Optimist, 6 January. Link here. Practically perfect. Even Mary Poppins admitted she was absolutely perfect, so Nneka McGuire suggests that we stop trying and be happier in 2019. Now the public domain includes Robert Frost's "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening." And a huge treasure trove of other works that, as of 1 January 2019, are no copyrighted. McGuire concludes with the obvious: "Appearing soon on a coffee mug near you."
Notable dates in US history.
2 January 1900: The "Open Door" policy began with regard to US trade with China. 2006: a methane explosion at the Sago coal mine in WV killed 12 miners. A year earlier (2005), Sago officials had been cited 208 times for safety violations and the deadly explosion was the subject of investigations by the US Labor Department, as well as the US Senate and House.
3 January 1977: Apple Computer was incorporated in Capertino, CA.
4 January 1896: UT was admitted to the Union, the 45th state. 1965: President LBJ introduced the "Great Society" in his State of the Union address.
5 January 1925: "Democrat Nellie Tayloe Ross of Wyoming took office as America’s first female governor, succeeding her late husband, William, following a special election." 1933: construction began on the iconic Golden Gate Bridge.
6 January 1759: George Washington and Martha Dandridge Custis were married. 1838: Samuel Morse's first public demonstration of the telegraph.
7 January 1999: The impeachment trial (only the nation's second) began in the US Senate as President Clinton faced charges of perjury and obstruction of justice; he was acquitted when less than the required 2/3rd voted to remove him.
November 2020. First shot across the Republican ship of state's bow? On 2 January, Mitt Romney's Washington Post op-ed was titled, "The president shapes the public character of the nation. Trump’s character falls short." It is increasingly clear that more and more of the president's time will be taken up, not with the nation's pressing domestic and world affairs, but with considering his next tweet: the defense of yet another decision (one not been well received on either side of the isle) or an outburst against yet another "detractor," Democrat or Republican. Soon-to-be Senator Romney (R, UT) alludes to the fact that someone with a narcissistic personality is first concerned with her/himself, not the greater good.
America first? Anthony Blinken and Robert Kagan write that " 'America first' is only making the world worse."
Walls. As this Foreign Policy article notes, walls have never delivered all that was hoped for. However, President Trump is not into history and probably never pondered Hadrian's or China's attempts. Never watched "The Great Escape," the fictional allied example of determined tunneling. Never discussed with Bibi Netanyahu, Israeli's prime minister, the problems associated with actual tunneling.
Freedom of speech. This Foreign Affairs article examines current laws across Europe relating to blasphemy, four years after the Charlie Hebdo incident in France (7 January 2015) and thirty years after the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s fatwa calling for the assassination of Salman Rushdie.
116th Congress. From the Economist. "The 116th is the most female and most diverse Congress ever, though that diversity mainly exists on one side of the aisle. The number of Republican women actually declined in November’s mid-terms. In the room where members are sworn in, there were multiple versions of the Bible, alongside the Quran, the Bhagavad Gita, a book of Buddhist sutras and the constitution (for Kyrsten Sinema, a newly elected Democratic senator from Arizona, and, according to the Pew Research Center for Religion and Public Life, the only member of Congress who identifies as religiously unaffiliated)." (emphasis added)
Really far, far out. Once again those NASA scientists, huddled around their computer screens, often seen as taciturn, bounded up as one to cheer yet another success. This time pictures of the most distant object ever explored by mankind, Ultima Thule. A small piece of our solar system's earliest days, 4 billion miles out there. That amounts to 12 hours (at the speed of light) before worried frowns turned to smiles and jumps of joy!
And in the dark. Chinese scientists were also ecstatic this week as their space probe made mankind's first soft (safe) landing on the far side of the moon. Their craft is designed to explore the moon via "rover" and drilling machines. Because of earth's gravitational pull, we never see the always-dark far side.
NASA's Apollo 8 mission orbited the moon, New Year's eve, 24 December 1968. The mission resulted in the now iconic first picture of an "earth-rise" against the black of space. The astronauts also read the creation story from Genesis, chapter 1, verses 1-10.
YouTube, a piece of your past returned. Just when you might be losing faith in the worth of modern technology. Chris Harry got an unexpected text from his brother in CA. "Ever seen this?" It was a YouTube link forwarded by someone his brother did not know; someone with an interesting avocation. What unfolded for the Harry brothers was a part of their family history that had become lost.
China and Trump. Columnist Catherine Rampell warns, "Team Trump should be careful what it wishes for on China." The health of the world's second largest economy has to be a concern of the US. "When China sneezes, the rest of the world can catch a cold," she writes.
The administration does not seem to see the harm in its uneven, ever-changing policies with regard to China, especially on trade. The Chinese have for millennia viewed the west as unschooled "barbarians," and President Trump's back-and-forth does nothing if not underline China's view as correct. Tariffs provide a good example. Rampell notes, "most Chinese imports targeted by Trump are inputs that U.S. firms need to manufacture their own products." Now how smart is that?
Finally, Rampell mentions the larger implications. "The global fallout from
a Chinese recession would be devastating. It would harm many of our
closest allies in East Asia — including South Korea and Japan — which
count China as one of their most important export markets....And, of course, there is the fallout for U.S. firms that do business in China..."
Tax refund coming? In the "does this make sense" category, consider this: If the government shutdown continues, your tax refund check might be processed by an IRS employee who has been called back -- but not being paid!
Thank you for reading.
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