This week's stories of note. Optimist; notable dates; US House; nationalism; ionic wind; separation of powers; noted passing; upcoming year; climate change; a different immigration battle; good and bad in metro Denver; designer babies.

Optimist. 25 November, link here. Eat your bananas, mother; they have the potassium that will save your life. A son, Daniel Krauthammer, remembers the advise of his well known, columnist father, Charles. Three very bright, tough budding scientists

Notable Dates.
     21 November 1927: In Serine (northern), CO, at the Columbine coal mine, six striking miners were killed by state police. The more infamous "Ludlow Massacre" had occurred in 1914, leaving 20 dead (men, women, and children).
     22 November 1906: SOS was officially adopted by the International Telegraphic Convention in Berlin.
     22 November 1963: JFK was assassinated and, for those of a certain age, the "Where you when...." question was born.
     24 November 1859: Darwin's On the Origin of Species was published.
     26 November 2018: After the dreaded "7 minutes of terror," [radio silence occasioned by Mars' 100M+ miles distance] at 12:01PM EST NASA's InSight probe seems to have successfully landed. Now for more checks of the satellite and its instrumentation and then on to the remainder of the mission. Sarah Kaplan's story notes that "the last 3 billion years have been a slow-motion disaster for the Red Planet. The dynamo died, the magnetic field faltered, the water evaporated and more than half of the atmosphere was stripped away by solar winds. The InSight mission is designed to find out why."

US House. It was the Constitution that mandated a two-year term for US representatives, keep them close at hand and accountable. Federalist, 52 and 53. In 1787, the pace of politics and communications was much slower, the viewpoint of representatives much more parochial. The need to raise money for re-election much less.
     Now, in the 21st century, all that has changed, especially the money required to win. House winners this past 6 November were already having to think about how much money they would have to raise to win again in 2020. Even if you had a so-called "safe seat," dollars were intruding on your dreams. Perhaps it is time to lengthen a House term to four years.
     Check the nonpartisan site, 538, for their 2016 predictions. The map which shows the number/location of solidly Democratic and Republican seats is instructive.

Nationalism. Much ado about nothing? Or more of a loaded word.
     George Orwell. [A]uthor of “Animal Farm” and “1984,” described patriotism as a benign “devotion to a particular place and a particular way of life” with “no wish to force [it] on other people.” Nationalism, he argued, was the malign “habit of identifying oneself with a single nation … placing it beyond good and evil and recognizing no other duty than that of advancing its interests.”
     President Trump. "America first." "I'm a nationalist." Who is included or who is excluded?
     President Marcon, France. Stiring “the old demons” that had contributed to two world wars.

Ionic Wind. A model airplane whose propulsion system has no moving parts. Perhaps, just maybe, who knows? Just remember, more than a few people thought the Orville brothers were a bit off. See the following story.
Star light, Star bright....[Anonymous] The third brightest object in the night sky is the ISS (International Space Station), now in its 20th year circling the globe, 16 orbits each day. There have been 230 ISS residents from 18 nations. Over the years, ISS projects have been big and very little, mechanical to biological.

Separation of powers. Apparently it remains an unknown concept for President Trump. The president's recent remarks about "Obama and Bush judges" drew a swift and unusual public rebuke from Supreme Court Chief Justice Roberts. “We do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges...What we have is an extraordinary group of dedicated judges doing their level best to do equal right to those appearing before them." Amen!

Noted passing. Ray Chavez, widely recognized as the oldest survivor of the attack on Pearl Harbor, died at the age of 106. At 0345, 7 December, Chavez's ship dropped depth charges on a suspected Japanese submarine just east of Pearl Harbor. He was asleep later in the morning when his wife awoke him with news of the attack.

Leonardo, 500 years on. This article from the Economist notes how different 2019 will be from 1519. Supposedly, a page from a newly discovered journal of Leonardo da Vinci relates a visit to him by a "time traveler" who took him 500 years into the future. (Note in the picture, the Master's two 21st century accoutrements.)

Climate change. The president's contrarian thoughts not withstanding, a National Climate Assessment was released on the day after Thanksgiving, Black Friday. Fridays are the preferred choice when an official agency hopes a necessary, but unwelcome news item, will be "lost" in the upcoming weekend rush. The tactic is called a "Friday news dump." The Trumpians obviously did not remember another so-called "Black" day from American history: the stock market crash in 1929.
     The predictions of the upcoming climatic changes were dire, to say the least. The Atlantic article reports that the study was "endorsed by NASA, NOAA, the Department of Defense, and 10 other federal scientific agencies— [and] contradicts nearly every position taken on the issue by President Donald Trump." Without major worldwide modifications/changes Planet Earth faces a precarious, most uncertain future.
     “Earth’s climate is now changing faster than at any point in the history of modern civilization, primarily as a result of human activities,” declares its first sentence. “The assumption that current and future climate conditions will resemble the recent past is no longer valid....Without substantial and sustained global mitigation and regional adaptation efforts, climate change is expected to cause growing losses to American infrastructure and property and impede the rate of economic growth over this century"
     From Mother Jones comes this article, echoing other reports.

Japanese immigration. Here the controversy is not about whether or not to admit immigrants. Japan, with an aging, declining population, is in dire need of immigrants. Rather, the concern is for the treatment of its guest workers.

Metro Denver: NCAA and the arts scene. Two very different stories. First, the good. In metro Denver, the SCFD (financed by sales tax revenues) has been supporting arts, science, and culture for 30 years. Organizations large and small, in the city and surrounding areas, receive support. The more troubling story surfaced when it became known that the University of Colorado's head football coach had been fired, but would receive his multi-million dollar "golden parachute." Questions now abound about the taxpayer and/or booster money involved.

New friends? Remember Mr. Rogers? When Great Britain leaves the EU, one has to wonder who will be the US's new best friend. Michael Burnbaum notes, "A once-indispensable proxy in Europe no longer has clout that it can exercise on Washington’s behalf." Indeed. President Trump has heaped scorn on NATO and many of its EU members, leaving a wake not unlike Sherman's fabled scorched-earth march from Atlanta to the sea.

Your special baby. It had been talked about, worried over, and now it has apparently happened. A doctor in China claims to have created "gene-edited" babies. Now the scientific and ethics debates have a new reality with which to deal. The AP story noted that "[a] U.S. scientist said he took part in the work in China, but this kind of gene editing is banned in the United States because the DNA changes can pass to future generations and it risks harming other genes."

Unaffiliated, but unelected. In CO, unaffiliated voters outnumber either registered Democrats and Republicans. However, as Anna Staver reports in the Denver Post, candidates who ran as unaffiliated were not successful. "Ken Bickers, a political science professor at the University of Colorado Boulder, noted 'The proportion of true independents is relatively small...There’s not a third party in the state that’s larger than Democrats or Republicans. That’s a very different kind of thing.' ”

Thank you for reading.

This week's short list of items. Optimist and Mexico

Optimist, 19 November. Stan Lee, artist and crime fighter, comic book legend. A child's remission, a very good reason to be thankful. The terror of finding out your12-year old's sore knee is not a fracture -- it is a tumor. Wally-isms and other words of wisdom. Wally Richardson is 95 years old and every school day "his" young middle schoolers love his fist-bumps, witticisms, and quote him to anyone who will listen.

 Mexico. A week in a small, spotlessly maintained hotel in Puerto Vallarta was a nice way to prepare for the upcoming wintry ski season. Like many venues, the Flamingo hotel (on the Marina) can be enjoyed either as an all inclusive or simply a restful hotel. There are so many tasteful restaurants that it is a shame to be tied to the hotel's restaurant.
     We did spend one day with friends in Nuevo Vallarta at their very new, modern multi-story, all inclusive resort. As you look around the surrounding countryside, it is obvious that there is a very large disparity between these areas and the much humbler every-day life of the Mexicans in the area.

Thank you for reading.

This week's notable stories. Optimist; mid-term results; AG Jeff Sessions. 

Optimist, 11 November. Link here. Too young, too old? At a time when molds are being broken, how much of an age difference is too much? Ruth, 35 year-old, finds herself the spokeswoman for wives much younger than their husbands; hers is 70. Cheerleader -- or player? Mimi Britt decided she would rather play on -- not cheer on -- her high school football team. She's not alone in making that decision, though she is a position player, not just the team's punter or point kicker.


Notable dates in America.
     7 November 1874: Thomas Nasts'  "Republican" elephant debuted in Harper's Weekly. 1916, Janette Rankin (R, MT) became the first woman elected to Congress, the House. She was defeated in a bid for the Senate in 1918 after casting a "NO" vote on entering WW I. Re-elected to the House in 1940, she cast the lone "NO" vote against entry into WW II; she opted out in 1942.
     11 November 1918: WW I ended. 1831. Nat Turner, who led a slave revolt in VA, was executed in Jerusalem, VA.

Mid-term results. Remember Mr. Abell's dictum to his American government students: "If you don't vote, you can't b****." As to the meaning of the mid-term results, perhaps the least quoted past president (and one of the founders of the Democratic party), Martin Van Buren, said it best: "The government should not be guided by Temporary Excitement, but by Sober Second Thought." [emphasis is Van Buren's]

The government should not be guided by Temporary Excitement, but by Sober Second Thought.
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/martin_van_buren_310841

The government should not be guided by Temporary Excitement, but by Sober Second Thought.
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/martin_van_buren_310841

The government should not be guided by Temporary Excitement, but by Sober Second Thought.
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/martin_van_buren_310841

     Colorado. Significantly, the largest single block of votes are not Democratic or Republican; rather they are the "unaffiliated." Preliminary indications are that a majority of these votes went to the Democrats. Looking ahead to 2018, this huge pool will no doubt receive the attention of both major parties.
     There was a Democratic sweep of all four statewide offices: governor, secretary of state, attorney general, and treasurer. Jared Polis became the nation's first openly gay governor. Did Polis' self-contributed $23M swing the election? It certainly did not hurt his cause. In that vein, voters decided not to change (by amendment) the state's campaign finance rules/limitations.
     CO's 6th congressional district flipped with first-time Democratic candidate, Jason Crow (D), ousting long-serving Mike Coffman. As a result, in the 116th House, CO will have 4 Democrats and 3 Republicans.
     The CO house, state senate, and the executive will all be controlled by the Democratic party.
     The state's post 2020 census re-redistricting will be changed with the approval of constitutional Amendments Y& Z. 
     The age to for election as state representative will remain 25.
     Money for infrastructure will not be forthcoming. Beware the deepening mile-high potholes!
     Education will not be receiving any more dollars. Teachers' strikes may be in the future.

     Florida. An estimated 1M potential voters may be added to the voter rolls. Felons who have served their time (prison and are on parol) will now be eligible to vote. Convicted murderers and sex offenders will not be included.  
     Automatically generated recounts have been ordered in the races for governor and US Senator.

     Nationally. It was a mixed message. There will be more women in Congress than ever before: African American, Latina, Native American, Muslim, former teachers, even an ex-CIA operative. The OWM (old white male) Senate will be little changed. See E.J. Dionne for a reasonable summary and thoughts on the "new" Trumpian-Republican party. See Stephen Stromberg for the looming effect of millennials in 2020.
     US House. The Democrats are now the majority party. Two prominent questions for the party are sorting out the leadership questions  (Old Guard vs. Young Turks) and laying out a positive legislative program. (That is avoiding and overtly obstructionist anti-Trump stance. There will be a diverse group of more than 100 women in the new 116th Congress.

AG Jeff Sessions. As expected, President Trump fired his attorney general and appointed Sessions' assistant, Matthew Whitaker, who became the nation's first AG not to be confirmed by the Senate. Sessions published his resignation letter which made it clear he was being fired.

Thank you for reading. Publishing early this week as vacation calls.

For this week: Optimist; notable dates; opioid deaths; political ads; moon landing; historic preservation; Pittsburgh; birthright citizenship; congressional compromise; trade war and Vietnam; Iraq and Saudi Arabia; 3D printing; unraveling; David Brooks; midterm elections. 

Optimist, 4 November. Halloween costumes with a difference. What to do when you are a kid in a wheel chair. See two links below in "Pittsburgh."


Notable dates in American history.
     31 October 1926. This date in 2018, Halloween, was the fitting date to note the death of magician Harry Houdini.
     1 November 1765: The hated Stamp Act went into effect, propelling the colonies headlong towards the Revolution. In 1952, the US exploded the first H-bomb, code-named “Ivy Mike,” at Enewetak Atoll in the Marshall Islands.
     3 November 1911: Chevrolet Motor Company was founded in Detroit by Louis Chevrolet.
  
Opioid deaths. Deaths due to drug overdoses have now reached 200/day. Nevertheless and against the advise of its own advisory panel, this past week the FDA approved a drug reportedly 5 to 10 times more potent than today's most misused opioid. "Drug overdose deaths hit the highest level ever recorded in the United States last year, with an estimated 200 people dying per day, according to a report by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration." Does this sound like a "well country?"

True/False political ads. Of late there has been much concern about meddling in our elections by foreign government/groups, as well as in various social media forums. Given these well voiced concerns, in a Denver Post letter to the editor, Randy Flipse (of Golden, CO) wonders why we allow (countenance) political ads that are "distorted, full of half truths and sometimes just false." Why, indeed?

Armstrong, moon landing. Armstrong's sons auctioned off many, many pieces of their father's memorabilia. Their stated reason: to make it available to people who were alive in that era and to excite the public, to further the future of space exploration. Left unsaid, obviously, was will benefit from the auction's proceeds. Reportedly the auction brought in $7.5M.

Preservation. This subject generally get little press, unless, of course, the "subject" is somehow noteworthy locally. What about Rome's Pantheon? As a very young man, a visit to the Pantheon forever changed the life of William J. Murtagh, later to become known as the "pied piper" of American historical preservation.

Pittsburgh. Even the memorials/funerals being held after the Tree of Life synagogue shootings were not without dissent: the President and First Lady were not welcomed by all as they paid the respects by placing traditional stones and white rose buds on each victim's cross on the front lawn of the building. Here in Denver, we thankfully learned that a former neighbor's daughter, a physician living in Squirrel Hill, was not among the dead and injured.
     Magda Brown, a 91 year-old Holocaust survivor from Skokie, IL, was scheduled to speak in Pittsburgh the day after the shooting. A wise trip now? Of course I will go she said!

Birthright Citizenship. This largely unremarked topic was thrust into the news when President Trump asserted his ability to deny the right by executive order. Most legal scholars do no think that is possible. Even some Republicans (e.g. House Speaker Ryan [R, IL]) said it could not be done.

Compromise in Congress? On Capitol Hill, is compromise now a dirty/toxic word? One group, the Problems Solvers Caucus, evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans, is attempting to do just that. They are laying plans for the 115th Congress. With ratings lower than used car salesmen, hope springs eternal for a more functional legislative branch.

Trade: China, US, and Vietnam. One of those historical points the US missed on its way into the Vietnamese war: the long history of distrust and outright conflict between China and Vietnam. Now that the Beijing and Washington are hard at their trade war, Hanoi is only too happy to "pick up the pieces." Indeed, to cite but one example: one Samsung cell phone manufacturing complex accounts for one quarter of Vietnam's exports. The Vietnamese are also happy to play off - and profit from -- competition between American and Russian defense contractors.
     When you have lived with such a dominant neighbor and beaten so strong a once-enemy, you have learned how to "get along, to go along."

Iraq and Saudi Arabia. 1979 : Saddam Hussein :: 2016 : Mohammed bin Salman. A good comparison? This Foreign Affairs article examines the similarities and differences in our international relations. The modern US -- Iraqi affair began in 1963, the JFK administration. The US -- Saudi relationship is, of course, longer dating to the beginnings of Aramco oil in 1933 in the FDR era.

3-D printing. In the not too distant past, there have been stories about college engineering students at University of Central Florida who developed a 3D printing program to make a hand for a young girl born without one. They then put the program in the public domain, free for anyone's use. A young Penn State grad has developed a program to build a personalized running shoe. One his Saturday CBS program, Moe Rocca introduced a young German who is perfecting a 3D-printed wire mesh bicycle tire. Goodbye flats!

David Brooks. On last Friday's PBS News Hour, columnist David Brooks characterized a feeling among both Democrats and Republicans as that of an "unraveling" from the expected of the past.

Midterm elections. The lead article in a recent Economist article, "Why the mid-terms matter," pointed to the increasingly toxic problems of  partisanship and ideology. No one appears without fault: executive, legislature, Supreme Court, the media, the populace. "Just as American politics did not sour overnight, so the route forward is by many small steps, beginning with next week’s elections. And the first of those steps is for the House, at a minimum, to switch to Democratic control.This matters because Mr Trump should be subject to congressional oversight."

Thank you for reading. Enjoy the absence of political ads!