With a swelling homeless population, many of whom had serious mental illnesses, and against the backdrop of endless mass shootings across the country that were (rightly or wrongly) linked to mental illness, the Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors had plenty of motivation to act.
The meeting took place against an ominous backdrop of the massing of an estimated 40,000 Russian troops on Ukraine's eastern border and warnings from Nato and the Pentagon that the Russian military activity, ostensibly relating to routine exercises, was abnormal and could be a prelude to an invasion.
Set against a backdrop of political turmoil and mass withdrawals, the first European Championship finals would be dominated by a goalkeeper, as Lev Yashin led the Soviet Union to glory in France.
And identifying and protecting the abused minority is harder now that they are seen against the backdrop of the adequately parented masses.
The articles generated by the competition are often set as much against a backdrop of inaction as action – the stagnation of mass unemployment, the isolation of people with mental or physical disabilities, or the grinding boredom of a refugee camp.
The outbreaks of mass shootings have been the backdrop for a crop of Democratic candidates who are, across the board, more stridently in favor of gun control than at any time in recent memory.
"Living without peace is a constant torment," he said during mass, against the backdrop of a chubby baby Jesus wearing a Palestinian kiffaya, or scarf, in place of swaddling.
Against a broader backdrop of accelerating political chaos and routine mass shootings including one that left 13 dead in Thousand Oaks, where the Saxtons took refuge, just hours before the Woolsey fire forced residents to evacuate an increasingly dystopian reality loomed.
Little does Bond know that this "simple smuggling matter" will involve super villain clones, the threat of mass destruction and a giant diamond-powered laser -- all against the backdrop of the Nevada desert.
Against a backdrop of snow-capped mountains, turbines are massed in their thousands over the frozen desert.
