The Teaser

    Graham Greene spoke truth when he said, "There is always one moment in childhood when the door opens and let's the future in."
     That moment occurred when I read Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island. My imagination was ignited and a desire for travel was launched. 
     Stevenson was an ambassador of travel and early I took to heart what he wrote; "I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travels sake. The great affair is to move." 

     My life of journalism and documentary production allowed a decent bit of "moving," globe trotting and cultural immersion. 
   I was asked once to write a piece about the adjustment one must manage when returning from extensive travel. A meager truth I surfaced was this; the re-entry to normal also helps enshrine the intoxicating, psychoactive, or mind stretching affect of travel.

    As you have read we have been away for a while, celebrating a milestone in our marriage, connecting with ancestral roots. Ever the journalist and curious explorer we return with a couple thousand images and even more memories. 

    I want to share with you what we saw, did and felt.
   

   We were on country roads, navigating large cities, at historic sites, immersed in the local culture, in Scotland and Ireland. There was much to see and learn.

     There is history that makes ours seem youthful. Complexity, intellect, and human endeavor that is profound.

   Abundant beauty, nature and culture.

Always near is history that shaped humankind.

  We are fascinated by mysteries of ancient cultures, older than the great Pyramids, cosmic riddles.

Profound beauty, picturesque charm. 

Music and culture.

  Exploration and discovery. 

Food and other feasts of the senses. 

   Grandeur and majesty.  

   Politics, struggle, and the DNA of fighting for independence. 

  Whimsy, expression and stunning beauty.

  Intellect and impact. 

    And there are the people. Our exploration of Scottish history, genealogy, and nature was organized and moderated by research and experts.
    And so it was in Ireland, though our guides were friends, people we have hosted in California.
     We benefited wonderfully from the expertise of Irish friends who kindly shared the magic of their Republic. An endless gratitude to Kay and Willie,
  

 and to Kay and Jack. 

  So stay tuned. In the days to come there will be scenes, experiences, history, and the pastiche of travel and culture.

   I hope you will enjoy what you read and see, in a vicarious travel adventure.

   I'm tempted to say come along for a foreign adventure but I'm reminded of Stevenson's summation; "There are no foreign lands, it is the traveler only who is foreign."

   We have been the foreigner and now we seek to interpret and report.

   These are strange days on both sides of the Atlantic, a cultural metamorphosis is in the offing. 

    It is my humble suggestion we have reached these vexing times because we have become to tethered to small worlds, of small screens and small words and small ideas, and led by small people. 

    Greene said it well when he wrote in Burnt Out Case, "The more base a life is, the more we fear change."

     We have much to share. I hope you enjoy the ride that is to come. Let's move. 

     See you down the trail. 

   

Seeing Beyond Borders

      Yea, it's kind of like this. The last three weeks have been reorienting by their therapeutic withdrawal of US media. We haven't given up awareness of events, no indeed, but our orbit has been the extraordinary story of Britain's parliament, Brexit and all of the disintegrating fall out and nuances.

   Being in lands with civic and political history that long predate the story of the birth of the US puts a humbling perspective on our junior silliness. There is disorder here as well, it simply has longer and more complicated storylines.
   Brexit for example.

    63% of the Scots voted against it. Brexit seemed to spawn from the same swamp of simple mindedness and deception that a former crown colony is presently drowning in and choking on despite that most of its voters rejected the maniac who is driving down the property value and inhabitability of the White House. 

     Idiocy on this side of pond has a shorter fuse and a longer history.

     Take this lovely building for example. It is Stormont, the Parliament of Northern Ireland and it has been unused for some 3 years now because the politicians of Northern Ireland can not agree on enough critical issues to hold it open.
     If you are of a certain age you recall "The Troubles" with a heavy heart. Now Brexit comes along to make "still uneasy" more ominous.

   That fence atop the shrine to fallen heroes in the struggle against British domination of the top of the island is evidence of the division that still exists in Belfast and the remainder of Northern Ireland.
   Most of this beautiful island is of course the Republic of Ireland, a nation that won its independence in 1949. The Republic was an early member of the European Union. So, you see where this is leading.
   Brexit means the soft non border between Northern Ireland, part of the UK, and the Republic is in jeopardy. It is a maddening complication to a stupid reality that the English have been incapable of solving. In the North it is a shakiness and uncertain agent that is absolutely not needed. Making it worse, the English now are led by their own Bozo of the trumpian ilk of incompetence. 
    So while we have been out of the US Media lair, the seeming unraveling of intelligent government has filled our screens while in Scotland and Ireland. Both nations, despite their own greatness are like invited guests to a party where the host family goes mad and try to drag down the sky. 
     You in the States have probably paid only passing attention to the complexities of these matters because of course you are in the States where the imagination runs only to the border.
      We did catch a bit of the last Democrat debate. How embarrassing! Childish really. Silly. They are playing a dangerous game, dissembling each other, loosing respect and face while a bona fide nut job tans, and loafs and rants his way into the future, such as it is. 
      We have more to see and do. When we get back to our central California coastal village we'll take the time to share a wealth of image and impression and history.  
      In the meantime I leave you all with the message I left on the peace wall between Belfast neighborhoods, Peace. It's about the best thing humans should aim for.

         See you down the trail.

the view from the homeland

  Since our last visit, I've been looking at things differently, under a Scot's influence.

  This is being written on the Isle of Skye, the largest island in the inner Hebrides archipelago. The harbor is a dark midnite out the window of my room. A few lights shine well down the shore, fishing boats are moored below, behind an old stone seawall and a red navigation light flashes out in the channel.The television flashes the BBC news and the latest in the Brexit circus. The UK is adrift on their own sea of political madness. 

     In Edinburgh I was told 63% of the Scots voted against Brexit, preferring to stay with Europe. Opinion polls now say closer to 80% want to say.  And so this political storm has wonderfully put you know who completely out of mind. It is like magic-not just the Brexit business, but something about these climes, and latitudes.

      Sitting in the Elephant House, waiting for my tomato basil soup, smoked salmon and caper berries on oat crackers and a cup of green tea the magnetism of the place where JK Rowling wrote Harry Potter was as obvious as the non stop people's paparazzi who lined up angles dodging the busy Edinburgh traffic whizzing past 21 George IV Bridge to get their keepsake photo. As I wondered how many such photos existed on social media platforms a young lad in Potter robe and regalia broke through the sunny door with his family.

      There is something happening here and to your writer. 

  What you see above is the Scottish Motto. "No one harasses me with impunity."  

   Basically Scotland declared itself, and self rule, into existence in April of 1320 with words that have now taken up residence in such a way as to change my equilibrium.

      For we fight not for glory nor riches, nor honors but for Freedom alone, which no good man give except with his life.

    Those words in the Declaration of Arbroath put this nation on the path to be at the cutting edge of reform, resistance, independence, justice, and progressive social evolution since.

    There is new talk this week about Scottish independence. When I visited Holyrood, the Scottish Parliament last week I asked a security detail about the presence of Gaelic language in all government and public places-road signs, in schools, and the like. She said it was something that should be preserved, it set the nation apart. He said he hadn't learned it in school, but knew he would be learning it..

      It's a link to a strong past, that is deeper that I knew.

     Everyone seems to know about Stonehenge, or perhaps the Great Pyramids and they mystery they hold. Well, they are relative latecomers.  The stone rings and the standing stones, like the rings of Brogdar or the Standing Stones of Stenness, seen above, are even older. They are on the main island of the Orkney chain, northern islands of Scotland, between the North Sea and the Atlantic. And there is something more historic

    This is part of Skara Brae, on the Scottish Orkney Islands.

It is some 5000 years old, part of a Neolithic village that among other things demonstrated intelligent social organization, community and a peaceful way of life.

     As some one in the US often says, "Who knew?" Well, I did not and since immersing in this culture I have, as I said before, been looking at things differently.

     There will be more from the homeland and from Irish cousins who have magic and power of their own. 

      The old certainties, and fixed points of power are gone. But there is history, and in history is destiny. It is there we learn and that is the alchemy of change.

     See you down the trail.

Where does this road go?

     Preparing for several days of new sights in old culture. Uneasy about where this nation is and where the road we're on leads.

      I'm convinced the nightly news has become the stage for  a depraved tragic-comedy. It is evidence this president is  unhinged from reality and in the throes of madness. He is increasingly alone, unchecked by staff, erratic, irrational and dangerous. We see it with our eyes and it is chilling. It becomes more absurdly bizarre that our great and complex federal system, and the tens of millions of citizens who are sickened by the reality can not end this script that reads like a dystopian futuristic nightmare. We have an insane and compromised president, but we do not have an American presidency.

     My working years were filled with globe trotting assignments and  I was never embarrassed to carry an American passport. I've been warned to expect hearing an earful from the citizens of where we are bound and I will listen with interest.

     

    There is great strength in our nation and it is signified by the overwhelming percentage of citizens who disapprove of the mad, rogue president. I will remind my hosts of that.

       There is so much more than the crazy reality show and its lying narcissistic star and I hope they know that. 

       But, what I have no answer for are those people at his rallies, those who support the deranged fool, and why as dangerously erratic and destructive as he has become the once Republican party has not moved to depose him, if only to save face if not for the security of this nation.

       I cannot explain why we have opened a new season of old hatreds, bigotry, and ignorance. Especially the ignorance and disdain for fact, science, knowledge and advancement. Why are so many content with being stupid and crazed with their own manipulated fantasies and opinions?

       I think it will be refreshing to be away for a while, to see all of this from afar and through the filter of people who mince no words and who know history.  Stay tuned.

       Before we go, a California late summer scene.

      See you down the trail.

Honestly, kids!

Sierra Nevada 

    For the sake of history, this is unavoidable, though I've tried. It's for Addie and Henry, for when these present days of ours have become history.

     I've been listening, reading, staring at the sky, the mountains  and just thinking. Here it comes. 

     Honesty is strength. Behaving with virtue will enable Humans to exist. The prospects of survival, as individuals and as a specie, are extended if navigated by the courage of telling the truth. 

hard truth

     The DNA of the US includes racism and genocide. It brings sadness to think of why that is so, but those circumstances are antecedents of our present strife. It has always been such.

     The USA's piece of this American continent had an extensive history of population and culture before the arrival of representatives of European Royal Society and Trading Companies "laying claims," and declaring sovereignty. 

    Even the notion of "discovering" the land carries with it a shortsighted and naive ethnocentrism. It is also imperious.

     And yet here we are, the end product of a process that began by European culture, in many iterations, stealing land, and trying to lord it over the culture and history that was here.  

     To assume the Spanish, Dutch, French, English, Italians, or others were better than those who lived here is itself a seed of the very racism and intolerance that courses through our mixed blood line and that plagues us today.

     Few people want to put their head around that. It is not something of which to be proud, though some are.

    It is a truth some seek to deny and most choose to ignore. It is an ignorance that allows our destructive chimera to breath.

    Europeans settled here and initiated behavior that was an invasion. Land and property were stolen, populations were deliberately killed, local culture, government, and religion was over run and outlawed. In time, even after we fought our war of liberation, our national government made and broke treaties and lied and sent the army to suppress, control and kill. It is true. That is who we are, in part.

     We are also people who have risen up and struggled against arrogant power and abuse to win gains though it has required hard fought struggles over two centuries
    The suffragettes suffered horribly, just to win women the right to vote. Pay equity is still a fight.

    Our immigration policy has been inconsistent, politically used and abused, and randomly capricious for ever. Yet emigre's enrich our culture and always have. 

    The War of the Rebellion, referring to the official compilation of the records is the detailed history of the years this nation spent years killing each other over the matter of slavery.    

     Slavery was not an American invention but it became an inherent part of our invention. The Founders owned slaves. African Americans were not full Americans, were considered only 3/5 human and were evaluated that way as much as convenience of economy and finance as personhood. 

      We have never fully healed or recovered from what the war seared into our psyche. 

     There has been no resolve for the slaughter of indigenous nations or the crimes committed against them in the name of US citizens. 

   This old Tee, a beloved gift from my daughters, expresses

a plank of my politics. It is true.  

   These are ugly times because ignorance is widespread, the president plays on fear, Putin's Russia is working overtime to divide and destabilize us, it is an old art of war and espionage. 

    Too many pay too little attention. We are occupied with our diversions, or in our own silo of information, or just not thinking. And so we repeat mistakes. 

why not emulate success?

    In the 1960's when President Lyndon Johnson pushed the Civil Rights legislation proposed by John Kennedy, who was killed in November 1963, he had to overcome the power of racists in the US Senate, even members of his own Democrat party. Working with his moderate and liberal Democrat allies he reached across the political aisle to the Senate Republican Leader Ev Dirksen of Illinois. They did political deal making and the US finally passed both a Civil Rights Law and a Voting Rights Act. 

a rise of regressives

     Today the president is a racist. Republicans work for suppressing voting rights. The Senate Republican leader is an obstructionist, behaving like both a racist and a Russian enabler. 

    The Democrats have no central party leader and they are dicing each other trying to gain advantage in the presidential campaign. They are divided between moderates, liberals and progressives. 

    The Trump government separates families, cages children, refuses to act on the outrage of gun violence, is led by an irrational liar who does not read nor understand history. 

      But we never truly step into the same river again, currents like time move on.
       Our history defines shifts, changes, improvements, advances, and progress too. We hope a wave of change will rid the government of regressives and bigots in our next election. And we hope the election is fair and secure and that we again respect knowledge, information and learning.
      Addie, Henry, I hope by the time you somehow retrieve these thoughts from Poppy, you will find that we have again listened to our better angels and sought to make life better for everyone. That we uphold human dignity and liberty. And that we do so by telling the truth, recognizing our faults and working to make ourselves better people and the world a better, safer, healthier, happier place. Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are good political objectives. From where you are I hope all of this looks like a temporary aberration, like a recurrent bout of a vestigial infection that we slowly are trying to cure. I hope you are safe once again, though vigilant.

     See you down the trail

 

In the weeds....

we need a little more light

     After four nights of "debates" some thoughts emerge.

• By next summer when the Trump campaign and the Democrat candidate's organization meet to discuss a debate format they should agree to avoid inviting any networks to the planning discussions.

      The Fox "Town Halls," the MSNBC Nights of Ten and the CNN Debate are not working nor are they helpful. The Fox sessions have been the most revealing. The CNN outing was  particularly goofy.

      The CNN questioners came off as more interested in provoking confrontation and argument rather than exploring issues and leadership qualities. The questions were contrived and off the point. They may think setting up "battles" and provoking challenges will hold audience, but they do little of value. And sadly most of the candidates took the bait. We are a culture showing signs of intellectual decline. 

       

• Most of the questions were framed about issues that exceed Presidential mandate or control. 
• Health care for example is the province of the legislative branch. A President may help shape his or her party's position, but the House and the Senate write the law and the President approves or not. LBJ exercised some influence over Medicare but he was a powerful legislative force, the likes of which no longer exist. Obamacare was the work of the House and Senate. Getting into minutia is meaningless, but it gives the candidates a chance to argue with each other.
• Ditto immigration policy. A President's view is not unimportant, but any meaningful immigration reform will come from Capitol Hill. Does the candidate have an idea about how to fix the problem? Hear it and move on, the specifics, the details will be something other than what any of the candidates say.
• US voters like to probe and poke Presidential candidates, but often a President's major action is in reaction, to legislation more more likely to events at home and abroad. It's good to know the measure of a candidate's mettle, but there's been more peripheral and contrived controversy in what we've seen so far. It's resembled a cattle call.

the democrat road show

    The Democrats have shown they have a wide range of candidate philosophy, from moderate right to progressive.

     Who speaks to and for voting constituencies that will control the election outcome? The long political season will help to shake it out.  

       

    Joe Biden is the target now. With his decades of service his long record is being picked apart by Harris, Gillibrand  Booker, De Blasio, and others. He has what they don't, poll numbers. As the Front runner he's a target, but that's lame politics and dangerous. 
     What debaters say now could make it a challenge to take back and/or support the eventual candidate. Taking each other apart is off target, off message, damaging, and not helpful. It is a silly sport.
       All of the Demos want improvement in the health care system and want to stop Trump's destruction of what is left of the Affordable Care Act. They argue about how to do it. A legislative process will deliver the specifics, but viewers are being given a chance to see the wide range of Democratic thinking and that maybe helpful, to a point. 
      Elizabeth Warren keeps telling us she has a plan. They all should and it would be more helpful to hear those plans than the kind of wonky food fight we've seen so far. More intelligent and less confrontationally contrived questions would help.
     

a long way up

    I heard a long time Washington insider, a veteran of Capitol Hill, campaigns and the media say if there was truly a leader of the Democrat Party, she or he would get all of the candidates in the same room and remind them the person to defeat is Donald Trump and the message should be to the public, not to play act in some silly charade game like the TV debates have been.

     Two long shots have sounded wise and for the most part stayed out of the tit for tat food fight.  Tulsi Gabbard and Pete Buttigieg have appeared to be thoughtful and less combative, though Gabbard hit Harris hard on Health Care.

Interestingly, they are both military veterans and have been tested by more than political bull shit. 

    

     If I were advising a candidate I'd tell them their core audience should be working women with children and the overlay would be 18 to 45 year old working people. The outer core of voter would be women 45 plus. 

     Those groups are both urban and rural.  I may be entirely wrong. I've been covering politics since 1964 and my hunches have been both spot on and dead wrong. My gut tells me women voters are the jackpot in 2020. And, according to the Sevareid rule, I reserve the right to change my mind. 

     See you down the trail.