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Mendocino County Today: Monday 2/23/2026

Warm/Rain/Wind | Yvonne Found | Judy Andreani | Bella Wins | Lil Bear | Storage Options | Protest Photos | FB Discussions | Chief Investigator | Local Events | Donkey Basketball | Homeless Helping | Todd Rocket | Sheriff Williams | Yesterday's Catch | Weight Tax | How Much | Wellness Sellness | Bumble Bee | Wiretapping | Wiener Endorsed | Sierra Snowbound | Epstein Ghost | Doctor Torts | Rainbow Coalition | Silent Universe | Oona O’Neill | Passionella | Rats | White Rose | Recuerdo | Iran Worried | Never Lived | Lead Stories | Nutty Aggressor | The Boy | Catastrophe Brink | The Homecoming


A FRONTAL SYSTEM is expected to bring moderate to heavy rain late today through Tuesday. Strong and gusty winds will also accompany the front tonight into early Tuesday.

* Increased risk for urban and small stream flooding tonight through the day on Tuesday as a moderate atmospheric river brings widespread moderate to heavy rain. Snow levels rising above 9000 feet tonight and Tuesday.

* Strong and gusty winds will accompany the storm tonight. Tree limbs could be blown down and a few power outages may result. (NWS)

STEPHEN DUNLAP (Fort Bragg): A cloudy 52F with .07" rainfall this Monday morning on the coast. Rain returns later today with a LOT of rain forecast for tomorrow. Likely mostly dry rest of work week but I am still looking at 2 different forecasts currently.


THE CHP REPORTED late Sunday afternoon that Yvonne Niesen was found dead approximately five miles downriver from the where the vehicle driven by Mr. Niesen unaccountably crashed into the Eel River on Tuesday morning.


JUDY ANDREANI

Those of you who had the gift of knowing Judy knew about her beginnings. She was born December 30, 1941 at the Grey Whale Inn, and raised in Fort Bragg. She attended San Jose State University, and then worked for Peterbilt as secretary to the head of the company for 25 years. She retired in the late 90’s and moved back home to care for her aging parents. She adored her mother, and I believe they were a lot alike, because Judy always said her mom had a wicked sense of humor. If you didn’t know Judy, I am truly sorry (you must not have had a dog).

Judy was kind, thoughtful, and generous to a fault. She never forgot a birthday or anniversary, and everyone who knew her received a holiday card that she lovingly made by hand, with Shamus, her first westie, and later with Barnaby gracing the front. She did this for every occasion, from Christmas to St. Patrick’s Day, Valentine’s Day, Thanksgiving, Halloween, and Easter. She was incredibly creative. In the years before I knew her, she made beautiful pincushions, did amazing silk embroidery, and intricate pin beading. She had exquisite taste, and took a close second to Martha Stewart, although she always denied her ability to make everything look beautiful.

Her favorite thing in the world was dogs, any, and all. She would stop for every single one, no matter where we were or whether she knew the person walking it. That is how we met. My first dog, Joey, introduced us, and she (and I) always thanked him for that. I was honored to be her best friend for 18 years, and I was blessed to always be by her side. She loved my daughters as if they were her own grand daughters. Her dog park family was a big part of her life and when she could no longer go there we would all meet in her backyard where the dogs would play and the humans would talk about the world, and sports which was her number one pastime!

She leaves behind many friends, both from her past and now, and I know they will all miss her. Ruby Mitchell Andreani her mother, James Andreani her father, Adrienne and John, her sister and brother all preceded her in passing. Judy was never without a smile on her face and could always find something to laugh about, even when she was in pain. I can’t even imagine a world without her. Next time you see a dog, stop and say hello. Judy would have liked that.

Catey Naal


2026 NCS CHAMPION, WEIGHT CLASS 235

1st Place - Bella Glenn of Willits, Photo by John Sachs


IT'S ALWAYS A TAIL LIGHT OUT

On Thursday, February 19, 2026, at about 10:50 P.M., Mendocino County Sheriff's Office Deputies were patrolling the area of Henderson Lane in Covelo. A Sheriff’s Deputy observed a vehicle on the road with inoperable brake lights, a violation of the vehicle code. The driver of the vehicle was later identified as Oscar Lil Bear Martinez, a 26-year-old male from Covelo.

When the Deputy attempted to position himself closer to the vehicle to initiate a traffic-enforcement stop, Martinez began to drive at a high rate of speed and passed other vehicles while driving on the wrong side of the road.

Deputies observed the vehicle coming to a sudden stop in the area of the 23700 block of Biggar Lane. As Deputies arrived, they observed Martinez had collided with a tree. Martinez exited the vehicle and proceeded to flee on foot towards an open field with abandoned cannabis greenhouses. Deputies recognized Martinez as he had two active arrest warrants out of Mendocino County. Martinez was also determined to be on formal probation out of Mendocino County for assault with a deadly weapon.

Deputies began to search the area for Martinez, and he was ultimately located lying down on the ground hiding from law enforcement. Deputies detained Martinez without incident.

Due to Martinez being involved in a vehicle collision, Sheriff’s Deputies requested medical personnel to treat Martinez for minor injuries.

A search of Martinez's vehicle revealed he had possession of a loaded handgun, a violation of his formal probation. A records check on the serial number revealed the handgun had been reported stolen and Sheriff's Deputies determined Martinez was prohibited from possessing a firearm and ammunition due to previous criminal convictions.

Oscar Martinez

Martinez was placed under arrest for Prohibited Person in Possession of Firearm, Prohibited Person in Possession of Ammunition, Carrying a Loaded Firearm by Prohibited Person, Grand Theft of Firearm, Violation of Felony Probation and two felony arrest warrants out of Mendocino County. Martinez was booked and lodged at the Mendocino County Jail and is being held on a no-bail status due to his probation violations.

This investigation is ongoing and anyone with information regarding this case is requested to call the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office Dispatch Center at 707-463-4086 (option 1), or the Sheriff's Office non-emergency tip-line at 707-234-2100.


LIFE AFTER THE DAMS: NEW WATER STORAGE OPTIONS MULLED FOR MENDOCINO COUNTY

by Justine Frederiksen

One of the few things most people can agree on when discussing life after the Potter Valley Project is that the reservoir created by Coyote Valley Dam needs to hold more water.

“Increasing the storage in Lake Mendocino is really essential,” Ukiah City Council member Mari Rodin told her fellow board members this week when reporting on the latest meeting of another local board she serves on, the Mendocino County Inland Water and Power Commission.

“Assuming that we continue the diversion from the Eel River, we need to store more water, otherwise it doesn’t make sense to even have this diversion,” said Rodin, referring to an effort largely driven by the IWPC to create a New Eel-Russian Facility that will continue diverting at least some water from the Eel River into the Russian River once Pacific Gas and Electric fully decommissions its hydroelectric plant, ending a free and plentiful source of water that multiple communities have become dependent upon for their way of life.

The East Fork of the Russian River flows into Lake Mendocino on Feb. 13. (Justine Frederiksen — Ukiah Daily Journal)

As for ways to replace that water supply, IWPC counsel Scott Shapiro reported at the commission’s Feb. 12 meeting that “raising Lake Mendocino would be the ‘home run,’ because it achieves so much,” both in terms of how much water can be stored and how many people could access it.

“But wouldn’t the ultimate home run be to take over Lake Pillsbury and keep the dams?” asked one woman attending the meeting, to which Shapiro responded by explaining that even if the board could take ownership of the dams created for the Potter Valley Project, there is no guarantee they would then have the rights to use any of the water stored in them.

“We can’t just be a one-trick pony, we have to look at all of the options,” said IWPC Chairwoman Janet Pauli, who has been sounding the alarm about the need to prepare for the pending removal of the PVP dams for longer than likely anyone else in Mendocino County.

“The goal today is to come in with more detail on water source alternatives, including potential costs and potential quantities of water,” said Shapiro, describing IWPC staff as having prepared “three buckets” of options, with the first being “things we are actually go to look into funding, the second being a lower priority, the third not worth further investigation, and the board’s direction will tell staff where we should head.”

In terms of options to pursue, consultant Tom Johnson suggested three tiers of funding prioritization for the board’s consideration, with the first tier including the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers study on the feasibility of raising Coyote Valley Dam, and the second tier including the “assessment of off-stream storage in Potter Valley (and) add expansion of the existing pond system in Potter Valley.”

After further discussion, the board gave direction to staff that changed the top tier priorities for funding additional work to include: the Corps (Coyote Valley Dam) study; Ground Water investigations; fund legal and lobbying work in support of projects and finding additional funding, and expansion of the existing pond system in Potter Valley.

“It will take an awful lot of work to turn any of these into an actual project,” said Johnson, noting that “one of the most important things you could be funding is looking for more grants” that could help further multiple options.

“It was really an important meeting,” Rodin said of the discussion during her report to the Ukiah City Council, noting that she was pleasantly surprised that “50 to 75 people came to a meeting that normally only has the members of the commission present, or maybe one of two members of the public.”

As far as future community discussions, Rodin pointed to a presentation given by Phil Williams, special counsel to the city of Ukiah, on water storage options that she hoped could “maybe be given to the City Council, so then the public could hear it, and I think that would be great.”


FEBRUARY 21ST FORT BRAGG PROTEST PHOTOS [MCN-Announce]

YAY, Bob!

Frank Hartzell: I don't know how Bob does such great photos there in that sun, even though I have asked Bob and he explained. We probably have the best protest photographer here of anyplace.

Cynthia Gair: It was a cold and blustery day, but we had 160 people turn out Saturday.
Here are Bob Dominy's great photos.

https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjCLbuV


FORT BRAGG POLICE CHIEF ERIC SWIFT RESPONDS TO QUESTIONS ABOUT ICE

At a recent meet-and-greet, Police Chief Eric Swift and City Manager Isaac Whippy fielded questions about youth programs, housing, racism, and immigration enforcement. Swift said if ICE were involved in a local matter, the department would have the legal authority to investigate.

https://mendovoice.com/2026/02/wednesdays-fort-bragg-meet-greet-focused-on-conversation-not-speeches/


A READER ASKS: Why was DA Investigator Bryan Arrington passed over for the Chief Investigator position? Since the veteran Kevin Bailey retired, Arrington served as Assistant Chief under retiring Andy Alvarado. Why did DA Broiler Dave pick someone else?

ED INQUIRY: Getting true information out of the DA's office is like getting the truth out of the Kremlin. Or the White House. But…


LOCAL EVENTS (this week)


AN HOUR OF NOTHING BUT SMILES AND LAUGHTER

by Antoinette von Grone, member of the AV Fire Department

I understand nothing about basketball except that you have to somehow get a ball through a hoop. But I do understand smiling and laughing faces, something that you rarely see for an entire hour. It says people feel good, they are having fun and not just one or two people but a whole giant room full of them — from toddlers to grandparents.

If you wonder where you can find such a small miracle, well you missed your opportunity at least for this year at the high school gymnasium in Boonville, where the high schoolers challenged the AV Fire department to a game of donkey basketball. (Yes you read correctly, this game is done with live donkeys wearing “shoes” so the flooring of the gym doesn’t get ruined.)

These wooly placid animals seemed to be ok with people struggling to get on and off their back. Guided by their keepers they dutifully walked back and forth between the hoops.

The competition was perfectly friendly, sometimes a player even got help from the opposite team to get back on the donkey after scrambling down to retrieve a wayward ball. The latter had to be done without letting go of the reins of your beast, and believe-you-me the beasts didn’t always want to comply.

Yells and screams from all sides encouraged the valiant donkey knights to make a goal and in the final minute the high schoolers won 26 to 24 to much applause, smiles and laughter.

What a perfect evening!


HELPING THE HOMELESS: A GREAT CAREER

by Tommy Wayne Kramer

It’s cold, dark, rainy and miserable. It’s Monday, February 16 in Ukiah.

I’m stopped at South State and Gobbi Streets peering through heavy drops and slashing wipers and off to my right, hunched under an awning, is a young man with a light jacket, no hat, soaked shoes and head between his knees.

I’ll guess he’s homeless because if he wasn’t he’d be home in front of the fireplace in his stocking feet, watching TV and munching popcorn out of a big red bowl.

Instead he’s alone, shivering, shaking and maybe crying.

And what I want to know is, where do all the billions of dollars that the do-gooders who run (and run and run and run) these programs to help the homeless do with all that money? Where does the money go?

The administrators pay themselves lavish sums to hold a few meetings a month and a few conventions a year. They pad around shoeless in their comfortable carpeted offices sipping green tea, talking about the plays they’ve seen, the restaurants they’ve visited and the vacations they’ve planned. And their pensions and retirement packages.

How can these massively funded programs fail so spectacularly as they do, for as long as anyone can remember, and still continue to get more money every year to keep repeating their mistakes? But of course, failing to help the homeless people they are dedicated to help is exactly what the plan has always been.

If the homeless were truly put on their feet and helped out of the hole they’re in the problems would be solved, the funding would cease and the best and brightest of 21st century American social workers would be out of jobs.

Can’t have that. So instead they launch one program after another, all with promising slogans: “Continuum of Care” and “Navigational Tools” and “Constellation of Services” and dozens more, all meant to camouflage the flimsy facade of their hypocrisies

The fact that nothing these professional thieves propose is intended to solve the problems is obvious to everyone except dishonest politicians who preen and brag about how much money they plan to allocate in a bold new push to make homelessness Priority One in the coming year.

As if spending money on something is equivalent to fixing it.

Ukiah, like many places, once had a small number of local guys who held up signs at freeway off ramps: “Will Work for Food.”

We knew, and they knew, and they knew we knew, the signs were simply a gentle buffer helping soften the embarrassment of begging.

Then a well organized and well funded campaign was undertaken, with professionally produced signs instructing people to refrain from giving bums money because it would only hold them back. Impede their progress. Drinking and all that, y’know.

On radio, Public Serve Announcements were broadcast with the same stern messaging. “A Hand Up—Not a Handout!” So we kept our quarters and dollars while college educated sociologists hijacked government grant funding to launch their ongoing charades and sleights of budgets to turn a minor civic problem into a tidal wave of money going to plugged-in Democrats and their hyped-up programs.

And all the while thinking to themselves “We Will ‘Work’ for Paychecks.”

The money’s been good, eh experts? The career has been a soft one by any standard. Must feel mighty proud, devoting yourselves to helping those less fortunate.

And the collateral damage has been irrelevant, unless you’re the one sitting out in the rain near the corner of North State and Gobbi, head between your knees and no money in your pocket.


Big Media Can’t Help It

One day President Trump was on vacation, hiking around Lake Mendocino. He kicked at some dirt and suddenly had an inspiration.

He returned to his tent, peered closely at the soil through his pocket telescope, and realized it would be simple to convert dirt into a revolutionary new source of energy.

Scientific testing quickly proved he was right: By merely digging up piles of dirt, Trump had solved every world energy problem, ended global warming and would soon create millions of jobs for American workers.

Big Media, always alert to a huge story, got to work. The next day was filled with breaking news:

New York Times: “Scientists say Trump’s risky energy plan could endanger moles, voles and other endangered underground rodents.”

MSNBC: “Experts warn Trump energy breakthrough may disproportionately benefit red states.”

SF Chronicle: “Huge new jobs program could subvert DEI goals, says Stanford professor.”


ROCKET READY FOR LAUNCH AT TODD GROVE PARK IN UKIAH [August 1, 2012]

by Justine Frederiksen, The Ukiah Daily Journal

The Rocket, New at Todd Grove City Park, Ukiah (via Ron Parker)

Former Ukiah resident Kevin Knapp remembers fondly playing in Todd Grove Park's metal rocket ship, which lucky for him was built a year before he was born in the early 1960s.

And on Tuesday he lucked out again during a visit to Ukiah from his new hometown of Walla Walla, Wash., since the rocket has only just recently been opened again to climbers like Knapp and his 11-year-old son Matthew.

“I like it a lot,” said Matthew of the rocket, as his dad recalled playing on it in the years following the United States' first landing on the moon in 1969.

“It was great for astronaut fantasies,” said Knapp, who moved out of the area when he was his son's age. Knapp also checked out the new Anton Stadium, which he described as “beautiful.”

The rocket was built in 1962 and generations of kids like Knapp grew up enjoying it, but safety regulations for playground equipment changed and the ship's original slide and stairs were deemed too dangerous.

“We removed the slide and stairs, and the openings were welded shut, making it more of a landmark,” said Community Services Administrator Katie Marsolan, explaining that city staff transitioned the ship from an active toy to a passive one in the 1990s.

Over the years, the Rotary Club “got a lot of interest from a lot of people in town who said they would really like to see the rocket back as a feature that kids can play on,” said Rotarian Rich Burns, explaining that the club set out to build a new slide and set of stairs for the ship.

This photo was taken in January 2025 (Corliss Osbourn)

The club's members spent $19,000 on the restoration, with $1,000 of that donated by community members. Many, many hands helped put the money to good use by donating equipment and hours of their time.

Vice-Mayor Doug Crane donated a crane so Lee Kraemer could take down the ship's nose cone so it could get new coats of paint, and much of the painting was done by fellow Rotarian Mone Tate and her children.

To properly attach the new slide and stairs to the rocket, Retech donated the people and materials needed to weld the pieces together.

“Everything had to be created and shaped,” said Kraemer. “Retech put together the brackets and welded everything for free — we couldn't have done that on our own.”

To mark the rocket's reopening, the Rotarians hosted a lunch at the park and thanked everyone who had been involved with its restoration.

(ukiahdailyjournal.com)


ERNEST LEE "DICK" WILLIAMS

Mendocino County Sheriff 1932 to 1943. (via Ron Parker)


CATCH OF THE DAY, Sunday, February 22, 2026

MARIA ALVAREZ-HERNANDEZ, 32, Clearlake/Ukiah. Willful cruelty to child.

ISAAC CARRILLO, 34, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.

JOHN LOPEZ, 50, Ukiah. Controlled substance with two or more priors, paraphernalia.

STEVEN NOVOA, 45, Ukiah. Controlled substance, paraphernalia, evidence tampering, probation revocation.

JUSTIN QUINLIVEN, 33, Laytonville. Controlled substance, failure to appear, probation revocation.

SERENA VERMEULEN, 39, Willits. DUI-any drug, probation revocation.

MATTHEW WILSEY, 38, Ukiah. Failure to appear.


WEIGHT, NOT MILEAGE

Editor:

Should road taxes be based on vehicle weight instead of miles driven? It’s complex, but studies show that wear and tear on roads increase at a power of four with increasing weight. So a large SUV that weighs 5,500 pounds produces six times as much wear and tear as a mid-sized car that weighs 3,500 pounds. A 12-wheeler truck that weighs 63,000 pounds (18 times as much as a compact car) distributes the load over six axles instead of four. So each axle on the truck has six times the amount of load as each axle on the compact car, giving 1,296 times as much wear and tear per axle. With six axles, that’s 7,776 times as much wear and tear on our roads per mile driven.

This suggests that trucking companies should pay for our roads and highways. But then we would have to use our savings from not paying gas taxes to pay for the higher cost of goods caused by the increased trucking costs. We’re going to pay, one way or another.

Robert Plantz

Santa Rosa


HOW MUCH DID YOU GET FOR YOUR SOUL?

by Lucinda Williams

https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/lucindawilliams/howmuchdidyougetforyoursoul.html

(via Bruce McEwen)


FITNESS, WELLNESS…

Whatever will sellness

— Fred Gardner


BUMBLE BEE

Bumble bee, bumble bee, please come back to me
Bumble bee, bumble bee, please come back to me
He got the best old stinger any bumble bee that I ever seen

He stung me this morning
I been looking for him all day long
He stung me this morning
I been looking for him all day long
Lord, it got me to the place
Hate to see my bumble bee leave home

Bumble bee, bumble bee, don't be gone so long
Bumble bee, bumble bee, don't be gone so long
You're my bumble bee and you're needed here at home

I can't stand to hear him buzz, buzz, buzz
Come in, bumble bee, want you to stop your fuss
You're my bumble bee and you know your stuff
Oh, sting me, bumble bee, until I get enough

Bumble bee, bumble bee, don't be gone so long
Bumble bee, bumble bee, don't be gone so long
You're my bumble bee and you're needed here at home

I don't mind you going, ain't going to stay so long
Don't mind you going, don't be gone so long
You're my bumble bee and you're needed here at home

I can't stand to hear him buzz, buzz, buzz
Come in, bumble bee, I want you to stop your fuss
You're my bumble bee and you know your stuff
Oh, sting me bumble bee, until I get enough

— Lizzie Douglas aka Memphis Minnie (1930)



CALIFORNIA DEMOCRATIC PARTY BACKS SCOTT WIENER’S CAMPAIGN TO SUCCEED NANCY PELOSI

by J.D. Morris

State Sen. Scott Wiener just won a coveted endorsement in his bid to succeed Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi in Congress.

The California Democratic Party on Sunday officially backed Wiener in the open race for the House seat held for nearly 40 years by Pelosi, who will retire at the end of her term. Democrats made the decision during their convention at Moscone Center in San Francisco.

It’s an unsurprising development, given that Wiener received overwhelming support from state Democratic delegates in a pre-endorsement vote in January. Still, the official blessing of the state party is a boost for Wiener’s campaign as he fights to defeat two major challengers: Supervisor Connie Chan and Saikat Chakrabarti, a former software engineer.

Wiener said in a statement that he was “deeply honored” by the endorsement and the support he received from activists in the party “means the world to me.”

“But we have to be clear: doing business as usual isn’t going to cut it for Democrats,” Wiener said. “Families and young people are struggling with sky-high rents and losing hope of ever owning a home. People are living paycheck to paycheck because health care costs too much. The time for small ideas is over — Democrats need to think big and act big.”

The endorsement could help Wiener stand out from his main competitors, both of whom are also Democrats, and ingratiate himself with party loyalists ahead of the June 2 primary. The top two vote-getters, regardless of party affiliation, will advance to the November general election. Chan announced a series of high-profile endorsements of her own in recent days, including from organized labor groups representing nurses, firefighters and construction workers.

Wiener amassed a large fundraising lead over Chan and Chakrabarti in the early months of what’s expected to be a tough and expensive campaign. By the end of last year, Wiener had raised about $2.8 million, according to campaign finance filings. That was about $1 million more than reported by Chakrabarti, who has put about $1.5 million of his own money into his campaign. Chan, the last of the three leading contenders to enter the race, had pulled in about $175,000 by year’s end.

The Democratic Party endorsement could also help Wiener as he tries to move on from recent scrutiny he faced over his views about Israel’s war in Gaza.

During a lightning round at a candidate forum in January, Wiener did not answer “yes” or “no” to a question about whether Israel’s actions in Gaza constituted genocide, prompting some jeers from the crowd. He told reporters at the time that his view was more detailed than the event format allowed him to explain.

Days later, however, Wiener publicly changed course and said in a social media post that Israel was committing genocide against Palestinians. Chan and Chakrabarti’s campaigns accused Wiener of political opportunism, as did a wave of online critics. Wiener subsequently stepped down as co-chair of the state’s Legislative Jewish Caucus, saying his “recent statements on Israel and Gaza have led to significant controversy in the Jewish community.”

While Chan, a longtime fixture of San Francisco Democratic politics, failed to secure the party’s endorsement, she has recently sought to shore up her support from other allies.

On Thursday, she announced that she’d been backed by the city’s influential Building and Construction Trades Council. Later that day, she also touted endorsements from a group of former elected leaders that included two ex-mayors — Art Agnos and Willie Brown — as well as her old boss, former Supervisor Aaron Peskin, and Quentin Kopp, a former supervisor, state legislator and judge.

Chan said in a statement that her campaign was “about every San Franciscan … coming together to fight for our values and to bring our message to Washington.”

In his Sunday statement reacting to the party endorsement, Wiener promised to “be relentless on housing, affordability, and health care to make people’s lives better” and said he would also be “a nonstop blockade against Donald Trump’s agenda, putting a stop to his reign of terror against our basic rights.”

He said he wanted to promote the construction of new homes, advocate for “low cost, universal healthcare,” support immigrant communities, encourage the abolition of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency and defend LGBTQ people from an ongoing “hate campaign.”

“Our party can’t be afraid to take big swings,” Wiener said in his statement. “If we deliver real results, the American people will trust us to lead — and we’ll send Trump and MAGA packing.”


SNOWBOUND IN THE SIERRA: 3 DAYS OF HELL ON A TRAIN IN 1952

by Bill Van Niekerken

The train City of San Francisco Streamliner was stuck in snow drifts near Yuba Pass in the Sierra Nevada for 4 days. Ken McLaughlin used skis and snow shoes to get to the train long before any other journalists. Ken McLaughlin/The Chronicle

Getting stuck on a stalled BART train for 10 minutes during the commute can seem like a disaster. Next time, count your blessings. In 1952 more than 200 passengers survived three days stuck on a train near Donner Summit during one of biggest snowstorms the area had ever seen.

Chronicle photographer Ken McLaughlin and reporter Art Hoppe were in the Sierra to report on the crews that kept the roads open during big storms. Wouldn’t you know it, they got snowbound and couldn’t return to Chronicle headquarters. That bad luck would allow them to scoop every other news outlet on the story.

Hoppe and McLaughlin heard that the “City of San Francisco,” a Southern Pacific streamliner, had become stuck in a snow drift near Yuba Pass on its run from Chicago to the Bay Area. On Jan. 13, 1952, they struck out for the train. A couple of attempts with snowshoes failed when they ended up sinking up to their waists in snow, but they borrowed skis and reached the stranded train the next morning.

The train was carrying all sorts of passengers: service members on their way to San Francisco to return to their units, Republican National Committee members checking out the city as a location for the National Convention, and families returning after the holidays. Snowplows had made it to the train with food and other supplies, but they were unable to transport the passengers to safety.

Hoppe’s first account of the grim conditions got huge front-page play in the Jan. 16 Chronicle.

“The air aboard the train is foul,” Hoppe wrote. “There is great difficulty maintaining even minimal ventilation, as the snow has to be shoveled away from the windows before they can be opened. In addition, the plumbing has frozen and the toilets and drains are not working.”

The lack of ventilation had contributed to near-asphyxiation for about 60 passengers as gas from a broken coupler leaked into one of the cars. The stricken passengers were bed-ridden, vomiting and suffering severe gastric pain.

After three miserable days and nights, the weather cooperated and a rescue convoy of cars was able make it to a spot along Highway 40 (now Interstate 80). The passengers hiked or were carried on stretchers over a path that had been stamped clear by railroad workers. The convoy took them the 5 miles to a lodge and a train that would whisk them to Oakland. They would be greeted by throngs of loved ones and media awaiting their arrival.



DOCTOR OF TORTS

The bartender was trying to find limes for a Bloody Mary when I asked him what he thought about the Pulitzer divorce case.

He stiffened, then leaned quickly across the bar to seize my bicep, wrapping his long, gray fingers around my arm like tentacles, and he said to me: “You know what I think? You know what it makes me feel like?”

“Well . . .” I said, “not really. I only came in here to have a drink and read the newspaper until my trial breaks for lunch and— ”

“Never mind your goddamn trial!” he shouted, still squeezing my arm and staring intently into my eyes—not blinking, no humor.

I jerked out of his grasp, unsettled by the frenzy.

“It’s not the goddamned Pulitzers!” he shouted. “It’s nothing personal, but I know how those people behave, and I know how it makes me feel.”

“Fuck off!” I snapped. “Who cares how you feel?”

“Like a goddamn animal!” he screamed. “Like a beast. I look at this scum and I look at the way they live and I see those shit-eating grins on their faces, and I feel like a dog took my place.”

“What?” I said.

“It’s a term of art,” he replied, shooting his cuffs as he turned to deal with the cash register.

“Congratulations,” I said. “You are now a Doctor of Torts.”

He stiffened again and backed off.

“Torts?” he said. “What do you mean, torts?”

I leaned over the bar and smacked him hard on the side of his head.

“That’s a tort,” I said. Then I tossed him a handful of bills and asked for a cold beer to go. The man was slumped back on his rack of cheap bottles, breathing heavily. “You whoreface bastard,” he said. “I’ll kill you.”

I reached over and grabbed him by the flesh on his cheek.

“Where is your dog, swinesucker? I want to see the dog that did this thing to you. I want to kill that dog.” I snapped him away from me, and he fell back on the duckboards.

“Get out!” he screamed. “You’re the one who should be on trial in this town! These Pulitzers are nothing compared to monsters like you.”

I slapped him again, then I gathered my change and my mail and my newspapers and my notebooks and my drugs and my whiskey and my various leather satchels full of weapons and evidence and photographs… I packed it all up and walked slowly out to my red Chrysler convertible, which was still holding two feet of water from the previous night’s rain.

“You skunk!” he was yelling. “I’ll see you in court.”

“You must be a lawyer,” I said. “What’s your name? I work for the IRS.”

“Get out!” he screamed.

“I’ll be back,” I said, lifting a small can of Mace out of my pocket and squirting it at him. “You’d better find a dog to take your place before you see me again — because I’m going to come back here and rip your nuts right off your ugly goddamn body.”

The man was still screaming as I got in my car and drove off. People in the street stopped to stare — but when he begged them for help, they laughed at him.

He was a Doctor of Torts, but in the end it didn’t matter. A dog had taken his place anyway.

— Hunter S. Thompson


JESSE JACKSON GAVE HIS MOST IMPORTANT SPEECH IN SAN FRANCISCO. IT STILL RESONATES TODAY

by Peter Hartlaub

Jesse Jackson gave his famous “Rainbow Coalition” speech at the 1984 Democratic National Convention at Moscone Center in San Francisco. Frederic Larson/The Chronicle

Walter Mondale walked away with the nomination at the Democratic National Convention in 1984.

But for thousands of delegates and local citizens at the San Francisco gathering, the enduring memory was Jesse Jackson at the podium in Moscone Center, proffering one of the greatest speeches in American political history.

Jackson, who died on Tuesday at age 84, finished in third at the convention, but his July 17, 1984, “rainbow coalition” address has echoed through the generations — a progressive message that his political party has aspired to and San Francisco arguably adopted in the 42 years since.

“Our flag is red, white and blue, but our nation is a rainbow — red, yellow, brown, black and white — and we’re all precious in God’s sight.

“America is not like a blanket — one piece of unbroken cloth, the same color, the same texture, the same size. America is more like a quilt: many patches, many pieces, many colors, many sizes, all woven and held together by a common thread.

“The white, the Hispanic, the black, the Arab, the Jew, the woman, the Native American, the small farmer, the businessperson, the environmentalist, the peace activist, the young, the old, the lesbian, the gay, and the disabled make up the American quilt.”

Jackson’s speech was front page news in the Chronicle — “Jackson’s ‘Peace’ Speech,” the six-column headline read — and was the talk of the convention, with his call-and-response chants of “Rainbow! Coalition!” a thunderous highlight of the long weekend.

A relieved Mondale wasn’t sure he would get Jackson’s support. The nominee told the Chronicle that Jackson, age 42 at the time, gave “one of the best speeches of our time.”

Mondale was not known for his oratory skills, and later lost in a historically epic landslide to incumbent President Ronald Reagan. While some of second-place finisher Gary Hart’s priorities ended up in the Democrats’ platform, all of Jackson’s planks had been turned down the night before his speech, including voting reforms in Southern states and a pledge never to use nuclear weapons. Few knew what Jackson would say at the podium — if he’d bend the knee to Mondale or metaphorically burn the party down.

He did neither, instead making a case for his vision of America, stressing the importance of unity in the party and apologizing for his biggest political mistake at that time, antisemitic comments he made earlier in 1984.

“I am not a perfect servant. I am a public servant, doing my best against the odds. Be patient. God has not finished with me yet.”

The Chronicle’s Larry Liebert wrote the next day that the “fiery Sunday sermon” resulted in “ovations from his own fervent supporters,” as well as backers of Mondale and Hart.

“Carried away by the emotion of Jackson’s oratory — and the historic impact of the first full-fledged national presidential campaign by a Black man — some of the delegates who were jammed into San Francisco’s Moscone Center surrendered to tears,” Liebert wrote.

The San Francisco Chronicle front page on July 18, 1984, the day after Jesse Jackson’s speech at Moscone Center. Chronicle archive

The speech launched Jackson politically, and he had an even stronger showing in 1988, finishing second behind Michael Dukakis with 1,023 delegates, more than double his 1984 total. (Full disclosure: I campaigned for Jackson that year.) San Francisco surged even further to the left in the years that followed, electing progressive Art Agnos as mayor in 1988 and its first Black mayor Willie Brown in 1996. The city hasn’t elected a Republican supervisor or mayor since.

Jackson’s 1984 address to the San Francisco crowd finished strong, ending with soaring optimism and a call for truth to power, which sounds just as potent and urgent in 2026.

“Our time has come. Suffering breeds character. Character breeds faith. In the end, faith will not disappoint. Our time has come. Our faith, hope and dreams will prevail. Our time has come. Weeping has endured for nights, but now joy cometh in the morning.

“Our time has come. No grave can hold our body down. Our time has come. No lie can live forever.”


"NOT ONE PERSON in a hundred knows how to be silent and listen, no, nor even to conceive what such a thing means. Yet only then you can detect, beyond the fatuous clamour, the silence of which the universe is made."

— Samuel Beckett


CHARLIE CHAPLIN AND HIS NEW BRIDE, 18 year old Oona O’Neill, make their first public appearance at the Mocambo nightclub in Hollywood, 1943. Oona, the daughter of playwright Eugene O’Neill, married the 54 year old Chaplin earlier that year.

When this photo was taken in 1943, Charlie Chaplin’s marriage to Oona O’Neill was one of the most talked about relationships in Hollywood. The 36 year age difference drew immediate public attention, but the story behind their whirlwind romance added another layer of intrigue.

Before meeting Chaplin, Oona had been part of New York’s elite social circle and was briefly engaged to writer J. D. Salinger, who would later become famous for ‘The Catcher in the Rye.’

At the time of Chaplin and Oona’s courtship, Salinger was serving overseas during World War II. Their relationship faded through letters as the war kept him abroad, and by the time he returned, Oona had already married Chaplin.

The couple wed just months after meeting and would remain together for the rest of Chaplin’s life, a rarity in the turbulent world of Hollywood relationships.

Despite the controversy surrounding their age difference, Charlie Chaplin and Oona O’Neill remained married for 34 years, until Chaplin’s death in 1977. Together, they had eight children.

Oona’s father, Nobel Prize winning playwright Eugene O’Neill, strongly disapproved of the marriage and never spoke to his daughter again.



RATS

by Fred Gardner

Rivka Galchen's Feb. 9 New Yorker piece, summarized by Hannah Jocelyn:

"Rats endure. The dominant rat species in New York City is Rattus norvegicus, likely introduced in the seventeen-hundreds, originally from China and Mongolia.

"Rats resist. Poison isn’t going to fix a rat problem, because the animals reproduce so quickly it would require a ninety-six-per-cent kill rate to prevent a population rebound. (Plus, poison can harm other animals.) At best, it might result in 'a vast underground network of tunnels becoming dense with decaying rat corpses.' Yum!

"Rats chat. Most rat vocalizations are ultrasonic, and they are talking almost constantly. What might they tell us if we could understand? Bobby Corrigan, who leads the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s 'Rat Academy,' has a guess: 'You guys are pretty crummy co-partners on planet Earth.'

"Rats care. Corrigan once slept in a rat-infested barn—for research—and observed that the rodents might have feelings. 'I was witnessing altruism,' he said. 'I did see kind rats. I did see rats that were doing these happy dances. And I saw depression and sadness and anger and everything.' Similar observations have also been made in studies of whether rats have the capacity for imagination.

"Rats joyride. They can learn to drive miniature vehicles not only in pursuit of treats but also just for fun. They also, as New Yorkers well know, sometimes take the subway."

On the subject of rats, Ike Turner has this to say: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOAKCI8MSCo


ON THIS DAY, 22 February 1943, three German White Rose activists, students Christoph Probst, Hans and Sophie Scholl, were executed by guillotine for urging the overthrow of the Nazi government.

They were just some of the tens of thousands of Germans who attempted to oppose fascism.

As the blade fell, Hans called out “Let freedom live!”


RECUERDO

We were very tired, we were very merry—
We had gone back and forth all night on the ferry.
It was bare and bright, and smelled like a stable—
But we looked into a fire, we leaned across a table,
We lay on a hill-top underneath the moon;
And the whistles kept blowing, and the dawn came soon.

We were very tired, we were very merry—
We had gone back and forth all night on the ferry;
And you ate an apple, and I ate a pear,
From a dozen of each we had bought somewhere;
And the sky went wan, and the wind came cold,
And the sun rose dripping, a bucketful of gold.

We were very tired, we were very merry,
We had gone back and forth all night on the ferry.
We hailed, “Good morrow, mother!” to a shawl-covered head,
And bought a morning paper, which neither of us read;
And she wept, “God bless you!” for the apples and pears,
And we gave her all our money but our subway fares.

— Edna St. Vincent Millay (1919)



WHAT SURPRISES ME MOST about humankind is that we get bored of our childhood, rush to grow up, and long to be children again. That we lose our health to make money and then lose our money to restore our health. That by thinking anxiously about the future, we forget the present, such that we live in neither the present nor the future. That we live as if we'll never die and die as though we've never lived.

— Anaïs Nin


LEAD STORIES, MONDAY'S NYT

Mayhem Rocks Mexico After Most-Wanted Cartel Boss Is Killed

What’s Happened Since the Supreme Court’s Tariff Ruling

Iran Could Direct Proxies to Attack U.S. Targets Abroad, Officials Warn

T.S.A. Says PreCheck Will Remain Operational at Airports

Armed Man Is Fatally Shot at Mar-a-Lago, Secret Service Says

Winter Storm Intensifies Across Eastern Seaboard


ON-LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

IRAN. There's only one country in that region with illegal nukes, and it's not Iran. It's also unrivaled in the "nutty" aggression category. Worse, they have the chutzpah to perform all manners of heinous acts because they know the US has their back no matter what they do and even foots the bill with our own blood and treasure. Disgusting.


The Boy (1948) by Thomas Hart Benton

AS TRUMP THREATENS IRAN, WE'RE ON THE BRINK OF GENERATIONAL CATASTROPHE

A US war with Iran would be illegal, immoral, and dangerous. We can still stop it.

by Negin Owliaci

Wielding a golden gavel and a playlist featuring the Beach Boys, Donald Trump ushered in a new era of international humiliation at the inaugural meeting of the U.S.-led Board of Peace. The new body, while established by Trump, has been tasked by a UN Security Council resolution to administer Gaza’s reconstruction efforts. But Trump has also suggested his ambitions for the board go far beyond Gaza, saying it would “almost be looking over the United Nations and making sure it runs properly.”

Trump has demanded that world leaders pony up $1 billion for a permanent seat on the ostensible peacekeeping body, even as he defunds the actual peacekeeping mission of the United Nations, which he has suggested his new institution will supplant. Altogether, the February 19 inaugural meeting was a perfect distillation of Trump’s preferred method of extortion masked as diplomacy.

As soon as the Board of Peace was created, Palestinians and solidarity activists decried it as a farce and as a naked display of imperial ambition; the entire reason for its existence is to fully sidestep Palestinian autonomy in the rebuilding of Gaza. But any lingering doubts about the president’s lack of interest in peace were fully wiped away by his multiple references to bombing Iran during the Board of Peace’s first meeting, which took place in the newly branded Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace. “Bad things will happen,” Trump said, if Iran does not submit to U.S. negotiations on a nebulous deal.

Meanwhile Trump has initiated a huge military buildup near Iran including multiple aircraft carriers and warships. The buildup is so massive it has drawn parallels to the buildup preceding the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003.

The buildup comes on the heels of the U.S.’s June 2025 aggression against Iran, when the U.S. bombed multiple Iranian nuclear sites during negotiations over the same nuclear program that the U.S. claims to be negotiating over today. That attack came during Israel’s 12-day war with Iran, which was conducted with U.S. arms and logistical support and funded with the help of U.S. taxpayers. During that war, more than 1,000 Iranians were killed. Trump has now said that Iran has “10 to 15 days” to make a deal. Following the charade of last year’s negotiations, analysts expect a U.S. attack on Iran to now come at any moment. New reporting has suggested that U.S. strikes could even target individual Iranian leaders, with the aim of bringing about regime change in the country.

New reporting has suggested that U.S. strikes could target individual Iranian leaders, with the aim of bringing about regime change in the country.

A war between the U.S. and Iran would be undeniably disastrous. U.S. allies across the region have spent weeks urging restraint. Even the U.K., in an uncharacteristically defiant move, has reportedly told Trump it would not allow the U.S. military to use Diego Garcia, the Indian Ocean island that the two countries ethnically cleansed in order to build a military base, to bomb Iran, for fear of violating international law.

The majority of people in the U.S. are also against such an attack. Multiple U.S. polls from recent weeks have shown broad resistance to the use of military force in Iran, and a strong desire for Trump to seek congressional approval before launching an attack against another country.

So how did we arrive in this position, where, despite widespread domestic and international opposition, Trump’s murderous impulses are treated as inevitable? Over and over, pundits have framed this as a war that the U.S. is falling into, or one that it is sleepwalking toward. But there is not some gravitational force pulling the U.S. and Iran toward major military catastrophe. This is a war of choice by the U.S., and we must remember that it could be stopped in an instant.

This is a war of choice by the U.S., and we must remember that it could be stopped in an instant.

We’ve been on a slow march toward this outcome, both over the decades that the powers that be in the U.S. and Israel have worked to manufacture consent for military action against Iran, and more deeply since they broke the dam on such an attack last June. There has been no accountability for that illegal attack, just as there has been no accountability for the U.S. kidnapping of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro — neither move was met with articles of impeachment for Trump nor for the cabinet members who orchestrated the attack. And there has been no accountability for the U.S.’s backing of Israel’s genocide in Gaza, even when some of those backers acknowledge themselves that U.S. support for the Israeli military went against domestic law.

And even before these last years, there has been no real accountability for the invasion of Iraq, to which a war with Iran has long been compared. Many of the architects of that war have proceeded to build storied careers in government and media without seeing so much as a single consequence for their devastating actions. In a grim twist of irony, even former Bush speechwriter David Frum — the same man who labeled Iran a member of the “axis of evil” — is now wringing his hands about the lack of consent from Congress or the U.S. public for a regime change war in the Middle East, writing: “We are poised days away from a major regime-change war in the Middle East, and not only has Congress not been consulted, but probably not 1 American in 10 has any idea that such a war is imminent.”

Trump is getting away with this because, for decades, we have let warmongers unleash their worst with little to no repercussions. But when it comes to Congress, part of the lack of opposition is because, at some level, there actually is a lack of opposition: Coercing other countries, especially Iran, has long been a bipartisan pastime.

During the Obama administration, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) bucked his own party to come out against the landmark nuclear deal with Iran, which is widely considered to have been one of the most successful tools keeping escalations like this from happening. After Trump’s prior attack against Iran in June, Schumer hit him from the right, accusing the president of folding too early and letting Iran “get away with everything.” Meanwhile, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York) has been largely silent about Trump’s saber-rattling, save for a singular reference to Congress’s authority to declare war.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries has been largely silent about Trump’s saber-rattling, save for a singular reference to Congress’s authority to declare war.

While some lawmakers have been more vocal in their opposition to Trump’s buildup, the only halfway meaningful response from Congress to the Trump administration has come from Reps. Ro Khanna (D-California) and Thomas Massie (R-Kentucky), who are moving to force a war powers vote next week, to bring Congress on the record about whether Trump should be forced to terminate his military plans against Iran. But while these kinds of votes are necessary — anything that could potentially stop such a disaster is necessary — real opposition to Trump’s warmaking would require more than these process-oriented critiques.

A war with Iran is wrong because it’s morally wrong — not only because it’s illegal under the Constitution, or under international law. Laws can be useful tools for stopping military action — indeed, it appears the U.K.’s concerns about running afoul of international law could in fact materially affect Trump’s plans for military action. But we must be honest about the limitations of such laws as we hear the drumbeats for war, illegal or not, grow louder. We need real, principled opposition that will put fear of accountability into the hearts of the architects and defenders of this aggression, whether that comes from the streets or the ballot box or legal avenues or the halls of Congress.

Inherent in some of the critiques of Trump’s buildup is the idea that a war with Iran could be conducted a “right” way — with congressional permission, with actual strategic objectives, or as a more limited air war compared to a 2003-style invasion with boots on the ground. But there is no right way to conduct this war; no matter what happens, no matter who approves it, it will be deadly and dangerous and lead to further terror across the entirety of the region.

There is no right way to conduct this war; no matter what happens, no matter who approves it, it will be deadly and dangerous and lead to further terror across the entirety of the region.

This escalation also comes at an especially brutal time for Iranian civilians, who faced a marked increase in state repression in response to anti-government protests earlier this year. As U.S. airpower moved into place, Iranians were observing traditional 40-day mourning ceremonies for the thousands of people killed in the violent crackdown on protesters. The grief has been heavy to bear. And as Hanieh Jodat wrote in Truthout last month, the back-and-forth threats from the United States have added a burden of psychological warfare to those of us with ties to Iran — we were already struggling to reach loved ones in our homeland due to the state-imposed communications shutdown there.

While some in the diaspora have cheered on an invasion out of rage toward the Iranian state, those of us who study history know there is no such thing as bombing a country into liberation, especially not at the hands of the same people who have spent years backing genocide in Palestine. As it did last year, the Iranian state will use the instability and fear of a war to further crack down on labor, student, and feminist movements pushing for liberatory change within the country. A war would only inflict further trauma on a population onto which a desperate amount of violence and repression has been forced in under a year.

Back in July, after Israel’s assault on Iran, a video emerged that put to rest the already laughable idea that Israel’s “precision attacks” were targeting Iranian military sites, as if that would have made a war of choice more defensible. The video shows a densely populated street in Tehran’s Tajrish district. Two missiles strike in quick succession, one hitting a building and another hitting the city street, forcefully pushing cars into the air. The video is dramatic and heartbreaking, especially because it features a popular area that anyone familiar with Tehran likely knows well. Iranian authorities said that 17 people were killed in the strike, including two children and one pregnant person.

That is what war looks like. That is what the U.S. could impose on Iran yet again if we do not act to stop it. And the consequences this time around could be far more wide-ranging and disastrous for everyone involved.

(Truthout.org)


The Homecoming (1945) by Newell Convers Wyeth

19 Comments

  1. Eli Maddock February 23, 2026

    Robert Plantz- road tax
    All commercial vehicles including all pickup trucks (except when permanently using camper shell) already pay a weight fee to DMV. On top of other fees like CA# and class A commercial drivers license. I don’t know how those fees are allocated but you are correct in the fact it’s a complex issue. But EV drivers are dodging the gas tax and so should be paying their fair share.

    • Marshall Newman February 23, 2026

      I think taxation by weight for passenger vehicles is an equitable approach.

      • Eli Maddock February 23, 2026

        Unlike a gas tax, which has a proportionate relationship with mileage and weight together. A weight fee alone is disproportionate to time of use on the road. Heavy vehicles burn more fuel>more tax. Therefore it’s a more fair system. But, enter the EV problem. They don’t use gas so don’t pay tax.
        A mileage fee should never pass legislation. It would be impossible to mandate that everyone run a mileage tracker and without one, nobody would ever pay. Would you? lol
        So I think that EV drivers should have a special road tax. Just like commercial vehicles have a special fee. One can dream…

  2. Lindy Peters February 23, 2026

    Poor TWK. Apparently he knows nothing about Dozy Don. Here is a test for the rest of us who are actually paying attention.
    .
    Q.). If Donald Trump ever discovered a potent new energy source at Lake Mendocino he most likely would.:

    A.). Privatize it immediately, monetize it strictly for the Trump family and outlaw every other type of energy production.

    B.).Blame Joe Biden for not discovering it earlier.

    C.). Demand a Nobel Prize for scientific achievement.

    D.). All of the above.

    • Steve Heilig February 23, 2026

      Very good. Answer: D.
      But also, it would be just useless dirt, yet another scam, but a few of his fans would actually buy it.
      Suckers born every minute.
      But fortunately they are fast dwindling now… as is he.

  3. Mazie Malone February 23, 2026

    Good Morning, 🌧️🍾

    Re; TWK and the homeless individual in the rain.

    The image TWK described, someone hunched in the rain at State and Gobbi, is not easy to ignore. Sadly we do it all the time. So it’s important to say this plainly: he isn’t the only one. On cold, wet days and nights in Ukiah there are multiple people walking, sitting, or trying to stay dry under awnings because there is not enough shelter, not enough supportive housing, and not enough real pathways that move people from the street into housing.

    There is literally nowhere for many of them to go.

    Our shelter is small. It has roughly fifty beds. That is the extent of our formal shelter capacity in this area. So when someone is sitting in the rain, it is not because there is some open, warm option being refused. We simply do not have enough places for people to go.

    We also do not have a coordinated, real time system that activates when conditions become dangerous.

    We already have multiple programs in this county addressing homelessness, addiction, and mental health. The issue is not the absence of programs. The issue is that they do not operate as a unified, functional response when someone is in crisis.

    Protocols exist.
    Meetings happen.
    Collaboration is discussed.

    But in reality, after 5 PM, intervention largely disappears. There is no real time coordination that expands shelter, creates immediate placement, or moves people quickly out of unsafe conditions.

    And being outside in freezing rain with nowhere safe to sleep is a crisis.

    The narrative that people “just refuse help” is false.

    In 2020, during COVID, people were moved indoors rapidly. Motel rooms were secured. Placement happened. When the will and structure aligned, housing was provided. That moment proved that rapid coordination is possible.

    What we are seeing now is not a mystery.

    The system, as it currently operates, manages homelessness. It does not resolve it.

    Until shelter capacity increases and real time coordination actually functions in practice, not just in meetings, we will continue to see people sleeping in the cold and rain, not because they refuse help, but because the system does not respond in the moment it is needed.

    mm💕

  4. Harvey Reading February 23, 2026

    “Increasing the storage in Lake Mendocino is really essential,

    Lowering human population to carrying capacity of its habitat is what’s really essential. Get rid of ALL the water impoundments and diversions that enrich greedy human monkeys.

  5. Chuck Dunbar February 23, 2026

    Thank you, dear, caring Mazie, for reminding us always of those who are suffering.

    • Mazie Malone February 23, 2026

      Thank you Mr. Dunbar 🙃🌧️

      mm💕

  6. Mike Geniella February 23, 2026

    Lindy Peters and Mazie Malone nailed it regarding Tommy Wayne Kramer’s relentless criticism of local homeless issues and the slavish defense of his political icon, Donald J. Trump. What a waste of Tom Hine’s talent. Hopefully, he too becomes weary of his recycled observations that offer no alternatives. Hine makes no mention of $500 billion in new defense budgets, or Trump’s plans for a gaudy new ballroom that will dwarf the historic White House in size. He fails to bring up Trump taking $10 billion in taxpayer money to fund his “Board of Peace” so he and his pals can convert Gaza, the global center of homelessness, into golf courses and luxury oceanfront resorts. Get a grip, Tom Hine. Your polling numbers are falling as fast as Trump’s.

    • Mazie Malone February 23, 2026

      Thank you Mr. Geniella 🙃🌧️

      mm💕

  7. James Luther February 23, 2026

    Thank you Catey for your beautiful tribute to your friend Judy. Jim.

    • Chuck Dunbar February 23, 2026

      Second that, what a sweet goodbye to a dear friend who loved all dogs.

  8. Kirk Vodopals February 23, 2026

    Zelensky claims that Putin has started WW3, but I think WW3 will start when America’s insane devotion to Israel goes full tilt. Lindsay Graham is the devil incarnate.

    • Chuck Dunbar February 23, 2026

      +1, Kirk. A very scary path that Trump continues, after Biden did the same. None of this is in the interest of Americans, none of it protects us, in fact it puts us at risk of WW3.

    • Bob Abeles February 23, 2026

      Ship of Fools

      We’re setting sail
      To the place on the map
      From which no one has ever returned
      Drawn by the promise of the joker and the fool
      By the light of the crosses that burn
      Drawn by the promise of the women and the lace
      And the gold and the cotton and pearls
      It’s the place where they keep all the darkness you need
      You sail away from the light of the world on this trip, baby

      You will pay tomorrow
      You’re gonna pay tomorrow
      You will pay tomorrow

      Save me
      Save me from tomorrow
      I don’t want to sail with this ship of fools
      No, no
      Oh, save me
      Save me from tomorrow
      I don’t want to sail with this ship of fools
      I want to run and hide
      Right now

      Avarice and greed are gonna drive you over the endless sea
      They will leave you drifting in the shallows
      Or drowning in the oceans of history
      Traveling the world, you’re in search of no good
      but I’m sure you’ll build your Sodom like you knew you would
      Using all the good people for your galley slaves
      As you’re little boat struggles through the warning waves
      But you don’t pay

      You will pay tomorrow
      You’re gonna pay tomorrow
      You’re gonna pay tomorrow

      Save me
      Save me from tomorrow
      I don’t want to sail with this ship of fools
      Save me
      Save me from tomorrow
      I don’t want to sail with this ship of fools
      Where’s it comin’ from?
      Where’s it goin’ to now?
      It’s just a
      It’s just a ship of fools

      — Karl Walinger

      • Chuck Dunbar February 23, 2026

        That’s just about perfect, Bob–nicely done.

        “It’s the place where they keep all the darkness you need
        You sail away from the light of the world on this trip, baby”

      • Steve Heilig February 23, 2026

        World Party was one of the best bands ever!

  9. Mazie Malone February 23, 2026

    Also on the same note, 😢

    As of late I have been thinking about Richard McGuire whom is the same age as me. He was known as Necky Neckbrace, there was a whole FB page someone made about him, not as a concern or call to help but to make fun of him. Although I do not know what his official cause of death was, he was homeless & died outside in the freezing cold weather.

    mm💕

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