cry havoc

Unfortunately, I don't read in gmail. I'm getting it all via pop, and unless something's changed significantly in the last google rewrite, pop email doesn't apply filters before downloading. You just get it all right up. And once I d/l it, then I'm dealing with the annoyance of filtering it in Apple mail -- see my reply to Qem (above) for that issue. It's mostly that there's no way to simply make it not show up. One way or another, Apple mail is determined to let me know it's there, even when it's diverted to the trash. Le sigh.