MCT: Wednesday, February 13, 2019

• Print Delay
• Kimberly Missing
• Windy Rain
• Flood Watch
• Southern Joe
• Road Graffiti
• County Decor
• Winter Shelter
• Potato Farmers
• Dogless Potus
• Beer Fest
• Eek Zeke
• Albion Bay
• Cat House
• Film Debut
• Pain Relief
• Yesterday's Catch
• Newsom Budget
• Rail Reconsidered
• Tunnels Trimmed
• Libtard Agenda
• Money
• Israeli Lobby
• Marriage
• USS Enterprise
• Bernie 2020
• Smug Pilots
• Street Fair
• Diggers Interview
• Dixie Elementary
• Positive Spin
• Animal Shelter
• Health Center
• Free Microchipping
• Crummy Memory
• Tide Turning
• Radiant Atman

THE AVA'S PAPER-PAPER will not be printed today (Wednesday). Press is down. The AVA paper-paper will be a day late (and, as always, many dollars short).

RAIN WEDNESDAY, heavy at times. Gusty winds up to 20mph. Up to two or three inches accumulation, more into the evening. More rain Thursday, decreasing into the evening hours, but with gusty winds. Up to another inch. Showers Friday with more gusty winds. Lighter showers Saturday and Sunday. Clearing Monday and Tuesday. (National Weather Service.)

MSP'S 'EYE ON THE NAVARRO RIVER'

As Expected - NWS Flood Watch Issued

Of course, MSP was the first media site to warn of Highway 128 flooding early this morning — and this was posted more than 4 hours later:

"Flood Watch

Flood Watch National Weather Service Eureka, CA

11:36 AM PST Tuesday, Feb 12, 2019

The National Weather Service in Eureka has issued a Flood Watch for the following rivers in California…

Navarro River at Navarro affecting Mendocino County

Moderate to heavy rain will spread across the region this evening through Thursday night. Rainfall totals from 3 to 7 inches will cause rapid rises on the Navarro River, with flooding expected by Wednesday evening."

Also, look for (and expect) possible flooding near the junctions of US-101 & SR-175 in Hopland and also Highway 1 at the Garcia River in Manchester.

MSP has been in contact with the Athletic Director & coach of the CA School for the Deaf basketball team that will be heading to Mendocino for a Division 6 Playoff game Wednesday night @ 7:00 pm and have been providing them with weather/flooding info as well as alternate directions should Highway 128 flood.

OAKY JOE MUNSON ON THE ROAD, Part VII

As Told to Jonah Raskin

At 16, I passed the GED exam, received a high school diploma and was granted emancipation from my parents. I asked my dad if I should join the army. “Hell, no,” he said. “You don’t listen to authority.” I decided to go on the road to the Florida Keys because I heard it was warm there and that there were jobs in the tourist industry. My dad gave me $100, helped me pack and told me, “Take care of your feet. They’re very important.”

When I arrived in Key West, I was penniless and so I slept on the ground under a house a couple of doors down from where Hemingway had lived. I met Trish Halford, a waitress at Antonia’s, an Italian restaurant on Duval Street. She got me a job as a busboy, a dishwasher and then in the kitchen making salads. I moved in with her in a two-bedroom apartment and did Quaaludes with her and smoked weed.

I made friends with Tony Regali, an Italian transplant from New York, and Allen Smith from Miami. We were scavengers; we drove around the islands in Tony’s Ford pick-up truck, salvaged copper and brass and took it to an old Cuban guy who paid us 35 cents a pound. We were also paid by the hotels to remove old air conditioning units which we broke down, gutted and removed the valuable insides. Then we flogged that stuff. On hot afternoons, we cruised the islands, looked for gutted buildings and took out hundreds of pounds of copper wire which we also sold.

Then we came upon something much more valuable: “sea weed” which was the weed that smugglers dumped overboard and into the sea before the DEA could catch them and confiscate the cargo. It was Colombian Gold. Much of it was waterlogged, but some of it was above the high water mark and salvageable. Tony, Allen scooped up the crumbs after the smugglers had come back and gathered the best of the contraband. When we cut into many of the bales and pealed away the outsides, we found a lot of good stuff on the inside.

One day, Tony stops suddenly and shouts. “Quick.” We leapt out of the truck and raced toward the bales he spotted. There was 8 1/2 pounds of “sea weed” which we scooped up, stuffed into garbage bags, tossed in the pickup and took to Tony’s trailer on Marathon Key, an hour or so North on U.S. 1. We smoked a couple of joints, broke the weed down into ounces and half-ounces and then over the next week or so sold to the tourists outside Sloppy Joe’s, The Saloon and The Green Parrot. We made enough money to keep the three of us in the beer for two months, and to make me feel I was on Easy Street.

I had learned a lot about Italian food at Antonia’s, and I liked the owner and his wife, who fed us great pasta every day, but with the money I made from the “sea weed” I didn’t have to work at the restaurant. When the weed ran out, Tony and Allen and I went back to junking and selling it to the old Cuban. “Where the hell have you been?” he asked. “I thought you were all dead.”

At last, I was beginning to feel like I belonged on the islands. I’d hang out at the Pier House Resort and Spa, where I could eat the free food, and where I met gorgeous Monique Modima on the private beach that was “topless optional.” She was sunbathing on a raft. I swam out to meet her. “You’re beautiful,” I told her. I was crazy for her. She had the most beautiful body I had ever seen and she adopted me, though we never did have sex. That was her decision. She was married to a doctor in Atlanta. After she went home, I hitchhiked there and called her; she had given me her phone number. We had dinner in an upscale restaurant and she found me a hotel room.

“I think you’re great and I love you, but I’m a happily married woman,” she said. “Don’t take this any further than it is now.” The next day I left the hotel and went back on the road. When I looked in my backpack there were five $100 bills. Monique must have put them there. No one else had access to my stuff. I made good time getting out of Georgia and the Carolinas. In Lynchburg, Virginia, not far from home, I stuck out my thumb and prayed for a ride. A Pontiac Trans Am flew-by with a blond behind the wheel. Then, suddenly she slams on the brakes, skids to a stop, puts the car in reverse, backs up, opens the window and takes one look at me. “Joey Munson,” she says. “Mrs. Pendergrass,” I say. She was the mother of my best friend and she drove me all the way home.

SOMEONE spray painted this at the foot of Flynn Creek Road where it intersects with HWY 128… "Our (un)tax(able) base is a perpetual problem in outlaw Mendocino County."

WE JUST STUMBLED ACROSS Mendocino County’s Facebook page. In their photo section there’s a nice collection of unidentified County officials getting awards from each other. And a few pictures from last fall of a frightening display proudly positioned in front of the Supervisors/CEO office which requires no comment:

FACEBOOK says about 4,000 people “like” Mendocino County. (But only about a dozen or so of them “like” it enough to watch the Board meetings at any given time.)

A READER WRITES: The Hospitality Center got $36,000 for the Extreme Weather Shelter this year from the county. They also have whatever the Mayor’s Fund collected, plus there should have been money left over last year. I remember a Council meeting where Bernie Norvell questioned Jerry Thomas (HC treasurer) about the left over funds. Mr. Thomas said there was not any left over. Bernie said there was money left over for the past two years. So Bernie questioned the statement made by Mr. Thomas that there was none leftover. Mr. Thomas finally admitted “There was money left because we closed early“. Ok, so there was in fact money left over. Where did it go?

Aside from that what we need to look at is the here and now. HC has limited funds. The funds they got from the county have to be used within the guidelines for getting the money for winter shelter. Those guidelines are 30% chance of rain and or 40° or colder. If they decide to open on nights that the weather guidelines are not met they can pay for it out of their own funds. (The Mayor’s Fund and donations and leftovers from previous years).

On the night of Feb. 11th the weather forecast was 60% showers likely after 4:00 a.m. with a low: 45 °F. No cold weather shelter that night. were closed. I’m only guessing here but I think they are looking at that and deciding because 60% showers was for after 4:00 a.m. that it wasn’t for the night of the 11th. My guess is, they are doing whatever they need to do to save the almighty buck. What do they do with money saved or leftover? Again, who knows?

Bottom line is, HC got money from the county to open on nights the weather meets the guidelines. If they decide to open without meeting the guidelines they (should) have leftover money and donations to pay for it. So if they aren’t open on nights when guidelines are met, they save money they got from the county. If they don’t open on nights that don’t meet the guidelines they save money from donations. In the end, where is the money?

I don’t believe HC has ever revealed how much The Mayor Fund brings in. If they do I’ve never seen it. The one thing they do make perfectly clear is they are always begging for money.

My feelings about this are:

This has nothing to do with those who have mental health issues/seniors or children. It has to do with those who have made a career of living the way they choose including freebies and handouts.

I am really sick of watching people complain about a free service that people should be providing for themselves. This is about those who have lounged around all summer soaking up the sun lying around on the beach and in the Parks knowing full well winter would be coming. We all know winter comes around every year. Most people prepare for winter knowing they will need to cut more firewood or scrimp and save to put some money away to fill the tank with fuel for a fire to heat their homes. Some seniors will be skipping medication in order to stay warm and pay heating expenses. And yet it seems to be those who have prepared for winter that are put down by others because they are not furnishing a place for those who made a choice not to prepare. Perhaps it was because another bottle of booze or some drug was more important. That is their choice, the same as it is my choice to prepare for the harsh winter weather.

Has anyone stopped to think that perhaps if those who enjoy their summers so much knew they would have to provide for themselves during the winter that maybe, just maybe, it could be a stepping stone to change? The money spent on those who should be helping themselves takes away from the money available to help those who can’t help themselves because of mental illness, age or disabilities.

FINNISH POTATO FARMERS, Mendocino Coast

(Mendocino County Museum)

AND ANOTHER thing wrong with Trump: he's the first president not to have a pet dog in White House in 130 years. On Tuesday he revealed he didn't 'have any time' and feared it would be 'phony'.

THE OUTRAGE provoked by a guy name Zeke Krahlin on the MCN chat line has a buncha libs (of course) demanding that he be banned. I find the guy pretty tiresome myself, but scroll right on past him, as I'm sure many people also do. So what's the prob? Why he should be totally non-personed simply because he upsets some people? But over the long years in Mendocino County, and often non-personed myself by this or that "liberal" or liberal institution, and having read many letters to the Ukiah Daily Journal from Inland Lib demanding an end to Tommy Wayne Kramer's consistently brilliant Sunday columns, I wanted to find out who exactly this Krahlin guy is. And who better to turn to than Marco Maclean, banned for thirty years by KZYX? Marco, take it away:

---

"Ezekiel Krahlin lives in San Francisco. He's in his late 60s, with poor health, bad teeth and no way to pay to fix them properly, with a true sympathetic Kafka-esque misery story about how and why he can't get proper assistance for the dental adventure. He came from New Jersey (his voice is indistinguishable from Verge Belanger's). He's a writer, a gay activist. In the 1980s he worked in the computer industry. He helps homeless people by fixing broken, discarded phones and just passing them out for music players and recorders and cameras. He maintains websites where he presents his written work; some of it's autobiographical, some autobiography mixed with fantasy, some religious science-fiction private detective noir. He's very prolific. Some of it's pretty good; he's published a book.

He used to call me on the air at KNYO and read aloud his latest story and then chat for awhile. One time he called when I was in the middle of reading a story by The Major, and I made the mistake of going to the call and finishing the story half an hour later, and that miffed The Major, and I'm sorry about that so now I usually tell callers to wait a minute until I finish a story. Zeke doesn't call anymore and I'm not sure why, except I'm not a very good interviewer; I tend to interrupt with goofy non sequiturs, and that might be off-putting. I'm trying to be better, but not trying very hard.

Ezekiel has a history of joining internet chat groups and deluging them with his thoughts and opinions and links to informative articles that illustrate his ideas -- many posts per day or night, and that's got him kicked out of several groups that have someone moderating (he would say censoring, and he has a point, there). Eventually he found the MCN Announce listserv and the MCN Discussion listserv, neither of which have restrictions, and he started in answering, with sweary, comical rebuttals, other people's advertisements for psychic massage, or Jesus cream, or their comments he finds hateful of gay people, or their anti-vax crap, or whatever.

Readers who don't like it can easily block him and never see anything he writes. But generally they don't do that and call it done because they don't /just/ want to be shut of him, they want him to reach /nobody else/ because they see him as a spoiler ruining their nice thing for everybody, and everything about the situation pisses them off so they can't let it go. In other words, they don't just want him out of their inbox, that wouldn't be enough for them. They want to /win/ and for him to /lose/; they want him to fuck off and die, so they engage with him /over and over/ to tell him so, and they post messages to him (and to everyone else on the group) to vent their impotent fury at him. Some in the Announce listserv have started a private group among themselves to brainstorm a way to make the world clean of Zeke again, and every once in awhile something from that group leaks out and, you know, it's funny and stupid. They've written and phoned MCN to demand that Sage reach in and stop anyone they don't like (meaning Zeke) from using any of the public listervs, and Sage tells them that's not right, of course he's not gonna do that, and Sage gives them instructions all over again to just block who and what they don't like, and they harrumph and go sit back down on their thumbs and stew for awhile.

So that's all been going on for a couple years now. The latest development is, an anonymous coward sneak has been creating and using rotating careless-eyeball-similar email addresses to Zeke's, to post many messages a day to these groups, pretending to be Zeke, to humiliate him, it looks like, or teach him a lesson. Who knows, it might be a group project of the Hate Zeke crowd. And to people who can't or don't care to tell the difference, this is just /all Zeke's doing/, and the shouters are shouting ever louder to burn the witch.

Here's the short and easy solution, available to all:

1. Make a folder in your email program and whenever anything appears that offends your nose, or that you're just not smart enough to see the fun in, take /five seconds/ and add the offending address or key content to the filter that sends it there. If you don't know how to do that, google for instructions. And/or mark email as junk, with a single click, if your email program gives you that option, and it will gradually learn the general sort of thing to not bug you with.

I've posted variations on that once every four or five months. The result always is, I get a bunch of emails telling me that I just don't understand that Zeke is a menace and a monster and something must be done, because he's an asshole and he's stinking up a place he has no business being at all, and this is a public problem so there isn't any private solution, and we all have to get together and get rid of this pestilence and perfidy… And I read those emails on the air between articles about nuclear war and ocean acidification, and the latest advances in Alzheimer's research and quantum computing, and space technology, and a seven-year-old Vietnamese girl who can play Creep on a lute that her blind stepfather made out of matchsticks and Elmer's glue.

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

PS. Zeke (the real Zeke) just emailed:

Subject: My new email address

After I post this message, I'm switching over to a new email address, with the "gay-bible.org" domain that I own: which cannot so easily be mimicked. My new address will be: ezekielk@gay-bible.org

VIEW FROM NEAR THE LEDFORD HOUSE, Albion, Tuesday.

(Photo by Marilyn Motherbear Scott)

UH, sorry to bring it up. Again. But that feral cat feeding station on Anderson Valley Way at the abandoned June home is wayyyyyy outta control. There must be fifty starving cats there every morning milling around all over the property and out onto the road. Does it even have to be said that feeding stray cats as they endlessly reproduce amounts to animal cruelty? A Big Cats Only spay and neuter day is coming up on Sunday March 24—all cats, pets or feral, will be spayed or neutered and get a Rabies vaccination. Maybe the spay and neuter team can make a house visit to Boonville.

A PAIR of Boonville High School grads, cousins Robert and Zack Anderson, are heavily involved in a film called Windows on the World, which debuts at The Sedona Film Festival on Feb 24 and 26… Based on the events of 9/11, the film stars Ryan Guzman and Edward James Olmos.

ABRAKADEBRA.vistaprintdigital.com — Check out my website. Do you have nagging pain that you haven't found a way to relieve? Come see me. My office is in downtown Boonville next to Boontberry Market. Boonville's Boxcar Boardwalk is centrally located and easy to find. We're the train station across from the drive-in. Using lotion and balms produced locally by Joanne Horn from Afterglow Cosmetics. Call for an appointment. Time to get back into health regimen after the holidays! $85.

CATCH OF THE DAY, February 12, 2019

MARCUS DUMAN, Ukiah. Controlled substance, paraphernalia, failure to appear. (Frequent Flyer)

DANIEL ESCAMILLA JR., Ukiah. Stun gun, paraphernalia.

JOSE MORALES, Ukiah. Domestic abuse, battery with serious injury, witness intimidation, false imprisonment, criminal threats, probation revocation.

DANIEL PEREZ, Willits. Protective order violation, probation revocation.

RICHARD RUDDICK, Talmage. Probation revocation.

JUSTIN SCHAEFER, Lakeport/Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.

ANGUS VORSE, Fort Bragg. DUI.

CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR REBUKES TRUMP AGENDA WITH IMMIGRANT HEALTHCARE AND FREE COLLEGE

Some are already speculating that Gavin Newsom may be the most progressive governor in state history

by Vivian Ho

The first budget proposal of California’s freshly sworn-in governor Gavin Newsom seeks to “make the California dream available to all”. It’s also a clear rebuke of Donald Trump’s national agenda.

The budget includes six months of paid parental leave. Two years of free community college. Major funding for early childhood education programs. Healthcare expansion that includes more access for undocumented immigrants.

“This is a reflection of our values,” Newsom said in his two-hour address unveiling the budget Thursday.

Many of Newsom’s budgetary priorities are solidly progressive. Of the $209-bn budget, 53% goes toward education, from kindergarten through public state-funded higher education, and 28% goes toward health and human services.

In addition to allocating $80.7bn for K-12 schools and community colleges, the governor’s budget includes $500m to encourage local governments to build emergency shelters and navigation centers for the homeless, and $25m to assist homeless disabled individuals in applying for disability benefits.

It also includes $25m for an immigration rapid response program to assist community-based organizations and not-for-profits, and $75m for other immigration-related services such as assistance with naturalization and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals applications.

At times, Newsom flat-out challenged the president in his Thursday address, whether it was over Trump’s debunked claims about California’s wildfire management, or individually mandated healthcare.

“With all due respect to the president of the United States, he’s wrong,” Newsom said about healthcare. “California is right.”

Some are already speculating that Newsom may be the most progressive governor in state history. But Jason McDaniel, a political scientist at San Francisco State University, said he sees Newsom’s push toward the left as less a personal evolution and more of one of the entire Democratic party.

“Gavin Newsom used to position himself as liberal but somewhat moderate and acceptable to independent voters, so to speak, but that’s not necessarily where the Democratic party’s energy is right now,” McDaniel said. “I think he recognizes that. I think that shows he’s understanding the evolution of the Democratic party.”

McDaniel said he believes the California Democratic party is entering into a era of “muscular liberalism”.

“It’s not just about defending existing programs and maintaining them,” he said. “It’s about establishing new programs and new services that are responsive to modern needs. Paid family leave for six months is an example of that. Extending healthcare benefits to undocumented immigrants – that idea would have been hugely controversial 10, 15 years ago and now that’s barely generating a ripple.”

This era of muscular liberalism was made possible, McDaniel said, in large part because of the state’s response to the longtime Republican rule of Congress. The flexing is only heightened now because of Trump.

Tom Ammiano, a progressive former state assemblymember who served on San Francisco’s board of supervisors with Newsom says he’s seen the Democrats over his long political career skew to the left a number of times, only for party leadership to ultimately continue on a more risk-averse path. But Ammiano says he’s cautiously optimistic about what Newsom’s budget reveals about the party’s priorities.

“Even with Newsom’s faults, it’s still a signal that, particularly in California, the party can stop being so nervous about issues,” Ammiano said.

(theguardian.com)

NEWSOM PULLS PLUG, AT LEAST FOR NOW, ON S.F. TO L.A. HIGH-SPEED RAIL PROJECT

kqed.org/news/11725636/state-of-the-state-newsom-pulls-plug-on-s-f-to-l-a-high-speed-rail-project

GOVERNOR NEWSOM CALLS FOR END TO TWIN TUNNELS, BUT SUPPORTS ONE TUNNEL

by Dan Bacher

In his first State of the State Address today at the State Capitol today, Governor Gavin Newsom called for an end to Jerry Brown’s Twin Tunnels, but said he supports one tunnel:

“I do not support the Water Fix as currently configured. Meaning, I do not support the twin tunnels. But we can build on the important work that’s already been done. That’s why I do support a single tunnel.

“The status quo is not an option. We need to protect our water supply from earthquakes and rising sea levels, preserve delta fisheries, and meet the needs of cities and farms.”

Newsom also stated that he has appointed a new chair of the State Water Resources Control Board, Joaquin Esquivel, to replace Felicia Marcus:

“We have to get past the old binaries, like farmers versus environmentalists, or North versus South. Our approach can’t be ‘either/or.’ It must be ‘yes/and.’

Conveyance and efficiency. And recycling projects like we’re seeing in Southern California’s Met Water District, expanding floodplains in the Central Valley, groundwater recharge, like farmers are doing in Fresno County. We need a portfolio approach to building water infrastructure and meeting long-term demand.

To help bring this balance, I’m appointing a new chair of the California water board, Joaquin Esquivel.

Our first task is to cross the finish line on real agreements to save the Sacramento-San Joaquin Bay Delta.”

Newsom also called for solving California’s clean drinking water crisis in poorer communities.

Now, let’s talk honestly about clean drinking water.

Just this morning, more than a million Californians woke up without clean water to bathe in or drink. Some schools have shut down drinking fountains due to contamination. Some poorer communities, like those I visited recently in Stanislaus County, are paying more for undrinkable water than Beverly Hills pays for its pristine water.

This is a moral disgrace and a medical emergency. There are literally hundreds of water systems across the state contaminated by lead, arsenic, or uranium.

Solving this crisis demands sustained funding. It demands political will.

In response to his comments on the California WaterFix, Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, executive director of Restore the Delta said in a statement:

“We are grateful to Governor Newsom for listening to the people of the Delta, and California, and putting an end to the boondoggle WaterFix, twin tunnels project.

“We look forward to working with his administration and the State Water Resources Control Board to create and enforce policies that will restore Delta water quality and quantity, lessen water dependence on the Delta, and promote clean drinking programs and regional self-sufficiency for the benefit of all Californians.

“As we testified under oath at the State Water Resources Control Board, we will re-evaluate any proposed new conveyance projects for their merits and weaknesses and share our findings with Californians.”

Below is the complete transcript of Newsom’s comments today about California water:

“We also need a fresh approach when it comes to meeting California’s massive water challenges.

We have a big state with diverse water needs. Cities that need clean water to drink, farms that need irrigation to keep feeding the world, fragile ecosystems that must be protected.

Our water supply is becoming less reliable because of climate change. And our population is growing because of a strong economy. That means a lot of demand on an unpredictable supply. There are no easy answers. But let me be direct about where I stand:

I do not support the Water Fix as currently configured. Meaning, I do not support the twin tunnels. But we can build on the important work that’s already been done. That’s why I do support a single tunnel.

The status quo is not an option.

We need to protect our water supply from earthquakes and rising sea levels, preserve delta fisheries, and meet the needs of cities and farms.

We have to get past the old binaries, like farmers versus environmentalists, or North versus South. Our approach can’t be “either/or.” It must be “yes/and.”

Conveyance and efficiency. And recycling projects like we’re seeing in Southern California’s Met Water District, expanding floodplains in the Central Valley, groundwater recharge, like farmers are doing in Fresno County. We need a portfolio approach to building water infrastructure and meeting long-term demand.

To help bring this balance, I’m appointing a new chair of the California water board, Joaquin Esquivel.

Our first task is to cross the finish line on real agreements to save the Sacramento-San Joaquin Bay Delta.

We must get this done – for the resilience of our mighty rivers, the stability of our agriculture sector, and the millions who depend on this water every day.

Now, let’s talk honestly about clean drinking water.

Just this morning, more than a million Californians woke up without clean water to bathe in or drink. Some schools have shut down drinking fountains due to contamination. Some poorer communities, like those I visited recently in Stanislaus County, are paying more for undrinkable water than Beverly Hills pays for its pristine water.

This is a moral disgrace and a medical emergency. There are literally hundreds of water systems across the state contaminated by lead, arsenic, or uranium.

Solving this crisis demands sustained funding. It demands political will.

TO WALK IN MONEY through the night crowd, protected by money, lulled by money, dulled by money, the crowd itself a money, the breath money, no least single object anywhere that is not money, money, money everywhere and still not enough, and then no money or a little money or less money or more money, but money, always money, and if you have money or you don't have money it is the money that counts and money makes money, but what makes money make money?

— Henry Miller, Tropic of Capricorn

GLENN GREENWALD: “This is all so ridiculous. It’s all based upon this demand that we indulge what everybody knows is an utter and complete fiction, which is that we’re allowed to talk about the power of the NRA in Washington, we’re allowed to talk about the power of the Saudis in Washington, we’re allowed to talk about the power of big pharmaceutical companies and Wall Street and Silicon Valley and the fossil fuel industry in Washington, but we’re not allowed to talk about an equally potent, well-organized and well-financed lobby that ensures a bipartisan consensus in support of U.S. defense of Israel, that the minute that you mention that lobby, you get attacked as being anti-Semitic, which is what happened to Congresswoman Omar.

“Chelsea Clinton also tweeted Sunday night about Ilhan Omar, ‘I will reach out to her tomorrow. I also think we have to call out anti-Semitic language and tropes on all sides, particularly in our elected officials and particularly now.’

“Well, who is Chelsea Clinton to become the spokeswoman about what is and isn’t permissible debate when it comes to Israel? Her parents are the probably the two individuals most responsible for turning the United States into a steadfast defender of an apartheid, murderous and oppressive regime in that region. Her two parents are probably the leading politicians most responsible for ensuring the ongoing repression of the Palestinian people. So, Chelsea Clinton, who I don’t think has any public status other than being the daughter of two famous politicians, really has no place in trying to set the boundaries of what is and isn’t permissible debate, given what her family has done—so much harm—to ensuring that Palestinians don’t live with the basic, minimum dignity and sovereignty to which every human being is entitled.”

Ilhan Omar’s Criticism of Israeli Lobby and AIPAC Is Not Anti-Semitic

"MY WIFE LEFT ME AND WENT TO GEORGIA."

"Why'd she leave you?"

"We'd just grown apart. I'd recommend getting married as late as you can. We got married because we had a baby. Then we both changed a lot, because both of us still had a lot of growing left to do. You should give yourself plenty of time to grow before getting married."

(Humans of New York)

OCTOBER 31, 1983: The USS Enterprise aircraft carrier passes underneath the Golden Gate Bridge.

BERNIE 2020 CAMPAIGN HAS CORPORATE DEMOCRATS RUNNING SCARED

The overarching fear that defenders of oligarchy have about Sanders is not that he’s out of step with most Americans—it’s that he’s in step with them.

by Norman Solomon

With a launch of the Bernie Sanders 2020 campaign on the near horizon, efforts to block his trajectory to the Democratic presidential nomination are intensifying. The lines of attack are already aggressive—and often contradictory.

One media meme says that Bernie has made so much headway in moving the Democratic Party leftward that he’s no longer anything special. We’re supposed to believe that candidates who’ve adjusted their sails to the latest political wind are just as good as the candidate who generated the wind in the first place.

Bloomberg News supplied the typical spin in a Feb. 8 article headlined “Sanders Risks Getting Crowded Out in 2020 Field of Progressives.” The piece laid out the narrative: “Sanders may find himself a victim of his own success in driving the party to the left with his 2016 run. The field of Democratic presidential hopefuls includes at least a half-dozen candidates who’ve adopted in whole or in part the platform that helped Sanders build a loyal following…”

Yet Bernie is also being targeted as too marginal. The same Bloomberg article quoted Howard Dean, a long-ago liberal favorite who has become a hawkish lobbyist and corporate mouthpiece: “There will be hardcore, hard left progressives who will have nobody but Bernie, but there won’t be many.”

So, is Bernie now too much like other Democratic presidential candidates, or is he too much of an outlier? In the mass media, both seem to be true. In the real world, neither are true.

Last week, Business Insider reported on new polling about Bernie’s proposal “to increase the estate tax, the tax paid by heirs on assets passed down by the deceased. Sanders’ idea would lower the threshold to qualify for the tax to $3.5 million in assets, down from the current $11 million. The plan would also introduce a graduating scale of tax rates for the estates of wealthier Americans, eventually reaching a 77 percent marginal rate for assets over $1 billion.”

Here are the poll results: “When presented with the details of the proposal, 37 percent of respondents supported Sanders' policy while 26 percent opposed, according to Insider’s survey.” (The rest had no opinion.)

That kind of response from the public is a far cry from claims that Sanders is somehow fringe. In fact, the ferocity of media attacks on him often indicates that corporate power brokers are afraid his strong progressive populism is giving effective voice to majority views of the public.

A vast range of grassroots organizing—outside and inside of electoral arenas—has created the current leftward momentum. “As a progressive, it is heartening to see so many other candidates voice support for Senator Sanders’ policies,” said Alan Minsky, executive director at Progressive Democrats of America. “However, I've been around the block enough times to know that politicians who adopt positions in tune with the fashion of the moment are not as trustworthy as those rare few, like Bernie Sanders, who have held firm to a powerful social justice vision through his entire long career.”

I also asked for a comment from Pia Gallegos, former chair of the Adelante Progressive Caucus of the New Mexico Democratic Party. “Bernie's competitors lack his track record on economic security for all American workers, Medicare for All, free public college education, taxing the rich and opposing bloated military budgets,” she said. “Those are long-standing positions that—more than ever—resonate with grassroots activists and voters. Other Democratic presidential candidates will try to imitate this populist agenda, but only Bernie can speak with the vision, clarity and moral authority that the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate needs to defeat the incumbent.”

The overarching fear that defenders of oligarchy have about Bernie Sanders is not that he’s out of step with most Americans—it’s that he’s in step with them. For corporate elites determined to retain undemocratic power, a successful Bernie 2020 campaign would be the worst possible outcome of the election.

RETURN OF THE MENDO STREET FAIR

After a break for a year the Mendocino Street Fair is returning at a great new location. There will be one fair in 2019 on the 4th of July which this year falls on a Thursday. Instead of Heider Field where it used to make it's home it will take place in Rotary Park at the corner of Lansing and Main Street. When the Mendocino Farmer's market is happening it sets up on the street along one side of this park. The fair will run from 10am to 4pm , booth spaces will be 10 by 10 feet and each will be a corner space, open on two sides. The fee will be $50 plus 10% of sales over $500. To receive additional information and an application to apply send an email to mendocinostreetfairs@yahoo.com

REMEMBERING THE DIGGERS

https://diggersdocs.home.blog/2019/02/09/we-wanted-to-lead-by-example-an-in-depth-conversation-with-chuck-gould-of-the-san-francisco-diggers/

LIBERAL MARIN

Editor:

In liberal Marin County, a war is shaping up over a school district’s name — Dixie (“Schools called Dixie spark controversy,” Sunday). The proud progressives of San Rafael claim the name is linked to slavery. The moral citizens are more interested in political correctness than preserving local history.

Supporters of the name say it has nothing to do with slavery. The district and Dixie Elementary School, where my kids attended, were named after a Native American woman, Mary Dixie. The first Dixie school was built by the landowner James Miller in the 1860s.

Instead of using the historical background of Mary Dixie and Miller, the offended ones want to link the name to racism, white supremacy and slavery. A meeting will be held Tuesday to determine the fate of Dixie.

Next up will be the erasing of the Civil War altogether, with no mention of the 600,000-plus soldiers who died. No mention will ever be made of the 150,000 blacks who served in that war. Maybe if there is time we can have Vietnam, Korea, the Holocaust and the tens of millions killed by Mao, Stalin, Hitler and Pol Pot, etc. erased from historical records.

How about giving all schools in Marin the initials P.S. followed by a number? Revisionists. They should be ashamed of their ignorance.

Anthony Morgan

Cotati

AS THE INFORMATION on our climate predicament is so negative, the balance is often found in highlighting more positive information about progress on the sustainability agenda. This process of seeking to “balance out” is a habit of the informed and reasoning mind. Yet that does not make it a logical means of deliberation if positive information being shared does not relate to the situation being described by the negative information. For instance, discussing progress in the health and safety policies of the White Star Line with the captain of the Titanic as it sank into the icy waters of the North Atlantic would not be a sensible use of time.

—Jem Bendell

RIBBON CUTTING CEREMONY FOR THE FORT BRAGG ANIMAL SHELTER

The County of Mendocino will hold a ribbon cutting ceremony and open house for the newly re-opened Fort Bragg Animal Shelter on Saturday, February 16, 2019. The ceremony will take place at 1:00 p.m. at the Fort Bragg Animal Shelter, 19701 Summers Ln, in Fort Bragg, CA. Remarking on the re-opening of the Animal Shelter, Fourth District Supervisor Dan Gjerde stated "I hope residents here on the Coast will stop by the County's Coast animal shelter. I'm grateful the County was able to re-establish this service on the Coast." "The reopening of the coast shelter represents the priorities of residents and County government in ensuring humane care and treatment of animals," added Supervisor Ted Williams. The Fort Bragg Animal Shelter’s new regular hours will be Tuesday through Saturday from 12:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. To contact the Fort Bragg Shelter, please call 707-961-2491 or email Shelter Supervisor Adrianna Vega at vegaa@mendocinocounty.org. For more information, please contact the Mendocino County Executive Office at (707) 463-4441.

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Hoping our animal loving community will attend in huge numbers to show the county how happy and how grateful we are to see our shelter reopen!

— Carol Lillis, S.O.S.- Networking for Mendocino Coast Companion Animals

MCHC HEALTH CENTERS OPENS DORA STREET HEALTH CENTER

MCHC Health Centers is expanding access to healthcare by opening new offices at 1165 South Dora Street (across the street from Mendocino County Public Health). Some of the services formerly provided at Hillside Health Center on Laws Avenue are now provided at the Dora Street Health Center. “We purchased the medical complex at 1165 South Dora Street a couple years ago, and now we’re ready to care for patients there in our newly remodeled buildings—Suites A1 and B1. Patients can continue to see the providers they know and feel comfortable with. Only the location and the phone number have changed,” explained MCHC Operations Officer Jill Damian. By moving some of its behavioral health and adult medical services to the Dora Street Health Center, MCHC Health Centers creates more room at its Hillside location for services like pediatrics, dentistry, and one of its busiest services, Care for Her, a women’s health program that provides obstetrics and gynecology to women of all ages. As a federally qualified health center, MCHC Health Centers provides a broad array of healthcare and adheres to the highest quality standards while making its services available to people regardless of their insurance status.

In February, the following providers moved to Dora Street Health Center. In Suite A-1 are Dr. Sarah Alvord; Chris Ayeko, FNP; Dr. Lawrence Goldyn; Frank McGarvey, LCSW; Stephan Ouellette, LCSW; and Dr. Guy Teran. In Suite B-1 are Dr. Javier Arroyo, Dr. Christine Ives, and Dr. Richard McClintock.

For more information, call 707-468-1015.

METOO

At age (guessing) nine or ten I was in minstrel show staged by the Kiwanis Club, of which Daddy was a member. Baltimore, 1947, ‘48, ‘49… I was in tails, top hat and blackface, with cane. The black greasepaint was hot and itchy. I was afraid touching it would leave visible spaces.

I was not a “natural.” I was uncomfortable in that outfit (now I wonder where the hell they got it), and I was dumbstruck with stagefright. I was supposed to "strut" and didn't understand, especially as scared as I was by the whole affair.

My sisters Sandra and Judy danced while I sang “Darktown Strutters’ Ball” (link below). They were three and four years older than me. Their dance was slinky. They were supposed to be Gypsy Rose Lee and her sis, June Havoc. I think they wore long gloves to slide off, but I don't really remember their, ahem, terpsichorean achievement.

I was too scared to find my voice, sang in a quavering whisper. Afterward I heard a lot of disapproval from parents and friends. They couldn’t hear me in the front row. It’s a crummy memory.

(Mitch Clogg)

WHEN HE COMES, LET US GO

I haven't checked the news yet. Employees are on their ways to their offices inside the beltway back east, so there's not much to hear yet anyway. Half an hour and it starts. Whether he survived the night or not, the news will be full of His Orangeness again. Along with ads for Toyotas and Teslas and on-sale bananas at Safeway. And blah blah speeches from carefully groomed enablers. The masters of all this will pretend that all this is ours, that this is our world. Bullshit. It's theirs. Our continuing in it makes them think they can count on our help.

By the time the rot reaches the top, it will be plain even to the folks at Fox News that they stand alone. As for us, the waiting, we will be at the beach in our minds. Or we might be out there on a ridgetop with Lewis and Clark, looking out over this new land and imagining how it might be. The genocide they touched off was inadvertent, but it helped make our world of shopping malls and freeways, land-eating cloverleafs, and all of the rest. And we won't ignore the fact that it happened. Millions are pissed. And across the aisle, as luck would have it, those millions are pissed too. And many on both sides are armed.

So we will go to the beach or the mountains. Whatever's refreshing where the air is most likely clear. The future looks bleak and dangerous. We must use this time to rethink our history, to try to make out what went wrong. And get ready to lead when these criminal bastards are lined up to hang. Roll a blunt. Find the bong. Have a Corona. Inhale. Settle into that cozy recliner. And, for the first day in years, enjoy the show.

(Bruce Brady)

FOCUSING ON OM

O Radiant Atman

Just sitting here in the travel hostel room on Oahu, surfing the internet and seeing the chaos of the government, and the world at large. Lots and lots of stories about everything, but nothing to unite anything. Meanwhile, am focusing on OM on the outbreath and know that we are all radiantly spiritual. In India, the teaching is that we are the Immortal Self, or the Atman, not the body nor the mind. In view of the present earthly civilization which is based on nothing spiritual, but is mostly lost in a sea of materialism, what else primarily is one to do but spiritual practices which unite one spiritually? Beyond this, I am willing to relocate for the purpose of "intervening in history". I am accepting cooperation to do this, particularly in the Washington, D.C. area. If not us, who? If not now, when? ~Peaceout~

Craig Louis Stehr

Email: craiglouisstehr@gmail.com