This week's notes. Optimist; notable dates in US history; a WW II veteran remember and questions; Native American treaty rights; children's health; the "right" war?; America's Taliban; a marvelous winter; a film first; Poland and pedophiles; the president in Japan; gerrymandering;
the improbable.

Optimist. Link here.
     College diversity. This year's valedictorian at the University of Southern California, Ivana Chiang, a child of Vietnamese immigrants, challenged her school's diversity. Mere ground breaking is not enough. "It isn’t enough to find new people to cycle through the same old system. We have to re-imagine a fundamental, cultural shift of these systems."
     However, a professor who worked with her on the speech noted, "[S]he had to struggle to be allowed to say these kinds of things. It’s hard to do that when you are 21 and the university administration is telling you not to say these things.” Ms. Chiang also talked about "...the unequal access given to women and minority communities for education and self-expression, “around the globe and right here on this campus.” Censorship very close to home!
     An autistic college graduate. Montel Medley, diagnosed with autism at 3, went on to be his high school valedictorian and just earned a dual degree in math and computer science from Towson University.
      Strange path to becoming an artist. I once spilled a cup of coffee -- and that was the end of that laptop. For Stefan Kuhnigk, an ad agency copywriter, his spill led to him becoming an artist.

Notable dates in US history.
     22 May 1968: The nuclear submarine, USS Scorpion, sank 400 miles southwest of the Azores, killing all 99 men aboard. Interestingly, three other nations also lost submarines in 1968: Israel (INS Dakar, diesel-electric, purchased from Great Britain), France (Minerve, diesel-electric), and the now-defunct USSR (K129, diesel-electric, part of which was covertly recovered by the US in a ultra-secret joint USN - Howard Hughes salvage operation. 2011: A mammoth  tornado hit Joplin, Mo., with winds up to 250 mph, killing at least 159 people and destroying about 8,000 homes and businesses.
     23 May 1934: Bonnie and Clyde died in a police ambush in Bienville Parish, LA. 1984: US Surgeon General, C. Everett Koop, issued his now famous report on smoking and lung cancer.
    24 May 1844: The question, "What hath God wrought," was sent from Baltimore to Washington, D.C., as Samuel F.B. Morse inaugurated the telegraph.
    26 May 1868: President Andrew Johnson was acquitted at his impeachment trial. 1972: President Nixon and Soviet leader Brezhnev signed the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty; the US withdrew from the treaty in 2002.
    27 May 1861: Chief Justice Roger Taney, sitting as a federal circuit court judge in Baltimore, ruled that President Abraham Lincoln lacked the authority to suspend the writ of habeas corpus. (Lincoln disregarded the ruling). (Taney is most often remembered for rendering the infamous Dred Scott decision.) 1942: Doris “Dorie“ Miller, a cook aboard the USS West Virginia, became the first African-American to receive the Navy Cross for displaying “extraordinary courage and disregard for his own personal safety” during Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor. (After being sunk, the ship was raised from the harbor floor, repaired, and returned to duty.)
      28 May 1918: Troops of the American Expeditionary Force fought their first battle in WW I, capturing the  German-held French village of Cantigny, France.
   
A WW II vet remembers and wonders. In an Open Forum letter, 96 year-old veteran, John H. Rohner of Boulder, remembers how he and his brothers fought and died to defeat the Nazis menace, then wonders why "...today in America, the resurgence of white supremacy goes widely ignored and unchallenged." No easy answer there, Mr. Rohner.
     He might also have wondered how so many "good," average Germans failed to see what lay in store for their country and the world with Hitler's ascension to power. "Das tut mir leid (I'm sorry), but Mein Kampf was not just ill-imagined ruminations; it was a real, terrible program of actions.
 
Herrara v. Wyoming (2019) In a 5-4 decision, the USSC held that the advent of WY statehood did not trump the 1868 treaty between the Crow tribe and the US government. For the Native Americans, the decision means they can continue to conduct subsistence hunting without regard to WY's hunting licensing requirements.  One of President Trump's recent appointees, a westerner, Neil Gorsuch, sided with the Court's four more liberal justices.

Children's health and EPA. Will proposed funding cuts at the EPA cut/lessen the research into children's health issues? Several long running studies seem at risk. "The projects being targeted make up a more than $300 million, federally funded program that over the past two decades has exposed dangers to fetuses and children. Those findings have often led to increased pressure on the EPA for tighter regulations."

What war? Whose war? Evan Thomas asks, "Is America preparing for the wrong war?" Terrorists and rogue states? Or, a re-energized Russia and growing China? Thomas notes a Foreign Policy article with the imprint of the well-thought-of former secretary of defense, James Mattis. The article's subtitle was "The United States faces great-power enemies. It needs a military focused on fighting them." Why?

Because America "...risks losing a war to China or Russia—or backing down in a crisis because it fears it would—with devastating consequences for America’s interests....If China did so in the Western Pacific, it could dominate the world’s largest and most economically dynamic region. If Russia did so, it could fracture NATO and open Eastern Europe to Russian dominance.

     Re Russia, the USSR may be dead, but Russia's desire to dominate Eastern Europe has never faded. For its part, China would like nothing better than to be able to have the South China Sea largely as their exclusive province, much as cartoonist Thomas Nast portrayed President Theodore Roosevelt striding through the Caribbean with his "big stick." China's 21st century stick would, of course, have a nuclear component.
     However, "[t]he approach that worked so well against these so-called rogue state adversaries will fail against China or Russia." The question, of course, is can the Trump administration devise a suitable strategy?

America's Taliban. Our "first bird," John Walker Lindh, is coming home to roost, he was released from federal prison in Terra Haute, IN. Earlier he converted to Islam, became radicalized, went overseas and fought for the Taliban against American forces. He has a good prison record and served the usual 85% of his sentence. Now what "to do with him" become the government's major focus. "...[C]onditions imposed recently on Lindh’s release make clear that authorities remain concerned about the threat he could pose once free." Strange new territory.

Mueller Report. It just keeps on getting "curioser and curiouser." It was reported that the House Intelligence Committee and Justice Department have reached an agreement for the committee to receive the "unredacted" report.

The deal is a rare instance of detente between House Democrats and Justice Department leaders, who remain bitterly at odds over the administration’s resistance to congressional requests for documents and witnesses.

But President Donald Trump declared Wednesday that he would not work with congressional Democrats on any legislative ventures so long as investigations of his campaign, finances and foreign ties continue.

It is not clear if the president’s declaration jeopardizes the deal the House Intelligence Committee struck with the Justice Department; a spokesman for Schiff did not immediately return a request for comment on that matter.

CO snowpack: The state report this year is 202% better than last year and it continued to snow late last week. Breckenridge and Arapahoe Basin both extended their seasons. Now the new worry: a too-quick warm up that could produce flooding down-slope, especially into the South Platte which would only  heighten waters flowing into the Missouri/Mississippi basins.

A Korean first. Korean director, Bong Joon-ho’s social satire “Parasite,” won first place honors at this year's Cannes film festival.

Poland. Another attack on pedophile priests took place in Gdansk, Poland. This heavily Catholic nation is taking its revenge on the Church's slowness in addressing the problem. As always, bureaucracies are far too often slow to see, diagnose, and solve systemic problems.

A statue of a pedophile priest was toppled in Gdansk, put back by his supporters and finally dismantled for good. A feature film about clerical abuse was a box office hit....It’s also a crisis for the country’s conservative government, which is closely aligned with the Catholic Church, putting the ruling Law and Justice Party on the defensive before Sunday’s European Parliament vote in Poland.

 President Trump in Japan. It is usually only once a lifetime that a head of state has occasion to meet and talk with the new head of a dynasty dating back to nearly 660 BC. As all things Trump, the president's visit to meet newly crowned Emperor Naruhito could not be free of controversy. At every turn, the president seems to require controversy and took occasion to "needle" his hosts about America's trade imbalance. Then he had the temerity to tout "...the 'very special' U.S.-Japan alliance that he said 'has never been stronger, it’s never been more powerful, never been closer.'” One even wonders if the president (and his minions) can cope with the request that Americans begin to use Japanese names in their preferred order, as in Shinzō Abe, or Trump Donald.

Gerrymandering, Senator Michael Bennett (D, CO). Jennifer Rubin's column highlights the senator's worry that our electoral system now has it backwards: political gerrymandering allows politicians to choose their voters. The Founders, of course, planned it the other way round: voters should elect their officials.
    He is not afraid to make his case bluntly. “I believe that we have been tyrannized for the last ten years by the Freedom Caucus in this country. . . . They immobilized the Republican Party. They immobilized the Democratic Party. They immobilized this exercise in self-government.”

SAT, 2020. The new SAT scores include new data, "...an “Environmental Context Dashboard,” an extra batch of data that will be delivered to admissions officers alongside students’ raw, out-of-1600 scores on the SAT. The board has been field-testing the dashboard at 50 colleges and universities, with plans to roll out the tool to 150 more institutions this fall and then more widely in 2020." 

ND, more oil and wasted natural gas. As oil exploration continues in ND, so does the wasteful burning-off of natural gas at the well-heads.

The industry has spent billions of dollars on infrastructure but is at least two years from catching up, and regulators are projecting that the state’s increasing gas production will still outstrip that new capacity.

Environmentalists and even a key Republican say the problem will persist as long as the state doesn’t take a tougher approach with the industry, which has largely avoided financial penalties.

“We need to find an excess flared gas solution immediately,” said Republican Rep. Vicky Steiner, whose hometown of Dickinson is in the heart of the state’s oil patch. “It’s a shame. I’d like to see us find a use for this.”

The fact that even ND Republicans see the problem, but cannot seem to muster the votes to stop the problem, speaks volumes about the attitude in the board rooms of the industry.

Even more improbable math. President Trump: "We've kept more promises than we've ever made."

Thank you for reading. "He who rejects change is the architect of decay. The only human institution which rejects progress is the cemetery."  Harold Wilson (twice the British Labor party's Prime Minister)  "One of the qualities of liberty is that, as long as it is being striven after, it goes on expanding."  Henrik Ibsen  "You can't use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have."  Maya Angelou

For this week's blog: Optimist; notable dates; war with Iran; no power in CA?; CO, good/bad news; Pope Francis' new plan; America's Mexican American population; transplant rules; America's birth rate; tariff pain; Hong Kong, China, Colorado; thin ice; low wages vs. predictability; abortion; Americans to Mexico; the auto; education; Iran.

Optimist. Link here.    Apollo's rocks continue to reveal mysteries beyond the moon.

Notable dates in American history.
     15 May 1972: While campaigning for president, George Wallace, governor of AL, was shot in Laurel, MD, and left paralyzed. He soldiered on in American politics, even casting aside most of his segregation-era views and capturing a majority of African American votes.  1948: Hours after declaring its independence (and being formaly recognized by President Truman), Israel was attacked by Transjordan (now Jordan), Egypt, Syria, Iraq, and Lebanon.
     16 May 1868: The US Senate fell one vote short of the required two-thirds needed to impeach President Andrew Johnson.
      17 May 2004: The state of MA became the first in the nation to recognize same sex marriages.
     20 May 1927: Charles Lindbergh took off from Roosevelt Field, NY, on his solo flight across the Atlantic. 1961: Freedom Riders were attacked in Montgomery, AL, and federal marshals were dispatched to restore order.
     21 May 1927: Charles Lindbergh landed in Paris after a 33 1/2 hour flight across the Atlantic.

Iran and John Bolton. In a Guardian article, Ben Armburster wonders is John Bolton the most dangerous man in the world? "Donald Trump’s national security adviser John Bolton wants the United States to go to war with Iran. We know this because he has been saying it for nearly two decades."

PG&E in CA. The state's largest (and bankrupt) power company says it may have to consider cutting off power in its ultra-high voltage lines when there are high winds during fire season. How this would happen and its impact remain a mystery.

CO's ranking. Over all in the top 10 states -- but, lest we be too complacent, consider: education #11; health care #12; over all pollution #20; access to health care #29; environment #31; public safety #33; air and water quality #44 (so much for Coors' Rocky Mountain spring water).

Pope Francis. Trying to resurrect a troubled church, he has finally issued a set of guidelines that theoretically will no long protect pedophiles at any level of the church.

Mexican-Americans. You will undoubtedly never here this from the President, it flies in the face of nearly daily protestations and fear mongering. The Economist reports that America's established Mexican-American population is shrinking.

From the 1950s onwards, Mexican immigrants poured into Pilsen [in Chicago]. They replaced Poles, Czechs and Italians, filling pews in their brick churches and acquiring their businesses. Now they too are moving up and on....Andrew Selee of the Migration Policy Institute (MPI) in Washington points out that since 2007 a tidal wave of Mexicans going to America has slowed to a dribble as unauthorised migrants have been replaced by legal ones....Higher incomes, more jobs and an ageing population in Mexico have all shrunk its pool of potential migrants....That could be a boon to those already there. One lesson after previous decades of high migration ended (as when a 1924 law abruptly choked inflows of Asians and some Europeans) is that it can herald a period when existing migrants—and, importantly, their American-born children—integrate successfully.

Organ transplant rules. If you need an liver transplant, where you live might be the difference between life and death.

"Now the nation’s transplant system is aiming to make the wait for livers, and eventually all organs, less dependent on your ZIP code. New rules mandating wider sharing of donated livers went into effect Tuesday despite a fierce and ongoing hospital turf war in federal court....[M]ore than a dozen hospitals in parts of the Midwest and South sued to block the change, arguing it will endanger their patients, especially in rural areas, if livers must be shipped further to areas with fewer donations. Late Monday, a judge in Atlanta denied their request to put the rules on hold until the legal challenge is decided. The next day, those hospitals appealed, still seeking to halt the rules after they began.

 US birth rate. The nation's birth rate continues to fall. The latest figures show that the economic upturn has not, as expected, resulted in more families having babies. Indeed, even the rate among young, unmarried women has continued to decline. "The fertility rate of 1.7 births per U.S. woman also fell 2 percent, meaning the current generation isn’t making enough babies to replace itself.

The fertility rate is a hypothetical estimate based on lifetime projections of age-specific birth rates."

Tariff pain. Yes, the president "loves" trade wars, believes in tariffs, but who in America is paying the bill? Senators and representatives are hearing from their constituents that they, the voters, think the cost is becoming increasingly burdensome at the local level, on their pocketbooks. Trump vows, if necessary, he will bail out farmers for the billions in lost exports; but, he neglects to mention who will then pay that bill, i.e. the farmer, his family, his neighbors, their children, grandchildren.
     “I’m not sure if you talk to him face to face, he hears everything you say,” said Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), who has emerged as one of Trump’s chief critics on trade..." Duh?
     This presidential deafness is new news? This president has not been listening since Day One, when Trump tried to " 'splain away" the National Park Service's photos which gave lie to his claims of supposedly record-setting Inaugural crowds! This is far, far beyond what hearing specialists label "spousal deafness!"

Hong Kong. There is a new extradition law being considered that would allow virtually anyone living/working in Hong Kong to be extradited the the mainland. In January 2017, a Chinese Canadian (a billionaire) was extradited and not been heard from since. In 2015, seven Hong Kong publishers similarly disappeared.
     Why take note?

There are about 85,000 U.S. citizens living or working in Hong Kong, which for decades has been their safe harbor for those operating in greater China — teachers and preachers, as well as executives of 1,300 U.S. companies in Hong Kong, including financial services firms and technology giants such as Google....Beijing could extradite Americans in Hong Kong on trumped-up charges as a way to extract company trade secrets, software and other intellectual property. Americans either residing in Hong Kong or visiting Hong Kong could end up jailed in China.

Given all of CO's high tech and space-related businesses there may well be concern.

Thin ice. According to one study some of Antarctic's ice sheets have thined at record rates, some by 300 meters (984 feet) since the early 1950s.

A predictable wage. The Economist reports that "One study of 7,000 households, by Pew, found in 2015 that 92% of them would opt for lower average incomes, if earnings were predictable. Follow-up research late last year suggested the same trends are still present." With unemployment unbelievably low in many areas, workers are showing more willingness to just walk away from an exploitative employer (e.g. one demanding  additional hours without added pay) and go two doors down the street to the next "help wanted" sign.

Abortion. Controversial, certainly noteworthy given the recent spate of actions by various state legislatures. Link here to the most recent story from the Christian Science Monitor. And this from Leonard Pitts, African American, columnist at the Miami Herald.
     When the right wing, evangelist, Pat Roberts, says on the "700 Club" that a state's action to limit abortion is "extreme," you know there are deep divisions in public opinion. From Pitts: "That's like Dracula sending his steak back because it's too bloody. It tells you how far over the line Alabama has gone." The chart in the story is illustrative of American opinions over the years.
     This past week, "...Alabama lawmakers [passed and the governor signed] a near-total abortion ban. Most of these legislative efforts are expected to face court challenges." Indeed both sides expect these cases to pose direct challenges to Roe v. Wade that will have to be decided by the Supreme Court.
     Conservative columnist, EJ Dionne, weighs in about needing a "different" abortion dialogue. He notes, for example, that "...House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) [a staunch conservative]...opposes the Alabama  law because it 'goes further than I believe' by failing to include exceptions for pregnancies caused by rape or incest.'

Americans moving to Mexico. Experts believe that the true overall numbers indicate that there are more American citizens moving south of the border, than Mexican citizens moving northward. Question: "Who is moving?" Digital workers ("I can work from anywhere there is a computer connection), retirees (sun-seekers and those wanting a cheaper standard of living), US-born kids ("dreamers," unsure of their status in America who can find easy higher education or emploment). Among those moving south, the vast majority include "the best and brightest" and will not constitute a drain on the Mexican economy.

The "new" NV legislature. Alone among our 50 states, NV's legislature is "...part of the wave of women elected by both parties in November, many of them younger than 40. Today, women hold the majority with 23 seats in the Assembly and 10 in the Senate, or a combined 52 percent... No other legislature has achieved that milestone in U.S. history." Only Colorado comes close, with women constituting 47 percent of its legislators." Brings to mind the call in the '60s: Power to the people!

Grandchildren of a different sort. Some retirees at the Glen Meadows Retirement Community visit the close by Northcliff Farm to visit the retired thoroughbred horses who live there. A benefit for all.

Your auto. A saving grace, a ball-and-chain, both? America's dependence on its autos is a complicated story. If you live/work in a "public transportation desert," an auto may be the difference between earning a living wage and being unemployed. Then, too, "...a recent Vanderbilt University graduate who moved to Boston last year, found that the costs of car ownership in Boston outweighed the benefits." Friends who live in NYC, own no car; they rent when they travel, even inquire if I or their relatives could drive in the mountains.

Higher education. Two stories of note, one well publicized, another little noted. In the former, a Denver billionaire gave the commencement address at Moorehouse College, the noted African American institution. He closed by announcing that he was paying off all the student loans for the 2019 graduating class. Of the latter story, the "...new poll by Magellan Strategies found 83 percent of a sample of Colorado registered voters surveyed favored increasing opportunities for vocational education in high school. The idea was popular across subgroups, with at least 80 percent support from men, women, Democrats, Republicans, unaffiliated voters and people in a range of geographic areas and income groups."

Iran. Amid reciprocal threats and counter-threats and concerns over Iran's nuclear program, it was revealed Iran had quadrupled "...the production is of uranium enriched only to the 3.67 percent limit set by the 2015 nuclear deal that Tehran reached with world powers, it means that Iran soon will go beyond the stockpile limitations established by the accord."

Thank you for reading."What would your good do if evil didn't exist, and what would the earth look like is all the shadows disappeared." Mikhail Bulgakov (1891-1940; Russian writer, playwright, medical doctor, who, surprisingly, did not fall victim to Stalin's purges)   "The reputation of a man is like his shadow, gigantic when it precedes him, and pygmy in its proportions when it follows." Talleyrand    

This week's notes include: Optimist; notable dates in American history; what's in a signature?; broken capitalism; past prosecutors on DJT and obstruction of justice; another CO school shooting; # 7; royals and pandas; US Senate; surprise medical bills; the very young "geek squad;" the Troll's new home; yet another authoritarian visitor;

Optimist: Link here. A last Mother's Day. Remembering mom's last special day with her granddaughter, and my memories. Jeopardy champ and sports analytics: the ruination of, or just another approach to, sports.

Notable dates: 
     8 May1987: CO Senator Gary Hart (D) withdrew from the presidential race over the "monkey business" scandal.
     9 May 1980: A freighter rammed the Sunshine Skyway Bridge in Tampa, FL, killing 35. 1987: Gary Hart formally withdrew from the presidential race. 2017: President Trump fired fired FBI Director, James Comey.
    10 May 1869: The "Golden Spike" was driven home at Promontory Point, UT Territory, completing the first transcontinental railroad in the US. In 2019, on the 150th anniversary, the president and CEO of the Union Pacific celebrated with Margaret Yee, whose ancestors helped build the railroad.  1924: J. Edgar Hoover was named acting director of the Bureau of Investigation (later the FBI).
    11 May 1953: A tornado killed 114 in Waco, TX. In earlier days, the Native Americans in the area held that the basin in which Waco sat was were "the dancing devil [a tornado] could not dance." 2006: Lawmakers demanded answers after USA Today reported that the National Security Agency was secretly collecting records of millions of phone calls by ordinary Americans; President George W. Bush sought to assure Americans their civil liberties were being “fiercely protected.” Assuredly, not everyone was assured.
    12 May 1949: The USSR lifted its blockade of West Berlin, largely due to America's Berlin Airlift which provided a continuous supply of goods/services to the city.
    14 May 1961: Freedom Riders were attacked by violent mobs in Anniston and Birmingham, AL.

A signature. Inevitably, there popped up yet another picture of President Trump holding up a document he had just signed. I do not know why it had not crossed my mind before, but I found myself suddenly imagining a young kindergartner bursting in the front door yelling, "Look, mommy, I just learned to write my name!" Wonders never cease.

Broken Capitalism. This Guardian article by Darrick Hamilton examines the thoughts of eight experts on how to deal with capitalism in the 21st century. Today is not the bygone days of Adam Smith. For example, after succinctly stating the argument for CEO compensation packages, he wonders, "What’s curious, however, is how infrequently the same logic is used when talking about the pay of frontline employees who actually produce the goods and services sold by their companies." Most every Democratic challenger in 2020 will be noting the plight of the CEO's workers.

Past federal prosecutors on DJT. More than 750 past federal prosecutors have now weighed in regarding whether or not DJT would have been charged with obstruction were he not president. A close look at the still-expanding list reveals that many worked during both Democratic and Republican administrations and many are "bristl[ing] at the suggestion that they are motivated by anti-Trump bias." The list includes some involved in the Nixon and Clinton dust-ups.

Shooting at the Highlands Ranch STEM school. While I have not watched all of the local and national coverage, as I watched the story unfold, there was one important take away. Amidst all the immediate live-coverage statements by the Douglas County sheriff, no one in the media asked about the sex of the alleged shooters. Seemingly, the assumption was that the shooters had to be male. The sheriff later revealed that the one adult suspect (a student) apprehended was male, but the second (a juvenile student) was a transgender female who now identified as male. Just as the shooting itself, this latest incident speaks volumes about where we are in America.

He's Archie, aka "Number 7." While the US pondered yet another tragic school shooting, the ever-attentive "royal watchers" in England, celebrated the birth of another heir to the throne, "a boy, number 7 in line." The Brits love to bet, so there were immediate winners and losers and, of course, the betting windows then shifted to consider, "What's in a name." It was Wednesday, 8 May, 12 noon MDST, so I paused with them as the Queen mom, the linage charts, perhaps even the astrological stars are considered......Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor, "he is, he is."

Royals and pandas. Given the recent excitement over Britian's "Master Archie" (aka "Number Seven,") Hilary Mantel writes in the London Review:

I used to think that the interesting issue was whether we should have a monarchy or not. But now I think that question is rather like, should we have pandas or not? Our current royal family doesn’t have the difficulties in breeding that pandas do, but pandas and royal persons alike are expensive to conserve and ill-adapted to any modern environment. But aren’t they interesting? Aren’t they nice to look at? Some people find them endearing; some pity them for their precarious situation; everybody stares at them, and however airy the enclosure they inhabit, it’s still a cage.

"Quite so, say what?"


The US Senate and Stacy Abrams. Ms. Abrams very narrowly missed being elected governor of GA. It is not often that a losing candidate is then selected for an important assignment, but she was chosen to give (and later praised for) the Democratic response to President Trump's State of the Union message. The Democratic powers that be would dearly love to have her run for the Senate in November 2020.  (There has even been talk about a presidential candidacy.)
     However, as reported in Mother Jones, her most recent statement said, in part,  "...the fights to be waged require a deep commitment to the job and I do not see the U.S. Senate as the best role for me in this battle for our nation’s future.” A probable hint she will try again for the governorship in 2022.

Surprise medical bills. President Trump asked Congress to pass legislation regulating these noxious kinds of medical charges.

Rural vs. urban development and national service. In his recent commencement address at Ohio State University, Fareed Zakaria assured the audience that the economy was on a solid footing, that most of those seeking jobs would find them -- probably in a city. He noted these troubling statistics from Mark Muro of the Brookings Institution, who "...has calculated that over the past decade, the 53 largest American metro areas have accounted for 71 percent of all population growth, two-thirds of all employment growth and a staggering three-quarters of all economic growth. In fact, half of all job growth in the United States took place in just 20 cities." Indeed, only the oil industry's fracking was providing jobs in rural areas.
     This does not bode well for all of America. Fareed went on to talk about how a national service program might bring these two Americas together.
 Young geeks. There you are in a Buffalo, NY, classroom. You are not an old "fuddy-duddy," just a bit "behind the times," a bit befuddled by what you cannot get your computer to do. So "Who do you call?" The Geek Squad, of course and in walks this 11 year-old from down the hall wearing a bright yellow "Tech Squad" T-shirt who lays her/his healing hands on your computer and viloá, problem solved. "Thank you very much."

The Breckenridge Troll. This larger than life figure now has a new home. He (?) was moved a bit further away from the hustle and bustle of the crowded downtown to an area behind the ice arena.

The next authoritarian visitor to the White House is Prime Minister Oban of Hungary. Yet another Putin-like figure for President Trump to cozy up to. Oban follows the recent visit by Poland's President Jaroslaw Kaczynski, another less-than nominal lover of democracy. 

Thanks for reading. "Education is a progressive discovery of our own ignorance." Will Durant  "Just because a man lacks the use of his eyes, doesn't mean he lacks vision." Stevie Wonder

Apologies for this missive's lateness, but a Viking river cruise intruded: Zurich, Basel, Strasbourg, Speyer, Mainz, Koblentz, Cochem, Bernkastel, Luxembourg, and Paris. As might be expected, the concluding stop took on a whole new meaning after the fire at Notre Dame. (More below)

Other topics include: Optimist; notable dates in American history; Notre Dame; the Anthropocene; religious freedom; development NYC style; Mueller Report; North Korea; white supremacy and reactions; the results of war; voter turnout 2018; overtourism; species extinction; a generational war.

Optimist.  28 April: Link here.

•  Eddie Adams is a very happy young cellist. The principal player at George Mason University's orchestra had to borrow money to rent a cello, relied on fellow students for test books. After a Washington Post story about how the cello had become his lifeline out of an impoverished childhood, the money began pouring in, more than $141,000. When a "go fund me" page reached $25,000, Adams was sure there was a technical glitch. The funding page had been established by a 12 year-old student of  his cello teacher/mentor. The student had originally requested donations at his bar mitzvah to benefit Adams.
• A debate on nuclear weapons of a different sort.  This year it was Cambridge University vs. the team from the  Eastern New York Correctional Facility in Napanoch, N.Y. The latter team was only very slightly intimidated -- because, after all, they had bested the Harvard University team in 2015. The topic of the day’s debate: “This house believes that all states have a right to nuclear weapons.” Given first pick of sides, Cambridge would argue in opposition, while the Bard students would attempt to defend the proposition. Once again, the prison team was victorious.

    5 May: Link here.

•      A patriotic tie for sale on eBay, sent free to one soon-to-be citizen for his citizenship ceremony.
• A marriage story that proves the depths to which love can reach, no matter the circumstances.
• The little brother hero story. An eight year-old saved his ten year-old sister from being kidnapped.
• A worthy goal achieved. Just how many of this nation's 419 historic sites have you visited? Fittingly, Mikah Meyer saved the Lincoln Memorial for last.

 Notable American dates. 
     17 April 1961: The CIA's ill-fated Bay of Pigs invasion began. 1970: Apollo 13 astronauts returned successfully after their moon trip had been aborted. 1972: women were permitted to compete in the Boston Marathon; America's Nina Kuscsik was the first officially recognized women’s champion, with a time of 3:10:26.
     18 April 1775: Paul Revere began his famous ride from Charlestown to Lexington, MA Bay Colony. 1906: San Francisco was shaken by earthquake and subsequent fires that killed an estimated 3,000 to 6,000 people. 1983: A suicide bombing at the US embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, killed 63 including 17 Americans.
     19 April 1775: The battles of Lexington and Concord ushered in the American Revolution. 1995: A massive truck bomb destroyed the Alfred P. Murrah building in Oklahoma City. Timothy McVeigh was convicted and executed (2001) for his role in the crime.
   

2 May 1789: George Washington took office in NYC as the nation's first president.

3 May 1886: A bomb exploded at the labor demonstration at Chicago's Haymarket Square. 1961: The first group of Freedom Riders left Washington, D.C., to challenge segregation laws on interstate buses. 1970: Four students at Kent State University when the National Guard opened fire on an anti-Vietnam demonstration.
5 May 1925: John Scopes, a school teacher in Dayton, TN, was arrested for teaching evolution; he was later found guilty, sentenced, but the conviction was later set aside. His trial is best known for the legal confrontation between attorneys Clarence Darrow (for Scopes) and William Jennings Bryan (for TN), as well as the coverage by noted author/columnist H.L. Mencken. 1961: "Astronaut Alan B. Shepard Jr. became America’s first space traveler as he made a 15-minute suborbital flight aboard Mercury capsule Freedom 7."
6 May 1937: The hydrogen-filled German airship Hindenburg caught fire and crashed while attempting to dock at Lakehurst, N.J. 1942: 15,000 American and Filipino forces (including nurses) surrendered to the Japanese on Corregidor.
7 May 1945: Germany unconditionally surrendered to the Allies at Rheims, France.

Notre Dame. [translation: "Our Lady of Paris"] My tale begins with a fellow USAF colleague who was married in the cathedral shortly after our commissioning ceremony, 1 July 1964. While stationed in Germany (1964-1967), I visited Paris and Notre Dame and have made several other visits. The sight of the massive structure is moving, whether close up or from the tower on the heights of Montparnasse.
     Interestingly, the cathedral is not a Roman Catholic parish church; it owned by the French government.

Under a 1905 law, Notre-Dame de Paris is one of 70 churches in Paris built before that year which are owned by the French state. While the building itself is owned by the state, the Catholic Church is the designated beneficiary, having the exclusive right to use it for religious purposes in perpetuity. The archdiocese is responsible for paying the employees, for security, heating and cleaning, and for ensuring that the cathedral is open free to visitors. The archdiocese does not receive subsidies from the French state. 

    An article about reconstruction, especially of Gothic structures. "Lisa Reilly, an associate professor of architectural history at the University of Virginia and a scholar of medieval architecture. 'In the Middle Ages, the thought was that stone vaults [could be] used to prevent the spread of fire.'”
     French President Macron says (optimistically) the city's most iconic building will be rebuilt within 5 years. (Local aside, remodeling of DIA's main airport terminal has just been extended to the 5 year mark. The "race" is joined.)
     Columnist E.J. Dionne, a practicing Roman Catholic, writes thoughtfully  about Notre Dame being a much changed/layered product of the ages, just as is the current turmoil of his church.

The Anthropocene. Definition: The current geological age, viewed as the period during which human activity has been the dominant influence on climate and the environment.
     When did the Earth's path turn downward? When did this term enter into the dialogue about our future? This article from the Atlantic examines these questions.

Gerson on religious freedom and immigration. In his estimation, especially given the recent controversy over Rep. Ilhan Omar (D, MN), the biggest threat is from the President himself in "cruel, frightening and dangerous in new ways....delivered ...while standing on desecrated graves....His narcissism leaves no room to honor other people or to honor other gods. Both the living and the dead matter only as servants to the cause of Trump himself."
     On the latter subject Gerson continues, "Syrian refugees... are trying to take over our children and convince them how wonderful ISIS is, and how wonderful Islam is. On the strength of such calumnies, Trump has essentially destroyed America’s asylum system." Forg“If we had confidence after a thorough investigation of the facts that the president clearly did not commit obstruction of justice, we would so state,” the report says. “Based on the facts and the applicable legal standards, we are unable to reach that judgment.”et the memorable invocation inscribed on the Lady's plaque on Liberty Island in New York harbor.

NYC-style development. Apparently, Manhattan's new Hudson Yards was built with the benefit  of a visa program designed to draw in huge sums in exchange for the special EB-5 visas for the contributor and her/his family. Financial shenanigans worthy of another NYC-Trump deal.


Mueller Report: This quote is my major takeaway. First, Russia did meddle in the 2016 election with an eye toward helping candidate Trump. Second, while there is no "smoking gun" and despite his protestations to the contrary, Mueller's report is certainly not the total absolution the President wished for.

“If we had confidence after a thorough investigation of the facts that the president clearly did not commit obstruction of justice, we would so state. Based on the facts and the applicable legal standards, we are unable to reach that judgment.”

George Conway, Karen Tumulty, and others believe that the Special Counsel's findings, including the justice department's inability to indict a sitting president, leave only one course of action: the constitutionally prescribed one: impeachment.

North Korea. Kim Jong Un tested a new short range, tactical missile. Jong Un also said he was no longer willing to work with Mike Pompeo, whom he called President Trump's "insufficiently mature" Secretary of State. Now, does Pompeo’s job hang in the balance? Will the president sack him to save face and please Jong Un? It did not help that Jong Un was warmly received by President Putin in Vladivostok.

White supremacy. Representative Tom Malinowski (D, NJ 7th district) writes,

If the [increasing violent] threat [to Jews and Muslims] came from outside the United States, these facts would be enough to galvanize Americans around a plan of action. But this threat comes from within. And because it originates on the political right, describing it accurately can be difficult to do without sounding partisan, without making one side feel uncomfortable.

     The Anti-Defamation League notes a sharp increase in anti-Semitic incidents, which do "indeed, come from both sides. But this new wave of terrorism does not. The accused killers have clearly announced who they are, and we have to understand their inspirations and motivations to know how to stop them."
     Leonard Pitts' column Sunday (5 May) "Dying of whiteness" is also instructive. He avers that White supremacists may be their own worst enemies.
     This Guardian article looks at the deep roots of hate groups in southern California, where it is not always sunny for everyone.
     However, Fred Hiatt, editor of the Washington Post's editorial page, notes there is news from the "other side of the coin." An estimate 400,000 will visit the memorial in Montgomery, AL, for the victims of Jim Crow era racially motivated lynchings in over 300 US counties. Then, too," Maryland’s General Assembly last month created the nation’s first truth and reconciliation commission on lynching."

WW II, one aftermath. This Washington Post article reports on the deadly results from the unused WW II ordinance just dumped into the nearby Baltic and North Seas, thus saving money by not utilizing safer (?) deep-water disposal areas further off shore in the Atlantic.

Young voters. Contrary to popular belief, the Census Bureau now reports that young people (18-29) did have an impact on the 2018 vote. The overall voter turnout hit a 100 year high. After a all time low in 2014, 36% in this age group voted in 2018. The turnout by those aged 30-44 was similarly up, 36% to 49%. Both parties will have to determine what issues/positions will maintain or increase turnout in these age groups.

Overtourism. Your spellchecker may well cast doubt on this word. The Guardian story naturally highlights Venice where rising sea levels are so obvious.

Friday 15 March was a rare day in Venice: on the concourse in front of the Santa Lucia train station, Venetians outnumbered tourists.
Young Venetians had skipped school to join the global youth climate strike, holding placards with statements such as “If climate was a bank, you’d save it.” The movement is especially relevant in Venice, since a 50cm rise in sea levels could see the city vanish beneath the waves. [emphasis added]

     All across Europe, where tourists flock in increasingly high numbers, there is growing concern about the climate, new extreme weather patterns and simply too many visitors. Everyone involved in the tourist trade (developers to street vendors) wonders how long this can continue. There is increasing concern for "issues ranging from housing affordability, environmental degradation and the destruction of local life."
     Once upon a time, it was an advantage to be a small, compact tourist destination. Not so today. On this past 27 April, Cochem, Germany, was very nice, ours was one of only two river cruise ships in town. But increasingly the city will be very much "over-packed" when there are as many as seven cruise ships will descend, plus all the day-long tour boats and motorists from all over Europe.

Species extinction. Here today, gone tomorrow. A UN study indicates that up to one million species face extinction in the near future, most caused by man-made changes in the Earth's environment.

Women's hockey. The Guardian reports that US women are threatening to boycott all North American professional league games until their health benefits and pay are greatly improved. This came soon after Canada's Women's Hockey League closed its doors.
     "Anya Battaglino, the NWHL Players Association director, believes the boycott is an intentional move by the players to get the world’s richest hockey league, the NHL, more involved (the NHL has supported both the CWHL and the NWHL financially but neither league is officially tied to the NHL)."

2020: generational differences. This article from The Atlantic examines the convoluted role age will play as the parties position themselves and decide which issues to highlight. On the Democratic side, there is the "geriatric" leadership vying with the younger voters exemplified by Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D, NY). On the Republican side, the leadership is equally elderly and facing younger voters who are moving left across the board. 

Thank you for reading.