Mendocino County Today: Sunday, Oct. 16, 2016

• Pole Tipping
• Random Statements
• Yes 61
• DA Report
• No 64
• BOS Agenda
• Flowers
• Hare Creek
• Little Dog
• Salad U
• 1939 Headlines
• Yesterday's Catch
• Stanford
• True Test
• Waiting
• The Compass
• Different Standards
• Darkness
• Cryptic Note
• Trumping
• Groping Charges
• Cleaner Power
• CPUC Survey
• Coffee Award
• Marco Radio
• Support KMEC
• Davis Resolution
• War Criminals
• Trump Seussing

PLENTY OF RAIN — perhaps another half-inch to an inch — fell on Mendo on Saturday frequently in heavy downpours, and there were some gusty winds. Another round of a similar amount is expected Sunday. But at least in Anderson Valley there were no power outages reported and the only accident during the rain was what one emergency responder guessed was probably a driver who appeared to have fallen asleep at the wheel at the south end of Boonville and ran into a power pole near Pennyroyal Farms, tipping the pole over but not downing any lines. PG&E crews had the pole righted and repaired in a matter of a few hours. No one was hurt.

RANDOM STATEMENTS OF THE OBVIOUS and other rainy day distractions:

THE TV CHUCKLE BUDDIES made the light rains and wind of the last couple of days sound like we faced serial calamities so severe Wolf Blitzer would be bouncing off the walls of CNN's "Situation Room." It rained some, and the wind blew.

MAYBE IF PG&E didn't pay its execs so much, and didn't take the Public Utilities Commission on so many fancy lunch and dinner dates, maybe they'd have the money to bury a few power lines. Boonville's been on the waiting list for at least twenty years to bury the lines, while, ahem, less happening venues like Elk, Hopland, and Gualala already have them underground.

* * *

SORRY TO SEE Chron columnist C.V. Nevius shuffle off into retirement. A good, clear writer with a purely local focus, Nevius' clearheadedness, especially on the homeless problem in San Francisco, will be sorely missed. His is one more important Frisco voice now stilled. Or at least no longer appearing in the Chron.

NEVIUS probably got out while the getting is still fiscally viable. Print is dying. The big papers can't figure out how to make on-line pay. And now that everyone has his own newspaper via blogs, Facebook, tweets, and twitters, and we can limit our info intake to people who think exactly like we do — well, every time I hear a mainstream politician talk about "bringing US together," I step into my own echo chamber where my hollow laughter resounds louder. But newspapers, as paper-papers, are just about over.

* * *

SPORTS PEOPLE, and almost everyone else, knows that pro franchises mostly play in stadiums and arenas erected for them by local taxpayers. Why people go for these ripoffs is one more mystery of American life. The Green Bay Packers are owned by the city of Green Bay, as is the stadium they play in. The town does right well from the Packers. But here we have Al Davis Jr. hoping to move the Raiders to Las Vegas whose city (and state) fathers and mothers have offered to build him a new stadium! Oakland's government being almost as unfocused and as generally feeble as Frisco's, won't be able to keep the Raiders in the Coliseum, which Oakland's long-suffering taxpayers built for them. The saps in Santa Clara are now re-thinking their commitment to the 49ers, discovering their municipally-financed stadium is not the big money maker they thought it would be.

* * *

I'VE NEVER THOUGHT the Giants manager, Bruce Bochy, was the master manager he's celebrated as. The guy's totally predictable. 9th inning, here comes the bullpen. Hundred pitches, here comes the bullpen, lefty-righty. Even if the pitcher has a no-hitter going, as has happened, here comes the bullpen on the hundredth pitch. The suicide squeeze must be a foreign concept to him because Bochy never does it. He singlehandedly lost the Cubs game. Moore had the Cubs beat, so Bochy doesn't even wait to see if Moore can get the first guy out in the 9th, and here comes Romo, and every fan in the Bay Area knew in their bones bad things were certain to happen.

* * *

THE SMART TRAIN was conceptually crazy and is proving crazier as it staggers to its frequently delayed opening, now put over until some time in 2017. Millions of public dollars wasted on a train that goes from no place to nowhere, and one "technical" problem after another. To think that two trains ran each way between Tiburon and Sausalito and Eureka every day as late as the 1950s, with a connecting line, the Skunk, running from Fort Bragg to Willits where you could catch south and northbound trains.

* * *

A FRIEND ASKS, "Who was the first openly gay major league baseball player? Answering his own question, he says, "Phillies outfielder Bill ‘Swish’ Nicholson.”

I SAID I thought Glenn Burke was the first openly gay major leaguer and, as it happens, a frequent visitor to Boonville to see a boy friend who, at the time, was Boonville's Superintendent of Schools.

FRIEND, GETTING back to Nicholson, replies, " '47-48. He was a power-hitting outfielder. The Phillies fans used to chant 'Swish' when he was taking his warm-up swings. I assume he was straight. It was an attempt at a joke, arcane and vaguely perverse."

[CORRECTION] PROP 61. YES. This baby is opposed by Big Pharma, and Big Pharma is spending a lot of money to defeat it. The drug manufacturers have gulled some Vets groups into opposing it, but nurses are for it, as is SEIU. I find nurses absolutely reliable in a political sense, and SEIU at least more trustworthy than the drug companies. Vote YES on 61, and don't even try to decode the particulars because they're confusing and contradictory. The simple fact that Big Pharma opposes even this modest drug price control measure is a good enough reason to vote for it.

(Corrected recommendation for Prop 61 from yesterday’s posted recommendations.)

ARLON LEE STRAUSS, age 31, previously of Dos Rios and the Napa area, was sentenced Friday morning to thirteen (13) years in state prison. Absent passage of proposed changes in the criminal laws on the November ballot (i.e., Prop 57), Strauss currently will be required to serve 85% of that structured sentence. Strauss was convicted of and sentenced Friday for attempted murder, mayhem, inflicting great bodily injury causing the victim to become comatose, and the use of rock as a weapon, all occurring on Halloween night 2015. After using methamphetamine, Strauss attacked a woman — who even today he still claims was his friend — without warning or provocation. Coming at her from behind, Strauss used a rock to batter her head while she was washing dishes at the kitchen sink. The attack badly injured the woman, fracturing her skull and exposing brain matter, but she miraculously escaped death with emergency and extended medical care of the doctors and nurses at Howard Hospital and Stanford, respectively. Strauss originally claimed to investigators that an unknown Indian male had inflicted the harm on the woman and that the same mystery man had also previously sexually assaulted Strauss. DNA testing revealed the defendant had the victim's blood on his socks. The prosecutor handling the case was District Attorney David Eyster. The investigating law enforcement agencies were the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office and the Department of Justice forensic laboratories in Eureka and Redding. The Superior Court judge who presided over the case from the DA's filing of formal charges through today's sentencing was the Honorable David Nelson.

— District Attorney’s Office Press Release

DENNIS PERON is opposed to Prop 64, legalization of marijuana. The legendary, Frisco-based, pioneer voice for sensible drug policy, in an interview with the Eureka Times Standard, listed his reasons for opposition. In no particular order:

1. Converts recreational use to big business rather than what Peron calls "the honesty system," i.e., meds and relaxations.
2. Peron was instrumental in getting 215 passed to prevent criminalization of AIDS patients who were getting arrested for using pot to relieve pain. 64 will make certain aspects of the drug's present status, illegal.
3. Peron thinks government regulation of marijuana would over-regulate the drug, deciding who, how, and when people could legally use it. Peron, who was shot during a police raid on his Castro District home some years ago when he was regarded by the cops as Public Enemy Number One, is rightly suspicious of government.

“People don’t realize that money is a form of tyranny. You pay them and you won’t get busted, that’s how they control people and this will force an even greater underground market to form. They made up recreational to demonize and trivialize the people who use marijuana. People who use cannabis for medicinal uses aren’t getting high, they’re getting normal from the treatment. Prop. 64 is a misrepresentation of what marijuana is primarily for, and this kind of legislation will hurt a lot of people, especially small growers and businesses who are trying to provide to their clients but can’t afford to because of the excess regulations and taxation on their products.”

4. Peron says small farmers will be replaced by a mediocre marijuana product produced by big-gro corporations. The “honor system” of selling and cultivating medical marijuana was better than a heavily regulated market.
5. “Money. It’s always money. It’s so cynical. They say they want to help us but they actually want to hurt us. For some reason, they feel like we have to pay taxes because we use marijuana, but if they increase the costs, they limit access to medication. In 1996, it was like a dark room that had been left for so long without any light. I let a little light in. A light of compassion, hope and empowerment. We empowered the patients and the voters and the people that don’t believe marijuana is a crime. But Prop. 64 will destroy that power that we’ve had for the last 20 years.”

SEVERAL INTERESTING BOARD OF SUPERVISORS ITEMS on their Tuesday, October 18, Agenda.

Three of these items need to be pulled from the consent calendar for explanation — see why below — but we doubt any of them will be.

Item 5e) “Discussion and Possible Action Regarding an Update on the Draft Medical Cannabis Cultivation Ordinance, Draft Medical Cannabis Cultivation Site Zoning Regulation California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Project Description and Initial Study

“Recommended Action: Accept update regarding the draft Medical Cannabis Cultivation Ordinance, draft Medical Cannabis Cultivation Site Zoning Regulation California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Project Description and Initial Study, and provide direction to staff if appropriate.

“Summary of Request: Staff will provide a status report to the Board of Supervisors during open session. Staff requests the Board accept the revised project description by confirming it contains the corrections and clarifications identified by the Board.”

* * *

Item 4e): Under “Approval of Recommended Appointments/Reappointments,” the Board (presumably at Supervisor Dan Hamburg’s initiation) plans to approve the appointment of Coast lawyer and former Superior Court judge candidate Patrick Pekin to the Behavioral Health (Formerly Mental Health) Advisory Board as the 5th District Representative.

* * *

Item 4p): “Adoption of Resolution Authorizing Adoption of the Classification of Assistant Clerk-Recorder/Registrar and the Abolishment of Assistant Clerk-Recorder and Assistant Registrar of Voters Classifications; Approval of Changes to the Position Allocation Table as Follows: Elections, Budget Unit 1410- Delete One (1) Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) Assistant Registrar of Voters; Add One (1) FTE Assistant Clerk-Recorder/Registrar; and Authorization for the Reclassification and Salary Adjustment of the Affected Incumbent

“Recommended Action: Adopt Resolution authorizing adoption of the classification of Assistant Clerk-Recorder/Registrar and the abolishment of Assistant Clerk-Recorder and Assistant Registrar of Voters classifications; … [and] authorize the reclassification and salary adjustment of the affected incumbent; and authorize Chair to sign same.”

(Ed note: This consent item needs to be explained. The current “incumbent” Assistant Registrar of Voters is Katrina Bartolomie. We assume this proposed promotion for Ms. Bartolomie is an early attempt by current Assessor-Clerk-Recorder Susan Ranochak to position Ms. Bartolomie as the leading candidate to replace Ms. Ranochak if/when she retires. Assessor-Clerk-Recorder is an elected position so Ms. Bartolomie’s candidate bonafides would certainly be burnished by this promotion. Given the timing of this proposal in the wake of the recent elections processing complaints and delays makes this proposed change/promotion much more significant.)

* * *

Item 4l): “Approval of Amendment to Agreement No. MH-16-002with Segal Telepsychiatry Network, in the Amount of $160,000for a New Revised Agreement Amount of $210,000 to Provide Telepsychiatry Services to Specialty Mental Health Clients in Fiscal Year 2016-17

“Recommended Action: Approve amendment to Agreement No. MH-16-002with Segal Telepsychiatry Network, in the Amount of $160,000, for a new revised agreement amount of $210,000 to provide telepsychiatry services to specialty mental health clients in fiscal year 2016-17; authorize the HHSA Director to sign any future amendments to the Agreement that do not affect the annual maximum amount; and authorize Chair to sign same.

“Summary Of Request: Health and Human Services Agency (HHSA) Behavioral Health & Recovery Services (BHRS) is mandated to provide Specialty Mental Health clients with psychiatric assessments for treatment and medication management services. The County was unable to contract with sufficient providers in the area to match the estimated need for this service. Segal Telepsychiatry Network provides telepsychiatric video services, and started providing this service to Mendocino County BHRS clients on July 18, 2016. This Amendment adds $160,000 to the initial $50,000 Agreement in order to meet client needs and also provides additional documentation related to Medi-Cal charting requirements.”

TRANSLATION/ED NOTE: Even with privatization of mental health services Mendo can’t find enough psychiatrists locally so they have to resort to expensive “doc in a box” services to provide psychiatric meds. The “estimated need” must be higher than expected. The real question here, as with the promotion of Ms. Bartolomie, is whether the Board will ask any questions about 1: the “estimated need,” and 2: what can be done to get adequate in-person psychiatry in place locally.

* * *

Item 4t): “Approval of Amendment No.2 to Agreement No B-16-013 with 4Leaf, Inc., in the Amount of $75,000 for a New Total Amount of $225,000 for Contract Building Official and On-Call Building Plan Check Services to Provide Coverage for Recently Hired Building Official

“Recommended Action: Approve amendment No. 2 to Agreement No. B-16-013 with 4Leaf, Inc., in the amount of $75,000 for a new total amount of $225,000 for contract building official and on-call building plan check services to provide coverage for newly hired Building Official; and authorize Chair to sign same.

“Summary of Request: In August 2015, the Chief Building Inspector [ChrisWarrick] retired from County service after 29 years. Since then, Planning and Building Services (PBS) has conducted three recruitments to fill the position and was unable to identify a replacement. As an interim measure, PBS contacted several private companies to provide interim building official services. 4Leaf, Inc., was the only company at the time that had a qualified person available. In January 2016, PBS entered into a contract with 4Leaf, Inc., to provide interim building official services. PBS has recently concluded a fourth recruitment for a Chief Building Official and has selected one of the candidates. During this last recruitment, a long term Building Inspector III has resigned to accept employment with another jurisdiction. Operationally amending the 4Leaf contract will allow for a transition between the contract Chief Building Official and the new Chief Building Official, and provide availability of on-call plan check services to ensure coverage for the department.”

ED NOTE: $225k for “interim building official services” via a “contract Chief Building Official” for about 15 months seems like a very expensive predicament the County and the Planning Department got itself into.

GET THOSE COMMENTS IN

Written comments about Hare Creek Center EIR project due October 19

Please send your comments about the Hare Creek Center by October 19 (last day) to Community Development Director Marie Jones <mjones@fortbragg.com> Please put "Hare Creek Center EIR" in the subject line. Please also send a copy to Bob Merrill District Manager at California Coastal Commission <bmerrill@coastal.ca.gov>

Marie Jones will forward your comments to the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) consultants.

The Hare Creek Center project in Fort Bragg consists of a 29,500 sq. ft mall with a Grocery Outlet Bargain Market as an anchor store located on the ocean side at the corner of Hwy 1 and Hwy 20 (gateway to Fort Bragg) across the Boatyard Shopping Center (also owned by the same person).

Please identify significant environmental impacts and suggest project alternatives. Please share your key environmental concerns and issues about this project. It is very important to turn in written comments by October 19 so they will be part of the public record. Many responses addressing specific environmental issues raised by the project would likely encourage the (EIR) consultants to study all the issues and produce a full, complete, and up-to-date study.

The EIR consultants have been retained to look at the environmental impacts of the proposed new project along with a few alternatives: the 2014 project submission, no project, and a smaller project. You have the right to suggest possible alternatives and request thorough, up-to-date studies of areas of concern.

Look for updates on the web page of the City of Fort Bragg https://city.fortbragg.com/486/Active-Permit-Applications

and look for updates on our web page https://www.facebook.com/citizensforappropriatecoastallanduse

If you see different dates indicating by when to turn written comments in, we want to assure you that you have time until October 19 (last day). If you have already sent in your comments and felt rushed you can send in more comments.

Thanks for speaking up,

Annemarie Weibel, Fort Bragg

LITTLE DOG LOOKS ASKANCE at the Community Services District’s ambitious $1 million Water and Sewer Project Schedule.

SALAD UNIVERSITY POSTPONED; Capture the Moon Kickstarter is on!

Due to the rain forecast, Floodgate Farm has rescheduled Salad University to a week later, Sunday October 23rd, 12:45 PM - 4:30 PM.

Wild and cultivated greens are growing back, and much of the summer salad ingredients should still be around (barring frost). In addition to health-giving and medicinal properties of the plants, and hints on growing them for abundant harvests, we will also look at some of the rainwater harvesting earthworks and tanks, and what works and doesn't work as understory plants for fruit and nut trees.

The class will end with a potluck; we provide the salad we all pick, a main dish, kimchi, olives, maybe a treat or 2, and students can bring a side dish or favorite seasonal specialty to share. The cost is $30 which includes information-packed handouts. Some seeds and cuttings will be available, free or for a donation.

The class meets at 12:45 PM Sunday October 23rd at the east side of the West Rd/Redwood Valley exit 557 off US 101. We will caravan/carpool to the mountain farm 5 miles away so if you arrive after 12:55 (not recommended however), please call 707-272-1688 for directions. The class will go to about 4:30 PM including the potluck.

Contact to preregister or for more information:

Bill Taylor and Jaye Alison Moscariello, Floodgate Farm on Heart Mountain

707-272-1688

edibleland@earthlink.net

PS. Jaye Alison Moscariello's story book Chase the Monkey is in a Kickstarter Campaign. This tale about a monkey told in gender-free language (so all can identify) helps children - and people of all ages - who have been overwhelmed with distractions and difficulties the value of looking within and tuning in to the natural world. The goal is to pay the balance of printing 500 books and sending 250 copies to inner city libraries and reading rooms. Currently the campaign is at $1,686 with $1,714 to go to the $3,500 goal before November 4th.

Details about the campaign are at

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1718280964/capture-the-moon-2

NORM DEVALL PASSES ALONG this historical item:

September 3, 1939: Newspaper, Philadelphia, PA.

The Evening Bulletin

“England and France at War with Germany”

“Churchill and Eden Join Cabinet”

“Hitler Says He’s Leaving for Front” …forecast that England would be conquered “in a matter of weeks.”

“Poison Chemical in German Bombs….”

(going through the library)

CATCH OF THE DAY, October 15, 2016

DUSTIN ALEVIZOS, Fort Bragg. DUI, evasion, misdemeanor hit&run.

RAFE BJORKLUND, Willits. Domestic assault.

MAKAYLA CROSS-STURGES, Ukiah. Under influence, controlled substance, paraphernalia, sale of meth.

JOSEPH FITCH, Fort Bragg. Probation revocation.

ERIC GARCIA, Redwood Valley. Probation revocation.

REX HASTINGS, Fort Bragg. Court order violation, probation revocation.

MICHAEL JAMES, Ukiah. Probation revocation.

RON KEYS, Ukiah. Probation revocation.

JOSEPH LITTLE, Fort Bragg. County parole violation.

WILLIAM LOCKETT, Willits. Domestic assault, witness intimidation, failure to appear.

LAWRENCE NIGHTHAWK, Mendocino. Domestic battery.

GILBERT PEDRAZA, Redwood Vallehy. DUI.

JOSELITO SALAZAR-SANCHEZ, Stockton/Calpella. Pot possession for sale.

MOISES SALAZAR-SANCHEZ, Stockton/Calpella. Pot possession for sale.

RUBEN SPAGGIARI, Willits. Failure to appear.

JOSHUA THOMAS, Sherman Oaks/Willits. Assault with deadly weapon not a gun, unauthorized use of another’s ID, controlled substance.

STANFORD. The whole thing is a giant privately owned community, like some sort of Disney World. They run the government, the police, the restaurants, the bookstores, the shopping center, the transportation, the entertainment etc. Worse yet, they track you while you use it all. Everyone gets an ID card which must be swiped to eat, visit the library, use a computer terminal, check your mail. It even has a RFID transmitter in it, so they can track us while we walk.... It's like I've woken up in some sort of libertarian nightmare world, where one company has bought up everything and now tells everyone what to do.

— Aaron Swartz

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Swartz

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

I have no idea whether “females” or “women” have loved me or not and I don’t really care. I’m older & broke and I think my wife loves me, but of course, one never knows. Nah, I know, she loves me despite me having no money and no career and no prospects. Try that with your wife, if you have one, and see how much she loves you then or any woman. That’s the True Test. Lose EVERYTHING. Forego it all and see if those you thought loved you still love you. I’m willing to bet you won’t be as loved as you think you will or as much as you think you’re loved now.

THE COMPASS

by Manuel Vicent.

(Translated by Louis Bedrock)

When you're born, your entire space amounts to the dimensions of the cradle: 80 x 60cm.

The compass will open.

After six months, you can crawl across the room. After one year, you learn to walk. As time envelops you, the space around you will begin to expand: the tricycle in the garden, the daycare center, the bicycle in the park, the first excursion to the ice cream parlor on the corner.

Later will come vacation travels with your parents, the first excursion with your classmates in elementary school; after discovering your city and traversing the landscape of your childhood, during adolescence you will wish to cross the horizons you have dreamed about.

As you go on living, space will accommodate your ambition to the extent that if you're a successful person, the world will seem small: Airports, international hotels, vast oceans, parties in exotic places, business meetings on five continents.

When you reach the fullness of fifty years, space will have opened to its maximum compass from this summit of your age. But one day you will notice that space begins to contract as you advance through the almanac. The downward spiral will become evident when you begin to believe you've seen everything and that nothing is capable of surprising you.

First you will renounce travel in airplanes, later you won't feel like going out at night; parties seem boring, you begin to dream of having a house in the country; the wing chair in front of the television will be your barricade. Suddenly you discover that to live you scarcely need the four walls of the room where you learned to crawl as a child.

In the end, like a boa constrictor, time will administer its final convulsion and space will move backward until it changes that distant cradle into a pine box, two meters by one meter. What else?

DIFFERENT STANDARDS FOR BILL CLINTON, TRUMP

FEMINISM — Women’s groups have had to learn how to choose between long-term political agendas and character flaws

by Anita Kumar And Lesley Clark (McClatchy News Service)

Washington — Groups that advocate for women’s rights are lashing out at Donald Trump for allegations of groping women and bragging about sexual assaults.

But some of those same groups did not think former President Bill Clinton’s allegations of sexual misconduct nearly two decades ago were disqualifying in the same way.

At least three women — Juanita Broaddrick, Paula Jones and Kathleen Willey — accused Clinton of unwanted sexual advances. Another five, including White House intern Monica Lewinsky, said they had had consensual affairs with him. Clinton was impeached on charges of lying about the Lewinsky affair before a grand jury and of obstruction of justice, but was acquitted and served his full presidential term.

Women’s groups largely stayed supportive.

“Feminism sort of died in that period,” New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd told Yahoo recently. “Because the feminists had to come along with Bill Clinton’s retrogressive behavior with women in order to protect the progressive policies for women that Bill Clinton had as president.”

Clinton’s female supporters stood by him, especially as he denied allegations of misconduct, as has Trump. Later, after Clinton admitted to some of the allegations of consensual sex, they did criticize him but still supported him. They were called hypocrites at the time, particularly when they were among the first to blast conservative Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and former Sen. Bob Packwood, R-Oregon, for allegations of sexual misconduct.

Eleanor Smeal, president of the Feminist Majority, said Clinton’s situation was entirely different because it came as Republicans were attacking him and his pro-women agenda, including fighting against the Equal Rights Amendment and a law banning discrimination on the basis of sex in education programs.

“For people like me, it was a totally different story and origin,” Smeal said. “It was a right-wing attack. We saw it as a right-wing effort to draw out of office a president for ideological reasons.”

Many women declined to even comment about the trio of women who alleged groping, assault or rape — Broaddrick, Jones and Willey.

“There’s no question that it’s disturbing. But to come to any judgment now is definitely not something that I think is timely,” National Women’s Political Caucus then-President Anita Perez Ferguson said about Willey at the time.

Donna Lent, the current president of the group, said this week that women’s groups were critical of Clinton, angry that he was jeopardizing equality moves such as boosting the number of women in government.

“It was shameful. It was absolutely shameful: the embarrassment, the pain to his wife, his daughter, the public,” Lent said.

It was only after Willey, a volunteer in the White House social office, went public about allegations that Clinton had groped her in the Oval Office in 1993 that some groups began to take them more seriously.

The National Organization for Women said her statement raised the question of whether Clinton was a “sexual predator,” not just a “womanizer.”

Still, groups supported Clinton politically.

“If all the sexual allegations now swirling around the White House turn out to be true, President Clinton may be a candidate for sex addiction therapy,” Gloria Steinem, one of the leaders of the women’s movement, wrote in The New York Times in 1998. “But feminists will still have been right to resist pressure by the right wing and the news media to call for his resignation or impeachment.”

Women’s rights advocates called on lawmakers to end their impeachment proceedings and urged voters to push out Republicans in the midterm elections because of their “anti- feminist” agenda.

“If disgust with the current crisis depresses women’s votes in November, we will see an anti-women’s rights majority in Congress roll back the gains for women of the past 30 years,” said a joint statement released by 15 feminist and civil rights organizations in 1998. “We call on women to raise their voices to protest this assault on fairness and the democratic process and to let the Congress know how strongly we oppose impeachment.”

Clinton had appointed women to important positions, including attorney general, secretary of state and the Supreme Court, had pushed so-called feminist issues — including abortion rights, child care and affirmative action — and had signed the Family and Medical Leave Act, which had been vetoed twice by a Republican predecessor.

“There’s no doubt that a lot of feminists were put in a very tough position because he was a president who they felt supported and sometimes even pushed policy that would help them move their goals forward,” said Susan Carroll, senior scholar at the Center for American Women and Politics, of the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University. “But on the other hand it was clear his behavior wasn’t exactly what feminists would be happy with.”

Carroll noted that other groups experience similar situations, including the evangelical groups that back Trump. “Sometimes principles and people come into conflict, and it’s not easily worked out,” she said. “It’s a classic conflict: Which do you value more? Do you worry about the longterm political agenda or a character issue?”

Betty Friedan, the late activist and leading figure in the women’s movement, had described the attacks on Clinton as sexual McCarthyism. “It does not serve women to try to hound this president out of office,” she said at the time.

Sasha Bruce, senior vice president for campaigns and strategy at NARAL Pro-Choice America, declined to comment about Clinton, echoing a view held by many women. “I don’t think I am going to go down that rabbit hole because there is only one Clinton on the ballot, and that is Hillary Clinton,” she said.

DOMINATION OF BLACK

At night, by the fire,

The colors of the bushes

And of the fallen leaves,

Repeating themselves,

Turned in the room,

Like the leaves themselves

Turning in the wind.

Yes: but the color of the heavy hemlocks

Came striding.

And I remembered the cry of the peacocks.

 

The colors of their tails

Were like the leaves themselves

Turning in the wind,

In the twilight wind.

They swept over the room,

Just as they flew from the boughs of the hemlocks

Down to the ground.

I heard them cry -- the peacocks.

Was it a cry against the twilight

Or against the leaves themselves

Turning in the wind,

Turning as the flames

Turned in the fire,

Turning as the tails of the peacocks

Turned in the loud fire,

Loud as the hemlocks

Full of the cry of the peacocks?

Or was it a cry against the hemlocks?

 

Out of the window,

I saw how the planets gathered

Like the leaves themselves

Turning in the wind.

I saw how the night came,

Came striding like the color of the heavy hemlocks

I felt afraid.

And I remembered the cry of the peacocks.

— Wallace Stevens

(Louis Bedrock notes: This is Steven's second greatest poem. "The Snowman" is the first. "Domination of Black" posits the frightening possibility that darkness is the reality, light and color temporary aberrations. It's music is incantatory.)

CRYPTIC COMMUNIQUE references, it seems, to the son of legendary Mendo hippies, Otter and Morning Glory Zell:

Subject: (blank)

From: 2767793551@vzwpix.com

Date: Sat, October 15, 2016 10:34 am

To: editor@www.theava.com

Brian zell, son of Oberon otter zell, morning glory ravenheart. Of green fields. is prepareing his departure. for time has com,we must say good bye to Brian zell age 52. A scholar of success. My best. Friend.

ON THE LATEST GROPING CHARGES: We cannot know for certain what is true, but my experience in such matters is that when a woman makes such a charge she is telling the truth. In a lifetime of fairly wide acquaintance, I’ve not known a woman to lie about sexual misbehavior or assault. I believe Juanita Broaddrick and Kathleen Willey, and I believe the women making the charges against Mr. Trump in the New York Times. The mainstream media of the United States is in the tank for the Democratic nominee, to its great and destructive shame: They add further ruin to the half-ruined reputation of a great American institution. That will make the country’s future harder and more torn up. But this story, at least as to the testimony of its central figures, does not appear to be an example of that. —Peggy Noonan

MENDOCINO COUNTY JOINS SONOMA CLEAN POWER TO PROVIDE GREEN ENERGY TO RESIDENTS

On October 13, 2016, Sonoma Clean Power Joint Powers Authority (SCPA) adopted Resolution 16-004 authorizing the expansion of Sonoma Clean Power’s services to the unincorporated areas of Mendocino County and the cities of Fort Bragg, Willits and Point Arena, with the start of service in June 2017.

For the past year and a half, Mendocino County has been exploring the possibility of launching a community power program to benefit county residents and to help achieve local climate action goals by offering cleaner power at a competitive price. The SCPA Board of Directors passed Resolution 16-003 on July 7, 2016, inviting the County of Mendocino and the incorporated cities of Fort Bragg, Point Arena and Willits to join Sonoma Clean Power.

The Board of Supervisors formally accepted the offer on August 2, 2016, which brings this exciting community choice for green energy to over 30,000 households and businesses. Supervisor Dan Hamburg was officially sworn in to represent the County at the SCPA’s October 13, 2016 meeting.

"I felt proud and a little humbled to be sworn in as Mendocino County's first member of the Board of Directors of Sonoma Clean Power,” said Supervisor Dan Hamburg. “Joining Sonoma Clean Power offers immediate and long-term benefits to the citizens of Mendocino County. Lower electricity rates, greener energy sources, reduced greenhouse gas emissions, and local investment in energy production are some of the positive aspects of this partnership. Thanks to the visionaries who made the idea of community-based energy a reality in Sonoma County, your neighbors to the north have the opportunity to enjoy a much brighter energy future."

Sonoma Clean Power (SCP) is the official electric utility provider in Sonoma County. SCP provides residents with the option of using cleaner power at a competitive price from sources like solar, wind, geothermal and hydropower. SCP is a not-for-profit agency, independently governed by a joint powers authority composed of the participating cities of Cloverdale, Cotati, Petaluma, Rohnert Park, Santa Rosa, Sebastopol, Sonoma, unincorporated Sonoma County and the Town of Windsor.

For more information on Sonoma Clean Power, please visit www.sonomacleanpower.org or contact Kate Kelly, Director of Public Affairs and Marketing

8-QUESTION CPUC SURVEY

Hi everyone,

The CPUC is providing an opportunity to hear directly from residents in Mendocino about telephone and broadband issues - through an online 8-question survey. The timing is good too, as we have had our first rain. So, if you are having phone issues or if you have had phone/internet issues in the past, for SURE go fill out this survey. If you want to comment on how the widespread outages of 2014 and 2015 affected you, or if you know where leaning poles, hanging wires, or other facility issues that affect safety/reliability are occurring...this is the place as well.

http://www.cpuc.ca.gov/CallCompletionSurvey/

Personal information (names, addresses, phone numbers) will be protected/redacted when the results are posted, so your privacy will be maintained.

Please share this survey however you can, on your Facebook page, twitter, email, and with people that you know who have had phone issues (and there are a lot of them). I don't know how long this survey will be open, so don't wait! I've never seen the CPUC do anything like this, (and believe me, this is a heck of a lot easier than an official filing), so let's take full advantage of this opportunity. They are examining phone issues in this proceeding and are prepared to act, so the more information they have the better decisions they can make.

Thank you!

PS: Don't forget the AT&T presentation coming up at our Board of Supervisors on Nov. 1st at 10 am on their CAFII funding areas and update on their resiliency plan..

Trish Steel <www.MendocinoBroadband.org>

707-354-3224

THANKSGIVING COFFEE ROASTER OF THE YEAR

As one of the most prominent employers in Fort Bragg with 25 members of staff, it is nearly impossible to live here and not be directly influenced by Thanksgiving Coffee. From enjoying a cup of coffee from one of the many local businesses, to knowing someone working in the Roastery, or even just driving by the newly branded office building in the South harbor, Thanksgiving Coffee is intricately woven into the fabric of our tight knit community.

After 45 years of success, the legacy continues to grow. A pioneer of the specialty coffee world, founders Paul and Joan Katzeff have helped put Fort Bragg on the map as the point of operations for one of the most socially minded and environmentally aware coffee companies in the world. And now they have the proof.

Certified as a B Corporation in 2015, Thanksgiving joins the ranks of other prestigious local businesses like North Coast Brewing, Harvest Market, and Fetzer Winery, who have undergone the rigorous accreditation standards required for the esteemed B-Corp insignia. Socioeconomic excellence, environmentally sound practices, and meaningful community engagement are just a few of the metrics used to score and establish B-Corp certification. Thanksgiving Coffee is proud to have passed with flying colors. Now, Thanksgiving can share with the world a fact that we in the local community have always known: that Thanksgiving Coffee is more than just a cup. It is a just cup. And now, it is also the best cup.

Thanksgiving Coffee is proud, and humbled to be named 2017 Macro Roaster of the Year by Roast Magazine, the leading coffee industry publication. In addition to the outstanding flavor of the coffee, a company’s standards and practices are also measured in the award. The competition is fierce and being selected is truly an honor.

“This is an international competition; we were competing against the best artisan roasters from around the world.” says Jacob Long, Fort Bragg local and Roastmaster at Thanksgiving Coffee for the past 9 years. “With so many great coffees to select from, I chose to present the judges with a few of our freshest coffees with amazing flavor profiles, vibrant and rich Kenyan Peaberry, floral Ethiopian Gedeb, and the beloved fruity-chocolatey Pauls Blend. It’s such an honor to help bring this award home right here to Mendocino County.”

The last 45 years have been an incredible journey, and this latest accolade coupled with B-Corp certification represents an exciting future for the company, and they couldn’t have done it without the support of the local community for all these years.

And so, the company known for giving thanks would like to express their heartfelt gratitude to the people of our community that have made it all possible.

“Thanksgiving,” says Paul, “the word is the most beautiful word in the English language, and when you say it, you feel something. We didn’t know that until we lived with it for a long period of time. It became the umbrella under which we operated. It became a word that we had to live up to.”

Thank You.

THE SUSQUEHANNA HAT COMPANY ROUTINE.

"We are all stardust." Neil deGrasse Tyson points at me. "Except /you/." Startled, I drop my beer can, it rolls to the front of the auditorium. –Vineyille The recording of last night's (2016-10-14) KNYO (and, three hours in, also KMEC) Memo of the Air: Good Night Radio show ready to download and enjoy, via

http://MemoOfTheAir.wordpress.com

Or, thanks to web maestro Hank Sims of Lost Coast Outpost, you can now get it this other way, which has the advantage of an instant-gratification play button:

https://lostcoastoutpost.com/podcasts/memo-of-the-air/

A pretty good show. Lots of nuanced information, as usual. I gave about three minutes of this seven-hour show to a bit about why supporting tiny KNYO (the Little Lion in Fort Bragg) with your radio dollars makes a lot more sense than throwing good money after bad into the dishonest opaque spendthrift tax-supported-anyway management of, say, KZYX. That's just after midnight, three hours in. Or you can just go to http://knyo.org and scroll down to the big red heart that says DONATE NOW. Every penny you put into KNYO goes to keep it on the air and make the station better. Every fricking penny. In contrast, KZYX pays half a dozen office drones a quarter of a million dollars per year to sit on their thumbs in the office and they keep all the money for themselves and don't even pay the airpeople to do their shows. When a radio station is at bottom a transmitter and a microphone and a piffling amount of electricity and basically the only thing you have to do to keep it and the great shows on the air is avoid stumbling drunkenly into the transmitter shack and tripping over the plug, you'd think that a radio station that blows through an astounding $600,000 a year would be able to /pay/ the hard-working talented providers of what the station's there for in the first place, wouldn't you.

KNYO needs about $1,000 a month, total, for rent on the storefront performance space and fees and electricity and city water, and that's it. Only a hundred helpers at ten dollars each. That's not much, but it needs it. A few more people beyond that and it can have a new microphone or a new mixing board or a backup power system, or better portable equipment, all reasonable goals. Thank you so much for helping. You're a wonderful person. How wonderful life is while you're in the world.

Speaking of keeping us on the air, at my weblog there's a full explanation, with a three-color scientific graph and everything, of a handful of dropouts that occurred in getting the show through the web to the radio transmitter this time. The recordings of my shows, always being made where I sit and read aloud, are seamless and not annoying at all, at least not because of sound quality.

If you want to do a radio show of your own, or you want to set up a regular KNYO underwriting schedule prominently related to your business or service, email Bob Young bobb@poetworld.net and say so, and you'll be on the air, or swimmingly underwriting, or both, before you can say Susquehanna Hat Company. It's easy and fun.

Besides all that, at

http://MemoOfTheAir.wordpress.com

you'll find literally thousands of links to not necessarily radio-useful but worthwhile things to see and do and learn about, rainy day or shiny day, such as:

The over-commercialization of Halloween is a crying shame. They don’t even sing the old songs anymore. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0McggLIYmnE Emotional movie moments. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GMQ0F_YUCs Eruptions, earthquakes and emissions. http://volcano.si.axismaps.io/ And marvel at how heavy metal played without the guitar distortion reveals it to be simplistic noodly surf music. I like the expression on the guy's face. He's like /What/.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVqqWUyDPzA and

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_O3TnfpN1E

Marco McClean
memo@mcn.org
http://MemoOfTheAir.wordpress.com

THE OTHER PLEDGE DRIVE

Support your local public radio station. Support KMEC Radio 105.1 FM.

We'll give you seven (7) good reasons:

1. At KMEC, we get the greatest guests speaking to today's most important issues. On my show, for example, guests have included ambassadors, members of Congress, and senior people from the U.S. military, federal law enforcement, and spy agencies. We've also had a Noble Peace Prize laureate, and many Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists, Academy Award recipients for documentary film-making, and Emmy Award-winning recipients from PBS and other investigative news media.
2. At KMEC, we make the best use of technology. For example, we archive our shows forever. Our shows are also available as podcasts. Meanwhile, at KZYX, their program archive system known as "Jukebox" purges shows after only a few weeks.
3. At KMEC, as small as our broadcast range is as a low-power station, we have a very big audience. How? It's all digital. We make the best use of our digital platforms. At KMEC, we send many of our shows for wide distribution to the Public Radio Exchange and to Radio4All.
4. At KMEC, we make the best use of social media. Shows can also have their own Youtube channel. For example, my show has over 37,000 subscribers.
5. At KMEC, we make the best use of equipment. Soon, we will be moving out antenna from the roof of our building on Stanley Street in downtown Ukiah to the top of Cow Mountain. Our signal is also crystal clear, unlike KZYX which has frequent dead air, fuzz outs, and irritating static because of Korean War-era equipment.
6. At KMEC, we're all volunteer. Our annual budget is less than $20,000. Meanwhile, KZYX's bloated budget is over $550,000, and much of that goes to salaries, most of which are not disclosed.
7. At KMEC, we do what we do because we love doing it. We're passionate. We're activists. We're allowed to be activists. All of us. And everything we do is on behalf of peace and social justice at the Mendocino Environmental Center, of which we are an important part.

Please support KMEC by going to the following link: http://www.kmecradio.org/donate/

At KMEC at the Mendocino Environmental Center, we're your community radio station. We're your community.

Thank you.

John Sakowicz

DAVIS CA CITY COUNCIL PASSES RESOLUTION IN SOLIDARITY WITH STANDING ROCK STRUGGLE

by Dan Bacher

On October 4, the City of Davis, California passed a resolution declaring their solidarity with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s opposition to the Dakota Access Pipeline.

Carol Standing Elk, Francisco Dominguez, Juliette Beck, Lynn Nettler, Becca Paine and Nick Buxton led the successful campaign to pressure the City Council to approve the resolution. Davis joins 18 other cities across the country, including Seattle, Saint Paul, Minneapolis, Berkeley, Santa Barbara, Oakland and Sitka, Alaska, in opposition to the pipeline.

The proposed Dakota Access Pipeline would carry as many as 570,000 barrels of fracked crude oil per day for more than 1,170 miles from the Bakken oil fields of North Dakota to Illinois. It would imperil sensitive landscapes including Treaty-protected land containing recognized cultural resources and across or under 209 rivers, creeks, and tributaries including the pristine Missouri River, the longest river in North America. The Missouri provides drinking water to many cities and towns and irrigates agricultural land across the Midwest.

The resolution declares: “WHEREAS, the City of Davis has worked diligently for many years to secure and protect our own sustainable clean water supply and supports the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in opposing the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline that passes under the Missouri River and other water water sources with the recognized threat of contamination of existing clean water supplies with potential future oil spills.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the City Council of the City of Davis, stands in support of the opposition to the Dakota Access Pipeline process and project and calls on all residents of Davis to raise awareness about this important struggle for Indigenous sovereignty and environmental justice and to support the Sacred Stones Camp efforts.”

In an emailed report to the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, julia Beck of Davis Stands with Standing Rock, said, “We wanted to share the good news that our local city council last night unanimously passed the attached resolution in support of your critical and profoundly inspiring opposition to the Dakota Access pipeline.”

“The local news coverage captured the strong sense of solidarity that was expressed in our city council chambers by Native Americans, University of California at Davis students, climate change activists, parents, librarians, and the city council members themselves. We are very grateful for your leadership and all that you are doing to protect Mother Earth,” Beck stated.

For local news coverage, go to: www.davisvanguard.org/… and www.davisenterprise.com/...

During the meeting, Mayor Rob Davis tried to postpone the decision, based on a complaint by one person supporting the DAPL, but he reversed his decision after intense opposition by Native Americans and their allies who spoke at the meeting.

“All the air that we breathe tonight, this air is going to blow somewhere else,” said Francisco Dominguez (Tarahumara), photo journalist. “All the air, rivers, lakes, oceans — it’s all connected. What we do here has an effect on other continents.

“There are human rights violations over in North Dakota,” he emphasized. “We haven’t seen dogs sicced upon our citizens since the Martin Luther King marches in 1964 and 1965.”

Since the passage of the resolution, the arrests and brutality by law enforcement have only accelerated in North Dakota. Amy Goodman of Democracy Now is being prosecuted for her reporting on the #noDAPL protests. Josh Fox Film’s producer, Deia Schlosberg, is also facing 45 years in prison for the “crime” of journalism.

You can sign the petition to protect Freedom of The Press and demand that all charges be dropped against journalists for covering ND Pipeline Protests by going to: thepetitionsite.com/…

The passage of the resolution by City of Davis takes place in a state that is the third largest oil producer in the nation - and where the regulatory apparatus has been captured by Big Oil, Big Ag and other corporate interests. With complete disrespect to the water rights and sacred sites of the Winnemem Wintu, Concow Maidu, Pit River Tribe and other Tribal Nations, Governor Jerry Brown is currently fast-tracking the Delta Tunnels, the most environmentally destructive public works project in California history, as well as promoting the expansion of fracking.

Just as the DAPL will devastate the Missouri River ecosystem and its many fish and wildlife species, the two 35-mile long tunnels under the Delta would hasten the extinction of Central Valley steelhead, Sacramento River winter-run Chinook salmon, Delta and longfin smelt, green sturgeon and other fish species. The project would also imperil the salmon and steelhead populations on the Trinity and Klamath rivers, a fishery that for thousands of years has played an integral part in the culture, religion and food supply of the Yurok, Karuk and Hoopa Valley Tribes.

In the latest environmental scandal to rock the Brown administration, the California Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) announced on September 23 that it has opened an investigation into the California Democratic Party in response to a report by a prominent consumer group claiming that the party acted as a “laundry machine” to funnel donations from oil, energy and utility companies to Brown’s 2014 election campaign.

In her letter to the Santa Monica-based Consumer Watchdog, Galena West, Chief of the FPPC’s Enforcement Division, said the division “will investigate the California Democratic Party for alleged violations of the Political Reform Act’s campaign reporting provisions resulting from information contained in your sworn complaint (Brown’s Dirty Hands Report.)”

Consumer Watchdog’s Brown's Dirty Hands report tabulated donations totaling $9.8 million dollars to Jerry Brown’s campaigns, causes, and initiatives, and to the California Democratic Party since he ran for Governor from 26 energy companies with business before the state. The companies included the state’s three major investor-owned utilities, as well as Occidental, Chevron, and NRG. (www.dailykos.com/...)

While the mainstream media and state officials portray Jerry Brown as a “green governor” and “climate leader," he is in reality one of the worst governors for fish, water and the environment in recent California history, as I have documented in article after article.

Below is the complete text of the resolution:

RESOLUTION 16-XXX, SERIES 2016

Resolution

Supporting the Opposition to the Dakota Access Pipeline Process and Project

WHEREAS, the proposed Dakota Access Pipeline would carry as many as 570,000 barrels of hydraulically-fractured (“fracked”) crude oil per day for more than 1,170 miles from the Bakken oil fields of North Dakota to Illinois, passing over sensitive landscapes including Treaty-protected land containing recognized cultural resources and across or under 209 rivers, creeks, and tributaries including the pristine Missouri River, which provides drinking water and irrigates agricultural land in communities across the Midwest; and

WHEREAS, despite deep opposition from the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, as well as farmers, scientists, more than 30 environmental advocacy groups, and other Tribal nations along the proposed route, and without Tribal consultation or meaningful environmental review as required by federal law, in July, 2016, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issued a permit allowing construction of the fracked oil pipeline to move forward; and

WHEREAS, in a complaint filed in Federal District Court on July 27, 2016, the Standing Rock

Sioux Tribe alleges, among other allegations, serious violations of the due process requirements of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA). In particular, federal agencies “must complete the section 106 process prior to the approval of the expenditure of any Federal funds on the undertaking or prior to the issuance of any license.” According to the complaint, The US Army Corp of Engineers did not follow or complete the proper process of consultation with the Tribe prior to issuance of permits;” and

WHEREAS, on August 31, 2016, the chair and members of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues issued a statement finding that “The [Dakota Access Pipeline] project was proposed and planned without any consultation with the Standing Rock Sioux or others that will be affected by this major project. The lack of consultation with the Indigenous peoples concerned triggered the filing of the lawsuit against the Army Corps of Engineers, who approved its construction. The pipeline would adversely affect not only the security and access to drinking water of the Sioux and millions of people living downstream of the Missouri River, but it would also destroy archaeological, historical and sacred sites of the Sioux”; and

WHEREAS, on August 15, 2016 the Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Council, led by Tribal Chairman David Archambault II, called on Tribal nations, Indigenous people and organizations around the world to issue resolutions in support of the Standing Rock Sioux and the Sacred Stones Camp; and

WHEREAS, the City of Davis has made a firm commitment to reduce its own dependence on fossil fuels and aims for carbon neutrality by 2050, in order to ensure that additional pipelines such as the Dakota Access Pipeline are not needed; and.

WHEREAS, the City of Davis previously passed a Resolution 14-052, Opposing Transportation of Crude Oil through the City of Davis and Adjacent Habitat Areas, citing the many known public safety concerns of the transport of crude by rail; and

WHEREAS, the City of Davis has worked diligently for many years to secure and protect our own sustainable clean water supply and supports the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in opposing the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline that passes under the Missouri River and other water water sources with the recognized threat of contamination of existing clean water supplies with potential future oil spills.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the City Council of the City of Davis, stands in support of the opposition to the Dakota Access Pipeline process and project and calls on all residents of Davis to raise awareness about this important struggle for Indigenous sovereignty and environmental justice and to support the Sacred Stones Camp efforts.

PASSED AND ADOPTED by the City Council of the City of Davis this 4th day of October, 2016 by the following vote:

Robb Davis, Mayor

Zoe S. Mirabile, CMC, City Clerk

A LOVEFEST AMONG WAR CRIMINALS

I know Michelle Obama is out there on the campaign trail stumping for fellow Democrat, Hillary Clinton. I know former President George W. Bush, a Republican, recently endorsed Hillary Clinton, thereby snubbing his own party's nominee, Donald Trump. But does Michelle Obama really have to hug George Bush, as she did in a recent photo (below)?

Really?

George W. Bush is a war criminal. Think about what Bush did in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.

The wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan have taken a tremendous human toll on those countries. As of March 2015, the United Nations reports that approximately 210,000 civilians have died violent deaths as a result of the wars. Civilian deaths have also resulted from the U.S. military operations in Libya, Yemen, Somalia, and Syria.

In May, 2012, in what is the first ever conviction of its kind anywhere in the world, former U.S. President George W. Bush and seven key members of his administration were found guilty of war crimes. Bush was convicted of war crimes in absentia.

Bush, Dick Cheney, and Donald Rumsfeld, and their legal advisers Alberto Gonzales, David Addington, William Haynes, Jay Bybee and John Yoo, were all tried in absentia in Malaysia. The trial held in Kuala Lumpur heard harrowing witness accounts from victims of torture who suffered at the hands of US soldiers and contractors in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.

At the end of the week-long hearing, the five-panel tribunal unanimously delivered guilty verdicts against Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and their key legal advisers who were all convicted as war criminals for torture and cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment.

Full transcripts of the charges, witness statements, and other relevant material were then sent to the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, as well as the United Nations and the Security Council, who came to a similar finding.

It's why Bush, Dick Cheney, and Donald Rumsfeld now rarely leave the U.S. They fear arrest and prosecution once they cross the border.

Michelle Obama's public gesture of hugging Bush is obscene. It's worse than pornography. It's the ruling class gloating over their crimes against humanity. It's an act of solidarity between the Bush and Obama crime families. Bill and Hillary Clinton are an important part of that crime syndicate. Hillary Clinton's crimes in Honduras, Haiti, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, and Ukraine as U.S. Secretary of State are especially well-documented.

And Obama? A war criminal? Yes, of course.

I'll tell you why.

Obama never closed the illegal detention camp at Guantanamo Bay, as he promised. Obama continues to allow the CIA to torture prisoners there. Torture is widespread. This torture is characterized by psychological abuse, sleep deprivation, sound and light manipulation, and physical beatings.. Indefinite detention along with torture continues -- 86 detainees have been cleared for release, but they’re still at Guantanamo Bay .

Obama also allows the indiscriminate killing by drones. Obama himself admits that U.S. drones strikes have killed up to 116 civilians. But this death toll by Obama is criticized as an under-estimate. Even Obama acknowledges that the government does not always know how many civilians it really kills.

Indiscriminate drone strikes are a method of warfare that defines Obama’s legacy in many parts of the world.

Put it all together -- Bush, Clinton, and Obama are all war criminals. They all have blood on their hands.

Little wonder they kiss and hug each other. They're part of the same cabal.

Thank you.

John Sakowicz at www.kmecradio.org

TRUMP IN A SLUMP

by Pussygate Galore

 

I did not kiss her on a plane

I did not kiss her on a train

 

I did not grope her in a club

I did not grope her in a pub

 

I did not grab her by the hips

I did not kiss her on the lips

 

I did not grab her by the hair

I did not grab her anywhere

 

I did not push her towards the bed

Or any other thing she said

 

This is a vicious Clinton smear

I am the only victim here

 

She is ugly, she is ill

Bet she cheats on husband Bill

 

I will lock her in a cell

With that loudmouth bitch Michelle

 

So that foreign-born Obama

Has to do it with a llama

 

I will make them all repent

Soon as I am president.