I really do appreciate it that when I flap my wings or run my beak people are actually listening. I love to hear from you, I really do, but why is it that so many of my admirers only write to me when I’ve pissed them off?
And why do they usually write when I have something to say about President Donald Trump?
Well, we’ll get to that, I have lots to say on the matter—but first some housekeeping.
It looks like the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors’ approval of a good faith agreement with the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians about Camp 4 won’t be allowed to rest.
I know, I know, I’m tired of talking about Camp 4 too, this has been going on for nearly a decade after all, but Anne Crawford-Hall isn’t ready to let the county’s decision stand uncontested. She filed a written declaration in support of the restraining order her company filed against the county and the supervisors, just two days after their decision on Oct. 31 and after her initial restraining order was shot down.
You see, Camp 4 used to be part of the property Crawford-Hall inherited, San Lucas Ranch, but the property was split off and owned by her uncle, according the restraining order. After her uncle died, his kids sold the property to Fess Parker of Davy Crockett fame, who then sold it to the Chumash.
Crawford-Hall is upset that the Chumash’s proposed development will ruin the view from her property and “jeopardize [her] enjoyment of the San Lucas Ranch.” But here’s the kicker—she doesn’t even live there anymore!
According to the restraining order, Crawford-Hall lives in Texas, but she cited her family’s three generations on the ranch as her claim to keeping Camp 4 unaltered.
I’m sorry, Anne, but I think the Chumash might have you beat on the whole argument from lineage.
I just find it a little more than frustrating that after Santa Barbara County’s decisions have cost us taxpayers untold dollars in litigation, lost revenue from the $1 million per year deal the Chumash first proposed, and just years of wasted time, Crawford-Hall wants to tie up more time and money on this matter, all for something that she can’t do anything about.
I agree with what Andy Caldwell has to say on the matter (never thought I’d say that!), which is that hopefully we can move past all the nonsense surrounding Camp 4 and lay the subject and the decision to rest.
But you know what else is nowhere near an end—Robert Mueller’s investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.
I know this triggers a whole swath of people, like Jan Lipski, who chastised me in a letter on page 15 for talking about this. Yes Jan, I know “treason” is a serious accusation, but it’s one that is currently being thrown around the Justice Department right now, if you didn’t know.
And by the way, Jan ever so slyly mentions the “real news,” which says the Mueller investigation as “in the weeds.” Hmm, which news outlet could she be talking about?
It’s no secret that President Trump hates CNN and NBC, and that his preferred news outlet is Fox News. He calls the latter two “the fake news” all the time. It’s worth noting that the term “fake news” was coined to explain the propaganda war waged online by largely Russian accounts that posted untrue stories on fraudulent news sites during the 2016 election. “Fake news” isn’t something you simply disagree with or don’t want to believe.
I’m no fan of either CNN or Fox, I think news should be read and not watched for the most part. All you get on TV news is panelists arguing about the work print journalists do anyway, so opinion often gets confused with reporting.
But, let’s talk a little bit more about “fake news.”
Right-wing media outlets were all in a frenzy running up to Nov. 4, when “Antifa”—the “anti-fascist” extreme left-wing collective—was supposedly planning a series of protests aimed at oustering President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence.
Things got to a fever pitch though when a left-wing troll account on Twitter named Krang T. Nelson tweeted the following: “can’t wait for November 4th when millions of antifa supersoldiers will behead all white parents and small business owners in the town square.”
Sounds kind of crazy, but Krang was admittedly goofing on the “alt-right” Twitter community that characterizes “Antifa” as a bloodthirsty cult waiting to cave-in the skull of anyone wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat and further a race war against white Americans.
Even though Krang is an obvious comedian who trolls right-wing Twitter users constantly, the “real news” outlets went with his single tweet as if it signified an actual “Antifa apocalypse.” So, when nothing happened on Nov. 4, right-wing Twitter users (including many “bot” accounts) began drawing lines that didn’t exist.
When Sen. Rand Paul’s (R-Kentucky) neighbor tackled the senator over some kind of domestic dispute, fracturing Paul’s ribs, Twitter and right-wing media exploded with assumptions. “Here it is!” they said, “The Antifa uprising has begun!”
The following day, Nov. 5, after the horrific mass shooting in Sutherland Springs, Texas, at a Baptist church there, some of the same people immediately called the gunman, Devin P. Kelley, a “socialist leftist” or part of “Antifa.”
Turns out Kelley was a deranged domestic abuser who was discharged from the United States Air Force after being court martialed for beating his wife and son, escaped from a mental health facility in 2012, and at one point that year tried to sneak guns onto an Air Force base, according to The New York Times. Not a good guy.
That kind of knee-jerk jumping to conclusions isn’t just unethical—it’s downright dangerous. Up is down and down is up among not just the most extreme on the political spectrum, it’s going on in the halls of power. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders accused Hillary Clinton’s campaign of colluding with Russia after Mueller’s first indictments were served on Oct. 30. Clinton colluded with Russia against herself? How do you figure that one, Sarah?
But the White House has the “real news” on its side, doesn’t it? Sean Hannity recently referred to Clinton as “President Clinton,” and he wasn’t talking about Slick Willy, while trying to further the Clinton/Russia distraction. The same day that Mueller’s indictments against Paul Manafort and Richard Gates were unsealed, Fox was literally reporting about Google changing its cheeseburger emoji.
Well, now Fox is saying that Trump should fire Mueller, straight up, after he already fired the guy in charge of the investigation, former FBI Director James Comey. Look, Trump supporters can believe whatever they want about Mueller, but I’d ask them to look up another name before they get on the “you’re fired” train: Archibald Cox.
The Canary knows an elephant never forgets. Send your thoughts to canary@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Nov 9-16, 2017.