Mendocino County Today: Wednesday, Nov. 28, 2018

• Soccer Champs
• River Level
• Unsettled Weather
• Pet Adoptions
• B Material
• Toy Drive
• Monopoly Mike
• Little Dog
• Ed Notes
• Yesterday's Catch
• Sweeping Genius
• Cheapskate
• Pop-ups
• Rat Reform
• Amen
• Prop 57
• Library Events
• Wrong Direction
• Ceramics Sale
• Malheur Enterprise
• Steelhead Effort
• Fred Trump
• Perverse Priorities
• Market Value

ANDERSON VALLEY 2018 DIVISION 3 SOCCER CHAMPS!

In a hard-fought game played on a drenched Tom Smith Memorial Field, #1 seed Anderson Valley converted two penalty kicks (Juan Reynosa & Alex Tovar) to earn the Division 3 Boys Championship Tuesday afternoon in Boonville.

Miraculously, it didn’t rain.

#2 seed Jewish Community played the Panthers to a 0-0 stalemate in the first half and took a quick 1-0 lead early in the second half thanks to a header by junior Ethan Finestone.

A handball in the box gave Juan Reynosa his opportunity at a penalty shot - and he blasted one home past JCHS goalie Johnny Felder to tie the game 1-1.

Later in the second half - a half we might add that seemed to go awfully quick - a trip from behind in the box saw Alex Tovar get his chance at a penalty shot - and he quickly found the back of the net to nail what turned out to be the game winning goal.

Anderson Valley is no stranger to the winner’s circle - they won Division 3 Championships in: 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, and now 2018.

They were runner up to Roseland College last year.

(MendocinoSportsPlus)

NAVARRO RIVER LEVEL BEHAVING

NO THREAT OF FLOODING HWY 128 - SO FAR

MSP always keeps a close look at the Navarro River level - especially with the sandbar at its mouth blocking flow into the ocean.

Last year, after rainfall with the sandbar in place - Highway 128 was closed by CalTrans for more than 68 hours until the sandbar breached and drained the river. And while the official flood stage of the river is 23.0’ - it flooded when the level was 4.5’.

Such has not been the case (so far) this year.

A look at the Navarro River level found it at 1.85’ - and the amount of water flowing past the upstream USGS river gauge Tuesday @ 8:15 am was estimated to be 28.6 cubic feet per second - or 212 gallons per second.

Despite three storm systems coming through this week - NOAA is predicting the river will peak at 4.0’ Sunday @ 11:pm - just UNDER what it would take to close Highway 128.

But the river level prediction is constantly updated so we’ll continue to keep an eye on it.

A QUARTER INCH OF RAIN came down in Boonville yesterday, a half inch in Yorkville, and nearer an inch in Navarro. The National Weather Service says: "unsettled weather with showers, isolated thunderstorms, gusty winds, and mountain snow is expected through the weekend."

Visit the shelter's website for more information: mendoanimalshelter.com

or call 707-467-6453.

MORE MEASURE B MATERIAL

(Here comes Howard Hospital again.)

MBProposed Use of Old Howard Hospital 11-2018

MBCurrent Layout of Old Howard Hospital 11-2018

MB2018-11-26-Opinion re Measure B

THOMPSON THE ETERNAL

Editor:

Rep. Mike Thompson is a standard-bearer for the Democratic dynasty in California, and he shows no sign of releasing his grip on the 5th Congressional District.

Thompson is clearly nowhere near political extinction. In his recent re-election, and in each election dating back to 1998, he devoured his opponent.

For many, his challengers require an introduction: Anthony Mills (2018), Carlos Santamaria (2016), James Hinton (2014), Randy Loftin (2012), Loren Hanks (2010), Zane Starkwolf (2008), John Jones (2006), Lawrence Wiesner (2002 and 2004), Russel Chase (2000) and Mark Luce (1998).

For those residing in the district, it appears we’re in a long-term relationship with Thompson. Or at least until he sees fit to end it. A bit ironic.

Each of Thompson’s opponents has proved to be noncompetitive. On average, Thompson has defeated his closest challenger by 40 points.

One recurring complaint is shared by his opponents: an inability to engage Thompson in a formal debate.

Is it fair to the electorate or his opponents when an entrenched, Tyrannosaurus rex-like incumbent opts to tread carefully during a campaign to avoid any potential risks, however small?

I’m disappointed by the lack of serious competition and Thompson’s reluctance to debate. Competition is always a good thing. It forces us to do our best. A monopoly renders people complacent and satisfied with mediocrity.

Mike Tabacchi

Middletown

ED NOTE: None of these permanently entrenched professional officeholders debate. Ever. First off, they, including Thompson, are inarticulate off the cuff and naturally avoid open forums where their verbal deficiencies would be apparent. "We elected this dummy?" Second, Thompson, because he's a lockstep Billery vote, gets a lot of money from Demo Central. Locally of course, Thompson, a grape grower, is primarily supported by the wine industry, the edu-blob, public employees. Huffman is a lot smarter than Thompson but, like Thompson, is about as independent of the prevalent NorCal conservative, lifestyle liberalism as a seeing eye dog. All these characters are what used to be called Rockefeller Republicans. They don't even know anyone who makes less than a hundred grand a year. The irony here is that the Northcoast went heavily for Bernie, a soft democratic socialist but still to the left of Thompson, Huffman and Healdsburg's dual ciphers, McGuire and Wood. So why are we stuck with these inflicted seat warmers? Because our candidates are selected for us, then supported by tons of Demo Party money. The Republicans don't even bother running plausible candidates against any of them, while third parties, thanks to the Democrats, are a thing of the past, for all practical electoral purposes.

LITTLE DOG SAYS, “I know this makes her jealous, but IT’S GONNA RAIN, dammit!”

ED NOTES

AN OMINOUS report from the United Nations issued this morning (Tuesday) says all the current international vows to reduce greenhouse gases won’t be nearly enough to stop the catastrophic destruction of our climate.  Even if every country meets its current pledge to cut back on emissions, global temperatures will still rise 3 degrees Celsius by 2100—nearly double the level that scientists say would cause ecosystems to crumble and put entire countries underwater. This prediction follows the US government’s damning report released last week confirming that humans are the primary driver of climate change, and that we’re not doing nearly enough to stop it. Despite these reports, President Trump has continued to ignore the growing threat of climate change. On Monday, Trump slammed his own government’s report by simply stating “I don’t believe it.”

* * *

THE CANADIANS ARE COMING. CordovaCann Corp. (“Cordova”) is a Canadian "cannabis consumer products company," betting a lot of money that they can make even more money from massive grows in Covelo. They're buying up $6.2 million in land and warehouse sites in Round Valley, with a team of NorCal growers as their local brain trust. Here in Boonville, an LA outfit has invested a large amount of money in industrial-scale grow houses visible from Highway 253. Unless the grandchildren of the original back-to-the-land growers can get their product to the East Coast's insatiable appetites, the big boys of the business are in the process of taking over every aspect of California's pot enterprise.

* * *

AUDIBLE PROVOCATIONS. Have there always been annoying speech tics or are there more of them lately? I wince, sometimes outwardly, at the following: (1) "Have a great day." I'm happy to have any kind of day, and agree totally with what they used to tell us in the Marines — every day's a holiday, every meal's a banquet (2) "That's exactly right." This one's now common in place of a simple yes. (3) "Great question!" We get that one in response to bland inquiries the caliber of 'Will the sun rise in the east'? (4) "It's interesting," says the speaker about whatever he's speaking about. Let us be the judge of how interesting your remarks are, please. (5) "Incredibly important." An art show in Ukiah? And of course there's uptalk and, "like," once a harmless adverb, now sprinkled throughout the speech of the young. "Like I said to the dude, like you got some like zuzu's?"

* * *

THE BOYCOTT OF THE GIANTS seems to be spreading, at least among prominent Black people. Dr. Harry Edwards announced Sunday he is supporting Oakland-based civil rights attorney John Burris in calling for a “total boycott” of the Giants after public election filings revealed one of the team’s owners, Charles B. Johnson, donated the maximum $2,700 to the campaign of Cindy Hyde-Smith, a Republican US Senator from Mississippi who has expressed racist sentiments. Johnson's own sentiments are no mystery. He's right up there with the Koch Bros in money committed to Republicans, a party that we can expect to break into mass goosesteps any time now. A Black boycott of the Giants will be tough to bring off given that most fans are white, at least at the ballpark itself. Prediction: He'll sell off his lucrative interest in the Giants and stay home in Florida.

* * *

ON LINE COMMENT today from Jim Armstrong: "I have subscribed to the SRPD [Santa Rosa Press Democrat] for a long time. Delivered with Sunday’s paper was a letter sized ad for 7 day delivery and full “eEdition” and some kind of “app” at $99 for the next year. Fine print excludes current subscribers (like me to whom they sent the ad). Today I got my regular subscription bill: $563.94 for the same year and an almost 20% hike over last year. I wonder where I go for my kiss."

DOUG BOSCO and friends are the kiss of death for the Press Democrat, which hasn't been a must read regional publication since the day the local owner sold out to the New York Times before Bosco glommed onto it. I think the paper was still worth buying when Mike Geniella was reporting on local matters out of Ukiah. When the paper shafted him for the last time, after several previous shaftings censoring his reporting, and Geniella retired, that was it for the paper's Mendo coverage. What exactly the paper's small army of reporters and editors do all day is a mystery. Given the daily work product, the answer seems to be "Nothing." Charging such outrageous prices for subscriptions for "stories" on restaurants and wineries and police press releases is a sign of desperation. It means the paper is not long for print world and is trying to make up losses by bilking the suckers who still subscribe. (I subscribe on line. Yes, I'm a sap.) The nut of the prob with both papers lies with the editors. They wouldn't know a real story if it kicked them in the ass. And anything that looks like it might cause unhappiness is a no-go. I'm always sad to see newspapers go, I grew up reading papers, and still try to wheedle yesterday's Chron out of pure force of habit. And I faithfully subscribed to the PD from my arrival in Mendo County. Still do on-line. Reluctantly.

CATCH OF THE DAY, November 27, 2018

JOSHUA BENNETT, Fort Bragg. County parole violation.

JOHN BOLTON IV, Willits. Probation revocation. (Frequent flyer.)

JAGGER FARIA, Ukiah. Battery with serious injury, false imprisonment, probation revocation.

JEFFREY JARDINS, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.

WANA MATTHIAS, Ukiah. Probation revocation.

LATOYA RENICK, Ukiah. Domestic battery.

PEDRO REYNAGA, Calpella. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.

PRISCILLA SEBASTIAN, Santa Rosa/Covelo. Taking vehicle without owner’s consent, fugitive from justice.

BRIAN WILSEY, Hopland. DUI.

PRESIDENT UNVEILS SWEEPING PLAN

Before he was hired for the job, Donald Trump said he would be the smartest president in history. He said he knew many words. An intellect like that needs its own language. Lesser people than he mistook his capacity. Its sheer volume confounded normal human understanding. We didn’t know what a kovfefe is. Trump knew. When California’s disgraceful wildfires had done their worst, he toured, planted his feet on the scorched ground and with the lightning decisiveness we see in him 24/7, he recognized that the firestorms will be averted if we only sweep the forest floor of all the combustible material laying around. He said we will have the best forests and the best climate, and he said he would enlist the entire world’s population of unemployed except those from hard-pressed Africa and hard-pressed Latin America. He said those people aren’t needed—except the entire population of Burkina Faso, which the president said was “more than happy to come to the aid of friends like us,” adding confidentially to his international audience, “’specially since I have a hotel and a golf course on the drawing board for Burkina Faso.” Then he dropped the bomb: “We will sweep the forests of North America in one fantastic, sweeping kovfefe!” To gasps of wonder he added: “...and Canada and Mexico will pay for every acre.”

—Mitch Clogg

I'VE NEVER BEEN A BIG SPENDER. Certainly not in my personal life -- as my friends will attest -- and not in the public offices I have held. I am not a fiscal conservative. I'm just cheap.

— Jerry Brown, 1976

“I love these pop-up restaurants.”

IF IT TAKES THE RATS TO WAKE US UP AND CONGRESS, BRING THEM ON:

This book shows how!

by Ralph Nader

Let’s get down to the all-important matter of Congressional performance. No matter how pollsters ask the question – “do you approve of Congress…?” or “do you have confidence in Congress…? – less than twenty percent of people respond positively. Four out of five Americans disapprove of what Congress has been doing and are presumably disappointed about what Congress is not doing. That’s an overwhelming unhappy majority. There are many changes, reforms, and redirections for our country that conservatives and liberals both agree on, (See my book, Unstoppable: The Emerging Left-Right Alliance to Dismantle the Corporate State, Nation Books, 2014). There would be more agreements were we more alert to the divide and rule tactics of our political/corporate rulers and reject such manipulations outright.

For decades, I’ve argued that it is easier than we think to change what comes out of Congress – the smallest yet most powerful branch of government under our Constitution.

Our history demonstrates that if one percent or less of citizens, reflecting majority public opinion, roll up their sleeves and focus together on their two Senators and Representatives, they can prevail. I and other consumer and environmental advocates did just that years ago with far less than one percent of the people actually engaged in moving our agenda (which is about two and a half million adults). Together we championed laws that reigned in the auto industry, the corporate polluters and other industries to save lives and prevent injuries and illnesses. Because, majority public opinion supported us.

Our approach then was to put out factual documentation of these corporate harms and perils and get our research covered by the news media on programs like The Phil Donahue Show. People would feedback their demands and concerns to the Senators and Representatives of Congress, where we were pushing member by member. Reforms followed. I’ve given numerous examples of these citizen endeavors in my book, Breaking Through Power: It’s Easier Than We Think.

It still can happen, even though the news media hardly covers conventional civic activity anymore and great shows like Donahue’s are no longer on the air. We shouldn’t be discouraged, however; we just have to shift strategies and find new ways to get more Americans revved up to feel and focus their own sovereign power exclusively rooted in the Constitution. “Corporations” and “companies” aren’t even mentioned in that storied document. As the Constitution says, “we the people… do ordain and establish this constitution for the United States of America.”

So here comes my new Fable, How the Rats Re-formed the Congress replete with examples of how little it took to change Congress beyond our greatest expectations. Once the rats stormed up the toilet bowls of these smug solons and shook up the place from the bottom up, action followed. When the American people found out how the Congressional biggies tried to cover up their embarrassment – their ineptitude at not even being able to control a rat infestation – massive public derision flooded the televised and radio airwaves and social media.

Suddenly, people all over our country – at home, in the bars and restaurants, at their clubs, snapped to attention and began believing that, “There are only 535 of them on Capitol Hill, many misusing our sovereign power delegated to them, but we’re millions.”

In “civic” waves from the hinterlands, the people move to take control of Congress away from the giant corporations and their greedy lobbyists. You’ll laugh yourselves serious as you turn page after page and start feeling, believing, thinking that “we can do this, let’s go America!”

Enough of not paying hard-working impoverished workers a livable wage, enough of people being denied health insurance, and ripped off by the credit sharks, enough of our children being directly assailed with junk food and violent advertising bypassing parental authority, enough of trillions of our tax dollars not coming back to us for superior public services in our crumbling communities but instead going to corporate welfare (crony capitalism), and the infernal, very profitable corporate war machine in addition to more tax escapes for the wealthy.

Enough of the fossil-fuel industry poisoning our soil, our water, and disrupting our climate. Enough of the corporate bosses and their indentured politicians; enough of the big time crooks and their dirty elections. Enough, enough already!

A few early readers found How the Rats Re-Formed the Congress to be “disgusting,” or “revolting,” to use their words. Reading the back cover presents indictments of the “disgusting” and “revolting” Congress whose majority lets American men, women, and children get sick and die in great numbers from preventable perils in hospitals, in toxic workplaces, and in toxic products and environments.

Other readers have called the book “uplifting,” “optimistic,” and “empowering,” the growing rumble from the people and the leaders they generate break out in rallies and support for progressive agendas nationwide. The huge numbers of people surrounding the Congress night and day, week after week, until the peoples’ pressure becomes unbearable for recalcitrant Members of Congress.

This external pressure permeates the Congress with specific calls for reforms backed by the dramatic demand that the politicians get it done in an election year or else! The faster these long overdue changes come, many long installed in Western European democracies, the more the corporate big boys reel on their heels, unable with their tired bullying and intimidating ways to block the will of the people.

Wall Street and its lobbyists warn about “economic collapse” and “mass layoffs” if the citizenry’s agenda passes Congress. Corporate front groups are created to disrupt the peaceful crowds. These corporate tactics don’t work anymore. The agitated media publishes story after story about the corporate crime wave, the rip-offs of consumers and the wasting away tax monies that Congress allowed.

Backing up the book is a helpful website on organizing Congressional Ratwatchers Groups in every Congressional district. The material is readable, accurate, and relieves your feeling that such an effort is too difficult and won’t produce results.

You can get an autographed copy of How the Rats Re-Formed the Congress, or discounted autographed books in bulk for your circle of friends, by going to ratsreformcongress.org. See how the rats led the way until the people, just like you, entered the fray.

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

AFTER TRUMP

Editor & fellow AVAers,

It’s almost Thanksgiving 2018 as I write this.

When Trump is out the sun shall sing and shout as we Americans say Amen.

Sincerely,

Farina bangs her election bowl in a smoky state.

Diana Vance

Mendocino

PROP 57, THE LIE

by Kerry Abela

(Ed note: The handwritten letter submitted by Mr. Abela from Soledad is barely legible in spots and we were forced to guess at some of the words, based on what it looked like or the context. We apologize for any errors that may have resulted.)

* * *

I hope this finds you well. It’s been about five years since I last wrote. As you can see I'm still in prison for the same crime I did not do. But I have made the best of out of this tragic situation. For I am one who says it's not what happens to you but what you do with what happens to you that counts.

I have done much. I have written a book on gangs and drugs and crime and real circumstances based on drug and alcohol counselor situations as a drug and alcohol counselor for the state of California even as I continue to be stonewalled. I have never seen anything quite as evil as our justice system. It makes the killers in prison looked like schoolgirls. If you can print my writing on prop 57 and also send me your paper again for a while I would be forever grateful as we are locked down from night to day and I would love something good to read. Happy holidays

* * *

Some of you may remember back in May of 2015 I wrote a letter from San Quentin about state prison called for a crime I did not do receiving a 17 year four-month sentence when innocent. It is horrific of itself even if one is guilty. It's a horrible way to wake up in the morning. One would think it couldn't get much worse than that, right? So whether you are in chains in the dark prison walls drinking a glass of poison water from your sink or sitting in front of your fireplace with $1000 glass of wine in your hand, relax, take a drink and hear my story of finding hope where none exists. How turn your worst nightmare reality into the greatest thing that has ever happened to you.

First we must go all the way back to the beginning, not so far back as to look at our justice system in America where the devil must dance with pride. No, we will start right back where we left off almost 4 years ago in the fall when I found myself locked away in the tower chains with no hope. Once you are in prison no one hears your screams and what's more you will work overtime to make sure no one sees your tears. God forbid people think you are weak in prison, innocent or guilty. So you master the art of silently suffering and then since you don't have any more thousand dollar bills after bail or lawyers or retribution has cleared you out, you one day stand up, dust yourself off and take a good hard look at your new surroundings and it is time to make a serious plan. Life is choices after all. Prison is like most great movies, it comes right down to good and evil. One must quickly choose a side and once committed to a course of action stand by it at all costs, even your very life! And the choices are all basically simple, it's the consequences that can be hard. So either you gang bang or lose yourself in drugs and alcohol addiction. Oh yes, there are plenty of ways to stay high for a life sentence. Or you can PC up and lock up and go to solitary only to find out again they are worse than the ones on the general population mainline. You can also lose yourself in the church. Man I'm all for that. Does not matter where you find God as long as you find Him. Or you can do like I did and make a stand and educate yourself and create hope where there is none.

No better place than the general population mainline. I decided I would earn my way out of prison if one can become  successful while in chains. The sky would be the limit when I was set free and with prison reform and Prop 57 coming I stood a chance of not only helping people while in prison but turning tragedy into greatness. So I stayed sober and clean and went to college in prison. Today I have my certification as a drug and alcohol counselor for the state of California drug treatment program. What's more I teach classes eight hours a day, five days a week here in Soledad state prison consisting of substance abuse, victim impact, anger management, criminal thinking. I also mentored lifers for over a year at Solano prison while on the level 3 yard in a program called the youth offender program helping lifers in prison get off drugs and out of gangs. To do this kind of work on general population mainline prison yard is dangerous and can get you killed. But I would rather die for doing the right than for the wrong thing.

As you can see I'm alive and well. Not only am I not a victim, I was not going to go away. Next I wrote a book on gangs and drugs and crime called In the Winter of My Chains, the point in making it was, If I can create a life out of such a horrific situation so can you. I believe in you.

So Prop 57 passed with flying colors and as I was a nonviolent second striker convicted in a court of law for a nonviolent crime under Penal Code 667.5, I was eligible in December of 2017. I was found suitable for early release under Prop 57. I had served my full base term of four years, the other 13 years and four months was the question. I only got four years for the crime. I stole a guitar worth $100 from a music store for $70. It was stolen from a house so I was charged with a 459 burglary and given 17 years. So Sacramento approved my release. I would be released in March of 2018. As it was I had my original sentence down from 2026-2024 with good behavior and milestones.

So my release went before the Department of Corrections which vacated my release on the grounds that my crime was defined as a violent crime under Penal Code 667.5 subsection 3 which I was never charged or convicted of. The Department of Corrections overruled the courts and changed my conviction over a court of law? Ten years was added after it was changed from the original release date through 2027 which me a violent offense to my 66% and took away good time credit. So here I am nine months later fighting in the sixth District Appellate Court along with many others they have done this to.

All of you who voted for Prop 57, you might want to see how they have lied once again in their journey for money through human suffering. I will continue to stand against gangs and drugs and violence in this very dangerous prison. I will be a light of hope in this never-ending darkness called California State prison. There are so many good people here. Please fight for us. Something has to give somewhere, right?

Kerry Abela #AW 8106

Soledad state prison

UPCOMING EVENTS happening at the Ukiah Library. Saturday, Dec. 1st we have a special Wild Life and Wild Cam Storytime led by guests from the UC Hopland Research and Extension Center.  We also have the First Friday Art Walk on Dec. 7th, including a Book Sale/Bake Sale with the Friends of the Ukiah Valley Library.

www.mendolibrary.org

CALIFORNIA REGIONS ‘moving in the wrong direction’ to meet climate goals. Local governments failing to invest in public transportation, build affordable housing near transit and make it easier for people to walk or bike to work instead of driving. The state’s housing shortage forces many residents to live far from where they work, increasing the time Californians spend driving. Emissions from transportation are the largest source of greenhouse gasses.

sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article222191070.html

ANNUAL HOLIDAY CERAMICS SALE at Mendocino College The Mendocino College Ceramics Club presents its Annual Holiday Sale, on Dec. 7 from 11 am to 4 pm at the Lowery Student Center on the Mendocino College campus. This annual sale features advanced ceramics students' works, holiday wreaths, Culinary Club food and drinks, and live music. For more information please call 468-3087.

MEANTIME, in Rural Oregon:

npr.org/2018/11/26/670058419/digging-deep-into-local-news-a-small-newspaper-in-rural-oregon-is-thriving

SAVE THE STEELHEAD

Friends of the Eel River have formally petitioned state and federal fisheries agencies to protect the summer steelhead of Northwestern California rivers under their respective Endangered Species Acts. These unique, and increasingly rare, fish are clearly distinct from more numerous, and less vulnerable, winter-run steelhead.[1]

“Given their critical conservation status, North Coast summer steelhead should be immediately listed as endangered,” said Friends of the Eel River Conservation Director Scott Greacen.

The differences between summer steelhead and winter-run fish are stark. Summer steelhead generally enter freshwater in spring, spend the dry season in coldwater refugia, then spawn further up their watersheds than any other anadromous (sea-run) fish.

Summer steelhead include the largest adults of any steelhead and the strongest swimmers and highest-leaping fish of any salmonid. Unlike winter steelhead, summer steelhead enter freshwater as “bright” fish, with undeveloped gonads; they prepare to spawn over the summer while fasting, subsisting on a much higher level of body fat than winter-run steelhead.

Thanks to significant technology-driven advances in genetic science, recently published studies have demonstrated that summer steelhead’s physiological and behavioral adaptations are the result of a specific genetic difference with winter steelhead.[2] As well, this research shows that protection schemes which lump summer and winter run steelhead together, as the federal listing for Northern California steelhead now does, lead to the irrevocable loss of summer-run fish.[3]

Under the federal Endangered Species Act, these studies clearly constitute the “best available science,” which must be taken into account in making decisions about the protection of threatened and endangered species.

“Science now confirms what tradition and experience have always told us: summer steelhead are truly different from their winter run cousins,” said Greacen. “Once we recognize this, it’s clear that the conservation status of summer steelhead is absolutely dire. There are probably fewer than a thousand adults spawning each year across their entire range, from Redwood Creek to the Mattole River, including the largest known populations in the Middle Fork Eel and Van Duzen Rivers. That’s why we’ve asked the federal National Marine Fisheries Service and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to list summer steelhead as endangered under both the state and federal Endangered Species Acts.”

Friends of the Eel River are particularly concerned by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) current effort to relicense PG&E’s Scott Dam, a century-old, 130’ concrete dam that completely blocks fish passage to hundreds of miles of steelhead spawning habitat in the Upper Mainstem Eel River basin. The National Marine Fisheries Service notes in its 2016 Coastal Multi-Species Recovery Plan that the “Upper Mainstem Eel River steelhead population was once the longest-migrating population in the entire (regional population). Restoring access to historical habitat above Scott Dam is essential to recovering this population.” It also notes that “Scott Dam currently blocks access to 99 percent of the potential habitat available to this steelhead population.”

[1] Steelhead are the anadromous form of Oncorhynchus mykiss irideus. The same fish, when they do not run to saltwater but remain in freshwater their entire lives, are known as rainbow trout. However, the “Oncorynchus” genus tells us that biologists now group these fish with other salmon species like O. tshawytscha (Chinook, or king, salmon) and O. kisutch (coho, or silver, salmon).

[2] See Prince, Daniel J, Sean M O’Rourke, Tasha Q Thompson, Omar A Ali, Hanna S Lyman, Ismail K Saglam, Thomas J Hotaling, Adrian P Spidle, and Michael R Miller. 2017. “The Evolutionary Basis of Premature Migration in Pacific Salmon Highlights the Utility of Genomics for Informing Conservation.” Science Advances, August (http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/3/8/e1603198)

[3] See Thompson, Tasha Q, Renee M Bellinger, Sean M O’Rourke, Daniel J Prince, Alexander E Stevenson, Antonia T Rodrigues, Matthew R Sloat, Camilla F Speller, Dongya Y Yang, Virginia L Butler, Michael A Banks, Michael R Miller. 2018. “Anthropogenic habitat alteration leads to rapid loss of adaptive variation and restoration potential in wild salmon populations.” bioRxiv. (https://www.biorxiv.org/content/early/2018/07/06/310714)

Additional Resources

PETITIONS:

California: https://tinyurl.com/ydcdyf5w

Federal: https://tinyurl.com/y7bc9wnt

DETAILS:

An extensive 2017 report for California Trout by Dr Peter Moyle et al on the status of salmonids across California is a key source for the petitons. The full report (CAUTION link is to 8.4 MB .pdf file) is available here: https://tinyurl.com/y8abgse4

TRUMP’S DAD WAS SO RACIST, Woody Guthrie Wrote A Song About It

https://medium.com/@editors_91459/trumps-dad-was-so-racist-woody-guthrie-wrote-a-song-about-it-deea588fa11a

HOW TO PAY FOR 'SOCIALIST’ PROGRAMS

Chris Cuomo asked Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez how we pay for Medicare for All, tuition free college, and the green new deal. It gives people sticker shock. Her answer:

People talk about the sticker shock of Medicare for All, but they do not talk about the sticker shock of our existing system. In a Koch brothers funded study, it shows that Medicare for All is actually much cheaper than the current system.

Let's not forget that the Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act because they ruled that each of these monthly payments that everyday Americans make is a tax. We pay it every single month. (Or we pay at tax season if we don't buy plans off of the exchange.)

Americans have the sticker shock of healthcare as it is. Why aren't we incorporating the cost of funeral expenses of those who die because they can't afford access to healthcare? That is part of the cost of our system. Or the cost of reduced productivity because of people who need to go on disability or are not able to participate in our economy because they don't have access to the healthcare that they need?

At the end of the day, we see that this is not a pipe dream. Every other developed nation in the world has this. Why can't America? And that is the question we need to ask.

We write blank checks for war. We just wrote a $2 trillion check for the GOP tax cut. And nobody asks how are we going to pay for it.

So my question is why are our pockets only empty when it comes to education and healthcare for our kids? Why are our pockets only empty when we talk about 100% renewable energy that is going to save this planet and allow our children to thrive?

We only have empty pockets when it comes to the morally right things to do. But when it comes to tax cuts for billionaires or unlimited war, we seem to be able to invent that money very easily. To me it belies a lack of moral priorities that people have right now, especially the Republican Party.

 

MARK SCARAMELLA ADDS:

From Wikipedia:

Throughout the 2000s, the need for F-22s was debated due to rising costs and the lack of relevant adversaries. In 2006, Comptroller General of the United States David Walker found that "the DoD has not demonstrated the need" for more investment in the F-22, and further opposition to the program was expressed by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon R. England, Senator John McCain, and Chairman of U.S. Senate Committee on Armed Services Senator John Warner. The F-22 program lost influential supporters in 2008 after the forced resignations of Secretary of the Air Force Michael Wynne and the Chief of Staff of the Air Force General T. Michael Moseley. Nevertheless, in 2008, Congress passed a defense spending bill funding the F-22's continued production and the Pentagon released $50 million of the $140 million for four additional aircraft, raising the total orders for production aircraft to 187 and leaving the program in the hands of the next administration.

(ms notes: That’s $140 million for four F-22s that nobody wanted. Or, $35 million per plane. 187 x $140 million = about $6.5 billion for 187 unwanted, unnecessary aircraft. And that’s just one of hundreds of abandoned military procurement programs. Where did the money come from? Nobody asked. Nobody cared. NYT 2009: “An unlikely alliance of senators — led by Saxby Chambliss of Georgia and including Edward Kennedy and John Kerry of Massachusetts and Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut — is backing an indefensible defense budget boondoggle: the wasting of $1.75 billion on seven additional F-22 fighter jets [i.e., $250 million each!] that the Pentagon says it neither wants nor needs.” Also, F-22s and F-35s are very hard and costly to maintain. And they are failure prone and not operational at anywhere near supportable periods of time.)

https://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/16/opinion/16thu2.html

In November 2008, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates stated that the Raptor was not relevant in post-Cold War conflicts such as in Iraq and Afghanistan, and in April 2009, under the new Obama Administration, he called for ending F-22 production in fiscal year (FY) 2011, leaving the USAF with 187 production aircraft. In July, General James Cartwright, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, stated to the Senate Committee on Armed Services his reasons for supporting termination of F-22 production. They included shifting resources to the multirole F-35 to allow proliferation of fifth-generation fighters for three service branches and preserving the F/A-18 production line to maintain the military's electronic warfare (EW) capabilities in the Boeing EA-18G Growler.

(ms notes: the F-35 was another giant waste:

https://theweek.com/articles/601080/americas-everything-fighter-jet-total-disaster)

Issues with the F-22's reliability and availability also raised concerns. After President Obama threatened to veto further production, the Senate voted in July 2009 in favor of ending production and the House subsequently agreed to abide by the 187 production aircraft cap. Gates stated that the decision was taken in light of the F-35's capabilities, and in 2010, he set the F-22 requirement to 187 aircraft by lowering the number of major regional conflict preparations from two to one.

In 2010, USAF initiated a study to determine the costs of retaining F-22 tooling for a future Service Life Extension Program (SLEP). A RAND Corporation paper from this study estimated that restarting production and building an additional 75 F-22s would cost $17 billion, resulting in $227 million per aircraft, or $54 million higher than the flyaway cost. Lockheed Martin stated that restarting the production line itself would cost about $200 million. Production tooling will be documented in illustrated electronic manuals stored at the Sierra Army Depot. Retained tooling will produce additional components; due to the limited production run there are no reserve aircraft, leading to considerable care during maintenance. Later attempts to retrieve this tooling found that the containers were empty…

ON-LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

ECON 101. Bob buys 1,000 acres at $1,000 per acre. That is $1 million at cost. He sells 10 acres (1 percent) at $5,000.

By comp, the other 990 acres are now also worth $5,000, so now the whole lot is valued at $4,950,000.

But what are they really worth? The whole shebang is being valued at what the last acres sold at. Which could go up and go down from time to time. Unless a significant portion of the acreage is sold, one cannot really tell what the land is worth.

That is the stock market. It is an iceberg, and most of it is underwater. We only see the melting and refreezing on the surface.

A more real test of value is the rate of return. What do the stocks actually earn? What is the ratio of price to earnings?

As I understand, a lot of it is at record highs, which tends to mean the market value is over-rated.