Mendocino County Today: Tuesday, July 12, 2016

• Hare Creek
• Wolfe Attack
• Delmore Book
• Bern Capitulation
• Ugly Time
• Foster Drugs
• Wildflower Motel
• Cookie Encounter
• Groundwater Meeting
• Winery Limit
• Thistle Picking
• Yesterday's Catch
• Drug Madness
• Madam Grifter
• Hillary Defense
• November Surprise
• Social Mayhem
• Humco Settlement
• Uncle Sam
• Urban Frontier
• Library Events
• Sacto Vigil
• Ball Concert
• CPUC Hearing
• Sun Prints
• PA Mime
• Clinton Scandal

HARE CREEK ON CONSENT CALENDAR?

The Fort Bragg City Council is planning to approve this resolution (see below) along with 11 other items as part of the consent calendar tomorrow (Monday) night at Town Hall in Fort Bragg. The meeting starts at 6 pm.

It is one thing to ok choosing the professional services of a consulting firm to do the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) versus another one, but it seems that the city council and the public should be told why this company was chosen. Also the amount of money that the developer will pay is about half ($66,105.00) of what it would cost if that company would do all the work that is needed. The various decision makers worked out a deal whereby a local engineer who already knows the project will do some of the work and contract with a company to do some other part of the work; the owner/developer has someone in mind that will do the Groundwater Recharge Study; and they city will work with a local archeologist who will do his survey. The fee for the company chosen to do their part of the EIR will come from the Developer's Deposit Account. Ii is not clear who will pay the other independent contractors and how much that will cost. Marie Jones, Community Development Director, will stay in touch with all these people and they in turn will be in contact with her.

Citizens for appropriate coastal land use and many others fought the Hare Creek Center and asked for an EIR are puzzled why the city goes that route when the city council voted March 23 of 2015 to hire a company that can do the EIR. We are also puzzled that the item is on the agenda under the consent calendar instead of under conduct of business. By placing the item on the consent calendar no discussion of the item will be possible. Puzzling is also why the new Coastal Development Permit, Use Permit, Design Review and Lot Line Adjustment does not need to be voted on by the Planning Commission before the new project is being evaluated by the EIR.

Apparently Michael Baker International (the consulting firm that was recommended by staff) will review the following project alternatives in addition to the new project. 1. No project; 2. 2014 project; and 3. Building A & C, without Building B

One of the reasons the 3rd. option might have been brought up is because the new project increases the size of the parcel by an additional 20 feet to the south. This increases the overall size of the property by 1.68 acres which added up to the original size of 2.24 acres would be 3.92 acres.

See:

http://city.fortbragg.com/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/07112016-310

From:

https://cityfortbragg.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=484913&GUID=B35FF965-0C9D-4A8A-8D52-82491FACB293&Options=&Search=

Adopt City Council Resolution Approving Professional Services Agreement with Michael Baker International for Preparation of Hare Creek Center Environmental Impact Report and Authorizing City Manager to Execute Same (Amount not to Exceed $66,105.00; Funded by Developer Deposit Account DDA-016)

From:

http://city.fortbragg.com/493/3766/Upcoming-Agenda-Items

Approve Professional Services Agreement (PSA) with Michael Baker International for Preparation of Hare Creek Center Environmental Impact Report

Legislation Text:

Adopt City Council Resolution Approving Professional Services Agreement with Michael Baker International for Preparation of Hare Creek Center Environmental Impact Report and Authorizing City Manager to Execute Same (Amount not to Exceed $66,105.00; Funded by Developer Deposit Account DDA-016) On January 28, 2015, the Fort Bragg City Council considered an application by Group II Commercial Real Estate, Inc. for a Coastal Development Permit, Use Permit, Design Review and Lot Line Adjustment for construction of a new shopping center at 1250 Del Mar Drive, Fort Bragg. On March 23, 2015, the City Council denied the application and directed staff to work with Coastal Commission staff and the applicant to redesign the project to address Coastal Commission and City Council concerns about the project design. The Council also directed that an Environmental Impact Report be prepared for the project. Subsequently, Group II Commercial Real Estate, Inc. submitted a new application for a Coastal Development Permit, Use Permit, Design Review and Lot Line Adjustment to develop a shopping center which includes design changes to address concerns identified by City Council and Coastal Commission staff. As the lead agency for the completion of the EIR for the proposed project, the City of Fort Bragg released a Request for Proposals on December 17, 2015 to obtain the professional services of a consulting firm to prepare an EIR for the project. The City received two proposals for environmental services for the Hare Creek Center project from Michael Baker International and DUDEK. Staff reviewed and evaluated the proposals on the basis of capabilities, experience, qualifications, and cost and recommends Michael Baker International’s proposal as the best proposal for completion of the EIR for the Hare Creek Center.

Here are some more links:

https://city.fortbragg.com/bids.aspx?bidID=26

https://city.fortbragg.com/DocumentCenter/View/4948

UGLY ASSAULT Friday night in Navarro following the AC/DC tribute band concert at the Navarro Store when John Wolfe viciously assaulted Anne Knight. Wolfe and Mrs. Knight are neighbors in Navarro and both have worked at the Boonville Brewery where Wolfe is still employed. After viciously striking Mrs. Knight with enough force to push her teeth through her lip, injuring her so severely she was carried by the Anderson Valley Ambulance to hospital in Ukiah where it took 14 stitches to close her wound. Locals who witnessed Wolfe's attack were so angered that the alarmed Wolfe fired warning shots in the air to warn off the crowd before fleeing into nearby woods. There remains much threatening talk among Navarro residents that the assailant "better not come back here." Wolfe turned himself in Saturday morning to Deputy Craig Walker and, as of Tuesday, remains in the Mendocino County Jail.

WE DON'T KNOW WOLFE. He's a new name to us in a community now so fluid that people can live here for several years, as is the case with Wolfe, and still not be known beyond their immediate work and social circle. Used to be we were much more of a community in that we all knew each other or at least knew of each other. Wolfe's assault on Mrs. Knight, a grandmother, could easily have killed her. We assume the DA will prosecute Wolfe for the full felony assault he's charged with, and not some kind of plea deal where the charge is reduced to misdemeanor battery.

AS OF PRESS TIME, Wolfe was still confined at the Mendocino County Jail on $30,000 bail. His book photo has not been posted on the Sheriff's website.

RECOMMENDED READING: "Slave to the Vine" by Darren Delmore, a frequent contributor to this newspaper. Young Mr. D has toiled in both branches of Mendocino County's thriving intoxicant industries, wine and marijuana. Available from your local bookstore and, of course, the Amazon octopus.

AS BERNIE goes over to Hillary and establishes himself as one of our doomed country's more spectacular sell-outs, there's nothing left to say other than we predicted The Bern's capitulation when he first announced, declaring he had every intention of remaining inside the party of endless war and Wall Street. He told us up front he'd go over to Rodan. Serious people will now go all out for Jill Stein, the Green Party candidate while, locally, Mendolib goes all out for Hillary, complete with the ancient lib lab keening that the other guy is worse and, for god's sake, think of the Supreme Court! It's all too awful to contemplate and, around here, where some of my best friends are Mendolibs, and who you could probably trust to babysit the kids — uh, check that — trust to babysit the kids so long as the kids don't include teenage girls.

I WROTE TO KZYX's station manager, the besieged Lorraine Dechter, to volunteer myself as the audio antidote to the hours of Democrat propaganda the station dependably donates to Mendolib at election time. Ms. D said she'd keep me in mind, but I doubt if the libs would stand for it. They'll go for the usual usuals droning on about the necessity of Hillary and how "exciting" — liberals exist on a current of perpetual excitement — they are that at last "we" have a woman running for president and so, not mentioning and probably not caring that Hillary is an ongoing disaster, gender being far more important, you see, than melting polar ice caps and drone assaults on whole families of Arabs. It's an ugly time, and boy o boy o do we have the candidates to match.

TO REDUCE at least a little of the torrent of insults we unleash on State Senator McGuire every week, the fresh-faced little rascal actually tried to do some specific good recently via a failed bill that would slow down the wholesale use of drugs to cool out foster children who, as we know, otherwise have no defenders. McGuire notes that in 2014-15 "more than 8,000 complaints were advanced to California's Medical Board about over-prescribing of medications, but not one complaint came from the California foster care system."

THE TRANSFORMATION of Point Arena's Sea Shell Inn is downright jaw-dropping. What was recently a fog belt sin center — tweeters, twackers, clackers, hookers, and shmookers — is now The Wildflower Boutique Motel! If the walls of this place could talk……

www.wildflowermotel.com

EARLY SUNDAY MORNING, I was trying to get at the pastry cabinet in a fancy-schmancy store in Fairfax called the Good Earth. (Strike One!)

Anything with “earth” in the title is presumed, especially in Marin County, to be a repository of everything correct, and from the Moonie-like smiles pasted on staff pusses and many customers you're immediately aware you've entered a kind of alternate universe. Myself, I get a definite apocalyptic vibe at Good Earth. It's simply too-too, if you get my drift, one of those stores where everything on the mag rack is aimed at stone narcissists, and many of the customers look way too pleased with themselves, oblivious that outside in all directions a violent tide is rising. And the prices are double Safeway's on most items.

Marin is home to lots of rich people, but they aren't good at it. Being rich, I mean. There's no detectable noblesse, less oblige. But the bread at Good Earth is super, and I'm a bread guy. Ordinarily, I grab my loaf, a cookie and I get out, always feeling like I've somehow escaped from a faintly sinister third dimension. (Reader recommendation: Henry Miller's essay on bread is the definitive work on the subject.) The cookie cabinet at Good Earth is a busy venue. Not only are the cookies behind its glass doors, and I can tell you right here that the oatmeal jobs at Good Earth are nowhere as good or as all-round satisfying as the oatmeal cookies at the Yorkville Market. But at Good Earth the cookies and the wan croissants and the bland bagels, are all contained in this big, glass case.

But there's only this one access point, and Sunday morning there's this draw-string pants guy in the way of access. He's on his cell phone directly in front of the cabinet doors. There's me and four other people piled up behind him. Not to single out the draw string pants people, although in Marin they're so prevalent it's like all of them are in uniform, but this guy was draw string pants-plus. He was also wearing about five pounds of beads — oops, ethnic beads and a tattoo in Chinese characters on his tanned little arm and some kind of froo froo sleeveless jacket that would get him assaulted in Covelo. He was trying to explain to the idiot on the other end of his phone line that, "I don't know which one has less butter, sweetie; they aren't marked. Maybe you should go for the bagel." This conversation went on. And on, as he speculated as to the ingredients of the different items in what is essentially a great big cookie jar. I finally tapped him on the shoulder. "Excuse me," I said. "Can I get in here?" Draw String, without turning around, holds up an imperious forefinger in a "Just Wait! I'm Busy Here" manner and goes on talking pastry ingredients with the screwball at the other end of his phone. And he's still blocking access. I turn to look at the other people in line. One shrugs his shoulders. The rest look resigned. I guess they're accustomed to this kind of casual rudeness in this store, clearly an oasis of the self-obsessed. Restraining an impulse to simply heave this arrogant little prick out of my path, I managed to get shoulder-to-shoulder with him and kind of bulk him sideways and outta the way. He just went on talking into his phone about cookie ingredients, although I confess I'd bulked him emphatically. It was like if he brought home the wrong item he'd get killed.

SUSTAINABLE GROUNDWATER MANAGEMENT ACT (SGMA) PUBLIC MEETING ON LOCAL PLANNING EFFORTS

On Thursday, July 14, 2016, Mendocino County officials and other local groundwater managers will host a public meeting on the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA). SGMA is a new law that offers local opportunities to achieve sustainable groundwater conditions and support Mendocino County’s vital agricultural economy, industry, and domestic and public water uses.

Topics will include Groundwater Sustainability Agency (GSA) options for the Ukiah Valley Basin and steps towards forming a GSA. The public is encouraged to attend to learn more about SGMA and ask questions of local water managers and submit comments.

“SGMA implementation has begun throughout California,” says Supervisor Carre Brown. “We hope groundwater users throughout Mendocino County will attend to learn more. SGMA is an important change in how groundwater is managed and everyone needs to be aware and involved to manage and sustain our precious water resources.”

To support local planning efforts, the County has secured facilitation support from the Department of Water Resources (DWR), hosted workshops to educate the community on SGMA and received a groundwater planning grant through the Water Bond. The County is committed to sharing these resources with local SGMA partners.

The Mendocino County Water Agency SGMA workshop will be held at the County of Mendocino Administration Center in the Agriculture Building, 890 N. Bush Street in Ukiah. The discussion will begin at 1:00 p.m. This meeting will be open to the public. Stakeholders and all interested parties are encouraged to attend.

For more information, please contact Sarah Dukett at the Mendocino County Executive Office at (707) 463-4441 or duketts@co.mendocino.ca.us.

Carmel J. Angelo

Chief Executive Officer

TOO MANY WINERIES

Should Sonoma County limit new wineries and tasting rooms, including those seeking to double as event centers?

http://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/5815321-181/sonoma-county-winery-development-at

NAVARRO POINT STEWARDING this Wednesday, 10am-noon You are invited to join us to remove thistles at Navarro Point this coming Wednesday, July 13th, from 10am until noon. You can find us in the parking lot on the west side of Highway 1 a little south of the Navarro Ridge Road turn-off. No tools or previous experience are necessary. We hope to see you there this Wednesday at 10am. This coastal headland is a stunningly beautiful place to be outside. Contact me if you have questions.

Tom, 937-1113, tw@mcn.org

CATCH OF THE DAY, July 12, 2016

KYLE COLEMAN, Upper Lake/Ukiah. DUI.

STACEY EMERY, Clearlake/Ukiah. Failure to appear.

CHRISTOPHER GEURTS, Willits. Receiving stolen property, conspiracy

MICHAEL GULARTE, Willits. Probation revocation.

JAY JACKSON, Ukiah. Failure to appear.

CHRISTOPHER JAMES, Ukiah. Failure to appear.

JACKIE MONTIETH, Fort Bragg. Possession of honey oil, resisting, probation revocation.

LAMARK PEOPLES, Willits. Vehicle theft.

BOBBY SOSSAMAN, Willits. Probation revocation.

MANUEL TURCHAN II, Forestville/Santa Rosa. Arson, probation revocation.

JOHN WOLFE, Navarro. Battery with serious injury.

BAD ADVICE

Editor:

Modern civilization in general and Marin County more particularly is screwed up with drugs, legal, illegal, semi-legal. In a recent cover story in the San Francisco Chronicle called "Healing Minds: Recognition of MDMA's Therapeutic Value Grows," we have some stoned "therapists" and some 25-year-old Internet multimillionaires supporting the proposition that psychedelics are a valid treatment for depression, PTSD, or any other mental illness. No science at all. Who needs science when we have the babblings of a bunch of dopers, right? Coolness supplants science?

Forthcoming FDA approvals? Big deal! Keep in mind that every drug taken off the market for injuring and killing thousands, every drug you see in the malpractice lawyer ads on TV, was once approved by the FDA. One of the most memorable lines I remember from chiropractic college? "The wonder drug of today will be the blunder drug up tomorrow."

It's now estimated that one in eight Americans are on selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) (antidepressants like Prozac, Paxil, Lexapro), and one in four among women in their 40s and 50s. Suicides are way up, especially in young people taking these SSRIs. Marijuana, on the verge of becoming totally legal, is far stronger than the weed of the 60s causing all kinds of problems up to and including psychotic breakdowns. SSRIs, even antipsychotics, are being given to very young children. Madness!

Some time ago my wife was in a consignment shop in Mill Valley ("Pill Valley?"). A woman came in and asked aloud if anyone had a Xanax. Every woman in the shop except for my wife dove into her bag searching for the magic pill. We need more? Psychedelics? How many people had already been badly damaged by psychedelics, from magic mushrooms on?

Head problems? Adding drugs to your delicate complicated brain with its dozens of neurotransmitters, innumerable reactions and connections unknown, cannot fix mental illness. Your mind is in your brain. Your brain is contiguous with the rest of the nervous system. An interference/distortion of the nervous system due to spinal injuries, healed wrong, may impact the brain and indeed the mind. Correction of these interferences should be first!

In the early part of the 20th century there were chiropractic sanatoriums. Adjustments were given instead of drugs, lobotomies, straitjackets and all the other weird medical things. 63% came out functional versus 5% from the medical facilities. Over my years of practice I've seen so many who have been able to dump their psychotic drugs under chiropractic care and lead drug-free, happier, healthier lives.

Don Harte, Doctor of Chiropractic

Marin

IT’S OBVIOUS that Hillary wanted to keep some information from the public finding out. The information that she wanted to keep from the public probably didn’t concern national security so much as her own private dealings. Nobody, I think, in American history has merged their public service as secretary of state or president with their private gains to the extent that Hillary really has. And by that I mean the Clinton Foundation.

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

A lot can happen over the next four months.

As of now, 56% of those polled by ABC believe Hillary Clinton should have been indicted by the FBI:

abcnews.go.com/Politics/majority-disapproves-decision-charge-clinton-emails-poll/story?id=40445344

And now Chaffetz is issuing a referral to the FBI regarding Hillary Clinton committing perjury before the Benghazi committee.

There is a very good possibility Comey will get her for that prior to the election on November 8th. And Obama “pardoning” her will not help her cause.

On the eve of that election I do not believe the American voters will be in the mood to elect a pathological liar as President of the United States.

Right now folks I talk to are completely disgusted with Sanders, and after he campaigns with Clinton and formally endorses her in New Hampshire tomorrow there will be a collective barfing sound heard coast to coast by his supporters.

Most Sanders supporters I talk to are registering with the Green Party and are going to vote for Jill Stein. Some are even going to vote for Trump as a giant FU to Clinton.

We are all in for lots of surprises leading up to November 8th.

LIT & SPUTTERING

by James Kunstler

You can see where the trajectory of events is leading. The country will be distracted by racial strife this summer while the global banking system implodes, disabling trade relations and the super-long supply chains we depend on for all common goods from oil to fresh food. Unless the remnants of the Republican Party act responsibly and find a way to replace Trump with a capable candidate, the nation will get what it deserves: a clown in the white house at the climax of the Fourth Turning.

The racial events of recent days resonate in a fog of cognitive dissonance. What really happened in those two incidents involving Philando Castile in Falcon Heights, Minnesota, and Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge Louisiana? Too many people pretend to know exactly why these two men were shot by cops. The video recordings of the incidents are ambiguous. In the Castile case, the recording doesn’t start until just after the deed is done.

Given the universal hyper-awareness of the current mood around the country, I doubt that policemen would throw away their livelihoods for a few thrilling seconds of malice. They know exactly what happens after the gun comes out: suspension, investigation, end-of-career, possibly civil prosecution, lawyers and more lawyers, a special hell of lawyers, and no way to make a living in the meantime. In a word: ruin.

These two incidents were followed by the shootings in Dallas by one Micah Johnson of twelve cops, five of whom died. That matter was not so ambiguous. The authorities quickly determined what happened and why. It is likely to lead to more assassinations and bushwhackings of police because a peculiar social mechanism gives people permission to re-enact atrocities once certain lines are crossed. We saw that in the political assassinations that commenced in the 1960s. The Jihadi beheadings and other monstrosities work similarly.

The possibilities for mayhem around the upcoming party conventions (Philadelphia and Cleveland) now look much darker than just a few weeks ago. Hillary took advantage of last week’s racial strife to deflect the blows she took from FBI Director James Comey in his public remarks about Hillary’s email problem. She went into full pander mode, blaming “white privilege” for the recent enormities involving guns and police. Of course, that will only fuel the “narrative” that whites are wholly responsible for black dysfunction, a false story that will lead to more conflict.

The legal spectacle surrounding Hillary and the FBI left many thoughtful Americans scratching their heads. The most superficial angle was how FBI Director Comey let Hillary off the hook because her “extremely careless” actions involving the email server did not include any “intent” to break the laws. The trouble is, the federal statutes pertaining to the case do not require any evidence of intent; the actions alone are enough to warrant a criminal referral. Mr. Comey skated over this matter. One cute theory circulating is that he didn’t dare to alter history by setting in motion events that would elevate Trump to power. Who knows…?

Much more remains to be seen in the Hillary email matter, because the real issue is not whether she maintained a private email server against regulations but whether she used that email server to stuff the bank account of the Clinton Foundation with money grifted while serving as Secretary of State. You can be sure we have not heard the end of that issue, and beyond that are the questions surrounding her gigantic speaking fees from Too-Big-Too-Fail banks, the texts of which she has resolutely refused to publically disclose.

This latter issue will become increasingly of interest to voters this summer and fall as trouble in the European banks provokes a contagion of banking failures that will thunder around the planet and begin to cause very serious practical problems for daily life in all the so-called advanced economies. Nobody in and around power in America these days is equipped to manage this epochal calamity, especially while we stumble and blunder our way into race war.

(Support Kunstler’s writing by visiting Jim’s Patreon Page! It’s Out! World Made By Hand. Fourth & Final)

HUMCO SETTLES WITH HUMMAP ON POT LAWSUIT

by Daniel Mintz

A small-scale marijuana farming group’s lawsuit challenging the county’s commercial marijuana production ordinance has been settled and includes a $35,000 payment for the group’s legal fees.

But the chair of the county’s Board of Supervisors believes the settlement doesn’t change anything because its main aspect – a commitment to re-do the ordinance under a full Environmental Impact Report (EIR) – was promised before the legal action was taken.

The Humboldt-Mendocino Marijuana Advocacy Project (HUMMAP) filed a lawsuit against the county on Feb. 26, alleging that the ordinance doesn’t comply with the California Environmental Quality Act.

Announced following a closed session approval at the July 5 Board of Supervisors meeting, the settlement makes formal the county’s previously-stated intent to do an EIR for a new version of the ordinance.

It also clarifies the ordinance’s noise restrictions and defines carbon credits as being certified by the California Air Resources Board or other state-level regulatory agencies.

A HUMMAP press release states that a “list of minor and technical amendments to the ordinance” was also agreed upon.

“Many of the small flaws were spotted by HUMMAP,” the release states. “These flaws attest to the rush with which the ordinance was initially considered.”

The release also states that the county has agreed to not accept permit applications past the ordinance’s Dec. 31 deadline unless a full EIR is done.

An EIR process was promised as the ordinance was being developed and work on it began shortly after the ordinance was approved. The full environmental review will address a variety of concerns and include a more thorough analysis of the ordinance’s most controversial aspect – its permitting structure and the grow sizes within it.

Under the ordinance, production of commercial medical marijuana is governed under three permitting categories, with the most streamlined permit – a non-discretionary ministerial permit, which doesn’t require public hearings or noticing of neighbors – applied to operations that conform to certain grow area size, parcel size and zoning conditions.

HUMMAP opposes ministerial permits for grow areas that exceed 3,000 square feet. In an interview, Robert Sutherland, one of the group’s founding members, said that issue is “one of many that will be looked at closely and hopefully there will be some informed input on whether that’s a good idea or a bad idea.”

He added, “I think we know what the big trade groups are going to say but what we want to know is what the (California) Department of Fish and Wildlife and the other wildlife agencies are going to say.”

Sutherland said HUMMAP “felt the environmental groups kind of sold out on the ordinance” and “we are very anxious that they make a responsible showing once the EIR comes around.”

Board of Supervisors Chair Mark Lovelace described the settlement as being ineffectual. “The only significant achievement of this lawsuit is that the county’s out $35,000,” he said. “It does not change anything that the county’s doing – all the agreements in the settlement are things that the county was already intending to do, or bound to do, or had already taken steps to do before they even filed the lawsuit … and it cost us $35,000 to get there.”

Asked why the settlement and the legal fee payout were agreed to, Lovelace said protracting the legal process would have been more expensive than settling the case at this point.

He agrees that marijuana production has intense impacts but he said those effects have been longstanding. The ordinance was put in place under a tight timeframe in order to “reduce the harm that’s already happening, for this year – for this year’s cultivation cycle,” he continued.

Since the ordinance took effect in late February, about 70 commercial marijuana permit applications have been filed. “By having this in place, we have reduced the harm,” Lovelace said. “Even if it’s a small subset of the growers that are out there, these are folks that would not have been regulated in the past and would not have met these conditions if we did not have this ordinance in place.”

Sutherland views the upcoming EIR process as a means of limiting what he described as “the Sonoma-ization of Humboldt County” through marijuana production allowances.

“And just as Sonoma County was eventually, over time, totally destroyed as a natural environment, that can happen here and we’d like to see some foresight applied,” he said.

Asked about the county’s payment of $35,000 for HUMMAP’s legal fees, Sutherland said the award probably doesn’t fully cover all the group’s expenses.

He believes the ultimate outcome of the county’s marijuana regulation process will define overall quality of life and the fate of the environment. “This is a really huge issue and it’s very important to be looking at it closely – we stand on the threshold of destroying or saving our county,” said Sutherland.

Lovelace said preparation of an EIR has begun and a project description has been completed. He expects that public scoping hearings on a draft EIR will begin sometime this fall.

OFF THE GRID IN (URBAN) MONTANA

by Ed Kemmick

Walking up to his new house a few blocks from downtown Billings, Montana Randy Hafer apologizes for the tall weeds in the dirt surrounding the home.

“The focus has not been on the outside of the house,” he says.

That’s understandable. On the inside, the house is so advanced that there is nothing like it in Montana, and not many like it in the whole country.

Hafer calls it the “Urban Frontier House,” designed to be entirely off the grid, meaning it will use no more water or energy than it is able to generate on-site. There are plenty of off-the-grid houses in the hinterlands of Montana, but this will be the first in an urban setting, and with all the comforts of a typical home.

And so perhaps it’s no surprise, either, that Hafer and his wife, Janna, were moving the last of their furniture into the house on Thursday, more than a year behind schedule.

“As we expected,” Randy Hafer said, “there are some bugs to work out.” Many of those bugs stem from the fact that “nothing in here was familiar to anybody,” Hafer said, necessitating no end of tinkering, figuring and creative problem-solving, all of which were time-consuming.

Other delays have been related to Hafer’s quest for certification through three different programs. For starters he wants to achieve LEED Platinum status for the house, meaning it would have to meet the highest standards set by the U.S. Green Building Council.

He also wants to be certified by the Passive House Institute and to meet the Living Building Challenge, which would earn the house certification from the International Living Future Institute in Seattle.

That last one has the most rigorous standards. If you don’t meet certain LEED standards, you are docked points. If you don’t meet all the standards set for the Living Building Challenge, you don’t receive certification.

And the most difficult part of that challenge has been finding the proper building materials.

“Trying to source materials that don’t have toxic crap in them? That’s hard,” Hafer said, but it is absolutely mandatory.

All the new lumber had to be approved by the Forest Stewardship Council, and it had to be obtained from as nearby as possible. In cases where such lumber can’t be used or is unavailable, salvaged wood is acceptable.

Hafer, the owner with Janna of High Plains Architects, used a combination of FSC lumber and salvaged materials. Some of the wooden support columns were salvaged from the old Cobb Field ballpark in Billings, and many of the doors are from the Oliver Building at North Broadway and First Avenue North.

Several big beams came from the demolition of a grade school in Lame Deer, which just happened to be the right dimensions, and which were available in almost exactly the right quantity.

“So, we had some things go our way,” he said.

Likewise, a friend on the Hi-Line gave the Hafers some barn wood that was used for flooring in the master bedroom and a bedroom across the hall—again in almost exactly the right quantity. Some corral boards from the same Hi-Line farm became stairs.

The “wall of many colors” in the living room and an adjoining hallway had been shelving in a downtown building. Because the pieces were in such a variety of sizes that joints could never be made to match, the pieces were laid in as if part of a puzzle, then painted with all the different colors left over from painting other parts of the house.

With 2,400 square feet of living space, the house will be heated and cooled passively, ventilated in the summer by opening windows and solar-powered skylights, assisted by large, completely noiseless bamboo ceiling fans.

In the winter, fresh, warm air will flow through the house after being heated by the sun in the 300-square-foot garden room that sits between the house and the two-car garage. Circulation will be aided by a heat-recovery ventilator.

Power is generated by a 2.2-kilowatt solar array and a vertical-axis wind turbine on the corner of the property. Heating and cooling are efficient and require few inputs because the house sits inside a super-insulated envelope of overlapping structural insulated panels.

The house is also equipped with its own DC microgrid that powers all-LED lighting as well as some equipment and appliances. The Hafers plan to stay connected to the city power grid for a year, to make sure their calculations are accurate and the house produces enough electricity.

All the Hafers’ water will come from rainwater collected off the roof and stored in six 1,500-gallon tanks in the basement. Gray water—from sinks and appliances—will be stored in tanks totaling 1,500 gallons and will be used for irrigation, clothes washing, toilet flushing and dish washing.

Toilet waste will be processed in a huge composter in the basement.

Meanwhile, High Plains Architects is working with students at Rocky Mountain College to design and install sensors—some of them already in place—that will monitor air quality, temperatures, humidity and levels of carbon dioxide, as well as water and energy performance.

Eventually, Hafer said, it will be possible to make the entire system automatically responsive to the needs of the occupants and to outdoor weather conditions. Insulated blinds, for instance, could be automatically raised or lowered to retain heat in the winter or keep hot air out in the summer.

There has been almost no construction waste besides scrap lumber, which Hafer will burn in a backyard fire pit.

Hafer said he has worked on the house after work and on weekends, almost every day since November, joined on most of those days by Janna. He said there have been more than a few nights when they would knock off at 11 p.m. and finally have dinner together.

They had their first official family gathering on July 4. It is possible that by next July 4 the house will celebrate its independence from all outside utilities.

(More information: For a more detailed look at the house, and the process of building it, go to the High Plains Architecture blog. This piece first appeared in Last Best News. (Ed Kemmick lives in Billings, Montana and edits LastBestNews.com. Courtesy, CounterPunch.org)

UPCOMING EVENTS HAPPENING AT THE UKIAH LIBRARY.

www.mendolibrary.org

SACRAMENTO ACTIVISTS HOLD VIGIL TO REMEMBER 47 KILLED IN LAC-MÉGANTIC

by Dan Bacher

On July 6, over 30 activists in Sacramento held a vigil memorializing the 47 people killed in Canada in the Lac-Mégantic Disaster three years ago.

They began the vigil at 6 p.m. at the Florin Light Rail station, located next to the track that leads to the Kern County oil refineries. After the Raging Grannies opened the event by singing songs opposing oil drilling and fracking, the Sacramento Oil Trains Coalition read the names of the people killed in Lac-Mégantic.

The vigil took place in the capital of the third biggest oil state in the nation, where the Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA) is headquartered. WSPA, the oil industry trade association for the Western states, is the largest and most powerful corporate lobby in Sacramento. Kern County produces the majority of oil obtained from fracking, acidizing and steam injection operations in California.

The Sacramento rally and vigil was one of over 40 actions the same week across the U.S. demanding a halt to plans to run these explosive “bomb trains,” carrying fracked Bakken crude oil from South Dakota, through cities.

"We do not want these dangerous oil trains rolling through the communities of Sacramento, but that is exactly what the oil industry wants - to bring 100 car-long trains though our city, near our schools, home and businesses more than a day," said Chris Brown, action coordinator.

The Sacramento Oil Trains Coalition, including 350 Sacramento, ANSWER, Sac Activist School, and STAND, organized the event.

Valerie Williams of the Coalition and Ellen Cochrane, Sacramento City Unified School Board Member, spoke at the event about the dangers of oil trains.

“I was amazed when I first found out that there would be oil trains coming right through our backyard,” said Valerie Williams, a South Sacramento homeowner and student at California State University Sacramento (CSUS). “This is not only where we live, but it’s where we go to school and go to work. Our kids are already exposed to too much air pollution from toxic emissions; oil trains are the last thing we need here.”

Over 13,000 students in 17 schools are located in the blast zones of the oil trains, according to Williams. She noted that both Sacramento City College and CSUS are located within the blast zones.

Railroad cars filled with crude oil have been moving through Sacramento over the past several years as they head south to a transfer stations outside Bakersfield and west to refineries in Richmond. Williams said her husband had recently witnessed a train with 30 cars carrying crude oil move through Sacramento.

The Valero Refining Company, a subsidiary of the San Antonio-based Valero Energy Corporation, has applied to run two trains daily through Sacramento to its plant in Benicia. The Benicia City Planning Commission rejected Valero’s request this February, but the company has appealed the decision.

Forty-seven people died when a 74-car train carrying Bakken Formation crude oil derailed and destroyed a Canadian town, Lac-Mégantic in Quebec, three years ago. All but three of the 39 remaining downtown buildings are to be demolished due to petroleum contamination, according to Brown.

“Bakken crude, a fracked oil from South Dakota, is very volatile,” said Brown. “Derailments have led to massive explosions - more than 15 in the past two years, including one in the Columbia River Gorge at the beginning of June.”

Both the oil industry and Union Pacific claim that the oil trains are safe. Justin Jacobs, a spokesperson for Union Pacific, told Fox 40 News, "Our safety and statistics specifically with crude oil has a 99.9% of the time making it from its origination to its destination without incident.” (fox40.com/...)

However, activists cite the disasters in Lac-Mégantic, the Columbia River Gorge and elsewhere as evidence that allowing the oil trains to pass through Sacramento and other communities is an unacceptable risk — and they vowed to keep fighting to stop these trains.

“With backyards right next to the tracks, communities such as South Sacramento have some of the highest asthma rates in the region, from train engine fumes, and are now being subjected to this unjust risk,” said Brown.

“We can stop these oil trains if we organize and get people involved,” said Esteban Hernandez of the Sac Activist School. “We can win this battle.”

Governor Brown in talks with Big Oil over carbon trading program

Jerry Brown, while portraying himself as a “climate leader” and “green governor” at climate conferences and other photo opportunities, is a big supporter of the expansion of fracking for crude oil, the same type of highly explosive oil that the “bomb trains” are transporting. He is also a big promoter of widely-contested carbon trading programs.

As protests against oil trains took place in Sacramento and across the nation, oil industry leaders, led by Catherine Reheis-Boyd, the President of the Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA), were talking with Brown administration officials In “hopes of reaching a consensus on extending California landmark climate change programs, according to LA Times reporters Chris Megerian and Melanie Mason. (touch.latimes.com/...)

Reheis-Boyd, the former chair of the controversial Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative Blue Ribbon Task Force to create so-called “marine protected areas” in Southern California, told the Los Angeles Times that the industry is engaged in “ongoing talks with the administration to improve the state’s current climate change programs.”

“The behind-the-scenes conversations come at a time when Brown is searching for the best way to safeguard the cap-and-trade program, which requires companies to purchase permits in order to pollute and serves as the centerpiece of California’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” the Times said.

Indigenous and grassroots environmental and anti-corporate organizations throughout the world strongly oppose these “permits to pollute” and REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) programs that drive Governor Brown’s “climate change” and “green energy” policies.

At the end of his keynote address at the World Climate Summit in Paris on Tuesday, December 8, 2015, Indigenous leaders heckled Governor Jerry Brown, challenging him on his support of controversial carbon trading polices that represent “a new form of colonialism” that could potentially cause genocide. (www.eastcountymagazine.org/...)

Brown had just finished his remarks when Penny Opal Plant of Idle No More stood up and shouted, “Richmond, California says no to REDD and no to evacuating indigenous people from their forests. NO REDD!” Indigenous leaders and environmental activists in the room around her joined her in yelling, "NO REDD!"

"REDD is a carbon offset mechanism which privatizes the air that we breathe and uses forests, agriculture and water ecosystems in the Global South as sponges for industrialized countries pollution, instead of cutting emissions at source,"summed up Tom Goldtooth, Executive Director of the Indigenous Environmental Network. "REDD brings trees, soil, and nature into a commodity trading system that may result in the largest land grab in history. It steals your future, lets polluters off the hook and is a new form of colonialism. NO to Privatization of Nature!”

MARCIA BALL TO PLAY FOURTH CONCERT OF 2016 25^TH ANNIVERSARY SUNDAYS IN THE PARK CONCERTS SUNDAY JULY 24th

Ukiah, CA. -On Sunday, July 24th in Todd Grove Park at 6:00pm Fowler Auto & Truck Center, The City of Ukiah, KWNE-FM and MAX 93.5 are proud to present the fourth concert of the 25th Anniversary Sundays in the Park concert series featuring Texas Roadhouse Boogie-Woogie Living Legend Marcia Ball. Singer songwriter Aliyah Malicay will be performing during intermission.

“Marcia Ball’s rollicking roadhouse rave-ups and soulful Gulf Coast R&B, her barrelhouse playing and her feel-good party tunes are iconic” states USA Today.

The Texas-born, Louisiana-raised musical storyteller has earned worldwide fame for her ability to ignite a full-scale roadhouse rhythm and blues party every time she strolls onto the stage. Her groove-laden New Orleans boogie, deeply soulful ballads and rollicking Gulf Coast blues have made her a one-of-a-kind favorite with music fans all over the world.

In 2010, she was inducted into the Gulf Coast Hall Of Fame and in 2012 into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame. She’s received a total of six Living Blues Awards and nine Blues Music Awards (and has a whopping 42 nominations). She’s received five Grammy Award nominations, including five of her six previous Alligator albums.

Her songs paint vibrant musical pictures richly detailed with characters, flavors and scenes straight out of Louisiana, Texas and the Gulf Coast. From the poignant Just Keep Holding On to the fresh start of Clean My House to the surprising and timely The Squeeze Is On to the southern warmth of Human Kindness, Ball has delivered a set of songs so well written and so well performed, she’ll astound and delight her longtime fans and give newcomers plenty of reasons to join the party.

After a solo LP for Capitol and a successful series of releases on Rounder, Ball joined the Alligator Records family in 2001 with the release of the critically acclaimed Presumed Innocent. The CD took home the 2002 Blues Music Award for Blues Album Of The Year. 2004’s So Many Rivers, 2005’s Live! Down The Road, 2008’s Peace, Love & BBQ and 2010’s Roadside Attractions all received Grammy Award nominations as well as critical and popular acclaim.

Born in Orange, Texas in 1949 to a family whose female members all played piano, Ball grew up in the small town of Vinton, Louisiana, right across the border from Texas. She began taking piano lessons at age five, playing old Tin Pan Alley tunes from her grandmother’s collection. It wasn’t until she was 13 that Marcia discovered the power of soul music. One day in 1962, she sat amazed while Irma Thomas delivered the most spirited performance the young teenager had ever seen. According to Ball, “She just blew me away; she caught me totally unaware. Once I started my own band, the first stuff I was doing was Irma’s.”

In 1970, Ball set out for San Francisco. Her car broke down in Austin, and while waiting for repairs she fell in love with the city and decided to stay. It wasn’t long before she was performing in the city’s clubs with a progressive country band called Freda And The Firedogs. It was around this time that she delved deeply into the music of the great New Orleans piano players, especially Professor Longhair. “Once I found out about Professor Longhair,” recalls Ball, “I knew I had found my direction.”

Discovering and honing her own sound, she released six critically acclaimed titles on the Rounder label during the 1980s and 1990s. In 1990, Ball—collaborating with Angela Strehli and Lou Ann Barton—recorded the hugely successful Dreams Come True on the Antone’s label. At the end of 1997, Marcia finished work on a similar “three divas of the blues” project for Rounder, this time in the distinguished company of Tracy Nelson and her longtime inspiration, Irma Thomas. The CD Sing It! was released in 1998 and was nominated for a Grammy Award.

In 1999, Marcia and her band appeared in the nationally televised Public Television special In Performance At The White House along with B.B. King and Della Reese. Marcia has been featured on leading television and radio programs, including Austin City Limits and NPR’s Fresh Air and Piano Jazz. She performed in Piano Blues, the film directed by Clint Eastwood included in Martin Scorsese’s The Blues series which aired on PBS television nationwide in 2003. Marcia has also appeared The Late Show With David Letterman with The New Orleans Social Club, where she not only reached millions of people, she helped to benefit victims of Hurricane Katrina. In 2012, she had a role in the independent film Angels Sing starring Harry Connick, Jr., Lyle Lovett and Willie Nelson.

Ball has been the subject of stories in many national publications, including USA Today, Keyboard, DownBeat, Billboard, and in newspapers from coast to coast. She has twice performed on A Prairie Home Companion, appeared on World Cafe and Whad’Ya Know?, Public Radio International’s Studio 360, as well as on XM/Sirius satellite radio. Ball has been featured on the covers of The Austin Chronicle as well as Blues Revue magazine, as well as in countless lead stories in entertainment sections of publications around the country.

The New York Times says, “Marcia Ball plays two-fisted New Orleans barrelhouse piano and sings in a husky, knowing voice about all the trouble men and women can get into on the way to a good time.” Living Blues declares, “Her originals sound like timeless classics and southern soul masterpieces that no one else can imitate.”

BE THERE!

Mendocino County to Host California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) Hearing – July 15, 2016 - Board of Supervisors Chambers

On July 15, 2016, the County will be hosting a California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) Public Participation Hearing (PPH) regarding the Rural Call Completion and Dial Tone Access Proceeding. This hearing will be held in the Board of Supervisors Chambers at 501 Low Gap Road, Ukiah from 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. The Hearing will focus on recent call completion issues, including outages that compromise access to 911 services in our area.

This is a unique opportunity for Mendocino County. CPUC Commissioner Catherine J.K. Sandoval is traveling around the state to hear directly from rural citizens about their telecommunications concerns, specifically problems associated with Rural Call Completion and Dial Tone access and the inability to connect to 911. It is critically important that residents who have experienced such problems attend and provide comments to this regulatory agency. Comments from the public can help the CPUC reach an informed decision.

The County of Mendocino is encouraging all residents that have experienced call failures for whatever reason (including outages), and those public safety agencies impacted by such failures, to plan to attend this important public hearing and provide input!

For more information please contact the CPUC News & Outreach Office, (415) 703-1366 or news@cpuc.ca.gov; or Trish Steel with the Mendocino Broadband Alliance, chairman@mendocinobroadband.org.

Carmel J. Angelo, Mendocino County Chief Executive Officer

TOTAL EXPOSURE:

Family Fun at the Museum uses sun prints to create images

by Roberta Werdinger

(Note: The Grace Hudson had to reschedule their Family Fun at the Museum workshop due to construction problems. It's now set for this Saturday, July 16. I have redone the notice, but it isn't necessary to reprint the entire article, just the correction. — Roberta Werdinger)

The Grace Hudson Museum will offer a "Family Fun at the Museum" hands-on art workshop from 1 to 2:30 pm on Saturday, July 16. Cathy Monroe and Tim Easterbrook will help participants create sun prints– creative designs made by leaving objects exposed to the sun on special light-sensitive paper. The event is free with Museum admission.

The Ukiah Valley has sun in abundance during the summer season. Taking advantage of this, participants can bring natural objects like leaves or feathers that could be laid out in interesting patterns on the special paper that will leave their outlines after being exposed to the sun. Flat photographic negatives will work, too. For inspiration in creating portraits and images, registrants can view the Museum's current exhibit, She Sang Me A Good Luck Song: The California Indian Portraits of Dugan Aguilar, on view through July 31.

This workshop is recommended for children age six and older. Space is limited so reservations are recommended by calling the Museum at 467-2836. Materials are included, although participants may want to bring their own natural objects or photographic negatives.

The Grace Hudson Museum is at 431 S. Main St. in Ukiah. The Museum is open Wednesday through Saturday from 10 am to 4:30 pm, and Sunday from noon to 4:30 pm. General admission is $4; $10 per family; $3 for students and seniors; free to all on the first Friday of the month; and always free to members. For more information please go to www.gracehudsonmuseum.org or call (707) 467-2836.

SAN FRANCISCO MIME TROUPE this Wednesday in Point Arena

San Francisco Mime Troupe: Schooled

This Wednesday, July 15

Doors 7 p.m., music 7:30 p.m., show 8 p.m.

Arena Theater, 214 Main Street, P.O. Box 611, Point Arena CA 95468

Tickets: $20 general, $18 members, $10 youth (18 and under), available at Four-Eyed Frog Books and The Sea Trader in Gualala; Arena Market in Point Arena and Twist in Mendocino or online at www.arenatheater.org

$30 sponsor seats by calling the office,

707 882-3272 and online

For additional information: www.arenatheater.org

San Francisco's legendary theater company, the Tony Award-winning SF Mime Troupe, now in its 57th season will bring their new musical, "Schooled" to Arena Theater on Wednesday, July 13, at 8 p.m. Written and directed by Michael Sullivan, "Schooled" features costumes by local artist and poet Blake More.

Schooled is a musical tale that asks the questions:

Are schools the last chance for democracy, or is education the next frontier for profit?

When it comes to the real plan for the future of education - and of our democracy - are we all about to get... Schooled?

Schooled is performed in the characteristic and unique quick-change, singing & dancing, political style of the SF Mime Troupe

The San Francisco Mime Troupe creates and produces socially relevant theater; done as political satire and is anything but silent. Winner of three OBIE awards and a Tony Award for Excellence in Regional Theatre, the San Francisco Mime Troupe, creates plays that make sense out of the headlines, with close-up stories that make audiences feel the impact of political events on their personal lives. The NY Post called the Mime Troupe "America's oldest and finest street theater".

www.sfmt.org

IS THE REAL SCANDAL THE CLINTON FOUNDATION?

by Michael Hudson & Paul Jay

PAUL JAY: On Thursday morning, the mediafest and politicalfest around Hillary Clinton’s email scandal continued, as the head of the FBI, James Comey, spoke at a congressional House oversight committee. Here’s a little clip of what was said there. But let me just foreshadow–maybe the emails aren’t the real issue that should be in front of these hearings. Now, here’s the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, Jason Chaffetz, questioning James Comey and a bit of his answer.

JASON CHAFFETZ: It seems to a lot of us that the average Joe, the average American, that if they had done what you laid out in your statement, that they’d be in handcuffs. And I think there is a legitimate concern that there is a double standard. Your name isn’t Clinton, you’re not part of the powerful elite, that Lady Justice will act differently.

JAMES COMEY: I believe this investigation was conducted consistent with the highest traditions of the FBI. Our folks did it in an apolitical and professional way. There are two things that matter in a criminal investigation of a subject. And so when I look at the facts we gathered here–as I said, I see evidence of great carelessness. But I do not see evidence that is sufficient to establish that Secretary Clinton, or those with whom she was corresponding, both talked about classified information on email, and knew when they did it they were doing something that was against the law. So give that assessment of the facts and my understanding of the law, my conclusion was, and remains, no reasonable prosecutor would bring this case. No reasonable prosecutor would bring the second case in 100 years focused on gross negligence.

JAY: Now joining us from New York is Michael Hudson. Michael’s a Distinguished Research Professor of Economics at the University of Missouri, Kansas City. His latest book is Killing the Host: How Financial Parasites and Debt Bondage Destroy the Global Economy. Thanks for joining us, Michael.

MICHAEL HUDSON: Good to be back here, Paul.

JAY: First, let’s talk a little bit about what we just heard. The chairman of the House Oversight Committee says, is there a double standard here? Somebody else might be in handcuffs, and Hillary Clinton’s not being charged. I guess a lot of people are asking that question. The FBI director says this doesn’t rise to the level of criminality; it’s carelessness. I don’t know the law well enough. I’m certainly not a lawyer. But it seems to me that the deliberate, willful decision to use a private server–and some people have said one of the reasons could be to avoid Freedom of Information Act requests–and I don’t know if that rises to the level of criminality. But it’s sure wrong.

HUDSON: Well, it’s obvious that Hillary wanted to keep some information from the public finding out. The information that she wanted to keep from the public probably didn’t concern national security so much as her own private dealings. Nobody, I think, in American history has merged their public service as secretary of state or president with their private gains to the extent that Hillary really has. And by that I mean the Clinton Foundation, overall.

Here’s the problem, you can imagine. She’s going to Saudi Arabia, she’s going to Europe, she’s going to the Near Eastern countries. Saudi Arabia has asked her–and this is all very public–we want more arms. We want to buy arms in America. We know that Saudi Arabia is one of the major contributors to the Clinton Foundation. On the other hand, Hillary’s in a position to go to Raytheon, to Boeing, and say look, do I have a customer for you. Saudi Arabia would love to buy your arms. Maybe we can arrange something. I’m going to do my best. By the way, you know, my foundation is–you know, I’m a public-spirited person and I’m trying to help the world. Would you like to make a contribution to my foundation?

Well, lo and behold, the military-industrial complex is one of the big contributors to the Clinton Foundation, as is Saudi Arabia, and many of the parties who are directly affected by her decisions. Now, my guess is what she didn’t want people to find out, whether on Freedom of Information Act or others, are the lobbying she’s doing for her own foundation, which in a way means her wealth, her husband’s wealth, Bill Clinton’s wealth, and the power that both of them have by getting a quarter billion dollars of grants into the foundation during her secretary of state.

JAY: As far as we know, there’s no direct evidence that she did precisely what you’re saying. And that they actually say–“Give money to the foundation; I will facilitate such-and-such a contract.” There’s no evidence of that, correct?

HUDSON: That’s right. And partly there’s no evidence because her private emails are not subject to [inaud.]. They’re not subject to finding out this. We don’t have any evidence one way or the other. So certainly there is no evidence. There is only the appearance of what looks to me to be an inherent conflict of interest with the foundation.

JAY: And there’s no direct evidence that any abnormal amount of money has gone to Bill Clinton, in terms of fees and expenses. One can assume he’s well-compensated. But it does have charitable status, it has to file a 990. They are under charitable law regulations, and so far I don’t know of any reporting that says that they have violated the law.

HUDSON: You’re right. The advantage of being under charitable law is it’s in a foundation that–you can look at it in effect as your savings account. And you can treat it–you can do with a foundation whatever you want.

Now, if you or I had a quarter billion dollars, what we’d want to do is influence policy. Influence the world. Well, that’s what they want to do. They want to use the foundation to support policies that they want. And here we’re not dealing with unexplained enrichment. This isn’t money that comes into them that goes into an offshore account in Switzerland or the Cayman Islands. It’s hidden in plain sight. It’s all the foundation. It’s tax-exempt. It’s legitimate. So she’s somehow been able to legitimize a conflict of interest, and what that used to be called corruption in office. Or at least the appearance of what could be corruption in office.

And the fact is, that is what there has been a blacked-out screen painted over it, and we don’t have any idea what she’s been saying to these affected parties that not only has she been dealing with, the secretary of state, but it turned out to be major contributors to her and Bill’s foundation.

JAY: Now, the reason the emails rose to such prominence is because it was the potential of criminal charges. That seems to have ended now. The Clinton foundation certainly has been reported upon in various places in the mainstream press. It never rose to the same level of attention as the emails. But why do you think that is? Because you think there’s enough fodder there that that could have been quite a media fest. Feast, I should say.

HUDSON: Well, there’s no direct link between the foundation that says it’s existing to promote various social purposes, and Hillary’s actions as secretary of state. But there’s such overlap there. I can’t think of any public official at cabinet level or above, in memory who’s ever had an overlapping between a foundation that they had and had control, personally, and their public job. So there’s never been so great a blurring of categories.

JAY: So why isn’t this a bigger issue in the media? Corporate media?

HUDSON: I think the media are supporting Hillary. And that’s a good question. Why are they supporting her so much with all of this? Why aren’t they raising this seemingly obvious thing? I think the media want two things that Hillary wants. They want the trade agreements to essentially turn over policy to, trade policy to corporations, and regulatory policy to–.

JAY: You’re talking about TTIP and TTP.

HUDSON: They’re neocons. They’re the agreement of politics. If the media agree with her politics and says, okay, we want to back her because she’s backing the kind of world we want, a neocon world, a neoliberal world, then they’re going to say, this is wonderful. We can now distract attention onto did she leak a national secret. Well, the secrets that are really important aren’t the national classification secrets. They’re the personal, personal, the big-picture secrets. And it’s the big picture we don’t have a clue of as a result of all of these erasures.

(This is a transcript of an interview on The Real News Network. Courtesy, CounterPunch.org.)