OVER OUR HEADS AND LOOKING FOR A LIFELINE

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Mother and child and mother to be and their reflections and their shadows

   In the impossible task of absorbing the shock of another mass shooting, many of us default to a worry about our kids and grandkids.

    Though we cannot grasp the agony of the survivors the mere thought escalates our concern about the world next generations will inherit.

    

       A lifetime as a journalist leaves me looking for something
beyond the loss. This time we hear coverage that draws the connection between spousal abuse and domestic violence and the shooter. In fact it is a damning link in most mass shootings.
       Will we-the collective we-the people and those we elect-finally do something?

california central coast rain season begins

    Heavy skies, morning banks of fog in valleys, cats who detest wet paws and lack of sunshine, signal a season change.

   It is a time when green begins to return.

hiding the green

    More than 90 media organizations around the planet cooperated in the latest iteration of the "Paradise Papers" and have discovered how $Trillions have been sheltered in off shore havens, mostly illegally at worst and sneakily, at best.

    Plenty of embarrassing stories and links have surfaced. We should expect some of the mighty to fall out of favor and perhaps into legal nets. We wonder how long Wilbur Ross and his top adviser will remain out of the fire since both have ties and have been profiting from a company with direct ties to the Kremlin. Ross, who was a king of predatory default practises should never have been appointed Commerce Secretary. This latest revelation is an offense to honest government.

     We wonder if the Mueller probe is looking at the business arrangements of the man child tweeter in chief. Do you think he has seen the orange lout's taxes?

speaking of the kremlin

and non-fake (that would be real) news

    We continue to learn how pervasive was and is the kremlin involvement in Facebook and Twitter. The scale of misinformation and disinformation is massive, and without precedent in modern history.

     Millions of social media users received, read, and perhaps believed lies. It has been part of the effort of Vladimir Putin to undermine US citizens' belief in American institutions and leaders. This is fact, regardless of whether or not the trump organization knew about it and/or willingly participated.

     And, the Russians continue to gnaw away.

and it happens as we euthanize traditional media

    The Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University notes that between 45% to 85% of all original reporting is done by newspapers then picked up by other media. Now, factor in this fact-since 2000 20 thousand news jobs have been eliminated and revenues have dropped by some $20 Billion.

     When I retired as a news executive 10 years ago the trend had begun. The good old days are gone. Some of the problem is self inflicted. News by flavor, a horrible contribution of the sexual predator Roger Ailes, has helped to undermine believability. Deregulation of the industry turning news operations into "profit centers" did plenty of long lasting damage. The change in US lifestyle and new technology antiquated some delivery systems-afternoon newspapers-even some morning papers-the tired and frequently silly format of television news and the nature of the content itself. 

     As we look at the new information landscape and understand how many people take their information from social media and learn how contrived that is, it all points to the continuing dumbing down of the population. Poorly informed, mis-informed, and manipulated consumers make terrible choices. Our present political reality is the proof of all of that. 

      Artificial reality, altered reality, are coming in on the heels of this age of "reality" politics and we are wading into deeper trouble.

something wonderful

    Playing at an art theater near you is the extraordinary and brilliant film Loving Vincent.  It is billed as the first fully painted film and it is a marvel to see, a masterpiece in its own right.

    Take a look at the trailer here. Many artists spent thousands of hours creating something unlike anything you've seen. It is a fascinating mystery story as well.

    See you down the trail.

CHANGING PERSPECTIVE-Dear Vladimir-Dear Isis-SPRING TONIC

Pulling Back

DEAR ISIS

     Dear Isis,

          We are writing on behalf of Senator Tom Cotton and 46 Republicans in the US Senate. They have your sense of humor and mental agility.  Please adopt them and send them to one of your summer camps. You would do America a great favor by doing so.

Signed

Americans for the Constitution

FOR THE WINTER WEARY

    Spring Scenes from the Fiscalini Ranch Preserve in Cambria and the town square in Paso Robles.

DEAR VLADIMIR PUTIN

     Dear Vlad-

         We are writing on behalf of Tom Cotton and 46 Republican Senators who we think you should adopt. They are people of action, just like you. They are unhappy in America and don't like our President. Please give them your strongest embrace and if for some reason they upset you, send them out on the streets near the Kremlin. They won't be missed by thinking people.

Signed

Americans for the Constitution

See you down the trail.

A BULLET FOR PUTIN? A RADICAL STAR FOR THE POPE

VLAD AND THE POPE
A COSMIC ODD COUPLE

     "Please, just a couple of reverse angle shots Mr. President," the Russian State Television photographer said quietly as he moved his camera to stand behind Vladimir Putin, seated in the ornate chair in an elegant Kremlin grand room.

     "Make it fast!" Putin snarls.

     "Yes, This will do it," Serge grins behind the President, lowering the camera with his left hand as his right had snaps from his behind back and in an instant discharges a bullet into the back of Putin's skull."

      A bit melodramatic, but this snippet is a poetic sense of what the former KGB bad boy has done to another piece of freedom in Russia, at least faux freedom. In a single action, Putin has killed RIA Novosti a state news service and replaced it with Russia Today, a propaganda mill.  

      True it is that RIA was a state controlled service, but it had evinced a nod toward real journalism and even criticism of the Kremlin. Vlad the powerful has ended that, like a bullet to the head.

                            THE POPE IS A RADICAL

HE IS A CHRISTIAN

     We've watched self proclaimed Christians and a whole boatload of wing nuts get heart burn over the pronouncements and actions of Pope Francis. 

       That fat blowhard on the radio called him a Marxist, which underscores the big mouth indeed has a little brain.  Marx was a political theorist.  Pope Francis is a spiritual leader, espousing the teaching of a radical Rabbi who's plan for humankind was a tad bit more profound, and originated more personally. The Pope decried the worship or idolizing of money and materialism and he's said a few other things that make the comfortable and smug uncomfortable and mugged. His talk about sexuality has some putting on their best Salem Mass. attitude and logic.

      As we head through this (your choice) Advent, Christmas, Holiday, Kwanza-Season, could we have two better leading men that Vladimir and Francis?

      As a dedicated idealist I offer that Vlad is very much one of the best players in the power games of this planet. But Pope Francis is operating from higher ground. Service, sacrifice and love require giving. The Putins of the world are about taking. Mr Putin may continue to take, but this Pope continues to offer.  

      Putin, the blowhards and apoplectic narrow minded belong to the past. Not so this Pope, and I'm not even a Catholic. 

      A final deliberation -Could we have a better guardian angel of this year's season than Nelson Mandela, giver and forgiver?

FRAMING THE SKY

    See you down the trail.