What We Never See

                                                                          (Photo by David Weir, 2006, for Sidewalk Images)

One of most immersive experiences you can have as a reporter is to cover a trial. Usually from the part of the courtroom reserved for the press you can see everybody -- the judge, the jury, the prosecution, the defense, and the spectators.

The accused sits in the front row next to or just behind his or her attorney. If it is a criminal proceeding, the victim or victim's family sits behind the prosecutor.

As an observer, you note the facial expressions, the body language, the whisperings, every gesture of the various parties and, if the trial lasts for days, you pick up the rhythm of the thing. You get a pretty good sense of which side is winning its case or if it's actually too close to call.

Although they are often admonished to not react visibly to what they hear, the members of the jury are human beings just like you and me -- they smile, frown, nod their heads in agreement or stare in disbelief.

Then again, people vary. Those who would be much better poker players than the others keep their expressions inscrutable.

In many courtrooms, an illustrator is also present and he or she captures some of the visual narrative, usually by focusing on the principals. I've purchased the work of illustrators and I love the way they enhanced the written narrative my reporters produced.

In most courtrooms, we cannot tape the proceedings so there is little audio or video to share with our audiences. This deeply affects television and radio coverage, removing their technical advantage over written accounts.

So for me, being forced to watch the impeachment trial almost exclusively through a static camera with a single frame provides too narrow a view on what is happening in the Congressional chamber. Anecdotal accounts suggest some Republican senators are doodling or reading newspapers or otherwise clearly indicating their disinterest in the proceedings; and I'd like to watch that.

If I were in the courtroom as your correspondent, that is some of what I would cover, plus who is dozing off behind his mask.

What we are being given instead is a TV show with one permitted prop -- blow-up slides with quotes highlighted and some stunning video clips. 

This guy is clearly guilty but we need to be able to study the expressions of the jurors during this testimony. After all, we are the ones with the greatest stake in the outcome. 

***

Honestly, by far the coolest news story I found for today is the Times' report that hundreds of pictures taken decades ago in the Shetland Islands were saved from being thrown away and are finding their way online. 

This story touched me in several ways. 

Being of Scottish descent, I find any remnant of useful information about people in that part of the world fascinating. It also seems exceedingly odd that according to ancestry.com, I am overwhelmingly (92 percent) Scots genetically. (How's that for three adverbs in one sentence? Maybe that is a Scots thing.) 

Ancestry.com may well have made a mistake and mixed up my genes, but I'm sticking with their version, since on that side of the family we have no Family Tree.

Anyway, the point is that my mother changed her middle name from McKechnie to Allan or Allen or Alan or Alyn or something that sounds like that. We don't know how she spelled it because she apparently never wrote it down. But maybe somewhere there is a scrap of paper she threw away with the proper spelling on it that someone will find.

Besides, I have long been obsessed by things saved from what other people throw out in the trash. For years I posted photos to a blog I called Sidewalk Images of random bits of trash I encountered in the streets of my neighborhood in the Mission. I stopped doing that in 2015 but added a few random shots from my new neighborhood recently.

The last entry from my old haunt was on March 4, 2019, almost two years ago. No picture, just this entry: "Today all the junk we left out front was hauled away. My first-born and one of her daughters came over and we had lunch." I don't remember that day but it must have been part of our early effort to eliminate my possessions that reached its climax last spring.

The Sidewalk Images site still exists but I see that the name has been appropriated by various commercial operations. Not to worry, I didn't do it for money, but for art's sake. Come to think of it, I don't do anything for money and that is a bit of an issue.

***

The heds:

* ‘The Death Market’: Oxygen Shortage Leaves Mexicans to Die at Home -- With hospitals overrun, Mexicans fighting the coronavirus at home face a deadly hurdle: a lack of oxygen tanks. (NYT)

* About 1 in 3 Americans say they definitely or probably won’t get the COVID-19 vaccine, according to a new poll that some experts say is discouraging news if the U.S. hopes to achieve herd immunity and vanquish the outbreak. (AP)

* Protesters took to the streets of Myanmar for a fifth day on Wednesday, vowing to keep up demonstrations against last week’s military coup even after a woman was shot and critically wounded during clashes the previous day. The United States and United Nations condemned the use of force against the protesters who are demanding the reversal of the Feb. 1 coup and the release of deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi among others. [Reuters]

* A Glimpse of a Bygone Life on Scottish Islands, Plucked From the Trash -- Hundreds of pictures taken decades ago in the Shetland Islands, off northern Scotland, were saved from being thrown away. Now, they are finding new life online. (NYT)

* Biden must make a tough decision on Afghanistan — and quickly -- Editorial Board (WashPo)

* Iran Makes Uranium Metal in Breach of Nuclear Deal (WSJ)

* California should allow all but death row inmates and those spending life behind bars without the chance of parole to request lighter sentences after they serve at least 15 years, an advisory committee recommended to Gov. Gavin Newsom. The nation’s most populated state also should limit sentencing enhancements that can add years to prison terms and are imposed with “extreme racial disparities,” the committee said. [AP]

* Would the Founders Convict Trump and Bar Him From Office? -- They believed as a matter of civic principle that ethical leadership is the glue that holds a constitutional republic together. (NYT)

* Ga. prosecutors open criminal probe into efforts to subvert election results (WashPo)

* During riot, Sen. Mitt Romney saved by Capitol Police officer (CNN)

* V-P Pence and family hustled to safety during riot by secret service (CNN)

* In self-imposed exile, Trump watches with unhappiness as second impeachment trial unfolds (WashPo)

* The U.S. Navy's top admiral on Tuesday condemned two new racist incidents involving hate symbols on warships, which sources said included a noose that was left on a Black sailor's bed. (Reuters)

* Three days after Jeep’s ad featuring Bruce Springsteen became one of the most buzzed-about Super Bowl commercials, the automotive company has pulled the spot after it was revealed Wednesday that Springsteen had been arrested for driving while under the influence last fall. (Rolling Stone)

* A majority of the people arrested in Capitol riot had history of financial trouble (WashPo)

* Will American Ideas Tear France Apart? Some of Its Leaders Think So -- Politicians and prominent intellectuals say social theories from the United States on race, gender and post-colonialism are a threat to French identity and the French republic. (NYT)

* In an avalanche of words, there’s no sign of regret from Trump (WashPo)

* Michigan's Top Republican Falsely Calls U.S. Capitol Attack A 'Hoax' (NPR)

* The Dallas Mavericks have stopped playing the national anthem before home games and have no plans to start again, team owner Mark Cuban said. The Mavericks had not played the anthem at any of the team’s 13 games at the American Airlines Center in Dallas. “It was my decision, and I made it in November,” Cuban said in a brief statement. [HuffPost]

* Twitter's 'Birdwatch' Aims to Crowdsource Fight Against Misinformation (NPR)

* In Indian Himalayas, drones draw blank in search for workers missing in flooded tunnel (Reuters)

* A Chinese spacecraft went into orbit around Mars on Wednesday on an expedition to land a rover on the surface and scout for signs of ancient life, authorities announced in a landmark step in the country’s most ambitious deep-space mission yet. (AP)

* Congressional representatives from California's Central Valley call on Gov. Gavin Newsom to establish more Covid-19 vaccination sites in this hard-hit part of the state. (Alex Hall/Twitter)

* A revived California state bill would limit the ability of state and local law enforcement agencies to buy military-style equipment. Proponents say that protesters last summer were frequently met with excessive force — facilitated by police departments’ access to such equipment — and police groups say such legislation would interfere with their operations. [The San Francisco Chronicle]

* Trump Attorneys Argue He Spoke Metaphorically Of Ripping Chamber Doors Off Hinges, Crushing Pelosi’s Skull (The Onion)

***

And now I think
I hate the internet
Cause every shape
Looks like your silhouette
Avoiding you like I'm
An acrobat
You're everywhere
I'm not okay with that

And now I think
I'll leave you in the past
I'm better off just taking
What I have
And I won't see you around
Or in my head
Not anymore
And I'm okay with that

-- Phangs