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.