Mendocino County Today: Sunday, June 17, 2018

• Tortuous Count
• The Graduate
• Pets
• Little Dog
• Mall Shelter
• Front Runner
• Cottage Available
• Rent Control
• Mental Money
• Ladycat
• Ed Notes
• Yesterday's Catch
• Fired Cartoonist
• Sandwich Islands
• Regime Acquiescence
• Cheating Donald
• Frontline Craig
• Getting Yappy
• Marco Radio
• SF Disgusting

BREAKING NEWS FROM JOHN CHIV: FINAL HUMBOLDT ELECTION RESULTS TUESDAY

Meanwhile, Mendocino County will wait & wait & wait because they are the most inefficient group of ballot counters in the whole damn state.

The Mendo Clerk Recorder has been silent - issuing only ONE progress report on the vote count. Heads should roll - but the Supes ignore it as they are happy with their new $85K salaries - why rock the boat?

Disgusting.

johnchiv.blogspot.com/2018/06/final-humboldt-election-results-in-by.html

(MendocinoSportsPlus)

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COUNTY REPORTING STATUS: vote.sos.ca.gov/returns/status

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WHY THE COUNT TAKES SO LONG

(See if you can speed up the process, not that suggestions are particularly welcome)

County Clerk-Recorder-Registrar-Assessor Susan Ranochak explains:

“We do not start tabulating ballots immediately at the beginning of the canvass for several reasons. Our first responsibility is to provide a total amount for unprocessed ballots to the media and the Secretary of State. This includes scanning all of the ballot envelopes that were left at the polls and received in the mail by election day. The total this year was approximately 14,000. Once that is done we immediately send our extra help team, which consists of eight people, to their stations to begin opening those ballots and getting them ready for processing. At the same time, Katrina [Assistant Katrina Bartolomie, and presumptive inheritor of the job given the June election] and I go through the polling place rosters to check the signatures and make sure that all polling place ballots were counted on election night. We do this so we can move on to the provisional ballots; checking them to see if they can be counted and remaking them into the proper precincts. This is also the time when each ADA accessible voting machines that was deployed on election day is checked. We check them to see if anyone actually voted on them. We finished checking the polling place rosters, scanning all signatures and started checking the provisionals yesterday [Thursday]. At this point there is still nothing ready to tabulate.

Week two begins with Katrina and I checking the provisional and the extra help team opening the mail. They will have to stop on Wednesday. The reason for this is because it's time to do the 1% manual tally. This is required by law. We have 250 consolidated precincts so the computer randomly selects three precincts to count manually. If all races are not covered in this random sample then additional precincts must be selected so all races have a manual tally. This year we have to tally seven consolidations by hand. With the length of this ballot it will take two days to finish this process. We are now at Friday of the second week still no ballots that have been tabulated.

Week three begins with more opening and ballot examination and typically tabulating. At this point we're very close to being done and just want the process to be over.”

LISA KUNY and family celebrate Christian Kuny's graduation from Anderson Valley High School.

UKIAH SHELTER PETS OF THE WEEK

Double Your Pleasure....Double Your Fun! with two of the sweetest little darling dogs. Both of these cutenesses are Chihuahuas (mixes?). Daisy is 8 years old and probably the Mom to Petunia, who is 4 years old. Daisy and Petunia are adorable, gentle, calm, and very very sweet little dogs. They love each other, and we hope we can find a family who will adopt them together. They do everything in tandem. When we took them out to the play yard for their photo session, they trotted off to sniff around—Together.

Then they trotted back, Together. Both dogs are a little shy at first, but they were so good about being picked up and held and fawned over by the photographer and assistant! These two girls will be your best buddies, and will happily spend hours in your lap.

The Ukiah Animal Shelter is located at 298 Plant Road in Ukiah, and adoption hours are Tuesday, Thursday, Friday & Saturday from 10 am to 4:30 pm and Wednesday from 10 am to 6:30 pm. To see photos and bios of the shelter's adoptable animals, please visit online at: www.mendoanimalshelter.com or visit the shelter. Join us the second Saturday of every month for our "Empty the Shelter" pack walk and help us get every dog out for some socialization and exercise! For more information about adoptions please call 707-467-6453.

LITTLE DOG SAYS, “Happy Father's Day, Skrag. How many kids you got, 50? 70? He gives me a disdainful look and says, ‘The Good Book tells us to go forth and multiply,’ and he saunters off to multiply. He's got to be stopped!”

HOW ABOUT PEAR TREE?

A Macy’s Goes From Mall Mainstay to Homeless Shelter

As traditional retailers fade in the era of Amazon, a vacant department store near Washington becomes a refuge for people struggling to find affordable places to live.

nytimes.com/2018/06/13/business/macys-homeless-shelter.html

AHILMAR LEADS THE PACK!

COTTAGE FOR RENT

Sunny Country Cottage for Rent

A private quiet-retreat-an ideal and inspiring place for an artist, writer or one who loves nature. Just minutes from Fort Bragg and Mendocino — on a 100-year-old apple farm. A magical setting on 6 open acres with plum and apple trees in view. Adjoining Jackson State Park... 1 bedroom — bath with shower - with an open kitchenette living room plan - cast iron stove (propane) - stain-glass windows large separate store room. No pets or smoking — perfect for one person — security deposit- references — must have good credit, rental history and provable income. Looking for long term tenant (one year lease). Price: $975, plus utilities. Please phone: (707) 964-6136

CALIFORNIA RENT-CONTROL MEASURE QUALIFIES FOR NOVEMBER BALLOT

SACRAMENTO — California's secretary of state says a measure that would expand the ability of local governments to enact rent controls on residential properties has qualified for the Nov. 6 ballot.

Secretary of State Alex Padilla said Friday he plans to certify the measure later this month.

If passed voters, it would give cities and other local jurisdictions more authority in limiting the rents residential property owners may charge for new tenants, new construction and single-family homes.

The state's legislative analyst and director of finance estimate it could decrease tax revenues and potentially increase government costs that could be made up by fees on owners of rental housing.

To qualify, it needed 365,880 signatures of registered voters.

Padilla says it received 402,468 projected valid signatures as of Friday. (AP)

INSANE AMOUNTS OF TAX DOLLARS to be handed over to Redwood Quality Management Company without explanation or discussion.

by Mark Scaramella

IT’S DIFFICULT TO FIGURE OUT precisely how many millions of dollars Mendo is handing over — on Tuesday’s consent calendar — to Redwood Quality Management Company for all the mental health “services” they provide for the upcoming fiscal year because the list includes increases in last year’s contract amounts on top of this year’s contracts. Consent Calendar items 4n, o, p, q, r, s, t, u, v, w, and x are all RQMC contracts for what looks like (in round numbers) $1.1 million, $10.5 million, $7.4 million, $1.2 million, $1.9 million, $0.3 million, $0.6 million, $0.4 million, and $1.2 million — or a total of almost $25 million. A couple of the items appear to be unexplained increases in last year’s contracts. But there’s no indication of how these huge numbers were arrived at, no underlying caseload assumptions, no comparison with prior years, no independent assessment of need, no indication of why last year’s contracts have to be enlarged by several million dollars, no evaluation of rates, overheads, or profit margins, etc. — just a gross handing over of funds.

BUT the fact that these huge piles of cash are handed over on the consent calendar — meaning nobody thinks these giant contracts deserve the slightest discussion or debate — tells you all you need to know about Mendo’s wasteful and unaccountable posture on these privatized for-profit mental health services.

OH, there are detailed contracts attached to each item, and those contracts have dozens and dozens of pages of boilerplate descriptions of services, and insurance requirements, and standards of care, and billing rates, and on and on, but nothing about the numbers of clients served or categories or how many of which category are expected or in comparison with last year.

THE CONTRACTS also require reporting but the reports are never made public, provided only to lower level county staffers who hang on to them like they’re classified top secret for national security reasons, nor are last year’s reports provided for evaluation of this year’s funding levels. (One of the contracts requires reports to the Behavioral Health Advisory Board where they are typically ignored and shelved.)

But be our guest, pretend you’re a Supervisor and you want to get just an overview of what the taxpayers are paying for and the following is what you see on the consent calendar:

4n) Approval of Agreement with Redwood Quality Management Company in the Amount of $1,100,000 to Provide Mental Health Plan Specialty Mental Health Medication Support Services to Eligible Medi-Cal Beneficiaries in Mendocino County for the Term of July 1, 2018, through June 30, 2019

4o) Approval of Agreement with Redwood Quality Management Company in the Amount of $10,553,950 to Arrange and/or Manage Specialty Mental Health Services, and Mental Health Services Act Services, to Children and Youth, Age 24 and Younger, for the Term of July 1, 2018 through June 30, 2019

4p) Approval of Agreement with Redwood Quality Management Company in the Amount of $7,401,500 to Arrange and/or Manage Specialty Mental Health Services and Mental Health Services Act (MHSA) to Adults Age 25 Years and Older for the Period of July 1, 2018 through June 30, 2019

4q) Approval of Amendment to BOS Agreement No. 17-040 with Redwood Quality Management Company Increasing the Amount from $9,481,381 to $10,637,450 to Provide Mental Health and Medication Support Services to Children and Youth, Age 24 Years and Younger, for the Term of July 1, 2017 through June 30, 2018

4r) Approval of Amendment to BOS Agreement No. 17-041 with Redwood Quality Management Company Increasing the Amount from $5,869,000 to $7,584,000 to Provide Mental Health and Medication Support Services to Adults, Age 25 Years and Older, for the Term of July 1, 2017 through June 30, 2018

4s) Approval of Agreement with Redwood Community Services, Inc. in the Amount of $277,000 to Provide Housing and Services to Assist Emancipated Foster/Probation Youth for Health and Human Services Agency, Family and Children’s Services for the Term of July 1, 2018 Through June 30, 2019

4t) Approval of Agreement with Redwood Community Services, Inc. DBA Redwood Community Crisis Center in the Amount of $66,542 to Provide 24/7 Crisis Response, Outreach and Engagement Services for Children, Youth and Young Adults for the Period of July 1, 2018 through June 30, 2019

4u) Approval of Agreement with Redwood Community Services, Inc. in the Amount of $610,320 to Provide Immediate Placement Services for High Needs Children Placed by Health and Human Services Agency, Family and Children’s Services for the Term of July 1, 2018, through June 30, 2019

4v) Approval of Agreement with Redwood Community Services, Inc. in the Amount of $437,760 to Provide Community-Based Aftercare Support Services for Children and Youth Transitioning from a Residentially Based Services Group Home or Short Term Residential Therapeutic Program to Home-Based Care with Their Parents or Caregivers for the Term of July 1, 2018, through June 30, 2019

4w) Approval of Agreement with Redwood Community Services, Inc., DBA Arbor Outpatient Drug Free Clinic, in the Amount of $70,000 to Provide State Certified Medi-Cal Counseling Services to Transitional Age Youth for the Period of July 1, 2018, through June 30, 2019

4x) Approval of Amendment to BOS Agreement No. 17-067 with Redwood Community Services, Inc. Increasing the Amount from $1,129,443 to $1,158,754, to Provide Immediate Placement Services for Children Placed by Health and Human Services Agency, Family and Children’s Services in Fiscal Year 2017-18.

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There are several other similarly suspicious looking contracts in this same area of services for about $2.5 million more (but not to RQMC) similarly on the consent calendar with no discussion necessary:

4ab) Approval of Agreement with Crestwood Behavioral Health, Inc. in the Amount of $350,000 to Provide Residential Mental Health Treatment Services for Health and Human Services Agency, Behavioral Health and Recovery Services for the Term of July 1, 2018 through June 30, 2019

4ac) Approval of Agreement with Communique Interpreting, Inc., in the Amount of $75,000 to Provide Communication Services for Health and Human Services Agency, Family and Children’s Services for the Term of July 1, 2018 through June 30, 2019

4ad) Approval of Agreement with Davis Guest Home in the Amount of $115,000 to Provide Residential Mental Health Treatment to Clients of Health and Human Services Agency, Behavioral Health and Recovery Services for the Term of July 1, 2018, through June 30, 2019

4ae) Approval of Agreement with Mendocino Coast Hospitality Center in the Amount of $95,039 to Provide Emergency Shelter and Resource Services in Fort Bragg and Mendocino County’s Coastal Region for the Term of July 1, 2018, through June 30, 2019

4af) Approval of Agreement with Family Resource Center Network of Mendocino County in the Amount of $175,818 to Provide Programs for Child Abuse Prevention and Intervention for the Term of July 1, 2018, through June 30, 2019

4ag) Approval of Agreement with Telecare Corporation in the Amount of $150,380 to Provide Medical, Nursing, and Rehabilitative Services to Individuals with Neurological and Mental Deficits for the Term of July 1, 2018 through June 30, 2019

4ai) Approval of Agreement with Willow Glen Care Center in the Amount of $1,043,900 to Provide Residential Treatment Services for Health and Human Services Agency, Behavioral Health and Recovery Services Adult Clients for the Period of July 1, 2018, through June 30, 2019

4ak) Approval of Second Amendment to BOS Agreement No. 17-084 with Crestwood Behavioral Health, Inc. Increasing the Amount from $428,449 to $482,449 to Provide Residential Treatment Services for Health and Human Services Agency Behavioral Health and Recovery Services Clients for the Term of July 1, 2017 through June 30, 2018

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JAMES MARMON WRITES:

Regarding the MHSA [Mental Health Services Act/aka Prop 63] Reversion Plan to be rubberstamped by the BoS this week on the Consent Calendar.

(California Legislative Analyst) — “Under the MHSA, funds are distributed to counties for local assistance for designated mental health programs according to a specified county plan. The MHSA authorizes a county to maintain a prudent reserve to ensure that services do not have to be significantly reduced in years in which revenues are below the average of previous years. The MHSA, except as specified, requires any funds allocated to a county that have not been spent for their authorized purpose within 3 years to revert to the state to be deposited into the fund and available for other counties in future years.”)

First of all, I would like to know if there is a difference between what the County has identified as unspent funds subject to reversion and what DHCS [state department of health care services] claims are unspent funds subject to reversion. Secondly, I would like to know why fiscal years 15-16 and 16-17 are not included in the county’s three year reversion expenditure plan. According to the State Auditor’s Office, Mendocino had $6,586,000 of unspent MHSA funds in fiscal year 15-16 alone (page 46 of the State Auditor’s Report), a good portion of that will be subject to reversion. Thirdly, where's all that money going to come from to cover the Reversion Expenditure Plan? Will other future mental health services be cut or will there be enough in reserves to cover those monies? There doesn't appear to be any carryovers to cover them.

Mental Health Services Act Three Year Reversion Expenditure Plan

“Mendocino County identified $679,476 of Prevention and Early Intervention (PEI) and $1,235,040.30 of Innovation (INN) funds that were subject to Reversion as of July 1, 2017. Additionally, Mendocino County identified up to $209,000 of Workforce Education and Training (WET) funds which were slated for expenditures or reversion by the end of the 2017-2018 Fiscal Year. Any Capital Facilities and Technology (CFTN) funds which are not expended within the required time frame and are subject to reversion are also included in this plan.”

https://www.mendocinocounty.org/home/showdocument?id=20818

Department of Health Care Services INFORMATION NOTICE NO.: 17-059

“Notice of Unspent Funds Subject to Reversion:

DHCS will send each county mental health director, via certified mail, an official notice of unspent funds subject to reversion. The notice will include the amount of the county’s unspent funds subject to reversion by FY and component, and a schedule with the revenue and expenditure data DHCS used to perform the calculation. The notice will also include instructions and forms for a county to appeal DHCS’ determination.

Consequences for failure to timely submit ARERs:

As noted above, to calculate the amount of a county’s unspent funds subject to reversion as of July 1, 2017, DHCS needs all of that county’s ARERs from FY 2005-06 through FY 2016-17. Counties are required to submit the FY 2016-17 ARER and any outstanding ARERs by December 31, 2017. If a County does not timely submit an ARER, the report DHCS submits to the Legislature, identifying the amount of funds subject to reversion as of July 1, 2017, will indicate where data for the applicable fiscal year is missing. In addition, counties’ expenditure plans for unspent funds subject to reversion may only include funds from those fiscal years for which an ARER has been submitted to DHCS (see “Plan to Spend the Funds”).

Process for Counties that Submit Late ARERs:

Counties that fail to submit an ARER by the due date can subsequently submit it to DHCS, although the report DHCS submits to the Legislature will indicate the fiscal year for which data are missing. DHCS will provide the county with an updated official notice of unspent funds subject to reversion. A county may appeal the determination in the updated official notice of unspent funds subject to reversion (see “Appeal Process”). Once a final amount has been determined, the county must prepare an updated plan to spend its reallocated funds.”

http://www.dhcs.ca.gov/services/MH/Documents/FMORB/MHSUDS_Info_Notice_17-059_MHSA_Implemt_WISection5892.1.pdf

CALIFORNIA STATE AUDITOR’S REPORT

See page 46.

https://www.auditor.ca.gov/pdfs/reports/2017-117.pdf

James Marmon MSW
Former Mental Health Specialist
Sacramento, Placer, and Lake Counties.

WHITEY THE CAT SAYS, “Look at that bum! He had his way with me, forced himself on me if you want to know the truth, and there he lies, the satyr satiated.”

ED NOTES

IT WAS at the end of a very hot afternoon as a bustling road construction crew was finishing up for the day. Two big guys, one black, the other Hispanic, were sweating through some last-minute shovel work when an angry-looking woman approached them. "I'm very upset about the quality of this work," she began as the two guys ignored her and continued to shovel. "Are you listening to me?" They had to have been listening to her because she was standing about three feet from them, but they stay on task, shoveling away. "Well, I can see you don't have any manners," the angry woman declared. Both guys start to laugh but continue shoveling. "I demand," she says, "that you tell me who I should talk to about the work you're doing here." The two guys laugh harder, and finally one says, "I dunno, the government?"

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THE SUPERVISORS, not to ruin a perfect Saturday. If they were serious about establishing low-cost housing, examples of which exist in ingenious amplitude as close as a finger tap on Google, might also tap into the hard-earned expertise of Mr. Bruce Ledford, whose Circle Trailer Park in the center of Ukiah manages to unobtrusively house a vividly various population of people who would otherwise be homeless. This guy, assisted by his incongruously (in the context) lovely daughter, could give lessons that an army of housing consultants can't. Ledford has done it, continues to do it, and manages to do it without anybody noticing. We nominate him as Mendocino County's Housing Czar.

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COSTCO UKIAH is by far the most eagerly anticipated big box opening in County history, not that big box openings are that many or much anticipated before they throw open their doors. WalMart began to no particular fanfare but much dread among the snootier consumer classes as the beginning of the end of rural life for Mendocino County which, unless you're off the grid and deep in the hills, is pretty much like life anywhere else in the country. But CostCo's Mendo arrival has some real buzz going, and the store's savvy management even has pre-opening sign-up offices in Ukiah and Fort Bragg, complete with promises of good deals for getting your membership card early. Ukiah's big day is Thursday, July 19th, 8am. We expect a scene like something out of Day of the Locust. The traffic jams will definitely be a Mendo first.

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SPEAKING of the American class system, Hillary Clinton, the Democratic Party's tribune of the everyday citizen, was in San Francisco on Friday to speak to the girls at the Hamlin School, annual tuition about $50,000. As in any old banana republic, Hillary arrived at the posh private school in a cavalcade of sleek black vehicles amidst a phalanx of armed guards, as San Francisco cops blocked off the street. England has their royal family, we have ours.

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ACCORDING to the Wall Street Journal, Trump "stunned" fellow leaders at last week's gathering of the heads of the world's wealthiest countries when he told Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that he could send Japan "25 million Mexicans" to help Abe understand the migration problems facing Europe and America. Trump also told French President Emmanuel Macron that "all the terrorists are in Paris" as the leaders were meeting.

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TRUMP'S praise of Little Rocket Man as "a great guy with a great sense of humor" elicited predictable howls from liberals who launched into rote denunciations of the North Korean dictatorship with an emphasis on North Korea's "gulag" prison system. “Gulag” is often applied to our American prison systems, although gulag, in the Stalinist sense, makes our prisons seem like resorts. But still, our class-based justice system is hardly anything to brag on. It could, with a political flip of the switch, go full gulag simply by removing prisons from public scrutiny which, strictly considered, they nearly are anyway. A day in any courtroom in America sees an unvarying parade of defendants drawn from the working classes and the sub-workingclass. I could recite cases for the rest of the day of people I know personally who would not be in prison if they'd been able to afford a capable defense.

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NEAR as we can tell from the available stats, an average of 20-25 persons commit suicide every year in Mendocino County. That statistic has been about the same for the last twenty years and, of course, the many people killing themselves in slow motion via, as they say, "bad choices." Emile Durkheim, considered the father of sociology, wrote a whole book on the subject of suicide, explaining that he thought wholesale and rapid social change left millions of people adrift in new social norms they are unable to adjust to. He called this stranded, isolated personal state, anomie. Durkheim's book on suicide was published at the end of the 19th century, a period of rapid industrialization and social change. This anomie he described leads to various kinds of self-destruction which, Durkheim said, can only be understood if we fully grasp social structure and act to negate or adjust to its isolating factors. Later thinkers, Chomsky for one, calls anomie atomization, the untethered person isolated from the society surrounding him. Our society has been undergoing rapid change since the 1960s, leaving more and more people alone with their confusion. Even in a lightly populated area like Mendo one doesn't have to look too far to find people adrift in a society seemingly organized to drive its population crazy.

CATCH OF THE DAY, June 16, 2018

MYISHA BRAZIEL-CARADINE, Ukiah. Controlled substance.

ROBERT DOUGLAS, Ukiah. Witness intimidation.

ARNOLD GAHM, Ukiah. Ukiah. Burglary, controlled substance.

ANDREW GITCHEL, Potter Valley. Grand theft.

DANIEL HOLMES SR., Ukiah. Under influence, paraphernalia, probation revocation.

LAWERENCE JOAQUIN, Covelo. Under influence, probation revocation.

MINDY PRATT, Ukiah. Probation revocation.

GEORGE WRIGHT, Redwood Valley. Probation revocation.

FIRED OVER CARTOONS?

by Rob Rogers

After 25 years as the editorial cartoonist for The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, I was fired on Thursday.

I blame Donald Trump.

Well, sort of.

I should’ve seen it coming. When I had lunch with my new boss a few months ago, he informed me that the paper’s publisher believed that the editorial cartoonist was akin to an editorial writer, and that his views should reflect the philosophy of the newspaper.

That was a new one to me.

I was trained in a tradition in which editorial cartoonists are the live wires of a publication — as one former colleague put it, the “constant irritant.” Our job is to provoke readers in a way words alone can’t. Cartoonists are not illustrators for a publisher’s politics.

When I was hired in 1993, The Post-Gazette was the liberal newspaper in town, but it always prided itself on being a forum for a lot of divergent ideas. The change in the paper did not happen overnight. From what I remember, it started in 2011, with the endorsement of the Republican candidate for Pennsylvania governor, which shocked a majority of our readership. The next big moment happened in late 2015, when my longtime boss, the editorial page editor, took a buyout after the publisher indicated that the paper might endorse Mr. Trump. Then, early this year, we published openly racist editorials.

Things really changed for me in March, when management decided that my cartoons about the president were “too angry” and said I was “obsessed with Trump.” This about a president who has declared the free press one of the greatest threats to our country.

Not every idea I have works. Every year, a few of my cartoons get killed. But suddenly, in a three-month period, 19 cartoons or proposals were rejected. Six were spiked in a single week — one after it was already placed on the page, an image depicting a Klansman in a doctor’s office asking: “Could it be the Ambien?”

After so many years of punch lines and caricatures, skewering mayors and mullahs, the new regime at The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette decided that The Donald trumped satire when it came to its editorial pages.

This has been my dream job. It makes the experience of buying a coffee or checking out at a grocery store a thrill. I go to pay and the person looks at my credit card, sees my name, asks me if I’m the Rob Rogers and then tells me about a particular cartoon he or she loved. The outpouring of support I have received in recent days from the people of this city, including its mayor, has been overwhelming and uplifting.

The paper may have taken an eraser to my cartoons. But I plan to be at my drawing table every day of this presidency.

THE SANDWICH ISLANDS remain my ideal of the perfect thing in the matter of tropical islands. I would add another story to Mauna Loa's sixteen thousand feet if I could, and make it particularly bold and steep and craggy and forbidding and snowy; and, I would make the volcano spout its lava-floods out of its summit instead of its sides; but aside from these non-essentials I have no corrections to suggest. I hope these will be attended to; I do not wish to have to speak of it again.

—Mark Twain, 1897; from "Following the Equator"

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

No regime exists without the acquiescence of the people it rules. And this regime, without question, was put into place via the mechanism of regular elections.

Having said that, there is a foundation of lies that undergirds the system, a well thought out framework of baloney that’s been generations in the making, that gets periodic up-dates from Wall Street, the Davos Class, Washington and its various legislative and “think-tank” appendages, the Republican and Democratic parties, all of which was designed to separate you from your money, to re-direct it to fewer and fewer hands.

The lies were repeated and repeated and repeated so that even though to the normally common sensical and skeptical mind they just couldn’t be true, they acquired a patina of respectability. Millions of people couldn’t be wrong, right? Well, no, wrong, millions of people sure as hell can be wrong, especially if they’ve been actively misled by generations of men in suits, with academic and professional credentials and awards and accolades adorning their office walls.

But this is where things are at, an economic set-up that lacks the benefit of logic, coherence, adherence to natural and physical law. Can such a system stand up-right? No, it can’t, but as you say, it’s not like there weren’t elections. This regime that put this unworkable set-up in place exists via popular acquiescence and the way the regime comes down is to remove same. It’s not as if not enough people haven’t woken up to the truth of things.

THE CONSTITUTION & THE LAWMEN ARE COMING FOR TRUMP — HE LAUGHS

by Ralph Nader

The law has never caught up with Trump. In his bullying and bankrupting business career, he laughed at the law – hiding behind corporations, tying up plaintiffs – workers, creditors, consumers, and shareholders – with court battles of attrition. His snarling lawyers either wore down Trump’s pursuers or settled disputes for less than the legitimate claims by those harmed. Trump’s lawyers pushed for gag orders to hide the settlements.

Trump always emerged with the gold by profiting at the expense of those around him. Trump made a profit out of the ruins of his companies, flouted the law by hiring undocumented Polish workers, cheated the students who were lured into the Donald Trump University, and often failed to pay his contractors.

Now, a different kind of law is closing in on the cheating Donald. As the Mueller investigation into Russian or related connections to the Trump campaign advances, Mr. Trump may be wondering what it means to be an unindicted co-conspirator (Justice Department rules prohibit indicting a sitting president). Or, more likely, the Mueller Special Counsel team is reviewing the case for an “obstruction of justice” charge against Trump, who has all but openly admitted that he can obstruct justice, though he would characterize his actions as justified.

Predictions in politics dominate the political discourse. But the proximity of a major constitutional crisis may be only a few months away. Here is why the Mueller team is not going away. They may subpoena Trump – either for documents, or for his deposition under oath, or both. Mr. Trump’s lawyers know the peril of perjury presented by Donald’s lying, cheating M.O.

Several times since last year, Trump, under pressure from Mueller regarding Trump’s associates and dealmakers, has slanderously and publicly lashed out against Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, and Special Counsel Robert Mueller. He regularly declares he could fire these government officials.

On May 9, 2017, Trump fired FBI director James Comey. Trump believes, as president, he can fire anybody and pardon anyone, including himself. Bolstered by an ideologically aligned five-judge Supreme Court majority, it is unlikely he is going to accept a dribbling out role as a defendant, especially on the serious charge of obstruction of justice, the charge that led to Richard Nixon’s downfall.

Indeed, Trump could take a chapter right out of Nixon’s playbook to fire the Justice Department officials, and dare this “witch hunt” to use the courts to bring him down, Trump is counting on the Republican-dominated Congress to block any impeachment trial.

Richard Nixon, as you may recall, got embroiled in what he called a “third-rate burglary” in 1972 by Republican operatives at the Democratic Party headquarters inside the Watergate complex in Washington, D.C. There was a lot of interference and intrigue by Nixon and his associates to obstruct the efforts of Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox, working, like Mueller, out of the Justice Department.

As Cox started to subpoena the production of White House documents, Nixon reacted by ordering then-Attorney General Richardson to fire Cox. Richardson, unwilling to comply, resigned, then Deputy Attorney General Ruckelshaus followed suit. Robert Bork, then solicitor general, was willing to fire Cox. The resultant uproar led to an impeachment investigation by the House of Representatives.

Nixon, abandoned by many Republicans, resigned before the House of Representatives could vote for impeachment, believing he was doomed in both the House and the Senate. (Three members of Congress and I had already won a lawsuit against Nixon, with Federal Judge Gesell declaring his firing of Cox unlawful).

Firing Mueller and his superiors, replacing Attorney General Jeff Sessions with Rudy Giuliani, and abolishing Mueller’s office would be uproariously dramatic theater. With his adversaries in divided disarray, Trump can dominate the mass media with hourly tweets to his 50 million followers and distract attention with foreign skirmishes and belligerent threats.

Sure, Mueller could name Trump as an unindicted co-conspirator and lawfully take his files to Congressional committees. The ensuing judicial process could drag on for months.

That said Trump is no Nixon. And today’s cowardly Republicans are not as independent as former Republican Senator Howard Baker of Tennessee. Today’s Congress has abdicated its responsibilities to be a co-equal branch of government.

The moody Nixon hunkered down in the White House in his final months in office, calling the “liberal” press his enemy and wondering how his “base” had dissipated. By contrast, Trump has his own huge social media following and would be all over the country at mass rallies goading his full-throated followers into the streets.

It is conceivable that the open investigations could continue in the criminal division of the Justice Department, as pointed out by Alan Morrison, our counsel in the Watergate era case against Nixon (see: Nader v. Bork). Trump would be clever to let the legal process drag out interminably. For if he tried to shut down the entire investigation, then that would be “the nuclear option,” in Morrison’s words (see: “Firing Mueller Is Only the First Step”).

But why would Trump have to go that far, already thinking he wields the unlimited presidential pardon power for any contingencies?

Throughout his career, Trump has beaten the law and survived to further enrich himself. He did this as a brazen, foul-mouthed businessman. Imagine, in his mind, now as President and Commander in Chief, with his cowed party holding a veto on any impeachment drive, derisively stomping on the rule of law (see: “Land of the Lawless”). The towering Trump believes he can defy the law, put toadies in high offices, and rid himself of the Lawman as the needs arise. For, as King Louis XIV said: “L’etat, c’est moi.”

Remember the vestigial Electoral College that selected Trump against the popular voter’s verdict.

(Ralph Nader is a consumer advocate, lawyer and author of Only the Super-Rich Can Save Us!)

NOW'S THE TIME

Good Morning, America

Yesterday in front of the White House, I met with Washington, D.C. Catholic Worker who were there with placards advocating for world peace. Hadn't seen some of them since 1980, when the Olive Branch CW house at 1006 M Street was the defacto organizing headquarters for the World Bank-International Monetary Fund protests which shut down central D.C. for three days. Please note that I am booked into the DUO travel hostel until Sunday June 24th. Not identified with the body nor the mind, am spiritually fancy free on the earth plane. If you are interested in doing anything significant with me, now would be a good time to let me know. Otherwise, am always keen on getting together with others for conducting rituals, chanting, and so on and so forth to neutralize negative energy, promote basic sanity, thwart the postmodern global meltdown, and end the crazy materialism which is supported by war, that continues to confuse the humanity. Have a satisfying weekend, and don't forget to engage in direct action,

Craig Louis Stehr

Email: craiglouisstehr@gmail.com

MEMO OF THE AIR: Field expedient.

"I have sometimes amused myself by endeavoring to fancy what would be the fate of any individual gifted, or rather accursed, with an intellect very far superior to that of his race. Of course, he would be conscious of his superiority; nor could he (if otherwise constituted as man is) help manifesting his consciousness. Thus he would make himself enemies at all points. And since his opinions and speculations would widely differ from those of all mankind, that he would be considered a madman, is evident. That individuals have so soared above the plane of their race, is scarcely to be questioned; but, in looking back through history for traces of their existence, we should pass over all biographies of ‘the good and the great,’ while we search carefully the slight records of wretches who died in prison, in Bedlam, or upon the gallows."

— Edgar Allan Poe

The recording of last night's (2018-06-15) KNYO Fort Bragg and KMEC Ukiah /Memo of the Air: Good Night Radio/ show is available by one or two clicks, depending on whether you want to listen to it now or download it and keep it for later and, speaking of which, it's right here: https://tinyurl.com/KNYO-MOTA-0285

And besides that, here are links to a few not necessarily radio-useful but worthwhile items that I set aside for you at https://MemoOfTheAir.wordpress.com while gathering the show together, such as:

Liquid calligraphy.
https://nerdcore.de/2018/06/13/liquid-calligraphy/

We're back.
https://laughingsquid.com/the-creatures-of-yes-puppet-show/

And what the world looked like N-million years ago, and where a given address would be. Change the year and location; see for yourself. Those times and that world were just as real as where you are now. And the world of millions of years forward will be just as real, without even any particle of a memory of you and everything that's so important and serious and personal and all your delights, fears, accomplishments, political notions, secret shame, socks, hair, and the peeved way you twist the corner of your mouth when that annoying song starts or you remember a rude thing. Peevement wrinkles. Whole mountain ranges. Whole geological eras as ephemeral and inconsequential as a sneeze.
http://dinosaurpictures.org/ancient-earth#240

—Marco McClean

'THE STREETS ARE FILTHY, THERE'S TRASH EVERYWHERE — IT'S DISGUSTING!':

Tourists express shock and horror after visiting San Francisco, saying 'rampant drug use and violent crime' will keep them from ever coming back

by Daniel Roth

Tourists traveling to San Francisco are shocked at the level of disarray the city is in as they complain about rampant crime and open injection drug use via the Internet.

Chances are that many of the residents living in the 'City by the Bay' have become desensitized to the worst aspects of the California community.

But for visitors looking to get a glimpse of the Golden Gate Bridge or snack on clam chowder at Fisherman's Wharf, the scenes can be jarring.

'Is this normal or am I in a "bad part of town?,"' an Australian traveler recently posted to Reddit following a visit to the city, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

'Just walked past numerous homeless off their faces, screaming and running all over the sidewalk near Twitter HQ and then a murder scene. Wife is scared to leave hotel now,' the horrified Aussie added.

Another Reddit message posted by a Canadian visitor expressed the same sentiment just days later, describing the city as 'terrifying.'

'I'd been there for probably less than a day, just wandering around the center, and already seen more than enough poverty and suffering to cause me wanting to leave desperately,' a tourist from London wrote last year.

'I saw many people talking to themselves, or to things that weren't there. Even in a Macy's, and there weren't any police officers to help them or do anything about it,' the British social media user added.

Those Reddit posts garnered a surprising reaction on the site's messaging board, with more than 650 responses from people offering suggestions on how to stay safe and what neighborhoods to avoid.

Nearly all lamented the fact that one of the most interesting and beautiful cities in America had fallen into such disrepute.

Even members of the city's own visitor's bureau expressed outrage over San Francisco's growing reputation as an unsafe tourist destination.

'The streets are filthy. There's trash everywhere. It's disgusting,' Joe D'Alessandro, president of SF Travel, told the Chronicle earlier this year.

'I've never seen any other city like this — the homelessness, dirty streets, drug use on the streets, smash-and-grabs.'

Kevin Carroll, executive director of the Hotel Council of San Francisco, told the paper that if something is not done soon, businesses are going to suffer from a lack of tourist dollars.

'People come into hotels saying, "What is going on out there?"' They're just shocked. People say, "I love your city, I love your restaurants, but I'll never come back.'"

(Daily Mail On-Line)