POTPOURRI SO-CAL -- JAN. 6th -- SARCASM

Planning how I can landscape my front yard to adapt to the mandated water allocations outdoor watering restrictions due to our SoCal drought (described in my previous post) occupies my thoughts.   Other matters do not go unnoticed.  

Gasoline price regularly -- every night -- goes up overnight here in SoCal -- anywhere from 1 cent to 5 cents a gallon.  We're well over $6 a gallon and going up every day.  Is gasoline going up in price like this where you live?

Toilet Paper -- I've noticed for some time when I put the new tissue roll on my holder how it seems to slide back and forth further and further.  I took a closer look the other day, pushing the new tissue roll clear to one side.  There was a whole inch of open space on the opposite side.  I remember when I used to put a new tissue roll on the roller and the tissue filled the whole roller side to side.  So, the tissue rolls are skinnier now then they used to be for ..... I don't know how long that's been the case.  The tissue is diminishing in size., I guess.    Is each perforated tissue section still a square or a rectangle, instead of being the square now, too -- I didn't check that tissue width dimension --- are there also fewer sections?

Apparently, a lot of products are getting smaller in various ways to allow for the producer's increased costs as a way to avoid raising the item's price to consumers.  Is it greedy profiteering or should we be pleased, given inflation's impact, that they're trying to keep customer's costs down with this adjustment?

Have you noticed changes in sizes, quantities of any products you use, and what about the cost of that gasoline.....?                                                                         *                            *                                *

The United States has been hosting the Ninth Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles with a theme "Building a Sustainable, Resilient, and Equitable Future" for our hemisphere.  The summit brings together the heads of government for North America, Central America, South America and the Caribbean.

We certainly could benefit from positive relationships with all our neighbors including Canada on this continent.  Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua were not invited.  This met with disapproval by some other nation's leaders including Mexico's President who did not attend in protest though an official representative was present.   Northern Triangle countries of El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and several other nations were also absent.

Some Summit achievements:  in "...the Los Angeles Declaration a nonbinding migration blueprint established legal pathways to enter the countries and set new parameters around aid".  Politico also reports: "The Biden administration has committed to a three-fold increase in resettling 20,000 refugees from the Americas over the next year.  Other pacts revolved around addressing climate change and driving clean energy, advancing food security, mobilizing new investments in the region and incentivizing increased trade, though they lacked major funding and many specifics."

I hope we're able to create a feeling of goodwill with all and Latin American countries strive to make their homeland more invitingly livable for their citizens.  Most would like to stay home and not trek to our borders seeking to immigrate.  Usually those with autocratic forms of government/dictators typically don't place a priority on what their citizens need.  Surely not a form of government we would want in the U.S.    *                     *                      *

Our U.S. citizens need to consider how much survival of our democratic republic depends on our voting to elect to office only those candidates (including judges) dedicated to supporting our form of government.  Our primary election completed recently with only 20% or less voting in our state -- such an important time to weed out unsuitable candidates before a November general election to keep in mind before next time.          *                     *                     *          

Mass shootings continue, I see reported in the news.....  like most of you, I'm impatiently awaiting our legislators to take some action on gun control.  Weapons intended for warfare, as so many mass shooters and others have used seem unlikely to be banned.  I suppose it's necessary for those who want to keep those AK-47s and others readily and easily available for purchase here in the U.S. -- especially for all those eager to engage in seditious activities to overthrow our government, rid us of our oppressive democratic republic so we can enjoy the freedoms of one-person authoritarian dictatorship rule -- she said sarcastically.

I'm sure that would be much better as I look around the world at Putin in Russia, leadership in China, and North Korea.  Or maybe we could have a mix with theocratic leadership like Iran.  Doubtless a touch of return to days of yore like the Taliban offers Afghans would be very foreword thinking, but our Supreme Court may already be working to make that a reality. 

SCOTUS seems to think interpretations of our constitution must not adapt to changes in the world in the centuries since our founders established our nation.  Never mind that the vast majority of American citizens believe otherwise, and I'll bet our forefathers who wrote that constitution would agree.

Mentioning sedition as I was earlier, reminds me of the televised House Committee Hearing I viewed this past week investigating the January 6th U.S. Capitol event.  

Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo. presented this timeline of events leading to the attack on the Capitol in the first hearing June 9th.

Our local Claremont Courier newspaper features a front-page photo taken by freelance photojournalist Amanda Andrade-Rhoades who grew up here, later returned to intern at the Courier.  She covered the January 6th event for the Washington Post where she lives now.  She was included with their staff to be awarded a Pulitzer Prize for their coverage.  (I think the Post must have her Jan. 6th photos as I only saw one on her internet web site; none will be available to appear in this post.)

"Eye of the Storm" photos, and the Courier's Andrew Alonzo's interview with Amanda describing her first-hand experience in the midst all day long of the insurrection notes what every community resident might wisely consider based on what she saw:

"What gets me is that the people who were there, they are not backwater hicks.  They are your neighbors. ... I think it is a big mistake to think our neighbors are incapable of being extremists ... and incapable of attempting to perform a coup at the U.S. Capitol."

(This interview with photos may be available on the Courier website after their June 10th issue is archived should you want to read the entire content.)

Not everyone recognizes the seriousness of what occurred January 6th, if they even paid attention to the events.  One very sensitive sportsperson referred to that Jan. 6th atrocity as a "dustup at the Capitol"  He later apologized, but subsequently was fired from his defensive football coaching job in D.C.  

I remember viewing the actual January real time live TV news coverage of the events and being absolutely horrified at the violence.  (Be forewarned a little more personal sarcasm to follow.)

The worrisome days that followed my seeing those protesting people -- what a relief when I learned they were just vacationers visiting Washington and government offices, very friendly people, who I guess just got a little exuberant in their actions.  "The love I've seen, I've never seen anything like it." our ex-President said.  I could see how those people might have been filled with the spirit of love.  

Sometimes, I guess some people just get so excited when visiting government buildings they like/love, that they have so much energy coursing through their body that they break windows, kick in doors, attack law enforcement officers, are motivated to want to lynch a government leader and shout obscenities.  Doesn't everybody?

Viewing that hearing last week really mind-jolted me back to reality.  They showed so much film coverage that demonstrated to me that what I originally thought I had seen January 6th, I really did see.  Those people weren't being friendly.  They were physically hurting people, some even died.  How could I have doubted what my own eyes had seen and how I perceived what I saw?

How could our former President have misunderstood what happened January 6th?  He was there in the beginning and talked to those people.  Didn't he tell them to go to the Capitol, using words intimating he was going to walk there with them?  Why didn't he go?  Instead, he went to the White House, watching on TV what transpired.  Did he really believe they were all just friendly tourists?   

I'm really concerned that if that's how he interpreted what he saw he either has vision and hearing problems, or he must have slipped a brain cog.  The only other explanation I can think of is that he was lying about what those people were doing.  Surely, our former President wouldn't lie about something like that, would he?

That question prompted me to see what the internet might show about this "lying" business.  I was overwhelmed with so many links documenting the ex-President's lying -- incredibly, over 30,000 lies that the ex-President has been telling from when he assumed office, continuing even after his term expired and now.  Wow!   How could anyone want to be associated with him, much less defend his actions?  This is just all too much to think about presently.

Oh, one other matter ..... Curiously, Rupert Murdoch's Fox TV was the only network that didn't broadcast that hearing.  In fact, Fox didn't even interrupt with commercials for a couple hours or so whatever programming they broadcast.  I guess that's not all too surprising that Fox wouldn't want viewers tempted to be exposed to reality and facts when we consider the problems Fox  News Department/network has had from time to time with reporting accuracy.  

I keep remembering the sight on TV of our ex-President soon after his election meeting in Scotland with Murdoch.  I would think those who profess to be advocates of freedom, individual liberties, and proponents of real truth would have no qualms about their viewers seeing these hearings.  

There are more hearings to come.  The next one, the only one televised in non-prime time, on Monday, June 13th at 10 a.m. ET (that will be 7 a.m. PT where I live).  Check the broadcast time where you live.  You may read the coming hearings schedule with expected content and where you may view them on television or the internet HERE.