QUESTION: Will the 45th President, DJT, respond by November 14th to the Committee's subpoena extension he was able to receive to give his deposition and to provide requested documents?
DROUGHT UPDATE -- We actually received some rain showers last week where I live in SoCal.
Encouragingly we are being told to expect some hard rain, snow in the mountains for a couple days this week. Promises! Promises! Hopefully the moisture arrives here with snow in Northern California mountains plus more to come in the weeks and months ahead, normally our wet months for decades in past years.
VIRAL COMBAT -- I have my flu shot -- was given the high-dose version this year. In two weeks I'll seek the latest and final Covid vaccine. Continued wearing of the N95 mask when I'm in contact with most others will continue to be the order of the day for me.
I could still contract a virus but the severity of my illness would likely be minimal, might not even require hospitalization much less result in my death. I like those odds -- better than my winning the lottery.
MIDTERM ELECTION VOTING -- I chose to submit my ballot in a local drop box again this year. I will receive an email confirmation my ballot has been received and votes counted within the next few days.
What a tragedy with the suppressing effort to thwart this means as an an individual voter's right in some other states. There are those who promote proven deliberate lies discounting the trustworthiness of our election system.
DEMOCRACY PRESERVATION -- I continue to believe our democracy's preservation is the primary issue that needs to guide voters in their candidate selections. Candidates who are deniers of the legitimacy of the 2020 election results and conspiracy believers unable to discern fact from fiction pose a danger to our democratic constitutional republic's freedoms, true justice with genuine law and order.
DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME AGAIN!
Barbra Streisand -- Everything Must Change & I Didn't Know What Time It Was Performed at Barclays Center, Brooklyn, New York on Saturday 6 May 2017
Barbra was 75 (!) when she sang these songs with a voice showing minimal age-related effects.
Barbra's dedications were tributes following recent deaths then of Sandy Gallin who was a talent manager adored and respected by many stars you can read about HERE
Virginia Kelley, is a nurse anesthetist and mother of former President Bill Clinton who came to be warmly regarded by many you can read about HERE. Coincidentally, a friend of mine described her baby's birth as being "midwifed" by Virginia.
DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME and OUR HEALTH -- Did you remember to "fall back" one hour effective Sunday, Nov.6th at 2 a.m.?
Once again in the U.S. we all must change our clocks for daylight savings time adjustment except for Arizona and Hawaii who did not adopt this DST change system years ago. I won't go into the whys and wherefores for all this but maybe this will be the last year we will be required to make this time change on our clocks.
You can read the DST history (not simply to accommodate farmers) in this succinct informative PBS News Hour transcript along with what has been learned about the effect of all this time manipulation on our health HERE
Seems research studies have shown these time changes may be having a more serious impact on our health than we ever knew beyond our own experiences considered merely anecdotal in official scientific 'worldom'.
Our U.S. Senate did finally act based on legislation passed in several states to end this change by establishing daylight savings time year 'round. That bill has stalled in the House of Representatives since some states, including my own California, desire returning to regular time, which I prefer, too. This difference must be resolved between both branches of government before officially being signed into law.
Meanwhile, I'm coping with my clock-radio purchased many years ago to automatically "spring forward" and "fall back". I was delighted to never have to bother with manually changing this clock twice each year -- just my wristwatch and other clocks in my house. At least one clock would have the correct time to begin the day if I hadn't noticed the time change was occurring.
Then, a few years ago officials altered the days DST would be in effect so my clock-radio's date for time change has been out of synchronicity ever since. For example, this past week my clock "fell back" an hour several days before official time changed. What an annoyance!
,
I'll patiently await our Congress to finally act to establish the time system we will use, quite willing to accept whichever one they decide to use -- standard time or daylight savings time. Then I will determine what to do about my clock-radio. Maybe I can turn off the automatic date/time change feature as I like the device's size for my bedside table and the other functions. Otherwise, to dispense with adjusting my clock twice a year, I'll be shopping for a new clock-radio.
What do you think?
Do you want to continue the system we have, "springing forward" an hour in early March and "falling back" an hour in early November?
Would you prefer to adopt standard time or daylight savings time year 'round?
Your response will have no known influence on how this government policy is decided but perhaps you'll feel better having expressed your point of view. We can see at least how our legislator's actions reflect our point of view on this one matter -- if and when they act and we live long enough to see the results.
The good news is California fires are gradually coming under
control. A fire recently started east of where I
live, is being contained. Our area has not been subjected to any fire, smoke
or ashes – our skies continuing to be blue.
Federal emergency aid has been granted by our President, as
he made a visit to some of the areas including that of the Thousand Oaks shooting
massacre which had coincidentally occurred prior to the fires.Meeting with our Governor Brown and newly
elected Governor Newsom he expressed words of concern as could be expected to
be forthcoming from any responsible leader of our nation in such a disaster.
The President’s broad knowledge of the factors involved in these
fires’ propagation appears to be rather narrow, to put it kindly, as he
persists in blaming poor forest management as the problem.There was reported HERE “...a protester along the route of
the president’s motorcade who held a sign that said, “Moron, we’re in a
drought.”
I suppose our officials must use care to not antagonize a
President some believe to be vindictive to those who don’t agree with him lest
our residents not receive all the assistance needed.California has primarily supported
candidates with views other than those of the current federal
administration, but that has become even more pronounced with the results of the recent elections.
Very large Orange County has been known many
years as a stronghold for the President’s political party.Midterm elections altered that as all four House
seats in Orange country – Richard Nixon’s birthplace and that of conservatism –
now belong to the new House of Representatives predominant party.
My friends’ family members here in Southern California had to
evacuate but were fortunate to stay with other family until they could return to, thankfully,
find their homes still standing, unlike some others in their areas, or in additional
communities including Malibu near the Pacific Ocean.
In Northern California a town ironically named Paradise, population
over 26,000, burned to the ground.Known
as a retirement haven, tragically at this writing over 600 residents are still missing
– whether they are in safe locations or are fire victims has yet to be
established.
Safety for older folks.....
There has been some concern that lives lost not only there,
but in other areas, too, may have included an inordinate number of older people
– some unwilling to leave soon enough, others unable to evacuate as rapidly as
needed. Likely this issue will be, or should be, examined in the weeks
ahead.
Data from 2017 fires concluded older people are at greater
risk in disasters.It should give us all
thought that when the potential for safety concerns emerges, older and disabled folks should be among
the first to act promptly, to not wait or try to be heroes – concentrating on
saving ourselves could be the best way to aid our loved ones and those who
would want to help us.
Wildlife has not been spared as their habitat is destroyed
including our mountain lions HERE and a heart-warming story about a rescued horse/mule.
* * * A couple updates:
My California I.D. card that serves as my driver’s license
for the next five years arrived with my photo quite acceptable unlike the one
on the new regular license initially issued.Card photos quality was a subject
I had previously posed recently for comment HERE.
Daylight Savings Time will hopefully be ended in California based on voters choice in our recent election. There is still some uncertainty about voters choice being implemented though the California State Legislature now has the power to vote to change the clocks permanently with a two-thirds majority vote. Even then the time change still has to to receive U.S. Congress approval.
* * *
SCOOTIN’ ALONG .....
Green transportation in California and in other cities across
our country has been gaining increasing interest in recent years.I’ve been noticing a few unusual vehicles in
my community and Los Angeles TV news stories cause me to wonder if such
vehicles/devices actual usage is becoming more prevalent.
Electric scooters are being introduced by companies into
prominent cities across our country creating quite a bit of controversy.There are companies that distribute them
around some city areas for individuals to use at will – riding them to their local
destination, then just leaving them.City
governments often haven’t been given an opportunity to establish operation
requirements they can then also enforce with licensing. Many pros and cons are being debated about whether or not to allow these scooters, safety issues, to name just a couple.
“...the first company to launch shared electric scooters in the
United States, unrolled its first fleet – or flock – in Santa Monica last
September. Their scooters have since appeared in some 70 municipalities across
the country, including 17 in California, as well as Paris and Tel Aviv and
dozens of college campuses." "... the biggest of a dozen or more competitors,
has landed in more than 80 American municipalities.”
What do you think about electric scooters? Have you encountered any? Would you use them?
