Mendocino County Today: Friday, Sep. 14, 2018

• McCowen Rumor
• Albion Lawsuit
• Foodshed Fair
• TV
• Recommended Reading
• Little Dog
• Blank Checks
• Voicemail Brown
• Praise-a-thon
• Hospital Meetings
• Noyo Net
• Political-Media Complex
• Pinches Endorsement
• Yesterday's Catch
• Food Radio
• Grand Strategy
• Fireproof Homes
• Perception
• Science Sunday
• USA Healthcare
• Meetings Canceled
• Museum Admission
• Behind Bars
• Busytown
• FBI Infiltration
• Hurricane Florence

OVERHEARD AT THE NCRA MEETING

John McCowen came out of closed session, earlier today, to answer a phone call in a place where it was hard to avoid eavesdropping. It seems that it came from the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office. From what I gather, someone had accused McCowen of pulling a taser on them at a river, somewhere. Under a bridge. McCowen protested to the deputy that it was pepper spray, not a taser, and that he had it in hand because someone -- a different person, I think -- had been screaming at him from the other side of the river. As best I could understand it, McCowen told the deputy that he was walking back up to his truck with the pepper spray at the ready because of the screaming person, and the other person -- the complainant -- came up behind him and startled him.

WE EMAILED McCOWEN for his version of his interface with a homeless man (presumably male). Did the 2nd District Supervisor let the guy have it in a sort of stand-his-ground face-off with an assailant? We do know that McCowen spends many, many of his free hours cleaning up after the transients camped along the Russian River and its feeder streams in the Ukiah Valley. We also know that McCowen has often been threatened by campers for merely asking them to clean up after themselves. Stay tuned.

WE'RE WAITING for confirmation that a group of Albion residents has indeed sued Caltrans over proposed work aimed at replacing the old bridge over the Albion River. Uh, at the risk of the Albion Nation's formidable ire, the design of the replacement bridge seems to us quite pleasing, not at all an eyesore but, of course, not as aesthetically intriguing as the present old span.

OOPS. THIS JUST IN: Albion resident Jim Heid reports: “The Albion River Inn and the Whitesboro Farm have filed suit in San Francisco to block the geotechnical investigation that was approved by the California Coastal Commission yesterday.” After which a wag named Craig Johnson commented, “When the bridge fails during a seismic event and injures and kills people, who do we get to sue?” Several other coast residents approved, however, one of whom added, perhaps sarcastically, “Maybe a bridge hugging is in order?”

AV FOODSHED sponsors the produce entries on display in the back of the Ag Building at the Mendocino County Fair each year. We donate the money that pays for the ribbons to the winners. When you visit the Fair this weekend, remember to check out those displays to see what food your Mendo County neighbors are growing. Our Foodshed table will once again be behind the Apple Tasting booth at the front of the Ag Building. You can pick up a quarter sheet flyer there with the basics about C’mon Home to Eat in October this year.

RECOMMENDED READING:

(1) “Cattle Kingdom: The Hidden History of the Cowboy West” by Christopher Knowlton. I hadn't realized that many of the large-scale cattle ranches were joint investments of Brit aristos, Brit as in English, Irish and Scot, but certainly aristocrats whose lives with American frontier types was often mutually unintelligible. Teddy Roosevelt, was also a cattleman in his youth and looked back at his days on the still wild Plains with great nostalgia; his story is included here. Knowlton's fascinating book also includes detailed accounts of the average cowboy's life — impossibly hard work for starvation wages — and much early history of cow towns like Witchita and Abilene.

(2) “Dixie: A Personal Odyssey Through Events That Shaped The South” by Curtis Wilkie begins with a chilling phone interview with Byron De La Beckwith, assassin of Medgar Evars and a founder of Mississippi's White Citizen's Council. (Murderously opposed to all races except the white one, Catholics including white Catholics, Jews and everyone else except dumb ass crackers.) The author is also a Mississippian who returns from a big city career in journalism to take a close look at his home state which, you shouldn't be surprised to learn, is not Mendocino, but given the choice, Mississippi is far more interesting. De La Beckwith, incidentally, was born and is buried in Colusa, of all places, where his father was postmaster. When his father died, De La Beckwith's mother, took him at age 5 to his parents' home state of Mississippi. How the Colusa connection was made is not known, at least to me. De La Beckwith was also a decorated Marine who fought in the South Pacific during World War Two. He died in prison when he was finally convicted after decades of acquittals by all-white juries of murdering Evers. Lots of interesting stuff in this one beyond De La Beckwith.

(3) “Titan, the Life of John D. Rockefeller Sr.” by Ron Chernow. I got it from my fellow bibliophile, Tommy Wayne Kramer, illustrious Sunday columnist for the Ukiah Daily Journal and a native of Cleveland where the titan himself began his ascendancy as the richest man in the world. Contrasting the old mega-capitalists like Rockefeller with, say, people like Trump, and even gifted entrepreneurs like Elon Musk, is how grotesque the new titans seem alongside the old rags to riches fortunes like those amassed by Rockefeller, Carnegie, Frick, Morgan and the rest of them. I was surprised to learn that Rockefeller, even as a kid laboring for peanuts, faithfully tithed a portion of his wages to his Baptist church and was, all his life, a ruthless but generous man.

(4) “The Death Ship” by B. Traven, one of the great mystery men of world lit whose true identity is still the subject of much argument with most scholars concluding he was an American born to German parents who took him to Poland for his formative years between the great wars. Or vice versa. Whoever he was, and in the description that seems to fit him best, Traven was a man of the persecuted, non-communist left, an anarcho-syndicalist whose novels were always graphic, ground floor denunciations of capitalism told by the people on the receiving end of free enterprise. Traven had clearly put in his time as a prole and a stateless political person, finally landing permanently in Mexico. Death Ship describes the life of a penniless seamen whose ship sailed without him but with all his identification. He's expelled from one European country after another until he signs on to the death ship. Traven's fiction is sui generis, especially in its depictions of Europe and Mexico between the wars.

LITTLE DOG SAYS, “I'm supposed to go to the Boonville Fair looking like this?”

POSSIBLY IN RESPONSE to our recent item about all the retroactive consent calendar items on Tuesday’s agenda, Supervisor John McCowen attempted to explain why nobody pulled any of the five that we saw. After the entire consent calendar was approved unanimously McCowen commented:

“There are a number of retroactive agreements on the consent calendar. However, at least most of them, meet the criteria that they were due to circumstances beyond the control of the county so the revenue agreements and so forth in HHSA — that's simply the way those have to be done based on the way funding is dispersed to cover those costs. So they are legitimate consent items.”

SO AT LEAST McCOWEN realized that they appeared to be violations of his “no retroactive agreements” “edict.” And McCowen may be right about the way the funding works in [Health & Human Services] HHSA sometimes. But if that were true the four HHSA items would have included an explanation about why they had to be retroactive to truly be valid exceptions from the “edict” and thus eligible for the consent calendar.

MCCOWEN FAILED TO MENTION the fifth retroactive item from the County Counsel’s office, however, which called for the Supes to sign off on an additional $25k that had already been handed over to costly outside attorneys on the long-drawn out child custody case that the County Counsel’s office has now spent $275k on — just for lawyer costs. And these high priced talkers from the Great Outside Mendo lost the case. Or at least so far they’ve lost in federal court. It would have been a good opportunity for McCowen to ask how much more the Supes are going to spend on this loser of a case and where the additional money’s coming from.

BUT when it comes to the big bucks for outside lawyers the Board has been reduced to signing blank checks and not even asking any questions. Other questions might have been raised too, like, why didn’t we settle this early on? What’s been done to prevent these kinds of suits? Etc. Instead, all we get is irrelevant explanations of the wrong things. (ms)

A READER WRITES: Excellent conclusion to the Supes and Ms. Escobar, concerning building permits. Why can't they think on their feet/or seats enough to agendize an obvious problem? As for Carre Brown, if she doesn't know what a voicemail is, it's long past time for her to retire. Way too entrenched in her own miniscule, out of touch, power world. Great job covering this.

ALSO ON TUESDAY, Supervisor McCowen elected to shower praise on former “Interim” Planning and Building Director Nash Gonzalez who has been transferred to Recovery Director now that Tammy Moss Chandler has been moved back to Health & Human Services Director, replacing Anne The Inevitable Molgaard, who apparently returns to her redundant but highly lucrative (for her) job of Assistant HHSA Director.

SUPERVISOR JOHN McCOWEN: "As Director [Nash] Gonzalez transitions from Interim Planning And Building Services Director to the Recovery Director, I just want to take a moment to acknowledge your [Gonzalez’s] leadership and the dedication of your staff in working through as many issues as quickly as possible to expedite permit approval processes, so we are never going to do everything perfectly, but I think overall you have set a very commendable record for being responsive and timely in getting permit approvals out there so people can get on with their rebuilding and recovery."

Gonzalez puckered up and returned a big smackeroo to the Supes.

NASH GONZALEZ: "It's thanks to you, the board, that has given me the opportunity to move the department in that direction. But I also want to thank the department staff that also stepped up during the fires, that also stepped up during the recovery efforts and took it upon themselves to initiate protocols and processes basically without having to be told. They just did it. Mike Oliphant and his team did not need to be told. They just did it. Mike and his team started doing fire assessments while it was going on. So one of the things we started to do was engage as a department, the state offices, especially DTSC [Department of Toxic Substances Control] early on to be able to get them going out there in the field. We jumped ahead before Sonoma County was able to do their part to get people mobilized here in the county first. We were able to get the state agencies here first so that we could get ahead of the curve. It's thanks to the managers in the department that for their quick thinking on this. And also our CEO who provided us with guidance. This is what these people do best — congratulate each other for simply doing what they're supposed to do where everybody compliments everybody do but never produce any solid evidence that it’s gotten done. [Long Pause] And also our CEO who provided us with guidance."

THIS is what these people do best — congratulate each other for simply doing what they're supposed to do where everybody compliments everybody else but they never produce any evidence that it’s gotten done.

THAT LAST SENTENCE — “…And also our CEO who provided us with guidance” — was a sort of awkward afterthought that seemed entirely gratuitous. This impression was supported by a round of oddly nervous giggling lead by Supervisor Carre Brown and Supervisor Dan Hamburg. It sounded like a kind of unfunny inside unwritten rule where everybody has to pay tribute to the CEO at every opportunity and everybody giggles at how silly they all look when they willingly comply. (ms)

COAST HOSPITAL Finance & Planning Committee time change

I urge anyone with an interest in our hospital's survival to attend BOTH of these meetings. An important topic on the agenda for the Planning Committee is the change in the draft By-Laws for the soon to be formed Measure C Oversight committee. The Planning Committee members objected to the first draft Steve Lund submitted because the language precluded oversight in the true meaning of the word. I'm anxious to see if the amended draft reflects this.

At the Finance Committee Meeting, I plan to bring up AGAIN the still unresolved issue of how and why the Physicians Emergency Group, a for-profit corporation, is using the EIN of MCDH, a 501(c)(3). Also, the impossibility of acquiring the original signed Form 1023, which was filed by MCDH with the IRS in 2010. When I contacted the IRS, they refused to provide any documentation to anyone who isn't a MCDH administrator or board member. What's become of the Freedom of Information Act and CA's constitutional amendment which enhances it?

If you would like a packet emailed to you for either meeting or both, contact Gayl Moon at MCDH and submit a request. 961-4610 or gmoon@mcdh.net

Margaret Paul, Hospital Supporter

NOYO HARBOR

BRE’R RABBIT & THE POLITICAL-MEDIA COMPLEX

by Mike Koepf

Forget about the famed military-industrial complex of the Eisenhower years. It isn’t what it was. Yes, we have a military, but the industrial complex was shipped to China years ago. In current times, the political-media complex is the danger that we face.

Regionally, for instance, take Kevin Fixler, (media) who writes for the Press Democrat, partially owned by Doug Bosco (political). A few Sundays ago, Fixler reported that Jerry Brown and our one party-dominated legislature (Democrats) will soon be passing a bill that would take the North Pacific Railroad, partially owned by Doug Bosco, out of the hands of the North Coast Railroad Authority.

The North Coast Railroad Authority was created some years ago to transfer responsibility for the North Pacific railroad to the state—i.e. taxpayers. How this all works, does anybody really know? The state and private enterprise help each other out. And what railroad as a matter of fact? The tracks between Willits and Eureka are as serviceable as the tracks between Hamburg and Berlin during World War Two.

The sponsor of the current bill is Senator Smiling Mike McGuire whose political and financial puppet master just happens to be — you guessed it— Bosco. The takeover scheme is being hidden behind the green fog of righteous environmentalism. McGuire believes the NCR right-of-way between Willits and Eureka would make an excellent biking, hiking and riding trail — good for ATVs too. How much will this cost, both to buy out NCR and remove the tracks and ties, which do not make good biking unless you want to lose your teeth. And who cleans up the horseshit, and will the hikers be sucking exhaust from ATVs for two hundred miles and more? These are complications that Fixler (again, media) fails to note as he lobbed slow-pitch softball inquiries to both Bosco and McGuire. How much will McGuire’s pie-and-hiking boots-in-the-sky scheme actually cost after Bosco’s railroad is purchased by the state?

After Bosco is bought out, what’s left — a shovel and a pick to allow the trail to begin? California currently has the highest rate of poverty in of the United States. Do we need another hiking trail while people are sleeping on the streets?

Fixler (media) whose paycheck comes from Bosco, (political) made his boss look good when he asked him in his article: Would he (Bosco) actually sell his choo-choo trains? Bosco played it coy, stating: “Like anything else, I’d consider it (selling the NCR).... but it really isn’t our bill and we're not actively marketing the railroad at all. Our trains are running and we want to expand.”

Of course there’s nothing running between Willits and Eureka save for deer and slithering snakes. It’s a classic, Bosco, Bre’r Rabbit moment. “Please, Mr. Fox with your pockets full of taxpayer cash don’t throw me in the briar patch and make me sell my tracks.”

The political-media complex is thriving where we live.

PINCHES!

Greetings Editor,

A few thoughts on the current Third District supervisor race from a long-time Laytonville resident.

We had an outstanding amount of candidates this spring. It was no surprise that John Pinches was one of the front runners. He is well liked and well respected over here. I was very surprised that one of our strong women candidates wasn’t the other contender this fall. We have a lot of fierce women over here and I thought both Shawna and Susie were worthy of support. I have met John and Janice Haschak a number of times and spoken at length with them. They are both sweet lovely folks. But Mr. Haschak just isn’t the candidate we need currently. John Pinches is our clear choice. Good, intelligent, common sense. A real rural upbringing and lifestyle. He knows the ropes at Low Gap. The Third District has been without representation for so long, we need someone who can hit the bricks running.

I encourage Third District voters to elect John Pinches for Supervisor this November.

Sincerely,

Rose Brown

Laytonville

CATCH OF THE DAY, September 13, 2018

STEPHANIE ALVAREZ, Clearlake. Petty theft, disobeying court order.

MICHELA CAMPBELL, Ukiah. Battery.

CORINNA FAHEY, Manchester. Controlled substance.

KALLYN FOWLER, Ukiah. Evasion.

ARTHUR HOBBS, Boonville. Controlled substance, paraphernalia, probation revocation.

ERICK HOLT, Middletown/Ukiah. Failure to appear.

RYAN PADGET, Laytonville. Attempted burglary, burglary tools, interference with police communications, probation revocation.

NATHAN RICHARD, Ukiah. DUI-alcohol-drugs, controlled substance.

FARM AND GARDEN SHOW, MON. SEPT. 17, 11 AM-NOON:

Bill Taylor and Jaye Alison Moscariello will host a local food show at the new 11 AM time on KZYX and Z radio, on Monday September 17th. Richard Jeske will talk about diverse table grapes and tree collards, leading up to a grape tasting event in October, and Linda MacElwee will discuss the Anderson Valley Foodshed's October "Come on Home to Eat" events, and we will touch on the carbon farm plan program of the Mendocino County Resource Conservation District. Learn about how we can keep money in our communities, sequester carbon, and enjoy better health. Monday September 17th, 2018 from 11 AM to noon KZYX and Z, 91.5 FM Willits/Ukiah, 90.7 FM Philo, 88.1 FM in Fort Bragg, and on the web at kzyx.org.

* * *

Eating on the Wild Side, Oct. 21, 2018, 12:45-4:30 PM:

Eating on the Wild Side (formerly Salad University) Fall class will be Sunday October 21st from 12:45 to 4:30, including a potluck at the end. As a participant you will taste and learn about a few dozen plants used in Floodgate Farm's floral and herbal salad mix and wild chips, make a green smoothie, discover health-giving properties of the plants, and we will share strategies to manage a diverse guild of weeds and cultivated plants for your best health. Bill Taylor and Jaye Alison Moscariello are the instructors. Meets at West Road exit 557 off US 101 at 12:45 PM, caravan/carpool leaves 12:55 sharpo for the 5 mile trip to Floodgate Farm on Heart Mountain (Laughlin Peak). Alternate meeting place is Ukiah United Methodist Church, 205 N. Bush St., Ukiah at 12:15 with 12:25 sharp departure. Cost is $30 and includes fact-filled handouts. 707-272-1688, edibleland@earthlink.net, www.floodgatefarm.com.

OLD AND NEW TESTAMENT IN AMERICAN GRAND STRATEGY

Audio recording of a lecture delivered on September 7, 2018 by Karl Walling as part of the Formal Lecture Series.

http://digitalarchives.sjc.edu/items/show/4135

FIREPROOF HOMES

Editor,

I’m an architect and have practiced in the North Bay for more than 30 years. Some of my house designs burned in Fountaingrove. It was a joy for me to design homes with redwood and cedar exterior woods, as the building harmonized with nature. Now I look upon them as future bonfires.

The head of Cal Fire says the answer to these fires is fireproof homes. I recently met a UC Berkeley structural engineering professor who has designed a wall that answers that need. It’s called the Energy Mass Wall, and depending on its thickness is a four-hour firewall with up to an R-100 insulation rating. It is as strong as an I-beam, can go four stories and is a mechanical wall as well, meaning it will heat and cool your house at a fraction of your current energy bill. It’s also cheaper to build with than wood.

When the first villages of Europe were built 1,000 years ago, they were made of wood, as it was plentiful. But a single fire would destroy a whole community, so villagers switched to stone. Stone is problematic in earthquake country, and this new technology is the direction we need to go if we wish to avoid more catastrophic fires, which have become our new normal.

Allan Nichol

San Rafael

“A TRIP to a Central American jungle to watch how Indians behave near a bridge won't make you see either the jungle or the bridge or the Indians if you believe that the civilization you were born into is the only one that counts. Go and look around with the idea that everything you learned in school and college is wrong.”

― B. Traven, The Bridge in the Jungle

DR. WALT PRESENTS

September 23, Dr. Walt McKeown at Community Center

On September 23, local scientist Dr. Walt McKeown will continue his series, SCIENCE SUNDAY, at the Community Center of Mendocino. The topic is a critical one, “Water: Mendo, Mars and the Moon.” Dr Walt will start the presentation at 6:30pm in the activity room of the center. Join us for more of Walt’s down home and clear presentation of scientific information. This information could prove valuable in times of extreme weather changes. The series is free. Phone 937-4133 for information.

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

As a mental exercise, just imagine if all gas stations colluded and no longer advertised the price of gas. You find out how much you owe after you fill up. Just imagine how that would affect the price of gas. That’s USA healthcare.

>>> The downside would be for people such as diabetics who, according to an RN friend of mine require huge expenses to maintain the treatments and medications that they require to stay alive.

And here again the system is rigged. If you have a lifelong illness that requires medication, why do you need to keep going back to your doctor to get your prescription renewed? Why doesn’t the doctor just check a little box that says “lifelong illness; no expiration”? This would allow patients to order drugs in bulk—years worth if inclined—enjoying the savings that go along with bulk purchasing.

BOARD OF SUPERVISORS STANDING COMMITTEE MEETINGS SEPTEMBER 24, 2018 - CANCELED

The Board of Supervisors Standing Committee meetings scheduled for September 24, 2018, have been canceled. Please contact the Executive Office at (707) 463-4441 if you have any questions regarding this message.

FREE ADMISSION TO THE MENDOCINO COUNTY MUSEUM WITH A MENDOCINO COUNTY LIBRARY CARD!

In coordination with Library Card Sign-up Month and in celebration of the creation of the Cultural Services Agency, the Mendocino County Library and Mendocino County Museum in partnership are promoting a new benefit to local residents: Show your Mendocino County Library card and visit the County Museum for FREE! The Cultural Services Agency would like to encourage local residents to be able to access more information with their Mendocino County Library card by kicking off Library-Card Sign-up Month by allowing free admission to the County museum on an ongoing basis. The Cultural Services Agency anticipates that this will bring in more local visitors to our valuable historical resource.

Barb Chapman
Administrative Services Manager I
Mendocino County Library
707-234-2871
www.mendolibrary.org

‘LIVING BEHIND BARS’

Spy Rock Road – home of The Lookouts!

My friends live in a bad part of town

And when I go to see them it always brings me down

There’s bars across their windows iron gates upon their door

And the whole neighborhood looks like the middle of a war

We crawl through the back streets in the dead of night

Windows rolled up and doors locked tight

Creep up the alley trying not to make a sound

Always looking round for what might be coming down

You know we haven’t got a nickel haven’t got a dime

Can’t even get on welfare cause we haven’t got the time

To be pushed and pulled through those bureaucratic slots

And have our lives filed away in some plastic box

I don’t know why it is

That people have to live like this

Gotta get out before it’s too late

Gotta get out whatever it takes

Because were living behind bars and we got no choice

Living behind bars and we got no voice

Living behind bars and we got to get away

On the other side of town there’s a great big wall

Where the rich man lives he’s afraid of it all

He’s worried about the people he might happen to meet

If he ever set foot out on the street

And the red lights flash and the sirens howl

And the burglar alarms ring and the guard dogs growl

Old lady fishing through a garbage can

but I still can’t seem to understand

Why we’re living behind bars and it’s time to move

Living behind bars what have we got to lose

Living behind bars and we got to get away

Living behind bars it seems like we got missed

Living behind bars how did it come to this

Living behind bars and we got to get away

Living behind bars every night and day

Living behind bars we can’t go on this way

Living behind bars and we got to get away

—Lawrence Livermore, 1989

FBI INFILTRATION INTO LEFTIST GROUPS

“A Threat of the First Magnitude: FBI Counterintelligence and Infiltration from the Communist Party to the Revolutionary Union — 1962-1974,” by Aaron Leonard and Conor Gallagher, has just been released. Jacobin interviews Leonard, who used to be a member of the Revolutionary Communist Party, which is extreme far left Maoist.

The book details how the FBI not only had informers, sometimes the informers were at very high leadership levels, and even created supposed far left groups that were used to create chaos and splits on the left, while pretending to be leftie. This of course continues today, the shunting off and deflecting of genuine protest into channels where it can be monitored and defused.

Lefties often greatly underestimate the FBI. The Ad Hoc Committee in the 1960s was what we would call an astroturf group today. It wasn’t real, represented no one, was an FBI front, and was so convincing it had real effect.

MU: The Ad Hoc Committee bulletin’s language is, at a very high level, operating with extreme familiarity with Marxism. It speaks the language of the Left. You would have to do a fair amount of studying of Marxist texts to write the kind of polemics that they were writing and be credible to people who are on the left. The FBI manages to do that.

AJL: Exactly. It used to be an article of faith on the Left that the FBI can’t bamboozle us with political line, because they wouldn’t be able to speak the language of the Left. Yeah, they totally can. The Ad Hoc Committee shows that.

I was a member of a far left group similar to RCP once, except it wasn’t Maoist, it was Stalinist. I was a terrible member, fell asleep during indoctrination classes, had an annoying habit of asking questions that contradicted the sacred precepts, and ended up being purged after realizing what they really were. A friend says being purged from groups like that is a badge of honor for some of us. Indeed.

A senior member of that party, who was white, said in complete seriousness that a black member should never be criticized because he is a victim of discrimination and thus apparently inerrant in whatever he did or said. Keep that in mind as you read the next paragraph.

The author discusses Malinovsky, an enforcer for Lenin who sent thousands to prison, torture, and death, and who was tolerated even though he was known to be an informer. Such informers exist today, and are tolerated, and can be hard to dislodge if they are people of color or working class, something the FBI is quite aware of, and exploits to their own ends, according to the author.

In Wright’s case, there were FBI documents basically saying, “this guy is black. This is a group of mostly white radicals. We need to take advantage of this. They’re not going to be willing to kick this guy out of the group because they want their group to be more rooted in the multiracial working class.” You have a chapter about a husband and wife, the Goffs, who were informants. Because they came from a working-class background, nobody wants to call them out.

(Politics in the Zeros, from Bob Morris)

TWO POTENTIALLY VULNERABLE NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS IN FLORENCE'S LANDFALL PATH

The Union of Concerned Scientists is warning that two potentially vulnerable coastal nuclear power stations at Brunswick Units 1 and 2 in South Port, NC and Surry Units 1 and 2 in Rushmore, VA are in the direct path of Hurricane Florence. Of concern, UCS reports that the operators of both Brunswick, two GE Mark I boiling water reactors and Surry, two Westinghouse pressurized water reactors, have not publicly documented that they successfully completed flood protection upgrades required by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission in the aftermath of Japan's March 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. The Brunswick units are nearly identical in design and construction to the Fukushima units that were destroyed in explosions and meltdowns resulting from the prolonged loss of electrical power caused by a massive earthquake and tsunami. A storm surge of 9 to 13 feet is anticipated at the location of the Brunswick units simultaneous to the prolonged flooding from inundating rain. Hurricane force winds are expected to knock out the electrical grid servicing the nuclear power stations' safety systems, placing the reactors on emergency power.

ucsusa.org/press/2018/hurricane-florence-track-hit-east-coast-nuclear-plants-0#.W5vDFC2ZPEZ

* * *

SATELLITE VIEW OF FLORENCE Approaching Landfall At Daybreak

cdn.star.nesdis.noaa.gov/GOES16/ABI/GIFS/GOES16-CAR-GEOCOLOR-1000x1000.gif

* * *

HURRICANE FLORENCE, 911 CLIMATE CHANGE TERRORISM

by Manuel Garcia Jr.

NEW 9-11 TERRORIST ATTACK!!

Yes, it’s true! On 11 September 2018, terrorists based in Washington D.C., and sponsored by the dinosaur bones mining, pumping and burning industries, have relaxed rules restricting methane emissions from mines and oil and gas wells (for privatized profits at socialized costs), which will result in enhanced hydrocarbon atmospheric pollution that will accelerate Global Warming.

AND JUST IN TIME!

Because Hurricane Florence, currently a Category 4 hurricane (and possibly strengthening toward the maximum possible, Category 5) is barreling down on North Carolina (a good choice, they voted for Trump), and 1.5 MILLION people have been urged/ordered to evacuate from coastal areas.

Hurricane Florence is being amplified by Climate Change (Global Warming) because:

1) the sea level is now higher (by about 1 foot in the western Atlantic near the Carolinas) because of previous ice cap melting and runoff (and heat-induced expansion of seawater), so the “storm surge” (like an extra super duper high tide) flooding of coastal lowlands, swept in by the hurricane, will be more extensive (i.e. worse); and

2) because the ocean is warmer (by Global Warming) and thus has much more energy (heat) available to pump up wind speed/energy in hurricanes, and so they have more capacity to destroy structures and infrastructure (like telephone and power poles, and fallen power lines start fires; also to uproot trees, smash houses and lift off roofs); and

3) because Global Warming/Climate Change has altered the path of the Jet Stream — the high-latitude, high-speed, high-altitude, west-to-east ring of wind current that normally pushes Atlantic hurricanes eastward back out into the Atlantic Ocean, away from the US East Coast — (has altered the path of the Jet Stream) farther to the north, so it now DOES NOT push Atlantic hurricanes toward the east, away from the US East Coast. So Hurricane Florence will stall when it makes landfall, and dump humongous amounts of rain in the same spot (same localized region) of mainly North Carolina, which will cause huge inland flooding. This is exactly what happened last year (2017) with Hurricane Harvey over Houston, which resulted in the largest flooding event in US history.

We can expect fatalities of American citizens.

Since:

– all these coming effects of Hurricane Florence (and Hurricanes Helene and Isaac, right behind) were known to be inevitable, and

– since Global Warming/Climate Change is known to be the “natural” culprit (super-charging an already dangerous natural weather event), and

– since pollution by greenhouse gases is known (and has been known for over half a century) to be the human action producing the super-charged “natural culprit” of this approaching Climate-Weather Catastrophe, and

– since it is known that this human action has been committed by high U.S. government officials solely for the pecuniary advantage of the fossil fuels industries (who fund these pols’s kick-backs), and

– as it is known such action will directly harm — even kill — American citizens,

– then it is directly clear that said high U.S. government officials are committing premeditated murder (and at the very very minimum reckless endangerment including manslaughter).

This is all-out terrorism against millions of Americans on US soil.

The US War On Terror needs to focus all its forces on Washington D.C., and Wall Street, New York City (and its satellite corporate terrorist base camps, cash dumps and training centers lurking deep in the Uncle Sam Homeland), and capture and liberate that currently occupied — by neo-fascists — national capital city.

At this moment, murder charges could be filed in any state court against these still-at-large-criminals (hiding out in bought-elected federal and state offices) because of the direct linkage between their premeditated actions, their criminal intent to harm rather than protect American citizens (a direct violation of their oaths for government service, and their primary duty as members of American government: protecting the public) and the past and now impending and inevitable harm to be suffered by many members of the American public.

9-11 terror is here now, but on a continental scale, not just a citywide scale — with Hurricane Armageddon on the East Coast and Gulf Coast, Wildfire Armageddon west of the Great Plains, and more and bigger tornadoes inevitable for the Mississippi Watershed and Great Plains.

We are having our continent-wide mainland USA “Pearl Harbor” attack by Climate Change-amplified weather, which is state-sponsored terrorism that is caused directly by the fossil fuel industry-owned terrorist-capitalist network of Republican Party and corporatist Democratic Party pretenders and occupiers of U.S. Government (and states’ governments) Executive, Congressional and Judicial public offices.

This is treason, and demands a complete and thorough revolution.

Exhibit A (thanks to Norman T.): https://www.democracynow.org/2018/9/11/climate_change_supercharges_hurricane_florence_as

(Manuel Garcia, Jr, once a physicist, is now a lazy househusband who writes out his analyses of physical or societal problems or interactions. He can be reached at mangogarcia@att.net.)