IS FREE PRESS STIFLING BEGINNING ?

Is the Fourth Estate -- a press independent of government dictates -- a necessary vital check on truth and honesty in our form of government we expect our Presidential candidates to observe? 

Why aren't the Washington Post and Los Angeles Times Newspapers endorsing a Presidential candidate in this critical election year with the very state of our nation's democratic republic, constitution at stake?

Why would the practice of recommending candidates this election year suddenly be discontinued?

Do the billionaire owners of these two newspapers not respect editorial management's decision freedom? 

Are the billionaires aligning themselves defacto with one of the candidates?

Are we already seeing the beginning of the stifling of the free press? 

Isn't elimination of the press one of the goals of countries with dictators, autocratic leaders, despots who determine what constitutes news "facts" citizens receive?

Aren't these "facts" put forth as truth often actually lies from such leaders?  

Have we already been primed by one former President and candidate to accept lies as truth?  

Would we want such a leader to be the President of our country?  

SO-CAL WINTER -- SANITY -- VACCINATONS

             "The November 3rd election was the most secure in American history."

Winter has finally arrived here in Southern California.   What that means where I live at the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains is, we're finally receiving some rain, but unfortunately not much so far.  Our outdoor temperature is cold but not below freezing.  The mountains above us are expected to receive snow.  This weather may actually persist for a week or two.

Life already seems a bit more sane with our new U.S. President in the White House coupled with the administration he is forming.  We now have a President who actually believes in his oath of office, is dedicated to protecting our constitution.  

Our new President expects all government appointees and employees allegiance to be to our constitution unlike the personal demands of the person he replaced who betrayed his oath and the American people.  Our new President promises truth which will be refreshing after the four years of all the lies to which we were subjected from our former leader.

Lots of unfinished business remains including achieving accountability from those who violated our U.S. Constitution while falsely claiming to be patriots defending democracy.  Of course, any thinking person recognizes their violent overt and covert actions demonstrated they were in fact destroying democracy.   Rooting out those destructive forces attempting to take autocratic control of our government will take time requiring also that we continue to guard against any others like them in the future.

I am heart-brokenly angered that we citizens must necessarily confront home-grown terrorists on our own shores -- that we are now required to take such action to preserve our democratic republic's freedoms.  Still, that is our responsibility as our forebearers cautioned: "...if you can keep it."  

I like the idea describing our nation's situation expressed by the young poet, Amanda Gorman at the Presidential inauguration.   Our nation is young, we are in the process of growing which includes making and learning from mistakes.   We are:

                   "A Nation that isn't broken, simply unfinished."               

Covid-19 Vaccinations 

A young family member on the east coast has been engaged in administering the vaccine.    She also reports recently receiving her second Pfizer injection, experienced only some slight swelling and soreness at her arm's shot site.

Vaccinations against Corvid-19 continue here in Los Angeles County but not without considerable problems for those attempting to make a required reservation.  Initially the reservation website system crashed but, hopefully, will now continue to be operative.  

Complicating matters has been officials reports of receiving limited vaccine but only learning from one week to the next how much they'll actually receive.  Obviously, how do they plan in advance each week how many reservations can be accepted under such circumstances?

Now that it has been revealed the previous federal administration did not hold back vaccine for later release as they had said, there is concern L.A. County may not have an adequate amount to provide the second injection when it is due for some recipients.  Remains to be seen if that issue will develop or how it will be addressed.

What about Pfizer shipping fewer Covid-19 vials to the U.S. after language changes on the order when "extra" serum was discovered in the vials?   Some pharmacists report having difficulty extracting that "extra" amount.  

I'm considering here in L.A. County that there seem to be a number of issues surrounding possible vaccine availability, distribution, coupled with the rush of people seeking the vaccination as they invite more groups of people and open an increasing number of drive-thru locations providing the injections.

One large drive-thru at the Los Angeles County Fairgrounds has opened near me.  Years ago my husband and I went there a couple years when they offered the annual flu shot, which proved to be a very efficient process.

I've decided to bide my time for now, deferring getting the vaccination rather than getting caught up in the current milieu of people and issues.  I'm sure many individuals are much more in need of the Covid-19 protection than I am as they need to work, risk having to encounter lots of people in their business and day-to-day lives.  

Maybe the next vaccine will be approved for use before long.   The most recent one mentioned is from Johnson & Johnson and is one injection.   The clinical trial results will be released soon which will be of interest in terms of the efficacy percentage and side effects.  Of course, we do not choose the vaccine we want to take and accept whatever is being distributed at the time wherever we live.  

Meanwhile, I will simply continue practicing the precautions as I have been including  staying at home more than I would have in the past -- a while longer certainly, but that won't be a great inconvenience for me.  

What about you?   

MLK DAY ----- IMPEACHMENT

Martin Luther King Jr. Day Monday 1/20/2020 – the 25^th anniversary since 1986 commemorates this Civil Rights leader’s birthday and legacy.   Individuals are empowered to devote a day of service volunteering to improve their community by bridging barriers, creating solutions to social problems.

 ***  

Presidential Impeachment Trial 

.....beginning Tuesday, January 21, 2020

The profound quotes below were said or written by Dr. King in contexts different from that to which I am associating them here.  I think these words can be interpreted to have special significance now as our U.S. Senate begins consideration of the Impeachment of our President Donald J. Trump.          (Quotes attributed to Dr. King at Keep Inspiring Me)

      

“Law and order exist for the purpose of establishing justice and when they fail in this purpose they become the dangerously structured dams that block the flow of social progress.”

“There comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe nor politic or popular, but he must take it because his conscience will tell him it is right.”

“The moral arc of the universe bends at the elbow of justice.”

“That old law about ‘an eye for an eye’ leaves everybody blind.  The time is always right to do the right thing.”

“Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.”

“Let no man pull you so low as to hate him.”

“A lie cannot live.”

“We must use time creatively in the knowledge the time is always ripe to do right.” 

 “We may all have come on different ships, but we’re in the same boat now.”

National Public Radio (NPR) describes How The Impeachment Trial Will Work which begins Tuesday, January 15, 2020.

PIP-WATCH -- POWER and WIND

Big Bear Bald Eagles – Up Date -- Eaglet’s egg hatching?   

(Read Jackie's and Shadow's history for background by scrolling down to preceding posts.)

An external pip appeared to be visible at dusk Saturday night when I viewed Jackie rising frequently to turn her eggs – then after a later glimpse I wasn’t sure I had seen a pip!   Jackie seemed fixated on listening -- is it pip activity of the hatching eaglet she hears or feels?   Probably she will settle down to broken sleep through the night as she periodically rouses to continue turning  her eggs. 

Fascinating Bald Eagle egg hatching facts describe the complex process with photos at this Journey North link.  There’s a second egg to hatch yet that was laid three days after this first one.

You can continue to take a peek at these Big Bear Bald Eagles live camera link here:                                                                         

http://www.iws.org/bigbear_youtube.html

The camera was inoperative for a period of time earlier the past week probably due to high winds there -- also strong winds in the valley 65 miles west causing power outage at my house.   Jennifer Iyer recaps the Big Bear Eagle activities with videos and accounts from those keeping the live camera operational in her Redlands Press-Enterprise newspaper article.

The power outage was quite abrupt here, ultimately with fluctuating on/off periods just as I was planning to heat some chicken soup for dinner.   Naturally, all the important household areas were affected including my stove, microwave, refrigerator and garage door.   I was glad my car wasn’t in there.   I reported the outage to my electric company.  Finally, I chose to get some food from a drive thru.  When I returned home I discovered all my power was on.    Only later did I note power in some other less significant house areas.    

The next morning the electric company man checked the lines.  He concluded strong winds the night before had tree branches swaying in the wind with lines probably contacting each other that shouldn’t.   He scheduled the electric company’s big truck, likely with the cherry-picker for tree trimming to prevent future problems.   

A couple weeks ago I had a similar outage when there was no wind, but the power had stayed off. Since it was Friday I had visions of being without power the whole weekend.   I made an intuitive phone call to an electrician I had never used before rather than some I had.   Amazingly he had just finished a job a mile or so from my house, was on his way home and said he could come right then.  Ten minutes later he arrived, then after due diligence testing determined the problem was not mine, but that of the electric company. 

He was able to establish full power to my house suggesting the likelihood was a squirrel may have been chewing on the line.   I knew squirrels did sometimes cause short circuits with a more permanent short to the offender as well.   He added if I needed to call him due to a similar problem in the future he would immediately contact the electric company coordinating all that for me if I wanted.  

He explained quite likely there could be a delay in my receiving electric company service, that he could setup a line to my refrigerator for food preservation.   Since my spare long-lived refrigerator in the garage died a year or so ago this seemed a wise solution to preserve food contents should such a need develop.   Subsequently, the electric company man said if I lost power as a result of a company problem I could submit a bill for any food lost. 

So....my house has power.  I hope no more strong winds before the tree is trimmed.  No offending squirrel sacrificed themself.   The ridiculous situation continues in Washington D.C.   The latest excuse I heard given for our leader’s prolific persistent prevarications is “He made a mistake” -- the understatement of the year.   Pip-watch is proving to be a much more uplifting focus.

Up Date:  Sunday Afternoon

Just saw the nest contents when the birds switched positions. There’s a little fuzz ball — one egg has hatched!  Other egg was laid 3 days after this one.  

Up Date:  Monday

The second egg has hatched!

NATION'S VALUES BETRAYED

This American citizen considers our nation’s values have been betrayed once again by an individual, our U.S. President, who is unable to acknowledge truth and insultingly expects others to believe his lies -- despite the fact that he assumed his governing office with no humility, even though the popular majority did not vote for or support him (of course, he never likes to be reminded of such facts). 

Our leader continues to market divisiveness, lies pathologically, frequently contradicts himself, pettily resorts to juvenile name-calling, expects everyone to always like/respect/agree with him, while being oblivious to the fact such behavior as his does not result in the admiration he so desperately demands.    

That leader continues making knee-jerk decisions defying common sense frequently.  He does so without benefit of consultation with those more knowledgeable -- does so in a manner that doesn’t allow appropriate post planning -- as with the recent treatment of infants and children taken from their parents who were seeking asylum -- to name just a few of his dangerous behaviors. 

This leader and his supporters (some likely well-intentioned) will eventually learn they are being complicit in his effort to alter our form of government – by misusing our constitution to undermine our democracy and reduce our freedoms.   That this leader assumed office in the first place has occurred because of an electoral college voting system (long overdue for reassessment).  Some supporters acquired have been misled and unwittingly influenced partially through their very own social media activity. 

This social media has been subjected to manipulative machinations by a hostile foreign nation led by an autocrat committed to eliminating world democracies by any means possible.  Our leader, reprehensibly, courts this and other dictators he repeatedly praises and has intimated aspiring to emulate.    So, it’s not surprising he seeks to assume similar controls in our country over all branches of our government, continues efforts to undermine and destroy our free press if they don’t parrot his spiel – in his efforts to nullify our constitution’s checks and balances to prevent such a result.  

Some of our nation’s most immoral and despicable traits selected groups demonstrate continue to be exploited by those in the highest leadership positions for political and maybe even personal gain.   One of the most recent evidences of just how dangerous this is, occurs when we consider -- how could anyone even entertain the thought of separating infants and children from their parents?   Parents who should have a legal right to seek safety and asylum in a country other than their own.  Then, this leader deliberately actually issues orders for others to separate them without, at least, assuring reunification plans were in place.   

Might we wonder if those receiving such immoral directions should refuse to follow them?   Might we wonder what more is this leadership capable of doing to each of us if we are not in his favor?

My mind reels with memories of the parallels of just such a similar activity separating children from parents in other countries justified at the time citing other immoral reasons when I was a mere child myself during WWII.   When I became an adult recalling those years I wondered where had been the good people in those countries to resist such despicable actions – refuse to enforce them?  

Similarities were depicted in a haunting mother/children scene in the movie, “Sophie’s Choice” starring Meryl Streep in too horrific a video to post here – and yet, the babes screaming, mother in shock, has now happened in my country! 

Are those who put the leader(s) in power who ordered this travesty of human decency complicit --- fellow citizens -- acted in my and your name – including other of our citizens who followed those immoral orders? 

When does morality, including that of those pointedly pronouncing their religious convictions but who say or do nothing, demand a stand be taken? 

   We are reminded of that famous quote:

        “The only thing necessary for evil to succeed is for good men to do nothing.”

We also might wonder, based on past behaviors, what plans our leader may have for those of us who see through his schemes – maybe his using for his own gains our military establishment for which he claims to have such a patriotic affinity? 

Or maybe he’s just enamored or obsessed with putting on big military parades, thinking somehow doing so aggrandizes his power and serves as testimony to his virility? 

Has he been ingratiating himself with our veterans, armed services and their families in a systematic effort to obtain for himself, above all else, unquestioning alliance and allegiance as he is known to have attempted to demand from others?  For what purpose? 

Meanwhile, we must demand these children be reunited with their parents!