My mother chose today’s photo. “Pick anything you want,” I said grandly. “Anything at all.” Naturally that meant she’d end up picking a picture much like yesterday’s. But I said anything, so what could I do?

Anyway, the two rightmost peaks (Modjeska and Santiago) form Saddleback, which is sort of a looming presence throughout Orange County. That is, it’s a looming presence unless you get up close and shoot it on an exceptionally clear day, as I did here. From this angle, in fact, you rightly wonder why anyone bothered to give it a name at all. Sometime in the future I’ll take a picture that shows Saddleback the way it’s more commonly seen, and its looming-ness will become a little more obvious.

December 27, 2019 — Lake Forest, California

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DECEMBER IS MAKE OR BREAK

A full one-third of our annual fundraising comes in this month alone. That’s risky, because a strong December means our newsroom is on the beat and reporting at full strength—but a weak one means budget cuts and hard choices ahead.

The December 31 deadline is closing in fast. To reach our $400,000 goal, we need readers who’ve never given before to join the ranks of MoJo donors. And we need our steadfast supporters to give again—any amount today.

Managing an independent, nonprofit newsroom is staggeringly hard. There’s no cushion in our budget—no backup revenue, no corporate safety net. We can’t afford to fall short, and we can’t rely on corporations or deep-pocketed interests to fund the fierce, investigative journalism Mother Jones exists to do.

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