Fortress of the bears in Sitka

 the locals converted the old huge tanks from pulp mills into bear enclosures...of course, they may have to recommission those now that this administration is attempting to allow and encourage the forests of Southeast AK to be gutted again.  this as the fires burn in Brasil. 

 oddly, Brasil fires are no doubt making way for the planting of soy beans...a product that Brasil wishes to produce for China now that the US is in this lovely tariff war.  so much winning.  the earth loses, the farmers lose, America loses.  but somehow fox and other right leaning media paint this all as a win and those that follow along see it all as a win. 

 everything bad that is reported out is just made out to be the Dems and left media painting a horrible picture of the world just to scare them, the trumpies...sadly, the left version is the more real version while the rights version is nothing more than propaganda.  i like to wander over to the right to see what they are reporting when the big news comes across...it's generally either gibberish, silly stories or it's fear related tales of how awful the left is or how one illegal killed someone...spreading fear is their best move.  fear keeps them in power.

 the bears were super cute to watch.  they have 6 browns and i think 3 or 4 black bears. 

 this is one of the old tanks...very large.  they prepped them for bears. 

 the immigration curtailment program is coming along smoothly. it has Stephen Miller written all over it. 

 first trump said "build the wall" and Mexico will pay for it.  only Mexico won't pay for it.  they now say finish the wall even though the parts that have actually been built were already sections being repaired or built that were previously commissioned.  the latest plans are to take money from the VA and other entities to put into their wall...never mind that they claim to be protecting the veterans while taking away funding.  never mind also that most illegal immigrants and drugs for that matter cross at border crossings....or that drones and other unmanned flying equipment have or will soon render the wall fairly moot.

 then they had the Muslim ban, which the courts tosses out, so they then altered it to certain specific nations...who really were nations without the cash that they love and where mostly Muslims lived.  never mind that their ban no doubt has caused danger and death to many in Iraq who risked their lives and their families lives to assist and protect American lives in Iraq.  those who had been promised and were awaiting passage to the US so they could live free of death threats...screw them this administration decided. refugees from Syria were also impacted by this.  there have been a few subsequent bans created and altered to avoid the conflict of appearing to be a "Muslim" ban.

 students have been impacted and now their social media feeds are being scrutinized.  this means that even if they do not post anything political, if anyone they know or know of does they could be denied. 

 oh and on the wall, reports now are that trump is telling staff to seize lands and he will grant pardons for any illegal activities...of course the right loves to jump on anything crazy he says that could harm them by saying he was joking about this, not serious and the left is insane to take everything so seriously. 

 for as much as this administration claims to love the military they do not see immigrants who volunteer to serve as worthy of their love.  they have made it more difficult for those who serve in our military to then use this route to gain citizenship. 

 new rules mean that a child born abroad to an American citizen in the military will have to wait until they return to the US to establish that childs resident status or jump through hoops to do so.  this seems to make things more difficult for workers or military abroad who are naturalized citizens themselves.  these kids in general will not be considered to be "residing in the US" when they live abroad with citizen parents.  a lot of the ruling seems to have to do with marital status of the parents and the parents legal status as citizens.

 refugee admissions have been greatly decreased under trump.  temporary status for protections have ended under this administration for those from Haiti, Nicaragua and Sudan.  these had been placed due to emergency situations. 

 increased ICE raids that only target the illegals not those that hire them. never mind that trump has hired illegals for years...his current wife was not following her visa when she arrived and so was illegal. her family has been granted citizenship under chain migration despite his administration wanted to end chain migration. 

 this administration claims they will accept up to 45,000 refugees but instead they are adding time and red tape, being more selective in the process.  closer to 20,000 have been admitted over the past year i believe.  red tape for green cards and visa applications have also limited the number of people coming in.  now i realize that this is exactly what those on the right love and they are cheering reading this. 

 these same folks don't seem to have a grasp on reality as far as how our nation runs.  we are dependent on high skilled and lower skilled labor from other nations. i look around my work and hospitals would not function without skilled and unskilled refugees and immigrants and work visa's so making these folks wait will only encourage them to go elsewhere and in the end it will hurt Americans.  most of the DR's in rural areas work here after getting study visa's...the work they get is often in rural areas. the right is not seeming able to look at the reality and the future of the US. 

 this administration is also going after naturalized citizens and permanent residents...these are generally people who live here, work, raise families and pay taxes.  ending DACA, ending TPS and DED will result in more being deported.  cases of people being deported to nations they have never really lived in or speak the language.  it's cruel and at times a death sentence.

 this administration wants to end or severely limit work authorizations for spouses of H-1B visa's.  if you move here for work but your spouse can not work that will limit some skilled workers from being able to move here.  these are people who work and work hard.  it's crazy. 

 trump administration has also closed or limited access to overseas immigration services at 21 locations.  this impacts refugees, asylum seekers, adoptions and family reunification's and other services.

 costs for immigration have also been increased making it more difficult for lower income immigrants to qualify.

 they are striving for a curtailment of family based immigration and for ending diversity programs, so folks who come from areas with low immigration to enter through lottery programs.

 now in one of the most repugnant and lowest blows letters went out to families with sick and dying children that they have 33 days to leave with their kids.  this will be a death sentence to many children.  we have arrived at this level of cruelty. these are kids with CF, cancer and other life threatening illnesses.  one past co-worker was already setting up to defend stating this is only the left trying to drum up hatred on the left.  this from a woman who had a child who passed after years of special needs.  you would think someone who had lived the stress of an ill child would have more compassion for others in the same situation.

 but no....she will wait for the right wing propaganda force to figure out a way to make removing ill children from hospitals to be sent to an unknown fate acceptable.  that is where we are. 

 and why 33 days in the letter notice?  what is the significance of 33? in the bible it is an auspicious sign from your angels.  i mean usually when you get notice from anything its 30 days or 60 days or 90 days...nope, it's 33 in this letter.  also by the time the letters were delivered weeks had gone past on the time of that 33 days. i think 33 in Revelations points to rebel angels who have joined Satan. in the kkk, so in the kkk 33 = 3 k's.  i do not know why they selected 33 for the number of days before these ill children and their families will start to be deported...it is strange though.

 going after ill and dying children seems to me to be the definition of deplorable. I'm sure that the spin team on the right will come up with a great excuse and that those who have come to have faith in trump and this administration will then accept said excuses and look the other way as children are deported and die.  for the greater good in their minds perhaps, their parents fault...that one is always popular when refugee or migrant children die.

 i head back to work tonight.  i again need to get these dogs out for a walk.  got the eyes checked yesterday, today is skin and then back to work . 

 urology is still waiting for a referral from my primary MD.  they say they will call when they get that.   I'll have to follow up with the primary i guess.

 this is all from the annual check up.

 the fall colors are coming in and the sandhill cranes are making their way south.  collecting for travel.  seems odd to be preparing for fall when it still has been so warm out there.

 this is the area with these two younger sibling bears.  there is a third large water tank in the distance beyond this one. that one is currently being used to sort recycling for Sitka.

 these young bears were pretty active and fun to watch.

 BP is selling it's Alaska oil assets to Hilcorp. this sale will cost our state 30 million in taxes perhaps.  public held corporations are taxed but not private held corporations...so pretty sneaky way to get out of taxation, right?

 a hurricane is headed toward the coast...of course, our iitoo opted to not offer words of encouragement to Puerto Rico but instead blast the place in a tweet..which i guess is better than him releasing a nuclear bomb to the hurricane as he has stated on several occasions as a way to combat hurricanes.  he's so brilliant...not.

 the one young bear was playing in the big tire. soon after this active time the young bears headed into their den for a nap, which i guess is pretty usual for them.  even baby bears need afternoon naps

 they are pretty cute. 

 could have stayed there watching these blokes for hours.  we had just seen the bird treatment center.  both are great for the communities and the animals

 the fires are still ongoing though the one to the north is getting more under control...the kenai one...maybe a bit more under control. there is some rain in the forecast, not sure if it will be enough to do much for the fires..I'll take any rain at this point.  it's pretty sad out there as it's so dry

 i keep looking for mushrooms but they are few.

 a moose was shot and killed in Kincaid.  she charged, i think i read there was also a bull at the scene.  the guy had a 3 year old.  these cases always are sad, but we do not have a shortage of moose here and it is scary when a large moose is running toward you.  you can't always get behind a tree, though so far I've been chased several times and i have managed...with dogs.  but a child is a bit more of a rub. the moose is gone. 

 this guy is sure a poser

 stretch

 i should do some good stretching and head out for the day.

 the dogs are patiently waiting

 the newspaper is being dropped at the end of the driveway, i just saw a note in a paper from a few days back.  as i was getting convinced the delivery folks were aiming for poor Skelly and friends this seems acceptable.  we shall see how i feel when i am walking out on ice to get the paper later in the winter.  :-)

 well LS has agreed to walk with us so i now have a plan.  maybe grab a snack and then head over. 

thankful for: A.  bears, bears, bears...unless i see one on the trail...then I'm just gonna be scared.  B. the immigrants and refugees that make life easier at work.  who come here with a strong work ethic and filled with hopes and dreams.  C.  the American dream...may it forever live on.