Mendocino County Today: Tuesday, July 3, 2018

• Men Shot
• Skyhawk Update
• SNWMF 2018
• Homeless Pod
• Little Dog
• Time Mecca
• FB Fireworks
• Missing Weed
• Salmon BBQ
• MCDH Comments
• Monstro Manzo
• Buckhorn Fridays
• Garage Graffiti
• Haschak Listening
• Flea Market
• Yesterday's Catch
• President Amlo
• Columbian Prize
• Move Along
• Harbor House
• GDP Collapse
• Astronomical Cost
• Education
• Failed State
• Flow-Kana Financing
• Strange Democracy
• Poop City
• Salad University
• Community Scholarships
• F&G Agenda
• Mushroom Festival

SHOOTING SUSPECT IDENTIFIED AND IS IN CUSTODY

Crime/Incident: 187 PC (Homicide); 664/187 PC (Attempted Homicide)

Location: Approximate Mile Post Marker 35 on North Highway 101 in Willits, California

Date of Incident: 07-02-2018

Time: 4:30 PM

Victim(s): Calixto Ramirez (51 years-old male from Covelo, CA); Miguel Ramirez (30 year-old male from Covelo, CA)

Suspect(s): Ubaldo Ramirez Davilla (23 year-old male from Covelo, CA)

Written By: Captain Gregory L. Van Patten #1184

Synopsis:

***UPDATE 187 PC (HOMICIDE)***

Mendocino County Sheriff's Detectives continued to investigate the shooting incident overnight and into 07-03-2018.

During this time, Sheriff's Detectives identified Calixto Ramirez (51 years-old from Covelo, California) as the deceased adult male at the shooting scene.

The second adult male has been identified as being Miguel Ramirez (30 years-old from Covelo, California). Miguel Ramirez, who was transported to an out of county hospital by air ambulance remains in critical condition.

Calixto Ramirez and Miguel Ramirez have been identified as father and son.

During investigations, which included assistance from the public, the shooting suspect was identified by Sheriff's Detectives as being Ubaldo Ramirez (23 year-old male from Covelo, California).

Ubaldo Ramirez is the son of Calixto Ramirez (deceased) and the younger brother of Miguel Ramirez (critical condition).

Thanks to assistance from the public, Ubaldo Ramirez was located on 07-03-2018 at approximately 1:30 AM in a parking lot in the 77800 block of Highway 162 in Covelo, California.

Ubaldo Ramirez was taken into custody without incident for the homicide of his father (Calixto Ramirez), and the attempted homicide of his brother (Miguel Ramirez).

Ubaldo Ramirez was booked into the Mendocino County Jail where he was to be held without bail.

Specific details regarding the shooting are not being released at this time due to pending follow-up investigations by Sheriff's Detectives.

Any persons with information about this incident, including anyone who might have seen Ubaldo Ramirez between the scene (MPM 35 on North Highway 101 in Willits, California) on 07-02-2018 and Covelo on 07-03-2018 are encouraged to contact the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office Tip-Line by calling 707-234-2100.

***ORIGINAL PRESS RELEASE***

On 07-02-2018 at approximately 4:41 PM Deputies from the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office and Officers from the California Highway Patrol where dispatched to a suspicious situation in the area of Mile Post Marker 35 on North Highway 101 south of Golden Rule.

Initial reports suggested a vehicle had been involved in a traffic collision and that an occupant was suffering from a gunshot wound.

Law enforcement personnel arrived and located a 2001 maroon Chevrolet Silverado 4-door pickup truck stopped in the southbound traffic lanes of North Highway 101.

Inside the pickup truck were two adult male occupants suffering from obvious gunshot wounds (undetermined amount at this time). One occupant was determined to be deceased and the other occupant suffered from a life threatening injury requiring him to be transported to an out of county hospital for medical treatment.

Mendocino County Sheriff's Detectives were summoned to the scene and have assumed investigative jurisdiction into the incident with assistance from the California Highway Patrol, California Department of Justice and Mendocino County District Attorney's Office.

Mendocino County Sheriff's Detectives are actively conducting
investigations and more information will be released at a later date by press release as information becomes available.

Anyone who may have witnessed the shooting incident or the pickup truck prior to or after the shooting is urged to contact the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office Tip-Line by calling 707-234-2100.

SKYHAWK UPDATE

From Rixanne Wehren: "Many people have asked for an update on Chris’s condition. Here is what I know: Chris is still in the hospital but is off any life-support. He is conscious and able to talk a bit with Samatha. Speech and movement are recovering but slowly. There is no speculation about the timeline of recovery. Cards can be sent to P.O. Box 127, Albion 95410. Thanks for all words and deeds of support."

GET UP, STAND UP (AND… DANCE)

Sierra Nevada World Music Festival 2018

by Steve Heilig

Standing on stage in front of thousands of people can be a kind of out-of-body experience, especially if one is essentially shy in public. But on the big stage at the Sierra Nevada World Music Festival, it mostly feels easy — the crowd is so positively happy and supportive that it can feel like one could do or say no wrong. Still, as an MC there, I try to keep it short and sweet, as nobody paid to hear some non-musician pontificate. They are there for the music and we deliver it to them, for three days and two nights on two stages, virtually nonstop, from all over the world. That's what keeps fans coming back every year, for 25 years as of last week. "The best festival of them all and my favorite weekend of the year" is a common, unsolicited comment from attendees.

Still, something felt a bit different this year, and we debated about how to bring some sort of message of activism, even "resistance," to the weekend in a time where a minority of mainly deluded voters brought us the most corrupt national regime in American history (and that's saying something). We settled on simply trying to encourage voting, as the masses who didn't vote in 2016 defaulted to something the polar opposite of the messages of equality, human rights, spirituality, and more that has always fueled so much of the music heard at SNWMF. We found a fine volunteer advocacy group called HeadCount which sets up voter registration booths at music festivals, but they were unable to show up in person, and instead provided a new online option - all one has to do is text "Voter" to 40649 to get a registration package.

Armed with this easy information, I felt trepidation announcing it from the stage. Our loyal attendees and newbies are there for a good time, not what late reggae legend Peter Tosh called "politricks." So I kept it short on opening night, simply saying "Look, we know there is no such thing as a perfect politician, but we gotta be able to do better than what we have right now," and giving out the HeadCount info. It's hard to "read" a big crowd, and they were mostly quiet while I talked, and then I stopped and waited a few seconds to see if I'd blown it. Then the cheers started, and built into a nice rousing roar. And then I had to wait a little more as I felt I might get choked up.

"Get Up Stand Up" is one of the iconic reggae anthems, co-authored by Tosh and Bob Marley when they were still partners in The Wailers and first released in 1973. It's a call to arms in the name of human rights, adopted even by Amnesty International at one point. Covered by many musical stars, it has a driving rhythm and, as Marley played it onstage, featured a rousing wordless call-and-response chant that reverberated worldwide as he toured huge arenas in his latter years - and it was the last song he ever played onstage. It embodies reggae's two-pronged, maybe even schizoid impact - party and romance music, but with a vital, subversive, even militant message at the same time.

At SNWMF that dichotomy was everywhere if one was open to perceiving it. When reggae legend Max Romeo broke out one of his signature tunes from the 1970s, "Chase the Devil," I wasn't the only one who heard the devil as an orange one, using the White House as an offshoot of his corrupt business regime for personal profit, and worse. Friday headliner Tarrus Riley and Saturday headliner Beres Hammond - "the Marvin Gaye of Jamaica" - both lamented children put into cages. Many more of the over 35 musical acts likely had similar messages, explicitly spoken or implied in their lyrics. Some most memorable for me were the Mighty Diamonds, one of Jamaica's most beloved harmony trios, the debut of big Ethiopian star Teddy Afro, young Korean ska band Kingston Rudieska, Argentinian reggae superstar Dread Mar I, the aforementioned Max Romeo, the female dub poet Jah9, relative newcomers Natty, and powerhouse closers Steel Pulse. A whole evening of Latin-flavored music was featured on the smaller village stage Saturday evening, and the big barn dance hall thundered on - silently for one segment, wherein people wore headphones - with big dancing crowds who just couldn't quit when the live music ended by curfew times. On one day we had acts from six continents showcased - to top that, I guess we'd need to add a band of funky penguins from Antarctica. Maybe next year.

But after a couple decades of writing about music of all kinds for all kinds of publications, I years ago concluded that truly conveying how it sounds and feels is in essence an impossible task - like "dancing about architecture" as the old saying goes. For live music especially, you just have to be there to feel what it is like. And from the stage, one can get an inkling of how addictive it can be when the energy of thousands of fans comes roaring back up. Some critics voice dismay at "singalong" efforts by artists, but there is a reason stars ask crowds to sing their songs back at them — it feels wonderful, as many fans just love to join in. And when as an MC I have to shut down the day's proceedings at midnight, the fans are screaming for more and I almost feel guilty having to end the "conscious party", as if I am some sort of party-pooping sheriff. But somebody's gotta do it.

The days were hot as usual but not intolerable, the hundreds of staff and volunteers ran the big production tightly as could be - nobody knows how much teamwork and discipline goes into getting eight acts, with all their own equipment, on and off stage in twelve hours, ontime, until you see it close up - and it's a serious business up there, an inspiring professionalism all done with smiling efficiency, happening on two stages simultaneously.

The schedule is like a complex jigsaw puzzle. And even there politricks intrude, as multiple acts this year were detained and turned back at airports for arbitrary, petty reasons, requiring shuffling of schedules at last minute. By now that has become part of the game, but under this federal regime it has only gotten worse and more pointless and maddening.

This was the first festival year where pot was legal in California. Reggae music is of course associated with use of the herb. But ironically or not, it seemed to make little to no visible difference. I heard remarks that there was actually less visible smoking than before, that it was "like a napalm bomb of smoke" in front of the stage at one point," and that "nothing changed except the prices and advertising." Another of Peter Tosh's signature tunes was "Legalize It," but in any event I only heard one artist mention from the stage that this goal had finally been accomplished here. A cheer ensued, of course, but otherwise the issue felt somewhat anti-climatic.

As of Sunday afternoon the report from one cop present was that, as usual, there was not much to do other than walk around and look at the human finery and fun on display. It's a family affair. "Fighting and barfing is more a Beer Fest kind of thing," The Man laughed.

As it turned out, I probably shouldn't have worried about injecting just a bit of politricks from the stage this year. When I walked through the crowds to catch some of the musical magic, numerous attendees accosted me to say some variation of "right on!" I even got hugs and High Fives galore. Just before the SNWMF weekend, a restaurant had refused service to one of Trump's henchpeople, and yet one more media controversy had erupted. The eatery's owner was philosophical about it: "I'm not a huge fan of confrontation. I have a business, and I want the business to thrive. This just feels like the moment in our democracy when people have to make uncomfortable actions and decisions to uphold their morals.”

Exactly so. Get Up, Stand Up indeed.

Mighty Diamonds lead singer Tabby in a moment of devotion

Cocoa Tea from the stage

Korean ska band Kingston Rudieska with your reporter

PIETER KRUIT is a San Francisco painting contractor. John Kennaugh is a San Francisco furniture maker. One day, Pieter Kruit was painting the building next door to John Kennaugh’s workshop.” I looked over,” Kruit remembers, “and there in the basement I was surprised to see a complete wood shop.”

The painter introduced himself to the woodworker.

Kruit needed someone to make his idea real. He needed a prototype. Kruit had come to the right man in Kennaugh, furniture maker to some of San Francisco’s leading citizens. If Kennaugh can’t make it, it can’t be made.

“Ah, I said to myself," Kruit recalls, "this is the man I’ve been looking for.”

The two talented gentlemen hit it off and just may have created an idea whose time has arrived.

The housepainter had been mulling over his idea for months. Wouldn’t it be of huge benefit to both the homeless and the frustrated everyday citizen if the homeless were housed in neater, safer little structures of their own, pretty little homes on wheels that could be moved simply by pushing them? “As it is,” Kruit says, “the homeless are shoved from place to place, their belongings piled up on the sidewalks, the whole city is in an uproar about the mess they make."

The idea?

“My shop,” Kruit explained, “is on a little street in the Bayview. Everyday when I come to work I step over the homeless. It bothers me, all these people sleeping on the pavement on my street and everywhere in the city. I want to put the homeless inside, out of the weather, off the pavement, out of doorways. My idea is a tiny home on wheels made out of wood and brightly painted, tiny homeless houses consistent with the creative spirit of this city.”

K and K put their heads together, and soon they’d built the tiniest of tiny houses, a mobile homeless home in which the homeless person can safely sleep and store his few belongings, high and dry and off the pavement.

“You see the poor creatures pushing all their things in shopping carts or trying to carry their belongings however they can in big bundles,” Kruit says. “My idea would be cheap to build, efficient, safe, even attractive places for them."

As an immigrant from the Netherlands, Kruit is perhaps doubly disturbed by the disorder he sees daily in his adopted city, a civic chaos unknown to the Dutch.

San Francisco spends $320 million a year on the homeless, but for every homeless person housed it seems two more homeless persons appear. The city has been handing out tents to the homeless, the result being a more intractable sidewalk squalor. A spiffy little rainproof house on wheels would be a major step forward, especially if accompanied by bathrooms and showers.

K&K’s prototype is a work in progress. The one pictured below is made out of cardboard and has since been brightly painted in red, white and blue. The one homeless guy to inspect it "was very enthusiastic," Kruit reports. "Now, all we need is a backer who can finance construction of a few and support from the city in trying them out." (Bruce Anderson)

LITTLE DOG SAYS, “That demo for immigrant families on Saturday appeared right in my front yard! I thought the Bolsheviki were here, that The Revolution had started. Get me my gun! But it was only King Fixit and my friends and neighbors. Gave me a start, though.”

KEEPING TIME: Recently the wall clock stopped moving. A dead battery. I replaced the battery, set it to the correct time, only to see the minute and hour hands sprint forward thirteen hours; instead of 6:11 p.m. it became 7:41. I set the correct time again, and again the clock sped forward as if chased by the hell hounds of Chronos, this time to 11:12, not 11:11 but close enough to make me wonder. (Of course, I have no idea of the significance of 11:11, but it seems like it should be important.) I repeated this absurd resetting two-step several times, dancing to the music of random time, and even replaced the new battery with a second new battery. Undeterred, the clock continued to march to its own rebel cadence, disdainful of my curses and protestations. Suspecting the traitorous machine was defective, I put it on the counter and glared at it: the insolent appliance jumped a few more random hours. I wanted to walk away but it was too late. Instead of summoning the high-minded Athos, whose aloof chivalry and pretensions to holy violence captivated my boyhood reveries, the clock had provoked my basest, most D’Artagnan-like furies; and once the offended Gascon’s saber is unsheathed, its only succor can be in the sweet bite of villainous flesh, in defense of Maiden, Crown or Honor, as you please. And thus I retreated to the one true modern lord, the internet, for instructions and a battle plan. The clock was a LaCrosse, and on the company website it said, in blunt terms bordering on rudeness, that after replacing a spent battery, put the clock in a window facing the new mecca of Fort Collins, Colorado; within two or three days (1) the clock would reset itself to atomic time. Thirty-six hours later, the clock was back in lockstep with Time. The whole affair nonetheless left me slightly unsettled. If Fort Collins controls Time, then who or what controls Space? Navarro gets my vote, which explains why they call it the Deep End. -- ZA

WHAT HAPPENED TO 800 POUNDS OF MARIJUANA SEIZED BY ROHNERT PARK POLICE?

Allegations of Humboldt County cannabis being illegally seized by Rohnert Park Police Officers which were first reported here have been further investigated by KQED News. Today, KQED released the second in a series of stories that digs further into what happened and are sharing the results with our readers.

COAST HOSPITAL MANAGEMENT, Three Comments:

(1) “This is what gross mismanagement looks like. Hold on to your seatbelt, there's more to come. It is never a question of needing more money when the money that is there is wasted. With no capable person at the top, this will continue indefinitely. That is why I couldn't, in good conscience, vote yes on Measure C. I saw the writing on the wall. Hopefully, the new board will do some serious housecleaning.”

(2) “So, the hospital threatens us with cutting services if we didn’t pass their tax and now that it’s passed they are cutting services. Nice way to thank the community. Many of us will now have to make the trek to Santa Rosa for pain treatments. And a lot of people were using their services. I had a treatment from Dr. Hau a few weeks ago and he had 20 patients lined up for guided injections just that day, so it’s not like the service isn’t being utilized. Way to go, MCDH.”

And (3) “I just heard that MCDH has terminated its contract with Dr. Hau and the folks at Summit Pain Alliance. This is awful news for both my husband and myself who See Dr. Hau for procedures to relieve pain in our lower backs. I just talked to Crystal over at Dr. Hau’s office and she said they have 30 days to see any patients. I know for a fact that this office has been a godsend to many people on the Coast who suffer from pain and don’t want to take narcotics! Crystal said that we will be able to be seen at the Santa Rosa office. This is another bad decision by our hospital who seems to take OUR needs second to their greed.”

MONSTRO MANZO

Another big Anderson Valley manzanita

(Photo by Marshall Newman)

HAPPENINGS AT THE BUCKHORN

Its time again for "First Fridays at the Buckhorn”. July 6th already! Ryan & Co will be playing in the garden this time. We will start earlier - about 7, and end at 10 PM lest we be turned into pumpkins. (Rules….).

While you’re with us, try the new key lime pie and the new whites and roses we have - perfect for summer….

GUESS WHO

CALLING MRS. HASCHAK! Dear Mrs. Haschak, will you please ask your husband to up his game? When asked by the Willits News what the most important issue in the runoff campaign is, your husband replied, “The most important thing is getting out there and listening to the people and seeing what issues are important to them.” He also said, “I’m going to keep working hard.”

MR. HASCHAK has been on the campaign trail for several months now, presumably “working hard.” Hasn’t he been listening already? Hasn’t he heard a single specific issue by now that he might be willing to at least raise, or — gasp — propose to the Board of Supervisors? (We know he mentioned that he’s kinda-sorta against the creation of a Cultural Services Agency, but his recent comments on that were underwhelmingly mild.) This kind of mental chloroform is very much like former Third District Supervisor Tom Woodhouse’s complete lack of specifics in his platform when he ran. Woodhouse “worked hard” at not saying anything specific and look where it got him.

FOR HIS PART, Haschak’s opponent John Pinches at least offered a couple of important issues to the Willits News: “the out-of-control cannabis rules and regulations,” and “the need to get affordable housing in Mendocino.” (And we already know Pinches is big on balanced budgets and road maintenance.)

WHAT DOES MR. HASCHAK HAVE FOR US? Please, Mrs. Haschak, give us a reason to vote for him besides he’s a good listener.

THE YORKVILLE MARKET will be sponsoring a Yorkville Flea Market this Sat. The 7th of July 10-4. Yorkville residents will be banding together for a treasures, trash and handmade art extravaganza. Owner Lisa Walsh that notorious community-builder is behind it all. Questions call 894-9456. The market is at 26701 Highway 128. (Terry Ryder)

CATCH OF THE DAY, July 2, 2018

TIMOTHY BANUELOS, Ukiah. Arson, probation revocation.

SALVADOR CASILLAS-ANDRADE, Ukiah. Firearm theft, ammo possession by prohibited person.

CRYSTAL CRADDOCK, Ukiah. Trespassing, false ID.

MICHAEL DONAGHUE, Chico/Ukiah. DUI.

MISTY HAWKINS, Covelo. Failure to appear.

JESUS HERRERA, Willits. Assault with deadly weapon not a gun, county parole violation.

JOSE MEJIA, Ukiah. Controlled substance, resisting.

JAMES PATTERSON III, San Francisco/Willits. Trespassing.

ZAHIR PECHCERON, Fort Bragg. Disorderly conduct-alcohol, failure to appear, resisting, probation revocation.

JASON WALLER, Calpella. Domestic abuse, kidnapping, carjacking.

KEITH WILLIAMSON, Willits. Burglary.

WALTER WILLIS, Willits. DUI, concentrated cannabis.

SHAYNE WREDE, Fort Bragg. Ammo possession by prohibited person, parole violation.

MEXICO’S VETERAN LEFTIST CANDIDATE ELECTED PRESIDENT

AMLO: Five Things To Know About Mexico's New President

by Tom Phillips

Critics deride Andrés Manuel López Obrador – or Amlo as most call him – as Mexico’s “tropical messiah”. Others have painted him as a Donald Trump-style Latin American populist with a big ego and a distinctly dictatorial bent. Even some supporters admit they fret about Amlo’s authoritarian tendencies and whether he is truly a man of the left.

But most analysts believe Amlo has more in common with Brazil’s former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, a pragmatic one-time union firebrand who led his country from 2002 until 2011. Like Amlo, Lula spent years trying to become president before succeeding at his fourth attempt.

He plans to rethink Mexico’s war on drugs

During his victory speech on Sunday night Amlo shed some light on how he plans to tackle perhaps the most urgent problem facing Mexico: the growing drug-related violence that this year has claimed an average of 88 lives per day.

Amlo vowed to change the “failed strategy” his predecessors have used to tackle insecurity – a heavily militarized 11-year “war on drugs” which has claimed 200,000 lives.

Why did Mexico launch its war on drugs?

On 10 December 2006, president Felipe Calderón, launched Mexico’s war on drugs by sending 6,500 troops into his home state of Michoacán, where rival cartels were engaged in tit-for-tat massacres.

Calderón declared war eight days after taking power – a move widely seen as an attempt to boost his own legitimacy after a bitterly contested election victory. Within two months, around 20,000 troops were involved in operations across the country.

What has the war cost so far?

The US has donated at least $1.5bn through the Merida Initiative since 2008, while Mexico has spent at least $54bn on security and defence since 2007. Critics say that this influx of cash has helped create an opaque security industry open to corruption at every level.

But the biggest costs have been human: since 2007, around 230,000 people have been murdered and more than 28,000 reported as disappeared. Human rights groups have also detailed a vast rise in human rights abuses by security forces.

As the cartels have fractured and diversified, other violent crimes such as kidnapping and extortion have also surged. In addition, hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced by violence.

What has been achieved?

Improved collaboration between the US and Mexico has resulted in numerous high-profile arrests and drug busts. Officials say 25 of the 37 drug traffickers on Calderón’s most-wanted list have been jailed, extradited to the US or killed, although not all of these actions have been independently corroborated.

The biggest victory – and most embarrassing blunder – under Peña Nieto’s leadership was the recapture, escape and another recapture of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, leader of the Sinaloa cartel.

While the crackdown and capture of kingpins has won praise from the media and US, it has done little to reduce the violence.

How is the US involved?

Mexico’s decade-long war on drugs would never have been possible without the huge injection of American cash and military cooperation under the Merida Initiative. The funds have continued to flow despite growing evidence of serious human rights violations.

“More than the use of force, we will deal with the causes from which insecurity and violence originate,” Amlo said. “I am convinced that the most effective and humane way of fighting these ills involves combating inequality and poverty. Peace and tranquility are fruits of the justice.”

He’s a writer as well as a politician

Amlo isn’t just Mexico’s new president – he’s also a bookworm and author with no fewer than 14 titles to his name. His tomes include Don’t Say Goodbye to Hope, The Mafia That Took Possession of Mexico and The Mafia That Robbed Us of the Presidency about his first failed presidential bid, in 2006.

One of Amlo’s latest works examines what he calls Trump’s “hate campaign” against migrants and Mexico and is called Oye, Trump! (‘Listen up, Trump!’). “[We must] make [the US] see that … the most important thing is to build, here on earth, a kingdom of justice and universal fraternity where we can live without walls, poverty, fear, discrimination and racism,” Amlo writes.

The book was recently published in English with the title: A New Hope for Mexico: Saying No to Corruption, Violence, and Trump’s Wall.

He’s amigos with Jeremy Corbyn

Amlo’s friends include an influential British leftist: the Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, with whom he reportedly spent part of his 2016 Christmas holiday.

“Today brings a new beginning for México,” Corbyn tweeted after Amlo’s landslide win. “[His victory] offers the poor and marginalised a genuine voice for the first time in Mexico’s modern history. I’m sure #AMLO will be a president for all Mexicans.”

The pair are said to have met through Corbyn’s Mexican wife, Laura Álvarez, a former human rights layer who now runs a fair-trade coffee business in the UK. Corbyn, who has longstanding ties to Latin America, has spoken out against human rights abuses in Mexico and last week denounced the killing of more than 130 Mexican politicians during the election campaign.

Amlo reportedly once gifted Corbyn a selection of jipi hats. “Jeremy loved them,” one member of Amlo’s campaign told the Times.

He began his political career living in a shack

Amlo’s political awakening is said to have come during the late 1970s when he worked as a representative of Mexico’s National Indigenous Institute in his native state of Tabasco.

“He went to live in a shack just like the ones the indigenous families lived in,” José Agustín Ortiz Pinchetti recalls in a flattering new biography of his friend. During the six years he spent living with the Chontal Maya people, Amlo and his family slept in hammocks and endured “African temperatures of over 40C” with nothing but a single fan to keep them cool.

“López Obrador took on that role as if it was his destiny, with a missionary’s spirit,” Pinchetti writes.

(theguardian.com)

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

There is a reason for legalized pot, ballooning addictions, cheap liquor, electronic dumb phone feelies, ballooning personal debts, dubious post-secondary education buy-in, and scapegoating immigrants. If the population is dumbed down, inebriated, consumed with trivial communications (also addictive), high % jailed, fighting addictions, and angry at others for supposedly destroying their way of life, the real culprits can continue pillaging. Move along. Get back on the hamster wheel. We don’t need no stinkin’ socialism. No one tells me what health care I can have….(ooops none). Number 1, number 1, number 1. USA, USA, USA. MAGA. Honest. It’s working, obviously.

THIS IS IN ELK? WHO'D HAVE THUNK IT?

Chef Matt Kammerer may be the only boss anywhere who is pleased when one of his sous chefs arrives late for work, with the excuse that the young man “had to hit the beach.”

'Sea-to-table': Mendocino coast inspires Harbor House chef

A TURN FOR THE WORSE

by James Kunstler

The Democratic Party has steered itself into an exquisitely neurotic predicament at a peculiar moment of history. Senator Bernie Sanders set the tone for the shift to full-throated socialism, and the primary election win of 28-year-old Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in a New York congressional district seems to have ratified it. She promised voters free college tuition, single-payer health care, and free housing. Ah, to live in such a utopia!

One can actually understand why New Yorkers especially would fall for that agenda of promises. When I was a child there in the 1950s and 60s, New York was a mostly middle-class city. City College of New York, with a really distinguished faculty, was free. That’s right, stone free. Much of that middle-class was educated there, including most of my high school teachers. In the 1950s and 60s, it cost a few hundred dollars to have a baby in the hospital, and less than that to receive three stitches in the ER. Back then, New York real estate was mostly rental housing and not subject to the deformations of wandering global capital.

You can’t overstate how fortunate this country was after the Second World War. The mid-twentieth century was the apex of American industrial wealth. We produced real goods and lived in extraordinary comfort. Now, of course that has all turned around, the industry is mostly bygone, the magnificent energy supply is getting sketchy, and all that’s left is a false-front financialized economy based on swindling and accounting fraud. Medicine and health care have become unabashed rackets, and good luck finding a place to live for less than half of your monthly income.

Things have changed, as Bob Dylan once noted in song, and the times they are a ‘changing once again. This is probably the worst time in recent history to go full-bore socialist. Look, it’s as simple as this: the 20^th century saw the greatest rise of global GDP ever. The prospect of that is what drove the various socialisms of the period — the belief that there would be evermore material wealth and that a lot of it had to be fairly redistributed to the workers who brought it into being. You can debate the finer socio-ethical points of that — and indeed that’s what much of politics consisted of throughout the industrialized world — but the stunning bonanza of wealth compelled it.

That is the world we are moving out of right now, despite the fantasies of Elon Musk and the many techno pied pipers like him. GDP growth has stalled, the implacable trend is toward contraction, and the wizards of financial hocus-pocus are running out of tricks for pretending that they create anything of value. In short: there’s no there there. All that’s left are IOUs for loans that will never be paid back — and that kind of loan (especially in the form of a bond) doesn’t have any value.

So, the Democratic Party has embarked on a crusade to redistribute the wealth of the nation at the exact moment when the “wealth” is turning out to be gone. Good luck with that.

A perhaps more high-toned and fine-tuned version of this program is the new scheme called “universal basic income” (UBI). A Silicon Valley zillionaire named Andrew Yang has launched a 2020 presidential bid based on this UBI. You can listen to his pitch in this excellent discussion with Sam Harris here. Yang is obviously sincere. He proposes to give every citizen around $1,000 a month whether they have a job or not. You can mount any number of arguments about how this might incentivize behavior for better or worse, but if something like that were ramped up, I assure you it could only be done with a debased currency on track toward oblivion. The wealth is no longer there and the representation of it in “money” will be obviously false.

Don’t get too worked-up, either, over the Big Story that robots will soon be doing all the jobs lately done by humans in America. That fantasy of the next economy is actually already dead-on-arrival due to the energy predicament that virtually no one in the public arena is paying any attention to. The century-long oil bonanza is winding down again. The oil companies know it. They’re not spending any money on exploration, meaning they won’t replace the energy we’re currently burning up with new supply. To make matters more interesting, the alt-energy industries will not survive the demise of oil. You have no idea how this dilemma will shove the life of our nation into something like a new medieval age. And don’t be surprised if it comes complete with a new feudalism — which is just a way of describing a deeply local economy, if you can make one at all.

The Democratic Party’s return to socialist nostrums could not happen at a less propitious moment. It’s one thing to spend other people’s money during an age of steadily rising GDP, and another thing when GDP is collapsing. It might even prove to be a winning strategy in a few elections. But that depends on how delusional the voters remain.

(Support Kunstler’s writing by visiting his Patreon Page.)

SIX-FIGURE SALARIES CALLED LOW-INCOME

In the latest sign of the astronomical cost of living in parts of California, the federal government now classifies a family of four earning up to $117,400 as low-income in three counties around the Bay Area. That threshold, the highest of its kind in the nation, applies to San Francisco, San Mateo and Marin counties. It’s used to determine eligibility for federal and local housing assistance programs. (But it’s different from the federal poverty guidelines.) To generate the number, officials at the Department of Housing and Urban Development factor in the median income and average housing costs in an area. The second-highest threshold is in Honolulu, according to the agency, but the third is also in the Bay Area, in Santa Clara County, the heart of Silicon Valley. “It’s arguably the most expensive city in the country, so what that translates to is really not that much money,” said Ed Cabrera, a HUD spokesman who is based in San Francisco. “Especially with children in an area where properties are considered affordable if they’re going for half a million dollars.” The “low income” designation allows people to qualify for affordable housing and a variety of government programs, such as those for first-time homebuyers. But officials noted that a vast majority of San Francisco-area residents who get direct housing assistance, such as vouchers known as Section 8, are well below the maximum low-income standard: The average household that receives assistance makes just $18,000.

(Karen Zraick, New York Times)

AMERICA THE FAILED STATE

Our “corporate coup d’état in slow motion,” as the writer John Ralston Saul calls it, has opened a Pandora’s box of evils that is transforming America into a failed state. The “unholy trinity of corruption, impunity and violence,” he said, can no longer be checked. The ruling elites abjectly serve corporate power to exploit and impoverish the citizenry. Democratic institutions, including the courts, are mechanisms of corporate repression. Financial fraud and corporate crime are carried out with impunity.

— Chris Hedges

truthdig.com/articles/america-the-failed-state/

FLOW KANA CLOSES $22 MILLION IN SERIES A FINANCING LED BY GOTHAM GREEN PARTNERS

Flow Kana has raised a total of $50 million to date to scale the sungrown cannabis supply chain built around independent craft cannabis farms

businesswire.com/news/home/20180702005300/en/Flow-Kana-Closes-22-Million-Series-Financing

MANY SAY THE RESIGNATION of Justice Kennedy represents a ‘threat to democracy’ because Trump will no doubt appoint someone keen to serve his authoritarian bent. But a democracy that can be threatened or even “destroyed” by the resignation of one unelected official (with a lifelong term) and the appointment of another unelected official (with a lifelong term) by an ‘elected’ official who didn’t even receive the majority of votes is a strange kind of democracy, isn’t it? Does that really sound like a strong and vigorous system for ensuring that the democratic will of the citizenry is properly and securely addressed? Why do we have a system where a defeated candidate can take the highest office in the land, then wield the power of making lifelong appointments to an unelected body which holds the ultimate sway over our public (and personal) life? What kind of democracy or republic do we have when someone who was not actually the choice of the majority of voters can re-shape the nation in a fundamental way, for generations to come, by making a few appointments to an unelected panel?

— Chris Floyd

ANOTHER SIGN THAT THE END TIMES ARE UPON US

20 pounds of human waste dropped on San Francisco street corner

by Amy Graff

A foul odor permeated from a massive bag of human excrement sludge left on a street corner in San Francisco's Tenderloin district Saturday.

The horrendous smell and sight quickly gained notoriety when a Reddit user posted a screen shot of a report made to San Francisco's Citizen app for identifying crimes.

"Twenty pounds of feces dumped onto sidewalk," the report called out.

Nancy Alfaro, a spokesperson for 311, says three reports of the human waste at the corner of Cedar and Polk were made to the city's customer service number and app on Saturday.

"The customers did report a large amount of waste," Alfaro says. "It was sent to Public Works."

Alfaro says while reports of human waste are common, this large of an amount is "not typical."

She "has no idea" why the bag was left in the neighborhood.

Another Reddit user posted an image of the bag of poop on Saturday evening and said it was still there "as of 8 p.m."

"It was the most atrocious smell I've ever smelled in San Francisco," user tusi2 said.

The user said the waste was still on the corner at 10 p.m. but by Sunday morning it was gone.

"I wouldn't say this typical," said tusi2, who has lived in the Tenderloin for two years. "I can't say I've seen anything like that. I've seen open feces, smeared feces. I commend whoever put it in a bag. It could have been much worse."

Rachel Gordon, a spokesperson for San Francisco's Department of Public Works, confirms the mess was cleaned up Saturday night and she says a DNA sample wasn't taken to confirm whether it was human feces or waste from another animal.

"I don't know the source," Gordon says. "It could be people. It could be dogs. It could have been feces picked up from street. It could have been from someone's house. I'm glad it was in one place and in a bag."

Complaints about human waste around San Francisco increased by 400 percent from 2008 to 2018, according to 311. There were more than 21,000 reports made to 311 in 2017 alone. (Note: Some of the increase is likely due to more people using 311 when it became accessible through an app in 2013.)

The waste is largely linked to the thousands of people living in the city without housing and without access to public restrooms.

The City of San Francisco has added 18 staffed public restrooms known as pit stops since 2014 and there are plans to add five more. "We average about 1 flush every 10 minutes, collectively from those," says Rachel Gordon, a spokesperson for San Francisco's Department of Public Works.

FLOODGATE FARM on Heart Mountain is offering an expanded Salad University on Sunday July 15 from 12:45 PM until 4:30 PM at 12400 Bakers Creek Rd, Redwood Valley. The class/workshop will explore the secrets of, and actually make, Wild Chips, Thistle Lemonade, and our 40-50 ingredient salad mix. We will present information on health-giving properties of the plants and tips on how best to grow and harvest them, or from what types of places to wildcraft them. Class will conclude with a potluck and sampling of the creations we make. Instructors: farmer, permaculturist and composer Bill Taylor, farmer, artist and raw foods chef Jaye Alison Moscariello. Meet 12:15 pm at Ukiah United Methodist Church parking lot, Smith and Bush, or at 12:45 pm at West Road exit 557 off of 101, across from bus stop. Caravan/carpools will leave at 12:25 sharp from Ukiah UMC, 12:55 sharp from West Rd. Cost is $30. 707-272-1688, edibleland@earthlink.net, info on the farm is at www.floodgatefarm.com (no http://)

For more information: Bill Taylor, 707-272-1688, edibleland@earthlink.net

THE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF MENDOCINO COUNTY ANNOUNCES ANDERSON VALLEY SCHOLARSHIP WINNERS

The Community Foundation of Mendocino County awarded $138,500 in scholarships to 63 students at graduation ceremonies across Mendocino County this month. Thanks to generous donors this represents an increase of $12,500 compared to 2017. Scholarships ranged from $500-$10,000, with the average size of about $2,000. This year's scholarships were made possible through 26 Community Foundation scholarship funds. Unique Scholarships for Remarkable Youth within the Anderson Valley While many scholarships are offered to students pursuing bachelor's degrees, the Community Foundation offers a number of opportunities for young people pursuing vocational education. One of the new vocational scholarships is the Hammond Trust Emergency Services Scholarship. Created by the Ukiah Fire Fighters Association in honor of Virginia and George Hammond, this scholarship is awarded to Mendocino County high school students and/or graduates to pursue careers as EMTs, paramedics, or firefighters. Morgan Kobler received this award. He plans to attend Cal Poly to pursue a degree in fire science. JT Carlin and Morgan Kobler were awarded the Jesse Pittman Memorial Scholarship. Jesse Pittman was a local navy seal who was tragically killed in action in Afghanistan. Both of these gentlemen display the grit and determination that Jesse possessed during his life. JT will head to Boston College to study law or perhaps become a teacher. Cozette Ellis was honored with the California Retired Teachers Association Bessie Scott Scholarship. This talented young woman will attend University of Washington in the fall. The support our students receive is only possible because the community gives back to future generations. Join us to make more opportunities for students available. To donate or to learn more about the Community Foundation Scholarship Program, please visit our website, communityfound.org, or call 468-9882.

* * *

This year’s scholarships were made possible through 26 Community Foundation scholarship funds. 17 scholarships were awarded to Mendocino and Fort Bragg high school students this year.

Unique Scholarships for Remarkable Youth on the Mendocino Coast

The Skye Scholarship is looking for students who excel in an area of their lives that may not be academics and who have overcome obstacles in their lives. The Skye Scholarship embodies the Foundation’s view that scholarships are not just about the funds received, but also about the community support received throughout the student’s academic experience. This year’s Skye recipients included Abigail Calderon and Anne Kalantarian. Abigail is headed to Santa Rosa Junior College to pursue a career as a neonatal nurse. Anne plans to attend Mendocino College in the fall.

Ricardo Josue Manzano, Keyla Venegas, Abigail Martinez Cervera, Celeste Munoz, Daisy Maravilla, Isabella Soboleski and Andrea Gaona were honored with the Community Foundation of Mendocino County Scholarship. This award was created to assist deserving students who differentiated themselves during the interview process. Ricardo will attend Dominican University in the fall. Keyla will go to San Francisco State University. Abigail and Andrea are headed to Sacramento State University. Isabella will be attending Cal Poly this fall. Celeste will attend Santa Clara University and Daisy will be attending St. Mary’s College.

Jay and Terri Hudson created a scholarship in memory of their son, Todd Hudson. This scholarship is awarded to a graduate of Fort Bragg High School who played for the boys Varsity basketball team and demonstrates perseverance, compassion, and a sense of humor. Clay Pyorre received this honor. Clay is headed to Sierra College to pursue a career in firefighting.

Aimee Gordon, Hannah Moore, Jazmin Atherton-Walsh and Olivia Grinberg-Philips were awarded the Alma & August Mendosa Scholarship. Aimee will begin her freshmen year at UC Santa Cruz, Hannah at UC Irvine and Jazmin at UC Davis. Olivia will start at Columbia University in the fall.

Tallulah Fattorusso was awarded both the California Retired Teachers Association Hilmer Finne Music Scholarship award as well as the Jerry Juhl Fund for the Arts Scholarship. She was chosen for her desire to pursue a career in the arts. Tallulah will be headed to Southern Oregon University.

The support our students receive is only possible because the community gives back to future generations. Join us to make more opportunities for students available. To donate or to learn more about the Community Foundation Scholarship Program, please visit our website, www.communityfound.org, or call 468-9882.

JULY 10, 2018 FISH AND GAME COMMISSION MEETING AGENDA

F&GAgenda

FUNGI, FORAGING, FERMENTATION, FIRST FRIDAYS AND FUN!

County-wide Mushroom Festival

Fungi Plus: Nov 2-11, 2018

Call for Participants

Visit Mendocino County is getting the ball rolling for their upcoming November county-wide festival which celebrates Fungi (aka mushrooms), plus the newly added themes of Farming, Fermentation and Foraging.

That's four Fs but it's going to take five, and we are hoping that you will add the missing ingredient... the fifth F (for Fun!)

Put on your thinking caps and come up with a fantastic feature we can include in this foodie fun fest...

For example, consider things like:

Fun Farm Tours + Talks,

Feral Food Foraging,

Festive Fermentation Fetes,

Formulate a Fungi Feast,

From Farm (Forage and/or Ferment) to Fork, just to name a few...

Formal, fanciful or freewheeling, your function need only focus on some facet of the four F's, and take place during November 2-11, to fit flawlessly into the festivities! Deadline for participation and to be included in our event brochure is August 17.

For more information, or for idea facilitation, feel free to call Luz Harvey, VMC Event Coordinator at 707-964-9010 or Luz@VisitMendocino.com. Already know what you want to do? Use this and get us your info!