-slave Missouri residents crossing the Missouri into Kansas to vote to make Kansas a slave state. In this case the courts nullified the election, and rightfully so. We will see what the Supreme Court has to say about jurisdictions bringing in Illegal immigrants to boost their representation power when the census is taken and reapportioning is done. I believe this practice will be disallowed. How could it not be?
“Bringing in” illegal immigrants? What planet do you inhabit? They are living here, which means they are part of the population. They should be counted for purposes of apportionment, whether or not they are (or can be) registered to actually vote. It may be disallowed under the current regime of morons, but that does NOT mean it is the “right” thing to do, except in the MAGAt “mind”, which you appear to possess… If I do not register to vote, I am still part of the population of Wyoming and am counted when determining apportionment. A suggestion: GET A LIFE!
DISENFRANCHISING VOTERS
The justification for the action you complain about lays here in this document dated July 4th 1776.
“…when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.”
John Fremont
❤️