Pardon the long hiatus. I have been traveling.  Here this edition's notes: Optimist columns; Havana and Caracas; curling; coal and the Navajos; writing history; Indigenous peoples in Canada; an interesting election loophole in Kansas; the end of American conservatism; Russian and Trump tactics; gun control.

Optimist, 11 February. Good stories in a stormy world.  The very special 21st century Gerber baby; learning to walk together; young students pay their last respects to their beloved school custodian; and more.

Optimist, 18 February. More good/interesting news.

Optimist, 25 February. Medical mysteries solved and more.

Havana and Caracas. The Trump administration's decision to increase pressure on Venezuela due to humanitarian and economic concerns, means it should also increase pressure on Cuba, an uncertain task.

Navajo coal. This HCN article discusses the past, present, and future of coal on the Navajo reservation. The People (as they refer to themselves) will loose 700+ jobs and millions of dollars when the Navajo Generating Station is shuttered in 2019. "For the Navajo Nation, the loss of NGS will trigger a sudden and traumatic bow out from the coal industry while reinforcing a relationship based on exploitation and colonialism....To SRP [plant operator] and the states of Arizona, California and Nevada, the Navajo Nation is simply a resource that can be used and discarded."
     In time, metro Denver's "Peabody's twice-a-day coal trains" will be shorter as they haul less from the WY coal fields to the generating stations to the south.

History, by whom? This HCN story discusses what happens when the victors write a people's history. Sometimes it is simply fiction, other times ludicrously wrong or, as was the case with the  Genízaros, simply lost.
     "Fighting for recognition, at times for basic humanity, has become a part of Native identity in this country. As Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz wrote in An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States, 'Today’s Indigenous nations and communities are societies formed by their resistance to colonialism, through which they have carried their practices and histories. It is breathtaking, but no miracle, that they have survived as peoples.' "
     Seen any really true John Wayne westerns lately?

Canada's "First Peoples." This article from the Guardian examines the move in Canada as their "First People" push for legal reform.

Olympic notes. The Winter Olympic games have come and gone, direct from South Korea, one of the world's potential flash points. South Korean president, Moon Jae-in, called them the Olympic games of peace.
     The Games got off to a yawning start as the curling teams began their lengthy competition two days early. True, curlers now have the just added mixed-doubles competition. Still....There was the great finale as the US won the men's curling gold. My great nephew and some friends in Orlando are actually going to join a local club.
     Then we were reminded of the "ping-pong" diplomacy of the Nixon era when the news stories began to circulate that some North Korean athletes will be participating with their South Korean counterparts under a joint-nation banner, white with a baby blue depiction of the entire Korean peninsula. International relations again intruded in the opening day ceremonies with the spectacle of a VIP box that included the sister of North Korean strongman, Kim Jong Un, seated just a few feet from US Vice President Pence, who stonily ignored her presence. Clearly, Kim had  adroitly used the Olympics to out maneuver President Trump and presented the South Korean president with a no win situation. Polls say that an overwhelming majority of South Koreans are NOT in favor of the North's presence. Those polls, however, to not tell us how the younger southern athletes feel. (Approximately 75% of South Koreans are less than 54 years old, i.e. not living during the Korean conflict.
     Vice President Pence was clearly at a disadvantage as the two Koreas marched, completed, and talked together. 
     Only "clean" Russian athletes will be permitted to compete, with "neutral" garb bearing Olympic Athlete Russia (OAR) patches and hearing the Olympic anthem if any ascend to the victory stand. Some athletes competed and won medals, though several Russian athletes were disqualified for doping.Unfortunately, as the Economist notes, drugging remains an ongoing, major concern.

Reading, non-fiction. The Year I was Peter the Great:1956, Khrushchev, Stalin's Ghost, and a Young American in Russia (Marvin Kalb, 2017, The Brookings Institution Press). Kalb is probably best remembered as a long-time CBS reporter. Earlier, though, he did a stint in Moscow as a translator with the US State Department. With his embassy position and a diplomatic passport, he traveled extensively. The diary he kept is the basis of this book. Kalb's time in Moscow coincided with Khrushchev's "so-called" (and explosive) Secret Speech denouncing Joseph Stalin, the subsequent short-lived "thaw," the publication of the equally explosive "Lenin's Testament," and the inevitable retrenchment that culminated with Soviet Russia brutally crushing the Hungarian Revolution. It makes for interesting behind-the-scenes reading, especially if you have followed Soviet history.
     Generally, Kalb found most Russians glad to be freed from Stalin's terror and cautiously curious. However, in the Georgian Republic, where Russians were not much loved, Stalin was Georgian and still god-like. Criticism was most unwelcome, openly denounced.
     As to Kalb's unusual book title, on 4 July 1956, at the US Embassy's National Day celebration, Kalb was assigned as the translator for Marshall Gregory Zhukov, the hard-drinking, highly decorated WW II hero of Stalingrad and Kiev. After making sure that a trusted embassy waiter would arrange for the required drink tray to have Zhukov's vodka always on the left and Kalb's water on the right, Kalb showed the Marshal around the embassy's rose garden. Every wonderful sight required a toast. When the time came for the formal ceremonial toasts, a slightly tipsy Zhukov introduced Kalb to Khrushchev, saying Kalb was a good man, that he could go drink-for-drink with him. An amused, not-too-tall Khrushchev looked up at Kalb and asked just how tall he was. Much to the relief of US career ambassador, Charles Bohlen, Kalb's diplomatic reply was that, "Yes, I am tall, but still 6 cm shorter than the giant [6' 8"] Peter the Great." Thereafter, whenever they met, Khrushchev always called Kalb "Peter the Great."

A KS loophole. Seems the election laws in the Jayhawk state say you cannot vote until you are 18, but says nothing about at what age you can run, say, for governor. Enter 16 year-old Jack Bergerson, who decided he would run for the state's highest office and began using social media and his friends to raise money for his campaign. Of course, the "all adult (?) state legislature has swung into action to close the loophole. Stay tuned.

The "passing" of Edmund Burke? E.J. Dionne opines that the GOP is no longer America's conservative party. It has been "replaced by a far right that has the Republican Party under its thumb."

Russia uses Trump, or vice-versa. Anne Applebaum notes the unfortunate similarities between Russian tactics of the Russian “Internet Research Agency” in election 2016 and the manner in which President Trump conducts himself. Anyone want to bet the Russians will not be meddling again in 2020?

Gun control — after Parkland, FL. A US high school was the scene of yet another mass shooting. This time, though, a few things were the same and very different. First, people had noticed and warned authorities about the shooter. But, no action was taken locally or nationally (FBI). Second, mere moments after the shooting, the tech- and media-savvy survivors began to raise their voices, promising action. Third, as might be expected, the NRA circled it wagons, but, in a mark of the times (?), their chief spokes person was a woman.
     What may have been most surprising was the alacrity and determination of Parkland students. They quickly organized a march in Tallahassee, to confront FL state legislators. They also vowed to use Facebook to publicly list every legislator who has taken campaign contributions from the NRA. They began to organize a national protest in Washington, D.C. Last, wherever students gathered there were voter registration materials available, urging eligible students to register and vote this coming November. Moreover, they found newly re-energized student-allies: in CO (Columbine), in CT (Sandy Hook), in Orlando, in Los Vegas.
     The NRA again found  itself on the defensive, but they were not used to student-organized pressure from tech-savvy kids. They also found a growing landslide of organizations abolishing special discounts for NRA members. The head of the NRA bayed at the moon, calling such cancellations "corporate cowardice," but these organizations could "read the writing on the wall," they sensed "which way the wind was blowing."
     Across the nation, with just over 8 months until  the midterm elections, candidates in both parties were being forced to publicly consider which way the wind was blowing in their districts/state. Those who had already announced they were retiring were presented with a unique opportunity to vote their conscience.

Thank you for reading. Enjoy the coming first week of March. Will it come in like a lion or lamb in your area?

Here are this week's stories of note: Optimist, 4 Feb; Czech election; fading coal; wind and solar; cattle rustling and drugs; E.J. Dionne on autocrats; Michael Gerson on the Repulican party; Italy's race card; whence cometh Trump?; Musk and Away; reading, non-fiction

Optimist. The link to this week's column, including dinosaurs in D.C. -- no, NOT Congress; Tom Hanks as Mr. Rogers, "Orca speak," etc.; rustling and drugs;

European populism. As noted in last week's blog, Milos Zeman was re-elected president of the  Czech Republic. As this Foreign Policy article notes, "The fight against European populism is far from over." The Brexit moment still haunts Europe. "Zeman has aolalso capitalized on the momentum generated by Brexit to call for a referendum on Czech membership in the EU and NATO, in contrast with Drahos’ strong support for them."

 Coal. Despite President Trump's remarks about "beautiful, clean coal," an article from HCN notes, "The power of fossil fuels is fading." The article subtitle then asks, "Will Western states react in time to save local economies?" Actions by federal and state governments, as well as companies themselves all point to a lessening dependence. "[E]ven though coal is still [Montana's]...most significant fossil fuel, three-quarters of the plants that burned Montana coal in 2012 are scheduled to retire by 2030."
    Even major coal conglomerates are NOT reinvesting in coal, but in alternative energy sources. Overseas, the EU, Britain, and India have plans to shutter coal-fired generation stations. Even in China, coal usage in plateauing. "The export outlook is grim."
     The impact is already with us. "This isn’t solely a future issue. Wyoming, Montana and Alaska are already seeing big budget holes from the decline in oil and coal prices. Teachers, doctors, police departments and children in towns across the West bear the brunt of those cuts."

Solar and wind power. This article from HCN discusses why Oklahoma, the nation's second largest wind producer, has "[a] massive state budget crisis, along with powerful oil and gas interests, [that] has led the state to phase out key tax incentives for wind." The fossil fuel industry is not yet "out of gas."
     " In the past year, OK has ended two key incentives that even wind proponents admitted were in some ways “too generous....'I’m hopeful that that balance stays in place,' says state Sen. AJ Griffin (R) of Guthrie, who says she encourages investment in wind “without giving away the farm.” More to the point, "[s]ome are pushing not only to remove all subsidies, but to levy a new tax on wind."

Rustling and drugs, the old and new west. Cattle rustling is surely the old west? No, not really. Jerry Flowers heads a special OK agricultural unit dedicated to finding and prosecuting rustlers who today steal to support their drug habits. In cattle country, rustling is still a quick way to make easy, if illegal, money. Unlike the opioid crisis in the east, the midlands are mostly concerned with meth, which has its links to Mexican heroin cartels, not Big Pharma.

Dionne on autocrats. In Monday's column discussing Rep. Nunes' (R, CA) Russia investigation-related memo, E.J. Dionne reminds us of Hannah Arendt's comments regarding the ways of autocrats in her classic, The Origins of Totalitarianism.

Gerson on the Republicans. About Gerson, this is from a long-time friend, an astute teacher and student of foreign affairs.

Michael Gerson [is] one of the nation’s leading conservatives and long-time Republican. Among conservative writers, he has always been esteemed for his ethics-based commentaries He, along with George Will and David Brooks, are much like the late William F. Buckley, a man of consummate integrity, who in his time was not afraid to take on the lunatic fringe on the right (think John Birch Society). 

That said, Gerson is quite fed up with the Republican party's course of action regarding what may/may not have been involved with the President's and/or his minions' connections to the Russian. Virtually, the only "good" news is that it is becoming painfully obvious to all that the Russians DID "mess with" our election process. Tech savvy politicians and election officials world-wide are becoming aware of how technology can be used at home/abroad to affect outcomes.

The "race" card in Italy. The Economist reports that former Italian prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi described the recent drive-by shooting of six Africans in Macerata as evidence of Italy's smoldering immigrant "time bomb." He claimed, "...there were 630,000 immigrants in Italy of whom only 5% had the right to residence as refugees. 'The others represent a social bomb ready to explode,' he told an interviewer on one of the three television channels in which he has a controlling interest. 'They live off their wits or by crime.' "

Whence cometh our President? Historian Andrew Bacevich cites "The 11 Historical Moments That Gave US President Trump." Worth a read. Bacevich notes:n1989: fall of the Berlin Wall; 1992: defeat of Ross Perot; 1993: gays in the military; 1998: Monica Lewinski; 2000: Cheney picked as VP; 2000: SCOTUS picks the president (Gore v. Bush); 2003: Bush invasion of Iraq; 2003: Congress oks Iraq; 2003: GM kills electric car; 2009: Obama bails out Wall Street; 2010: Obama begins using Twitter; 2010: Sen. McConnell (R, MO) chooses party over country.

Musk and Falcon Heavy. The designation "Heavy" is air traffic control lingo for one of the larger airliners, e.g. Boeing's Dream Liner. The recent test launching of Elon Musk's Falcon Heavy rocket largely went off without a hitch. Currently the world's most powerful rocket, the Falcon is meant to carry men/cargo to not only the International Space Station, but to the moon and beyond. One feature will be missing from future cargo bays: a red Tesla (which will end up somwhere in the solar system's asteroid belt. As planned, Falcon's two side boosters landed  on two floating barges in the Atlantic Ocean; however, the main booster did not land on its designated barge and hit the Atlantic at an estimated 300 mph.

Reading, non-fiction. In the Shadows of  the American Century: The Rise and Decline of US Global Power (2017, Professor Alfred W. McCoy) McCoy traces the roots/rise/decline of US influence in world affairs. Sobering examination of what the future may hold for America and the world.

Thank you for reading. Stay warm while enduring the extra weeks of winter predicted by that preeminent rodent prognosticator, Punxsutawney Phil! Or, get ready for the warmer weather predicted by eight other groundhogs surveyed by Time magazine. Your choice.