This week's topics: Puerto Rico; Jones Act; Alabama; tax reform; the swamp; business startups; women drivers; violence and the KKK; health care; DPRK news; Catalonia; Las Vegas.

Puerto Rico. An picturesque island, close-at-hand in good times, but far off when the times get tough. Our mainland population may increase significantly as many, many thousands of our off-shore citizens flee their devastated island. Mainland-bound planes are filled to capacity, on hand supplies are rapidly vanishing, big rig drivers are desperately needed to move supplies that are piling up in port depots, and power remains off for most of the island. Though the governor continues to do the politically correct thing by thanking the president for his concern and FEMA's assistance, an increasing number of other elected officials have called for a full-scale military mobilization to assist the battered island and the president is seen as reacting more slowly than he did for Houston and Florida.

Jones Act. Ever wondered why your Princess cruise from Seattle to Los Angeles has to go further south for a quick visit to Encinada, Mexico? Blame it on the Jones Act, which mandates that only US-flagged ships can go to successive US ports. Your Princess cruise ship is flagged (registered) in a foreign country, hence the hurried port to call in Mexico. If you sail from Vancouver, British Columbia, your cruise can end in Los Angeles.
     When Harvey and Irma wreaked havoc on the Trump administration immediately suspended the Jones Act, enabling any ship to bring supplies to the aid of Houston and Florida. In the case of Puerto Rico, this happened after a week's delay.

Alabama. For multiple reasons, "strange' was the appropriate word for  this state. From the Washington Post, E.J. Dionne wrote, "Former judge Roy Moore’s victory [55% - 45%] over Sen. Luther Strange was a sign of just how extreme Republican rank-and-filers have become." Strange had the backing of President Trump, while ex-White House staffer, Steve Bannon, campaigned for "Judge" Roy Moore. Dionne opines that "... right-wing insurgents were given a license to challenge Republican incumbents all over the country in 2018....Moore is now 70 years old and was twice suspended as the chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court for refusing to obey laws he saw as at odds with his religious beliefs. Normally all this would be career-ending."
     If Dionne is correct, as seems probably, the 2018 primary season will begin early and will be far from the usual hum-drum, ho-hum affair. Further, another writer says, "Make no mistake, Tuesday’s Republican Senate primary in Alabama centered on [Senate majority leader] McConnell’s failures."
     The president, who very much dislikes losing, was reported to be unhappy. 

Tax reform. Hot on the heels of having failed to remove/replace the current health program, the Republican-controlled Congress has moved on to tax reform. Taxes being inevitable, one can only wonder if these reform plans will also be declared dead in the near future.

The Swamp. Columnist Robert Samuelson writes about why the much detested "Swamp" continues to exist.

Business entrepreneurs. As the 2008 Great Recession continues to recede, economic columnist Robert Samuelson looks at the seeming reality of the TV show, "Shark Tank," and government-collected data. "There’s a huge gap between perception and reality. Just recently, the Census Bureau released its latest figures for business start-ups, and they paint a picture strikingly at odds with the conventional wisdom. Instead of a boom in business start-ups, there has been a long-term decline. In 2015, start-ups totaled 414,000, 'well below the pre-Great Recession average of 524,000 startup firms,' as the Census Bureau puts it."

Women drivers in Saudi Arabia. In the near future Saudi roads will undergo a change: women drivers will be behind the wheel. The authorities are now engaged in deciding how to implement the decision, so it will not happen in the immediate future. Even though this driving specific restriction has received the most "press," it is not thought to be one of the most important. Change is undoubtedly afoot in the Kingdom. Link to article from Aljazarra.

KKK. In this column from "Outlook" (Washington Post), Daryl Davis, an African American looks back at his long-standing efforts to understand why members of the KKK and various other Aryan racist groups hate him -- even though they do not know him. Interesting reading. His 1998 book, Klan-Destine Relationships, is about his endeavors to understand his white adversaries through conversation, not confrontation.

Health Care. "Is health care a right? Here is a discussion of this divisive question from the New Yorker by Atul Gawande. "A right doesn’t distinguish between the deserving and the undeserving, and, for many in my Ohio home town, that rankled."

North Korea. Once again, the president and his secretary of state seem to be at odds about how to best deal with the DPRK's continuing missile and nuclear developments. State: There are open channels of communications with the DPRK. White House: Talking with Kim Jong Un is "a waste of time." One more reason to worry about our foreign policy mechanisms. However, the diplomatic equivalents of playground bullying and taunting may be altogether a different matter. The president should remember that at the very least he has personal responsibility for approximately 37,500 US troops stationed in South Korea. Then, of course, there are the millions of South Koreans and Japanese.
     A Washington Post story notes that strangely Jong Un's regime continues to "bite the hand of the Beijing elders" who support him, frustrating both China and President Trump. The reasons for Jong Un's actions may be rooted in the distant past when the Chinese Communists thought his grandfather, Kim  Il Sung (North Korea's founder), had sided with the the Japanese occupiers, whom they arrested and imprisoned.

Catalonia independence. As noted in the Economist story, last Sunday's unconstitutional (?) secession/independence referendum turned nasty when Spanish police forcibly shut  down 300+ polling places. Catalan officials said that votes that were counted showed showed 90% in favor of independence. Some non-voters want a "third way," i.e. greater autonomy. Stay tuned!

Las Vegas violence. Slowly, but surely -- sadly -- the US is coming to the realization that we, too, will repeatedly experience what so many others in the world accept as as common daily occurrence: mass violence. Discussions here will, of course, include much back-and-forth about the 2nd Amendment.
     Link to the Economist story with graphic of mass shootings since 1982. The authors note this apparent necessity: "American politicians routinely warn against “politicising” (sic) mass shootings. Although they take to the airwaves to discuss airline safety in the wake of a plane crash or security measures after a terrorist attack, discussing gun laws after a lunatic shoots scores of people to death—asking whether, perhaps, the ease of obtaining weapons in America might have something to do with the frequency with which mass murderers kill people with firearms—is understood to somehow be in bad taste." (emphasis added)


Thank you for reading. It's snowing in the Rockies.