MCT: Thursday, May 16, 2019

FROM NICK WILSON:

Here are some forecast rain figures for the next 6 days, picked from the California Nevada River Forecast Center map linked at the end of this message at about noon Wednesday. You can easily see that the amount of rain increases with higher elevation.

• Leggett: 4.87 (2179 ft.)
• Laytonville: 4.52 (1935 ft.)
• Branscomb: 6.31 (2168 ft. elevation)
• Cahto Peak: 6.92 (2800 ft.)
• Westport: 3.93 in.
• Fort Bragg: 3.35
• Mendocino: 3.06
• Little River Airport: 3.48 (412 ft.)
• Albion, downtown: 3.23
• Albion Ridge: 3.80 (at Middle Ridge Rd. 324 ft. elevation)
• Elk: 3.74 downtown
• Point Arena: 3.48
• Gualala: 3.80
• Willits: 4.08 (1458 ft.)
• Ukiah: 3.02 (764 ft.)
• Navarro: 3.62 (529 ft.)
• Boonville: 3.69 (569 ft.)
• Yorkville: 4.47 (1365 ft.)
• Mtn View Rd.: 5.73 (1973 ft. elevation near summit)
• Philo Greenwood Rd. 4.08 (1017 ft. elevation)

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The California Nevada River Forecast Center includes an interactive map with color coding to show ranges of forecasted precipitation over the next 6 days (or another period that you can choose). You can zoom in to a smaller area, and when you hover the mouse cursor over a spot it will pop up the numerical figures for precipitation and elevation. There are many settings that you can experiment (play) with.

As of noon my weather station shows .50 in. rain since midnight near the Y on Little River Airport Rd. You can visit my station website and see data and charts for rainfall, temperature etc. at

https://www.wunderground.com/dashboard/pws/KCALITTL10

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A FUNDRAISER for the Anderson Valley Senior Center features a preview of the much ballyhooed Windows on the World, the work product of two local boys, Robert and Zack Anderson. The film, described below, will be screened at the Philo Grange on Sunday, June 2nd, big name movie stars and all.

IN THE WAKE OF 9/11, an immigrant worker considers the future

Ryan Guzman plays Fernando, a son from Mexico searching for his father, an undocumented immigrant who worked at the World Trade Center’s famed restaurant and disappeared after 9/11 in “Windows on the World.”

At the Vogue Theatre, SFJazz Center, the SFFilm Society and UpCal Entertainment sponsored two screenings last week of “Windows on the World,” an indie movie co-written by Robert Mailer Anderson and Zack Anderson, and produced by the former, who also wrote a whole lot of music for the film. Edward James Olmos is one of the stars of the movie, and his son, Michael D. Olmos, is its director.

All that to say that although there’s nothing amateurish about the indie movie, it has a handmade/custom-made feel. “It’s an independent film, so naturally we ran out of money,” Mailer Anderson told the audience. “So naturally, you get jazz musicians.” Mailer Anderson loves jazz and has supported SFJazz; several of the musicians in the movie are members of the SFJazz Collective. “Their bread and butter is to help you and not get paid.”

The “custom-made” applies well to its plot, about a Mexican immigrant working in the kitchen at Windows on the World, the restaurant on top of the World Trade Center, when the building is attacked and collapses. Although 9/11 happened in 2001, the issue of immigration, central to the story, is central to American concerns right now. Latinos make up something like 18% of the population of the United States, said Mailer Anderson, but are represented in only 6% to 8% of films and TV programming.

Miramax had signed on to do the project in 2004, but after a series of negotiations with Hollywood folks — What if one character was a drug dealer? Could they get Jeff Bridges to play him? — that deal never reached fruition.

As to the music, said Mailer Anderson, licensing is “really expensive. We spent our whole budget on ‘New York, New York,’” an essential piece of which is used in the movie. Plans to use a piece of Tony Bennett singing “Rags to Riches” were scrapped in favor of a Mailer Anderson composition for financial reasons. Mailer Anderson was fearless. “I can write a ‘fire of desire’ form,” said the composer, who did just that.

(Leah Garchick, the SF Chronicle)

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FORT BRAGG CITY COUNCIL WIELDS THE AX

by Rex Gressett

Fort Bragg City Council member Tess Albin-Smith's personal slow-mo train wreck crashed through the regular meeting of the Fort Bragg City Council Monday night, splitting the council for the second time in as many weeks and went on to plow into the Board of Supervisors over the hill in Ukiah the following Tuesday morning.

Albin-Smith presented herself to the BOS, in an apparently unannounced appearance, as the head of a committee that her fellow councilers and Mayor Will Lee had dissolved the night before.

It was an unprecedented departure from protocol that rattled the Supes meeting and left the Fort Bragg council and the press scrambling to find out what the hell she thought she was doing.

Albin-Smith, our brand new Fort Bragg City Council person, has missed so many meetings since her election four months ago that if she misses one more meeting she can be removed from office.

Her brief tenure on the Council has found its sole focus, so far, in the ECRC (Election System Review Committee) — the legal settlement mandated committee required by Attorney Jacob Paterson’s legal challenge to general elections under the CVRA (California Voting Rights Act).

Monday night at the regular council meeting, Councilperson Albin-Smith supplicated for rescue from a committee that she could not seem to get to agree with her and convinced the Mayor to fire the whole committee. Except, of course, her. Albin-Smith presented a power-point of all the ways that she has tried patiently to get everyone to behave properly and agree reasonably with HER agenda.

It was a sad indictment of the dangerous predilection of Fort Bragg citizens to disagree and do crazy things like debate and insist on facts.

The City Council empathized with her frustration and thought that wholesale censorship of every opinion on the committee was the least that they could do for their comrade.

Only councilman Bernie Norvell voted against her plea for dissolution, speaking strongly with quiet integrity against high-handed administrative censorship and standing up for free speech, community involvement, and participation. He was all alone.

It looked for a minute like Jessica Morsell-Haye would vote with Norvell, but in the end peer pressure, her friendship with Albin-Smith or simply the momentum of antagonistic government blowback, swept her into the majority.

Only two weeks ago at the previous City Council meeting, Tess Albin-Smith and her loyal protege in electoral redesign, private citizen Scott Menzies, had pushed the Council hard for a letter of support for their plan to impose multiple choice, I mean ranked-choice voting, on the electorate.

Albin-Smith had to explain then, that an informed and engaged all-volunteer committee, including the formidable Sharon Davis, Director of the Chamber of Commerce, Ruben Alaca, a former candidate for the City Council, Rick Reilly who has written passionately on the CVRA, Jim Britt a local patriot and regular speaker at City Council meetings and yes me, had all been so unfriendly to the rabid pursuit of Menzies’ and Albin-Smith's ranked-choice voting program that our new councilperson found it necessary to remove them wholesale from the general discussion.

Albin-Smith formed a sub-committee to handle the choice of an electoral system with only Scott Menzies to assist her.

The poor voting committee kept wondering how ranked-choice voting would help with the CVRA. By every example of law and case, it won't.

Menzies and Albin-Smith don't claim it will, but they want it anyway? The Council looked into the Menzies/Albin-Smith plan like it was a box of snakes and slammed the door on ranked-choice voting as hard as they knew how.

Albin-Smith's motion failed to get any votes and died on the vine for want of a second, It was a gaudy rebuke possibly unique in City Council history.

The jilted and slandered ESRV committee made a desperate plea for their meetings to be covered on the city website - so the people of the city could see with their own eyes the strong-arming 'Uber autocratic' Albin-Smith in action and the actual threats by Scott Menzies.

All the city had to do was flip a switch.

But the strong odor of strong-arm pressure and the scary echoes of possible opposition and dangerous independent thinking alarmed the City Manager sufficiently that she issued a personal order that the ESRC would damn well not be recorded.

The next day, Mayor Will Lee took mercy on the battered Albin-Smith and used his authority to kill all future voting committee meetings - including the one scheduled for that day. They actually went around together and told everyone no more meetings. Mayoral authority and blundering innocence hand in hand.

An ominous two-week silence descended on the committee volunteers waiting in the dark for the next shoe to drop.

Two weeks later at the last regular meeting, Will Lee finessed the mass execution of the whole committee.

The very next day, Tess Albin-Smith was up at the break of dawn, liberated, at last, to do her thing without anyone screwing her up.

Albin-Smith showed up in Ukiah to grandly, indeed majestically, announce her surprise appearance as a member of the Fort Bragg City Council and the head of the EVRC committee. She did not mention the city council had dissolved the committee the night before.

We need SPECIAL voting machines to implement ranked-choice voting, she intoned to the bemused supervisors. They sent her down the hall to talk to someone who could not get out of it and went back to their business."

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NEIGHBORS BEHAVING BADLY

by Paul Modic

There are few things in life worse than your next door neighbor hating you, and you hating him. It's not just a one day thing, it's every day. Whenever they drive by you have to feel that anxiety, and on and on for weeks, months and even years. I hope I never experience that but down my road there have been feuds for years. It started when the restaurant-owner told her manager not to hire her neighbor for a waitress job, probably aware that eventually she tires of and fires all of her workers. Her manager hired her neighbor anyway, good help is hard to find, and sure enough before the year was out the owner fired her. This made her husband put up a little sign in his pickup truck saying “Boycott The Waterwheel.”

That little conflict eventually calmed down, the restaurant-owner became a little old lady, and her neighbors should have realized you never really appreciate peace and tranquility until you lose it. She eventually sold the restaurant and moved out of town, selling her houses to obnoxious growers and dealers. Instead of a little old lady with a bit of an attitude across the street who maybe drove in and out a couple times a day the neighbors had traffic all day long with workers, trimmers, and buyers clogging up the few parking spaces between them. (And more dogs in the neighborhood now too, one more little paradise defiled.)

On one side of the street a middle-class household not into dope with a sullen son and regular jobs and on the other side the usual socially-retarded arrogant man-child full of himself and drunk on his power to grow in multiple locations and whatever else he wanted to do. (Let’s call these two Sullen and Arrogant.)

One day Sullen noticed a dent in his car, got the repair appraisal, and demanded that Arrogant pay him for the damages, though it was a cluster-fuck of haphazardly parked cars and trucks down there with no proof who was responsible. Arrogant refused and Sullen's father threatened to “Turn you in!” which seemed like a pretty empty threat as weed was almost legal anyway. Arrogant finally gave Sullen the $3200 just to get him off his back. (Months later he still complains about that payoff.)

The dogs kept getting out of the new neighbor's yard and coming over to mix it up with Sullen's dog so he went over to complain. Arrogant wasn't home but his girlfriend was, although she didn't seem to be cooperating up to the standards that Sullen expected.

“Bitch!” he said and went back home across the street. When Arrogant got home he encountered Sullen in the road and said, “You called my girlfriend a bitch!” and punched him in the face. The cops were called, Arrogant disappeared for a few weeks, and Sullen's parents filed for a temporary restraining order. They all met in court last week with dueling permanent restraining order requests. Everybody lied and the judge threw up his hands and dismissed the whole matter.

I am thankful I'm not involved with that neighborhood insanity.

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NO QUIZ THIS WEEK. Back on the 4th Thursday - May 23rd

Hope to see you there. Cheers, Steve Sparks, The Quiz Master

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MENDOCINO COUNTY IN LITERATURE, WILLIAM RAY WRITES:

“Kerouac, who died 60 years ago in 1969 at the age of 47…” You [Jonah Raskin] meant fifty years ago.

The essay, comparing politically naive but sincere Kerouac with the incarnate demons of American political psychopathology, is much appreciated.

Anecdotally I would like to add an excerpt from Ann Charters’s ‘Jack Kerouac/Selected Letters’: a 1948 whimsy or imagination of communal life by the prose-poet of American existentialism. The locale is familiar.

“A ranch say. In Mendocino county, or around Clear Lake, or the Russian River valley around Ukiah, or even Eel River. I even saw some stock-ranches near Stimson beach [sic], in Muir woods. All wonderful country not far from Frisco.” (p.159)

This would put Kerouac in the intuitive prediction business shared by Whitman who wrote:

“Along the northern coast,/ Just back from the rock-bound shore and the caves,/ In the saline air from the sea in the Mendocino country,/ With the surge for base and accompaniment low and hoarse,/ With crackling blows of axes sounding musically driven by strong arms,/ Riven deep by the sharp tongues of the axes, there in the redwood forest dense,/ I heard the mighty tree its death-chant chanting.” (Song of the Redwood-Tree)

Like Kerouac, Whitman was a literary prophet, foreseeing that the endless redwood forests, which Theodore Roosevelt would soon say could not be cut down in 10,000 years, were doomed to disappear. Roosevelt knew only the pulling power of ox teams in the timber industry. The incipient motor increased industrial removal by a factor of one hundred times. Boards of directors take heed of your poets, no pun intended.

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A CANDIDACY WE ALL SHOULD SUPPORT

From Mayor Will Lee Wednesday: “Interview tomorrow in the Governor’s office! Also see letters of support from Board of Supervisors and Fort Bragg City Council.

This is a great opportunity for Fort Bragg!!

If you are so inclined, please write a letter of support for my nomination to:

Kristin.stauffacher@gov.ca.gov

diana.essex@gov.ca.gov

Mona.pasquil@gov.ca.gov “

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ED NOTES

The only time school board meetings are interesting is when the community turns out to lynch someone. Or comic figures occupy the power slots, such as Superintendent Wobbling Eagle and his assistant, Mr. Burble Gurble, back in the 1980's. Farther back, during the initial interface between 'Necks and freshly arrived hippies, school board meetings could get downright tumultuous. Why even your faithful school board correspondent had to punch his way out of the library one night following his address to the trustees, which some of the boys in the audience apparently considered an impertinence. And your correspondent wasn't even a hippie, merely new to the bucolic Anderson Valley! Then there was a period of revolving superintendents, the most spectacular of whom was a guy who locked himself in his office to pound down a fifth of whisky while suddenly liberated "students" climbed to the roof to empty fire hoses down through the vents, drenching the few of their classmates who'd remained in their classrooms. Yes, yes my friends, those were some wild days in the halls of local learning until the hippies took over the schools for many ensuing years of nepotism and love bombing. But last spring, after several years of relative peace, with only a professional murder or two, Macbeth's surrogate witches massed to dismember Superintendent Michelle Hutchins, an ostensible sister, who not only survived the Boonville assault but went on to win county-wide election as superintendent of all the county's schools.

Enough nostalgia. Back to business.

Tuesday night's school board meeting, as per recent custom, convened in the bare-walled austerity of the high school "cafetorium," I suppose it's called, a neo-totalitarian space that would serve nicely as a waterboarding center. I expected to see Sid Frazer, a regular at board meetings but, like me, the Warrior's playoff game, I suspect, kept him at home in front of the television set. Your correspondent lasted twenty minutes at the meeting, squirming on his hemorrhoid-inducing hard plastic chair before he, too, bolted for the ball game, but not before he learned that the school district is still short one trustee with three young mothers — Kristin San Miguel; Elizabeth Jensen; and Saiorse Byrne, plus Dick Browning, a man like your correspondent, in the far right column of the actuarial tables, comprising the board of trustees. (Mrs. Byrne was absent from the night's proceedings.)

Jim Snyder has decided to stay in the District as principal of the Jr/Sr High School, which is good news as his loss would have eroded district stability.

Interim Superintendent Wayrch told me he foresees a balanced budget for next year, "but won't know for sure until all of the numbers have been calculated, entered, and reviewed. The final budget will be presented for a public hearing next month, and will then be considered for adoption at a second board meeting a few days later."

Classified employees are getting a raise, which seems well-deserved given the long hours they labor. (The school grounds at both the elementary and high school have never looked better kept, office staff never as friendly and capable.)

There was nothing to report out of closed session where the real school biz is conducted, and all the interesting stuff is aired.

An elementary teacher whose name I didn't get because of my impaired hearing and the room's reverberating acoustics, got permission for a class field trip to an ecological site in Occidental.

These teachers have resigned: Christian Dorn; Kaitlin Wiltjer; Gabrielle Visco; David Wagner; Yanet Mendoza. Used to be people would say, "It's hard to get teachers to come to a remote place like Anderson Valley”; now it's hard to keep them because it's almost impossible to find an affordable place to live.

An exhibit of high school student work is on for Tuesday, May 28 6-7:30pm

The 6th grade, presumably with a basic grasp of our lingua franca, moves to the junior high school, on Monday, June 10 at 6pm.

Graduating high school seniors will attend an awards night at the high school on Tuesday June 11 at 7pm.

The 8th grade, presumably with an even firmer grasp of Gringolandia's prevalent tongue, graduate on Wednesday, June 12, at 6pm.

And on Thursday, June 13th at 7pm, high school seniors formally emerge from 12 years of instruction to confront a world of turmoil and woe.

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MR. WENDEL (commenting on the AVA’s website): "Supervisor Gjerde has kept silent, both at board meetings and with his constituents until his recent comment defending himself after becoming aware of the Mendocinosportsplus post about the AVA article. Why did he feel the need to respond to that but not to stand up and represent the residents of his district and this county? He has been a huge disappointment. And it would not be so disappointing if we had not seen potential in him as a city councilmember. His term is up next year and I hope that Supervisor Williams can encourage capable people in the 4th district to run for that seat. I hoped that seeing Supervisor Williams in action would inspire Supervisor Gjerde to wake up and do his job. My hope for him to come back to life is dwindling. Unless a great change comes over Supervisor Gjerde soon, I will not vote for him again and I will encourage my friends and colleagues to decline to support him. Reading a list of board actions that he voted ‘yes’ on without comment or questioning, along with the effects of those actions on the county, would be enough for a ‘no’ vote for him."

ED REPLY: I wouldn’t write Gjerde off yet. Prior to the arrival of Williams and sometimes Haschak, Gjerde was up against the entire apparatus, including four of his fellow supervisors. Which is no excuse for drifting along saying and doing nothing. Pinches was always isolated, too, but he did and said what he thought was right despite the entrenched opposition he faced. It’s already clear that the apparat is terrified of Williams who, I hope, will galvanize Gjerde, and drag along Haschak on to the path of righteousness.

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ACTING DEFENSE SECRETARY Patrick Shanahan presented an updated plan to President Trump’s top national-security aides that potentially sends as many as 120,000 troops to the Middle East if Iran attacks U.S. forces or accelerates its work on nuclear weapons, The New York Times reports. National Security Adviser John Bolton ordered Shanahan to update the plan, which was presented at a meeting last week and does not call for a land invasion of Iran. Deploying the 120,000 troops was reportedly the “uppermost option” of the plan, and it was estimated to take “weeks or months” to execute. While the plan was presented, it is not clear if Trump was briefed on the plan’s details or if he would support it. Spokesmen for Shanahan and Gen. Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, reportedly declined to comment. Garrett Marquis, a National Security Council spokesman, told the newspaper Monday the U.S. “does not seek war with Iran,” but said the administration would be “ready to defend U.S. personnel and interests in the region.” The troop figure—120,000—would “approach” the number deployed when the U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003, the Times reports. When Trump was asked if he wanted regime change Iran, he told reporters Monday that he’ll “see what happens” in the country. “If they do anything, it would be a very bad mistake,” he said.

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A YEAR after California legalized recreational cannabis, smuggling rates out of Los Angeles International Airport have increased by 166 percent, according to the Los Angeles Times. The paper reviewed recent arrest warrants at the airport and cite officials who say that those who sold pot when it was illegal are now expanding out of the state. “Since pot’s been legalized in California, there’s no money to be made because everyone got involved in it,” defense attorney Bill Kroger Jr. told the paper. “The money is outside of California.” Marijuana use is legal in California, but it is still a federal offense, which makes transporting it across state lines is illegal. The Times also reports an increase in pot smuggling by car, which is harder to catch due to a lack of controls across state borders.

(LA Times)

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DOCTORS are being attacked online by anti-vaccine activists for recommending vaccines to patients, according to a report by the Boston Globe. The paper outlines the case of Dr. Monique Tello who found that she had been peppered with 100 negative reviews and derogatory comments on a number of physician ratings sites for speaking out in favor of vaccines. None of the people who posted reviews were her patients, and only after she threatened a lawsuit did the websites take down the reviews. The move to discredit pro-vaccine doctors is gaining speed despite an increase in measles in places where the anti-vax movement is strongest, according to the Globe.

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KELLEY HOUSE MUSEUM EXHIBIT 'EXCLUSION & CITIZENSHIP' OPENS MAY 17TH

'The Look Tin Eli Story: Exclusion & Citizenship on the Mendocino Coast'

This is one exhibit you won’t want to miss! Funded by the California State Library’s Civil Liberties Public Education Program, “The Story of Look Tin Eli: Exclusion & Citizenship on the Mendocino Coast” examines local historic ties to a topic that is still very much with us today.

Mendocino-born businessman Look Tin Eli led the reconstruction of San Francisco’s Chinatown after the earthquake of 1906. Mr. Look hired American architects to rebuild it as a tourist attraction using bright colors and swooping pagoda-like roofs attached to typical western structures. It became a wildly popular destination for visitors, and its style and concept influenced other Chinatowns throughout the world.

This thought-provoking exhibit can be viewed during museum hours, Fridays through Mondays, 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM. Admission is by suggested donation of $5.

Kelley House Museum

PO Box 922

45007 Albion Street

Mendocino, CA 95460

707-937-5791

kelleyhousemuseum.org

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FORT BRAGG VOLUNTEERS

Monday night, May 13, 2019, before the regularly scheduled City Council meeting, the City held a Volunteer Appreciation Reception to acknowledge and thank those members of our community who give their time, experience and knowledge to the City. The list of commissions, committees, boards and groups who represent the City is surprisingly large. Moreover, the list of individuals who participate on these committees is extensive and deserves a shout out.

THANK YOU!

Fort Bragg Planning Commission

The Planning Commission is a five-member board appointed by and serving the City Council. The Commission reviews land use and development permits (use permits, coastal permits, design review permits, subdivisions, etc.) for consistency with the goals and policies of the Fort Bragg Municipal Code. The Commission also provides recommendations to the City Council on General Plan amendments and rezoning requests, and provides direction to the Community Development Department regarding the interpretation of City planning policies and the City Code.

Fort Bragg Fire Protection Authority

The Fort Bragg Fire Protection Authority, a Joint Powers Authority (JPA) of the City and the Fort Bragg Rural Fire District, oversees fire protection, suppression and emergency rescue operations of the Authority.

Mendocino County Library Advisory Board

The Library Advisory Board meets during the year and assists in developing improvements for Mendocino libraries making the members instrumental in providing educational and recreational materials which fill the needs of a culturally diverse population. The City appoints one member to this Board.

Noyo Harbor Commission

The Noyo Harbor District is a special district that serves the fishing and other marine interests at Noyo Harbor. The District has a five-member board with the City and County each selecting two members and jointly selecting the fifth member. The Harbor District owns the mooring basin and a substantial portion of the property on the south side of the harbor where the parking lot is located. The Harbor District also rents berths to boats anchored at the harbor.

Bee City USA Committee

The Bee City USA Committee is a volunteer committee established in the fall of 2016 designated to facilitate Fort Bragg’s Bee City USA Program – the first in California! The committee encourages and coordinates local pollinator habitat, and raises awareness about the importance of pollinators to our culture and economy.

Visit Fort Bragg Committee

The Visit Fort Bragg Committee promotes Fort Bragg as a travel and retail destination. The Committee provides direction on the VFB Marketing and Promotions Action Plan.

Adopt-A-Street-Program

The Adopt-A-Street-Program was created in the Spring of 2017 with the goal of helping keep City streets clean and inviting, especially our historic downtown. Not only do these efforts spruce up the City’s appearance, but assist with storm water protection by removing trash and cigarette butts from our streets and drainage systems.

Adopt-A-Park Program

The Adopt-A-Park Program helps keep the City Parks clean and inviting. Volunteers help remove invasive plants, pick up trash and work on park beautification projects. These folks provide much appreciated support to the City’s Public Works Department.

Neighborhood Watch Program

Neighborhood Watch is built on the strength of citizens and encourages neighbors to help fight against crime by working together to lend their neighbors a hand.

Community Emergency Response Team

The Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) program helps train people to be better prepared to respond to emergency situations in their communities. When emergencies happen, CERT members can give critical support to first responders, provide immediate assistance to victims, and organize spontaneous volunteers at a disaster site. CERT members can also help with non-emergency projects that help improve the safety of the community.

If you are interested in volunteering for one or another of the Committees or Boards, please call (707) 961-2823.

Tabatha Miller, Fort Bragg City Manager

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Bitter Man, Chippewa chief. Minnesota. Photo from 1862-1875. Source: New York Public Library.

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COMING SOON….

Cell towers planned for Albion, Comptche, Boonville, Potter Valley, and Manchester; please comment today or show up in Ukiah tomorrow at 9am

Dear community,

Cell towers are planned by AT&T for properties belonging to Mendocino Redwood Co., AT&T, religious organizations and individuals.

If you can not attend the meeting tomorrow

https://www.mendocinocounty.org/home/showdocument?id=28137

see

https://www.mendocinocounty.org/government/planning-building-services/meeting-agendas/planning-commission

for info about these plans.

Send e-mail with comments to: pbs@mendocinocounty.org

Subject: plans for cell tower CASE # ….. See below for each site

Comments need to be addressed to Mendocino County Planning & Building Commissioners.

You need to write down each location in the Subject:

Plans for Cell Tower in Comptche CASE#: U_2018-0007

Plans for Cell Tower on Navarro Ridge, Albion CASE#: U_2017-0034

Plans for Cell Tower in Boonville CASE#: U_2018-0008

Plans for Cell Tower in Potter Valley CASE#: U_2017-0038

Plans for Cell Tower in Manchester CASE # U_2017-0036

Write if you are opposed to a specific tower. Write if you have lived in Mendocino County and since when. Write if you are a tax payer and vote here.

Mendocino County adopted the Precautionary Principle Policy #43 on June 27, 2006. Please do not make any decisions until all have read this policy. See

https://www.mendocinocounty.org/home/showdocument?id=1926

AT&T says: "The Wireless Facility will serve the community with High Speed Broadband Wireless Internet, Mobile Phone Services, and enhance public safety."

If you disagree tell them. Many citizens can not speak up in person as they are so sensitive to radiation that they can not be in the room where the meeting is held. It is held at the Mendocino County Administration Center, Board Of Supervisors Chambers at 501 Low Gap Road in Ukiah.

We need to ask for Environmental Impact Reports (EIR's) versus just a Mitigated Negative Declarations (MND's).

Why is it that the public has no way online to read the comments provided by certain agencies? That is missing. Before any decisions are made the public needs to be able to see these. They need to be included online. Why was that not done?

Please read the history of microwaves since 1977 and its devastating effects.

http://www.cellphonetaskforce.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/microwaves_2011.pdf

We need to make it possible for people who are sensitive to this technology, older people, children and all who are being radiated through space to survive. Please read this before you adopt this plan.

See http://www.cellphonetaskforce.org/wifi-in-the-sky/

Urgency Ordinance No. 947-2019 The latest California guidelines regarding exposure to cell tower radiation and recommendations that they not be sited on, or next to, Hospitals, Fire Stations and Police Stations.

The California Firefighters Association has announced that, because of the health hazards, it doesn't want cell towers or antennas close to any fire stations. Please read this before you adopt this plan.

https://www.activistpost.com/2019/03/becausefirefighters-the-international-association-of-firefighters-iaff-opposes-cell-towers-and-antennas-on-stations-due-to-health-risks-this-is-why-they-shouldnt-be-installed-near-homes.htm

And the LA School District, the second largest in the country, has banned WiFi from all their classrooms out of concern for children and staff. Computers will be hard-wired, and all WiFi gadgets are banned.

Please read the APPEAL to stop 5G on Earth and in Space. There are 90,566 signatories from at least 168 countries as of May 15, 2019.

https://www.5gspaceappeal.org/the-appeal

It would be good to know if it is possible to colocate 5G on these towers as we need to keep Mendocino County residents safe! If that is the case then we cannot permit this tower.

The system is rigged if the public has no say about what we feel are safe emissions as denial on the basis of radio frequency emissions is prohibited if those emissions are below the standards as determined by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The emissions tolerated here are much higher than the emissions tolerated in Europe.

Thanks for your interest and apologies for sending this info out so late in the game.

Annemarie Weibel, Fort Bragg

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GUILTY

UKIAH, Wed., May 15. -- A Mendocino County Superior Court jury spent only 90 minutes in deliberations before returning to the courtroom Wednesday afternoon with four guilty verdicts against the accused.

Defendant Van Allen Hubbard, age 58, of Shasta Lake (formerly of Ukiah), was found guilty of driving a motor vehicle under the combined influence of drugs and alcohol, possession of a methamphetamine pipe, and possession of over one ounce of marijuana, all as misdemeanors. He was also found guilty of driving with an open container of alcohol, an infraction. The defendant was found not guilty of possession of an illegal billy club.

The evidence presented to the jury was that the defendant was unlawfully driving under the combined influence of alcohol, marijuana, and methamphetamine. The defendant was also in unlawful possession of approximately one pound of marijuana. Though not a commercial trucker, the defendant testified that the billy club found in his pickup truck was not a billy club; rather, he said, it was a tire thumper.

The defendant was ordered back to court on May 23, 2019 at 9 o'clock in the morning in Department H of the Ukiah courthouse for rendition of judgment and sentence. Any individual interested in this case or this defendant is welcome to attend that sentencing hearing.

The prosecutor who presented the People's evidence to the jury was Deputy DA Melissa Weems. The investigating law enforcement agencies were the Coyote Valley Tribal Police, the California Highway Patrol, the California Department of Justice forensic crime laboratory in Eureka, and the Department of Justice toxicology laboratory in Sacramento.

Mendocino County Superior Court Judge John Behnke presided over the three-day trial. Judge Behnke will pronounce sentence on the 23rd.

(District Attorney press release)

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A FLIGHT OF YA FICTION

Read by Linda Pack

The Willits Library will be hosting its very first book tasting program on Friday, May 24th from 4-5 pm. Book tasting is a way of sampling a variety of books in the hopes of finding an intriguing book for your next read. Well-known local theatrical performer, Linda Pack, will read from a selection of Young Adult novels. Come join us for a taste of A Flight of YA Fiction and sample our expanded Young Adult book collection.

For more information, please email Nicole Bird birdn@mendocinocounty.org or call the Willits Public Library at 707-459-5908.

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HURRAH FOR THE BETTER BIZ BUREAU

To the Editor:

This episode ends well. After months of struggling to have a vendor fulfill its service contract by replacing an unrepairable home appliance, I reached out to our local Legal Service of Northern California’s Senior Law Project department to see if it could help our household of individuals age 60-plus. “Have you contacted the Better Business Bureau?” was the quick response. I knew the BBB to be a rating/complaint agency, but didn’t know that it might actually go to bat for a consumer. On a Sunday I completed BBB’s online intake form, BBB took action within two days, and the matter was fully resolved by the contract vendor by the end of the week. Thank goodness for the guidance and help of our hard-working local and national non-profit agencies.

Kathy Johnson

Talmage

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FAIR PLAY FOR FATHER LOU. The Catholic Bishop of Santa Rosa, Bishop Robert Vasa, is trying to retire Father Lou (Louis Nichols), 86, of Saint Anthony's of Mendocino, although he serves mass 7 days a week and is on call 7 days of the week. He is a fit man in full possession of his faculties. A congregant puts it this way: "Father Lou is a real man, a real man of God. He will help anyone regardless of religion, color of skin, political beliefs or anything else for that matter. His church and office is open to anyone. The man helped me many times in my hours of need. Church attendances is falling yet Father Lou's church is full on a Sunday. His sermons are inspiring and compassionate. This is a man who served as a Chaplain in Vietnam during the terrible period of 1967-68. Father Lou is now being forced into retirement. He has no place to go with his 2 dogs. The Elk Catholic church is vacant and has room for his dogs. He could live out his days in peace with his dogs, but the Bishop says no. Father Lou will be 87 on the 16th of June and on the 25th of June he will be out of his home with his 2 dogs. Bishop Vasa can be reached at 707 566-3300."

(MendocinoSportsPlus)

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TEENAGERS ARRESTED for drag racing on Artesia Boulevard in Compton, 1954. Photo UCLA Library Special Collections.

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SIX PACK ASSAULT

On May 8, 2019 at 2:58 AM Mendocino County Sheriff’s Deputies were dispatched to a hospital in Willits to contact a 40-year old adult female involved in a physical assault incident. Upon arrival, the Deputies determined the adult female had reportedly been assaulted by Silas Young, 36, and Aaron McIvor, 35, both of Willits, during the late evening hours on 05-07-2019 at a residence in the Brooktrails residential subdivision.

Deputies learned the adult female and Young had been involved in dating relationship and were friends with McIvor. Reportedly in the late evening hours on May 7, 2019 the adult female had purchased some alcohol beverages for Young and McIvor. All three consumed alcohol beverages in a vehicle near the listed residence. While in the vehicle consuming alcohol beverages, Young became angered at the adult female and pushed her out of the vehicle causing her to fall to the ground. Young then grabbed the adult female around the neck and proceeded to choke her. The adult female started to scream for help and Young covered her mouth with his hands to quiet her screams. The adult female was brought to a residence on Oriole Drive and a short time later Willits Police Department Officers responded to the residence on a mutual aid request by the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office. Willits Police Department Officers were asked to check the area on a report of a woman heard screaming for help while Deputies were unavailable on an unrelated armed robbery incident in the Spy Rock area of Mendocino County. The adult female told the Willits Police Department Officers everything was alright because she feared being further assaulted by Young and McIvor. After the Willits Police Department Officers left the scene, Young and McIvor confronted the adult female and took turns spitting, punching and kicking her. The adult female fought back and attempted to leave however McIvor blocked the exit doors and prevented her from leaving. During the incident McIvor also burnt one of the adult female’s hands with a lit cigarette and threatened her with death should she report the incident to law enforcement. The adult female waited until Young and McIvor were distracted and then escaped the residence and drove herself to the hospital. The investigating Deputies observed her clothing was ripped and torn. Deputies also observed visible injures to the adult female’s face, eyes and a burn mark on the palm area of one of her hands. Deputies responded to the residence on Oriole Drive and contacted Young and McIvor. Deputies placed Young under arrest for Felony Domestic Battery and arrested McIvor for Felony False Imprisonment, misdemeanor Assault & Battery and misdemeanor violation of probation. McIvor and Young were booked into the Mendocino County Jail where Young was to be held in lieu of $25,000 bail and McIvor was to be held in lieu of $70,000 bail.

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CATCH OF THE DAY, MAY 15, 2019

GREGORY CUADRA II, Ukiah. Controlled substance, getting credit with someone else’s ID, probation revocation.

FRANK GENTLE, Clearlake/Ukiah. Domestic abuse, witness intimidation.

MARK LEDBETTER, Ukiah. Under influence.

JAMES MALLO, Willits. Probation revocation.

DENA MORRIS, Ukiah. Parole violation. (Frequent flyer.)

BYRON PETERS, Covelo. Carjacking, DUI-alcohol&drugs, fourth DUI within ten years, county parole violation.

BRANDON SCHIMKA, Ukiah. DUI, suspended license (for DUI), probation revocation.

PATRICK SCHUETZ, Ukiah. County parole violation.

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EUROPE POWERLESS IN GROWING US-IRAN CONFLICT

by Patrick Cockburn

Brexiteers in Britain are denouncing the EU as an all-powerful behemoth from whose clutches Britain must escape, just as the organisation is demonstrating its failure to become more than a second-rate world power.

The EU’s real status – well behind the US, Russia and China – has just been demonstrated by its inability to protect Iran from US sanctions following President Trump’s withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal of 2015. A year ago, Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron made humiliating visits to Washington to plead vainly with Trump to stay with the agreement, but were rebuffed.

Since then the US has successfully ratcheted up economic pressure on Iran, reducing its oil exports from 2.8 to 1.3 million barrels a day. The UK, France and Germany had promised to create a financial vehicle to circumvent US sanctions, but their efforts have been symbolic. Commercial enterprises are, in any case, too frightened of the ire of the US treasury to take advantage of such measures.

Iranian president Hassan Rouhani said on Wednesday that Iran would stop complying with parts of the nuclear deal unless the Europeans provided the promised protection for the oil trade and banks. Everybody admits that Iran is in compliance but this is not going to do it any good.

These are the latest moves in the complex political chess game between the US and Iran which has been going on since the overthrow of the Shah in 1979. It is this conflict – and not the US-China confrontation over trade, which has just dramatically escalated – which will most likely define any new balance of power in the world established during the Trump era. It is so important because – unlike the US-China dispute – the options include the realistic possibility of regime change and war.

The Europeans have proved to be marginal players when it comes to the Iran deal and it was never likely that they would spend much more diplomatic capital defending it once the US had withdrawn. In the long term, they also want regime change in Tehran, though they oppose Trump’s methods of obtaining it as reckless. Nevertheless, the contemptuous ease with which Trump capsized the agreement shows how little he cares what EU leaders say or do.

The Europeans will be spectators in the escalating US-Iran conflict. The US potential is great when it comes to throttling the Iranian economy. Iranian oil exports are disappearing, inflation is at 40 per cent and the IMF predicts a 6 per cent contraction in the economy as a whole. The US can punish banks dealing with Iran everywhere, including countries where Iran is politically strong such as Iraq and Lebanon.

Tehran does not have many effective economic countermeasures against the US assault, other than to try to out-wait the Trump era. Caution has worked well for Iran in the past. After 2003, Iranians used to joke that God must be on their side because why else would the US have overthrown Iran’s two deeply hostile neighbours – the Taliban in Afghanistan and Saddam Hussein in Iraq.

Many Iranian leaders appear confident that they can survive anything Trump can throw at them other than a full-scale shooting war. Past precedent suggests they’re right: in the wars in Lebanon after the Israeli invasion of 1982, Iran came out on top and helped created Hezbollah as the single most powerful political and military force in the country. Likewise, after the US/UK invasion of Iraq in 2003, Iran undermined their occupation and saw a Shia-led government sympathetic to its interests hold power in Baghdad. In Syria after 2011, Iranian support was crucial in keeping its ally Bashar al-Assad in control.

Iran was on the winning side in these conflicts in part because of mistakes made by its opponents, but these will not inevitably happen again. Because the media and much of the political establishment in Washington and western capitals are so viscerally anti-Trump, they frequently underestimate the effectiveness of his reliance on American economic might while avoiding military conflict. At the end of the day, the US Treasury is a more powerful instrument of foreign policy than the Pentagon for all its aircraft carriers and drones.

Trump may not read briefing papers, but he often has a better instinct for the realities of power than the neo-conservative hawks in his administration who learned little from the Iraq war which they helped foment.

So long as Trump sticks with sanctions he is in a strong position, but if the crisis with Iran becomes militarised then the prospects for the US become less predictable. Neither Tehran nor Washington want war, but that does not mean they will not get one. Conflicts in this part of the Middle East are particularly uncontrollable because there are so many different players with contrary interests.

This divergence produces lots of wild cards: Trump is backed by Saudi Arabia and the UAE, but these oil states have had a dismal record of operational incapacity in Syria and Yemen.

The Iranians, for their part, have had their successes where their fellow Shia are the majority (Iraq), the largest community (Lebanon) or are in control of government (Syria). Given that they are a Shia clerical regime, it is always difficult for them to extend their influence beyond the Shia core areas.

Benjamin Netanyahu has led the charge in demonising Iran and encouraging the US to see it as the source of all evil in the Middle East. But Netanyahu’s belligerent rhetoric against Iran has hitherto been accompanied with caution in shifting to military action, except against defenceless Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.

A danger is that a permanent cold or hot war between Washington and Tehran will become the vehicle for other conflicts that have little to do with it. These would include the escalating competition between Saudi Arabia and Turkey over the leadership of the Sunni world. Turkey’s independent role would be threatened by an enhancement of US power in the region. So too would Russia which has re-established its status as a global power since 2011 by its successful military support for Assad in Syria.

Trump hopes to force Tehran to negotiate a Carthaginian peace – particularly useful if this happens before the next US presidential election – under which Iran ceases to be a regional power. Regime change would be the optimum achievement for Trump, but is probably unattainable.

If Trump sticks to economic war it will be very difficult for Iran to counter him, but in any other scenario the US position becomes more vulnerable. There is an impressive casualty list of British and US leaders – three British prime ministers and three US presidents – over the last century who have suffered severe or fatal political damage in the Middle East. Trump will be lucky if he escapes the same fate.

(Patrick Cockburn is the author of The Rise of Islamic State: ISIS and the New Sunni Revolution.)

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WHY WE ARE THERE

(Tom Stevenson in the London Review of Books):

…The developed Asian economies are heavily reliant on Persian Gulf oil and Qatari natural gas. Three-quarters of Gulf oil exports go to Asian economies, and the five largest importers of gas from Qatar are Japan, South Korea, India, China and Singapore. US dominance in the Gulf gives it decisive strategic influence over any potential Asian rival.

The US has a huge military presence in the region: United States Central Command is based at al-Udeid airbase in Qatar, the largest air force base in the world, with more than ten thousand US troops. Bahrain is the permanent dock of the Fifth Fleet, as well as having a US airbase and seven thousand US military personnel. The US has five thousand permanent troops, two naval bases and an airbase in the United Arab Emirates. In Kuwait, it has access to three army bases and an air force base. In Oman, it has four airbases and two naval bases.

In Iraq, the US still has troops stationed at al-Asad airbase north-west of Baghdad (once nicknamed ‘Camp Cupcake’ for its luxuries). In Saudi Arabia itself, the US operates a military training mission based in Eskan village.

Only Iran, which broke away from the US system in 1979, houses no American military bases…

…The US’s inherited mastery of the Gulf has given it a degree of leverage over both rivals and allies probably unparalleled in the history of empire. Washington has established a highly conservative regional order through alliances with successive military dictatorships in Egypt and an ethno-nationalist Israel.

Its overwhelming military control of the region ensures that Japan, South Korea, India and even China must deal with the US in the knowledge that it could, if it wished, cut them off from their main source of energy. It is difficult to overstate the role of the Gulf in the way the world is currently run…

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ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

The ninny-ologies inflicted by our intellectual betters are many and varied but they all seem to be in aid of the great-grandmother of them all, neo-liberalism, that framework of ideas purpose-built to keep economic decision-making out of the halls of legislatures and likewise the hands of the little guy, and money safe in the pockets of those that have a lot of it, and out of the pockets of those that have little.

Never mind the me-too fits and identity screamies and, oh, gender fluidities that dribble off leafy green campuses, those are in part the effluent of useful idiots that serve to distract from the looting and ruination of innumerable mas ‘n’ pas back home that used to be able to earn a reasonable if not exorbitant living doing useful work. Trannies selling Chips Ahoy?

Of course, sure, trannies selling Chips Ahoy. For my part I constantly under-estimate the creativity of those entrusted with the task of steering national discourse in a direction away from any having anything to do with anything useful. What did I see not too long ago, but the tail-end of a piece about drag queens doing story-time for pre-schoolers by the look of them, and the reaction you’d expect, furious parents out demonstrating, one with a sign saying Not Today Satan.

Drag queen story time. Imagine that. A brilliant ploy don’t you think? To the barricades, progressives vs their opposites. Can physicists at the world’s foremost scientific institutes, thinking the deepest, most insightful thoughts about the nature of gravity and inertia and space and time, conjuring ideas using the most difficult and subtle mathematics, come up with any concept as dazzling? If I sat for a thousand years thinking of ways to create tumult to run interference for my paymasters I wouldn’t have come up with drag queen story time. I doff my hat and bow with deepest reverence.

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WRESTING’S RADICAL CHAMP

Latest Edge of Sports Podcast is up… and I love this one. We talk to the pro wrestler David Starr aka "The Product" aka "The Bernie Sanders of Professional Wrestling." David Starr talks about how he would remake WWE, empower wrestlers, fight for a more just system, Israel/Palestine, and also whether there is truly space for a "Muhammad Ali of professional wrestling." Please listen and check it out. And if you like the podcast, subscribe at itunes!

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/edge-of-sports/id280938935

(Dave Zirin)

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ON THIS DAY 50 years ago -- May 15, 1969 -- James Rector is shot and killed during the People's Park Riots in Berkeley.

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71 YEARS OF MURDER & THEFT

Editor,

While Israel celebrates the 71st anniversary of its birth, Palestinians on Wednesday will remember their nabka — catastrophe — which resulted. I was an infant then, and my family, like hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, fled the chaos of war and massacres, such as in Deir Yassin, not far from where we lived.

My father’s first cousin was killed in the Jewish bombing of the elegant King David hotel in Jerusalem, which was also the headquarters of the British Mandate. We fled to Jordan with nothing except each other, and consider ourselves fortunate that we survived.

Often I have pondered the heavy price that innocent Palestinians have had to pay in order for a safe haven to be created for the Jews who survived a terrible Holocaust in Europe. The partition of Palestine brought life to one side but so much suffering and death to the other. Worse, the ethnic cleansing of the indigenous Palestinians has intensified over the decades to the tragic situation we see in our daily news.

The oppressed have every right to resist their rejection and murder. For as long as I have been alive, the injustice has continued to spread like a poison for both oppressor and oppressed. When will this madness end?

Therese Mughannam

Santa Rosa

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CONCISE EXPLANATION OF GLOBAL WARMING

1. Temperature data is a time series. Time series analysis is about extracting cyclic fluctuations from trends. Both are important, and it is quite hard to get it right. People with agendas are paid to get it wrong. They are also paid to be convincing.
2. Global means global. Not just Peoria, not just Illinois, not just all the land in the world. The land, the atmosphere, the rivers, the oceans. But of course, cherry picking data can present a misleading picture. That’s why some people do it. It’s also why ‘cherry picking data’ is a scientific insult.
3. When all that fails, some might resort to straight out fabrications. That is, lies.
4. There are lots of particulates and aerosols in the air. They suppress temperature. They are put there by industrial processes, like burning fossil fuels. When those industrial processes stop, the particulate and aerosol content will plummet abruptly. Greenhouse gasses are much more long lived. The result will be a massive jump in global temperatures when we stop burning fossil fuels, as we will when they run out, whenever that is. Then we fry.
5. The permafrost is melting in the arctic. When it decays, methane forms. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas. The permafrost decomposition alone could fry us, and there will be no stopping it.
6. There is a lot of methane stabilized on the ocean floor. Rising ocean temperatures could disturb that balance. This is being observed in the arctic. Ocean methane clathrate alone could fry us. And we can’t stop it.
7. The oceans are acidifying because they are absorbing CO2, turning the oceans into dilute carbonic acid. This kills coral. It also kills the plankton which process CO2 into oxygen. We observe the death of coral. Can our oxygen supply be far behind? Just how far? Bet your life?
8. Let’s suppose for a moment that the entire climate science community (or the 97% consensus of 2003), have it all wrong, and there is really only a very small chance of global warming becoming a deadly problem. Kind of like the small chance of my house burning down. Even though it’s a small chance, I have house insurance because I can’t easily afford to replace my house. Now, should we not consider a bit of insurance on our planet?
9. I do understand where all this distrust is coming from. Real experts tend to keep their heads down when the BS hits the fan. That is a real problem for the layman because the real experts do not denounce the pseudo-science. They should. It is their patriotic duty. But before you judge them, ask yourself if you would give up a job you love, give it up forever, and go from a respected, well-off professional to a homeless bum.

For starters.

One more thing.

1. We have incontrovertible data showing global warming.
2. We have a plausible mechanism (greenhouse gasses).
3. We have an excellent correlation between the two.

All this has been worked out in the greatest detail. Even so, it is not perfect; and so research continues to remove the remaining uncertainties. But note that previous estimates of global warming were far too low – the error was to minimize the problem.

But that’s just thousands of scientists working long hours to understand things. Maybe it’s better to put our faith in paid lobbyists and professional liars – you know, the swamp.

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IMPEACHMENT ADVANTAGE

Don’t chant ‘Lock him up!’

Give him what he doesn’t want.

Give him a fair trial.

— Jim Luther, Mendocino

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JOIN US…

…to experience a simple form of group meditation that provides both a dynamic service to the world and a powerful method of personal spiritual development.

Transmission Meditation is a non-denominational meditation that does not conflict with other meditations or spiritual practices, but can actually enhance them.

Transmission Meditation is a potent form of world service that anyone, even those with busy lives, can easily do. It can be a mode of service for life, if one so chooses.

Do you want to help the world and strengthen the connection to your Higher Self?

Transmission Meditation is the simplest way to do both.

Friday, May 17, 7:00 PM at the MCSL Gathering Place, in the Fort Bragg Company Store. Main & Redwood Streets

Admission is free.

For more information: 707-964-4506 or 707-895-3134