For this week's consideration: Optimist section; Puerto Rico; redistricting in Wisconsin (WI); Catalan independence; Russia and Saudi Arabia; Santa Claus; DPRK and Jimmy Carter; Russia's future; astronomy's new "magic;" alternative power.

The Optimist section. Link here for this week's uplifting stories. 

Puerto Rico. What the president did and did not see. As this story points out, the president was not shown -- at least on the ground -- the areas that were the most ravaged by Hurricane Maria. Mentioned the negative budget impact for Washington was perhaps not the best opening to his visit and the pictures of he and the First Lady pitching rolls of paper towels into the crowd did not do much to improve their images. It was not reported that Trump saw the long lines at the airport, ATMs, or supermarkets. Neither does one normally visit a storm-ravaged area dressed in white.

WI redistricting. On October 2, this was the first case of the new term argued before the USSC. Vast and varied potential outcomes may arise from the Court's decision in Gill v. Whitford. From the New Yorker, this note about an exchange between Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the Court's newest member, Justice Neil Gorsuch. The case was noted on PBS in an interview with long-time court watchers, Jeff Greenfield and Marcia Coyle. This second link includes the WI maps used in the case.
This other New Yorker story for its opening words about lyricism and gerrymandering. 

Catalonia and Spain. A recent story on NPR discussed the implications of the Catalan independence, not only for Spain, but other nations and alliances. For the EU. Even for far away India. Before, during, and after our revolution, Canada was the favored refuge for Torries who wanted continued allegiance to England and the king.
     Spain's wrong headed approach, says the Economist, leaves much to be desired -- and feared.

"Secession would be a disaster for Spain. The country would lose its second city and risk the further loss of the Basque region. Secession would also hurt Catalans, which is why a majority of them probably oppose it. And Catalan independence might stir up separatism elsewhere in Europe—in Scotland again, no doubt, but also in northern Italy, in Corsica, perhaps even in Bavaria.

Russia in the Middle East. During and after the Cold War, a cornerstone of American foreign policy was to insure that the USSR, nee Russia, had as little influence as possible. The forth coming visit to Russia by the Saudi monarch will seek to change that and give Russia influence there and concurrently on worldwide oil/gas prices. This presents the Trump administration with a totally new foreign policy wrinkle, one certainly outside the experience of the the president's new political appointees at the State Department.

Russian meddling. From The Hill: (1) Collusion is still an open question; (2) the intelligence community's muddled message; (3) the danger for future elections; (4) Michael Cohen, the president's personal lawyer; (5) long way to go.

Santa Claus. Archaeologists have reportedly found "the tomb in southern Turkey of the original Santa Claus [Saint Nicholas of Myra (now Demre)] , also known as St. Nicholas, beneath his namesake church near the Mediterranean Sea." Alas and certainly censor this news snippet if there are young children in your house!

Jimmy Carter and the DPRK. No other former president has worked harder worldwide for multiple humanitarian causes than ex-President Carter. Here he discusses his multiple trips to the DPRK and his contacts with North Koreans, from leaders to peasants in the countryside. He says,

As the world knows, we face the strong possibility of another Korean war, with potentially devastating consequences to the Korean Peninsula, Japan, our outlying territories in the Pacific and perhaps the mainland of the United States. This is the most serious existing threat to world peace, and it is imperative that Pyongyang and Washington find some way to ease the escalating tension and reach a lasting, peaceful agreement....

Over more than 20 years, I have spent many hours in discussions with top North Korean officials and private citizens during visits to Pyongyang and to the countryside. I found Kim Il Sung (their “Great Leader”), Kim Yong Nam, president of the Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly, and other leaders to be both completely rational and dedicated to the preservation of their regime.... There is no remaining chance that it will agree to a total denuclearization, as it has seen what happened in a denuclearized Libya and assessed the doubtful status of U.S. adherence to the Iran nuclear agreement. 

If President Carter is correct in his assessment, regime preservation could be key. It is safe to assume that, if allowed to voice their 'druthers, the average North Korean would speak out for national preservation -- without another Korean conflict. Carter said, "They are probably the most isolated people on Earth and almost unanimously believe that their greatest threat is from a preemptory military attack by the United States."

Russia, post-USSR. This review from the Christian Science Monitor discusses Russian-American journalist Masha Gessen's book, The Future Is History: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia. The reviewer begins, "The future is history because, as the Russians say, 'Budushego net,' there is no future. Gessen asks, “Had the ideas of freedom and democracy really been forgotten no sooner than they had apparently been won?” Apparently so. She continues, “Old government, Party, and KGB hands had filled the many voids at all levels of the bureaucracy and had resumed their ascent up the power ladder, as though the end of the Soviet Union had caused just a temporary layoff.” Sure to be a sobering read.

2017 Nobel Prize in Physics. This article from the Christian Science Monitor's "Weekender" section discusses this year's award. In 1915, Einstein advanced his general theory of relativity in which he predicted gravitational waves and September 14, 2015, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) detected the waves caused by the collision of two massive black holes, 1.3 billion years ago.
     This and three subsequently detected events have ushered in a completely new kind of astronomy. “This opens up a new window on the universe,” says Saul Teukolsky, a theoretical astrophysicist at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y. “And each time a new window has opened up, we’ve made incredible discoveries. LIGO uses motion, not just observable electromagnetic events (including light). This was also the first time the physics award was made so soon following a new discovery.

Copenhagen and China. This clip from CBS Morning News is about Copenhagen's striving to become the world's first all alternative energy city. This second clip is about China's immense efforts to become the world's leading producer/user of solar energy. (pardon the required ads) Meanwhile, in the US, the Trump administration vows not to abandon coal and "solar states" fight to save the American solar panel industry.


10 October 1913: President Wilson sent a telegraph signal from Washington, D.C. to Panama which set off an explosion destroying part of the Gamboa dike, effectively opening the Panama Canal.





Thank you for reading. May your first snowfall come quietly as ours did in Denver.