December 28, 2018

PufPuf is Pacific Giant Salamander

in Karuk.

December 24, 2018

My favorite Christmas present ever was not a toy and not the favorite at the time.

When I was 9 (1962), my favorite uncle and his wife spent Christmas with my family and he dressed as Santa.

My gift from him was my great grandfather's gold scale from the California Gold Rush era. It was no longer then (and still not now) functioning but sits in my office, across the room from me at this moment.

Uncle Ellis (born 1899) was my Dad' oldest brother and the family historian. I have various old family and mining records, photos, deeds, etc. that people assume came from Dad but were from Ellis, giving them to me periodically up until his death in 1995. He had no children of his own. I have been sorting through them and gifting items recently to the county historical society. Locally my family was prominent in Gold Rush and subsequent times and in the various publications and accounts.

One book is In the Land of the Grasshopper Song. If one skips ahead to the last chapter page 308, Jonas Salstrom is my great grandfather. I have the cast iron and silverware from the meal as well as Jonas's rattlesnake cane, pocket watch, and other ephemera. My grandmother was a young woman at that meal. The mine was purchased by my great great uncle in the 1860s and sold to Jonas, his BIL. There are some factual errors in ITLOGS (Jonas had owned the mine for 35 years, not 20 years, the women knew Uncle Willy and had social meetings with him rather than the two dramatized encounters with him in the book, etc.) but the book is unique and an excellent read (or gift). BTW Uncle Willy died in my childhood in the 1950s when he was butted in the head by a goat. Note: I have no interest in the book other than liking it).

https://www.amazon.com/Land-Grasshopper-Song-Klamath-Country/dp/0803236379/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1545616285&sr=1-1&keywords=land+of+the+grasshopper+song

My Dad and grandmother were born on that mining property / farm and spent his entire life except 3 years in Europe in WWII there. I spent my childhood there and now live on part of the former mine in my old age and retirement.

November 20, 2018

'I give Diana Credit for Saving Our Town,' Says Stirling City Fire Chief"

‘I give Diana Credit for Saving Our Town,’ Says Stirling City Fire Chief About Humboldt County Firefighter

As teams sift ashes in Paradise today searching for bone fragments of those who were killed in the deadliest fire in modern California history, not far away, residents of a much smaller town, Stirling City, return to their untouched homes after being evacuated for 10 days. They do so in part because of Division U Supervisor Diana Totten, a Humboldt County resident and one of the few transgender wildland firefighters in the nation. Totten and a Mendocino County man alternated the Division U Supervisor position–for over ten days, they traded off sleeping and doing paperwork while the other ran the line. At times they had close to 300 personnel under their direction battling the Camp Fire.

“I give Diana credit for saving our town,” Pete Cuming, Chief of the Stirling City Volunteer Fire Department, said warmly. Over the years, Cuming who has been chief since 1987 and been a volunteer firefighter since 1980, has poured a lot of love into his community. He has carefully restored the oldest house in town, built his own trucking business, and created a scale model of the old mill which he has lent to the local museum.

clip

“We were there with a group of dozers operators,” Cummings explained. “She introduced herself as Division Uniform.”

Totten remembers the incident well. She said that one of the operators said something about Division Unicorn–a reference to her transgender status. “I don’t think he thought I would hear,” she said. From then on she adopted that as the group’s name–they became Division Unicorn.

“It was instant chemistry,” Cuming said. “Diana loves input. She asks for input and then can make an educated decision.”
Totten said the chemistry was mutual. She, like Cuming, had been a logger. They both came from small communities they were passionate about, and they were both determined to save Stirling City. “It’s a cute little town,” she said.

“We were trying to build a battle plan for the north side of the fire,” Cuming explained. He said he and his men worked to give the two Division Supervisors “as much local knowledge as possible.”

Cuming credits Totten for coming up with a way of reducing fuel between the town and the massive, deadly fire racing towards them by clearing out dozer lines and backfiring huge swaths of land. “She was able to build a plan and her plan worked,” he said.

“We use fire to fight fire,” Totten explained in an earlier interview. “Those backfires are a very good strategy…Now the fuels are gone ahead of the coming fire.”

Long article and many pictures at: http://kymkemp.com/2018/11/20/i-give-diana-credit-for-saving-our-town-says-stirling-city-fire-chief-about-humboldt-county-firefighter/

November 17, 2018

Russia Warns U.S. Must 'Immediately' Leave South Syria

Source: newsweek via msn.

Russia has called on the United States to withdraw from a base established by the Pentagon in southern Syria, alleging the presence runs contrary to international law.

Colonel General Mikhail Mizintsev, head of Moscow's National Defense Control Center, addressed a joint session Friday of Russian and Syrian committees tasked with returning Syrian refugees and blamed the U.S. for deteriorating humanitarian conditions in the Rukban refugee camp. The settlement is located within a U.S.-controlled security zone surrounding the Al-Tanf base on the harsh border of Syria and Jordan and has witnessed starvation deaths due to lack of supplies.

"Such a situation in which the camp finds itself reminds concentration camps of the Second World War, which seemed to be long gone. How is it possible in the modern world?" Mizintsev said. "Why, in these conditions, the world community, which cares so much about human rights, continues to persistently keep silent about the humanitarian disaster in the Rukban camp? In fact, being held hostage.

"Why are the official structures of the United Nations responsible for providing all-round assistance to refugees, in fact, are not active and persistent in resolving global humanitarian issues related to the terrible situation of Syrian citizens in the Rukban camp?" he added.

Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/russia-warns-us-must-immediately-leave-south-syria/ar-BBPNc24?li=BBnbfcL&ocid=spartanntp

October 20, 2018

That is not that accurate a map. Here is a more specific map of California.

October 20, 2018

I have been an SF Giant fan since going to first game in 1959.

It was a family thing.

I have participated for years on a private SF Giant blog and this is the issue today second only to the Dodger-Brewer game. Seems everyone including the blog owner is aghast.

The Giants and Charles Johnson have issued statements. The statements and discussion is at this link I cannot text to copy here.

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2801849-giants-issue-statement-on-owner-charles-johnson-donating-to-pac-behind-racist-ad

Here is an article from Think Progress:

Owner of Major League Baseball team among funders of racist super PAC

White billionaire Charles Johnson is among those funding Black Americans for the President's Agenda and its outrageous racist radio ads.


more at: https://thinkprogress.org/san-francisco-giants-owner-bankrolling-racist-pac-5e1292058573/


From a 2016 Huffington Post article Charles Johnson has a history of $$$ support for Trump and right wing causes.

"The main super PAC supporting Trump did not report its finances Saturday. It will next report in October. However, two other super PACs formed to boost the Republican nominee did disclose their donors.

Great America PAC, a super PAC run by longtime GOP consultant Ed Rollins, raised $2.4 million mostly from small donors. Its largest donation was a $100,000 contribution from San Francisco Giants owner Charles Johnson.

Hedge fund billionaire and conservative activist donor Bob Mercer provided $2 million to the Make America Number 1 super PAC. The group was formerly organized to support Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) in the Republican primary, but Mercer has since shifted his support to Trump. As a funder of the conservative website Breitbart, Mercer is an instrumental player in the many moving pieces of the infrastructure now making up the Trump campaign. He is also now one of the largest donors to Trump’s election efforts."

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-campaign-finances_us_57b9cb79e4b03d513688f5f2?section=us_politics

August 10, 2018

The CalExit folks ("Yes California) want California to be a separate country

and are against splitting California into 3 states.

https://us16.campaign-archive.com/?u=e6492539efbfe94324eb4874b&id=ddf3787e45

But the Yes California folks also want to transfer all California federal lands to form an Autonomous Native Nation with a seat at the UN. See map at link.

https://mailchi.mp/yescalifornia/let-us-introduce-the-first-ever-autonomous-native-american-nation-in-north-America


"Greenland is an autonomous Danish dependent territory with self-government and its own parliament. Denmark contributes two thirds of Greenland's budget revenue, the rest coming mainly from fishing.

But what does Greenland and Denmark have anything to do with Calexit?

"Today we are announcing the expansion of the Calexit plan to be even bigger and more ambitious than ever before," Louis J. Marinelli, a Calexit co-founder explained. "The new Calexit plan I am pleased to present today will not only bring about the first successful, peaceful, and legal secession of an American state from the United States but starting today the new Calexit plan now includes the establishment of the first-ever autonomous Native American nation in North America."

The plan is to retrocede virtually all federally-owned properties in California back to its original occupants, the California Native Americans, the organization said, adding that the federal government currently owns about 47 percent of the land in California.

"This new Calexit plan reaches higher and farther than any previous attempt in history to right the wrongs the American government has committed throughout its history against the Native Americans," Marinelli said."

Who is Yes California and how is it funded?

August 1, 2018

GovTrack.us is a useful site for tracking Congress and Legislation.

https://www.govtrack.us/

Note: I have nothing to do with GovTrack but found the site today looking for things about Ron Dellums (who was a great Congressman).

March 9, 2018

What might the Feds do in immediate future about legal pot?

Session wants to go there. Pot is a good political issue for the GOP and also could provide plenty of diversion in MSM.

I am in California and have been in a pot shop in a rural county 4X since legalization. Currently undegoing chemo for lymphoma and bought a vapor pen and then gone back for cartridges.

Yesterday AM went in the pot shop. Then check you at the door and put you on a database using your ID. The shop has gotten busier and has more product. Licensing of various pot related businesses is in the local news every day but active shops are few.

Anyway behind me were two ordinary guys, slightly scruffy. They pulled out their IDs about 3 feet from me and were ATF agents. The gatekeeper fellow (guy who guarded door and checked if you were on database or needed to be entered into database) directed them to a couch in a lounge area and went into the back of the shop to find someone of more authority. He came out and said something to the ATF agents and resumed checking folks in at the door. The ATF agents were still on the couch waiting for someone and thumbing through various magazines when I left.

Wonder if something is up or if that was normal. Seemed to be a surprise in the legal pot shop.