“All politics is local,” so said some astute person. We definitely had local politics here in Sierra County with the judge’s race. Lots of signs and lots of letters to the editor, particularly detailing political parties. In the culture and the filing for office, the judgeship up for vote has not been partisan. The candidates do not say for the ballot whether they are a Democrat or a Republican. Republicans definitely wanted our basically Red (Republican) County to know which candidate was a Republican. It became one of his attributes. All other judge races I have known over the years here never spoke of whether a candidate was one or the other, on either side. It has been comforting, if not totally an acknowledged part of non-partisan offices, that those offices were just that — non-partisan. Almost all of our voted county offices are listed as non-partisan. The heat is high enough for partisanship that it has reached Sierra County.As this citizen’s view

I come with high praise for The Mountain Messenger, or the “Mess”, as many of us know it and have known it for decades. It lives, which is a kind of miracle of its own. Many a grand old publication has gone the way of fish wrapping. The Mess is still around to be used as such. Now why the praise for surviving? There are many parts, moving and yet foundational, that contribute to this.Does it have a publisher? Yes, Carl Butz literally rescued the paper when it had nowhere else to go. It seemed it would be his hobby. He had no grand ideas. He would continue the local paper.Does it have an editor and young blood in reporting and feature writing willing to do the job just because it seemed an interesting thing to do? Yes, Carl brought Angela and Ryan on board and mentored them. They are now paid. He already had a stable of people willing to write for free.Is there an advertising base, because subscriptions are never enough to keep a print afloat? Yes, the two counties now using

Dictator for a DayWe have a New Year, although it seems there is a strong need to look to the past year and sometimes further back. We all do it.We look back before we look forward. I remember “Queen for a Day”. The winning “queen” got a washing machine and all kinds of household goodies. Donald J. Trump says “when” he is elected POTUS he “will be dictator for a day”. He was quite adamant about that. All those who have known Donald J. Trump and not been loyal have said with greater and greater urgency that he will do what he says. I know it is quite different for him to be a king rather than queen. He will wield all the power at hand. He learned from his previous 4 years as POTUS where all the levers are and that he must appoint loyalists and no others. Those political organizations that espouse “freedom”, in the same understanding as Donald Trump, have made precise plans as to what “freedom” is.There is also conse

“I am an optimist who worries,” so said [Madeleine] Albright when she was asked whether she was an optimist or a pessimist. How I identify with that statement. My family has accused me of being the perpetual worrier. (I was also labeled by my father as a Pollyanna… Maybe Anne with an E today.) Now the book that confirms that worry is the mild term for the “Time and Water” both of which are running out. Andri Snaer Magnason is amazed, as am I, that the dire situation we are in is taken so apathetically. If we are readers, we have read more than a few news items of dying life in various parts of the world: centuries old cacti, coral that is a living habitat for other ocean life species both large and small in size, our own species unable to tolerate the climbing heat and the ill health it brings. Of course, the list goes on. But, moaning, complaining, or worse taking it all in stride with an attitude that “Everything Works Out in the End,” I wil