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MCT: Saturday, January 25, 2020

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RAINY CONDITIONS can be expected today through mid-day Sunday, with only short breaks in between. Rain will diminish Sunday afternoon, but additional light rain will be possible in Del Norte and Humboldt county Sunday night and Monday, and everywhere Tuesday. More light rain is possibly late Wednesday, with a warming and drying trend through the end of the week. (NWS)

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D&E FOR FIRE DEPARTMENTS

To The Editor,

The March election contains two important ballot measures that directly support all fire departments in Mendocino County at no cost to County residents. These are Measures D and E. Both measures are critical, and both measures require a majority to pass.

Measure D will raise money through a transient occupancy tax (TOT) aimed at private campgrounds. Measure D calls for a 10% tax per temporary campsite. This measure will “level the playing field” since other temporary lodging establishments such as inns and hotels have been paying a similar TOT for years.

Measure E advises the County Board of Supervisors how to spend the revenue raised by the new tax. This Measure advises the Supervisors to distribute Measure D’s proceeds from to all established fire companies in the County. Measure E further reads that 75% of the tax revenue will be divided equally to all fire agencies, and 25% of the revenue will be earmarked for fire and rescue training and other related projects as determined by the Mendocino County Fire Chiefs Association.

It is important to vote on both measures…Measure D will implement the tax, and Measure E will assure the revenues are distributed equally to all established fire companies in the County.

The total tax revenue is expected to reach $1,000,000 per year. This would allow approximately $250,000 to be set aside for training, and about $36,000 to be distributed directly to each fire agency in the County.

This distribution will be valuable income to all departments, and it may double or triple the revenue of many small rural departments that struggle to operate. The top-most critical areas of pressure that will be assisted by this income stream include workers’ compensation and liability insurance, the cost of fire engines and equipment, the availability of high-quality training, and the recruitment and retention of volunteers. We will touch on each of these briefly.

Workers’ Compensation and Liability Insurance: Each fire department covers each paid and volunteer fire fighter with workers’ compensation insurance. This insurance provides needed protection in the event of injury. Departments also carry liability insurance. In most cases, smaller departments use a large portion of their annual revenue just paying these insurance costs.

Equipment: Fire company equipment is costly to purchase and maintain. A fire engine can typically cost $300,000 or more, and each engine requires repair and maintenance to ensure they operate during an emergency response. Many departments seek loans for major equipment, and some purchase engines second-hand. Additionally, each fire fighter is equipped with special gear and personal protective equipment that must fit well and be in good working order to ensure firefighter safety. Many supplies and items that are used on a fire or a medical call are not re-usable and must be constantly re-stocked and ready for the next dispatch. Measures D and E will go a long way to help relieve these pressures.

Training: A high-quality and relevant training program is a critical component of a fire company’s continuing education to ensure firefighters respond skillfully and safely. In-house training requires supplies and good planning. Outsourced training is often expensive. Fire agencies budget significant resources to training each year. Measures D and E will help offset these costs.

Volunteers: Volunteer firefighters are the backbone of our County’s fire, rescue and first-at-scene medical response. These dedicated professionals are on call 24/7. They are in the fire service because they care about their neighbors and communities. Measures D and E help will help with volunteer recruitment and retention that is critical to the viability of our fire agencies.

Remember, if you live in this county, Measures D and E will cost you nothing. It will be paid by visitors who stay in private campgrounds, and these campers benefit from our local fire response. Measures D and E will help offset costs associated with providing emergency response to camper, tourists and travelers that visit and recreate in our county.

We ask your support by voting yes on Measure D and Measure E.

Signed,

The members of the Mendocino County Fire Chiefs Association that represent the 21 fire companies that serve Mendocino County


Dear Editor:

Over the past three years, we have experienced several devastating fires in our county. Lives have been lost, hundreds of houses have been destroyed and our firefighters have been pushed to their limits. On every occasion, without fail, our local volunteer and paid firefighters have stepped up to whatever is thrown at them and they have performed in ways that have certainly earned them the title of local heroes. During this time, their budgets have been depleted because of the increase in activity. Our county has responded by attending their bbq’s, pancake breakfasts and raffle fundraisers. It’s time we help them get some additional funds to help with basic costs.

The sample ballots have been mailed out and voters can read for themselves about Measures D and E. These measures bring equity to our “Transient Occupancy Taxes (TOT)” by having our visitors who use our local campgrounds to pay the same TOT costs as the visitors who stay in our hotels and motels. These visitors often rely on our first responders for their emergency needs, yet the visitors who are staying in our local campgrounds have been exempted from these costs. These ballot measures merely bring equity for all of our visitors who come to our county during their travels. Fair is fair, and Measures D and E bring equity and fairness to our visitors and at the same time, will greatly benefit our local fire departments.

Measures D and E allow the firefighters to get 100% of the funds collected and I think this is very fair. The tax measure was placed on the ballot by the Board of Supervisors and was carefully written so that ALL funds collected will benefit the 21 local fire departments which we all depend on. The tax is estimated to bring in approximately $1,000,000 a year which would guarantees that every Fire Department will receive at least $37,000 and approximately $250,000 will be used according to how the local fire chiefs decide. This money can be used for training, additional equipment and to replace the supplies which have been depleted over the past several years. Remember, 100% of these funds be dispersed to our local fire departments and can not be diverted to any other agency.

Please join me in VOTING YES ON MEASURES D AND E in the upcoming election. We depend on our fire firefighters and now they depend on us.

Tom Allman

Retired Sheriff, Mendocino County

Willits

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TED WILLIAMS: Sonoma County installed more than 50 shelters in one week. Supervisor Hashack and I had reported on the design months back.

facebook.com/groups/Mendocino5thDistrict/permalink/1750811921718159/


Sonoma County Supervisor Lynda Hopkins:

For 60 Joe Rodota Trail residents, this is what the future looks like.

For the half-million people who live in Sonoma County, this is what innovative, first-in-the-state solutions look like.

For the hundreds of County employees, non-profit partners, and community volunteers who have been working around the clock and through the holidays and at our Emergency Operations Center to try to generate urgent solutions to our ongoing homelessness crisis… this is what the result of hard work and collaboration looks like.

A few facts about the Los Guilicos Village project:

7 days ago, the parking lot at Los Guilicos was just that — a parking lot. Today, it is a tiny house village with more than 50 single occupancy units, a shower trailer, a triple-yard dog run (complete with gravel to prevent muddy paws), a shipping container for storage of personal belongings, port-a-potties, picnic tables (made by hand by our local probation camp residents), and a freshly poured cement pad that will soon host a Navigation Center trailer. The final few housing units will arrive tomorrow; they are dual occupancy units to allow families to stay together.

Sonoma County is the first jurisdiction in California to deploy Pallet Shelters to create a village for homeless residents. And as the Pallet Shelter staff said, “nobody anywhere has done it faster.” (Who knew local government could build an entire neighborhood in 7 days?!)

Pallet shelters cost $4,000-$7,000 each (depending on size/model), and are created by formerly homeless or incarcerated workers. They offer a simple but dignified shelter with heat, lights, and electricity. Importantly, they provide homeless residents with a safe place to live and to store their belongings. One of the biggest challenges with living out of a tent is the fact that when you leave the tent, your belongings are likely to get stolen, which makes it difficult to seek job opportunities, social services, or even go to obtain food. This shelter solves that problem.

Importantly, we do not want residents to stay in these units forever. This is a pilot project expected to run for 3 months; during this time, we will be accepting proposals from community based organizations and developers for longer-term village shelter sites. We will continue to work to find residents permanent housing solutions, and after three months will transfer remaining residents to a new site. We hope to establish two separate sites: one site will re-use these Pallet Shelters, and an additional site would utilize yet-to-be-determined structures.

Finally, we know that there are more than 60 people on the Joe Rodota Trail, and the Los Guilicos Village will not hold them all. However, our awesome Interdepartmental Multidisciplinary Team members are out there on the Joe Rodota Trail every day offering other housing and shelter solutions to homeless residents in order to achieve the goal of clearing the encampment by the end of the month. We know that a homeless encampment does not belong on the Joe Rodota Trail, and I understand the frustration, anger, and fear in the adjacent neighborhoods.

Please know that we are all working around the clock on THIS. On SOLUTIONS. On creative, innovative models of addressing homelessness… on initiatives that can bring much-needed HOPE to our community… and a HOME, however modest, for our homeless residents.

PS: Cheerios did not pay anyone for that shameless product placement.

(Sonoma County Supervisor Lynda Hopkins)

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101 PEDESTRIAN FATALITY, MAN IDENTIFIED

MCSO was contacted last night by a cousin of the decedent and the decedent's identity was confirmed. At this time we are not releasing his identity until we have received confirmation that his next-of-kin in Mexico have been notified.

facebook.com/MendocinoSheriff/posts/10156857047222967

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FUNDS RAISED FOR BOONVILLE FIRE SURVIVORS

by Megan Barber Allende, Chief Executive Officer, The Community Foundation of Mendocino County

Over the past two months we have witnessed an outpouring of generosity, from donors throughout the county and beyond, coming together to help survivors of the December 5th Boonville fire. The fire destroyed three residences, damaged another three, and destroyed Lizbby’s Mexican Restaurant and the PicN’Pay Market. Within days the Community Foundation of Mendocino County was fielding calls on how we could collectively support these families in need. Through the generosity of Duckhorn Wine Co. we were able to establish a sub-fund within the Disaster Fund, allowing us to raise money for the recovery needs of the seven households impacted by the fire. The response has been generous, and to date the Community Foundation has raised $42,000.

Through our disaster recovery work with the Redwood Complex Fire, we have learned the importance of strong partnerships to support the recovery process. We are grateful to Sueno Latino of Anderson Valley, who have been integral in working with the survivors for their immediate relief needs, and with the Community Foundation to understand the scope of need. Their contributions to this process have been instrumental in creating a successful recovery project.

We are also fortunate that our disaster recovery partner, North Coast Opportunities (NCO), has agreed to provide case management to the survivors and distribute the funding according to IRS guidelines to support their recovery needs. The NCO case manager, Eva King, will work collaboratively with Sueno Latino to meet with fire survivors and determine their needs.

The funds raised will be used to assist survivors with rent and deposits for long-term housing, replacement of furnishings, clothing, tools required for work, and other necessary expenses for recovery. The response from neighbors, as well as friends from outside the county, to the needs of the survivors of the Boonville Fire has been tremendous. Neighbors helping neighbors get through a disaster is one of the greatest resources to advance the well-being of our communities.

The Community Foundation is proud to be a part of this effort and we thank the generous donors who are making a difference to the families impacted by this fire and helping set them on the road to recovery.

We believe we have reached our fundraising goal for the Boonville fire, however if you are inspired to help build resources in the event of future disasters, you may contribute through the Disaster Fund for Mendocino County. If you or your family lost housing in the December 5th Boonville Fire, you may call the Redwood Resource Room at 707-621-8817 to speak to a case manager.

The Community Foundation of Mendocino County

204 South Oak Street

Ukiah, CA 95482

(707) 468-9882

info@communityfound.org

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REASSIGNMENT OF CANNABIS CULTIVATION PERMIT NOW AVAILABLE!

Released January 24, 2020

Attention All Cannabis Cultivation Permittees who currently have an issued and valid (not expired) permit with Mendocino County Cannabis Program:

Starting January 27, 2020, the Cannabis Program will begin accepting applications to re-assign/transfer Mendocino County Cannabis Cultivation Permits. The re-assignment process is only applicable to ISSUED and VALID cultivation permits, and does not include expired permits or application receipts. If the permit is expired, it will require renewal by the original permit holder before it can be reassigned.

Application materials and instructions are available online at www.mendocinocounty.org/cannabisprogram and may also be picked up at the Planning & Building Services, Ukiah Office.

When completing the re-assignment application, the current Permit Holder and the proposed Assignee (the future Permit Holder) must complete all sections of the application as indicated on the application, check all applicable boxes, and supply all required documentation called out in the application.

Please note, no application will be accepted without payment of the application fee of $333.62. A receipt will be issued for the payment of this fee. Incomplete applications will not be accepted. No permit will be reassigned until all required documentation is submitted.

Re-assignment applications can only be submitted in person at the Planning & Building Services, Ukiah Office on Mondays and Wednesdays from 8 am to 12 pm, or anytime by mail with check or money order (do not mail cash or credit cards) to the Planning & Building Services, Ukiah Office ATTN: Cannabis Program, 860 N. Bush Street, Ukiah, CA.

Best regards,

Cannabis Program

Planning & Building Services

County of Mendocino

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CHECK THAT DEED!

MCCSD Lien Release

Hi All,

If you own property in Mendoville and if you were compelled by the MCCSD to file a “Deed Restriction” with the county (which I felt negatively impacted my property value) against your real estate, they will now, on request, release the lien. You are still subject to a Ground Water Extraction Allotment which requires installation and monthly meter readings submitted to MCCSD. Write to: districtsecretary@mccsd.com; they will send you a release to sign which you then must submit to the County (notarized) with a check for the recording fee. YAY!

Besto,

Meredith Smith

Mendocino

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DOOLEY’S GEN. MERCHANDISE. Hopland, California. ca 1923

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THE YORKVILLE MARKET!

January at the Yorkville Market

From: Lisa at Yorkville Market

The Market is clean, re-organized, and ready for a new year!

This is now our fifth year in business and we have decided to made a few changes and plan to try out some exciting new ideas:

First, our current winter hours will be

  • Monday-Thursday 8:00-6:00
  • Friday 8:00-7:00
  • Saturday and Sunday 8:30-6:00

We will be opening later during the week days, but also staying open later on Friday nights for happy hour drinks, and our deli items will be available for purchase.

Also, we will be starting the new year with an exciting and delicious homemade take-and-bake menu! We will be spending the next few days cooking, sauteing and baking an assortment of dinner entrees that we will serve fresh in our deli and also have frozen for you to pick up for a quick dinner on one of those busy nights. I will be sending out emails on a more regular basis with what we are creating in our kitchen, and what is ready for you to pick up..

Next Friday, 1/24, we will be hosting our welcome to 2020 dinner. This meal will feature its own menu of a la carte items that can be purchased individually to create your perfect meal. Vegetarian options will be available. The theme for this dinner will be “Italy meets Yorkville, a Love Story.”

Our next big event is our Pre-fixe Valentines Day dinner on Friday, 2/14. We will be making a multi-course, small plate feast for the senses that will be sure to add that special spark to the romantic holiday evening. The menu will be posted at the Market by the end of the month, and this dinner will be reservations only. Book early as there is limited seating for this event.

We will be officially open tomorrow morning at 8:00am and look forward to seeing you all again! As always we appreciate any feedback or ideas that you may have. Please feel free to reach out to me directly at the Market or via email.

Best wishes for a fantastic New Year!

Lisa Walsh yorkvillemarket@gmail.com

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MSP ASSESSES THE BOONVILLE GYM

These are more rivalry games where you can throw the team records out the windows — Mendo seems to ALWAYS have a tough time at Anderson Valley High. Thank God they've been replacing those yellow mercury-glare overhead lights in the Boonville gym — after an hour under them, you'll confess to crimes you've never committed just to get away.

The Lady Cardinals have won 13-straight over Anderson Valley (and are 30-6 against them going back to 2005). The Mendocino boys have won seven straight against the Panthers and are 24-12 going back to 2005. But don't let that fool you — these are intense rivalry games and AV Coach Luis Espinoza is back at the helm of the boys team — only God knows what he has cooked up to beat Mendo.

The Cardinals did, however, have BIG wins last year in the sweep over the Panthers:

02/07/2019 82-14 (W) (68 points)

01/15/2019 95-22 (W) (73 points)

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CATCH OF THE DAY, January 24, 2020

Azevedo, Ballentine, Carlson

ASHLEY AZEVEDO, Ukiah. DUI-drugs with prior, no license, probation revocation.

DANIEL BALLENTINE, San Jose/Redwood Valley. DUI.

MICHAEL CARLSON, Covelo. Domestic abuse.

Gentry-McCullar, Kester-Tyler, Lawrence, Mehtlan

DEVLEN GENTRY-MCCULLAR, Ukiah. Failure to appear.

DEVIN KESTER-TYLER, Ukiah. Mandatory supervision sentencing.

JESSE LAWRENCE, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.

STEVEN MEHTLAN, Ukiah. Domestic battery.

Sierra, Wilkinson, Williams

SAMUEL SIERRA, Ukiah. Metal knuckles, probation revocation.

JENNIFER WILKINSON, Laytonville. Harboring wanted felon, trespassing, controlled substance, paraphernalia.

MATTHEW WILLIAMS, Oakland. Mandatory supervision sentencing.

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TEN ARTICLES OF IMPEACHMENT

Dear Editor:

My name is Nantsy Pelosy and I just delivered my impeachment papers to Congress. There are 10 articles to go through so here they are:

  1. He was elected by an unbalanced majority of implorables.
  2. He’s not one of us.
  3. He destroyed Biden's chance to rule.
  4. He is a big fat white man.
  5. I said we would impeach him the day he was elected.
  6. He is not politically correct.
  7. Oh, I just love being up here behind the podium.
  8. My nephew or my son-in-law would make a much nicer president.
  9. He won over the Clintons who are personal friends of mine.
  10. He has no idea what it means to be in politics, living off the little people.

Well, that's the ten articles. Wish me luck! Thanks.

This one goes out to the Pelosi posse.

via Tom Madden

Comptche

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ISRAEL BEGINS EXTENDING ‘SILENT ANNEXATION’ OVER THE WEST BANK, WITH THE BLESSINGS OF THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION

The Israeli Defense Ministry announced on Wednesday that it had approved the creation of seven new Israeli nature reserves in Area C of the occupied West Bank.

mondoweiss.net/2020/01/israel-has-begun-extending-its-sovereignty-over-the-west-bank-with-the-blessings-of-the-trump-administration/

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ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

There’s a number of Bernie “ifs” here. The main one is about what he’s about and how he presents himself. I think Mark Shields hit the nail on the head in a PBS Newshour segment right after the Nov 2016 results came out. Mark said the Democrats lost because they did too much LGBTQ and not enough kitchen table issues. In short, they dumped American workers over-board, disregarded their interests, dissed them royally, called them names. And Trump said thanks very much, I can use their votes.

Bernie’s an old school socialist by the sounds of him, the type I grew up with, concerned with bread and butter problems. For my part I had a lot of skepticism about the remedies that these old guys spouted, but not about where their hearts were, nor about their priorities.

What I’m saying is that Bernie has got to keep the focus on Main Street economic issues. Not the DOW, not gender fluidity, not intersectionality, but rather the worries in people’s minds that propelled Trump to the Oval Office. That’s the biggest “if”, “if” he can stay focused. Or will he get side-tracked and will the Democrat brain-trust sand-bag him like they did last time?

Of course, there’s the issue of his health. Bernie like everyone else over 50 is in the zone, one stroke or heart attack away from death or disability.

An old Brooklyn Jew in the White House wouldn’t be the worst thing. It’s not that he’s the least of the evils, I think he could bring to the table some positive good, at the very least putting heartland issues at the front of the line, a result consistent with happenings world-wide, like the Brexit vote (hurray for the Brits), the Frenchies rising up (Vive la France), the tumult in Hong Kong (wow, imagine defying Beijing, so hats off to Agnes and Joshua, they have got balls like church-bells) and many others.

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FILM NOIR FESTIVAL this weekend in SF. This is the second
 feature on Opening Night. Two noirs from Argentina.

Program: noircity.com/nc18p1.html

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WRITERS HAVE PROVED when they turn their back to power and start to feel the pulse and pain of society, they become powerful.

—Vandana Shiva

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"A MAN SAT at a metro station in Washington DC and started to play the violin; it was a cold January morning. He played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, since it was rush hour, it was calculated that 1,100 people went through the station, most of them on their way to work.

Three minutes went by, and a middle aged man noticed there was musician playing. He slowed his pace, and stopped for a few seconds, and then hurried up to meet his schedule.

A minute later, the violinist received his first dollar tip: a woman threw the money in the till and without stopping, and continued to walk.

A few minutes later, someone leaned against the wall to listen to him, but the man looked at his watch and started to walk again. Clearly he was late for work.

The one who paid the most attention was a 3 year old boy. His mother tagged him along, hurried, but the kid stopped to look at the violinist. Finally, the mother pushed hard, and the child continued to walk, turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. All the parents, without exception, forced them to move on.

In the 45 minutes the musician played, only 6 people stopped and stayed for a while. About 20 gave him money, but continued to walk their normal pace. He collected $32. When he finished playing and silence took over, no one noticed it. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.

No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the most talented musicians in the world. He had just played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, on a violin worth $3.5 million dollars.

Two days before his playing in the subway, Joshua Bell sold out at a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $100.

This is a real story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste, and priorities of people. The outlines were: in a commonplace environment at an inappropriate hour: Do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize the talent in an unexpected context?

One of the possible conclusions from this experience could be:

If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing the best music ever written, how many other things are we missing?"

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"THE REAL KILLER IS DESPAIR: Of the 31,672 gun deaths in America in 2010, the majority – 61 percent – were suicides. Why such desperation? What in the American dream is so nightmarish that death is a better choice?" – Greg Palast, Vice

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THE BIG SLEEP

by James Kunstler

You have to wonder how many Democratic senators spend the long hours of impeachment fantasizing how to end the misery of listening to Rep. Adam Schiff deliver the party’s funeral oration. Please God, hurl a lightning bolt at the podium… bring down a chunk of the fine old coffered ceiling where he stands and prates about a Russian invasion of Malibu… send a coral snake up the leg of his trousers…!

It was so bad that his California counterpart, Senator Dianne Feinstein, just up-and-split late Wednesday. Elizabeth Warren has been seen furiously doodling maps of all the primary precincts she is failing to visit in her confinement. Bernie Sanders imagines himself wielding thirty inches of re-bar upside Mr. Schiff’s skull, while Amy Klobuchar pops her third Xanax of the evening. You have no idea what mental tribulation the House impeachment manager supreme is visiting on his colleagues.

The impeachment case against Mr. Trump might mercifully spell the end of the Master Narrative the Democrats have been confabulating since 2016: that Donald Trump invited the wicked Vlad Putin to checkmate Hillary Clinton and thereby crushed the hopes and dreams of those wishing to make Ukraine the 51st state… or something like that. Because according to Mr. Schiff, there is no nation on this planet as dear to the interests of America than darling Ukraine, with its radioactive forests, decrepitating Soviet infrastructure, and dedication to liberty.

Those who were only puzzling over Nancy Pelosi’s motives in bringing this case, and assigning it to the two sketchiest characters in her charge, Schiff & Nadler, must finally be convinced that she is no longer sound of mind.

What was she thinking? Did she really want to set up the voters to lose faith in the basic electoral process by preemptively delegitimizing the 2020 election? (“Trump can only win if he cheats!”) Is she that desperate to flip the Senate to prevent anymore judicial appointments? Could be.

Or is the impeachment spectacle a different kind of set-up: to make the forthcoming raft of indictments against RussiaGate coupsters look like a mere act of revenge rather than long-delayed justice for a three-year campaign of perfidious sedition by some of the highest officials in the land?

Anyway, after another day of this boresome torment, the Senate will get to hear Mr. Trump’s defense in a full-throated way — really for the first time since the whole nasty business began, and in a conspicuous venue where it can’t be ignored anymore. If nothing else, it will probably be more interesting and certainly more dignified than the idiotic vaudeville put on by Schiff & Nadler. Even if the President’s managers move to dismiss the case out-of-hand for its utter lack of merit and the legal errors in its construction by two House committees, I doubt they will miss the opportunity to use the time allotted to lay out the story of what actually happened the past three years — a crime spree of government against itself.

The temptation to call witnesses must be anguishing, though; from a legal standpoint the House’s case deserves to be thrown out summarily just to reestablish the principle that impeachment is not a frivolity. But the nation would miss the chance for Mr. Schiff to have to explain exactly what happened around the “whistleblower” episode and, of course, there would be no more possible excuses for producing the “whistleblower” him-or-herself in the witness dock. I think we would discover what an absolutely shady operation that was.

In the meantime, an interesting development flew in under the radar as the impeachment spectacle hogged the news: The Department of Justice yesterday declared two of four FISA warrants against Carter Page invalid. The warrants were signed by James Comey, Andrew McCabe, and Rod Rosenstein. The move has deep repercussions in everything connected to the RussiaGate investigation, including especially the prosecutions mounted by Robert Mueller’s lawyers. It implies what has already been demonstrated by other evidence: That the FBI and the DOJ knew by January of 2017 at the latest that all the information they used to start the case against the President was garbage, and yet they continued it anyway — including the appointment of Mr. Mueller and his commission. The DOJ’s statement about the two FISA warrants doesn’t negate the possibility that the other two will also be declared invalid. It’s time for the figures involved in all this to become very afraid.

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

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JERKS & IDIOTS

Editor:

Our wonderful governor Newsom’s at it again, begging the federal government to give him federal land to put homeless people on. He just paid $20 million for a 51,000 acre ranch; now he wants federal land for homeless people. What a jerk!

The great poobah Al Gore says climate change is worse than the 9/11 attacks. What a jerk! He made millions and trillions off global warming and now he's jumping on climate change.

I watched a group of officials sitting at a table with their mouths open like baby swallows being fed listening to a nine-year-old girl talk about climate change. That's the kind of people we have. Idiots. Climate change doesn't even exist! Maybe Mother Nature change, but not climate change. Anyone who believes in climate change and all that crap needs to stick their heads in the sand. It's stupid to think that way.

God bless Donald Trump.

Jerry Philbrick

Comptche

PS. Newsom just turned a convicted killer loose down in Alameda who killed two girls and now is getting off the hook and going into a sanctuary state. A convicted killer. We have a dictator running our country letting killers go. People who support him should be ashamed. We have an idiot for governor.

PPS. Hey Kim Jong Un: See if you can get one of your nuclear rockets to hit the Capitol building in Sacramento. Get the Air Resources Board too. We would all be better off. Thank you.

PPPS. The Bay Area news refers to San Francisco as part of Northern California. That's horsepucky. Northern California starts in Sonoma County and runs up to the Oregon border and over across Sacramento into the Sierras. Not San Francisco. We don't want anything to do with San Francisco or Sacramento. All they want is our water and to come up here and dump their trash.

PPPPS. The Liberal Democrats are dancing in the streets over the beautiful performance by the slithering snake Adam Schiff and the rest of the Democrat idiots. You have only heard one side. After the Republicans reply I will be back again next week.

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ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY #2

In a over crowded environment, disease comes out of nowhere. This virus has attacked a populace that is carrying on business as usual. Personal space is non-existent. Imagine trying to control an airborne vector in NYC subway. A source of concern regarding viruses, they are finding old viruses from thousands of years ago in the thawing tundra in Canada and Alaska. That makes them new viruses. Did this corona virus come from Siberia? What is out there waiting?

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FOUND OBJECT

9 Comments

  1. Eric Sunswheat January 25, 2020

    12 hours ago.
    Although the CDC considers this coronavirus (whose scientific name is 2019-nCoV) to be a serious public-health concern, the agency said in a statement Friday that “the immediate health risk from 2019-nCoV to the general American public is considered low at this time.”

    A graver health risk for Americans — not just right now, but every year — is the flu.

    Since October, up to 20,000 people in the US have died of influenza. The coronavirus, meanwhile, has infected about 914 people worldwide and killed 26.

    “When we think about the relative danger of this new coronavirus and influenza, there’s just no comparison,” William Schaffner, a vaccine expert at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, told Kaiser Health News (KHN). “Coronavirus will be a blip on the horizon in comparison. The risk is trivial.”

    At least 15 million Americans have caught the flu in the last four months; nearly a quarter million of them went to the hospital. Since flu season peaks between December and February, the worst could be still to come.

    “Influenza rarely gets this sort of attention, even though it kills more Americans each year than any other virus,” Peter Hotez, a virologist at Baylor College of Medicine, told KHN.

    In 2018, which brought the worst flu season in about 40 years, 80,000 people in the US died of the illness.
    https://www.insider.com/wuhan-coronavirus-lesser-threat-to-americans-than-flu-2020-1

    • George Hollister January 25, 2020

      People need to get their flu shot every year. That said, the coronavirus is a story that has slipped below the radar. On Saturday Liang Wudong, a Chinese doctor died from coronavirus, the disease he was actively involved in treating. This will maybe make media shift their attention from impeachment to more newsworthy subjects. There is too much unknown about this coronavirus, but the Chinese, and world response seems appropriate. I am a long time Chinese critic, but in this case they seem to be behaving responsibly.

  2. James Marmon January 25, 2020

    RE: TED WILLIAMS AND EMERGENCY SHELTERS

    Mr. Williams, you definitely want to get on Carmel and Camille’s shit list. Neither one of them believe emergency shelters are needed in Mendocino County. These shelters would decrease the number of un-sheltered people on the streets and could lead to the loss of future State and Federal Grant opportunities. The local Homeless Industrial Complex will fight you tooth and nail if you try to push emergency shelters.

    Recognize that a special interest, the Homeless Industrial Complex, comprised of developers, government bureaucrats, and activist nonprofits, have taken over the homeless agenda and turned it into a profit center. They are not going to solve the problem, they are going to milk it.

    Mendocino County Homeless Services
    Continuum Of Care (MCHSCoC)

    “The Mendocino County Homeless Services Continuum of Care (MCHSCoC) is a collaborative of over thirty-one agencies throughout Mendocino County. The Collaborative Applicant for the MCHSCoC with monthly meetings at Mendocino County HHSA in Ukiah. Continuum activities include the Point in Time Census and Survey of individuals and families experiencing homelessness, Coordinated Entry, Permanent Housing, and collaboration toward securing and maintaining HUD funded housing projects for addressing homelessness in Mendocino County.”

    https://www.mendocinocounty.org/government/health-human-services-agency/adult-aging-services/mendocino-county-homeless-services-continuum-of-care

    James Marmon MSW

    • James Marmon January 25, 2020

      RE: WHERE’S THE TINY HOUSE VILLAGE CAMILLE?

      Tired of waiting, homeless advocates build unsanctioned East Bay village of tiny homes (Earlier this week)

      Oakland officials, who have cleared out two other village encampments set up by the group, did not intervene in this weekend’s construction effort, but have in the past have pointed to health and safety problems, like fires and trash accumulation, as the rationale behind clearing encampments.

      Miralle said the village is an interim solution for people who are tired of waiting for affordable housing to be built and frustrated with the city’s efforts to add emergency housing. Miralle, who has been homeless for two years and lives in a camper with her daughter, added that they “are going to keep building” because the city’s homelessness problem “is going to get worse.”

      The homes are simple, with insulation, a door, window, paneling and trim. The site has no electricity or plumbing, but organizers hope to eventually install solar panels and composting toilets. They also want to add a garden, communal outdoor kitchen and gathering space to the strip of land.

      https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/01/19/tired-of-waiting-homeless-advocates-build-unsanctioned-village-of-tiny-homes/

      Emergency homeless shelter location to be used for tiny house village
      By Sarah Reith | December 20, 2016

      UKIAH, 12/20/2016 — The temporary winter shelter at 1045 South State Street in Ukiah opened late this year. But if all goes according to plan, that property will be the site of a permanent homeless shelter, in the form of the long-delayed tiny house “village,” the construction of which will be paid for and led by the non-profit organization Redwood Community Services (RCS).

      In January of 2016, RCS was awarded $1,014,700 in Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), to build a community center and 35 to 40 tiny houses to be used by homeless people. But that project was put on hold when another buyer bought the property slated for the village out from under them.

      At a Mendocino County Board of Supervisors meeting yesterday, December 19, RCS Executive Director Camille Schraeder told the board that RCS now plans to buy the property at 1045 South State Street, remodel parts of the existing building to serve as the community center, and place the tiny houses on a large vacant area on the property. The federal grant money is enough to carry out the first phase of the project, building the community center, while funding for the second phase, the construction of the tiny houses, has not been worked out yet.

      https://mendovoice.com/2016/12/tiny-house-village/

      Where’s the money Camille?

      James Marmon MSW

    • James Marmon January 25, 2020

      It isn’t a 12 million dollar project like the one on Gobbi St. Ukiah, but at least it gets people off the streets.

      Santa Rosa to open emergency shelter this weekend

      “It will house 60 people who are living in tents along the Joe Rodota Trail in Santa Rosa.

      The sheds are heated and there are also showers, restrooms, and laundry machines on site.

      People living in the shelter will get three meals a day, as well as case management services – all with the goal to move everyone into permanent housing.”

      https://www.kron4.com/news/bay-area/santa-rosa-to-open-emergency-shelter-this-weekend/?fbclid=IwAR3PWPs0qApxGAJtdiTejH

      James Marmon MSW

  3. Lazarus January 25, 2020

    Found Object

    Immense wealth is no guarantee of good taste.

    As always,
    Laz

    • Bob Abeles January 25, 2020

      The only thing missing is the light bulb in his mouth…

  4. Eric Sunswheat January 25, 2020

    DECEMBER 26, 2019
    …Prison abolition is at its core an ideological and political organizing project that seeks to not only tear down existing prisons and jails, but to create an equitable society which addresses the core problems that lead to incarceration, thereby rendering imprisonment — itself a form of punitive torture — obsolete.

    Its proponents view restorative justice and community investment as more humane, equitable means of addressing social ills and reducing violence. They seek to end the criminalization and persecution of marginalized communities, particularly those living in poverty.

    As Ava DuVernay’s 2016 documentary on prison slavery, 13th, laid out with wrenching precision, the U.S. criminal justice system was crafted from the beginning as an instrument of racist terror (it’s no surprise that DuVernay identifies as a prison abolitionist herself), whereas the abolition movement operates from an explicitly intersectional, racial-justice-focused perspective.

    The movement has been around for decades, and came to prominence in California in the 1990s with the founding of the Critical Resistance project, a national anti-prison organization with an abolitionist focus that was cofounded by [Angela] Davis and professor Ruth Wilson Gilmore.

    An influential model laid out by the Prison Research Education Action Project in a 1976 pamphlet highlighted three pillars of abolition: moratorium (a ceasing of construction on new prisons), decarceration, and excarceration (diverting people away from situations that may bring them into contact with law enforcement and the prospect of prison).

    Examples of excarceration can include decriminalizing drug use, decriminalizing sex work, or effectively combating houselessness.

    Prison abolition differs from the prison-reform movement in that its focus is on overhauling the entire system, not making improvements to existing structures — though some abolitionists incorporate elements of reform into their work as a form of harm reduction for the people who are currently in prison.

    Prison abolitionists call for dismantling the police (and Immigration and Customs Enforcement), and redistributing the resources used to fund them back into housing, health, and economic opportunities for underserved communities who suffer most from systemic inequality and deprivation.
    https://www.teenvogue.com/story/what-is-prison-abolition-movement

    No Class is an op-ed column by writer and radical organizer Kim Kelly that connects worker struggles and the current state of the American labor movement with its storied — and sometimes bloodied — past. This week, she dives into the prison-abolition movement.

    • Eric Sunswheat January 25, 2020

      Feb. 22, 2019
      … What sound like fancy suburban boarding schools are actually North Dakota prisons.

      These programs at the prisons are based on findings from a far-away source: Norway. In 2015, a cohort of North Dakota legislators, judicial branch members and prison officials were among those who took a trip to Norway to learn about the country’s incarceration system.

      Organized by California’s Prison Law Office, these trips are part of the nonprofit’s efforts to reform prisons in the U.S. by exposing officials to the methods of European prisons.

      The Norwegian prison system boasts a 20 percent recidivism rate – compared to the 76.6 percent recidivism rate in the U.S. – and includes Halden Prison, considered the most humane prison in the world. Sixty-three of every 100,000 people are incarcerated in Norway versus 655 per 100,000 in the U.S.

      Creating good neighbors is the goal of the Norwegian prison system, with no mention of punishment or retribution.

      The concept stands in stark contrast to the discipline and punishment system deployed across the United States, evidenced by mandatory minimum sentences – policies that require a certain number of years in prison for specific crimes, regardless of individual situations – as well as solitary confinement and other policies that resulted from the “tough on crime” approach that gained popularity in the 1970s.

      Leann Bertsch, director of the North Dakota Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (DOCR), and Karianne Jackson, then the director of correctional practices at the DOCR, were among those on the Norway trip.

      Upon their return, the DOCR revamped its training to focus on dynamic security, a philosophy based on the idea that allowing people to make choices and giving them the opportunity to do better will lead to a safer prison because a person who is treated humanely is less likely to be violent…

      The North Dakota State Penitentiary maximum security facility, also in Bismarck, has seen its own slew of changes. Life at “the Pen,” as it’s known, now includes softball tournaments that staff and residents create and participate in together.

      Once called the Segregation Unit, those in solitary confinement at the Pen were on lockdown for 23 hours a day during the week and 24/7 on the weekends. Most stayed for eight to nine months on average and the return rate was roughly 42 percent.

      It’s now called the Behavior Intervention Unit and it’s been redesigned to do exactly that.

      The infractions that can land an inmate in the BIU have been restricted to 10 of the most serious (like murder or possession of weapons) instead of the essentially limitless number of possible offenses when staffs’ subjective opinions defined the criteria.

      Time there now includes four and a half hours of programming, such as behavioral treatment sessions or classes toward a GED diploma, each day. Every BIU resident is issued a report card and an improvement plan that consists of specific skills to be gained in order to move out.

      Most are released within the first 24 hours thanks to a new review system. Those who do stay are often out within a few months, and BIU recidivism hovers at 21 percent.

      The on-the-ground changes that have been taking place since 2015 have since become state law. Republican Gov. Doug Burgum signed Senate Bill 2015 and House Bill 1041 into law in April 2017 to lower the number of offenders in the state’s system.

      The latter bill expanded sentence reductions, reduced mandatory minimums and established presumptive probation guidelines for the majority of class C felonies, such as most possession of controlled substances other than marijuana, and class A misdemeanors, like a second offense of assault against a family or household member.

      The former mandated all correctional facilities to create a prison population plan and required each county to explicitly offer alternatives to physical custody, including everything from drug and alcohol treatment to employment and home detention.

      It also gave correctional facilities the ability to prioritize and decide which prisoners need to come into their system once their operational maximum capacity is reached. So far, the result has been a 6.5 percent drop in the state’s penitentiary prison population according to a 2018 report presented to the state’s legislators.

      However, not all staff members were on board with the Nordic-style prison reforms rolled out over the last few years. Many correctional officers didn’t agree with the transformation of their roles as authoritarian administers of discipline and order to something more closely resembling a social worker…
      https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/articles/2019-02-22/inspired-by-norways-approach-north-dakota-reforms-its-prisons

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