For this week: Optimist; U.S. Supreme Court; family ties in politics; methane; Korea; school funding; Tailhook; guilty, when?; the Amazon; Ukraine and Russia; fall colors in North Wales.

Optimist, 23 September. This week's stories. Found: a 100 year-old note from grandad, hidden in the roof; need runners?; survivor to savior, a new Las Vegas cop; USMC to the rescue saving the seniors next door; a robot puppy?

SCOTUS. As the current confirmation (nee circus) act plays out in the U.S. Senate, Charles Lane's column is well worth the read: "Confirmation will be broken as long as America is." Lane makes reference to Alexander Hamilton's Federalist No. 78 which began,"WE PROCEED now to an examination of the judiciary department of the proposed government."
     As Lane points out,

The nation’s founders expected the federal judiciary, headed by the Supreme Court, to be the “least dangerous” branch [given the court's]...relatively modest role [envisioned by the authors] outside of such areas as admiralty and interstate business disputes....Today, though, the power of judicial review that Chief Justice John Marshall first assumed in Marbury v. Madison in 1803 — but used sparingly thereafter — is now regularly employed as a de facto alternative to the cumbersome constitutional-amendment process.

     It is a safe bet that there is  no true constitutional scholar on the Senate's Judiciary Committee and it also very likely the committee members are unfamiliar with, have never read, Hamilton's thoughts. Once upon a time, the Senate did have a scholarly constitutional authority, the late Senator Robert C. Byrd (D, WV) was the Senate's trusted source on both sides of the isle; alas his level of expertise has vanished. In fact those small seismic shifts in Washington, D.C., may well be him turning in his grave.

Family political ties. Jeff Greenfield, author and network news analyst, discusses some of the rather unusual TV campaign ads in this latest cycle. He wonders if candidates might not need to "watch their backs?" His first example:

In Arizona, a campaign ad released Friday features six men and women denouncing Republican Rep. Paul A. Gosar. One says the candidate “isn’t doing anything to help rural America.” Another: “Paul is absolutely not working for his district.” And: “He doesn’t have your interests at heart.” Only at the end do we learn that all six are siblings of the congressman, supporting his Democratic rival, David Brill.

 The strange world of American politics is getting "curiouser and curiouser."

Methane, green house gases, and well setbacks. For a fourth time, the Trump administration has attempted to roll back rules regarding the capture of leaking methane gas from drilling operations. CA and NM immediately filed paperwork to block the new rules.
     CO's Initiative 97, on the upcoming November 6th ballot, seeks to increase the required setback for oil/gas wells that are adjacent to "vulnerable areas" from the present 500 feet to 2,500 feet. These areas are defined as “playgrounds, permanent sports fields, amphitheaters, public parks, public open space, public and community drinking water sources, irrigation canals, reservoirs, lakes, rivers, perennial or intermittent streams, and creeks.”
     Not surprisingly, you probably favor the proposal if there will soon be a well near your house, school, office, etc. If you are a driller, not so much. Government revenues may well be impacted, so there is a mixed message from government offices. TV ads, for/against, are running continuously. Large areas in CO are experiencing increased drilling.
     A house in Firestone, CO, was destroyed (and two workers killed) when leaking explosive methane gas was inadvertently ignited. The estimates of how much methane is not properly captured vary widely, but even the lower estimates are cause for concern. (emphasis added)

Korea. North and South Korean officials met formally for lengthy, wide-ranging talks. There was even a hint of another meeting between President Trump and North Korean leader, Kim Jong Un. Nearly lost in this news was an earlier revelation that the President's military advisers only narrowly voided a presidential tweet that the U.S. was seriously considering withdrawing military dependents from South Korea. Apparently, the president was unaware that his intelligence personnel had earlier noted for him that the North Koreans had publicly stated that such a withdrawal would be seen as an indication of imminent military action by the U.S. and South Korea. So much for the President' "Daily Brief."

School funding. Proposed amendment 73 to the CO constitution would increase funding for schools. One pro- TV ad notes that today CO spends as much on education as when elder president Bush was in office -- even though our population has doubled. The picture is clouded by CO's infamous "Tax Payers' Bill of Rights" and local ballot measures. The last state-wide funding proposal (2013) was defeated 2 to 1. Recent teachers' strikes around the nation indicate this is more than just a one-state issue.

If approved, Amendment 73 would increase the corporate tax rate and the income tax rate on individuals earning $150,000 or more, with the additional revenue going to increase base per-student funding, to pay for full-day kindergarten, and to put more money toward students with special needs, such as those learning English, those with disabilities and those who are gifted and talented.

Tailhook, #MeToo, and Lang Sias. A guest commentary by former U.S. Representative Pat Schroeder (D, CO, 1st District) raises questions about the current Republican candidate about Lang Sias, candidate for CO lieutenant governor. Schroeder notes that in 1991 Sias was a naval aviator and present at the much publicized drunken Tailhook bash in Las Vagas. Like others present, high- and low- ranking, Sias has never fully explained what he saw/did not see, did or did not do at that year's convention. The Tailhook scandal, the military's "Harvey Weinstein" moment, led to more than a few changes at the Defense Department.

Guilty? For longer than males like to admit, the "usual" has been been to not believe a woman's accusation of rape or sexual assault. Now that there are two women accusing Judge Kavanaugh of sexual misbehavior in the #MeToo era, the age old legal axiom "innocent until proven guilty" is coming under fire. In what appears to be two long-ago cases of "she said" -- "he said," what is to be done? One key participant, Senator Graham (R, SC) said on “Fox News Sunday” that he’s not going to "ruin Judge Kavanaugh’s life over this." Needless to say, President Trump is "all in" for his nominee.

The Amazon basin. Is there a climate tipping point to our south? The Amazonian rain forests are largely unheralded but vitally important to the Earth's long term health. Many readers wrongly assume that climate change is a new field of study. Read about "Camp 41, a handful of tin-roofed, open-sided structures deep within the world’s largest tropical wilderness and home base for hundreds of ecologists conducting research over the past 39 years." (emphasis added)

Ukraine and Russia. Changes abound, the aftermath of what columnist Anne Applebaum calls "Putin's war," the ongoing conflict, the changes being wrought by the "separation of two countries that have been part of the same empire for centuries."

Fall colors in North Wales. 

A Virginia creeper covering the Tu Hwnt I'r Bont tearoom in Llanrwst, North Wales, displayed its seasonal hues as autumn officially began there Sept. 23 with the arrival of the fall equinox. Rebecca Naden/Reuters

Thank you for reading. I hope your fall has begun well.