This week's items: Optimist column; robins on English cards; tax bill; Putin and Trump; US life expectancy; Catalonia; the Nutcracker; local economic disparities; "Sagebrush Rebellion," Part III; party or country?; Herbert Hoover and FDR.

Optimist, 24 December. Link to this week's good news."New" mall santas; operatic grocery store employee; a blanker and ball; and more.

The robin on English Christmas cards.  As promised, from London's Sun newspaper, here is the story.

Trump, Putin, and the New Cold War. Are we really there? Three recent sources look at the status of US -- Russian relations. Link to article from the New Yorker.  PBS "Front Line," there was a two part series, "Putin's Revenge." Part One  and Part Two From the New Yorker article: "During the Presidential campaign, Trump delighted in saying that Putin was a superior leader who had turned the Obama Administration into a 'laughingstock.' ” And wondering if Putin would become his "best friend." Clearly American foreign policy is all about the adoration of Donald, not really the greatness of America.
     One critical look at Election 2016, from the London Review of Books, examines what has been said -- and documented. One statement about journalism in general begs critical consideration: "The rush to publish without sufficient attention to accuracy has become the new normal in journalism. Retraction or correction is almost beside the point: the false accusation has done its work....The consequence is a spreading confusion that envelops everything. Epistemological nihilism looms, but some people and institutions have more power than others to define what constitutes an agreed-on reality."

Who "lost" 2016? Remember the immediate post-WW II debate about who "lost China?"  The above noted LRB article delves into this post-2016 question and looks ahead to 2020. "The most immediate consequence is that, by finding foreign demons who can be blamed for Trump’s ascendancy, the Democratic leadership have shifted the blame for their defeat away from their own policies without questioning any of their core assumptions....Russiagate offers Democratic elites a way to promote party unity against Trump-Putin, while the DNC purges Sanders’s supporters."
     The authors talk of military intervention, globalism, national interest, and realism in foreign affairs. They also note, "there is a more humane realist tradition, the tradition of George Kennan and William Fulbright, which emphasises the limits of military might, counselling that great power requires great restraint...This tradition challenges the doctrine of regime change under the guise of democracy promotion, which – despite its abysmal failures in Iraq and Libya – retains a baffling legitimacy in official Washington. Russiagate has extended its shelf life."
    
Tax bill. Find a source, take your pick. You will not find a more dichotomous issue in the news. Heaven or hell. Perhaps a bit of both? Again, the LRB story notes, "It is not the Democratic Party that is leading the search for alternatives to the wreckage created by Republican policies...It is local populations ...that is where humane populism survives."

Life expectancy. An NPR story begins, "Life expectancy in the U.S. fell for the second year in a row in 2016, nudged down again by a surge in fatal opioid overdoses, federal officials report[ed] Thursday....The trend is especially concerning because life expectancy is considered an important indicator of the general well-being of a nation....The last time the U.S. life expectancy dropped was in 1993 because of the AIDS epidemic. Life expectancy hasn't fallen two years in a row in the U.S. since the early 1960s."
     This may be doubly important since the just passed tax bill has cut funding for the already declared opioid crisis. Opioid overdose deaths now claim more lives than auto accidents.

Catalonia.  The Spanish government (Mariano Rajoy, prime minister) called  a "snap" election on the question of the political future of Spain's most prosperous state. There was a record 83% turnout and, once again, the separatists won by a whisker. "The election showed that Catalonia remains divided into two almost equal blocks, but with big changes inside each segment." ?Que pasa?  ¿Quien sabe?

The Nutcracker ballet. Tis the season. Link to an article from the Economist about this perennial holiday favorite.

A less-than-blessed remembrance. Former Cardinal Bernard Law of Boston passed away in Rome this past week. Law was forced to resign over the child abuse scandal and, in effect, lived out his life in exile in the Vatican. The long running child abuse he covered up was the subject of the Oscar award winning movie, "Spotlight." Pope Francis, who presided at the funeral, "...prayed that Cardinal Law 'be given a merciful judgment...freed from punishment, reconciled to the Father...deserve to enter fully into everlasting happiness'. Plenty of people in Boston believe that the cardinal does not deserve any of that, never mind the fancy Vatican funeral....Bishops may no longer be above the law in America. But that is scant comfort for those whose lives have been ruined by abuse."

Rural vs urban CO. A Denver Post article discusses the economic disparities among CO's various counties. Other states may well be experiencing similar problems.

The new wild west. The PBS "Frontline" segment, "American Patriot," looks at the continuing controversy over land control/management/ownership in the American west. This piece takes place against the just announced mistrial in the much watched Bundy case (from NV). High Country News said, "The ruling represents an unprecedented failure for federal prosecutors on Western lands issues." A continuation of the earlier 1970's confrontations known as the "Sagebrush Rebellion." Unsurprisingly, many of those involved are staunchly pro-Trump.

Party or country? Retiring Senator Jeff Flake (R, AZ) sent a campaign donation of $100 to AL Democratic candidate Doug Jones and on the memo line he wrote, "Country over party." The continuing nation-wide partisanship begs the question, how many other Washingtonians agree with Senator Flake? Especially, how many party leaders? One gets the feeling that despite their public pronouncements, senators McConnell and Schumer and representatives Pelosi and Ryan are most concerned about their own re-election and their party, even though all four could well afford to retire, pay-wise, and with great health care for life. Only when compared with Congress's dismal approval ratings does the president's ratings shine!

President Herbert Hoover and president-elect FDR. Sometimes past events prove enlightening. This New Yorker article discusses the final telegrams (yesterday's tweets/emails) between soon-to-be ex-President Hoover and incoming President FDR. Both men had very different views of America's then recent problems and possible future solutions. Hoover wanted to somehow tie FDR to future actions initiated by his administration.

Thank for reading. Have a happy new year's celebration!