We resume after a skiing interlude with relatives from Sweden. This week's topics: the Optimist; shut down; the president's appeal; opioids on the reservation; presidential racism; clutter; corruption, papal style; immigration.

Optimist for the past several week. Uplifting stories, including a delightful story about a very knowledgeable, dedicated 14 year-old girl, a MD high school student, who works with NASA and has developed programs to study the effect of climate change on mangroves along the world's coastlines. And more feel good stories from the 21 Jan issue. including a school going delirious because "We've got lights!" And a 4th grader on MLK, Jr.

Shut Down. Against all commonsense, it happened: a government shut down. Those involved, Democrats and Republicans alike, voiced righteous indignation and proclaimed the other side to be totally at fault. Nevertheless, there is an large element of "I'm taking my toys and going home," the middle school playground mentality on display. Me thinks, the worry is less about today, but rather about Tuesday, November 6, 2018. How many of members of the House and Senate may have to go out on November 7th and find a "real job?" Too many in the Capitol could not in good conscience subscribe to the memo line on AZ Senator Flakes' recent check: "Country before party."
     One "lady-on-the-steeet" interviewee said, "I'd say [congress] is acting like adolescents, but that would be insulting to adolescents."
     Many historians point to a specific date in 476 AD [CE, if you prefer] when Rome "fell." Our date may be uncertain, but there can be little doubt that the American Empire is headed downhill, led by those in Washington.

Trump's enduring appeal. Perhaps this article from the Christian Science Monitor explains as well as any why voters continue to proclaim themselves Trump supporters. Those in Inez, KY, are not alone in this regard; every state has similar cities, towns, and villages that hold to DJT regardless of what he says/does.

Opioids in Indian country. Last year the Cherokee Nation filed suit against Big Pharma in their tribal courts. These "white" companies were understandably opposed of appearing in those "foreign" courts, where, Lordy, they might be treated as second class citizens. Last week a federal judge ruled that if the case is to go forward, it would apparently be in federal court.
     The story notes, "If tribes truly are sovereign nations with the legal authority to protect their people, last week’s decision in the Cherokee Nation case was certainly a significant setback. If any company moved operations into another country and allegedly broke the law, there’s little doubt it would face that country’s legal system. However, in Indian Country, at least when it comes to the opioid epidemic and widespread sexual assault, that does not seem to be the case."

Presidential racism. George Will's recent column ("Who's worthy of immigrating here?) reminds us that presidential pronouncements on immigration have been with us since the beginning -- most of which would today be shouted down as racist.
    James Madison (Will says he the first): “It is no doubt very desirable that we should hold out as many inducements as possible for the worthy part of mankind to come and settle amongst us.”
    Thomas Jefferson: Who worried that too many immigrants might be coming from Europe with monarchical principles “imbibed in their early youth,” ideas that might turn America into “a heterogeneous, incoherent, distracted mass.”
    TR:  Who worried that America would become a “polyglot boarding house,”[and] supported America’s first significant legislation restricting immigration, passed to exclude Chinese people, because he believed Chinese laborers would depress U.S. wages and be 'ruinous to the white race.' ”
    Woodrow Wilson: The president of Princeton, later the occupant of the Oval Office, contrasted “the sturdy stocks of the north of Europe” — e.g., Norwegians — with southern and eastern Europeans who had 'neither skill nor energy nor any initiative of quick intelligence.' ”

Clutter. Feeling buried? One Optimist story tackles the problem, as do a myriad of other de-cluttering books on the topic. One of the more imaginative titles is “The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning,” by Margareta Magnusson.  When one reads about the depressingly huge number of families made instantly homeless due to recent fire, floods, and mudslides, you cannot help but think: what would I put in my new place. "When the storm passed, [one fortunate family] drove back and found only minor damage. But the experience left [the homeowner] with an urge to purge."
     Similarly, when every vacant corner lot seems to be sprouting yet another "storage locker" business, you cannot help but wonder: to store what, for whom, for how long? Whose locker will be seen on next week's "Storage War" program?

Corruption,  here and there. The Pope's current visit to the not-always-faithful in Latin America has had its ups and downs. When he inveighed against political corruption, one had to wonder about the clerical pot calling the secular kettle black. Problems with the Church's toleration of sexual abuse was just one of the issues that caused the very uncommon booing of Christ's Vicar in Chile.

Immigration, still. One major issue a the heart of the current shutdown standoff is what to do about the so-called Dreamers. Columnist Eugene Robinson writes that the president is being "used" by those around him. He writes, "Trump has always wanted to preside, not actually lead; and whenever he strays into the weeds of policy, he gets hopelessly lost." The recent supposedly bipartisan meeting in which the President said "Yes," only to be not so gently reigned in by a contrary-leaning senator, illustrated Robinson's point. Then, leaving aside the supposed concern about new immigrants from questionable countries, the US is not about to become suddenly "whiter" were immigration to be totally shut off. Census statistics tell us that white Caucasians have lower birth rates than any other group of Americans, steadily "losing ground."

Thank you for reading. Watch your local PBS lineups for this coming month's programs during African American history month.